#i love trauma i love when multiple characters have suffered from a single event but dear god this was handled so shittily

[vicsuragi]

okay i finally watched an episode from the correct season of ordinary lies and i am so fucking confused that was such a 90 degree turn they took in the last 10 minutes.

[theanimeview]

[Theory] Villains Are Destined to Die: I Think It’s a Coma (Spoilers)

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Villains-Are-Destined-Die-Vol/dp/B0B5JTTG2N?

By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

I tend to dislike “it’s a coma” theories when I read them because the idea of everything being a dream or part of a coma is overused and clichéd. However, I can’t say that these types of theories don’t have merit. I mean, a cliché becomes one for a reason, right? And, for the first time (I think) in my reading of a work, I have a coma theory.

For some context, a coma theory is a common fan theory in which the main character of a story is theorized to be in a coma. The events of the story are imagined or dreamed up by the character while they are unconscious, suggesting that the character’s subconscious is creating an alternate reality to cope with the trauma of their injury or illness. The coma theory has been applied to a wide range of fictional works and is sometimes made canonical in the work itself. For example, Bones had an episode in which the main character Booth was in a medically induced coma for a short period, and he dreamed of an alternate life. There are movies too the most prevalent example being Disney’s The Wizard of Oz (1939) adaptation wherein Dorothy wakes up from a dream at the end and exclaims that everyone around her was also in her dream of an alternate world. However, despite being a trope in fan theory communities, these kinds of theories are often dismissed, usually because of canonical reasoning.

While a coma theory is often easily dismissed, I don’t think that will be the case for Villains Are Destined to Die. Rather, I believe that the creators of the series, SUOL and Gwon Gyeoeul, intend for this story to be about a coma victim rather than a girl who has simply transmigrated into an otome-game. Moreover, I don’t think that they plan to have her wake up at the end. Let’s get into it:

For those not yet familiar with this story or those needing a refresher, Villains Are Destined to Die follows the story of a college student who is excited to start school and pursue her interest in, assumably, archeology. This college girl has a tragic backstory. Following the death of her mother, she was taken in by her biological father who was also parenting her two older half-brothers. Her relatives were not friendly or welcoming, and she seemed to suffer from neglect and bullying at home–regularly finding herself starved for attention and food. She has found some success in school and living in an apartment away from home.

While she does not have much in terms of a disposable income, she does have a single vice for the mobile otome-game “Daughter of the Duke, Love Project” that is popular at her school. She has played the game multiple times at varying levels of difficulty as the heroine, but in the final and hardest mode, she’s set to play as the hated villainess Penelope Eckhart. In this version, she’ll be given a head start prior to the heroine, and since the game is set to the most difficult setting, one wrong move could lead to death. Upon pressing start, she is able to play in hard mode a few times before going to bed. However, after falling asleep, she wakes up not in her bedroom but in the body of Penelope Eckhart. To make matters worse, there’s no reset button in sight, with options that are limited and painfully difficult to comply with, “Penelope”–the main character–has an end goal of gaining the full affection of at least one of the male leads to clear the game in a single play through if she hopes to be released from her death flag filled fate, and all five romantic interests are going to be extremely hard to charm for various reasons given her role as the villainess. Moreover, she really only has a chance up until the game’s normal/easy-mode heroine makes an entrance since the heroine has a much easier time romancing the male leads.

Source: Villains Are Destined to Die, Chapter 44

Changing The Story & Overlapping Visions

While in this other world, Penelope regularly gets a window and otome-interface, and while the choices on the interface make a difference, the otome’s story progression is not optional for Penelope, so the story will progress through the game regardless of Penelope’s agreement or disagreement. What I have noticed though is that her words have a significant amount of influence over current events and the story than the choices she makes that are provided through the otome-interface. This is the first plot inclusion that makes me think Penelope is in a coma, and not just a character that has been transmigrated into the otome game.

For example, in Chapter 44, Penelope gives game-Penelope a tragic backstory that overlaps with her own past from the real-world. This includes the events of being taken in by her biological father, the tragedy of starving and the bullying at home, as well as the dashed hopes of living a happier life with her father and half-siblings in said home. We know that Penelope is drawing on the experiences of her past because she tells us so. We also know that this Penelope is unaware of whether these events are true to game-Penelope’s past.

After Penelope overlaps her personal story with game-Penelope’s situation, this becomes the new reality of the chacater’s past as shown in a later chapter when Duke Eckhart confirms in a later chapter the tragic beginnings that current-Penelope created in Chapter 44, which included not just her real-life experiences but also a bit of potential fiction–like being in the presence of her mother’s deceased body for a period of time and eating of rotten food from the trash to survive prior to being taken in by her father.

Source: Villains Are Destined to Die, Chapter 17

Beyond the overlap of visual imagery, I believe that there is a potential argument for the overlap of the sensory experiences too. This is certainly more speculative, but not without some merit. Many coma patients, particularly those who have undergone a medically induced coma for treatment have described sensory overlap between what was happening to their bodies and what was going on in their dreams.

For example, ice packs being laid upon the body to help lower a fever being perceived in a dream as having visited a cold place or overheard conversations being perceived as a personal interaction. Claire Lucia Wineland’s, an American activist who spoke on health issues and illnesses among other things, video on this subject provides a great example:

Title: Claire Wineland Talks About Being In a Coma | Source: https://youtu.be/DRQoayUBcBE

In the literary depiction of a dreamworld or coma story, rather than multiple dreams the patient tends to have one long and continued narrative. As such, Penelope’s story of transmigrating to a game-world and staying in the dream consistently as the story progresses makes sense.

Penelope seems to get injured around her neck and other places pretty consistently and I believe that these could be examples of further sensory overlap. For example, in Chapter 2, she wakes up from a pin prick by her maid, which could be her body experiencing the real-life introduction of an IV. There is also the cut to her neck in Season 1, and an additional neck injury near the end of Season 2 that I suspect could also be related to patient care as long-term coma patients often require additional supportive care like breathing assistance and the administration of medicines through multiple veins. Perhaps, going a step further, what she experiences as arguments or unexpected visits from her game-family are actually her experiencing her real family visiting her in the hospital. This would match well with the overlapping images we see in the arguments with her second brother, and also account for some of the responses she’s getting.

Perhaps as the affection levels of the leads go up, what she’s really seeing is a softer or more affectionate side to her neglectful family. Assumably, then, the other male leads and characters could have another real-world equivalent too. Perhaps doctors or nurses, which would explain why she has a much easier time raising the affection levels of those outside the family and those in the duchy.

In The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation, there was also a high level of overlap between the real-world family and friends of Dorothy and the characters from her dream, as revealed at the end of the movie. Dorothy also had a level of impact in the world and story progression, as she made the choice to help others and often decided what the group would do (and why they would do it). This also seems to be a trope of many other examples of coma-storylines when seeing the story from the dreaming character’s perspective.

Source: Villains Are Destined to Die, Chapter 2, 8

A Chance To Change & Waking Up

The idea behind coma plotlines is typically that, in this dream, there is a chance for self-reflection and a change of perspective. If Penelope is in a coma state, then the trope would be that she needs or is reflecting on her biological family’s treatment of her and letting go of that pain. If my theory is correct regarding the affection levels, then she may unconsciously be repairing her relationships (literally) as the family comes to visit. However, Penelope is pretty clear that it doesn’t matter whether the relationships repair or not. Frankly, I don’t blame her since these characters are not really making a redeeming effort as time goes on outside of, maybe, Penelope���s personal maid.

All that matters is Penelope surviving and gaining the freedom she’s always longed for since coming into her father’s house. A freedom where she can explore her passion for archeology, enjoy a life away from her cruel family, and perhaps find the same kind of love the heroine from her favorite game experiences. This is why I think the creators don’t plan to have Penelope wake up at the end.

If Dorothy’s freedom was longing for home and the motto “There’s no place like home,” Penelope’s would be the complete opposite. With the choice to stay in a dream that ends happily as romances do, or the choice to return home–I think Penelope would choose the former because of how awful her family has been and how difficult the real-world is compared to the wonderful dream that’s getting better all the time.

That’s my theory. What do you all think?

As a side note: To be honest, I’m thinking about picking up the novel to find out. I know that adaptations to a different form often take on different story aspects or even different plots entirely, but I want to know if the same thing that has happened in the comic has occurred in the original novel text too. Out of all the transmigrated to a game-world as the villainess stories I’ve read, this one really does feel like it is trying to do the “it’s a coma” trope rather than an actual tale of transmigration and I kind of want to read about it to see if the feeling sticks. If, and this a big if, she is in a coma story, do you think she’ll wake up? That is the most typical answer, but I’m leaning heavily towards a “no,” and I’d be interested to hear if others agree or disagree with me. Well, thanks for reading!

[thistle-and-thorn]

Hi,

I think you’re maybe busy but if you get some time please tell me some stuff you love about the wolf hall trilogy (or even things that frustrate you). I’m having Rafe Sadler sadness hours just now (due to complicated real life projection stuff) and I just love to hear people talk about Wolf Hall so…

Hope you’re having a lovely All Hallows’ and that you have a beautiful week.

♥️♥️♥️s

I AM BUSY which means I am actively searching for ways to procrastinate so thank you for this!

1. I love the writing. Hilary Mantel just knew how to turn a phrase, for real. It’s like walking through a maze of language and finding new dimensions of how to express things.

2. I love the sense of immediacy. Like, I feel like I know the events around this historical period pretty intimately. And when Thomas More and Anne Boleyn were being executed at the end of the first two novels; I was riveted and shocked? Like omg she DIED. I didn’t know that (with my seven Anne Boleyn biographies on the wall behind me like). And I think that comes from a really careful use of perspective. In historical fiction novels, often, there’s a character where there’s a nudge nudge wink wink moment of prophecy. And it’s like that is not real life at all. And it puts you the reader in a sort of Greek chorus position? We are Cassandra screaming in grief as Cromwell and Cramner sit by the fire and share a warm human moment knowing that they will die in horrific ways.

3. I adore how she made Cromwell an actual sixteenth century man. Too often, historical fiction works to make characters sympathetic by making an argument for their morality and it feels out of step with their time and the power structures in place. She doesn’t try to make him sympathetic at all really and I think, the acts of cruelty that he suffers and acts out are complicated by that. Cromwell does terrible things…and we should still root against the cruelty done unto him because of his dignity as a human being not because he’s a good human being. It’s a bigger and more radical political point than a person should be treated well because we can relate to them or we consider them moral.

4. I love the humor in these books. There are really wry and clever moments in here. I laughed out loud multiple times throughout.

5. I love how the books’ statements about power are really statements about grief. It’s a trilogy about how corrosive grief can be. It’s not that reflections power and absolutism aren’t cornerstones of the books—but it’s about a little boy who lost his father and about a man who lost his wife and child. Henry, too, in his dream scene is like trying to find out what Henry VII wanted from him, they’re all just boys trying to rise above and seek agency from the men who made them. And, in Cromwell’s case, he gravitated towards Henry as a substitute for his father, a new maker, gravitated to him even more when Wolsey (a kind and loving father figure) and his family dies (and takes with them, his stable and happy ending). And like a lot of people who don’t process their trauma in a healthy way, the man who on a surface level seems the opposite of Walter—powerful, charming, beautiful—ends up being exactly like his father. The scene where Cromwell internally roars, “My father would not have allowed this to happen!” broke me apart into a million pieces. He’s a little boy!!!! And how it prevents him from binding with his own son!!!!!!!!!! *screams cries throws up*

6. This is a detail but I love some of the motifs in this book. The legend of giants as kings; “Stephen Gardiner is going out as he is coming in” repeated in every book!!!!!!!!!!!!! Iykyk

7. I love how each book ends with an execution and how each book we get a slightly different Cromwell? Like he gets deader and deader until he is a mere husk of a man with nothing left to live for!!! We Stan.

8. I love how, at least in Cromwell’s mind, he could fuck any single person he wanted at any time 😂😂😂 good for him. And it says so much about his conception of power?!?! The fact that there’s also all these potential love stories that just fizzle and die before they even leave his imagination and the hope for a future that bears any resemblance to the normal domesticity he starts out with disappears. The way his expectations and hopes for new love dissipate the more this happens as the life slowly drains from him. I love a character that’s a dead man from the beginning!!!!!

9. There are some great side characters. My two favorites are Cramner—the founder of Anglican Communion as comic relief, I mean….and Chapuys. I will never stop scream laughing at the scene Cramner is like “Do you want to meet my German wife? No, we can’t communicate but she’s so hot lololol.” It’s like 90 Day Fiancé: Tudor Style and I cannot deal with it. The Mirror and the Light scene where Cromwell and Chapuys spend two pages talking about ravioli sent me into another astral plane. They are in love!

I will say that I think the last book is way way way too long. I love the last book and there’s some good moments but it needed to be edited pretty significantly. It takes place over a relatively peaceful period of time, historically, or Cromwell was out of The action as in the Pilgrimage of Grace and so Cromwell’s life lacks the really tight narrative arc of the first two. There was a lot of time spent on minor episodes that—unlike some of the more obscure things cited in the first two books—didn’t seem to add to a lot of the series’ overall thesis. Though I like the device of him revisiting these stories he’s already told and putting new slants on them and showing us what moments haunt him repeatedly, I think it had potential to lose the thread a bit.

What about you?

[divorce-fiction]

A Fire So Wild by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

Opening Tally

Marriages: 2 Divorces: 1

If I had a nickel for every piece of media I’ve consumed that had an snooty Jewish mother named Naomi in it I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. ((all my love to 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'))

Climate Fiction's newest entrant, A Fire So Wild, has its heart in the right place and its words in all the wrong ones. The few positives (evocative descriptions, diverse characters, normalized queerness) do little salvage a story that feels like it was meant to be a shared universe anthology. The few characters whose endings seem hopeful are still saturated with despair, and the book's message is unfortunately, inevitably "There is no light at the end of these tunnels".

There’s a noticeable awkwardness to Ruiz-Grossman’s style of writing. Her sentence structures and noun usage is repetitive. Cliches are dropped almost like placeholders into otherwise well-crafted scenes (“As Xavier walked off, his jeans hugged his legs in all the right places.”). An attempt at building tension draws a reader's gaze to the cast's empty gas tank, but her foreshadowing is clumsy and thus overly obvious. It's a bumpy drive on a beautiful road with unavoidable potholes.

The main characters, defined here as anyone (8!) with a POV, suffer from a lack of time. Each character gets the in media res scene, the sad backstory, and then they fade into the ensemble until the big event (the fire!) which inspires their lifestyle change. It’s a tiring setup with a generic payoff for every single character. Those 8 include: Mar (high school senior) and both of her parents, Camila and Gabriel, Xavier (high school senior) and his moms, Abigail and Taylor, and Sunny and his wife, Willow.

The characters are incredibly diverse, a obvious plus! But the mixed-race lesbians, cross-cultural South Americans, indigenous alt-girl, homeless Asian man, and more suffer from the leftist writer curse of tokenism. The nonbinary shelter volunteer isn't a character, but a flat plot device who feels kept around for the sole purpose of having they/them pronouns checked off the Marginalized Communities list. I want so badly to read about these people and their inner worlds, but they need to be more than cardboard cutouts to tape labels and trauma to.

Speaking of trauma: Willow. A runaway who's all grownup, living in a van with her husband Sunny and their dog Aso, she is the severely depressed girl with PTSD and nothing more. Her sections are only ever about how her trauma was bad and that makes her life bad. And I really do feel for this character! She went through a harrowing sexual assault at the hands of her stepfather and was never given the resources to properly recover from it. But……..she’s also been with her husband for over a decade, since they were teenagers, and has never once told him about it. The guy she refers to multiple times as her reason for living. There's a shallowness to her that renders the whole character irritating. What does she want? What does she believe in? What else does she remember from her life? Trauma does terrible things to a person and it affects everyone differently, but Willow is JUST her trauma.

There’s also a section that jumps very quickly from Willow running through a forest fire (and thinking about her trauma) to Mar hooking up with Xavier. It’s tonal whiplash hell as both events are described with the SAME LANGUAGE, specifically noting how Mar enjoys being “smothered” by her hot boyfriend as opposed to Willow being “smothered” by her rapist. Maybe this wasn’t intentional, maybe the author is trying to draw some kind of parallel. But it was gross when it didn't need to be.

Willow dies in the forest fire, by the way. She lays down, thinks about how traumatized she is, and lets herself burn alive. There is no catharsis here, the most crucial part of a tragedy. It's pornographic hopelessness, and it's pointless.

A knock to my particular copy of the book: some pages didn’t print properly, so one side would have very thin, hard to read lettering while the next page looked entirely bolded. It was annoying to read, especially in low light, but that's the fault of the printer, not the author.

This book is weak. Its main sin was trying to do too much with too little: too much soapboxing, too little characterization. Besides Sunny, a bright spot in the lackluster lineup, there is almost no depth to the characters beyond their assigned social justice crisis. A Fire So Wild wants to be about homelessness and climate change and classism and trauma and depression and recovery and growing up and choosing yourself and natural disasters and grief and cycles and systemic disenfranchisement, but there isn’t any time with 8 protagonists and only 196 pages to be about those things. And so it ends up being about……nothing at all.

Abigail and Taylor get divorced after their son leaves home.

Camila and Gabriel stay divorced, though friendly.

Sunny grieves Willow's death and begins the groundwork for a youth shelter.

Mar and Xavier breakup as Mar goes to college and Xavier joins a group of climate activists.

Closing Tally

Marriages: 0 Divorces: 2 Widowers: 1

Rating: ★✮☆☆☆ (1.5/5)

[fakeikemen]

Katara's Grief

(This is my first attempt at a meta post and I know that this has probably been already done but I just needed to get it off my chest and go on a little rant and it kinda got long so bear with me.)

A lot of the hate on Katara stems from the fact that she keeps on mentioning her mother's death at every chance she gets and invalidates other people's pain to assert that her suffering is the worst of the lot.

And even though everybody is entitled to their own opinions, I'm gonna point out why I think the aforesaid claims are not exactly correct.

First we'll take a look at; Katara's Backstory:

We know that Kya is killed in a fire nation raid and that Katara had been the last person to see her alive before she leaves the tent on her mother's insistence. Only to come back a few moments later and find her dead body. This, in itself is a traumatising event.

So yes, her mother died. Other people in the story go through far worse. You're not wrong when you say that.

But what is more important in Katara's story is the aftermath of her mother's death.

As Sokka says while talking to Toph in "The Runaway" in B3 Ep7:

Sokka: When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom.

As an eight year old, she had to force herself to grow up to step into her mother's shoes and raise herself and her elder brother and simultaneously look after the entire village after her father left to fight in the war. She had to do all of it by herself.

In face of all her responsibilities, she never really had the chance to simply be a grieving child lamenting the loss of her mother. She habituated herself to caring more about others than herself (We see this trait in the entire series as she acts as the stand-in mom friend for the entire Gaang with an exception of Suki and Zuko). She ended up bottling her feelings of grief, resentment, guilt and rage deep within herself.

She had to give up an extensive part of her childhood where most children focus on figuring themselves out, to become a mature and responsible person who was working as the immovable pillar holding up the family and even the whole village not much later.

She put up a strong front to help others and pretended to be fine even though she was hurting inside the whole time.

She could never find any closure from the situation. She never got over it.

Moving on to the criticisms:

1. Katara keeps on mentioning her mother like a broken record:

Here are the number of times Katara mentions her mother's death (not sure if that's all of it, lmk if there are any others):

1. In her first scene with Sokka

Katara: Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!

2. A short while after she meets Aang

Katara: Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people.

3. A short while after she meets Haru

Katara: I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her.

4. A short while after she meets Jet

Katara: Sokka and I lost our mother to the Fire Nation.

5. In the swamp after she sees a vision of her mother

Katara: I thought I saw Mom.

6. In the Crystal Catacombs with Zuko

Katara: I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through! Me personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.

7. A short while after she meets Hama

Katara: We completely understand. We lost our mother in a raid.

8. Repeated mentions in The Southern Raiders episode

(Most of the episode basically)

The first mention with Sokka is in the middle of a siblings' spat where she tells off Sokka for trying to act as if he were superior when it was obvious that in the face of the gaping hole that was left by Kya's sudden death, Katara had shouldered much more responsibility.

When she tells it to Aang, she uses it as a proof that the Fire Nation is capable of immense cruelty and destruction.

The Gaang travel all around the world and meet different people affected by the war in different ways. So when Haru, Jet and Hama narrate their own stories, Katara sympathises with them and talks about Kya's death in lieu of "I understand, the Fire Nation hurt me too."

After they got separated, Aang, Sokka and Katara each had their visions and after they get back together, they all mention their visions and so does Katara.

When left alone in catacombs with Zuko, whom she considered as the face of the Fire Nation— the same Fire Nation that had her mother killed and forced her father to leave to fight in the war, she has a meltdown where she rightfully accuses him of all the bad things he's done and then breaks down while talking about how the war has cost her i.e., by causing her mother's death.

The Southern Raiders is the episode where Katara hunts down the man responsible for her mother's death. If you think mentioning Kya repeatedly in this episode is uncalled for, then I don't know what to tell you.

In all the incidents mentioned above, Katara mentioning her mother's death is a very natural occurrence is the respective conversations. She mostly talks about Kya's death to either extend her sympathy or to use it as an example of the ruthlessness of the Fire Nation.

Another fact to be noted is that 70% of the Gaang's storyline is followed via Katara from a narrative point of view. Plus, being the mom-friend, she acts as the spokesperson. Considering that Kya's death is a major event that played a huge role in shaping Katara's life and is also the source of her severe, unresolved trauma, which acts as the driving force of her story, it is only natural that she brings up this topic whenever she is engaging in a deeper conversation.

It is us as the viewers who have seen her from the start and already know about her mother's death and we see her talking to multiple people about it. Which is why it might come across as repetitive to some people.

While, Kya's death is not necessary information that everyone needs to know, Katara talking about it never comes across as a forced or unnatural.

2. Katara invalidates others' pain because she thinks she has suffered the most:

First of all, if anything, Katara is the most empathetic person of them all. As the mom-friend of the group, not only is she their constant moral support, she also helps them untangle and sort out their own feelings. She is also able to tap into issues that aren't said out loud.

Instances of Katara helping and supporting Aang, emotionally are uncountable.

She is the first one to notice Sokka's sour mood in B3 Ep4 "Sokka's Master". And even though his insecurities seem baseless, she validates him (by saying "I'm sorry you're feeling so down" instead of something like "That's a dumb thing to say") and knows exactly what to do to cheer him up.

In B3 Ep7 "The Runaway" she has the insight to understand that Toph's unruly behaviour is caused by the mixed feelings she has about her parents even though Toph's herself never talked about it.

She even reaches out to Zuko in B2 Ep19 "Crossroads of Destiny" even though she used to think of him as the face of the enemy.

But then there's The Southern Raiders.

Ah yes, that episode where Katara is extremely OOC and a total b*tch.

Agreed that she said some things that she definitely shouldn't have said. But like, she's just 14?? And has been hurting on the inside since she was 8?? And pretended to be fine just for the sake of other people?? Like, there's a limit to how much she can have her shit under control?? And she did a real good job of Sokka's upbringing and taking care of the village and taking care of Gaang on her own?? Some people out there are really willing to forget everything she has ever done just because she was mean for 5 minutes?? A traumatised 14 yo shouldn't be villianised and called toxic because she got mad and lashed out at people that one time??

But here's my take on the scene anyway:

When Aang gets to know that she's going to go face her mother's killer:

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

Katara: I knew you wouldn't understand. 

Aang is a non-confrontational person who prefers running away from difficult situations as opposed to Katara who firmly stands her ground and is never afraid of confrontations. Katara had approached Aang only hoping that he would understand. But going by his dismissal, he obviously doesn't understand the burning need that she has to confront the man who had single-handedly destroyed her childhood. (Most people infer that what Katara means is that she thinks that Aang doesn't understand the pain of losing people. And so does Aang, I guess)

But things start getting even more tricky when:

Aang: Katara, you sound like Jet.

In all honesty, this is probably the most insensitive thing that she could've heard from anyone right then, let alone one of her closest friends. Hearing herself being compared to a homicidal maniac just because she wants to avenge her mother's killer. (No, I'm not justifying murder but there's a clear difference between homicide and avenging someone's death. And Aang may not be my favourite character but I do love him but this wasn't really a good thing to say either. And he wasn't even mentally distressed in the very least to be completely lacking tact or a filter.)

And then the situation escalates:

Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right.

Katara: Then you didn't love her the way I did!

After 6 long years of Katara bottling in her dark feelings and letting them fester inside herself, she is finally letting them out and the first things she faces in a span of few minutes are outright rejection, invalidation of her feelings, comparison to a homicidal maniac and nothing akin to the unconditional support that she has provided to everybody. Her own brother tells her that he is siding with the boy who just compared her to a homicidal maniac.

Yes, accusing your own brother of not loving your mother enough is a very cruel thing to do. But both Sokka and Katara know that she doesn't entirely mean it.

But also, there is one very important factor in here:

In B3 Ep7 "The Runaway", Sokka says to Toph:

Sokka: I'm gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly? I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture. 

Katara overhears this conversation just as Sokka had meant her to.

This dialogue lets us know that Sokka's coping mechanism has made him suppress all memories of Kya and replace them with memories of Katara in order to attain a semblance of normalcy.

Both Katara and Sokka had very different ways of coping with Kya's death. Katara pressed down her feelings and tried her best to pretend to ignore them while Sokka partially succeeded in forgetting her.

When Katara first hears these words she is shown to be crying. But if she were to remember these very words while she was justifying herself infront of her own brother and a close friend for wanting to avenge her mother, it would've had a negative impact on her.

In her rage, she would've thought: "Of course he doesn't want to avenge mom. Because he doesn't think it's worth it and that's because he doesn't even remember enough of her to be mad about her death."

And for someone who has spent each day of the last 6 years trying to fill in the shoes of her mother and experiencing her absence everyday, the idea of forgetting her mother is a ridiculous concept to her.

Her thoughts would have quickly derailed to: "He didn't love her enough to remember her."

In light of these thoughts, saying "Then you didn't love her the way I did" doesn't feel out of the blue.

No, I am definitely not justifying what she said, I'm just laying out a possible explanation to why she said what she said.

Yes, she should've apologized to Sokka for this and I think that they definitely should've had a long conversation about their mother's death and how it affected them. Between Katara supressing her feelings and Sokka supressing his memories, i don't think they ever had this conversation.

But sadly we are given neither of these scenes.

Tl;dr: Everytime Katara mentions her mother, it's with good reason and I don't think it's fair to call a character toxic when they lack a mind to mouth filter for 5 minutes and say some mean things. And considering all that Katara has done for everybody, it isn't fair at all.

Peace out!

[alirhi]

okay. let's do this shit.

Guess what, bitches? Mama bear's back and angry all over again. Remember when I said I might dive into a ragepost about how Bucky's treated after completing the one about Loki? This is it. This is the post. Welcome to fucking Thunderdome.

I will actually try to keep it civil. No promises, but I'll try. and I will not be accepting "constructive criticism" about my rage. Just so we're clear.

Got it? Good. Let's dive in.

In case you don't want to read the whole thing (I know I get wordy) here's what this whole post will boil down to: BUCKY NEVER HAD A FUCKING CHOICE. NEVER. NOT ONCE IN HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE.

Now, quick reminder: I don't read comics. I know nothing about Bucky's comic canon, except what Sebastian liked to bring up as often as possible during TWS/CW promotions: at some point, Bucky boned Nat. XD Since Bucky only exists as a Marvel property, I won't be bitching about other source material being disrespected like I did with Loki. This is all MCU, my dudes. And honestly? That's enough, because though we don't see nearly enough of Bucky for my liking, we do manage to get a rich, deep backstory to him in the material we're given, partly thanks to better writing in the early days of the MCU, and partly thanks to Sebastian Stan's phenomenal acting. Unlike the writers of the Loki series, Seb knows how to show, not tell. And gods, what stories those eyes show...

Let's start with the army. In an old post illustrating what an absolute BAMF Bucky Barnes truly is, I mistakenly said he enlisted, and a kind soul educated me on the incredible attention to detail Marvel used to pay - in this case, Bucky's ID number. 32557038. As this kind, eagle-eyed soul pointed out to me, the first two digits of that number - 32 - signify that Bucky was drafted, specifically from the NY, NJ, DE area (that last part is rather obvious, as Bucky and Steve are from Brooklyn lol). Bucky didn't choose to go to war. He was drafted. He was forced to fight, or go to prison.

Bucky was born in 1917, which means - again, as someone pointed out to me a while back - he came of age during the Great Depression. As a child, he would likely have seen his parents living comfortably and able to shower each other and him and his sister with gifts and fun memories, and then POOF. Stock market crashes when he's only 12-years-old, and life becomes brutal and painful. He manages to have some fun with his best friend Steve, and spends his teens/early 20s chasing girls and keeping his stupid, stubborn, tiny friend from getting beaten to death.

Steve constantly has something to prove. He's absolutely got what my mom always called "little man's disease", and Bucky's just doing his best not to roll his eyes too much at this asthmatic chihuahua constantly trying to beat up Tibetan mastiffs. While Steve keeps lying on his enlistment forms (an actual crime) trying again and again to get into the army and prove what a badass he is (definitely not), Bucky's had enough trauma and upheaval in his life and he just wants his stupid friend to calm tf down and live. Enjoy the fact that he doesn't have to go to war and get his limbs blown off.

And then he gets fucking drafted. This sweet, resigned realist who knows exactly how dangerous the war really is, is forced to put on a uniform and go fight strangers alongside other strangers thousands of miles from everything he knows. And on his last night of freedom, when he just wants to hang out with his friend, see some cool gadgets, and dance with a pretty girl, his stupid angry chihuahua friend feels the need to lie and try to enlist again.

Okay. Gotta get back on track. Ragepost about mistreatment of Bucky, not how much Steve annoys me. Sorry. Anyway...

Bucky's drafted, accepts his shitty lot with a brave smile, and is shipped off to Europe, where he is captured by HYDRA and presumed by the Allies to be KIA. Instead, he's strapped down, tortured, and given the HYDRA version of the super serum against his will. Steve rescues him, and Bucky knows he can't leave his idiot friend to his own devices to get his head blown off, so he dives right back into the fray. And then he falls off a cliff, loses most of his left arm, and is declared dead...again. This one's pretty damn valid, though lol. Without the serum no one knew he'd been shot up with, there is no way he would have survived that fall.

Here is where Bucky's story gets truly heartbreaking: His autonomy, his ability to consent is stripped from him through electroshock torture/brainwashing. The trigger words are conditioned into him during this process, and boom. Ten words in Russian, and Bucky Barnes is gone. Even the confused, hurting shadow of him is gone, leaving only a perfectly obedient killing machine, with Bucky's pretty face. He's strong as all hell, though, so they can't keep him fully under their control for long, not without more torture, when the disorientation of being fucking frozen wears off on longer missions.

I cannot stress this point enough, guys: Bucky. Had. No. Choice. Not like the draft, where his choices (go and get shot at, refuse and go to jail, or dodge and run to Canada) just suck. No, he literally didn't have a choice. He had his ability to choose stripped from him. If that's too complex a concept to really sink in, try this: His brain was fucking raped. Repeatedly. For decades. Nothing the Winter Soldier ever did was Bucky's fault. Nothing. Ever. Not remotely, no matter how you fucking slice it. Bucky is not an assassin. I almost said "not a killer", but he was a soldier, and a sharpshooter. He definitely killed when he was himself, but that was in a war, not a series of assassinations.

So far, imo, so good. This is just a rundown of Bucky's pre-show backstory. I don't love what he had to suffer, but I do love how it was treated in the movies. People were afraid of him, but when they knew the whole situation, Steve, Nat, and Sam rallied behind him. Natasha had plenty of reason to want the Winter Soldier dead; he'd tried to kill her multiple times and almost succeeded. Sam had no reason to help Bucky at all; he didn't know him, didn't trust him, and again, TWS had tried to kill him. But he stood by Steve, and when Bucky showed the clear difference between himself and TWS, Sam stood by him, too, and fought alongside him.

And it's very realistic, imo, that Tony didn't give a single fuck that Bucky had no choice. He watched this man murder both of his parents on tape. If TWS had killed my dad and I saw proof of it, I'd try to kill Bucky, too. Grief wins out over logic. Most emotions usually do. And that's a very important point we're going to come back to in a few minutes.

Bucky was really only in like ten minutes at most of IW and Endgame, and for multiple reasons I hate those movies, so I'm just gonna skip them, kay? Kay. On to the main event!

Here's where I get pissed off. Even if I didn't have an unhealthy attachment to this character, or the depth of appreciation for his tragic backstory that I do, the lack of continuity between the movies and the show alone would still piss me off. It always does. Don't even get me started on Joss "Continuity? What continuity?" Whedon and his (iconic, but flawed) shows. Ahem. Back on track...

Let me just get one little thing out of the way real quick: I fucking LOVE The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I love it. This show amazed me when I first watched it, and I still love it after many more viewings lol. I have only ever watched it all the way through without skipping over as much John Walker shit as possible the one time lol but I love how Sam and Bucky interact, and I fucking adore how Sam's arc was treated. I just wish they'd show the same care and attention to Bucky.

Because what they did to Bucky in this show is a fucking travesty. There was a tiny ray of hope in the pilot, when he called out Dr. Bitchface for being a terrible shrink. I thought that would be the start of him realizing he needed to find someone else and ignore the damaging shit that woman was telling him. But...nope. No such luck.

The show really had a strong start, I'll give it that. We see Bucky having nightmares of his time as TWS and struggling to hide how his traumatic memories are affecting him as he tries to live in the world again. He befriends the father of one of HYDRA's victims, which can't be good for Bucky (and we're shown it's definitely not when he sees the shrine in Yori's home to his late son) but it's sweet, how he's trying to connect and reach out to someone who's hurting and lonely.

They drop the ball a little with the whole... Bucky can hack a fucking car, but can't figure out Tinder thing. Had they just run with the fandom interpretation of the tiger photos line, that it shows that Bucky is bi and left it at that, I'd have been okay with it (and no, that is not because I ship Sam/Bucky. it's because Bucky is and always has been a certified nerd who loves technology and has consistently shown very little issue learning to use new gadgets). The outdated flip phone he handed his terrible court-mandated shrink was a burner; I liked that theory when I read it, especially since it's the only time we see him even holding a phone that old lol. This all could have fit the "Bucky is a sassy bisexual nerd" narrative and it'd be okay. Instead, the director was like "NOOOOOO that line was just to show how old he is and how he can't figure out all this newfangled technology!" Woman, you had him remotely driving someone else's vehicle with a tablet. That is NOT a man who can't figure out a damn smart phone!

But that's just a minor annoyance. What fills me with absolute rage is how everyone - not just the shitty therapist who lashes out at and purposely triggers her traumatized patients, but EVERYONE - Sam, Zemo, people who should fucking know better ALL treat him like he's a psychopath and a ticking time bomb. Like he chose to take the serum and he chose to kill for HYDRA, and he's just seen the error of his ways. *barf*

Bucky in the movies is established to be a victim, through and through. His guilt over what he was forced to do is natural, and that he sees himself as a monster makes sense... but that doesn't mean it's correct. The one and only thing I ever liked about Steve Rogers is at least he got it. He pointed out that none of it was Bucky's fault, he tried to show him that he was worth saving. That's the other reason I refuse to talk about Endgame. This post will get a WHOLE LOT LONGER and a lot fucking angrier if I open that door.

Zemo supposedly knows everything about HYDRA and super soldiers... So why does he treat Bucky like he's a corrupt serial killer? (this, for the record, is why I don't like Zemo) Why does he never point out that Bucky was given the serum against his will, or that his actions, when he had control of them, proved that he was never corrupted? Bucky never wanted to become superhuman. Bucky didn't even want to fucking fight!

Sam, despite constantly resisting the label, is shown very clearly to be Bucky's friend. By episode 3, he cares. He worries about how Bucky is getting lumped in with the other super soldiers in Zemo's speech... But he never really defends him. He says "what about Bucky?" but he doesn't point out that Bucky's a good man, he's fought so hard to help people, he does everything he can to avoid killing... And that fucking speech in episode 5. I was with him on "you gotta stop looking to other people to tell you who you are." I was like "YEAH! Tell him, Sam! Bucky, you're WORTH SAVING, boo! Your value does not hinge on someone else's opinion of you!" And then... Sam dropped the ball.

He not only continued the disturbing pattern of victim-blaming in this show, and in Marvel/Disney properties in general, but he gave really dangerously bad advice! No one in their right mind, mental health professional or no, would EVER tell a traumatized former assassin (whether he was responsible for his actions or not) to go confront his victims' families out of the blue with no warning and no one to mediate and keep things from going to shit. Yori already knew his son had been murdered because he was in the "wrong place, wrong time." How is it being "of service" to tell him you're the one who killed him?! Remember how I said Tony's reaction to learning the full truth about his parents' deaths was valid and would be an important point later? Hi! Welcome to later. THAT is the natural reaction to facing the man who murdered your loved one(s). And even if Yori didn't get angry and lash out, HOW IS IT "HELPING" HIM OR BRINGING HIM "CLOSURE" TO KNOW THAT HIS FRIEND KILLED HIS FUCKING SON?!?!?! This man befriended him, bonded with him, watched him grieve... And now he's learning this is the man who caused all his pain and heartache to begin with? That is so toxic and psycho I just... I can't even... UGH.

And then there's the equally toxic and damaging "deeply traumatized person just needed a stern talking to and a hug to be ALL BETTER AGAIN" ending. I loved seeing Bucky happy and socializing, but it was too soon, and it was unearned. And it sends a fucking awful message to people actually struggling with PTSD, and to their loved ones who don't know how to help them. Heaping more blame on them and then hugging it out is NOT helpful!

This show could have been damn near perfect with just two changes. That's all. Just two. 1) Someone, anyone, bringing up the reasons why Bucky was never a villain in his presence. Someone being in his corner and reminding him, like Steve did, that it wasn't his fault and he's not going to "snap". 2) More time devoted to Bucky's healing. Actual fucking healing, not the shit they tried to pass off as a magic fix-all. He can have his happy barbecue moment, just don't frame it as "everything's great now!" Healing isn't linear, and there will be both good days and bad. Some of the most fragile people in the world have the brightest smiles.

If we get a season 2, which this amazing show absolutely deserves, and they address this stuff, all will be forgiven in my book. Expanding on his story and his journey toward healing will help to reframe that "happily ever after" garbage as something more realistic. But as it stands now... Fuck Marvel.

[cannibalisticapple]

So got a new word for all fan fiction writers that NEEDS to enter common lexicon, courtesy of @cocoa-nerd​:

Angstgoat

Portmanteau of “angst” and “scapegoat”. The act of making a character subject to massive amounts of angst, whether it’s worsening canon examples of troubled backstories and sometimes even adding extra trauma, for no reason other than cheap and easy drama.

Examples include:

Giving characters whose families are never seen abusive families, and sometimes even changing a character’s canonically loving parent(s) to be physically abusive and neglectful

Killing off loving family members at a young age to remove any support network for all the other angst they deal with

Reviving parents who canonically died when the character was young/before their birth but CLEARLY loved the child, and STILL making them abusive/neglectful for some reason (looking at you in particular, Naruto fandom)

Increased amounts of bullying and/or social ostracization, to the point of outright murder attempts (still looking at you, Naruto fandom)

Changing a major backstory element that was the source of bullying/ostracization, but adding a new one so they’re still subject to that same trauma as canon (looking at you, MHA fandom with Quirk!Izuku fics)

Exaggerating ANY negative aspect of their backstory to make it as horrific as possible

Adding brand new traumatic events that were never even implied in canon on top of everything else

Changing a character’s backstory to make it needlessly more traumatic while not changing their characterization from canon at all to reflect said increased trauma

Discrimination is not only prevalent and much STRONGER than ever implied in canon, but somehow the main cast is totally unaware of it

Oppression against this character is not only played up but suddenly the societal norm and even reflected in laws (looking at you, Quirkless!Izuku fics) (seriously we still talk about that scene where a movie theater manger backhands Izuku and then dumps soda on him)

Absolutely no one else around them EVER gets punished for abusive behavior or outright attempted murder targeted at this character due to said oppression

Completely altering some characters’ canon personalities so THEY can become a direct source of additional trauma and oppression, whether in backstory or in the story’s main events. This can be by making THEM bigots and jerks, or making them giant incompetent idiots who make things worse because they don’t understand the issue (looking at all the MHA fics where All Might completely brushes off students’ comments)

Time travel fics that have the character’s life end up even WORSE than canon even before reaching the canon timeline (seriously, kidnapped and spent three years in a death arena?? BEFORE THE CHARACTER IS EVEN 10??)

(Trigger warning) Sudden sexual trauma, abuse and predation, whether in present or backstory, PURELY for extra angst. The author/story doesn’t address the full ramifications of such an event beyond “it makes them feel even worse”. This is especially true for genderbent fics

Making canon events go far worse with no reason other than to increase the suffering. Note it usually doesn’t involve characters dying, and the "worse” applies MAINLY to the protagonist/angstgoat

Having villains hyper-focus on the protagonist and start hunting them down from the very first encounter to either recruit, torment, or both

Having said character end up kidnapped by said villains at a young age and forced to work with them, while being abused and mocked and giving them absolutely no reason to have any actual loyalty to their organization

Give actual medical diagnoses of conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc. as a result of all this trauma, with bare-minimum research on symptoms and accurate portrayals

And so much more.

Many of these things can work fine on their own, and even work together in the hands of an experienced and skilled writer. However, most fanfics will mix and match multiple examples of the above as cheap and easy sources of drama without ever going into the full ramifications of such changes.

Many writers seem to mistake “angst” with “adversity”.

They use angst to add not only an easy resource for drama (from the writer’s perspective), but also make things more “challenging” for the character as they overcome it.

Thing is, they do it in a way that cheapens the severity of real issues. Many stories feature abuse almost casually from a writing standpoint. The sudden presence of abusive families and increased murder attempts and hospitalizations by classmates doesn’t change the character’s personality significantly from their canon personality. Many times it just makes them better at first aid, or ends with them being socially awkward and having a stutter. Other times it goes to the other extreme, to the point said character is barely functional due to the trauma and should be in therapy instead of whatever the story has them doing.

It’s done more for the reactions of other characters around them, who get righteously furious at the obvious mistreatment of the protagonist. That’s what I mean by it being a “cheap and easy source of drama”: it still centers around the protagonist’s direct suffering, rather than anyone or anything else in the plot.

That’s the key thing about angstgoats: every single bad thing that happens in the fic, happens to the main character. Sometimes other characters will get more severe injuries or get pulled into bad situations with them, to highlight that the whole world is bad, but it always comes back to their connection to the protagonist. They come out of every situation worse than before.

Rather than highlighting how bad a certain situation or circumstance is, when you pile up angst like that, it becomes almost comical. Even now, there’s a discussion on my Discord server about one of the fics I referenced and all the unnecessary angst. We’re not discussing “Oh, X is a horrible thing to happen”, we’re discussing how unrealistic and frankly ridiculous a lot of the details are. And I KNOW that wasn’t the author’s intent, just like many other fanfics with angstgoats.

Angst isn’t a bad thing, but there are some topics that need to be approached with more care than they often are. Don’t mistake “angst” for “adversity”.

So let’s get “angstgoat” in the fandom lexicon!

[gaming-universe]

Who We Are || Russell Adler

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War

-PART TWO-

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS: COLD WAR! IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED/FINISHED THE CAMPAIGN THEN PLEASE DONT READ! Gore, violence, course language, mature content.

Summary: Betrayed and alone after surviving the events that took place on the Solovetsky Islands, Y/n ‘Bell’ L/n faces new and more dangerous threats when she learns that Perseus has other plans for his failed nuclear detonation of Europe. It was only a matter of time before Y/n came face to face with her old team. There is unfinished business between Y/n and Adler, as this operation proves to be more deadly than originally thought.

Author’s Note: So, after finishing the campaign, I needed to do Bell/Player and Adler justice. I loved this game so much, and chosing to play as the female character, I felt like there was a genuine connection between Bell and Adler throughout the game. There is a tag list open for anyone that wishes to stay up to date with the series. Simply comment below. Gif by @travelllar

|PART ONE|

For four months, you remained in the Solovetsky Islands, recovering and maintaining a normal life.

The old man that had rescued you, Viktor, welcomed you into his home, and offered for you to stay for as long as you needed. He did everything in his power to make you feel welcome, especially after you had opened up to him. You told Viktor everything; the trauma you experienced in regards to the brainwashing, the betrayal you felt as Adler turned, weapon raised, and fired that single shot which landed you here, your sleepless nights consumed by nightmares of memories you thought were long gone.

Everyone thought you were dead, and maybe that was for the best. You could start anew, build a new life for yourself, live in peace. But of course, there had to be one last cruel twist of fate.

You were sitting in the living room, reading a small novel when Viktor hurried through the door, his face pale and eyes wide. “What’s wrong?” You mused, tilting your head to the side in wait for his answer. Viktor swallowed thickly, approaching with stumbling steps. He sat down beside you, his hands trembling as he placed them gently atop his knees. “I was returning from my trawler when I heard some men at the docks talking...” He began, now turning to face you with a shaky sigh “some of them were saying that men, Russians, were returning to the ruins atop the clifface. With diggers, with machinery to rebuild the base you gave your life to destroy”.

You froze, the book in your grasp falling to the floor as your grip loosened. They were returning here? What on earth could Perseus be returning to the Solovetsky Islands for? If they were rebuilding that base, then that means that there must have been something worth saving up there.

But what could you have missed the first time?

You raised a questioning eyebrow at Viktor. “Do you still have my gear?” You asked lowly, the hidden anger within you slowly beginning to bubble. The old man nodded “It is in the attic, well hidden from prying eyes-”

“Good, I’m going to investigate those ruins tonight”.

“No, you cannot! If you are caught-”

“That won’t happen, I promise” You reasoned, standing up abrubtly before wincing lightly. Viktor stood to block your path “You are still injured. I will not allow you to do this”.

You groaned “If Perseus has returned to that base, then I need to put a stop to this before it even begins...” You spoke informatively “I can’t let him escape again. I might not know why exactly, but I can’t let him leave those ruins alive”.

With a long winded sigh, Viktor stepped to the side whilst giving you a pointed look. He said nothing as you passed him, beginning to make your way to the attic with a confident stride. Investigating that base was your best chance of figuring out exactly what was going on around this small town. You began to notice some subtle changes a few weeks ago. The people were growing scared, they were more cautious, and more suspicous of each other as days went by.

After clambering through the small manhole into the attic, you found your gear lying atop an old carboard box, neatly folded and out of sight. As you extended a hand out towards the pile of clothes, your hand faltered. Your eyes travelled to the round tear in the dark grey fabric, surrounded by a large red stain that refused to detatch itself from the fibres. As if in response, a phantom pain coursed through your chest, the ugly scar beneath your jacket aching with every awkward twist and turn of your arm, every deep breath you took. A reminder of the pain that had been inflicted.

Swallowing your fear, and suppressing the vivid flashes of you and Adler on that clifface, you changed into those old clothes. With no weapons, you would have to approach with stealth. They wouldn’t take too kindly to anyone breaking in to their new playground, especially if it were one who had been the cause of the base’s destruction the first time around. After making your way back downstairs, Viktor stood by the door. “You cannot expect to go in there unarmed...” He began, removing one hand from within his jacket to reveal a pistol, with a suppressor attatched to the end. “My son’s. It was his when he was with the Russian Army four years ago. He left it behind when he moved away with his wife. It would be more use to you than just sitting in a draw beneath old documents”.

Carefully, you took the weapon from his fragile hands, almost recoiling at the familiarity of the cool metal in your palm. You nodded gratefully, taking the firearm and securing it in the holster attatched to your right leg. Before you could leave, Viktor gently grabbed your upper arm, squeezing it tightly in emphasis to his words. “Be careful, and come back alive”.

With a light chuckle, you nodded your promise before walking past him and through the front door. You coudln’t help but feel incredibly nervous. There were two ways this night could go, and you hoped to god that everything worked in your favour.

Studying the ruins of the base atop your perch of a pile of rubble, everything seemed to be running smoothly so far.

You had watched several Soviet officers disappear through a single armoured door, only to return hours later. You assumed that that door lead either to an already rebuilt section of the base, which was heavily fortified and filled with armed guards at every turn. Or, that door lead down to subterrainean levels that hadn’t been affected in the air raid four months ago.

There was only one way to find out.

Checking that the coast was clear, you descended from your perch and kept close to the shadows. Taking the long way around was certainly not what you wanted to do, although you definitely did avoid several close calls. You only had trouble with two guards, who you quickly dispatched before continuing on your way.

You paused just out of reach of the doorway, crouching low to avoid the bright searchlight illuminating the grounds. Steadying your breath, you waited for the right moment to slip through the metal door without being detected. The door itself hadn’t suffered much damage, merely sustaining a few scratches and scorch marks against the olive green paint. When the search light moved on a second time, you took that as your opportunity to slip through, closing the door behind you with a small thunk, whilst completely unaware of the several pairs of prying eyes that watched your form in awe and disbelief.

After managing to sneak by several other Soviet soldiers, you found yourself descending a staircase that kept going down, down down. There was almost no end in sight, but you sighed with relief when a faint white light illuminated the end of the staircase. Upon entering the room, you almost swore that your heart leapt into your throat. There were several rows of computer terminals, but there was only one that was operational. As you approached, the screen flickered with two words. Two words that triggered a flicker of memory from your time with Perseus.

You were back in that bunker, the bunker with the red door. It was just you and Perseus, the rest of the room was dim, almost black and white. Perseus turned to face you, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as he placed a file onto the table before you. “I only trust you with this information. You are my most valuable asset, and I trust that you will keep this a secret from the rest of the table...”

You nodded wordlessly as Perseus continued, “If Operation Greenlight is to fail, I have a failsafe which I intend to initiate, Operation Hydra-”

You found yourself stumbling backward, breathing heavily as you tried to make sense of what you had just witnessed. Operation Hydra? Perseus’ most valuable asset? None of this was making sense.

You heard the heavy footsteps before you turned, perhaps a little too late. The end of an assult rifle collided with your jaw, sending you sprawling to the floor as your vision danced with violent stars. Several angry Russian voices echoed throughout the bunker, all of them shouting for someone to retrieve a General Nikiforov. Ungracefully, you staggered to your feet and lashed out at the closest soldier, tackling him to the ground with a loud cry of effort. After managing to wrestle the rifle from his grasp, and after knocking the soldier unconscious, you took cover behind one of the computer terminals as the remaining four soldiers opened fire.

You cursed under your breath, readying your newfound weapon to fire when several more shots echoed from within the bunker, this time, resonating from the bottom of the stairwell on the opposite side of the room. It soon became hard to differentiate between who exactly was shouting. There were multiple accents all at once, making it near impossible to find out just who was shooting at who.

Peaking around the corner of the terminal, you sighed internally with relief as the three soldiers were preoccupied with dealing with whoever was on the other side of the room. Wait, three?

You had no time to react as the fourth soldier appeared to your left in your peripheral vision. You released a small cry of pain as the Russian grabbed a fistful of your hair, dragging you out from behind your cover before letting go, and delivering a swift kick to your abdomen. You managed to avoid his attack, rolling away before quickly standing to your feet.

The soldier charged, swining his arms wildly. There was no rationality to his attacks. Making him vulnerable, and completely predicatble. You caught his arm mid-swing, twisting it to the side harshly before delivering a hard kick to the soldier’s stomach. With a pointed grunt, he stumbled backward against one of the terminals, giving you enough time to advance. But the soldier was ready, and produced a large combat knife from within his vest.

You hissed as the knife cut your forearm, recoiling away from the soldier as blood began to stain the sleeve of your shirt. Believeing that he had the upper hand, the soldier advanced, swiping in every which direction in an attempt to land a critical hit. Doging and weaving, you swore as your back collided with a seperate terminal, effectively trapping you between the desk and the soldier edging closer towards you. Shit, this was exactly what he wanted.

You were practically bent over backwards across the terminal, your back straining at the awkward angle as you caught the soldier’s hand in it’s downward strike, leaving the knife mere inches from your throat. The soldier was leaning on top of you, putting all his weight into trying to accomplish the menial task of ending your life. You could feel the knife’s tip pressing against your skin, the cool metal still flecked with traces of your blood a stark contrast to the warmth of your body. The knife drew blood as you tried desperately to push back with whatever remaining strength you had left. You didn’t know how much longer you could last.

Suddenly out of nowhere, the soldier was hauled away from your form and violently shoved to the ground by a figure clad in black. You forced your self to sit upright, one hand caressing your neck whilst the other was braced firmly against the desk. Taking a few deep breaths, you watched on as the figure kicked the knife from the soldier’s hand, before removing a pistol from his side and actively shooting the soldier in the chest, the single shot echoing loudly throughout the now silent bunker.

Your heavy breathing was the only sound to be heard, as you tried to regain your composure, as you tried to calm down. But four months of recovery certainly hadn’t prepared you for this. Your entire being became rigid with fear as the figure before you turned, your eyes widened with dread, you could have sworn that you had stopped breathing altogether. Those blue eyes beneath those goddamned glasses, the scars across his face...

Two other figures appeared behind him, their eyes wide, their faces pale. As if they were looking at a ghost.

“No fucking way...” Woods breathed, his eyes not once leaving your form as his grip on his rifle slackened. Mason nodded wordlessly, he too in a completely dumbfounded state. Your fear soon turned to immense anger, as Adler stepped towards you, his expression unreadable. “Bell” was all he said, nodding slightly in aknowledgement. As if what happened four months ago never took place at all.

A heavy tension filled the bunker, becoming broken when your clenched fist collided with Adler’s jaw, a sharp but impressive ‘crack’ echoing throught the room.

Tag List (Tags with lines aren’t working as of yet): @pookolokon @travelllar @basicwhiteasian @shellshockedbell @inteligentecat​ @staryozora​ @quietblogs-2-rd @lovinggooppalacebanana @ktdragonborn​

[slasherholic]

Essay: On Michael Myers and Muteness

A little foreword: This essay is in response to a sentiment I’ve noticed circling in the slasher community for some time. While nobody, to my knowledge, has been outright accused or attacked about this, I do find it concerning how eager some are to spew hate when confronted with people who don’t share their specific ideas of how a fictional character should be viewed—especially when those ideas have very little ground to stand on.

This essay will cover common sources of psychological mutism, and examine how they apply (or don’t apply!) to Michael’s character, to determine the most likely cause for his mutism.

Disclaimer: I have no formal education in the field of psychology. All information presented is taken from case studies and the dsm-5.

Let’s begin with some definitions to clear up a few misconceptions.

Selective Mutism.

Selective mutism is defined as the consistent failure to speak in specific social situations in which there is an expectation for speech, despite speaking in other situations. (DSM-5, pg. 195) 

Selective mutism can be diagnosed only when a child has an established capacity to speak in some social situations (e.g., typically at home). Selective mutism is not the consequence of trauma, neglect or abuse—it is strictly an anxiety disorder.

Progressive Mutism.

Selective mutism may develop into progressive mutism. (Note—progressive mutism does not appear to be mentioned in the DSM-5, but it did show up multiple times while I was researching selective mutism. Take the following with a grain of salt.) Progressive mutism is when a child becomes mute in all settings, with all people, even at home. It occurs due to heightened stress within their environment, or by way of negative reinforcement—for example, if an adult tries to help the child out by “speaking for them” during an episode of mutism.

Traumatic mutism.

Traumatic mutism is sudden mutism following a traumatic event (e.g., the death of a loved one).

Note: There are a great many other causes of mutism resulting from psychological factors, ranging from autistic spectrum disorder, to dissociative disorders, to schizophrenia—but considering how we don’t know enough about Michael’s backstory to say whether he is affected by any of that, I’ll be staying away from explanations requiring heavy speculation.

Alright! We have our definitions. Now, let’s see if any of these would apply to Michael’s case.

(Of course, the only interpretation of the character where his muteness even needs an explanation is the “Michael has a mental illness” take—which, again, is just one possible way of many to view him. The mindset that Michael must be unwillingly mute excludes the most canon-compliant take on the character—that he is just evil. Obviously, a Michael who is “just evil” chooses not to communicate with others because he doesn’t fucking care.)

Option one:

Michael is selectively mute. He suffers from an anxiety disorder. He is physically unable to speak under certain circumstances, but, by definition, he is able to speak under other, more comfortable circumstances.

Why it isn’t likely: There is no evidence in canon to suggest that Michael suffers from an anxiety disorder. Zero. You simply won’t find it. If you want to label Michael as ‘selectively mute”, by all means, do so—everybody has the right to their headcanons! But please, understand what you are saying by using that label; that Michael does not suffer from total mutism. There are situations where he can speak, and there are situations where he cannot.

Option two:

Michael is selectively mute, and his muteness has advanced into progressive mutism. 

Why it isn’t likely: Again, for this type of mutism to occur, Michael must have first had selective mutism. We are not told enough of Michael’s background to speculate about whether he suffers from any sort of anxiety disorder, and I doubt we ever will be. While this explanation for Michael’s mutism is technically possible, to treat it as immutable fact would be nothing short of dishonest.

Option three:

Michael is totally mute as a result of trauma. Whether from the shock of murdering his sister, or being suddenly separated from his family, some traumatic event triggered an episode of mutism that Michael never recovered from. He is now permanently mute.

Why it isn’t likely: Let’s get one thing straight—this view of mutism is a Hollywood bastardization.

The trope in which a character is rendered permanently mute due to trauma/psychological factors may be popular in movies and television, but in real medical cases, this idea holds little merit.

“While cases of mutism have occurred as a result of a child being abused or emotionally or physically traumatized, it seems to be very rare. I have not yet seen such a case, where a child spoke normally until a traumatic incident and then stopped speaking.” (https://www.selectivemutismfoundation.org/knowledge-center/common-myths)

“While it is possible for a child to become mute after a traumatic experience, usually the child avoids talking about aspects of the trauma itself, rather than becoming completely silent.” (https://childmind.org/guide/teachers-guide-to-selective-mutism/what-is-not-sm/)

Of course, this is not to say that trauma-based mutism does not exist. It is a documented occurrence, and it inarguably does.

However; to insist that Michael must have been rendered completely, irreversibly mute due to childhood trauma, and that his mutism persisted for the next 55 years, (2018 Michael is 61,) is not a medically feasible claim. This trope works fine in a fictional setting, but please, acknowledge that this attitude is more rooted in fiction than fact. I scoured case-studies on psychological mutism for hours, and was unable to find a single occurrence of something comparable happening. It is statistically more likely that a person who is mute for this long is making a conscious effort not to communicate. Which brings us to the final explanation:

Option four:

Michael can speak, but willfully chooses not to.

It should not come as a surprise that this is the only explanation for Michael’s mutism that can be sourced by canon material. Dr. Sartain, whose entire job it was to observe Michael’s behaviors, concluded that his patient was indeed capable of speech, and that his mutism was self-imposed. In all brutal honesty, the mental gymnastics required to get around this statement is pretty damn ridiculous; and to knock others for not performing the same mental gymnastics is even more ridiculous. 

This explanation is further evidenced by the 1978 novelization of Halloween. (Which, I don’t personally view as canon, but I know of some who do, so it is worth mentioning.) In the novel, Michael continues to speak normally up to a year after his institutionalization. There is no mention of a traumatic event at the sanitarium that might have triggered his muteness; the closest we get is the near-death of a girl at a Halloween party, but it is very heavily implied that Michael was responsible for that incident—and all because the girl beat him at musical chairs.

Simply due to the evidence we have, this option is the most likely explanation for Michael’s mutism. (For those interested, I go more in-depth about this interpretation of his mutism in this essay.)

But! All of this speculation is ignoring the fact that Michael Myers is a fictional character. His behaviors cannot be studied in a medical setting, by a medical professional—meaning that he cannot be diagnosed with psychological mutism in the first place. If you are one of the individuals trying to claim that Michael is undeniably afflicted with any of these forms of mutism, or any other mental illness, etc. You are wrong. That is not how psychiatric diagnosis works. The absolute best we can do is speculate.

So here it is, plain and simple:

If you hold the belief that Michael Myers must be fully, 100% incapable of speech due to psychological factors, and insist that your viewpoint is the only valid one, not only are you ignoring the ambiguity of this 40-year-old franchise, not only are you ignoring the massive potential for individual interpretation, but you are also fundamentally wrong. You are perpetuating false, or highly simplified information about psychological mutism, and you are trying to apply that false information in an ambiguous fictional setting. Please get off your high horse.

The takeaway: Michael’s mutism has many possible explanations.

Due to the fact that his background is not extensive enough to supply us with a set-in-stone answer, it is irresponsible to insist that any explanation is “the right one”.

So headcanon Michael as mute. Headcanon him as fully capable of speech. Headcanon him anywhere in between. I can’t believe this needs to be said, but you have the right to enjoy this ambiguous piece of fiction however you want—and nobody can tell you that you are wrong for doing so.

Thanks for reading.

[sushibeth]

When Sanemi is first introduced, it’s safe to assume that plenty of people would find the way his character is designed to be a bit unsettling. His has skin that’s littered with scars, blood shot eyes, and a smile some would find terrifying. He looks like a scary guy, and this first impression of him can be solidified through his actions during his first scene coughcoughstabbingnezukocoughcough.

But his brother Genya certainly says otherwise when he says “’Nemi is the nicest person ever”. Of course Genya would be one of the characters who would know him best, and it can be argued that Sanemi is actually one of the most caring characters in the series, despite his questionable actions.

The core of Sanemi’s character is his obsession with protecting others from demons and how he’s failed to do so in the past. With this being said, his character design involves several elements that revolve around protection, the loss of his loved ones, and the trauma behind it.

Scars

Of course the first thing to discuss when talking about Sanemi’s character design would be this. Design wise, the feature that stands out the most would be the scars that cover his body. 

In Demon Slayer, body markings are extremely important. They are usually used as a foreshadowing technique (ex. Tanjiro, Uzui) or are from an important event in the character’s life (Sanemi/Genya, Gyomei). When speaking of scars specifically, characters will only keep them when it’s important to their character in some way. Lots of characters in the series can be seen getting cut up, but won’t have a single mark on them after recovering. This goes to show that Sanemi’s scars aren’t just there to make him look unhinged or “bad ass”.

His scars are a symbol of protection. The first scars Sanemi ever received were the ones on his face, which happen to be from fighting his demon-turned mother. When his mother came home as a demon, his first instinct wasn’t to run, but to fight her in hopes of saving his younger siblings. He even pushed her, along with himself, out a window to try to keep them safe.

As the eldest son in a home with no father, he felt it was his and Genya’s responsibility to care for and protect the family. 

Sanemi’s main concern as a character is keeping people safe from death and will go to any length to do so (even if it ends up not working in his favor). He’d much rather be cut to shreds if it means someone else doesn’t have to. This ideology is shown through his scars and how he’ll proudly show them off. 

Also, as an artist, I’m also quite fond of associating Sanemi’s scars with kintsugi. I feel as if this pottery technique is well known, but I’ll explain for those who aren’t familiar. Kintsugi is a Japanese method of repairing pottery by using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Through this, the item is able to be used again and its beauty is found in its imperfections.

While it’s not uncommon to associate characters who have scars with this technique, I feel as if it’s more significant in Sanemi’s case. His scars are seen as beautiful. Not only does he show them off, but when he’s first introduced, Mitsuri even gushes about them and how great he looks with them. Much like how people find kintsugi to be beautiful.

Besides that, Sanemi has had to go though numerous traumas revolving around the multiple cases of losing his loved ones. This causes him to feel broken and guilty for outliving all these people even when he’s put his life on the line time and time again. But a major wrapping point for his character is to keep going and be happy like Genya wanted. Even after all the guilt and suffering he’s experienced, he still deserves to live on in happiness, much like how a kintsugi pot still has the opportunity to be in use. 

Tsuba & Slayer Mark

The tsuba, or the hand guard, on Sanemi’s blade is shaped like a pinwheel. Of course this is directly related to his breathing style, seeing as how he’s the wind hashira and a pinwheel’s main function is to catch wind. And while this could be me looking for meaning, I feel like it’s not a terribly far stretch to say that pinwheels could mean more, considering this isn’t the only example of one being used to represent him. Sanemi’s demon slayer mark is also a pinwheel, so I figured it’d be of some use to look into them a bit further.

The symbol of a pinwheel could also be a direct reminder of his younger siblings. Not only are they a toy commonly used by children but it’s also not uncommon to find them on grave sites.

Additionally, here’s a quote on pinwheels I found on a website about cemetery symbolism.

This new phenomenon brings motion to otherwise still graveyards. First appearing on the graves of children, pinwheels now can be seen on the graves of adults. The continual movement suggests constancy, perhaps of affection. The wind which propels the tiny mills evokes the spirit.

Clothing

Another prominent feature of Sanemi’s design other than his scars would be his haori. This doesn’t come as a surprise, seeing as this sort of thing is shown with other characters having clothes with a specific pattern in relation to their loved ones (Tanjio/Nezuko with checkers, Zenitsu with triangles, Giyuu with his half and half haori). But Sanemi’s doesn’t seem to have any immediate relation to his family at a first glance. 

The important feature of Sanemi’s haori is the character on the back which is significant enough that when he first shows up in the anime, it’s shown even before his face.

When watching on hulu, the translation for the character “殺” is “kill”. This doesn’t come across as super odd, especially for English readers, seeing as how the demon slayer uniform has “滅” on the back, which can be translated to “destroy” or “destruction”. Close enough, right?

Though, it’s odd that he would bother having a different character that’s exceptionally close in meaning to a character the corps already uses for everyone. One would think that if he really wanted to sport the idea of killing demons on his back, he’d just not wear a haori at all (and show off more scars) or just use the same wording.

This is where the “familial” importance comes in. The character “殺” can also be found in the word for murder/murderer. Of course, when using a translator there are multiple variants for a similar meaning, but they almost all use that character. The use of it on his back is most likely a subtle nod to when Genya called him a murderer after the death of their mother. This means Sanemi took what Genya said to him and plastered it right onto his back. It represents his dedication and how he’ll kill ANY demon to protect someone, even one that was his mother.

Along with the haori, the belts on Sanemi’s legs are an interesting addition to his design. In contrast to other leg wraps shown in the show, belts seem like a rather odd thing to wear on your calves. Though these don’t seem like any ordinary belts, but look just like the belts that are part of the demon slayer uniform.

Like stated before, Sanemi is obsessed with keeping people safe, which leads to how he also has an extremely difficult time letting go of loved ones who have passed. With this being said, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say he’d want to keep items in remembrance of the people he’s lost. This means that it’s extremely plausible that these belts are taken from slayers who he fought alongside with and felt particularly emotional towards. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had Masachika’s belt wrapped around his leg as well.

At the core, Sanemi Shinazugawa is an extremely caring person. Despite his harsh exterior, the most important thing to him is protecting the people he loves, and this is shown throughout his character design.

[ziracona]

Hello! I have always believed that Michael needed better doctors and good treatment. He was simply billed as "Evil". Sometimes I think that at that time they were unaware or ignorant of mental illness, and that is why Michael did not recover. I wish it had been treated better. I would like to know your opinion about it ;v;

Oh, absolutely. Michael is a very tragic character, and what happened to him was almost entirely Loomis’ fault, secondarily the system and his parents’, and like onyl 0.8% his own. It’s true that mental health aid has historically been really bad in most places, and even today treatment and acceptance—even in specifically medical settings—tend to be abysmal. Of course people knew less than they do now about how psychological stuff works, but bias, cruelty, and superstition as well as a system that enables and even to degrees outright encourages that is to blame for the awful treatment people woth mental illnesses and personality disorders faced and continue to face, not just a lack of knowledge, and the history is really heavy and awful to look over. : ( It’s horrific some of the things doctors have done and do to people just trying to get help.

Like, in Michael’s case, we’ve had a name and understanding of psychosis since the 1800s. Canonically, by the time the poor kid was six years old, he was hearing voices telling him to do bad things to people. He told his parents, seeking help, and they did nothing to help him—just told him it was his imagination—despite knowing hos grandfather had suffered the same symptoms. If they had only taken him seriously and given him therapy and possibly medication too, Judith never would have died. (I am not goong to say it every time, but all this information is official canon) Michael’s reason for killing his family members is wanting the vocies talking to him to be quiet, because it’s agonizing. If you’ve ever had intrusive thoughts (stuff like “pull into oncoming traffic” or “break that and see what happens” and such that don’t actually compell or force you to do it at all, and are always things you as a person deeply do not want to do, but nevertheless are really annoying or distressing to hear in your head), imagine that cranked up to 1000, endless and constant, but from voices that seem to come from around you instead of in your head. Especially as a young child, with no understanding what is happening to you, this would be incredibly scary and distressing—doubly so when dismissed by your parents, whose sole job is supposed to be to love and protect you.

The voices say they’ll be quiet if Michael kills Judith, so Halloween night, he does. Important to note here Michael is recently six years old at the time, which developmental psych literally is not old enough to have a complete understanding what death itself is, let alone complex morality. You /cannot/ be evil at six, you simply don’t have a complex enough understanding of right and wrong or of consequence to /be/ evil. Also at this age, usually kids see death as a vague concept, but one that applies to people they don’t know only, not to them and their loved ones. In Halloween 1978, immediately after stabbing Judith, Michael looks away while he keeps doing it, and his breathing speeds up in a scared way. He barely looks at the body, and immediately goes down stairs to wait for his parents—probably for them to fix it—and does nothing to flee or hide what he’s done. He looks traumatized when they take his mask off. (Lots of little notes here like that Judith when she sees him seems annoyed but not very, and when he attacks her, tries to shield herself and call to him to stop, rather than fleeing or fighting back, which [appealing instead of fight or flight] is pretty exclusively something you only would use if attcked by someone you are on good terms with—I mean, Michael is six—if Judith had /tried/ to fight back, no way she would have died—so there’s less than nothing to indicate they had anything but a loving familial sibling relationship. But if I list all these I’m gonna launch into my six page Michael Myers meta so I will speed through the rest.)

Anyway! Sorry, I have many feelings. About...everything. Including Michael for sure. So, immediately after killing Judith, Michael stops talking. He also shows other psychosis and trauma readily recognized side effects, like catatonia, slowed movement. In Halloween 1978c Dr. Loomis claims he tried to treat Michael for eight years, then spent another seven trying to keep him locked up because he realized he was evil. This is a /blatant/ lie, as in film canon Loomis, by Michael’s review hearing I believe four months in? Six or less for sure, I believe it is four. Loomis has /already/ become convinced Michael is a demon in human form, faking his symptoms, and itching to kill again. The other doctors think Loomis is crazy, as does the other doctor who examines Michael, but they’re awful people so they let him stay Michael’s doctor anyway, even though they refuse to move him to Litchfield maximum security. By this time only a few months in, Loomis is canonically also threatening the six year old in his care and constantly telling him he is an evil being who wants to get out and terrorize again. (Also, I will die enraged the sentance Michael gets for killing Judith is to remain locked in solitary in a sanitorium for /15/ years, until he turns 21, at which point he will be tried as an adult for murder??? The fuck?? You CANNOT charge a 6 year old’s crime in adult court! ‘Tried as an adult’ is meant for like, when a 17 year old dismembers their family and eats them! It’s for particularly heinous crimes, committed by someone /very/ close to being legally an adult, and that /only/. The idea of waiting fifteen years to try someone as an adult for something done at age six is laughable and sick).

Okay this is already long, I get carried away rip. Uhhh, anyway, yeah. In Smith’s Grove, Michael is visited by mom and Laurie once, then never sees any of his family again, because his dad hates him and forbids the others—finds out because Laurie is four and talks that they went /one/ time, and physically beats four year old Laurie for mentioning his name until she trauma blocks out ever having had a brother. From then on, Michael spends /fifteen/ years and all the dest of his developmental stages of childhood in a sanitorium with Dr. Loomis—a man who on wild religious superstition grounds assumes by his own admission /on sight/ that Michael is evil, and no other human contact. According to canon, Michael spends at least four hours of /every/ day with Loomis, his /only/ human contact, who threatens him, promises to stop him, and endlessly barrages him with “You’re evil, you’re not human, you want to kill again, I /will/ stop you,” and nothing else. He also canonically keeps Michael overdosed on a type of antipsychotic that, while a fine drug if used normally, if overdosed can deeply worsen symptoms, and can cause permanent brain damage.

Honestly, if a six year old is exposed yo major trauma, none of their issues are explained, legitimized, or believed, and almost all of their developmental stage is spent with endless voices they don’t know the cause of suggesting murder and violence, one human being and authority figure telling them over and over and over for fifteen years with no other constant in their life or human contact period that they are a demon in human form who wants to kill and is /going/ to do so again...? How else was that story ever going to end? I’ve said it before, but that’s beyond conditioning; it’s lab growing a human child to one day walk out and murder Laurie Strode with a large kitchen knife.

I stand by Halloween is a greek tragedy more than a slasher, and Michael and Laurie are both victims. He’s the Asterios, she’s the Ariadne. Loomis the Minos, the real villain. (Or the Poseidon choose your poison).

Anyway, I 100% agree! If he had just gotten help from his parents, Judith would have never died. If he’d had good doctors, none of the events of 1978 would have come to pass, or anything after it. Loomis single-handedly causes the deaths in 1978 himself through years of cruelty, and bigoted bias towards a small child in his care who needed his help, not his abuse, but he chose to break as much as he possibly could despite his responsibilities as a doctor, an adult, and a human.

If you’re interested, I did a canon-deep-dive character study short story on Michael on AO3! Halloween is such a sad story but it’s fascinating. God, poor Michael and Laurie deserved so much better than they got. It’s a testament to Michael’s character that even after 15 years of Dr. Loomis, he really only kills his intented target(s) in search of quiet from the voices, and anyone who sees him/would be a threat, and not other people. Makes no attempt to kill any of the kids in Halloween 2018, and only kills Bob when he literally opens the door to his hiding spot and Michael is found and Bob becomes a threat to him. In H20, after Michael has had 20 years on his own, you get arguably the least brutal Michael, who intentionally passes on killing the mother and child, and the security guard he walks right past, because they don’t see him and thus he doesn’t /have/ to. Halloween II is less intentionally avoiding, but even then he still does the same multiple times too, like with the old lady making a sandwich, or the scene in the incubator room. Anyway he desevered better fuck Loomis all my homies hate Loomis.

[kbetacygni]

Fate through the lens of Karate Soap Operas and Sci-fi Thrillers: a comparative analysis on Cobra Kai (2018-present) and Dark (2017-2020)

The following is a (non-essay format) essay comparing Cobra Kai / The Karate Kid and Dark. 

[oh god oh frick tumblr messes with the bullet point formatting on the dash, you’re gonna have to read this on my blog]  

 A note before we begin, regarding spoilers: 

I’ve left a lot of the info on Dark intentionally vague, because Dark is a show that is meant to be experienced and spoilers for it feel absolutely illegal. THAT BEING SAID, the following isn’t entirely spoiler-free for Dark, because it’s impossible to talk about the parallels without some spoilers. I feel terrible about it, which should clue you in on how IMPORTANT it is to watch it. I’m not kidding when I say this: Dark is and will be, for a very long time, the best show in the history of humankind. 

(of course, best depends on category. If you wanna say “best comedy show”, Dark is... not it. But this is as clear as I can make it, and I am 100% serious: Dark is fucking good. It’s so fucking good. It’s incomparable.)

I don’t have spoiler warnings for Cobra Kai because all my mental energy has been devoted to spoiler-filtering Dark. Sorry about that. 

So let’s just jump right into it! 

Overall parallels:

Timespan

“34 years later” | “the 33 year cycle”

Location-specific over multiple decades

San Fernando Valley | Winden

Same characters over multiple decades

(need i elaborate)

(Interesting note: whereas Dark uses different actors, KK/CK has the benefit of being able to actually transcend time, using the same actors. Big props to the Dark casting directors, though, because they do a damn good job of it, to the point where Dark’s casting choices are easily comparable to Zabka and Macchio’s actual aging-up)

General 80s vibes

KK1 being set in 1984 + music/scene choices in CK | many storylines in Dark

Primary theme song is an 80s song: “You’re the Best” | “Irgendwie Irgendwo Irgendwann”

Recurring events

(need. i. elaborate.)

This bears repeating: recurring events

(ok i’ll elaborate, with the clearest examples:)

1984 - 2018 All-Valley Tournament | 1986 - 2019 missing children

With each iteration of events, things fall apart even more and the consequences are worse

In the latest iteration (I know that isn’t the best terminology to use for Dark, but bear with me), The Kids(tm) have been looped into the hellscape

Three factions at war:

Cobra Kai / Eagle Fang / Miyagi-Do | Adam / Eva / Claudia

Visually, both shows have multiple mirrored scenes and shots comparing events from decades ago to events in the present day

Cobra Kai’s flashbacks and general mirrored scene-positioning | Dark’s montage scenes

Themes, Tropes, and Broad Characterizations:

Self-fulfilling prophecies / Inescapable fates

(this is the big one)

The more a character tries to avoid a fate, the more likely it is to happen (Johnny re: bad parenting, Kreese coming back and fucking things up, his son Robby falling into Kreese’s hands and probably suffering the same fate he did | Jonas re: e v e r y t h i n g)

Parents going to great lengths to protect their children

This is a pretty central theme to Dark, and to Cobra Kai as well. In spite of estrangement and tension, parents do many things (in the case of Dark, All The Things) to try to save their kids.

And it doesn’t work out very well, which makes it hurt all the more.

Forbidden love

Miguel and Sam | Jonas and Martha

Broken families and/or single parents

Johnny’s parents and his own family, Daniel’s parents, and Miguel’s family | Jonas’s parents and the Nielsen family

Main character is a social outcast

KK: Daniel, CK: Johnny and Miguel | Dark: Jonas

Trauma / incapability of letting go of the past

“This suffering has made you who you are.”

Teens Being Manipulated By Adults

Especially being forced by adults to take sides in a larger war

Miguel, Hawk, Tory, Robby / Johnny, Bobby, Dutch, Tommy, Jimmy being manipulated by Kreese | Winden teens being manipulated by Adam and Eva

The Police Don’t Do Shit

Characters:

Johnny Lawrence | Ulrich Nielsen. Both characters go through a traumatic event in their teens in the 1980s. Their respective losses have compelled them to involve themselves in the work that caused it

Ulrich: the police never found his missing brother, and in the present day he’s a police officer himself

Johnny: lost the AVT in his senior year, was almost killed by his sensei for it, and in the present day he’s a sensei himself

In their teens, both were kinda punk / angry “bad boys” 

Also: their sons (Robby Keene | Magnus Nielsen) are a mirror of their own teen years/personality.

Daniel LaRusso | Jonas Kahnwald. This connection isn’t strong (other than the stuff I mentioned earlier re: single mother, social outsider), but I just wanted to note that both are famous for their off-the-rails explosive rants about how much they “hate it here”.

And finally, to end on a lighter note:

Skeleton Boys: OG Cobra Kais and Miguel | Mikkel in the forest

[faelapis]

even ignoring the fact that SU is ending next month. i bet some people are concern that the last 10 eps wouldn't be enough to properly answer any 'future' plot lines and may feel rushed

so… to me, something giving you encyclopedic answers to every possible question does not mean it’s well-paced, and it’s not poor pacing or rushed storytelling to not explore everything equally. a lot of the time, these are contradictory and doing encyclopedic fanservice hurts cohesiveness & pacing.

to support this, i’d say “the rise of skywalker” favors encyclopedic fan answers over theme, character, story & organic worldbuilding. it suffers a lot for it. by contrast, the sopranos has an ending very much in line with its themes. it doesn’t answer everything, deliberately so, and that’s part of its point. it’s good for that story to leave some things unsaid. it reinforces that the main character is always living in uncertainty.

similarly, steven’s perspective is limited and that’s part of the point. 

i don’t think cactus steven should return, for instance, because the whole idea is that steven screwed up as a “parent” and is now excluded from its life. he shouldn’t get to see what happens next to it. like sadie said, some things are private. if you care about validating those who cut off parents, you shouldn’t want steven reunited with cactus any more than pink being reunited with the other diamonds. it would take away the message for the sake of cheap “satisfaction”.

or like. let’s go to a bottom-tier “10 things SU future DOESN’T answer” youtube clickbait example. let’s say we took a break from steven’s internal struggle, what future is shaped around, to learn random things about the world. let’s say we dedicate an episode to boringly, painstakingly confirming out loud every single way the SU earth is different from ours, like russia’s crater.

why would we do that? it doesn’t feel like something steven is Dying to explore right now. if you want an SU encyclopedia to go into the history of the tunguska event, that’s your business, but it has nothing to do with the core of future. it’s pretty easy to infer as just a “here’s a small way gemkind shaped the earth to set up the galaxy warp & keep humans away from it” detail. that’s all it needs to be. 

i like that the world is bigger than steven, and a bit ambiguous. it’s one of those things that isn’t central to his life, so he doesn’t need to ask. it would hurt pacing to excessively focus on this, not help it.

when asking a question about x, you need to ask whether its really a question that needs answering, or something the audience can infer on its own. then, you need to ask what it adds to the overall story, not just trivia for its own sake. not because you can never have trivia - but you need to be elegant about it. overstuffing is rarely the way to go.

for my money’s worth, i like the deliberate narrative choice that steven will never have the answer to everything. that’s like. VERY explicit this season. i like the sense of sublime theater, the feeling that there’s stuff beyond what you can fully experience, which is very true for SU and something RS has talked about multiple times. the world is always “more” than steven understands.

that’s what it’s like to be a person in the world, rather than a god or omnipresent narrator. we would lose a lot, thematically, if we took that away. it wouldn’t be “steven universe”. 

i think there’s beauty in those instances where we have an idea of what happened, but because it’s outside steven’s sphere (or tied to people’s trauma to the point where they don’t want to tell him every detail, and steven is stuck with limited information), it’s ever-so-slightly out of reach. i love that. it’s a part of the magic, for me. 

now, i want to be careful here and say that there are things the show should absolutely cover before it ends. 

obviously steven’s angst needs to go somewhere, and things that have been set up to be followed through on (like jasper, the chest being opened) should also be given room. these are questions deliberately raised by the narrative, rather than things you happen to be hyper-invested in to the point where you refuse to accept anything even intentionally ambiguous.

i’m not writing this as a catch-all “anything the show doesn’t want to explore is fine”. but i’m not all that worried either. SU is pretty solid about following through on things that need further exploration. 

this entire epilogue is a great testament to that, how steven adjusts to a world where he no longer has that aching pedestal-mom purpose. he’s a microcosm of the growing pains of the world around him, what it means to live “free” of that. he’s a consequence of the path he’s followed thus far.

as for how it should end… SU has a bittersweet tinge and i would never want to take that away. it’s faux-endings (times it Could have ended, like ocean gem and cym) have been more hopeful than 100% happy. it wants you to feel like things are working out, not that the world has come to a standstill. which, to me, fits its philosophy of continuous, never-ending growth.

that is much more satisfying to me than seeing everyone coupled up in “endgame” relationships, or living out the next millennia - because i don’t buy that this is a universe where things will ever stop changing. and that’s okay.

[silentauroriamthereal]

Author interview tag

I was tagged by @therealsaintscully! Thanks, you! :)

Name: SilentAuror

Fandoms: Just Sherlock, though I also follow some Old Guard blogs. :)

Where you post: AO3. Though I was almost knocked over the other day when I got a comment on an old HP fic over on skyehawke.com! It’s been literal YEARS since I got a review on anything over there! :P 

Most popular multi-chapter fic: Against the Rest of the World for sure. :)

Favourite story you’ve written so far: With 87 posted fics and 2 more currently on the go, I can’t possibly answer that. That’s cruel. Lol. 

Fic you were nervous to post: This, on the other hand, is easy, haha! Three stories, all for very different reasons: 

1. The A.G.R.A Complex. This was my first Freebatch fic and I thought I might well be burnt at the stake for even writing any RPF. The notion for this story caught my muses’ attention, though, and they eventually forced me to write it against my will. I can’t be held responsible. Lol. It still amazes me that people continue to read it to this day. The notion: Martin and Benedict are friends. There’s a car accident and Martin suffers a fairly mild brain injury. While in his coma, dreams the entire first three seasons of Sherlock, which in this universe, haven’t happened. The nature of the brain injury is such that he keeps shifting mentally between the reality of who he and Benedict (and Amanda) are, and seeing himself and everyone else as their characters in the Sherlock universe. When I posted it, I intended it to be left up to the reader whether to see it as kind of an AU to actual reality, or else a prequel to the filming of Sherlock. When I finally decided to write a sequel, it meant that I had to be the one to make that clear, which made it a prequel. It became a three-part series, with the second part set during and just after the filming of series 3 (the dodgiest in the moral sense, since it dances around and into real life events), and then the third story takes place ten years later. 

2. The Final Proof. Why? Easy. Major character death, and it’s Sherlock. That’s clear from about the first sentence, I think. I had written At the Heart of it All, which features Sherlock running an experiment using the hearts of people who lived lives where they had loved and been loved, and people who hadn’t in an effort to prove his own ability to love to John. He says something at the end of that story about wishing he could see his own heart at the end of their life to see which of the hearts his own resembled by then. And then my muses, my terrible, terrible muses said, “hey... you could write that: you know: Sherlock at the very end of his life, making John promise to look at his heart after he’s died, and complete his experiment.” I, like, teared up just at the thought, and honestly, I cried for most of the writing of that story. I’m assured that about 99% of the people who have read it have also cried throughout, so... sorry. Yeah. 

3. Scars. Why? Easy, again: the entire story is riddled with gaslighting and other types of emotional abuse and mind-fuckery, and an actual rape scene. It was painful to the point of being interally corrosive to write, but I still felt it was a story I needed to tell. I did my homework on this one, consulted multiple therapists who work specifically in the field of men who have been absued (emotionally, physically, sexually) by female partners. I thought no one would read it. I thought I might lose half my followers on tumblr. But I still wrote it. It still amazes me that people read it, even more when they actually like it, and still like me after. Lol. 

How you choose your titles: Hmm... each title genesis is different, I would say! Sometimes it’s a general theme of the story, sometimes it’s a specific concept or single word, occasionally (but not often) it’s a song title. Sometimes it’s another language, particularly Latin. In The A.G.R.A Complex, the title of the story is also the name that the neurologists given to the brain injury Martin experiences. Vena Cava is titled for the name of the vein that Mary’s bullet punctured in Sherlock’s heart, based on a medical analysis I had read. Scars takes its theme from both Sherlock’s external scars from what he went through during his time away, and John’s internal scars from Mary’s emotional abuse. I also have a whole series of (unrelated) flower-themed stories: The Green Carnations comes from ACD era coding for homosexuality. The Yellow Poppies is the story I wrote after the deleted scene about Magnussen’s hospital visit came out, which features both he and Mary as dual villains, and yellow poppies placed in Sherlock’s room as a threat from one or the other of them. The White Lotuses has a leitmotif of Hinduism and slow-blooming self-awareness and romance. The Red Roses is a Molly POV where she helps Sherlock and John get together in spite of her own feelings, and The Wisteria Tree is an amnesia story that has Sherlock forget the past six years of his life, including the five years that he’s been married to John, and how they find their way back together in spite of that. Rosa Felicia - bonus, both a flower name AND Latin, lol! - is a coming-of-age story about Rosie at the age of 19. Where My Demons Hide is a mid-series 4 story that I wrote after The Lying Detective aired, but before The Final Problem did, and is the title of an Imagine Dragons song. Pater Noster is Latin for the title of the Lord’s Prayer in Latin, but also quite literally just means “our father”, and is a story that centres around the events surrounding the death (murder) of John and Harry’s father. You get the gist. 

Do you outline: I always say that one should know how a story begins, how it ends, and at least a few of the major points between those two events. So yes, but loosely. I think that over-plotting kills creativity. It’s not an essay. But even essays need space to grow. 

Complete: 105 stories back in my skyehawke days, the vast majority of which are HP, totalling in about 1.5 million words. 87 stories in the Sherlock fandom (though those include my 4 Freebatch fics), totalling in over 2.3 million words now. 

In progress: I have two stories currently pending: a Christmas story called The Secret of Hazel Grange, and a trauma-based, co-sleeping fic called Nocturne.

Coming soon/not yet started: I never comment about fics I haven’t yet started. Might curse the entire process, lol. 

Do you accept prompts: No, alas. Neither prompts nor commissions. While I’m constantly desperately poor, it takes something out of the writing process for me once it becomes a job. I just feel like that’s not what fanfic is about for me. No judgement to anyone else who does write for commissions, whatsoever - we all have our own process! For me, I’m happy (make that incredibly grateful!) to have donations or supporters through my Patreon (eep: x), but writing to order just doesn’t quite jive for me. I also don’t take prompts, not because I don’t want them, but because I have such a huge backlog of my own ideas that I’ll never get to as it is. There will never be enough time to write all the fics I want to write! That said, don’t think that you can’t still suggest your ideas. My “official policy” (lol) is that I don’t take prompts (for the aforementioned backlog reason), but that doesn’t mean that if you do send me one, my muses won’t seize upon it and force me to write it. You never know. I certainly don’t, at least. :P 

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: I’m super excited by the notion of actually getting my Christmas fic finished by Christmas. Lol. Here’s hoping!! 

Tagging: Anyone who reads this and is a writer, or thinking about becoming one. You’ve been tagged! 

[snkpolls]

SnK Episodes 73 & 74 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 44 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

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RATE EPISODE 73: SAVAGERY 42 responses

The rating for episode 14 was notably positive, with 97.6% of respondents giving the episode a 4 or 5 (majority being 5s). And just a single 3! 

this shit was so good, I love you mappa <3

Best anime ever

RATE EPISODE 74: SOLE SALVATION 43 responses

The subsequent episode garnered a bit of more muted response, although there was an equal amount of 5s given out. Overall, 86% gave the episode either a 4 or a 5. There were also six 3s. 

Masterpiece

zook

WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF EPISODE 73? 43 responses

The pie for episode 73 was rather colorful! 23.3% most enjoyed the much anticipated Levi vs. Zeke 2.0. 20.9% thought seeing Levi having to fight his own comrades in titan form was the most memorable moment of the episode. At a tie for 14% people thought Eren disparaging his friends and Eren beating up Armin had the biggest impact in this episode. 9.3% felt the biggest impact by seeing Armin punch Eren in the face, while another 7% were most impacted by Levi’s brutality against Zeke as he filleted his legs.

WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF EPISODE 74? 43 responses

The scene that stuck most with anime watchers was Zeke detonating the thunder spear and sending Levi flying, with 51.2% of respondents giving their vote to the closing scene of the episode. 11.6% felt the most impacted by the scene of Zeke listening to Grisha yelling at Dina through the door, and another 11.6% felt the reveal of Zeke’s euthanasia plan is the detail that stuck out the most. 7% seemed most affected by the Yeager Brothers’ secret conversation.

EPISODE 73 IS TITLED, “SAVAGERY.” OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHICH CHARACTER DO YOU THINK BEST EXEMPLIFIED THIS WORD? 42 responses

The episode’s title, “Savagery” can most certainly be attributed to one of the characters on screen, so it’s no surprise that there was differing opinion on which character exemplified that. The plurality (47.6%) chose to go with Levi, perhaps due to his arguably cruel treatment of Zeke after his victory. Eren was the runner up with 31%, probably due to the cruel nature of his words to Mikasa and Armin. The rest of the votes went to Shadis’ nemesis, Floch and a few to Zeke himself (Titanization Man).

HOW BADLY DID YOU FEEL ABOUT LEVI HAVING TO KILL HIS OWN SQUAD? 43 responses

Although there were some people who didn’t really seem to care, most of the respondents (88.3%) seemed to feel for Levi’s struggles. Poor guy needs a break!

poor levi he through some shit:(

ON A SCALE OF 105, HOW WOULD YOU RATE LEVI VS. ZEKE 2.0? 43 responses

Levi vs Zeke 2.0 garnered a lot of praise from the responses gathered. 90.7% gave the showdown a 4 or a 5 (mostly 5s) and no one gave it a score lower than 3. Very nice!

WHY DO YOU THINK FLOCH MADE THE RECRUITS BATTER INSTRUCTOR SHADIS? 43 responses

Floch’s actions in Episode 73 focused on Instructor Shadis and the takeover of the Training Facility, culminating in Keith’s beatdown. We asked you why you believe Floch made the cadets do so. 34.9% of respondents thought that it was due to Floch having an ego trip, as Shadis said himself. 14% thought that it truly was due to Floch believing in Shadis representing the old order, necessary to “purge”. Finally, some select folks believed that Floch wanted to make an example out of the Instructor. Finally, another 34.9% of respondents said that all of the aforementioned reasons were valid to a degree.

HOW CUTE WAS BITTY ZEKE? 42 responses

Little Zeke has appeared multiple times in Episode 15 and what better way to make one feel sympathy for someone than portraying them as a cute kid? 78.6% thought Zeke was exceptionally cute, giving a score of 4 or 5 (mostly 5s). The rest were less thrilled, though there were only two 1s.

lil baby zeke is so cute

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GRISHA’S TREATMENT OF ZEKE? 43 responses

Grisha’s treatment of Zeke during his childhood is perhaps one of the most important events when it comes to shaping Yeager Junior’s view on the world. We asked how you felt about that. 27.9% stated that they felt much sympathy for Zeke and believed he deserved none of it. Another 27.9% sympathized with Zeke, but didn’t hold too much blame over Grisha due to his precarious position. A little over 25% went even further called Grisha the worst parent in the series. Quite a lot of those in AoT/SnK. 11.6% were more mild and simply chastised Grisha for his treatment. One person said that they didn’t care for Zeke’s struggles at all and we also received 2 write-ins.

Grisha's intentions were good, but the way he treated Zeke was not

I get that he doesn't want anyone else to suffer the same tragic and horrific fate that Fay did, but I still wanted to reach through the TV screen and smack the life outta Grisha

DO YOU FEEL THAT ZEKE WOULD HAVE GROWN INTO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT KIND OF PERSON IF GRISHA HAD TREATED HIM BETTER? 43 responses

An interesting what-if comes when asked about the possibility of Zeke being treated differently by his father in his childhood and how that would affect Zeke’s view of the world. 53.5% believe that even if Grisha treated Zeke differently, it’s not possible to say if Yeager Junior’s worldview would be completely different since there were other factors. In contrast, 32.6% think that his perspective would have been totally divergent from the one we’ve seen. 9.3% weren’t sure and we also received 2 write-ins.

Zeke is who he is because of his childhood, it includes Grsiha's treatment but also his grand parents and Ksaver. If we take off one piece of hid childhood, he would have been another person. 

If the circumstances were right, possibly. But that would take a hell of a lot of trauma.

WHO DO YOU THINK HAD A BIGGER IMPACT IN SHAPING ZEKE’S WORLDVIEW? 43 responses

Just under 70% believe Ksaver had a bigger impact on shaping Zeke’s viewpoint on existence, in contrast to a little over 30% who think Grisha was the bigger pull here.

WHO TURNED OUT MORE LIKE GRISHA, IN YOUR OPINION? 42 responses

It is also interesting to note the comparison between the two Yeager Brothers and how much influence their father had on them. Overwhelmingly, 81% believe that Eren turned out to be more like Grisha in his nature versus 19% who think that Zeke received such honor (or dishonor, if you so choose to believe). 

WHO WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO PUNCH IN THE FACE AFTER THESE EPISODES? 42 responses

We decided to give the respondents an out for their frustrations by allowing them to choose a person to a punch! The “golden” dishonor went to Floch, with 35.7%, which was followed by Eren with 16.7% and the author of the original work himself, Isayama Hajime, also with 16.7%. Geisha received the bronze and 14.3% of the vote. Zeke and especially Levi were less popular options. In contrast, 7.1% stated that they had no interest in punching anyone. Also, no one expressed a desire to physically assault us, the pollsters. Thanks!

HAVE THE EVENTS THAT HAVE TRANSPIRED CHANGED YOUR OPINION ON EREN? 42 responses

Was Eren’s shocking behavior enough to change some opinions about his overall character? 31% of viewers stand firm in their love and support for Eren and agree that his actions haven’t changed their feelings at all. 26.2% are feeling a little more dicey, wanting to see more of his development before deciding if he’s really worthy of their support or not. 9.5% have changed their opinion on him and see him more negatively, though on the flipside… 7.1% feel the opposite, stating they didn’t like him before but are now watching with curiosity. 

I dont know

I’m mad about what’s happening HOWEVER, that is my man ✨😌

I like him increasingly since the beginning of the story. His development is fantastic. Best character.

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but not anymore. This ain't it chief

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE EMA TALK? 42 responses

The majority of viewers were genuinely shaken by this scene, with 38.1% feeling that there is nothing but pain on the road ahead, while another 23.8% are already actively wailing at the apparent death of EMA’s bond. 21.4% are simply in disbelief at Eren’s treatment of his friends. A small handful actually enjoyed Eren eviscerating his friends, while another handful didn’t really have an opinion either way. 

It was awesome. Isayama lets us build our opinion without any sign of "look, that's the good way to think"

I can excuse the whole raid of Liberio and mass murder thing, but beating up Armin? Telling Mikasa he hates her? That's where I draw the line

I am soulless. For Eren to go from sharing his dreams of the future with Armin and Mikasa to threatening them like enemies broke me. Easily the hardest part of the anime to watch to date.

DO YOU THINK THAT EREN IS CORRECT ABOUT ARMIN BEING MANIPULATED BY BERTOLT? 41 responses

More than half of respondents believe that there is some truth to what Eren is saying, but that he’s not wholly correct. 26.8% feel that Eren is dead wrong about Bertolt affecting Armin. In equal parts of 9.8%, fans either feel that Eren knows what he’s talking about, or aren’t sure what to think.

DO YOU THINK EREN IS RIGHT ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE ACKERMAN CLAN? 42 responses

Similarly to the previous question, more than half of respondents feel that there is only some truth in what Eren is saying about the Ackerman clan. Though, the opposite of people’s views on his words to Armin, 28.6% actually think what Eren said about the Ackerman clan is the whole truth. 9.5% think he’s full of it, and 7.1% aren’t sure. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT EREN’S EXPLANATION OF THE ACKERMANS’ POWERS? 42 responses

45.2% of viewers feel that Eren’s explanation of the Ackerman power is a somewhat positive thing, and that it adds more layers onto the relationships that our Ackerman characters have with others. 16.7% are just happy to have any kind of explanation at all and think it makes perfect sense. On the flipside, another 16.7% feel that everything Eren said wasn’t true and are reserving judgement for further story development. 14.3% absolutely hate Eren’s explanation of the Ackerman power and feel it cheapens the bond characters like Mikasa and Levi have with others. 

Kenny said it : "Everyone was a slave to something". It makes perfect sense. 💯

DOES EREN BELIEVE THE CRUEL WORDS HE SAID TO ARMIN AND MIKASA? 42 responses

More than half of respondents still have some faith in Eren and believe that he wasn’t being his true self when talking with Armin and Mikasa. 23.8% don’t want to say either way for sure if these feelings are genuine. 19% think that Eren believes every word he said and truly feels his way toward his friends now.

EREN SAYS HE IS FREE. ARMIN SAYS EREN IS A SLAVE. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 42 responses

When it comes to whether Eren is truly free, or if he’s actually enslaved by something or someone else, 33.3% feel that it’s a combination of the two options. 19% believe that he’s somehow being controlled by previous holders of the titan powers he possesses, while another 19% aren’t sure what to think. 16.7% believe Eren is free, and that when he says everything he does is of his own will, that he is right.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO MIKASA NOW? 42 responses

Eren was particularly hurtful to Mikasa, a character who has been nothing but loyal and caring toward him for the entire duration of their friendship. Many fans would like to see her develop away from him, but is this moment the catalyst for such development? 57.1% seem to feel that she will grow from this experience, though it would be impossible for her to stop caring about Eren despite his poor treatment of her. 11.9% feel the opposite, and think that she won’t grow from this experience, but rather that it will hinder her, and she will be forever broken. 9.5% believe that despite Eren’s cruelty, she will continue to have unwavering faith in him. Small handfuls either felt she will move past this and become her own person without Eren impacting her anymore, or that she will grow to deeply resent Eren as a result of his actions toward her.

EREN TALKS ABOUT HOW MIKASA’S HEADACHES ARE A SIDE EFFECT OF HER ACKERMAN GENES. LEVI IS SEEN GRABBING HIS HEAD IN THE EPISODE PRIOR. DO YOU THINK HE’S ALSO HAVING AN ACKER-HEADACHE AT THAT MOMENT? 42 responses

Levi is seen grabbing his head for the first time in the series just before Eren mentions Acker-headaches are a thing. 57.1% believe that Levi is, indeed, having a headache, giving more credibility to Eren’s words. Versus 42.9% who believe that Levi wasn’t having a headache in that scene, and was simply just grabbing his head.

HANGE AND PIXIS HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE THE WINE PLOT WAS REVEALED, SO HOW DOES PIXIS KNOW ABOUT THE WINE? 41 responses

39% of viewers feel that Pixis couldn’t have been aware of the wine, but that he was sure that Zeke would somehow try to pull a stunt like turning the people of Paradis into titans. 24.4% think it’s possible that Yelena had already confessed about the wine plot to him during their earlier conversation. 22% think he just doesn’t know about the wine and didn’t know Zeke could even do such a thing. 

I have no idea. I didn’t even consider this.

DO YOU THINK THAT PIXIS AND NILE ARE DESTINED TO BECOME PURE TITANS, NOW THAT WE KNOW THEY INGESTED THE WINE? 41 responses

Now that we have confirmation that Pixis and Nile both drank the spiked wine, more than half of respondents believe that they are destined to become titans in the near future. 29.3% feel the opposite, and believe that they will be able to avoid this fate.

DID SHADIS GOAD THE NEW RECRUITS IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT THEM? 40 responses

60% believe that Shadis was looking out for the trainee cadets when he goaded them into trying to beat him up, ensuring that they wouldn’t have to become a victim to the Yeagerists’ violence. 32.5% aren’t sure what his intentions were, and a small handful felt it was a hard no.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON FLOCH? 42 responses

Floch doesn’t seem to be netting many positive opinions so far, with 38.1% of respondents stating that they “absolutely loathe him.” 26.2% aren’t in support of Floch, but are still willing to throw their faith behind Eren. 14.3% hate him, but are having a good time doing so, and 11.9% are actually in support of Floch’s actions despite some missteps along the way. 

Everyone's saying 'Fuck Gabi' but I've been screaming 'Fuck Floch' with my whole chest since the end of season 3...he receives all of my hate LMAO

FUCK FLOCH

I have fostered an visceral hatred for him since the moment he was introduced and honestly now I'm just glad it's justified

WE’LL ASK AGAIN, DO YOU THINK EREN IS TRULY WORKING WITH THE YEAGERISTS? 42 responses

40.5% believe that Eren is working with the Yeagerists, but with a different goal than the one they think he has. 16.7% don’t think he’s working with them at all and that it’s just a narrative ruse. 14.3% don’t know what to make of this connection just yet, and 9.5% refuse to believe anything until they see Eren giving orders to the Yeagerists directly.

HISTORIA HAS REMAINED OUT OF THE PICTURE IN THE CURRENT TIMELINE. WHERE DO YOU THINK HER LOYALTIES MAY LIE? 41 responses

Historia hasn’t been able to speak for herself yet, so we were curious where you thought her loyalties may lie in this whole conflict. 31.7% believe that she is only looking out for herself at this point. 22% believe that her loyalties are with Eren - but not the Yeagerists, and another 22% believe that her loyalties are with someone else who we haven’t been able to deduce yet. 12.2% believe that she is all in with the Survey Corps.

IF ZEKE HAD EXPLAINED HIS PLAN TO LEVI, DO YOU THINK THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM TO HAVE A DIALOGUE, RATHER THAN JUST OPPOSE EACH OTHER? 42 responses

A solid 50% of viewers think that there is no way Zeke and Levi would ever be able to share a dialogue about the solution to Eldia’s problems. 31% are less sure, thinking it’s possible it could go either way, while 16.7% believe that they could have talked out their problems if only they had chosen to try and trust one another.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT LEVI SLICING ZEKE UP? 42 responses

A total of 64.3% of respondents seem to enthusiastically support Levi’s treatment toward Zeke, with 33.3% specifically agreeing with the sentiment of “Good for him!” While another 31% feel that Zeke absolutely had this coming and can’t fault Levi for his actions. 26.2% are still in support of Levi’s decision to fillet Zeke’s legs, though they do agree the action was a bit on the cruel side. Only a small handful either felt disappointed in Levi or supported Zeke in setting off the thunderspear. 

very very satisfying

He did it for Erwin<3

HOW HAS LEARNING ZEKE’S BACKSTORY AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HIM? 42 responses

With more context on Zeke’s actions, thought process, and the reveal of his true plans, we were curious how opinions may have changed on his character. 38.1% simply just feel sorry for him after seeing how hard his childhood was. 26.2% agree that his backstory is indeed tragic, but that it doesn’t excuse his behavior or his plan. 9.5% feel positively about Zeke, saying they want to love and protect him forever, while 7.1% just aren’t sure how to feel about Zeke now.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE REVEAL FROM ZEKE’S MEMORIES? 42 responses

31% of viewers felt the biggest takeaway from Zeke’s memories was the reveal that the Founding Titan has the ability to manipulate Eldian DNA. 26.2% most enjoyed learning what the true nature of Zeke’s plan was. 19% were happy to understand the reason why Grisha sold out his parents to Marley, and another 11.9% were happy to see how Zeke learned about Grisha’s survival and Eren’s existence (though for some, maybe it was because of the Bertolt crumbs?).

WAS ZEKE’S CHOICE TO TURN IN HIS PARENTS JUSTIFIED? 41 responses

41.5% believe that Zeke was justified in turning in his parents as it was able to protect himself and his grandparents - innocent parties that would have otherwise been in trouble - from going down with Grisha, Dina and the restorationists. 22% believe that he was justified because his parents’ poor treatment toward them deserved some kind of consequence. 19.5% feel the other way, however, and believe that Zeke should have let his parents know Marley was closing in on them. Another 14.6% believe that Zeke could have figured out another way to prevent his parents from being sent to Paradis. 

Mixed feelings.

IN A STORY FILLED WITH TRAGIC CHILDHOOD BACKSTORIES, WHERE DOES ZEKE’S RANK? 41 responses

Nearly half of the fandom agree that Zeke’s childhood backstory is toward the top of the list of the most tragic ones in this series, but not quite enough to claim the title of “the absolute worst.” 26.8% agree that his backstory was pretty bad, but still can’t empathize with his current actions or his goal. 22% believe that he didn’t have it any better or worse than anyone else in the series, and only a small sliver feel that Zeke is truly deserving of the “most tragic character” award.

KSAVER TELLS ZEKE THAT DINA AND GRISHA NEVER LOVED HIM. THOUGHTS? 42 responses

When it comes to the matter of whether Grisha and Dina actually loved Zeke, nearly 60% felt that they did love him, but their love for him didn’t supersede their commitment to their mission to restore the Eldian Empire. 21.4% feel that their love for Zeke and commitment to their mission were equal in strength. 16.7% agree with Ksaver, and believe that Grisha and Dina didn’t love Zeke at all.

DO YOU THINK KSAVER WAS A GOOD PERSON? 42 responses

While we only see Ksaver for one episode, we were curious about your judgement of his character. 35.7% believe that he was a good person, even if he may have made some bad decisions at certain points. 28.6% believe he truly was a good person, and genuinely cared for Zeke as if he was his own son. 19% feel the opposite, and believe he wasn’t a good person, feeling that he manipulated Zeke and disapprove of him lying to his wife and son about his Eldian genetics. 11.9% aren’t sure what to think, but feel there’s more to Ksaver’s story than meets the eye.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE REVEAL OF ZEKE’S PLAN? 42 responses

In general, respondents seem to be shocked at the reveal of Zeke’s true plan, with most of them ranking it a 4 or 5 in its shock factor. One voter leaned more in the direction of the reveal of his real plan being a bit underwhelming.

DO YOU THINK EREN TRULY AGREES WITH ZEKE’S PLAN? 42 responses

33.3% are firm in their belief that Eren would never get on board with Zeke’s euthanasia plan, and that he’s “playing Zeke like a fiddle” right now. 31% believe that Eren does agree with Zeke partially, but still likely has his own separate goal from Zeke. 16.7% aren’t sure, and another 7.1% believe that Eren is truly on board with Zeke’s plan.

DOES ZEKE’S RATIONALE FOR KILLING PEOPLE HELP JUSTIFY IT? 41 responses

43.9% are somewhat understanding of Zeke’s plight, believing that Zeke’s intentions aren’t necessarily unjustified, but that he has still been unnecessarily cruel about his approach to it thus far. 39% don’t see any justification in his actions and think he’s just full of crap. On the flipside, 17.1% believe that Zeke truly feels he is doing the right thing and as a result they are able to empathize with his actions.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE, WHICH IS THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS? 40 responses

When it comes down to being forced to choose one evil or the other, 62.5% believe that if their hands were tied, bringing an end to the Eldian race (whether by Zeke’s plan or by other means) is the lesser of the two evils. 37.5% feel the opposite, and believe that the liberation of Eldians is more important than the survival of the rest of the world who wants to destroy them.

WHAT CONDITION DO YOU THINK LEVI IS IN PHYSICALLY? 42 responses

So MAPPA really left us in the dark on this one. With lots of time to speculate, we were curious what you thought about his physical condition after the explosion. 33.3% believe that he is likely missing a part, or parts, of his body after the impact. 19% think it isn’t as bad, with just some scratches or scrapes. 11.9% believe that Levi is going to be just fine (he’s an Ackerman after all, right?!), while a smaller handful have assumed the worst and believe when we see him next, he will be confirmed as dead. 

He’s FINE everything’s FINE

HOW DID THESE EPISODES MAKE YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS?

The 5 characters that we listed had the biggest focus in these episodes (typically in a controversial light) so we wanted to see how opinions may have changed.

The characters who seem to have received more negative backlash were Grisha and Floch, with Eren trailing behind them. Zeke and Levi were viewed more favorably when all was said and done. Though for unchanged opinions, Eren and Levi seem to have hit more in the middle than the other characters did. Grisha appears to have netted no positive feelings.

WE’VE ONLY GOT ONE EPISODE LEFT FOR THIS RUN! HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT IT? 42 responses

When it comes to the feelings of respondents about the anime ending, we’ve gotten a multitude of responses. A plurality, 45.2% had a more positive view, looking forward to the Part 2 announcement. Close behind were 42.9% who expressed their frustration at the loss of a source of entertainment on Sundays. Less popular responses focused on open despair (due to the anime ending) and in contrast to the rest of the respondents, one person expressed disappointment in this entire season. We’ve also received one write-in. 

I’ve already started up the manga, I couldn’t wait for the last episode and I certainly can’t wait for part 2 lol

DO YOU THINK WE WILL GET AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE NEXT ANIME INSTALLMENT NEXT WEEK? 43 responses

We’ve asked the respondents whether they believed we were going to get a Part 2 announcement the week of the final episode. Now we know that to be the case, it is interesting to look back. 67.5% expressed hope in seeing that announcement with 41.9% (overall) feeling a bit cautiously optimistic, in contrast to the 25.6% (overall) seeing conviction. In contrast, 30.2% were not so sure, with 20.9% (also overall) not feeling too hopeful and 9.3% (again, overall) were lacking any expectations at all. Now we know that the former folks were pessimistic for no reason. Yay. 

Please MAPPA I need this :,(

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODES?

Tears

The reveal of Zeke's backstory has shown us once again that in AoT, there is no black and white but multiple shades of gray and that people like Zeke and Levi can be savage despite having noble intentions. It's sad that Eren and Armin would have to fight like that and I'm annoyed that Mikasa chose to hurt Armin when he punched Eren for her. It's like she has shown that what Eren was saying about her is true.

No other thoughts just sad :(

Pain.

I know Zeke is no ordinary Man. Everyone thinking"oh Zeke boy evil, cruel, throwing something" ı think always not Just that simple. Because ı saw, he sells patents, its really Hard choice for 7 8 years old boy. 

the recent episodes have been amazing and Isayama has by far the sexiest brain out of all creators, period

I was shocked to find out that Ksaver told Zeke to turn in his parents. I honestly thought Zeke was just feeling bold that day LOL but ya excellent episodes, 5/5 for both! As always, thank you MAPPA for the food<3

I am Scared and Sad and I can't wait for the next one

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 43 responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We will post the poll for episode 75 soon!

In the meantime, please feel free to send us up to 5 of your favorite characters via ask or submission for our ongoing popularity poll - that poll will close on the 10th of April! :D

[kdramaxoxo]

Hi! Love the blog! Do you have any recs for dramas where the heroine is sickly or has some sort of condition and the hero worries? I adore scenes with fainting and hospitalizations so please give me all the hurt/comfort goodness!

Thanks for the love anon! 

Great ask! I’m going to include boys, but I’m skipping being in the hospital from a general injury or that one k-drama flu everyone gets because that would include every single K-drama ever made. 

I will focus on unavoidable hurt/comfort from physical or mental illness.

K-Dramas with Hurt/Comfort

Extraordinary You // Genre: High School/Fantasy/Romance: One of my new favorite K-dramas of all time, the lead is sassy and strong (we love her!!) but she has a heart condition that is a major plot point. Honestly if you want hurt comfort I feel like this one is perfect.

Born Again (airing now 5/3/2020) // Genre: Thriller/Romance/Fantasy: I am only a few episodes in, but the leading lady has a heart condition which is constantly putting her in the hospital, or causing her to faint in the street. This show is kinda brutal in the murder department so protect your heart. (also since it’s still airing I have no idea how it will end)

Just Between Lovers // Genre: Melodrama/Romance: Also one of my favorite k-dramas of all time. Lee Junho plays Gang Doo, who suffers from a LOT of health problems as well as PTSD from a traumatic event, which he shares with Moon Soo (my soft baby). Moon Soo is living with the guilt of surviving when people around her did not. Everyone in this drama is in intense mental pain. Watch this - You will not be disappointed!

Come and Hug Me // Genre: Melodrama/Thriller/Romance: This whole drama is a Whump. Both leads are mentally traumatized because his father murders her parents. Yeah. Woah. There are panic attacks and definite trauma as they help one another try to heal. 

When I was Prettiest // Genre: Romance: Lee Jong Suk plays a carefree guy who’s girlfriend is in the hospital. There he falls in love with a married woman with terminal cancer. Short Drama special

I am Not A Robot  // Genre: Rom Com/Romance: Kim Min Kyu is allergic to humans and terrified of coming into physical contact with them. I don’t want to give spoilers so I’ll just say that.

It’s Okay, That’s Love // Genre: Melodrama/Romance: I love this drama so much. All of the characters are dealing with different mental illnesses and there are a lot of hospital scenes, injuries and fainting but also my favorite thing in kdramas: mental illness trauma.

He Is Psychometric // Genre: Thriller/Sci-fi/Mystery/Romance: Several people are traumatized from a fire that killed loved ones. The lead receives the gift of psychic powers which isolates him from friends and loved ones. He lives with a “brother” who is super messed up for reasons (no spoilers). 

W: Two Worlds // Genre: Action/Romance/Fantasy: A comic book world brings two people together, fighting against the same villain. The lead gets stabbed and shot as well as other multiple injuries, but the real condition happens when he figures out he’s not “real.”

Two I have not seen but are on my watch list:

Marriage Contract: Female lead has a brain tumor.

Uncontrollably Fond The male lead has an illness and I’ve heard it has a lot of heartbreak.

Other dramas with comfort/healing:

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

Live Up To Your Name

Find Me In Your Memory (airing now)

Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Hello Monster

Healer

Be Melodramatic