#i hate that she ended up with her abuser

[vaugarde]

havent seen this take in a while thankfully but it popped up in my head and i wanna post this anyways. i think everyone who talks about how siffrin “got off too easy” at the end of isat and his friends should have abandoned him should go read warrior cats if they want an example of a character using their trauma as their god-given jailbreak card to treat their family and peers (a good amount of whom who were completely innocent) like dogshit, and who faces zero consequences from the narrative for it (and in fact bends over to blame their peers). like read all the shit jayfeather does while the narrative sobs over how tragic but awesome and quirky he is and then look me in the eye and tell me siffrin’s ending was poorly written.

[buddiesmutslut]

One thing I hate so much about 911 is the LACK OF APOLOGIES.

Bobby shoves Buck against the wall in s1 & it’s written off as acceptable bc Buck is being nosy, like being annoying is a good excuse to put your hands on an employee.

Buck apologized for the lawsuit & not being around in s3, but Bobby never apologized for holding him back (& lying about it) & Eddie never apologized for screaming at him in the grocery store.

Chim assaulted Buck in his apartment before going after Maddie, and it was never addressed. (Also, does anyone remember if Chim apologized for keeping the Daniel secret from Buck but not the bomber in that one episode? I genuinely can’t remember, I haven’t watched the first seasons in like, a year.)

Also, does Maddie ever apologize for telling their parents about Buck being in therapy? I know they fought about it, but it was also tied in with the Daniel secret (which was fucked but they talked about that) and I can’t remember, but that was kind of shitty, too.

Buck maybe purposefully gets rough with Eddie and definitely hurts his ankle during the game. Sure, we see him feeling bad about it & Maddie scolding him, but no actual apology to his best friend, not even a mention of one.

Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, & idk man, people are flawed, and I know that these characters aren’t perfect, but part of that is apologizing & making amends when you’re wrong. So much stuff is just glanced over to keep the story moving, and I get it but I’m not a huge fan of it. They all have this great, family bond, but how sustainable is that when you’re not owning up to your mistakes and making it right when you hurt someone?

[angelnumber27]

It’s so embarrassing and heartbreaking being in so much pain over losing someone while knowing they don’t give a fuck if you live or die. Your favorite person becoming a stranger is a special kind of hell.

[neechees]

In my rereads of Memoirs of a Geisha (Id read it first when I was a teenager, before i knew the author had stolen the life story of Mineko Iwasaki) I'd realized just how misogynist the story is. One of the glowing reviews of the book is that the author was praised for writing such an "accurate" and sensitive portrayal of a female character, but then all her relationships with women are portrayed as catty & negative while all her most positive relationships are with men that she looks on fondly, even when theyve been nothing but shitty to her. All the women in her life are either abusive bullies from the start, or good ones that turn sour where they betray her in some way, & her whole sphere of women is just catty & superficial & mean.

& Golden even wrote in negative relationships where in Iwasaki's life (the source that he was stealing from), they were POSITIVE ones for her

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

JoJo Siwa doesn’t deserve all the hate (and homophobia) she’s getting for her style and music; but she does deserve scrutiny for defending Colleen Ballinger and being both active and complicit in abuse that happened on her TV show. Like the girl has been under the public eye in unhealthy environments all her life; cut her some slack — not too much; she’s still a responsible adult — but if you’re going to dogpile her, then at least dogpile her for the right reasons. Jesus Fucking Christ.

[thevaelguard]

Highly intelligent women disrespected by their fandoms for being autistic-coded women

[justanisabelakinnie]

Lacey’s Diner is clearly a metaphor for prostitution/sex trafficking and how victims of sex trafficking are often abused and exploited by customers and the industries they work for alike to the point where many of them get addicted to drugs and take their own lives in this essay I will

[oblako]

she is just a girl who is so so scared </3

[the-owl-tree]

I know you haven't posted a profile leader of the isekai girls' clan yet, and if you don't have all the details for them ironed out yet (besides Honeypaw and Frostblaze both being the leaders kits) that's all good. But while looking at your latest post about the au, it got me thinking: how do you think the leader feels about 'Honeypaw''s sudden personality change, unnatural (because they're human moves) new fighting style, and tendency to walk on her hind legs? Because I'd imagine even if they weren't particularly close before Honey replaced her, it'd definitely be eyebrow raising to someone who knew her beforehand.

i'll definitely be putting the parents on my to-do list since I have thought of them, mainly because my inspiration is a mix of things that made go oooh yes or pissed me off so badly i stole them JUST to tear them apart in this lol

Honeypaw's relationship with her father, Owlstar, is strained. His relationship with her mother is purely political: he wants an heir, she wanted to join their Clan. In the books (from Frostblaze's perspective), he's written as an aloof but noble cat who can be stern but only because he cares. In the "real" world of the book...he's a standoffish, absent father who cares little about Honeypaw (due to her lack of resemblance to him) and often speaks of his disappointment (despite him having little presence in her life to guide her).

When the real Honeypaw is killed, he is sad and he does grieve...but doesn't stay for the ceremony. When she does come, he's happy! He welcomes her, nuzzles her in greeting, and visits her in the medic's den as she recovers...but it's also stilted, awkward, and suffocating for them both. He says very little and sometimes scolds her for her recklessness (and while in the book this is passed off as him "caring but struggling show it", in practice...it just comes off as apathy to Honey & Honeypaw).

I'd imagine her first few moons of weirdness is him passing it off as a cry for attention until it continues...and not only does she no longer seek his approval, she actively avoids him. Honey would realize his and Honeypaw's relationship is strained pretty early on and, to keep Honeypaw from being in a bad mood and also to avoid having her own father scold her (her body more than her soul), basically stays out of his way.

I can't imagine he'd investigate too much, he's more preoccupied with his successful heir (even if he can't reveal her yet). It's only when Honeypaw continues to poke around, find out more secrets than she's supposed to that he begins to really question what's going on.

Honeypaw's mother, Beesnap, is also different than in her story form. In the book, she's written as a volatile, self-absorbed mother who defends Honeypaw with her fierce temper no matter what her daughter does. When Honey actually meets her? Beesnap is a rogue-born she-cat and her status as truly a member of the Clan is always being questioned. As a result of being isolated and demeaned, she put on a facade of confidence and snootiness, intent on not letting them get to her. When Honeykit was born, her only daughter, she vowed to make sure her child had a better life in the Clan than she'd be given - resulting in her fierce outbursts to defend her child. Owlstar is absent in Honeypaw's life and that only made Beesnap more focused on protecting her.

Beesnap knows something's going on with her kid but doesn't confront her for some reason. She becomes a cat that Honey goes to advice to often when Splashpaw is busy. Eventually I think Honey does try to reveal the truth...but Beesnap probably doesn't take the fact that her beloved daughter's been body snatched very well.

Her unnatural behavior does freak them both out, Beesnap keeps having to whisper for her daughter to stOP WALKING LIKE THAT EVERYONE IS STARING AT YOU-

ty for asking!! i kind of went off topic but your question got me thinking so i ended up rambling lol both of these guys are mainly inspired from how wc and these specific webcomics treat parents and i think that shows

[helpimstuckinafandom]

JUSTICE FOR DAVINA CLAIRE I'M SO FUCKING SERIOUS FUCK OFF OH MY FUCKING GOD

[shopcat]

also now that it's fresh what we see of little azula in zuko alone really is not all that ... anything at all. like she's not horrifically evil or predeterminedly ANYTHING ... she's literally ten years old. she's acting like a ten year old ?! she trips her friend and pushes her big brother into a fountain. my brothers use to lock me in chests and there's literally an entire popular childhood game made up that's about tricking your friend into giving them a nosebleed by hitting them in the face. and her biggest crime is ... having a talent for firebending, which isn't actually her fault despite what people seem to strangely think, and parroting strategy and propaganda that her actual manipulative and evil father tells her that she clearly grew up around and doesn't just Randomly Know.

both of these particular aspects of her put her in a position of immense pressure by her father from an incredibly young age, in an incredibly volatile environment where she knows, and as the years pass she LEARNS, a slip up or indication of less than perfection could cost her more than just a basic reprimanding. people harp on for years about gifted children and the ramification of treating a child as more mature or capable than they are but can't seem to apply the pretty much perfect comparison even in this fictional way... that's crazy. it is literally her entire narrative arc and the way it just goes over people's heads is ASTONISHING.

like it seriously frustrates me the way people continue to villainise azula beyond logic to the point where there's this fanonised, warped version of her that exists (particularly as an even younger child than she already is) that's like, the antichrist figure to further woobify and "legitimise" zuko's various traumas and his childhood, which i find not only obviously fucking ridiculous and people should be ashamed of themselves but also like, you just don't have to do that. theirs was not a normal childhood and neither of them should be judged as a normal child, but also paradoxically, they are just normal children.

even if azula was in an average family, from a behavioural standpoint, and a LOGICAL standpoint, no, the ten year old little girl doesn't know the full capacity of what she's doing and saying and should not be judged as if an older child or adult were saying them, or as if she is entirely outside of the narrative scope. she teases zuko about how their grandfather was going to "kill him" and how he should get adopted now (which literally... all my siblings have done have people never had siblings...) which is an entirely normal way of acting out and picking fights. when ursa comes in she immediately acts innocent which no, doesn't indicate further malicious intent or "manipulation", it's... how any 10 year old would act if she got caught being naughty and picking fights. (contrary to popular belief zuko is not the main character both of the story and IN LIFE, and azula exists without her brother around – a child scared to get caught indicates a child who has been driven to be SCARED. in the household she lives in this applies tenfold).

she would have no actual reason to realise the outside forces actually at play, unlike their mother, and just like it's not her fault zuko is treated unfairly for being the "unfavoured" child it's not her fault that... adults were actually conspiring to kill her brother. which is a huge thing and is something almost intolerably inconceivable to most adults let alone children.

"but she was callous about her mom leaving" she wouldn't be able to REGISTER anything about their mother "disappearing" (or dying, at least to them at this point in time) within the... 10 hours? it happened in. she was lashing out again. she did not have a hand in "KILLING" her mother. and honestly from what little we did see of ursa, a predisposition to finding your own child unsavoury is kind of unwantonly cruel. these characters don't know that they exist in a narrative where azula is being set up as The Villain, who has to act Villainous, and honestly that's a boring fucking way to look at character behaviour anyway.

as much as i do agree that obviously it's a story and things happen for narrative enhancement, the enrichment of a story comes from the believability of a character's actions and even if that weren't true, half of what people as fans of something do is further that themselves by inferring what we can from what we see and therefore i think i'm right in thinking this anyway. you can't step up to the plate claiming you can handle depth and give me a puddle -_-. anyway. it is insanely unbelievable that a mother should write off her own child and favour the other just because her megalomaniacal husband has shown interest in cultivating his own child as a weapon, and just Plain Insane that so many people write off this character entirely WHILST giving all HER trauma to ZUKO.

also like, she's not even acting like a particularly spoiled princess COULD act like in the beginning she's just kind of an annoying kid. i'm not kidding when i say she's acting pretty much entirely normal. "she set her dolls head on fire" so has every other kid i've ever known. i'm actually going to lose my mind about how people have twisted her character into something so beyond any sort of empathy or consideration of what a child of a manipulative genocidal maniac who is shown to abuse his kids could possibly look and act like when we literally get it served up on a silver platter the entire show in the difference between zuko and azula. "azula always lies" because azula always plays the part to protect herself and the role she was manipulated into thinking she earned is like, the foundation of her character and it's embarassing the way i see so many people just like. fall for it. the inability to conceive any sort of love or compassion for a character that directly parallels the male character everyone trips over to analyse is really transparent and sad tbh. at the end of the day azula haters will be taters as i prosper in my garden of success of loving her and being capable of having a brain.

[dootznbootz]

opinions on helen of sparta being compared to prey animals? blink blink

*blink blinks back* Then immediately sits like this because of the question.

It's a good question that I'm happy to answer! It just makes me mad.... I sincerely hate the wording of "prey" being used to describe her.

SHE IS A VICTIM! THAT DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS "PREY"!

I can...see how people in ancient times may have used that word and still meant it in how she is a victim... but modern-day English-speaking people calling her that??? (considering how in different languages the word "prey" could have different meanings.) I'll just say that as someone who has been "prey" herself at one point, I REALLY hate that word as a descriptor. Just say victim or survivor. 👍

Honestly to call ANY victim "prey" is so fucked up. "Prey" to me, feels like "it's meant to happen." "Prey" are part of the food chain and so that's what happens. And to compare that to abduction and SA? Almost as if "that's our place"? It also kind of implies something being "eaten" or killed... Helen SURVIVES. She's traumatized and definitely needs healing and support but it's not like she can't find joy or peace ever again. Prey just feels so fucking gross.

Also, if someone calls victims "prey", I hope they know that Moose, Elk, Boars, Bovine, ZEBRAS, etc. are technically "prey". And these are VERY aggressive animals while still being "prey" for some other animals. And also that doesn't mean that "Oh, they're powerful! Clearly they should've been able to stop it." That's victim blaming :P

She is a clever, determined, caring woman who was ripped from her home for YEARS because Paris was a dipshit who decided he needed the prettiest woman in the world despite already having a wife. He didn't care about the fact that Helen didn't want to be there and was already married. He is so selfish that he will not let her go back even when THOUSANDS have died in the war! EVEN HIS BROTHER HECTOR AND PRIAM DO NOT BLAME HER! Granted, we do not know if Aphrodite would have let him undo their deal of "I want the prettiest woman" if he DID end up feeling bad for Helen and he wished to let her go home (I doubt it based on his personality though).

"Oh, if she is so independent/strong, then why didn't she just kill Paris and leave?"

AGAIN! Victim blaming!!! First thing, people who ask that have media literacy that is piss on the poor. You also have no idea about the political implications that would have happened if she DID kill Paris. She literally cries about staying there and argues with Aphrodite about seeing Paris, only to get strongarmed by Aphrodite as, guess what? A GODDESS WILL ALWAYS OVERPOWER A DEMIGOD. (This isn't Percy Jackson where he "killed" Ares as a 12 year old (Percy, you were my childhood, but that's bullshit.))

Even confined in Troy, she ARGUED with APHRODITE about going to see Paris! She is not some meek woman who just does as she's told with no pushback! She argued with a GODDESSS! Very few survive doing that!!!

She's not "Prey to fate", she's a "VICTIM of Fate".

[the100isracist]

Idk if yall are still active but I just eagerly quit this show around early season two. I was kinda hate watching the whole way, but I started googling spoilers when I saw how fucked they were being to Lincoln and Raven (and more, but they’re my faves). Do you have any show recs that are similar with the shows “building a new civilization after tragedy” (minus the colonization and racism etc)

hey!

i actually binged the entire show recently and i can confidently say it was not as groundbreaking or cool as the showrunner believed. the first 2 seasons were incredible but it just devolved into a mess and the ending was so dark and horrifying. also the fandom was completely unhinged and did not need to act the way they did 😭

onto your question: yes!!!! battlestar galactica is what inspired me to watch the 100 in the first place. it very much shares the themes of mass tragedy, civilizational warfare, living in space, seeking a new home, and humanity fighting for survival without losing its soul. start with the 2003 miniseries (a three hour pilot) tho or it might be confusing. it also has diversity without the weird racist tones of the 100's diversity, although the cast is a lot whiter. the 100 has also obviously borrowed a lot of concepts and terms from it but i don't want to spoil you. all in all, it is one of the best shows i have ever watched and it delivers until its very last second.

lost in space is also quite cool. and i have heard good things about the expanse! another show that shares some themes (without the space element) is the society - very fascinating

[butteryunlikelylady]

it was never my life to live and he didn’t fall for the real me… he fell for an accessory and thought he could just change the label while things stayed the same

[orcelito]

I'm at the painful "confession" scene during the kage summit arc. It really is so emotional, but also... hm.

When I was younger, like 13 or so, I was a big Sakura and Naruto shipper. They were the first pairing I read fanfic for even. And in a way, I do still enjoy the two of them together... but it's moments like these that really drive home the fact that it Doesn't really work in canon. Not the way that it's set up.

As Sakura puts it, "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! That's all you think about!"

She's told that Naruto has feelings for her and decides to use it to convince him to stop going after Sasuke. She does love him, but not in the way she's trying to confess. The love they share is one of comradery, not necessarily romantic. The love of two people who have gone through such pain together, and who have leaned on each other throughout it all. And the fact that she's turning around and saying she loves him "simply like everyone else", now... it's trivializing. And the fact that she's trying to convince him of this, the fact that she thinks she Can convince him of this, is pretty hurtful. They've come a long way from when they were kids, Naruto the goofball vying for her attention while she yelled at him for being stupid. Sakura respects Naruto so much more than before, and Naruto respects her too. So the fact that she's still doing this... She's desperate, really. She thinks the promise he made to her to bring Sasuke home is what's driving him to let himself be hurt over and over and over again in the pursuit and protection of Sasuke.

But she's wrong.

That may be part of it, but it's only part. Naruto wants Sasuke back for himself, too. He let himself be beat up to avoid selling him out. He chases after him with single minded determination. Sasuke is his entire drive to get stronger, to catch up, to bring him home. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke indeed.

As it is, Naruto knows she's lying to herself. And no matter what she says, he will keep going after Sasuke. Because that's just the person that Naruto is.