#i think the issue with the abuse narrative is that like. yes you should be a haven for a friend with an abuser

[utilitycaster]

The thing about the argument that the sword makes Laudna uncomfortable is that it's valid if it does, but if you've been in any sort of organization that attempts to have an emotionally open dialogue in making decisions, and especially if you've been in any sort of leadership position within it, you will almost certainly encounter people who suddenly become uncomfortable when, as the meme goes, we are not about them. You encounter people who suddenly express discomfort - which should ideally be brought up early in the conversation since that alone may be a reason to blackball a decision - when multiple other arguments haven't worked (and during the ensuing argument this episode, you can easily watch Orym stick to the same exact story he's been saying for 50+ episodes and that he wants to reclaim this sword and use it to kill Ludinus while Laudna throws out multiple arguments, switching from one to the other as the rest of the party slowly realizes the sword isn't cursed and that this is Delilah's influence). You see this in internet spaces as well; people who do not draw a line between "trigger" and "squick" or "discomfort" and "dislike" even though that line very much exists.

Obviously you do have to still listen, because there are plenty of valid reasons to change a decision because someone involved is uncomfortable; but even a legitimately uncomfortable person does not automatically outweigh the needs of everyone else and you cannot please everyone at once. These decisions must be made contextually because otherwise "I'm uncomfortable with this" becomes a magic Uno Reverse card to hold the group decisions hostage. It's a factor, but ultimately, even if Delilah were in no way involved, if Laudna's the only person uncomfortable and this also means a lot to Orym, the solution is likely going to be either "keep it out of sight" or "give it to a member of the Accord". And yeah, as Imogen points out, if Laudna's genuinely uncomfortable with Orym having a sword with a dark history, absorbing it herself really undercuts that point.

[cock-holliday]

Always gotta laugh a little when people are like “I don’t believe in sympathizing with [conspiracy/oppressor group] but yes, it turns out X thing IS driving people more towards it, so fascinating, anyway I don’t feel bad for those people at all and actually think they should die but wow, this study really does show how fast people are getting radicalized by [propaganda], anyway, they’re so stupid”

There desperately needs to be a shift from the idea that the two ways to respond to conspiracy/right-wing/bigoted takes are 1. “Wow stupid dumb idiots”, and if you don’t do that, then 2. “Poor widdle babies lemme coddle you.”

It’s such a painfully liberal way to respond to things and misses the point of understanding not equaling agreeing. Understanding and sympathizing are tools of deradicalization.

Most anti-vaxxers are not worth arguing with but the theory and conclusions are worth deconstructing, because more reasonable people on the fence are going to get pushed deeper in by “stupid idiot doesn’t know what’s good for you—trust the government.”

Bigoted conservative blue collar guys are not worth arguing with but the theory is worth deconstructing because small towns being abandoned by “progress” are going to be radicalized by “dumb hicks scawed of technology?” coming from city liberals who will never have to work with their hands.

Zionists are not worth arguing with but allowing either narrative of “all antisemitism is made up” or “arguing about antisemitism is irrelevant because this is about Palestinians” allow Zionists to frame themselves as the only response to genuine antisemitism. Not talking about the actual antisemitism Zionists still face allows them to pretend all opposition is antisemitism, and bystanders who “trust Jews to say what’s antisemitism or not” are convinced antizionism is antisemitism.

Male loneliness as a concept isn’t worth discussing when it comes to violently misogynistic men, but it is worth talking about in terms of how patriarchy hurts even the most cishet privileged man AND much more pressingly: how marginalization of men gets ignored because of the radfem belief that maleness cancels out their oppressed identities.

Americans obsessed with conspiracies about human trafficking are often not worth engaging with but the discourse around it IS. Facing the reality of what sexual abuse DOES happen is necessary, reframing how immigration exploitation allows for much more horrific abuse of migrants than even the most sheltered suburbanite can imagine would happen to their blonde children if they were snatched from their manicured lawns is necessary.

Every conspiracy is rooted in truth. Reasonably disgruntled people are the best recruits because “smart” people dismiss their legitimate concerns and say what’s real is fake, so when vile people acknowledge the truth and twist it, you get radicalized nuts out of reasonable people.

It is essential to understand the root of these issues and attack that, not to convince the most extreme of the camp but to convince those on the precipice that an extreme and often bigoted conclusion is unwarranted. People recruited into cults are either abandoned or feel abandoned by their communities, boys on the internet have their actual worries dismissed and become angry and reactionary and entitled in spaces that accept their rational fears and tell them an irrational conclusion is needed. Radfems took their legitimate anger at the system and warped their conclusions in an attempt at regaining control. People are rightfully afraid of the government and don’t know how to identify propaganda so every move must be nefarious. People exploited and experimented on have justifiable reason to reject mandates—these people are still wrong, but about the conclusions, not their feelings. The feelings must be met with acceptance, and the conclusion picked apart.

All these groups feel out of control, not listened to, disempowered, and isolated. Not all will be right. Not all will be worth engaging with. But so many more people will suddenly slip into a radical pipeline because the only people who listen to them are reactionaries. You do not owe everyone your patience or time or explanations or deradicalization—but if you want to pull people away from these dangerous ideologies you have to understand how they were seduced in the first place. You have to grapple with the seed of truth that allows these wrong conclusions to hold up.

And *I* want fewer people to come to the conclusion that the reason they haven’t been duped is because they are just soooo intelligent and morally superior that this kind of indoctrination would never work on you because 90% of you are DNC shills and the exact puppets that help fuel right-wing radicalization.

[lovefrombegonia]

My complicated feels towards beefleaf and he xuan, in particular

You know...beefleaf is that one ship...that ONE SHIP. The one which if you think about them more than 10 seconds, all your feelings become too intense to handle. I can't think of these characters objectively. I can't think of them rationally. I love this ship. I hate this ship. I feel everything about them. My mind is already melting while writing this.

The first time I read TGCF, the Black Water arc terrified me to the bones. The description with which Ming Yi's true identity was revealed, it was no less than a horror story for me. I had goosebumps. I felt the silence around me turn oppressive. When the arc concluded with SWD dead, and no further explanation of what HX did to SQX, it devastated me to no end. The thing is...I fucking love SQX. I love him so so so much, I can't explain it. I cared about this character as much as I cared about xie lian himself, and dare I say, EVEN MORE. When everything about SQX backstory was revealed, my love for this character was already great enough that even if it would have been unfair to not have him lose his godhood and powers, I'd have been ok with it. Or atleast...I'd have wanted him to survive. Instead, everything pointed towards their doom. I couldn't think of an ending that would not end in tragedy for SQX. The narrative and the nature of justice demanded that he be punished. But I still wanted them to be safe. In the end of that arc...there was no certain answers to SQX's whereabouts. And I...I started resenting HX. Just straight up started hating them. I wanted him to suffer so much even though, objectively, he isn't an evil character. In fact, he is the wronged protagonist of that arc. The "hero" of a revenge saga. I really, really should not hate him. Even if he was bad, I have never had issues liking or even loving evil characters. For example, shen jiu from SVSSS is one of my blorbos. I fucking LOVE that character, and he is an objectively bad person who abused children. So, why tf did I hate HX so much?? At that time, even I didn't understand. And tbh I didn't even want to understand. I was happy hating him. He is one of the most interesting tgcf characters, and I didn't want to understand his characterization. I just wanted to hate him. And then...I find out that, SQX is alive. HX spared him. HX left him in the city. SQX was alive. My baby was alive, and as well as one could be in his situation. Yes, he is physically crippled and psychologically scarred for life. But the light within him is still alive. He is no longer the wind master but his brightness is still just as infectious. She spreads smiles when she was a god. He still spreads smiles even when he is the beggar ol'feng. Reading his story somehow...healed me. No matter what state he is in, he is still SQX!! Still the same animated, bright person who spreads their warmth and happiness wherever they go. Unfortunately, I still disliked HX. It seemed like I couldn't "forgive" HX for what he did to SQX, even though, he didn't actually directly hurt him. At least not physically. HX kinda saved him when he was getting strangled by SWD. All the emotional and psychological torture SQX went through was kinda indirect, it happened because he was SWD's brother. And yes, SQX was not directly guilty of what happened with HX but he was still the one for whom SWD did all the heinous things to HX. Even in the text, clearly, despite everything, HX as Ming Yi, did give SQX opportunities to choose the right side but every time, he still chose to side with SWD. And....oh gods...there is so much happening. So much pain and unfairness and tragedy and rage. There was never going to be a happy ending. I could not see a happy ending. Yet, there he is, SQX The Beggar, still making friends, spreading his radiance even when covered in rags and dirt. And I still...hated HX. I still don't like him. If you ask me who I hate in TGCF, my mind would first and foremost conjure up the name HX even though I know that I really shouldn't hate him. But I still do...why?? Because. It's not that I actually hate HX. It's just that I love SQX as a character too much. And even though I know HX still cares for SQX, it's still not enough. Not enough.

TBH I think SQX has already forgiven HX (idk if forgive is the right word coz...SWD did deserve whatever happened to him). SQX has moved on and is living to the fullest in his mortal life. He would probably die a content man too. Surrounded by people (like his beggar friends, and xie lian) who love him and care for him. What about HX? I... don't really know what to think of him in this case. Sometimes I think he will silently mourn for SQX forever, existing passively without cause. Sometimes I feel like history will repeat and he will go mad like he did the first time, except, this time...the one who caused harm to his most beloved is himself. There is no third party to blame here. HX can only self-destruct in that case. I don't know which ending is worse. What I am trying to say is...I really, really shouldn't hate HX because in the end...HX is the one who will end in tragedy. Be it a passive tragedy or an active one.

HX deserves more sympathy than most other characters in the novel. I think about this character deeply. I think about his relationship with SQX. He still melts my mind. He has suffered so much. He will suffer forever until he ceases to exist. And I still resent him for what he did to SQX. It's what I find fascinating and devastating about beefleaf. My love for SQX, my understanding for HX's actions, and my unshakeable dislike towards HX, I feel like thinking about beefleaf has made me understand myself better in a way. Sounds corny af but that's how I feel.

Here I am...swirling in so many feels for these two fictional characters. I want SQX to be happy. I want SQX and HX to end up together. No, SQX deserves so much better. HX is suffering, and he will suffer until the end imo. Good. No, he deserves happiness too. But he hurt SQX so badly. But not intentionally and SQX is still alive and happy and HX spared SQX despite being the cause of his suffering. No, there is too much between them to work it all out. But...they love each other. Despite of all that...

The wind master no more, still lives freely among lowly ones. The black water calamity demon can only watch the one person he cares about from a distance. So much left unsaid and unheard and yet what can one really say more and what is left to be heard?

[bonebabbles]

Chapter 12: the thunderclannining

GOD I love when people call Clear Sky out. It only ever lasts like 5 minutes but it is as euphoric as the brief, blissful taste of a chocolate-covered raspberry gracing your tastebuds.

"How could you believe that I'm obsessed with being right after all the times I chose not to murder you :( ????"

"I let you eat food in land that you used to just be able to walk into, even though you're disabled! I thought you were eternally grateful :(((( IM LOSING CONTROL!!"

"YOU'RE ABANDONING US BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU DESERVE RESPECT????????"

He feels like the world's worst boss and crappiest father rolled into one monstrous fusion.

There's just one problem with all this catharsis; Thunder is still whining about Star Flower, insisting that she's going to betray Clear Sky. It's frustrating because he is wrong.

Star Flower is a lot closer to another victim of Clear Sky than a manipulator, but the narrative will not ultimately conclude this.

But at NO point does it show her actually manipulating anyone. Not even Thunder. NO she did not "manipulate" and betray him. I am once again reminding everyone that Thunder offered all that information apropos of nothing, against all warnings.

Yet, "betraying" the Clan cats by warning her father of an ambush is so unforgivable that several cats agree she should be chased out of the forest.

All this emphasis on how hurt Thunder is shows that his judgement is clouded by jealousy.

All this Star Flower whinging takes away from Clear Sky being abusive. THAT should be the major issue here. This is an entire book of Clear Sky returning to the same kind of emotional abuse he was displaying back in Thunder Rising, only without murder, and what this LONG AWAITED confrontation ends up spiraling back to is the Father/Son Love Triangle

You can't even get catharsis without some incredibly weird, unpleasant bullshit dripping into it.

Im glad that Thunder has finally come to the point where he's rejecting the dumbass statement he made when they killed One Eye together, where he was gushing about, "We're not like One Eye and never have been <3" Yes. Clear Sky IS like One Eye-- a weaker version of him, someone who got out-dictator'd and needed to call in the OTHER cats to ambush him and win his group back.

but again this is meant to be his jealousy speaking. Not straight facts. He JUST had a confrontation with Star Flower about her daddy issues and he's saying that Clear Sky fits them.

CRY ABOUT IT!!!! GET BOOHOO'D LOSER! CRY ME A RIVER AND DROWN IN IT

"I always end up alone waaaaaah!!!" fucking when in your life have you ended up alone? Someone was ALWAYS behind you to hand you a binkie and a safety blanket. When you didn't have a massive group of violent rogues to back you up, the moor cats always took your sorry ass in and clapped at you for doing the bare fucking minimum. People always nonsensically stood by you because the plot demands it, after you get them and dozens of their friends injured and killed

Here comes the binkie and the safety blanket, btw

In a good series this would have been her intentionally manipulating him, bringing out his worst traits again, encouraging him to be the worst version of himself as he once again ignores all good advice.

But Star Flower never did anything wrong. She never DOES anything at all. She's JUST Clear Sky's controversial wife that Thunder has to "get over himself" about, an item to cause conflict, a mate extra supportive of him because he "deserves" to have someone by his side unlike all the other times where people were by his side.

The pack of 3 dogs that mauled you to death wasn't enough. I wish they had guns

[the-owl-tree]

its SO obvious that they wanted nightcloud to be some evil harpy so we’d feel bad for crowfeather and want him to be with leafpool (who he also mistreats because she had the audacity to choose her friends and family over him. crowfeather would have emotionally abused leafpool truther). crowfeathers trial feels like it wants nightcloud to also fess up to being bad. its so obvious when you read any author statements like from the field guides or websites

I'd say CT is pretty good towards Nightcloud (with my only non-issue criticism being that it does unintentionally and obviously not endorsed by the narrative sort of reaffirm the idea that it was her presence that was stopping them from bonding. obviously this is not the takeaway from the text, but eh, past decisions will always haunt the writing team). Breezepelt loving his mom sooooo so much makes me happy.

Po3 is really kind to her....because she's barely in it LMAO, she doesn't have much character outside of "Breezepelt's mom". She also doesn't really appear in OotS besides background appearances and that One Scene which people will unquestioningly cling onto, remove any context of, and not do any reflection on why they do that in the first place. Because when Nightcloud grabs Crowfeather (yes, she just grabs him), everyone is acting like a drama queen. Lionblaze and Breezepelt are FIGHTING and LEAFPOOL JUST PROFESSED HER LOVE TO CROWFEATHER AGAIN.

No mention of blood, she just fuckijng. grabbed him. if there was blood, we would have known it because breezepelt and lionblaze are beating the shit out of each other on the side lol

So even at her worst, she's still nowhere Crowfeather's level (seriously, if you can't think of the difference between hitting your kid for mouthing off vs. grabbing you partner during a brawl while his ex is going on about he loves her.....come the fuck on. this in no way puts these two on equal levels not at anon just a nebulous 'you'). Even then, this can be explained by everything that happened! That her aggression and unhappiness is from the whole reveal and the crumbling marriage. But this isn't a Nightcloud analysis, my point is that any and all of Nightcloud's actual behavior isn't nearly as focused on as Crowfeather's by the narrative and I don't think Po3 or OotS was trying to convince you otherwise, however, I do think Nightcloud being written more aggressive and "clingy" should be taken into account that the finale of this trio's arc is Crowfeather putting the blame on his wife and then subsequent field guides painting him as correct. The main arc books are fine, you can glean why Nightcloud behaves the way she does but the field guides paint her as a whole other character that we DID NOT SEE!!!! Po3 had plenty of opportunities to show this but they didnt, and instead the field guides invested themselves on a narrative that DID NOT HAPPEN.

The books have a trend of abuse apologia for their father characters, and I think that should be remembered when discussing how the authors and the books chose to handle these three. I know the field guides aren't considered heavy canon, but they're well worth considering to better understand how the writing team understands these characters and "the blame".

Also god yeah, the way Crowfeather treats Leafpool whenever she stopped playing into his fantasy...gross. Very glad more people know he said that shit about "mixed blood" JUST to hurt her, definitely not any red flags here!

[betterbemeta]

I feel like some things in the Jurassic World movies are actually a step backward in the science-fiction zone from Jurassic Park III. I think that was the one where it was revealed that the raptors had a 'language' and complex communication that implied not just 'intelligence' but 'sapience'-- and I understand that some people felt this jumped the shark a little.

(yes I know its a dream sequence, SHUT UP, they went there,)

But I remember seeing it when I was little and it made perfect sense to follow the original beats of how the raptors were scary in previous movies because they could interact with human environments like doors. They could use deception, 'tactics' and could not easily be contained.

If you're implying that these are beings that can reason, and further acting as if this reasoning ability is more threatening than the reasoning ability of a chimpanzee or something, then you're not afraid of 'what' is hunting you, but 'who.'

And that they could have reasons beyond being hungry bloodthirsty animals to be aggressive toward you.

That you have imprisoned 'people' and not 'animals' or even 'beneath animals' (creatures that have no natural existence, creations, toys, etc.)

But there's something disappointing to me about the stuff with Blue and Chris Pratt and all of that. It feels more like the fantasy of an animal tamer at a circus who has mastery of dangerous creatures (something that most modern circuses have cut) than it feels like a relationship with an intelligent creature capable of complex communication.

(Tell me how this is different from the image of a 'lion tamer' with a chair between him and his 'beasts?')

It doesn't even feel like the level of communication that you should be having with your dog, or cat. But the raptors of course obey Chris Pratt's fantasy expertise and fantasy rules surrounding their social behaviors because the point is to depict Chris's character as skillful. 'The right way to approach raptors' is whatever the writers want it to be, unlike real dogs, cats, horses, bears, big cats, etc.

In reality, there are a lot of failed 'animal whisperers' out there, hucksters that fake being an animal behaviorist to impose fantasy-like rules on animals while abusing them, and dominance-based trainers who get sued for animal abuse if they aren't attacked by the animals first.

The Jurassic World movies seem to mitigate this idea with that the raptors are not natural creatures (but living 'in the wild' seems to be a conclusion for at least one of them?) and that they vary in intelligence level, with Blue being the most intelligent. My issue with this is that complex communication required for coordination also requires multiple parties that understand it. Why aren't the raptors basically having constant misunderstandings between their differing mentalities, or misunderstanding their handler who doesn't seem to vary his approach between them?

Basically my point is. The place Jurassic Park was going, it was fine. You made Frankenstein's Monsters, classic sci-fi dilemma. It kind of sucks that they downgraded Dinosaur Frankensteins into... the emotional replacement for circus animals in the modern day when we know dancing bears and elephants aren't ethical. However 'cool' they are on their own, that type of creature in a narrative is there to demonstrate the bravery of their 'tamer' and any 'trust' the animal has with that tamer is just the same. It's not about any creature actually making its own decisions, let alone a highly intelligent one.

It doesn't really matter that Jurassic World movies try to have it both ways, with some lip service to 'respecting' the raptors, and sometimes other dinosaurs, showing the antagonists being 'disrespectful' by contrast. If we continued the themes from JPIII, the type of 'respect' that is supposedly the 'good' position, is not the kind of respect you'd want to give to a person.

[theweeklydiscourse]

I think one of my biggest grievances with ACOTAR is how the family dynamics is written and how the author offers no explanation at all, just expects the readers to move on. Feyre's father not even acknowledging the existence of the youngest daughter who was keeping them all alive, nesta's general cold indifference to feyre's life and an obvious preference for elain (we honestly don't see any prove of that aside from some words, typical of sjm) should've been explained by now yet we still don't get an answer for any of it and if we do the books as well as the fandom gaslights you into thinking you're just "hating" "move on" or "feyre forgave so it's okay" like idc about forgiveness I just need answers! I think the readers totally deserve to know why the main freaking character was treated in such an abusive way as by her family when their treatment of her is what shapes her and her falling for the first man who took care of her, a direct consequence of their treatment. Your MC's backstory is too important to just brush off like that.

Nesta's strained relationship with Feyre was such a huge part of her character like she was almost defined by that so it absolutely boggles my mind that she and feyre don't have a single meaningful conversation that gives the readers some answers and of nothing else then a resolution (kind of what we got in book 1 before sjm destroyed it). I feel like it's the lack of resolution between the sisters Nesta & Feyre in particular, that has made the fandom so divided.

But their relationship isn't the only such thing, SJM has a habit of mentioning things that absolutely should matter and then forgetting about them just because wasn't feeling like it. For instance: the weird triangle between Cassian/Mor/Azriel, how Cassian was pissed that Mor never went back to him after one time and her telling him to not "be her keeper" in acomaf (or was it acowar?) none of it is ever explained. As soon as Cassian as a new shiny mate all is forgotten and we're all supposed to move on to without getting any proper answers. It's so frustrating to read a book like that yk. No wonder the fandom is ready to implode.

It’s not just a lack of resolutions because there are resolutions to the emotional conflicts between the Archerons, the issue is that Maas consistently rescinds the development that occurs throughout the story to instead write indulgent and gratuitous retreads of emotional beats that already happened.

But the true issue at hand here, is that it just doesn’t make any sense.

Sure, if we take the family dynamic in ACOTAR at face value then yes, it’s horrendous for Feyre who is essentially running herself ragged to support a family of spoiled and ungrateful individuals. Taking it at face value would mean accepting the plausibility of Feyre, a young illiterate amateur huntress, supporting 3 other adults for 5-8 years with her efforts alone. But I don’t believe that scenario to be plausible, and Maas does not do a good job of convincing me that the Archeron family dynamic is believable.

The family dynamic is manufactured for the deliberate purpose of serving ACOTAR's wish-fulfillment narrative. Feyre's suffering is supposed to be indulgent and gratuitous because it makes the eventual reward of luxury and power in Prythian that much sweeter. The problem though, is that Maas expands upon established characters later on in a manner that contradicts her initial characterizations of them. So, she doesn't consider that readers actually remember previously established concepts and characterizations and feel the friction of the story's retroactive continuity. So even when Feyre DOES forgive her sisters, readers feel frustrated because the conflict never stays buried for long (because Maas constantly retreads the same plot threads) It’s not surprising that many people cannot let go of Nesta’s previous mistakes when the narrative is still grasping onto it with a cold iron grip for NO REASON.

Also, Nesta’s obvious preference for Elain is not only nonsensical, but never truly explained. I could believe it if maybe Elain was sickly and Nesta took on the role of her protector, or if they had a degree of separation from Feyre like a significant age gap, were half-siblings or if Feyre was adopted, but there’s nothing like that in the text. I just find the idea that Nesta would treat her youngest sister like chopped liver while prioritizing the elder to be unrealistic and unnecessarily frustrating.

You’re right about this lack of resolution being a factor on the division of the fandom. People debate and argue over what information they’re supposed to take seriously and remember and what can be disregarded due to its inconsistency.

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

[actual-changeling]

Since you have been the first 'Crowley deserves to have his boundaries' person I have seen in the tags on weeks. What do you think about the talk in the fandom on how Crowley should have accepted going to Heaven 'to do good and stop the Apocalypse' and that 'he also rejected Aziraphale'? It personally gives me the creeps because the narrative makes clear that Heaven is a big white nightmare but the fandom seems to be taking the 'Aziraphale might jot be perfect' thing hard and therefore Heaven is fixable now...

Glad to know I am not alone in my little boundaries corner! I'm always here for discussions about it.

And, oh boy, do I have thoughts on that, let's see if I can get them to be somewhat coherent.

I am going to start this off with a metaphor of sorts and hopefully people will be able to follow along. I'm an older sibling and have a little sister, and we grew up in an incredibly abusive and neglectful household.

When I graduated high school, I moved out for university, which was literally the best thing to ever happen to me - I got away, I was/am free! Now I have to deal with the consequences of all that shit though.

If my sister asked me to come back so I can help her fix our mother (entirely theoretical btw she'd never lol) would it be the right thing to say yes? Should I give up my personal freedom, my life, the healing process I am right in the middle of, to go back to a household that broke me? So I can be trapped with a person that will never change again?

The answer is, of course, no. I feel bad for my sister and I am praying she will be able o move out soon, but me going back would not solve a single fucking thing. See where I'm going with this yet?

Crowley left heaven and landed on earth, which was ultimately good for him, but he has a lot to process and heal from; he's right in the middle of his own recovery.

Heaven will not change, it cannot be changed. The entire institution is working as intended, and the intention is to be abusive, manipulative, and have as much power over everyone as possible. You cannot fix that, you need to get rid of it.

Aziraphale has good intentions, but he is also still trapped in that abusive household because he never moved out, he is the sibling that stayed behind, just mentally instead of physically.

Hot take, but many people in this fandom are incapable of understanding that "Aziraphale is acting based on good intentions and is still actively being abused/traumatized" and "Aziraphale did bad and unhealthy things and his relationship with Crowley was co-dependent and toxic" are co-existing. Both are true.

Both. are. true.

He did messed up shit out of a trauma response, but he is still responsible for his actions, and at the same time he deserves a chance to heal and move on from it. Please, at this point I am begging people to understand that this is not a black and white issue.

Crowley did not reject Aziraphale, if anything, Aziraphale rejected him.

Crowley said no to returning to an abusive environment for an impossible task. Crowley said no to sacrificing his mental and physical health for something that he knows will not happen. Crowley, for the first time in his life, set a clear and final boundary and put himself and his life over Aziraphale's wishes.

That is a good thing. It is necessary.

Season 3 will not be about Aziraphale fixing heaven or preventing the second coming (if anything it'll be accidental just like in season 1). It's going to be about him finding his way out of his abusive household and into a healthy environment in which they're both free and can heal.

Apart AND together.

It's not happily ever after, it's not perfect romance, it's not "soul-mates" or anything. It is messy, it is real, it is complicated, and I am so fucking tired of seeing it reduced to "love conquers all".

[kaelio]

A few points for YA Authors:

1. People can have sex that they later wish they hadn't had, in the complete absence of any kind of abuse. I've ordered meals that I ended up not liking (or where I'd have preferred something else) and the restaurant did not wrong me or treat me inappropriately. Sometimes it just didn't work out with someone and sex was something you did in that relationship.

2. Things like colonialism and imperialism are complex and multifaceted, with many stakeholders with many different values. If you have an idea that will "solve" them, I recommend writing an academic paper so you can be showered in Nobel prizes instead of a story about a witch who works at the candy store.

3. If you are going to take a real stand, that means real consequences. You can't be like "But because Bopper's values were so good, it was actually fine to cede all agricultural land in the world of Frigno back to the singing butterflies. Grain fell from the sky now!" If you mean it, if you REALLY mean the stuff you're saying, your point is stronger for your willingness to show real consequences of that decision. Take your position seriously, or the readership should not be expected to take it seriously.

4. If you insist writers can only write "what they know" and anything else is problematic, you imply people should only really write autobiographies (dumb). However even a lesser version would make books whiter and more upper-middle-class because that's the commonest writer demo. This is true for a few largely unfair structural reasons, but it is true. If YA Writers were to only really write themselves for fear of overstepping, the genre gets less representative of the world because writers, as a group, are not representative of the world. Learn more and research more, talk to more people, and encourage other authors to do the same.

5. If you claim that it's super important that you research other cultures before writing about them (and I agree!), you must concede it is equally important to research business and economics and other things that affect the validity of the claims you are making.

6. Your characters' uniqueness should come from their personality and character not from demographic checkboxes. Tokenism is not just limp but indefensible when you control the entire narrative.

7. Let your characters make actual mistakes that are the result of their actual decisions which logically flow from their actual values. A character who is never really making decisions is basically just that art project robot that got its ass kicked in Philadelphia.

8. You don't have to always do a "twist on" a recognized thing. You can write werewolves that do not in any way challenge the normal perception of werewolfdom. Whatever you've landed on needs to serve the story first, not prove how clever and special you personally are.

9. If someone hates you personally, they will find a way to use your book as a conduit for that hatred and as an excuse for that hatred. You can't write a book where this isn't the case, so don't write your book with that expectation or as if you have any way to prevent this. Focus on writing a good book.

10. Whether you can use a fantasy/sci-fi element as a stand-in for a real world issue relies entirely on the competent execution of that idea. I know this sounds obvious, but yes, something might be outside your capacity to pull off (or in that story), but that is not inherent. In some cases it might be much harder, or too challenging to justify the attempt, but symbolism works to the extent that you make it work based on your capabilities as an author.

11. If half your book is basically just a thinly-disguised rant at how much you hate your parents... rip off that disguise! Don't be coy about it! If that's what you're writing about, just write about that. Why play games? If you think your parents could now read your book and not realize it's about them, you've also obscured your feelings for your audience. Do it or don't do it, but for the love of all things, don't half-ass it.

12. You do not solve any of the problems in your story by making your lead characters so pathetic that you can claim it's mean or unfair for the readership to "judge" them.

13. The only perfect metaphor for a thing is the thing itself, so test your metaphors and make sure they work, but do not hold them to the standard of translating perfectly, because they can't. That they are not 1:1 the thing is because they are metaphors for the thing.

14. Similarly, no fictional relationship can be held up to the standard of representing all relationships. You have to let this expectation go. People also need to be able to have relationships that are not framed as "lessons".

15. If you include warfare, research warfare enough that the conflicts are credible. If you don't want to do that, then the simple answer is don't put warfare in your books. It's YOUR book, YOU made that choice.

16. Overall, remember: your book exists to be a book first and foremost. It is not a treatise on you communicated via your book; if you want your book to be about yourself, write an autobiography. Otherwise, focus on telling a good story.

[transhawks]

But Who Can Stand Before Jealousy?

Dabi being jealous of Shouto getting Endeavor's attention (even being aware of the abuse and trauma he's faced) and Dabi acknowledging his father's abusive relationship and treatment of the entire family can coexist. Sometimes abuse survivors aren't perfectly rational and crave validation and acknowledgment from their abusers. Sometimes they get jealous of someone who had a very different type of abuse and trauma because they consider their neglect to be more painful, and yes, sometimes they compare traumas.

Abuse screws you up and I think we can discuss Dabi understanding the systemic/societal issues that lead to his father being unaccountable and knowing that he grew up in a very toxic and abusive household while acknowledging he has ugly feelings of jealousy towards Shouto and outright told him that he'll never amount to anything despite how lucky he is to be what Endeavor wanted. Do these sentiments seem to conflict? Yes!

But something called cognitive dissonance exists. Most people have it. Dabi, as a multi-faceted character, can show that a lot of his ideals don't actually work with his desires and feelings, which is very much how most people work, and people who are mentally ill and traumatized more so.

Additionally, the way the manga should solve this is not by allowing the rift and competition for Enji's attention to be validated by the narrative. I never liked the idea that Enji has to choose between his children because it perpetuates the issue and a golden child and scapegoat dynamic.

Enji choosing a child over the other will just solidify the idea that 1. Parental love needs to competed for 2. Dabi was right to feel jealous of Shouto and see him as an usurper 3. Also make Enji's prior abuse and pitting of his kids against each other kind of feel validated.

But we are then at a loss for how to make Dabi feel seen and wanted, when so much of his anger is at having been usurped as the apple of his father's eye.

Meanwhile, the manga has been building up another confrontation between Keigo and Touya. More on this from me later, but I think Hawks attacking Touya and vice versa provides a chance for Enji to still make that active choice of choosing Touya over his career/coworkers/hero cause, but not having to choose between his sons.

Because Touya needs to feel that sort of love from Enji in order to even heal, but you can't heal by opening other wounds. Shouto has never been a willing participant in this fight between Touya and Enji and it's unfair to build off him like this.

Hawks and Endeavor are shown to be close for coworkers (Enji definitely thinks of him favorably) even if Hawks's admiration or parasocial fixation on Endeavor are very different from what Endeavor likely sees (a very supportive coworker). Dabi's sense of reality is skewed enough that he might see the 'closeness' as more examples of his father choosing everyone over him, especially shiny prodigies good heroes like Keigo. I don't know what else Dabi could be referring to a precious thing in the battlefield if he's not able to give Shouto as a souvenir.

Please remember that Dabi doesn't believe his father gives a damn about him more than being horrified at what he's become. Enji has never stated it to him since the reveal that he loves him and wants him back. While Dabi is suicidal, it's a mistake to think he's referring to immolating himself.

Hawks in this scenario represents the hero society Dabi hates - a false golden idol filled with the same muck as the villains, and essentially everything his father would have wanted him to aspire to. The two attacking each other has a symbolic weight. Like I said, there's also a lot to be said about jealousy in the Touya-Keigo dynamic, but that's not what this post is about.

Simply put, Endeavor will not have to choose between Touya and Shouto. That doesn't solve the conflict. Horikoshi's setting up a way for Endeavor to start to make up for his emotional abuse and neglect of his son without throwing more of his family under the bus, and it'd only worsen the situation if the story makes Endeavor choose between his kids.

[super-paper]

in the bnha story fantasy is used to reject and ignore someone else like Tenkos family, who rejected the reality of the situation in favor of the fantasy of a happy family. if they admitted that it wasn’t a happy family it would be like challenging the fantasy of a happy family that they created for themselves and admitting their complacency in the abuse. they ignored reality in favor of fantasy in turn ignored Tenko who was hurting  Afo has control over the narrative and likes being in control by reducing people to roles and archetypes instead of people. he likes to lose himself as a character and doesn’t want to be understood as a human he rejects reality in favor of his fantasy but when his control of the narrative and fantasy is being challenged he becomes aggressive he loses control of the narrative he was piling up, for example, ofa is the only quirk that can not be controlled he is technically is eating his own words “reality doesn’t follow the old playbook” with the same reality he used to reject is now turning on him in the form of ofa.  izuku has been given a quirk and now attends ua he got to live his dreams as a hero he gets to live out his fantasy but while he was using his quirk he constantly gets injured due to his lack of control when izuku lived out his fantasy, in turn, ignored his mother's feelings as a consequence. which comes to a head when she was discussing after being back in school

Ye!!!!!!

MHA acknowledges that fantasy is not inherently a bad thing-- It can inspire people and give them the strength they need to get through their lives! It can give them hope for their future! It helps people dream of becoming better and becoming happier! It can be a wonderful and healing force! It can save people! Fantasy has value and that value deserves to be acknowledged and respected! But, fantasy should never be used to ignore or cover up pain instead of healing it. Pretending that everything is all right when it's not or pretending that the problem will just go away if you refuse to acknowledge it is where fantasy starts to segue into escapism.

Like, to clarify I don't think every issue in MHA falls under the banner of "fantasy as escapism" (in the case of Tenko's household, there were a looooot of complex factors at play and I don't want to diminish or oversimplify any of them)-- but a lot of the core plots in MHA do involve fantasy/escapism in some capacity, so like, it's hard not to think of it as one of the main themes in the series lol.

Outside of AFO's whole deal (and Tomura's) (and Toshi's) (& Izuku's), one of my favorite examples of "Fantasy as escapism" vs "Fantasy as healing" in mha actually comes from the Todoroki plot:

The anime adds a scene of Endeavor sitting in a dark room and wallowing in anger/self-pity as he watches All Might be lauded as the ~*~ultimate superhero~*~ on TV, while Rei watches on in horror-- it's an absolutely horrifying scene, and I do understand why some ppl are mad the anime added it because it's framed in a very..... viscerally uncomfortable way. But, I like the scene purely from a narrative standpoint because I feel we're meant to draw comparisons to an early-MHA scene between Shouto and Rei:

In this scene, Shouto associates watching All Might on TV with a tender, happy memory. Everything is framed in a warm and bright way, and Shouto takes what All Might and Rei are saying to heart-- That he must be able to recognize who he is and appreciate himself independently of his quirk, and that he isn't bound by blood. It's ok for him to want to be a hero because HE wants to, and not because Endeavor tells him he has to be one. This memory, combined with Izuku telling him that "his quirk belongs to him and he alone gets to decide how to use it," allows Shouto to finally start healing.

"And that's the despicable truth!"

Meanwhile, Enji uses fantasy purely as escapism from a wound he wont allow to heal and as a way to mask his own ugliness as a person. He projects all his fantasies about "All Might" being this invincible, unbeatable, undying superman onto Toshinori-- and he's spent his entire life madly chasing after a vision of All Might that only exists in his head. He chases after the fantasy of becoming the ultimate superhuman because supermen don't have to worry about pesky human limitations like, say, dying. Or death. Or being killed. After all, if his father had been a "true superhuman," then SURELY he wouldn't have died and SURELY he would have been able to save that girl and NOTHING bad would ever happen ever, right?? ...... Right??????

Enji's long laundry list of sins starts with him treating his own sons as an extension of his fantasies and placing that absolutely impossible, unreasonable dream on their shoulders. The literal moment Enji is confronted with Touya's humanity-- that is, the moment he's confronted with his son's inevitable mortality-- Enji's immersion is broken. He immediately clams up and retreats as deeply as he can into his Endeavor persona, shutting Touya out and prioritizing sparing his own heart from injury over the heart of his son. Touya simply can't understand where his father went and spends his entire childhood trying to get him back. Mentally, Enji went out for a carton of milk and then never came back-- and Touya, a literal child, was left behind and expected to make sense of this abandonment.

To Touya, Enji and Endeavor were the same person: His dad. To Enji, Endeavor was an alter-ego-- just a mask he wore to feel better about himself and play pretend. All Touya wanted was for Enji be his father-- but being a father of course meant remembering that he is mortal, and that Touya is also mortal. So, Enji ran and continued to chase after his fantasies through Shouto while becoming more and more abusive towards his family for refusing to play along.

*AFO Voice*"This body is just a proooooooop what you're actually fighting doesn't have a tangible foooorm lol rofl lmfao 😂🤣🤣"

Endeavor is AFO's main foil for a reason. Like AFO, he uses fantasy as a form of toxic escapism-- both men essentially cannibalized their own families in their attempts to escape "humanity, weakness, pain, and death" and achieve their idea of "godhood," and both men attempt to live out their dreams through their children (AFO just takes this one to a literal extreme 💀💀💀). AFO and Endeavor are quite the pair, and Endeavor choosing to keep playing hero over confronting the realities of his responsibility as a father only enables AFO to also keep playing out his own comic book fantasies.

Speaking of fantasy.........!

When the clock strikes midnight and All Might turns back into Cindertoshi in front of the entire world, Endeavor's immediate reaction is to fly into an impotent rage and scream at him. As if to say "How dare you be human. How dare you be human when the entire basis for my whole fantasy specifically hinged on dehumanizing you. How dare you be a human, just like me!" Endeavor never understood what made Toshinori an actual hero and spent his life treating Toshi as an unreachable, unattainable "other"-- And now that dream is over. Toshinori's just a regular human, and supermen don't exist. The cold, hard, cruel reality of what he did to his family finally sets in.

Just as Touya's constant burns forced Enji to confront the reality of Touya's and his own mortality, All Might's true form again forces Enji to confront the "human" part of the superhuman ideal-- he is forced to admit that there is no such thing as a "true superhuman" and that he was always chasing after a fantasy that never existed.

Side Note: Enji looking at All Might and basically saying "YEAH YEAH COOL COOL I'M SURE EVERYTHING WOULD'VE BEEN FINE AND I NEVER WOULD'VE HAD TO EXPERIENCE ANY PAIN IF *YOU* WERE MY DAD. WATCH ME FATHER FOUR CHILDREN TO SHOW YOU JUST HOW FINE I WOULD BE IF *I* WERE YOU AND YOU WERE ALSO MY DAD AND ALSO IF YOU WERE MY SON (???) :)" is like next level unhinged and I don't think the fandom talks about it enough lmfao. Dadmight game so strong it created a generation of deadbeat fathers who would rather fantasize about ~All Might takin' them to the ball game~ than raise their own damn kids.

Another aside....!!! Bakugo's reaction in particular always gets me during the Toshirella reveal, bc Bakugo n' Endvr are so often foiled with each other-- but their reactions are like night and day.

Like Endeavor, Bakugo is witnessing the moment his untouchable, unconquerable fantasy "falls to earth" and gets exposed as someone who as just as human as him, just as human as anyone else, and just as capable of getting hurt and discouraged as anyone else. Unlike Endeavor, though, Bakugo's reaction is neither scorn nor blame-- he instead chooses to cheer for Toshinori harder and louder than ever:

Another day, another instance of Endeavor getting absolutely owned in some vague capacity by a teenager lol. I should turn this into a drinking game and just get, like, completely smashed. I mean I would probably definitely die by the time we reach the part where he starting gets verbally browbeat by horribly bitchy visions of his teenaged self, but at least I would go out doing what I love: bullying fictional middle-aged men.

^ The above is another good example of how fantasy isn't always harmful when you're still willing to accept the reality underneath it. When the chips are down, one of the things that really defines you in this series is how you react when that layer of "fiction" gets violently ripped away and you see what's underneath:

-VERSUS-

god DAMN IT ENJI--

/end

[sacrificialsam]

dean pain is so annoying like yes dean has feelings but not everything is about him guys.

i hate it in the show obviously but the way it extends to fandom and dean fans will make everything about dean pain actually gets me angry. its an immediate block

recently saw a gifset about sams eating habits and some of the replies are insane!!!!

"sam is fussy because dean sacrificed and made sure he was never hungry whereas dean eats everything bcuz big bad john starved him uwu"

or even worse "sam thought he was a chubby 12 year old when he was "well fed" bcuz dean was so emaciated from being so underfed and he felt guilty about it :("

like????? you sound crazy and it says so much about what you think about people with eating disorders. im killing them with my mind powers. literally everything bad that happened to sam is just fodder for the "dean is a poor little victim" brigade

everything boils down to "sam is a spoiled brat who doesnt realise how much martyr dean has sacrificed for him" which is crazy cuz dean really hasnt protected him all that much, not in the show and imo, not as children

i completely understand you anon, i have like half of the fandom blocked on my main for almost this exact reason. the framing of dean being kind, punished, nurturing etc, while sam is selfish, evil, spoiled always feels like a thinly veiled attempt at deflecting from the actual heinous stuff dean does, especially to sam sometimes. it's all about making dean the victim, woobifying him in a way, and it really shows in people's headcanons about abuse as well, which it think is even worse than the already bad ones about eating disorders. malnourished dean specifically is such a wet dream for people who love woobifying dean, because we know comparatively little about their childhoods so headcanons are less easily disproved, and stuff that we do know (lack of money, lack of food) paint a very sad picture of it. i'm not saying you can't argue that dean has had issues with food in the past, but saying sam should feel bad for it, sam who was also just a hungry little kid, is ridiculous. i personally do not believe dean went days without food just so sam could have some more, he'd probably steal money or groceries before it came to that, or even go to charities. dean is self destructive, but he's not stupid. also the narrative of john maliciously starving dean is stupid as hell, why would you train your child to survive fighting monsters just to sabotage them by intentionally starving them? in a scenario when there wasn't enough food i 100% believe john ate less so sam and dean could have enough, but people love to pretend john was actually satan before they use their brains.

[starcanwrecked-confessions]

original "sam is an abusive cop" anon here; i. didnt necessarily mean to spark ACAB discourse i apologise. but i thought id jump in with what i meant bcz i think its a bit silly for people to be like "hating a character for being a cop is a bad thing" like? guys? this conversation is sooo stale and its sooo annoying Yes i Know cops arent hiveminds(ha) that arent all individually evil (they do willingly support a corrupt system, but im not here to talk about the complexity of the retributive justice system rn) but. when it comes to fictional characters, they represent something. they arent real people, they have nuance yes but not the same amount of nuance as a real person, they are constructs meant to communicate a narrative or a theme or a concept or literally whatever. and sam specifically is a construct meant to represent corruption in the police. simple as that. if he was a bigger character with more screentime i would maybe get it? but as it stands right now, he really is not that nuanced. he literally uses his power as a cop to kidnap a child. and that is like one of the very few things hes done in canon. i dont have an issue with people making shit up about fictional characters but my question is. why him? what about him is so woobifiable and lovable? he is a funny character, dont get me wrong but like. idk man i feel like sometimes people should just make ocs. sorry to bring this up again lmaoo im just sick of this kind of rhetoric and am also passionate about media literacy and analysis. i truly am not trying to spark up More discourse in your inbox honestly i do not wish that upon you but yeah i just thought id make myself clear. also to the people making this a commentary about how americans are weird and overdramatic about the police, i am not american and also i think thats a bit of a weird thing to say. anyways sorry for the word dump haha.

~~~

[spopsalt]

https://www.tumblr.com/zhanael/737323861598748672

This person missed the point of the criticisms SPOP has been receiving completely. I haven’t seen one person complain that the world was saved with the power of friendship bc it WASN’T. It was saved by a poorly written rushed abusive romance. In fact, the critics actually wanted to see Adora’s friendships save the day instead of her awful romance with Catra since the show is called She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, despite the princesses barely getting a role. And if there HAD to be a romance, it could’ve been with Glimmer, which would’ve made more narrative sense and sent a better message to kids.

Next, I’m not sure why OP described SPOP as a show with a “pastel color palette about friendship and love and unity” as if these things detract from the bad writing, plus these themes weren’t even handled well. I have no issue with Catra being redeemed and I liked her in seasons 3 and 4. That’s not why the show is being accused of abuse apologism and this isn’t comparable to when Sugar was accused of being a nazi apologist over the SU finale. SPOP was rushed as well (I’m not sure if it got canceled like SU) but Catra’s redemption either should’ve started sooner or the romance should’ve been ditched. SU at least had a much better writing, representation, and messages for kids. It’s funny since imo SU and SPOP are not two sides of the same coin as OP claims. If OP wants shows that are ACTUALLY comparable to SU with “pastel colors, nuanced yet positive and relatable messages about love, fun for kids,” then they should watch MLP and Amphibia instead. Also I haven’t seen one SPOP critic who’s “appalled by anything that is remotely challenging to toxic masculinity” so that’s a load of BS. As for the remaining claims, those may pertain to the SU critics for all I know, but I have yet to see any SPOP critics express such sentiments or behave in such a way. The “hate blogs” for SPOP are really just critical blogs like yours that make valid points rather than “a shit ton of bad faith misinterpretations” and aren’t “tearing [the show] to shreds,” plus the only harassment I’ve seen towards teens over a kid’s show has been from SPOP fans themselves.

This post also included a bunch of nonsense in the tags which I can no longer see since OP recently deactivated their account (in fact the only reason I’m able to share a link to the post is bc someone reblogged it), but they contained more misinterpretations of the criticisms along with slander towards the critics. I’m so sick of SPOP fans continuing to have no critical thinking skills while blindly defending the show and demonizing anyone who dares criticize it. It’s pathetic.

Thanks for the ask! Yeah, the show was saved because of a rushed abusive relationship. The thing is, I wouldn't be half as mad if it wasn't directed towards kids. I don't believe it's intentional, but kids are getting the thought that the way Catra treated Adora is ok because she loved her. Basically the "He bullies you because he likes you!" thing. Instead of actually considering if they have a valid point, they just assume that the critical blogs are just angry homophobic white straight men when a lot of the blogs are queer women like me. Also, yes a pastel color palette makes up for us having to watch a rushed toxic relationship in season 5. It's like spop stans don't realize that their perfect little show can have flaws and anyone who calls them out are homophobic racist. Also from my experience, nobody said the creator romantizes abuse, they are complaining that the show itself does whether it realizes it or not. This show is being marketed to kids and kids will believe that this is ok. That's probably my biggest gripe with the show.

[kndrules]

You said your numbah 2 has drinking problems when older? What may that look like in action? And do any one else have problems like that? Very interesting hc

I don't remember the specifics of what you're referring to, but you're probably referring to a headcanon that my friend @eltube came up with and then I adopted it.

Which is basically that the addictions presented in canon should be considered seriously. With Hoagie, we see them openly struggle with substance abuse (chocolate sauce) and we also see them participate in the trade of another addictive substance (soda, which is a stand-in for alcohol). I don't know that I think Hoagie has an addiction to actual alcohol when they're an adult, but more of just that Hoagie is someone who does struggle with addiction in general.

When Hoagie is an adult, I think that will actually look more like when someone is a "recovered addict", which is a very specific thing. It's different than not being an addict at all. People I have known who struggled with substance abuse and have since gone clean described to me the way in which they STILL struggle with those urges, especially when times are hard. (and to be clear, since im on the subject, no one is a failure or a bad person if they relapse. addiction is not a moral issue.)

As for the second part of your question, does anyone else deal with similar things, yes: Abby. Again, this is a case where we kind of see hints of substance abuse in canon, with sugar in particular (op LICORICE is a great example). She seems like a "functional addict" in the show, but that's a phrase that I feel diminishes what that person is going through, so I don't like it but I don't know what else to call it. As she grows up, I imagine Abby also gets a handle on it like Hoagie does, but I don't think she'd ever quit sugar completely. That would make me sad, to be honest. Cuz while the addiction narrative does exist there, her love of sweets is such a fun interest and clearly makes her happy in ways that defy that narrative (because its not really one-to-one)

That's my thoughts on that, I guess!