#i feel he is an anti villain

[maria-eve-falcon]

shigure sohma is by far the most complex character ever . period.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

not spop-related but i can't post this on my main blog so.

i do find it funny how most of the fan depictions of belos were far more interesting and detailed than s3 belos. i've seen fanart and fanfics of him where he's a complex villain struggling with religious guilt and then the canon is just like.. lmao yeah he's pure evil. kill him.

[galaxythreads]

Unpopular opinion time: I think Loki's arc in the movies was excellent and we didn't need to drag him back from the dead to give him a series that ends with him completing exactly the same arc. Again.

[pass3ra]

cressida's storyline was genuinely shameful tbhhh it's like they started rewriting it in the first half of the season then completely forgot about the changes they'd made to make it fit the book plot and it just ends up making everyone else look bad😐 every character in the second half got a "penelope did nothing wrong" lobotomy so we ended up with eloise completely ignoring cressida being sold off to an horrible man (when she made every effort to support her in the first half of the season) and for some reason resenting her for pretending to be lady whistledown? Then they somehow frame her ignoring colin's offensively bad pleas as it being her turning away from redemption when all she's trying to do is escape being trapped in the country with her likely abusive aunt... and it ends with her meeting her horrible fate and it still being framed as tragic only to immediately juxtapose it with the bridgerton family winning the idgaf war while gleefully seeing off francesca and her future dead husband. The bridgertons were the villains of the season frfr

[showtoonzfan]

So let me get this straight:

- Eve the original woman is a villain who wants to break up Lucifer’s relationship with his wife to get back at being blamed for taking the apple, so she disguises herself as Lilith and somehow Charlie and Lucifer don’t know this apparently.

- Alastor is no longer an interesting character with mysterious motives that are twisted/morally grey, but is just a good guy who all along was working with the real Lilith to protect Charlie

- Rosie is Lilith in disguise for some reason

- The big bad other than Eve is the “Root of all evil”- aka “Roo”, who looks like some random cowgirl

Viv is really something, I need to know what she’s on to come up with these dumbass ideas.

[handledwithgloves]

*voldemort gets defeated multiple times because he couldnt feel and understand love*

*dumbledor haters getting heated*

[cologona]

I’ve gotten oversaturated on good sibling Tim and Dick stuff they’re all members of the deeply toxic family dynamic how about we let them suck just a little bit 2024.

[adelinamoteru]

I have truly never seen so much discourse for a hero/anti-hero that kills until I started liking jason todd. I have literally never seen so many people get hate for not condemning a fictional character who kills bad guys until now its shocking! and I mean that literally

maybe I’m the one missing something but there are plenty of heroes (not antiheroes but HEROES) who exist that choose a lethal method and people take that in stride? the only way I can make sense of this is that people are so attached to batman and his mythos; they literally imprint on him and his thinking ?? and now any slight against him or challenge against his righteousness is taken as if its a slight against them.

at the end of the day, to me, you can still support jason being lethal because the fictional characters hes killing aren’t actually dead. in this sense, specifically, I don’t see why real life morals should be applied to a comic world. he’s not killing out of bigotry and if he was, I would get the controversy! but if you can agree with brutally beating and invasions of privacy in the dcu because it’s “morally correct” within the universe, I can’t see an argument against jason’s methods being morally wrong as valid unless those views are applied to every aspect of batman comics. if we did that, then everyone who continued reading these comics would be getting the same treatment jason todd fans do. ​you cannot hold one character accountable to real life moral views and not the other(s)!

[moonlightdancer26]

Me when I remember that Snape would’ve not only been much happier in life but would have so many less tiring debates about him if he had just remained a loyal Death Eater instead of defecting and sacrificing himself for a world that hated him while getting nothing in return:

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Dr Wayne AU

Idea from this post.

Bruce graduated from medical school. He went out and trained to become a vigilante. He came back and things mostly turned out like the original universe does. Until Dick. The stress was getting to him. Gnawing away at his morals and last shred of patients. Mysteriously, the building Tony Zuko was in blew up and Batman wasn't seen again.

Years go by, and more mysterious explosions kill more mob bosses and super villains. No one connects Bruce to the explosions except for a malnourished street kid who caught him in the act. Smart little street rat that is Jason Todd uses this knowledge to get some food. Bruce quickly takes a liking to him and brings him home. Jason starts helping Bruce rig these explosions after a while. While setting up a bomb meant for their slipperiest evil doer, Joker, it goes off while Jason's in the building. Bruce goes a little crazy (or maybe crazier. who's to say) after Jason's death.

He meets Tim Drake at a function being held by Mr and Mrs Drake and notices some things. The first thing he notices is how similar Tim looks to Jason when they met in that dark alley. The second thing he notices is that the Drakes are almost always out of Gotham. The third thing he notices is that Tim seems to light up when Bruce mentions Dick. He'd love to just snatch the kid up and bring him home, but he couldn't. Not without a reason to keep the kid. It was just luck that one of the many villains still populating Gotham decided to target the plane the Drakes were on a week later. In his gratitude for the opportunity to take in the sweet child he'd found, he made sure the explosion he set for them would only maim them instead of kill them.

Getting Jason was amazing and horrible. The sweet precious boy nearly killed Bruce and Tim with the minor explosive he'd put in Bruce's favorite car. But that didn't matter all that much. By the end of the entire debacle, no one was hurt and they'd even managed to clear up some misunderstandings. Bruce had all of his children under one roof again.

He thought he had all of his children under one roof until he learned about Damian. There weren't any words he could use to describe how upset it made him to learn that another of his children were being kept from him. He did have to thank Talia, however. Without Talia slipping up to Jason about Damian's existence he wouldn't have known until one of the Al Ghul's revealed it to him. Tim overheard Jason and Bruce planning to retrieve Damian and revealed that he'd known since he came to the manor what Jason and Bruce did. Told the two that he knew how to help gather intel on the League long term as long as they could slip a microchip into one of the League's mainframe computers. The Plan went well, all things considered. Jason and Bruce came out of it with a few scars and a broken rib, which was less damage than expected. They sadly weren't able to catch many of the assassins in any of their micro explosions, but they overall won the battle.

After everything was said and done, Damian fit in well with their chaotically violent family. Even if he did prefer swords to explosives. It was much less strange than Dick's proclivities to only do harm when he felt it was strictly necessary. He gets it from Alfred, Bruce supposed.

[iamumbra195]

You know what I just realized? Jason Todd is the Dabi/Todoroki Touya of the Batman fandom

[beevean]

A theory I've read more than once is that this one frame of Lenore entering Hector's cell for the second time is proof that she is not actually enjoying what she has to do:

The wiki describes it as such: "Lenore has a sad expression when entering the dungeon to visit Hector the second time."

Also this, from a comment I found:

Like for example when she goes to meet Hector the second time, you can see sadness on her face when she is walking alone in the dungeon, but as soon as she approaches Hector she puts on a smile. I.e. may be she already knew she had to use the ring at that point and felt bad about it but didn't want Hector to realize that. A lot of such small animation details really provide a glimpse into what the explicit writing was lacking.

(edit: turns out that they were the same person)

Okay.

First things first: I doubt she has the ring in mind already. It's hard to tell because Lenore pulls it out of her ass with zero foreshadowing whatsoever, but with the way it was framed, the ring was likely a direct response to Striga's idea of buying mercenaries to make Hector unnecessary, which comes later into the story: Lenore even uses the information she eavesdropped from Striga as a way to lie to Hector about her loyalty to the sisters. In theory it makes sense, because Hector needs to be reliable to be allowed to live, but the ring is... a very poor solution the more you think about it, even if you ignore how S4 neutered it, because it only addresses one of the many logistic problems that come with forcing Hector to make an army of Night Creatures, and it's not the dead bodies/living livestock paradox. And going with the story, it's unlikely Lenore was already thinking of raping the ring into Hector: why would the sisters be amazed at her plan if they were the ones suggesting her to speed up things? And if Lenore came up with it, why would she be remorseful at her own idea? Did she have so little faith in her own manipulating skills that she already felt that she had no choice but to use "brute force", after one understandable incident? Then why even bother interrogating him to understand his motivations and needs? Just skip straight to the sexual molestation to make him believe she likes him. As I pointed out, that interrogation was not for the sake of painting herself as particularly caring: she was collecting intel, intel that she wouldn't need if her plan was already tricking Hector into slavery via a magic ring.

Second: that expression honestly doesn't look sad to me. I would be willing to give the interpretation some credit, because she's looking downwards which can be a sign of sadness, but after that one frame, she switches to this expression:

Now she looks mildly pissy, like the idea of talking to Hector is just soooooo annoying, ugh. She even has the sassy cocked eyebrow lmao.

Of course that can't be it, so I propose the most obvious interpretation: she's serious and deep in thought. That is because their first encounter ended up disastrously: Hector assaulted Lenore with the intent of threatening her, which pissed her off, and she assaulted Hector by beating him to an inch of his life, which is not the best way to win a pet's trust. So she's most likely thinking the best way to approach him again.

And I'll even praise a small detail: the first time Lenore fed Hector, she made him crawl towards her to eat from her hand. The second time, however, she tosses an apple to his feet. Both gestures are demeaning, but after that incident she seems to be more cautious towards him, and being more careful into manipulating him. I'm honestly surprised that her final solution is stupid as fuck when she can be intelligent when she wants to. real reason she's hector's soulmate: both of them have braincells like christmas tree lights :V

Third: oh, do you want to talk about explicit writing?

These are not freeze frame bonuses. The scene lingers on this expression on Lenore's face as Hector is screaming in pain over the ring she put on him.

So, you're willing to believe Lenore didn't want to use the ring but felt forced to because in one frame she has an expression that mildly looks displeased... but somehow you ignore this blatantly sadistic reaction? This screams, at the very least, "haha, sucker, I've won"; but add to this that Hector is visibly and audibly in pain, shocked and scared at the curse overtaking his body during a vulnerable moment...

This ties well with how she beat Hector to a pulp not just out of self-defense, but because she wanted to feel strong and powerful when surrounded by people who underestimate her - the writing might imply that she was offended that Hector too saw her as vulnerable and stupid, but she was explicitly laughing and mocking him while showing off her strength (a strength she doesn't display when, say, Isaac enters her cage: he easily intimidates her). You might read the implication that Lenore spoke about Hector so disgustingly to the sisters to be taken seriously as a vampire mistress and didn't actually want to dehumanize him, but explicitly, even ignoring the forced pet play that showed she had fun treating him like a dog, she reduced him to a "problem to be solved" when complaining about her woes, and when she could have apologized or explained herself she minimized or doubled down on the harm she caused, never once expressing any remorse or doing anything worthwile to make up for it (like, for example, talking about the ring and how it's a shame Hector is only there because he has no choice because she feels they'd be good friends without it: that would imply guilt).

In fact, going back to the moment when Lenore decides to use the ring, it is far more likely that it was in response to this part of the conversation Lenore has eavesdropped:

Striga: We can possibly push east as far as Lake Balaton before I run out of soldiers, but that exposes our Western border. Morana: Sleep. Striga: We can't do it without Lenore turning the forgemaster, and she's just taking him out for fucking walkies. Morana: She will land him. Striga: It's going to have to be soon.

Considering that it's shown that Lenore highly resents being seen as a stupid animal lover, it's far easier to think that this is when she got pissy and decided to use a quicker method, even if it destroyed all the hard manipulation work she had done.

One frame might paint her as a reluctant villain only trying to make everyone happy and being stuck between a rock and a hard place, but multiple scenes paint her as a vile bully and abuser who enjoys feeling in power and control, whether she uses kindness or harm to achieve her goal.

I'm sorry, subtext can absolutely enrich the understanding of a story or character, but not when it actively contradicts the text.

Do you want my personal example? I'll play the same game of overanalyzing expressions. When Isaac attacks the castle, Lenore goes to rescue Hector first thing, instead of checking on Carmilla. For one moment, she even looks torn on where to go:

I will praise this moment: this shows her concern for him quite nicely and that she believes his safety is the first priority, without having to spell it out - no declataration of love, no "you're too important to me", the action speaks for itself. However, there is also her reaction when Hector severs his finger to get rid of the ring, after he explains that "command and control flows through [him] to Lenore here and to her friends":

It could be simple disgust because, well, there's a severed finger and pools of blood lying near her. But I also see what the commenter saw in that frame in S3: sadness. Defeat. Lenore has lost control of the Night Creatures. She can't do anything to protect Carmilla and the castle. And she has lost control of Hector, who has gone behind her back and is protecting her at the expense of her sisters and home: he may chose to stay with her, but he also gave Isaac all the tools he needs to destroy her life. She's powerless. Everything she has worked for went up in smokes and was pointless. Which, as it was shown and told, greatly bothers her. (this is also why I believe her suicide makes sense for her state of being, an opinion apparently not shared by her fans)

I see all of this encapsulated into that expression that mixes disgust, concern and quiet, horrified realization: and it's also fully backed up by the context.

This leads to the message I keep insisting on and which is something that more people need to learn, and the reason I keep eviscerating this character because the writing and the fandom piss me off something fierce: abusers can care about you. They can care about your safety and well being, they can want what (they think) it's best for you. What makes them abusers is that they place more importance on their own need of control. Lenore wanting to save Hector because she pitied him, has grown close to him and eventually finds in him someone who listens to her doesn't at all erase in the slightest all the harm she has caused him: which, I reiterate, includes lying to him and taking advantage of his feelings and need for love to trick him into sex with the objective of placing a slave ring on him, and enjoying his suffering when she won - and when Hector called her out on this, her response was "SHUSH, YOU WERE HAVING FUN".

At the end of the day, she has never stopped behaving like a vampire, a creature whose definition of love is "acting to keep something with you for as long as you can". Even in her most wholesome scenes, like this one or the one where she pleads for more of Carmilla's patience, it's easy to see at the core of it all a need to control the situation and people involved, and reluctance to admit her needless cruelty. This is nuance, not "she's actually good deep down, pls ignore all the sexual abuse because it was for Hector's own good 🥺".

On one hand, it's true that when you do character analyses, you will always be biased, because you come in with your ideas and preconceptions. I am biased too, of course, you can tell. On the other, it's dishonest to cling only onto the most convenient hidden details to look like you have fully understood the text, when you dismiss the most obvious ones that are so obvious you have to actively try to.

[laurelwinchester]

at some point a certain fandom within the spn fandom is going to have to do some self reflection and figure out why they're so

a) wildly entitled for no reason

and b) utterly obsessed with portraying themselves as victims because they didn't get what they wanted out of a fictional ship on a cw television series.

[shadelorde]

I’m gonna be real with yall Kuvira is my least favorite LoK villain by a long shot

[mariathechosen1]

Nate Shelley is a great character actually, some of y’all are just racist

[huffle-dork]

(Wrote a swapboys fight between bro and alt cuz I had a bad fight today- this was cathartic. Most likely not canon but fun to explore none the less!)

Impulse and Bro Fantastic exchanged blows with a massive amount of power radiating from them. It causes a shockwave to rocket out, making the two boys fly apart from each other and skid across the ground. Alt skips like a stone, bouncing then landing on his feet, shaking himself off like a cat. His mask has been blown off, but he doesn't look bothered as he glares at the hero with pure hatred in his glowing green eyes.

Bro fumbles to right himself, his arms shaking. But, he can’t show weakness. Not here… not in front of Alt. Since he started working for Magnificent, he’s gotten so much stronger… so much so that Bro felt almost nervous facing him. But, also because deep down… he didn’t want to hurt him.

But, today… seeing that hatred radiating off the boy finally broke Bro. He felt angry tears in his eyes as he pushes himself up, staggering slightly as various burns on his skin were tugged painfully by the movement. “Alt-”

The glitch stiffens then bares his teeth in a snarl. “Is that really all you got, Fantastic?” He tries to taunt. But, there’s no playfulness in his banter. Just pure anger.

Bro continues though, stepping closer, desperation in his eyes. “i-I don’t get it! …why? Even after all of this i…. Why?!” He cries. “Why do you suddenly hate me so much?! So much that you’d throw away a-any of the good left in you, to work for a fucking mad man? Do you hate me that much??”

Alt’s gaze does not soften- doesn’t let up in its burning anger. “You wanna know why?!” He spits out, as if the question burns him.

“Yes!” Bro emphasizes, “Because I don’t understand! I… I know i messed up but i-”

“You messed up, alright!” Alt snarls feral, magic sparking off him in a wild display of his emotions. He steps forward, clearly limping but his fury keeps him moving. Lights in the streetlights above them flicker and then burst one by one as he glares at the hero. Bro feels his heart racing as he tries to step back. Yet, Alt continues. “You- you used your paranoia to take my one fucking safe space away from me! You thought you were so fucking above me that- that it negated all the hard work i had been doing to be better!” He tries his best to hide the tears in his eyes, the heat of the magic starting to burn the air, burning away the lingering wetness in his tear ducts.

“I was trying… I was trying so hard for you. For all of you. I wanted to do right by you.” He bites out, his voice almost breaking.

And Bro feels his heart snapping in two. “A-Alt-”

“But it didnt fucking matter did it?!” The glitch yells now, more lights and electronics nearby breaking in an explosion of magic. “Because you deemed me dangerous! You… who stuck around and tried to save me from Mag! You… who saw something in me to save-”

That hatred is back in his eyes as he glares back at Chase, his voice cold as an ice storm. “Or was that all a lie, Chase?”

“I-It wasn’t-” Chase warbles out quietly. “I…I was stupid- I know it now! I… I should have believed in you more… I’m sorry-”

“It’s too fucking late for sorries, Brody!” Alt snarls, magic sparking at his fingertips. “It’s not gonna matter- none of this fucking matters. I just need you out of my way- so… stop fucking trying, you worthless excuse of a hero!”

That… stings. Bro fully feels himself crying now, lowering his face to cover it. His whole body is shaking. “...why? Can’t we… forget this? T-Try again? … you don’t want to hurt people like this Alt- i can see it in you…”

“You didn’t see that before-”

“AND I'M SORRY!” Chase yells, blue glowing in his eyes. “I’m sorry i was fucking blind! That i didn’t know what you needed! It’s not like you ever opened up to any of us anyways! How was I supposed to know?!”

“If you had brains maybe you could use them, hero!” Alt spits, “Did you really think a recovering thief would be okay with his friends thinking he’s some dangerous monster?! That someone who was a victim of a manipulative puppet master didn’t already feel like he didn’t deserve to be around people like all of you?!”

“I… I didn’t even think of it-” Chase tries to interject.

“Of course you didn’t! Because your life has always been perfect! Perfect Chase Brody- star student, star nephew! Perfect grades, you had great fucking friends! You never faced hardship in your entire fucking life!”

Chase was about to snap that that wasn't true. But, then he froze. “How… How did you… you know all of that…?” He whispers.

Alt growls through gritted teeth, “Because I’m the one who had to watch you from the fucking sidelines! Trying to fill your impossibly big shoes! How could I ever fucking compete with perfection?! And now you’re a fucking superhero- just- ARGH!” He throws out magic and destroys a postbox nearby with a blast of concentrated magic, sending mail flying around them. “Fuck you! Fuck you- you couldn’t get out of your own goodamn big head to see anyone else suffering around you! Like your fucking brother!

Where were you Chase?!” Alt suddenly screams, tears falling rapidly down his face, his anger now morphing into desperation. “Where were you when I fucking needed you?! You sorry excuse for a brother!!! Where were you when I almost died time and time again on these streets?! When i needed you?! If you had fucking powers- why couldn’t you save me then?!”

The world feels like it's falling apart as Chase processes the words coming from Alt’s mouth. He… He hadn’t dared to hope but… “A…Anti…?” He whispers in shock.

Hearing his chosen name is enough to snap Alt out of his rant- his anger momentarily gone. Replaced with bone-chilling dread.

“Wait- wait no I-” He stammers, glitching back. “Forget that- forget all of that!”

Bro tries to stagger forward, disbelief in his eyes. “Anti- it… it’s really… you?” He looks like he’s seen a ghost. “... is that… how you really feel… about me…? All these years…?”

Alt looks at Chase like he’s an approaching predator, cowering away like a cornered animal. His magic responds in kind, a flickering spiral of glitching magic appearing behind him. His eyes spiraled with blue and green magic.

“Forget!” He cries desperately, his emotions affecting his magic in ways he can’t control. The pressure of the spiral is overwhelming, hitting Chase like a truck and sending him to his knees. His eyes fill completely with the glowing magic. He grabs at his head and tries to choke out to Alt, “N-No Anti…! P-Please-!”

Alt can’t hear him, he’s pushing all he can against Bro, trying to find the last few minutes in his mind and destroy them. “Forget- forgetforgetforget!” He shakily commands. His hands shake. He’s trying not to fall into his panic. “Forget what I just told you! Forget that I’m your brother! Forget forget forget!!”

Eventually, Bro stops struggling, his eyes glazing over completely as he slumps to the ground, arms falling beside him limply. Slumped over like a fallen doll.

Alt breathes heavily, looking down at Bro with his blood roaring in his ears.

What… did he just do…?

He shakily steps away from the hero, his legs feeling like jelly. He looks at his hands as if he can’t recognize them. He looks one more time at Chase before he disappears in a flurry of glitches.

Chase feels a tear falling off his chin numbly, as the entire encounter they just had was purged from his memory…

For reasons he didn’t understand… it felt like his heart was crying.