#i will see posts about the exact same scenes with the exact opposite opinion

[dickfuckk]

My opinions on izzy are all over the place like i hate him but i love him. I want him to get punched but he deserves better. He’s married to his job and not in love with ed but he is in love with ed and just has a very toxic way of dealing with it. He did absolutely not enjoy the toe scene but he was kind of into it and also loved the choking scene. He is a little miserable bitch but he wants to be better

[evilbihan]

This is probably the most unpopular of all unpopular opinions out there, but hear me out for just a second:

Can we please start to acknowledge Kuai Liang's flaws? It's perfectly fine to like a character while also acknowledging their negative traits and the bad things they've done. I'm genuinely confused by the whole "aww Kuai Liang is so nice :)" thing the fandom has going on. I understand that, being a Bi-Han fan, I might sound biased, but I promise this is coming from a completely neutral standpoint.

I don't see how any of the positive traits fans associate with Kuai Liang (kindness, selflessness, a caring nature) are backed up by any canon material we know of. Those traits belong to Tomas, not Kuai Liang. The version of Kuai Liang that is a loving brother to Tomas and the prime example of a good man only exists in fanon.

Vengeful, short-tempered, regressive — those are Kuai Liang's actual traits.

May I remind you, the real Kuai Liang looks like this.

His face expresses arrogance, he's looking down on whoever is in front of him. He doesn't smile, doesn't display any expression that one could interpret for kindness. He looks cold. Does that arrogance and coldness look familiar at all?

It's the same expression as this one. Bi-Han is also shown looking down on others, with the exact same confidence stemming from the idea that he is superior to others. Kuai Liang mirrors that expression perfectly. They're brothers, they're similar in the way they act and think, in the way they were raised. Let's not forget that Kuai Liang was second in line for the grandmaster title while with the Lin Kuei. He is grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu now. They are both arrogant.

Tomas is the only one of the three who smiles and has a warm, kind aura to him. I'm not saying he's a perfect ray of sunshine, he's certainly capable of being ruthless just like his brothers, but he doesn't share their overwhelmingly negative traits.

There is no warmth to Kuai Liang at all, which is ironic given that his element is fire. Kuai Liang's fire, however, burns cold to match Bi-Han's ice. They are not opposites, they are the same.

Hanzo as Scorpion was driven by grief and ultimately love for his family, Kuai Liang's fire is only fueled by hatred for his brother.

While Bi-Han is obsessed with power, Kuai Liang's obsession with honor and tradition is crossing the line to fanaticism. Am I the only one to find it concerning how he worships his father and his father's ideals almost religiously? It's pretty much all he ever talks about at any given chance.

to Bi-Han: "His teachings did not pass with him. They should still guide us." to Bi-Han: "Father would turn in his grave if he saw this." to Smoke: "We must chart a new course. One that both honors our Father's legacy and serves Earthrealm." to Kitana: "Death before dishonor." to Smoke: "Only if we honor tradition."

Is this how a normal person talks? I don't think so. Admittedly, Bi-Han's methods are wrong, but since when is it a good thing to be completely against progress? Kuai Liang is stuck holding onto outdated traditions that don't allow for growth. It's not necessarily a bad thing that he looks up to his father, but idolizing someone to the point of never questioning anything they do or say and giving up any critical thinking is dangerous.

There's plenty more examples in the story mode and intros where Kuai Liang brings up honor and tradition, but this post is going to be long enough as it is so I only named a few.

I want to focus more on how Kuai Liang treats other characters throughout the story.

Tomas:

Why does the fandom claim he's such a good brother to Tomas when this is the only scene in the story mode where Kuai Liang expresses any sort of care towards Tomas — in a moment where he needs Tomas on his side?

Oddly enough, he's playing at Tomas' vulnerability here by bringing up family and reassuring him that they're brothers even if they don't share blood, in direct contrast to how Bi-Han said Tomas' blood was not Lin Kuei earlier. Words he chose carefully and deliberately, not out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted to comfort Tomas, but to achieve the desired effect: to sway Tomas to his side.

Similar to Bi-Han, Kuai Liang is a manipulative and calculating character. I would even dare to go as far as to say he's even more manipulative since Bi-Han lacks the charisma and patience to be a successful manipulator. Bi-Han makes no effort to convince Tomas to join him. He can't even keep up the lie he told Kuai Liang for very long. Bi-Han's actions are impulsive and poorly planned out, he's the naive one being manipulated by characters like Shang Tsung while Kuai Liang makes smart, calculated moves. He knew exactly what he was doing when speaking to Tomas.

I don't see how that was even necessary since Tomas would have picked Kuai Liang's side regardless simply because it's the one aligning with his own beliefs, but Kuai Liang's words were a subtle "Hey, remember that I'm the one who considers you part of this family and he does not. If you don't side with me, you're going to betray your own brother."

One of the key signs to recognize a manipulator by is how they try and convince a person close to them that it's "the two of them against everyone else" or in this case "them against their older brother". Manipulators know someone's weaknesses (Tomas' desire to be a part of their family) and how to exploit them to get what they want.

There was never even the slightest chance that Tomas would have sided with Bi-Han in that fight anyway, but he also appears way more passive in it as opposed to Kuai Liang. Tomas doesn't want to fight his own brother, but at the end of the day he cares more about doing the right thing and saving innocent lives than about his inner conflict. For Kuai Liang, it's a quest for vengeance and the pursue of his own goals above all else.

I also think it's interesting that Tomas looks slightly surprised/ confused at the hand being placed on his arm by Kuai Liang. It's almost like he's not used to being reassured like this which makes you wonder how often Kuai Liang really comforted Tomas or showed any support towards him. Like Liu Kang and everyone else, Kuai Liang barely acknowledged Smoke's presence before. They're only seen exchanging occasional glances.

What has me doubt the sincerety of Kuai Liang's words even more is this scene.

Personally, I don't believe that Bi-Han has ever snapped at Tomas like that before this incident here, but I know the fandom likes to think otherwise so just for this take let's go with the wrong assumption that Bi-Han used to put Tomas down like that regularly.

Why did Kuai Liang not step in to defend Tomas in this scene? If he knew where this was going why did he let Bi-Han finish his sentence? It's certainly not out of respect or because Bi-Han is their grandmaster. Kuai Liang has no issue talking back to him and contradicting him in other situations but he was surprisingly silent when this whole thing went down.

He was either just as surprised as Tomas that Bi-Han would snap at their brother like that because it hasn't happened before or because he simply didn't care to interrupt since he had nothing to gain from it, unlike later when he wanted Tomas' loyalty for himself.

Kuai Liang could have been standing up for Tomas in this situation if he was the good brother everyone sees him as, but for some reason he didn't. Make of that what you will.

As for the intros between them, there's only one where Kuai Liang asks about Tomas' family. In every other intro with Tomas he only speaks of his own goals. Honor, tradition, training the Shirai Ryu, defeating the Lin Kuei... At one point he praises Tomas for his loyalty towards him, only to question said loyalty later on.

Scorpion: Our resolve cannot waver, brother. Smoke: I'm offended that you think mine has.

If I'm not mistaken, that's a prime example of manipulation right here. Guilt tripping/shaming someone into doing something they don't even want to do.

Kuai Liang seems to always be working an angle with Tomas. Why is he suddenly doubting him? Because he knows Tomas wants peace, not war between the brothers?

Ultimately, it seems he doesn't care about what Tomas wants. We know that Tomas is torn in this conflict, he resents Bi-Han, but he also doesn't want his brothers to fight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked for Liu Kang to reunite them.

Tomas' intros are a whole paradox of their own.

Smoke: Are we to be enemies for life? Sub-Zero: Unless you submit, Tomas.

Smoke: I'll never forgive Bi-Han. Scorpion: His betrayal has seared both our hearts.

Scorpion: We'll soon meet the Lin Kuei in battle. Smoke: It will be our last with them. Smoke: For Earthrealm's sake, my brothers must reunite. Raiden: There's little hope for that, Tomas.

Smoke: Can I get the brothers to reconcile? Liu Kang: They must choose their own path, Tomas.

What Tomas says to other characters contradicts everything he says to Kuai Liang. But why? Why does he never tell Kuai Liang directly that he'd just wish him and Bi-Han would stop fighting? Why if not because he's afraid of Kuai Liang's reaction and that he will lose him as a brother unless he agrees with everything Kuai Liang says?

SPOILERS: It's interesting how Kuai Liang in this scene asks Tomas to help him bring Bi-Han back with them so he won't be able to aid Shang Tsung, but according to leaks he's going to leave Bi-Han behind with Havik in the dlc, not even caring about the consequences that might have for Bi-Han or for Earthrealm. Now that Tomas isn't there he no longer has to keep up the facade. Tomas' absence also makes me wonder if he maybe got tired of Kuai Liang's spitefulness and blind hatred.

To sum it up, here's what we know about how Kuai Liang treats Tomas:

Kuai Liang initialy doesn't defend Tomas against Bi-Han's harsh words

He picks an odd timing to comfort Tomas at the Ying Fortress, possibly to assure that Tomas will join his side, not Bi-Han's

He's trying to push his own agenda onto Tomas who agrees with him in their intros but doesn't seem to share Kuai Liang's goals when speaking to other characters like Liu Kang or Raiden

SPOILERS: It seems that Tomas won't be attending Kuai Liang's wedding as he's not mentioned at all in any of the dlc leaks. He might be trying to stay out of the fight between his brothers entirely.

Bi-Han:

Another detail I've noticed is how quickly Kuai Liang comes up with the idea to create the Shirai Ryu. How likely is it that he made the decision to form an entire new clan on the spot? He seems way too prepared for this scenario.

Smoke: Once he's exposed, won't you be grandmaster? Scorpion: You forget Cyrax and Sektor. Their loyalty to Bi-Han is absolute. They'll sooner abet his corruption than follow me. We must chart a new course.

Why did Tomas not know about this when they're part of the same clan but Kuai Liang knows the answer immediately? It's almost like he has thought it through before, tried to figure out exactly who would side with him and who wouldn't if it came down to important Lin Kuei members choosing between him and Bi-Han. And that's because he has. It even says so in his official bio.

Kuai Liang always intended to overthrow Bi-Han.

He admitted that he was aware of Bi-Han's frustrations all along and yet he never brought up his concerns to Liu Kang or anyone else. It seems that he intended to take advantage of how mentally unstable his brother was in order to become grandmaster himself. I'm not saying he always wanted the title to himself, Kuai Liang doesn't care about power, but his obsession with tradition equals Bi-Han's obsession with power. He wanted to rule the Lin Kuei himself to enforce his own ideals and when he realized that wouldn't work out, he settled for the next best thing: creating his own clan.

Kitana in comparison also knows that Mileena is impulsive and many people doubt that she's fit to lead but she supports her sister regardless. Her loyalty to Mileena is unwavering. Kitana loves and supports her sister unconditionally. It doesn't even once cross her mind to take Mileena's place on the throne.

Kuai Liang and Kitana share similar values, yet Kitana's loyalty to her sister outweighs all that while Kuai Liang didn't hesitate to plot against Bi-Han way before Bi-Han even sided with Shang Tsung. Just Bi-Han's frustration alone was reason enough for Kuai Liang to want to overthrow his brother.

Ashrah, a complete stranger, cares more about redeeming Bi-Han than his own brother does. And no, Kuai Liang's actions can't be justified by bringing up that Bi-Han let their father die or betrayed Earthrealm etc. because Kuai Liang gave up on him long before any of that happened. In fact, the way Kuai Liang constantly brings up their father at every chance he gets probably added to Bi-Han's frustrations and is part of the reason why he was driven to madness.

Scorpion: Glory? We fight for duty. Sub-Zero: Does our father's ghost possess you? All I hear is his voice.

Bi-Han seems haunted by their father's ghost and Kuai Liang knows, yet he doesn't shy away from bringing it up at every opportunity. Was it done on purpose? Who knows.

But it's noteworthy that it's again manipulative behavior. The way Kuai Liang constantly criticizes Bi-Han, undermines his authority, compares him to their father whenever he can although he knows about Bi-Han's frustrations, then claims a shadow has fallen on Bi-Han's soul when he at the very least partially helped cast that shadow.

I'm not sure why people claim Kuai Liang was supportive of Bi-Han before his betrayal because there's no evidence of that at all. At least, none that I could find. Kuai Liang seems reluctant to follow Bi-Han's orders and he also doesn't seem to respect him much. Again, compare that to how Kitana shows actual concern for Mileena while Kuai Liang just seems fed up with Bi-Han.

Personally, I believe Kuai Liang's goals are far bigger than we know at this point. Something about the line "The Shirai Ryu won't rest until Bi-Han is defeated and the Lin Kuei's honor is restored" suggests that, while he built his own clan, Kuai Liang still has some interest in the Lin Kuei. I doubt that he's just planning to take down Bi-Han to let someone else be grandmaster in his place. I think that Kuai Liang wants to merge both clans once Bi-Han is defeated. After all, Kuai Liang's bio mentions that he's willing to fight his brother for control of the Lin Kuei's legacy. He might think it would be in his father's interest if he became grandmaster of both clans. However, that's just an educated guess and might not be true at all.

How Kuai Liang treats Bi-Han:

Kuai Liang never trusted Bi-Han's leadership skills or acknowledged his authority

The conflict of interest between the brothers always existed, even before Bi-Han switched sides and Kuai Liang always planned to take the grandmaster title from Bi-Han

Kuai Liang attempted to (and would have) killed Bi-Han but was interrupted in doing so

He's eager to fight Bi-Han, while Tomas is reluctant

He seems to have always held very little love for Bi-Han, if any at all, although he claims they used to be close once

Harumi:

Does no one else think it's a little bit suspicious that the woman Kuai Liang ends up "falling in love with" is a capable fighter and head of her own clan, someone with exactly the resources, knowledge and means to provide Kuai Liang with everything he needs to build his own clan? He even names the Shirai Ryu after Harumi, a clan whose goal it is to take down Kuai Liang's hated brother, someone Harumi probably knows little about or never even met. Maybe I'm the only one to think that's kind of messed up and not a romantic gesture, but at least he's giving her some credit, right? Does Harumi lead the Shirai Ryu with Kuai Liang or did he take her own clan from her to build his own? I couldn't really find any information regarding that but it would be even more messed up if the Shirai Ryu are originally Harumi's clan that Kuai Liang simply took over.

Another weird detail is how Smoke calls Harumi Kuai Liang's "good friend" in his own ending, which makes you wonder if he left the Shirai Ryu before Kuai Liang and Harumi became a couple? Does he know Kuai Liang doesn't actually love Harumi? It's confusing because Tomas is the person closest to Kuai Liang. Shouldn't he be the first to know if his brother fell in love and is planning to get married?

Kuai Liang's reaction when Kitana congratulates him on his marriage is rather cold as well. He doesn't seem like a happy, newly married man and it makes me think their marriage wasn't necessarily out of love, at least not on Kuai Liang's side.

How Kuai Liang treats Harumi:

There's not enough known about their relationship yet to really know if Kuai Liang's love for Harumi is genuine

He benefitted a lot from his friendship with her when creating the Shirai Ryu

It's strange that Tomas only calls Harumi Kuai Liang's "good friend"

Final conclusion:

Kuai Liang seems to follow a pattern of binding people to him emotionally (Tomas, Harumi... ) to be able to use them to his own advantage. I'm not saying that he doesn't care about them at all, but first and foremost, they're assets to him and family second.

For someone who claims to care about honor, Kuai Liang sure has very little of it. SPOILERS: The fact that Kuai Liang is willing to let Bi-Han die and deny him treatment when he gets infected with chaos magic says a lot about the type of person he is. How is it honorable to kick a man when he's down? How is it honorable that he wants to kill Frost during his own wedding and Harumi has to beg him to spare her life?

To get this straight, this is not an attempt to paint Kuai Liang as the epitome of all evil or to say he doesn't care at all about the people in his life, just that he's much more cold and calculating than people give him credit for. Just because Kuai Liang has chosen the good side while Bi-Han went down the wrong path doesn't necessarily make him a nice person. He's still vindictive and selfish. He still shows toxic behavior.

I know someone will try and twist this post into something it isn't, so let me say this is NOT a personal attack on Kuai Liang fans or an attempt to spread negativity, it's just my opinion that you're free to disagree with. I blame the writers and their obvious bias for Scorpion that Kuai Liang's bad traits are so often overlooked. This post is only me sharing my thoughts. If it offends you, block me. I don't want to see this reblogged with paragraphs from people trying to defend Kuai Liang.

[savethevamps]

Top Tanin: The Imperfect Victim

Disclaimer : Please leave your Top hate away from this post. I have no problem having a discussion about Top, but if you’re just going to blatantly hate & make comments that have absolutely nothing to do with this topic, keep it to yourself.

Now before we get into the topic at hand, I would like to give everyone the definition of The Ideal Victim Fallacy aka The Perfect Victim Theory, which is: a damaging belief about how a victim should look and behave in order to be deemed a credible source.

Some of you may be wondering, “what exactly does this have to do with that cheater Top?”, and I’m here to explain how it has everything to do with him. Top is a prime example of how the perfect victim does not exist, and how damaging the very notion of a “perfect victim” is. Top Tanin has been SA on multiple occasions, and it has mostly been glossed over by viewers simply because he is not the ideal victim. Now, I won’t sit here & say that no one has pointed this out, but I will say that I haven’t seen this be discussed as deeply as I think it should so here I go.

1. First, let’s talk personality. “The Perfect Victim” is always thought of as someone who is meek, innocent, and kind; someone who would never engage in anything illicit.

When we’re introduced to Top, we’re immediately told how we should feel about him. We’re supposed to think that Top is an asshole, a player, arrogant, and rude. We can go back and forth about what is true and what’s not, but the main point is this; we have our set up of this guy now, and we know how we’re told to feel about him personality wise.

2. Secondly, physical traits. The “Ideal Victim” is usually someone smaller in stature, weak, and by all accounts defenseless.

Top is a relatively tall man who exercises, and from what we can tell, a man who isn’t afraid to throw a punch when provoked. So now we have our physical attributes.

3. Thirdly, SA is usually depicted as only happening to the “receiver” or the person who is usually penetrated during sex.

From what we see of Top, he’s portrayed as being a well, Top. The story is also in the realm of boys love, a genre in which if SA is going to happen, it will always happen to the bottom.

Now, we have all these points down and they all add up to this; Top is the exact opposite of a “Perfect Victim”. From his personality down to the position he takes during sex. Hopefully everyone has followed along with me, and we can all come to the same conclusion that he is not an “Ideal Victim”, and we can discuss the scenes in which he is SA.

The first assault occurs in episode two. Top goes to shower off and Boston strips naked to join him in the shower. Top is of course caught off guard by this, and asks what Boston is doing, to which Boston replies by saying he, “wants it again”. He then proceeds to push Top into the shower. They talk back and forth, Boston starts kissing his neck and body, then Mew comes in. A lot of people see this scene and immediately say, “oh Top should have pushed him off, or “He clearly didn’t care or he would’ve said no.” It’s worth noting that Top freezes up once Boston starts touching him suggestively, and to the second point; Top has said no, we find this out in the very first episode. Having sex once isn’t blanket permission, especially when the person expresses they do not wish to have it happen again.

The second, technically third, time he is assaulted, happens in episode four. Top is once again cornered by Boston, and getting groped while he constantly tells Boston “no” and “stop”. Boston doesn’t listen, so Top pushes him away. Now this is a scene where I see people agree that it’s SA, which is good, however it gives ammo to the people who believe the first incident was not assault. They say, “well if he can push him off here, why couldn’t he before” or “he spoke up fast here, but he barely said anything before.” The simple answer is, in my opinion, the fact that Top is now feeling ashamed and guilty about what occurred the night before. He’s no longer just thinking about himself, he is now also thinking about Mew and how he can’t “allow” (notice the quotations) Boston to keep touching him.(It’s worth noting that Top does have a brief moment where he freezes, just like in the first scene.)

In conclusion, I’m pretty sure Top does not see himself as a victim of SA due to the theory I’ve explained above, and I can tell that most people do not view him as a victim either. All I wanted to say in this post is how as a viewer, it’s our job to be able to see this for what it is. Top is a victim of SA, he is a victim of this “Ideal/Perfect Victim” myth, and I would like it if people would start viewing these scenes as such, and not just ammo for you to use when saying how “bad” you think Top is.

[calocera]

Your posts about SNW Spock makes me so curious, could you please explain how they've done him wrong since he seems very different from the original series :O Are they making him more human despite the SNW taking place before the og?

yeah i can! im not the best person to talk about it probably since im a pretty recent trek fan and also tos/spock arent parts of trek i care about as much as a lot of other fans, but i have opinions for sure!!

firstly just up front i do not like ethan peck as spock. he does not look like spock or act in a way i am satisfied with. it feels like the only reason they cast him was because he has a deep voice. so i am going forward in this with haterism for him specifically not JUST how he is written in snw

Spock is written not like a vulcan but like an anhedonic human. actually not even anhedonic, just like a human raised in vulcan society trying to blend in. like there is nothing about him that feels genuine he just feels like woobiebait for 2012 tumblr to make flower crown edits of because he is awkward and quirky. every scene involving spock is a joke about him and his demeanor, everything he says is a wink wink nudge nudge "lol vulcans act like this and its so stupid lol logic is silly" like i can physically feel a laugh track whenever hes on screen. i enjoy jokes about vulcans but it isnt funny when there isnt anything else. its like spock showing emotion, it isnt satisfying when its a constant and not a little treat peppered in. in snw hes stifling a giggle or screaming in pain or being oopsie awkward silly every time he gets a focal scene, it takes the magic away because now it isnt a rare break in character its just how he is. Ive seen a lot of people defend this aspect as him being young and therefore less mature than in tos, but hes like approaching 30 :\ i get him being less mature but he doesnt act like a sheltered 30 year old he acts like someone freshly 18. at this point its just like…MAKE A NEW CHARACTER!!!!

as a point of contrast, i like how uhura is written in snw (in season 1 anyways, she has barely appeared in s2) she is obviously younger and is growing into her spot on the crew, but they arent hinging her character on the 1 or 2 pop culture uhura moments, retconning anything about that that doesnt align with modern media fandom, and calling it a day; they actually expand on her character outside of like idk her doing a sexy dance and her sitting at the phone (though i guess it is easier for her since she had barely any character in tos anyways). meanwhile they DO do that with spock, his bullet point top 10 iconic spock moments of sometimes being awkward and showing emotion are now the only things he is allowed to do. tldr flanderization

i also think its interesting that it is this way since ethan peck played spock in discovery and there hes the exact opposite. hes extremely serious and vulcan; which fits the tone of the show (regardless of my opinions on the tone of disco). i just dont understand how that spock translated into the snw spock. they are not the same guy.

anyways on to the biggest plot related gripe with him...how he interacts with women!!!yay!!

first theres how they decided to have multiple episodes about his, apparently, strained-yet-loving-and-involved relationship with tpring. the inclusion of t'pring feels stupid because other than the 1 minute of cheap "oh i remember her!" from someone seeing her on screen for the first time what point is there to her returning when the ONE canonical fact about her is that she and spock A: had an arranged marriage, B: did not meet in person since they were children, and C: hated each other. its not like there is a huge contingency of t'pring/spock shippers holding out since 1967 so what value does reintroducing her as a character serve? i assume its as some kind of attempt to give a woman who previously had no real character something to do, but her existence on snw is STILL only about spock and her relation to spock so there isnt any sort of feminist level up happening. including her was not interesting enough to justify retconning the plot of the most iconic episode of star trek. especially when multiple episodes tonally and stakes-wise rely on you caring about them as a couple, and anyone watching who knows who she is already knows that her and spock dont have any relationship to speak of in the future so who is this for? if you really really just NEED spock to have sex with a woman why not make a new character? that would also suck but at least it wouldnt be timeline interfering. im not even a huge continuity purist "oh no!!the timeline!!!plotholes!!!" but when the situation is the writers deliberately breaking the continuity in large ways and the outcome isnt even fun? stupid.

and now his relationship with chapel. i am way more annoyed by this one since its just gross. so from tos the only thing with them is that chapel has a crush on him and spock is not interested. also worth noting that its such a non-plot related thing that it only is revealed under the influence of alien drug virus that makes you horny. and they decided that not only was that enough to base a whole reciprocated romance arc around, but now since theyve introduced tpring back into the story, spock is now a cheater??? what is the POINT of breaking canon to introduce spocks girlfriend only to go "well actually hes horny for his coworker" like...that isnt how love triangles work youve just done a character assassination. the man who would rather kill his best friend than have sex with his wife is now fucking both her and the woman who confessed to him and he got so mad he crushed a computer with his bare hands. ok 👍. i just hate that they chose spock to be the romantic center of the show. anyone else could have been the character who gets into relationship drama why spock? there are multiple new characters who could have taken up the position. and its not like spock has nothing else to do as a character without it

to say things specifically about the most recent epsiode since it was particularly annoying and showed things that happen throughout the series:

firstly spock just does shit thats stupid. illogical even. i know the whole logical fallacy moment with vulcans but when it isnt a point of note in the show and rather just happens as if its a normal occurrence for spock as a person im like...he would be a laughing stock on vukcan and not have any of the positive reputation he holds.

the plot of this ep was basically that spock gets turned completely human and they just miss literally the whole point of it. vulcans have MORE emotion than humans, they ACTIVELY suppress it. yet when spock is turned human he just experiences human emotion completely emotionally? he should be having an EASIER time suppressing his emotions. and OMG he gets a BONER because he sees a hot WOMAN LOL LOL isnt that funny? spock got hard isnt that hilarious? its just so cheap. they act like being human makes him a completely different person, they played it like the voyager episode where belanna gets split into human and klingon BUT in that case she was literally split into two different people (this ep had a lot of issues too ie racism but that’s a different can of worms); here spock just becomes human he still has the same memories and training and history...why would he forget what its like to be a vulcan. they could SO EASILY make excuses too but they just didnt care. and anyways bada bing bada boom the ep ends with him and chapel hooking up which i already complained about and could complain about more.

i think thats already too much so im gunna stop myself here but trust theres more i hate and other people have probably talked about this better than i have :')

blade nation

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

Hi 🥰

I was going through your blog and I loved your analysis of ysblf’s sixth episode (where Marcela dresses up as an executioner). Idk if it was your blog or someone else’s that mentioned the importance of certain sex scenes in ysblf and I can’t stop thinking about it and I keep going back to analyze and come up with my own conclusions. I just wanted to know your opinion on the last sex scene Marcela and Armando had …

(Sorry I wrote this in English, I don’t know how to proficiently write in Spanish)

Hiii!

I'm not sure if the podt you mention is mine! I did a post about how different sex scenes have different emotional values for the participants depending on how explicit they get haha! Sex is very important on ysblf, as it's shown in multiple lights: as an expression of love, vulnerability and trust (betty/armando), wrecklessness and selfishness (AuraMaria/Mario) and even manipulation and humiliation ( patricia/Daniel)

If I'm not mistaken, Marce and Armando’s last night is one of the most aggressive ones. Most of their sex scenes are "reconciliatory" sex, but this one was straight up "sex to shut her up." It was a quick way for Armando to quiet Marcela about his affair and get release at the same time. Many viewers speculated that Armando was so horny and straight to the point that night because he just came from his "dates" with Betty, which at this point we know are becoming more heated (how Rlman and his idiot gang thought they were gonna do it in the car one time when they caught Armando and Betty kissing, and how Calderón even explicitly says that if they tought that it was because those weren't chaste little pecks!) Altough I like this interpretation a lot, due to a lack of more explicit dates from before the Letter, I can't decide if I agree or not with this interpretation for Armando’s urgency that night lol altough it COULD be a very good indicator that Armando was actually and unconciously starting to physically desire Betty, which would make the First Night scene much better as it would add another precedent to Armando’s desire for her.

Yhe scene is also filled with very telling dialogue, such as Armando's "would a man who just came from being with his lover do all that I'm going to do to you right now?" (Something along those lines. I Don't have the quot at hand, but the exact phrasing is very important!) The exact word he uses is "lover/mistress" if I'm not misremembering, which is very important because, as Armando has been letting us know through his talks with Calderón, in his head Marcela and Betty play the opposite role of their title. For him, Marcela is the lover, because as Mario explains, a lover is for screwing, ("what do you have a lover for? Talk about politics?") To which Armando answers "that's what I've got Marcela for." There is no deeper, emotional connection to her. He literally admits the sex is amazong and the only thing keeping him in the relationship. Betty, on the other hand, fulfills the role of "la mujer" (the official one/wife, kinda) because, as he says, their relationship is emotional and mental, not based on sexual attraction. (((Of course, this breaks after the First Night, because Marcela stops even being that Lover, and Betty becomes fully La Mujer)))

In a weird, twisted way, he really didn't just come from seeing his lover, he just arraived to see her and fulfill the only real reason for having a lover...

It sounds a little ugly saying it like that but that's straight up what the show says lol

All sex scenes between those two are filled with deceitfulness, repressed angerness, and a lingering feeling of something violent and animalistic about it, which is a great contrast to Betty and Armando’s soft, vulnerable, and tender first time together!

Don't worry about the language, it's always good to put to some use my rusty English lol

[firminofla]

Talking about GLITCHX and their announcement.

Okay, I think this is going to be a long talk, if you had read this whole post, I really appreciate that and I'm already thanking you.

Let's go straight to the point, today GLITCH made their final announcment about the last person that will be participating in the event that they are planning to do early November, and to the absolutely surprise of zero people, it's vivziepop (a.k.a the creator of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss).

Honestly, I wasn't angry because it was her, and I expected about her attending the event, the problems are: she is a VERY problematic person and most of her fanbase is incredibly annoying (keep in mind that I have never watched HH or HB, I only watched some scenes with Alastor and some dubbed comics some years ago, so I can't talk about my opinion about the show, and honestly, I'm not that interested in watching neither of them).

And what is more sad is that, of all members, the only ones that doesn't have any dramas envolving them are Liam, Goose and Pelo, meanwhile we have Tracy and Viv, that participated in a controversy in the beggining of the month.

I really hope that the event goes very normally, without any passive agressive communation between the members (ESPECIALLY between Tracy and Viv) and a healthy chat in the moment of the same, beacuse I can see that GLITCH is trying to unite the Indie Community, and having people like Viv doing the exact opposite is really stressful and saddening.

About Viv herself, from what I have seen about her in Youtube, Twitter and here, I think the best thing for her to do is leaving the Indie Community and internet after she finishes Hazbin and attending some therapy sessions (problably it will take some time, but who knows what can happen in the future right?).

And to finish this text with a question, who do you guys wanted to be in the event instead of Viv? Personally, I wanted Alan Becker or Matt Hargreaves, the creator of Animator vs Animation or the owner of Eddsworld, because both are very responsible, and Matt is holding the legacy of Edd nowadays and for me, Edd and Alan are the REAL pioneers of Indie Animation, with their animations and youtuber carrers starting in the beggining of Youtube.

[kungukingi]

Meditations on bris/isbr [7/?] "Getting to Know Each Other"

Link to previous part.

After the match against Naruhaya’s and Barou’s team, Isagi makes the expected choice and chooses Barou, who does not like the fact that at this moment his fate is in Isagi’s hands. As much as he does not 'play for the team', it does not make him indifferent to this undesirable side effect of having his team lose.

Afterwards though, during an argument about sleeping arrangements, Barou shows how unbothered he is by the loss itself, as he continues trying to assert his dominance as usual. Though his team lost to Isagi and Nagi, he still thinks he’s better individually than either one of them.

When it is revealed that Barou and Nagi are like oil and water and do not get along at all, Isagi has to assume a ‘peacemaker’ role between the two geniuses, reminiscent of how he used to be before coming to Blue Lock. But he’s no longer a pushover, so he quickly gets exasperated and joins in on the arguing.

This is the first time we get to see Barou’s clean-freak/order-obsessed side, which Isagi is quick to link to the results he puts out on the pitch. He agrees with Nagi in thinking that Barou seems like a 'hassle', but he is also intrigued by him and wants to “know more about him” so that he can better understand his specific brand of genius. By this point he's started to think that the best way to evolve alongside someone in a way both parties benefit from is to 'produce a chemical reaction' with them, and that's what he wants to achieve with Barou too.

Isagi makes the wrong assessment here though, when he guesses that the driving force behind Barou's ego are the 'aesthetics behind his personal rules'. In reality the driving force behind Barou's ego is the exact same desire to 'change the world with his own power' that Isagi himself has. His 'aesthetics' are just another feature of his personality, and have thus far served as an effective means to an end.

However, when they train together and Isagi sees what Barou's intense regime is like, he feels validated in his earlier assessment. And so he decides to join him, thinking the key to 'understanding' Barou lies here. He's willing to try to do things his way during training in order to crack the code of what makes him so special on the pitch, and to consequently find the path to triggering a chemical reaction between the three of them.

Later in the dining hall, Isagi thinks about how he managed to ‘adapt to’ Naruhaya by copying him, which led to his own growth as a result.

Here he's basically describing one of the methods of “devouring” that I mentioned earlier:

Assimilating and integrating attributes from your opponent into your own plays.

Thinking he should probably try to do something similar with Barou, he seeks him out to get a better understanding of his playstyle.

Barou is surprised by getting approached by him, but doesn’t seem to mind it. He is curious and somewhat suspicious when Isagi cuts straight to business, but upon hearing his answer, his reaction contrasts notably with the last time Isagi approached him with his questions.

The difference here stems from two things, in my opinion:

He’s seen that Isagi is not just some loser, since he managed to beat him in a one-on-one situation once during the last match.

Blinded by his bloated ego, he sees this situation as Isagi coming to offer him his services

I already covered my interpretation of how I see this scene from Isagi’s point of view in an earlier post, so I’ll focus on Barou now.

He wastes no time telling Isagi in very clear terms what he expects from him (to simply help him score goals), which throws Isagi off. When challenged by him, Barou reiterates that in his view he would’ve won that match against Isagi and Nagi if not for Naruhaya doing the exact opposite of what he wanted. Then, when Isagi still doesn’t back down, Barou seems to realise that he didn’t come to this talk to offer his services at all — but instead has an agenda of his own.

The thing that in particular provokes an ‘urgh’ from him seems to be the fact that Isagi says he can’t make his team win like that. Barou has never up until this point cared about helping anyone else win, he plays for himself and his goals alone — so that kind of talk puts him off.

He says as much to Isagi, clearly articulating that this is the way he intends to play from now on too, and tells him that if he was looking for someone teamplay-oriented, he should’ve picked Naruhaya instead.

But then Isagi manages to surprise him once more.

This is probably the first time Barou has been exposed to these types of ideas, and Isagi manages to do it while unintentionally using the kind of language that makes Barou more likely to listen; praising his skills and telling how he could never become like him no matter how hard he tried. The line “And your abilities can shine even brighter alongside me!” must’ve particularly resonated with Barou’s desire to always be the leading actor with the brightest spotlight directed at himself.

However, he’s got good instincts, and senses that what Isagi is actually trying to do here is get Barou to adapt to himself, not the other way around — even if at this point Isagi doesn’t realise it himself. Isagi thinks this is a reciprocal negotiation, but Barou instinctively recognises a selfish egoist when he sees one, what with them being birds of a feather.

And he’s not keen on becoming anyone else’s supporting actor.

A minor tangent about Isagi which I forgot to mention earlier: The thoughts Isagi has in this panel I think reflect well the process he’s going through on his journey from his ‘harmony-loving’ sealed-ego persona towards his more honest egoistic self.

Considering what lengths he went to in Ichinan High School to hide his own assertive tendencies out of fear of alienating the people around him, it tracks that he would think that someone so unapologetically selfish as Barou couldn’t possibly have friends.

But of course, while Barou’s selfish personality might be a ‘pain in the ass’ — he has hidden charisma that compensates for it. Granted, it's not much use to him yet, since at this point he just goes around telling people that all they need to do is simply 'help him score goals', which isn't a winning strategy in a group of egoist strikers. But we've seen that Isagi has already been somewhat taken by his charisma himself, and in the future we’ll get to see how, after some character development, Barou succeeds at employing this attribute he has in order to get people to rally around him.

Link to next post.

[syscurse]

Characters VS. Alters

I want to talk about my experience with having characters vs. alters. Obviously, this post is just talking about my own experiences and I know that it’s not the same for everyone. Hopefully you guys find it helpful or interesting, though!

So, I’m an author and my original characters are living rent-free in my head. They feel autonomous and have their own thoughts and opinions and interactions with each other. Characters can develop themselves...I love that about them lol! Sometimes I let my characters loose in imaginary scenes to see what they do on their own. Sometimes I step inside of them to experience their thoughts and understand their actions better. Sometimes I ‘become’ them. I think these are all normal parts of the creative process.

When I was younger, I had the belief that my original characters were actually real people. Some of them existed in separate worlds, but I could also imagine them in the real world too. I could see them right in front of me if I wanted to. I genuinely felt like they were real people. None of that was distressing. It helped me cope with the aftermath of trauma I was unknowingly enduring and provided me a lot of comfort and creative energy.

When I see people describe their experiences with non-disordered plurality, I find it relatable sometimes. A lot of people describe it similarly to how I experience having characters. I’m not trying to say that this is what all non-disordered plurality is like, though. I just find it interesting.

My experience with my alters, on the other hand, has been nothing like any of this. I think these 3 words best explain the difference between my alters and those other experiences: knowing, understanding, and accepting. 

Knowing:

I know I have characters. I can’t tell you the exact amount (probably thousands), but I know which ones are mine and which ones aren’t. If you showed me a character I made, I’d be able to go yeah that’s my character and I made that. I could tell you many facts about them like their name, pronouns, species, orientation, what they mean to me, etc. Even if it feels like they develop themselves sometimes, I know that development occurred. Even if it feels like they’re autonomous and do things on their own sometimes, I know that they’re doing that. For their entire existence, I have known about them.

It’s the complete opposite with my alters. 

I didn’t know I had alters for the longest time. When I finally found out I was a system, I still didn’t know many of my alters. When new alters showed up, who had always been there with memories that sometimes stretched back even further than my own, I was shocked. I never knew about them before, even though they existed alongside me my whole life with evidence to prove this.

Currently, I still have no idea how many alters there have been. I can’t even guess an amount. It would be like trying to guess how many peanuts are in a jar that I’ve never seen before. It’s not the same as having so many OCs that I can’t count them anymore. I have seen that peanut jar, and I put every single peanut inside of it. It’s different.

I could hardly tell you any facts about my alters. I didn’t know what their names were, let alone what they were like, or that they existed before I realized they were there. It stretched beyond that. I didn’t know aspects of my own life, like our past and very crucial memories--both happy and upsetting. I didn’t know these things. And the alters often didn’t know all these things either.

When we did know about something, we often had no idea what they were or why they existed!

Understanding:

With my characters, I understand what’s going on. I understand when they develop themselves, when they interact with each other, when they interact with me, and I understand the scenes that play out. It doesn’t have to make clear sense all the time, but I’m still able to comprehend that it’s what I’m experiencing. It doesn’t feel out of my control, but I wouldn’t say I’m actively controlling it either. It’s like an unconscious function of the mind for me.

Once again, my experience with alters is different.

For the longest time, I couldn’t understand my alters. Their actions with my body, their thoughts and feelings that sometimes bled over--I couldn’t comprehend it. They couldn’t comprehend it, either. It felt completely foreign. This often led to situations like our journal entries being scribbled out because “I've never felt or thought those things before”, not knowing why beloved projects were suddenly deleted, and feeling dumbfounded while the body is sobbing uncontrollably because “I'm perfectly fine”.

Once again, it extends further than just the alters. Those aspects of my life that I was suddenly confronted with...some of them I just couldn’t understand. There were specific memories that I spent years trying to figure out. There were feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that I couldn’t comprehend, yet they were originating from within me. Why am I feeling this? Where are these thoughts coming from? What is that? Who is that? Who am I? What happened to me? Why?

My characters don’t do that.

Accepting/Believing:

The last thing is acceptance. When I say acceptance, I’m talking about fully believing in something. I accept that my characters are characters. I accept who they are and the things they do (even if I don’t agree with them). I accept their origins. I accept that I created them, that I am an author, that they are a part of reality for me. I fully believe in these things, it’s not something that needs to be questioned.

Dissociation is when you’re unable to fully accept reality. Dissociative identity disorder is exactly what it says on the tin.

I couldn’t accept my alters without years of therapy and trauma processing. I can’t tell you how often it felt like they weren’t real. We came up with every excuse possible to say that each other doesn’t exist. The DID doesn’t exist. The trauma doesn’t exist. You aren’t real, but I am. I’m real, but you aren’t. Neither of us are real. We’re real, but the DID isn’t. The DID is real, but we’re not. We found every excuse.

It’s one thing to know and understand that my alters come from trauma, but it’s another thing to fully accept that. To fully accept their origins and that they’re parts of me is to fully accept that these terrible things happened to me to. The thoughts and feelings they have that might overwhelm or scare or disgust me so badly are parts of me, as well. I’d have to accept that my own imagine of who I am isn’t complete, and they’d have to accept that too. Then, we’d have to bring each other into our image of who we are. Obviously, that’s hard as hell to do. Literally goes against what the disorder wants.

Extra:

So, yeah, the two experiences are very different for me. When I was able to start knowing, understanding, and even accepting my alters, though, I can still see differences. Alters are more like compartmentalizations of my life and who I am as a person; we all make up the same person. My characters...aren’t who I am. Sure, they come from my mind and I gifted most of them traits from myself. But they don’t make up who I am as a person. You don’t read a book and feel like you know who the author is by combining all of the characters in your mind. The characters just aren’t the author. They’re a creation from the author’s creativity. That’s something separate.

I didn’t create my alters in the same way I didn’t create myself. We were all born on the same day, in the same body, in the same mind, and have experienced the same life. Not all of us know, understand, or accept that but it’s how it is. Idk if that makes sense but hopefully it does.

This is how I’ve been able to distinguish between these two experiences. This isn’t something I see talked about a lot. Feel free to share your own experiences if you want!

[tineteenieworld3]

Since today I’m in my loving Mike Wheeler era, I’m still irked by the idea that Jonathan would corner Mike and defend Will. I personally just don’t like it cause, again, if I was Mike I’d be so peeved off about it. Idk why.

Maybe it’s cause Jonathan has known Mike since he was 5 years old. Like, he’s obviously seen Mike not make the best choices, but he’s also seen Mike make many many many great choices. Like the van scene, Mike was so sweet while Will was talking and absolutely adored the painting. I don’t think Jonathan is sitting there thinking Mike is dumb or something. It’s possible they both saw Will crying and understood, since he turned away, that he didn’t want attention brought to it.

Also, we know he watched Will and Mike talk in his room. He saw how sweet they were being with each other. We focus on the mistakes Mike has made, but forget that he has a billion more good moments than bad. Also, Will and Mike are WillandMike they are extremely close. They don’t need anyone getting involved in their relationship. That’s what makes them so mature and different than El/Mike. We see other characters giving so much input into that relationship, like almost every character does. That’s what makes it feel so messy and immature (one of the things.

With Will and Mike it’s the complete opposite. the fight they have in season 3? Mike doesn’t need any prompting to go after Will, check on him, and apologize. We don’t see even a second of Lucas questioning it or wondering what happened or having him and Mike talking about it.

Season 4, almost the same exact thing. Mike goes to Will and apologizes and (very beautifully may I add) expresses his feelings perfectly as to why he’s sorry and why Will is important to him. I love their relationship for many reasons, but I’ve always appreciated how intimate and private it is. It’s no one else’s business that they fight or have miscommunication or other issues. Will doesn’t need someone to defend is honor from Mike, he can either do it himself or Mike will reach out and they’ll talk.

I’m probably talking about my ass lmao, but what I’m saying is basically what I said in an earlier post that Will isn’t a baby that needs protecting and he would be livid if anyone was going around saying, ‘you chose Mike? Really?’ or that he can do better. Mike is his best friend above anything else and that’s straight up mean. Again, no hate to people who do that or write that, it’s all for fun and everyone is allowed to do whatever they want absolutely this is not me bashing that I support you. I mean in actual canon I don’t think it would happen or I hope it won’t.

Jonathan has no right cornering Mike or getting up in his business or Will’s business. He also probably cares a lot about both of them and obviously knows Mike isn’t some dick that’s hurting anyone on purpose. What I’m saying is that I think it’s so special that Mike and Will have such privacy in their relationship because of how much they respect eachother and handle issues without outside input.

(Disclaimer, if you DO like the idea of Jonathan stepping in I completely support your opinion 100% and don’t think it’s wrong or stupid whatsoever, this is all for fun and I am all here for people disagreeing with me because my opinion is just an opinion and not fact or the right answer. I am not saying you’re misunderstanding the characters or anything like that, this is just something I think)

[dextixer]

RWBY is not hopepunk though it had the potential to be

WARNING - A really long post.

Over the past 2 or so years i have noticed more and more people refer to RWBY as a part of a genre called "Hopepunk" (HP after this). Its a relatively new genre that has emerged as an opposite to the "Grimdark" genre of writing. Besides calling RWBY HP i have seen some claims that THIS is the reason why many critics do not enjoy RWBY as much as they could. I have also seen claims that because RWBY is HP, it does not follow the usual tropes of a lot of media and instead goes its own way.

This has caused me to gain some interest in the subject and research it in the hopes of seeing if the claims are true. This thread is the result of that research and the opinions that i have come to.

Hopepunk

Before continuing on we first have to understand what HP is. It has been generally described as a genre of writing in which fighting for positive change is encouraged no matter how hard it is, and even if it fails. A genre in which society itself rises up to change an unjust current system. It is about challenging the status quo.

Whereas Grimdark focuses on how hope fails and how no matter how you try, you will most likely be beaten back. Hopepunk focuses on how hope can succeed and should never be lost through hardship.

It is very much a genre of "resistance" and "change". And it has arisen in response to our current world. In which the fight for positive change can sometimes feel hopeless and yet people will still try.

It is also fair to say that due to being a relatively new creation hopepunk is still kind of in its infancy, it still is a little bit vague as a concept and encompases many different aspects into itself.

RWBY is not hopepunk

And if i am being completely honest? RWBY is not hopepunk. At least, for the most part. For almost the entirety of the series the protagonists of the show are doing the exact opposite of trying to fix broken systems or enact change. It is best exemplified by how they are fighting against the White Fang, seemingly the only force fighting against racism in the world of Remnant. It would not be so bad if the protagonists had an alternative, but they didnt. They just defended the status quo because the way the WF went about things was "wrong".

One could argue that in Volumes 4-5 Menagerie, Blake was trying to uplift her community to enact change. But that is not what happened, Blake shames her community into once again fighting the White Fang. And that is it. There is nothing more after that. All the work after that is left to her father and Ilia. And that is something that stopped existing at the start of V6.

In fact the whole faunus subplot is an example of how RWBY is not hopepunk. There are no systems of abuse being shown. Even when they are told, for example the SDC, the show goes out of its way to then remove it all. Is Adams scar example of systematic abuse? No, he got in a fight. Are faunus treated like slaves? No, they are paid equally to humans in the same jobs.

So the result of that is the world itself not even having a proper "enemy" or a system to fight against. And then team RWBY is left to fight only FOR the status quo.

Let us ask ourselves. What systems are our protagonists fighting against? What injustices? They are fighting against inhuman monsters and their dark godess. Its your very standard fantasy. Even during Volumes 7-8 where the systems of classism could be fought against our protagonists are instead not even involved with Mantle that much. They work with Ironwood. Does Weiss get to change her company? Does Blake get a role as a partner to Robyn in a fight against injustice? Does Robyn even get scenes where she organizes the community, gives them resources or anything of the sort as Robin Hood of stories does?

No, there is nothing.

There are no systems that are fought against. Our protagonists for the most part enforce the status quo and arguably have only 1 rebelion in the shape of getting away from Ironwood. But even that is not about systems as much as it is fighting against an (at that point) evil and insane madman.

It reminds me of how people praise Harry Potter for also being hopepunk.

Just like RWBY, Harry Potter has the window dressing of hopepunk. At the end of Harry Potter no systems are challenged, the protagonist becomes a police officer, nothing truly changes in the world besides the big bad and his evil followers losing.

And even then at least Harry Potter actually gave systemic problems in its world. RWBY has not even managed that.

And if i sound/feel angry, its because i am...

RWBY could have been hopepunk

And its because RWBY COULD have been hopepunk and went out of its way to blaze ahead in this new genre of writing.

After all, the main bad guy of the show cannot even be defeated in regular ways. "There is no victory in strength". It is the unification of humanity that is required for her to finally possibly be removed from the world.

This is a PERFECT set-up for a journey to fight against injustices in the kingdoms!

Fighting racism in all of the kingdoms! Fighting monarchists in Vacuo. Fighting against militarism and classism in Atlas. Fighting the nationalism of the kingdoms and uniting them together against all odds by adressing systemic problems of society!

The best we get in the show are hints of these things or them being cranked up to 11 and never adressed at their core, only beaten down.

I would PAY money to see Weiss take back the SDC and then financing and offering political support to Blake who recreates the White Fang in her own way in EVERY kingdom, fighting racism both through word and action. I would PAY for seeing Robyn unite with Blake and both going out and helping the people of Mantle, maybe even distributing food, organizing the construction of new buildings and the like. I would PAY to see Ren and Nora try to give help to the homeless and the abandoned due to their own experiences.

I would PAY to see Ruby and Yang organizing huntsmen to be less focused on the Grimm and more focused on being pillars of their communities, spreading out throughout new settlements and villages to not only protect them but also help them in other ways.

Remnant is a WORLD OF POSSIBILITY to create systemic problems that plague our world and then FIX them!

And instead NO problems are adressed as we have to fight the immortal Sauron rip-off that sits on her arse half the time doing nothing! Our protagonists do not organize communities, they barely engage with subplots that should by all rights be theirs. The systemic problems are beaten down through violence or just outright dissapear.

Critics love hopepunk

Many people see the critiques that many of us critics have an imagine us to be "conservative", to be against RWBY because it has female leads fighting against forces of darkness and characters like Ironwood. That we want everything to be "grimdark".

That could not be further from the truth.

Most of the prominant critique (that is not on youtube) of RWBY as a show comes from the left-wing perspective. RWBY as a show tries to be progressive, it tries to include positive messages and subplots that could facilitate those messages.

But at the end of the day those messages either fall apart of are never fully realized because the writers have writen themselves into corners.

It is writen not in a "progressive" way but more in a "liberal" way. RWBY is writen by accepting that progressive ideas are "good" but without any understanding of WHY progressive ideas are good and why people strive for them.

In many discord conversations amongst various critics we have constantly shared various Anime with the hopepunk premise. Of people building up fantasy kingdoms that have to tackle real world problems like we have, and doing so through the building up of a community.

And this is why RWBY frustrates us. Because it had the potential to be that, but instead chose to be just a fighting show with some messages that barely qualify as Hopepunk.

Ending word

I will apologize if my words seem heated but do not take them as anger, rather as passion. You see for a relatively long time now, maybe a year i have been interested in hopepunk stories (without actually knowing the term), especially cross-over fanfictions in which characters from one world go into another and fix problems there. I love it. I love because it feels good to read those kinds of stories, to know that darkness can be banished.

But in regards to RWBY all i see is the potential of what could have been, but never was. And it somewhat annoys me when people praise RWBY for being hopepunk and then say that THAT is the reason why we critics dont enjoy RWBY.

Believe me, if RWBY was hopepunk, i would love it more than anything else in the world. But it just is not. And most people who use that label do not seem to understand what it actually is. Hopepunk is not "just" about having hope against overwhelming odds, it is not about a "bright" world.

Hopepunk is about dark and twisted worlds, worlds that we the people can fight against collectivelly. It is a genre of rebellion, of change. And RWBY just is not that....

Do keep in mind that this is all my opinion and not stated as fact, especially since "Hopepunk" is an extremelly new genre (Officially coined in 2017 i believe?) as such many things, especially interpretations can be in the air.

But please, by all means, comment with agreements of disagreements if you like, i am not against discussion or being corrected on things.

[medicallymercury]

Hooke’s Law (22/07/23)

I’ve spent an excessive amount of my time today making a Sah/Teddy/Paige (mostly Sah and Teddy, this episode really has me thinking about them a lot) edit to Night Shift by Lucy Dacus.

A lot of babies in this episode! The thing about Casualty drama is that I miss it when I don’t have it and when I do, it makes me nauseous. Love Rida, love Donna! Glad to see them getting more time and I was happy to see even the characters’ whose drama wasn’t really at the front getting screen time. My walls of Sah/Teddy/Paige text (my specialty) are at the end of my ranting below the cut.

I LOVED RIDA IN THIS EPISODE!! I’m so glad we’re getting more of her I really loved seeing so much of her, I just adore her and it was great seeing a different side of her. I feel like, of all the new nurses, she has been shown as the toughest one but in this episode we got to see her struggle more.

Jaye Jacobs is brilliant, she did great in this episode and I’m also really looking forward to getting more Donna.

Not much Cam but I just enjoy him quite a lot so I appreciated what we did get!

Iain with a baby; made me think of the fact that when I made this little summary video to explain the recent plot of Casualty to my friend who doesn’t watch it and I described the characters who I felt the need to describe and I think I said that Iain “would quite like to be a dad”.

Ffion surprised me in this episode, I don’t know I feel like it made me feel more invested in her relationship with Jan.

Okay, so Paige. I’ll be honest, she’s kind of on thin ice with me because I didn’t have any strong opinions on her and then I kind of started to not like her that much with everything to do with Sah’s top surgery and then her kiss with Sah and the three weeks I had to think about it made me like her a lot more (I know that’s a weird thing to make me like her but it just got me interested). How she was today, I’m like annoyed but also I’m not surprised. The way she treated Sah was bad, but that’s just how the employees of Holby General Hospital are required to act when a kiss that “meant nothing” absolutely meant something.

Teddy is a sweetheart and maybe a little oblivious. We’re supposed to believe that at least a little while has passed since Burning Bridges and he’s only just picked up on the fact that his best friend and girlfriend are acting kind of off. I think how he is next week will give us a good idea of where this stuff with them is going. Even before we knew that we were going to get stuff dealing with the kiss I expected we’d get a moment where he realises that everyone’s acting weird (and then Sah getting too guilty).

Okay, I’m really going to sound like I’m overthinking with all my Sah thoughts but I felt like this episode really linked back to how they were back like last year and stuff. I’ve already said how that scene where they tell Teddy about the kiss reminded me of the scene from On The Edge where they told him about their dad. They didn’t exactly have all that many scenes but what we did get of them really, really got me thinking about Sah and Teddy’s early friendship, it all just felt so linked to it. I feel like I need to make some posts about my Sah and Teddy thoughts but they are so extremely interesting to me. Sah and Teddy’s initial storylines aren’t directly linked to each other (as in, while I think their friendship is relevant, it’s not their relationship at the centre of it all), they’re independent but the way it’s written throughout makes them feel like such an inherent pair that you just can’t separate the stories (see me describing them as “besties with mommy issues in opposite directions” to my friend, the stuff with Gaynor and Jools has always felt so intertwined to me because of how opposite it all is) and the fact that both characters’ first actual romance storylines have ended up being the exact same storyline just feels a little inevitable for the two of them. I don’t know, I am overthinking them and not expressing it very well but I think that’s a good summary of how this episode has me right now.

Honestly, I still don’t think polyamory is out of the window yet. The fact that Teddy knows already and both Paige and Sah’s behaviour today has me still hopeful.

[thejudgingtrash]

Unpopular Opinion;I'd rather have show!Annabeth as a kid with dark hair and eyes. Honestly,the whole "grey eyed blonde Athena kids" was odd in the books,and would be even worse in live action,IMO. While I like seeing fanarts of show!Annabeth with blonde hair and/or grey eyes,I don't see why this detail has to be faithful to the books. Besides,I feel the same about Percy,if to a lesser degree.

Yeah.

Sorry for answering this so late, I’m not really active on Tumblr therefore I tend to forget to check whether or not I’ve received some asks and I tend to take a while for answering them anyways. Also, this is going to get very long and rambly, so prepare yourselves!

My opinion on this whole casting situation and book accuracy is: I legit don’t give a fuck. More than that, I just side-eye people that were freaking the fuck out.

I essentially cut contact with 98% of this fandom (aside from few core groups) and left Tumblr last year because it’s a toxic mess and I try to avoid other PJO related social media branches (with the exception for AO3 for dumping my Percabeth fics, next one coming up soon <3) because they’re more than often even WORSE (!) than this hellsite but I still can’t escape casting news. So it’s incredibly hilarious to see so many people freaking the fuck out over something they have little to no control about.

My wonderful friend @mapendo-c essentially brought it to the point with this post but let me add my two cents to this entire situation:

2020 was hell on tumblr for the black crowd, let’s not act like it wasn’t (it was hell for black people in general if you care enough to remember). From harrassing the black PJO Tumblr side, to straight up lying to us, to doxxing, to us being called slurs in DMs and asks, to receiving open death threats and being sent lynching videos, we had it ALL. Some people that were directly confronted with this shit victimized themselves and fled the scene to this day, literally going out with a bang. Congratulations for that, BTW.

And that was only because a few people started to create PJO artwork that involved Percy of Color. Being more open to otherness. Critizing the white status quo and branching out. Questioning the constant projection onto these characters. That set a chain reaction into other endeavors and arguments but alas, this is already enough babbling. 

The fact that we had over 17 years of artwork and fics and videos and movies filled with Cocaine White Percy wasn’t enough for some of you. No, you had to break the spirits of those that are a minority and do not look like you. All of that shit was so unwarranted and unnecessary.

And then when you got warm to the idea of Token Black Percy (in 2021 might I add), you were delighted to see that he would be indeed white in the TV series as announced in the past few months. But oh wait… What was that?? Is it a bird, is it a plane? No?

ANNABETH ISN’T WHITE.

The whole world just got hit by a big rock and the apocalypse is nearing. The way some of y’all acted… Doing the same exact vile shit that you were doing in 2020 to a twelve year old, because she got the role of her life (so far) in portraying a major fictional character… The fact that y’all lost your goddamn mind without having even seen Leah act is MIND-BLOWING.

The same people accusing the black side of the fandom of likely being aggressive towards White TV Show Percy (before casting confirmation which also — newsflash — didn’t happen) are now the same fucking people freaking out about Leah as Annabeth. Tale as old as time.

I said this two years ago and most of y’all stank bitches proved me right: “Let’s be real: if Annabeth Chase would be black for example with the way she behaves, 85% of the fandom would hate her, cry for Perachel and Percabeth would be the least popular ship. I don’t trust people who are saying the opposite.”

As if anything else was about to happen… if I’m to believe certain Twitter threats and Reddit posts (taken with the biggest grain of salt ofc), some people where close to unaliving themselves because we all seemed to collectively have forgotten that Annabeth stans (this is coming from a core Percabeth shipper, so don’t come for me!) are fucking INSANE. Imagine loosing your shit on a harmless decision like a differing casting choice. Some of y’all need psychiatric help, ESPECIALLY looking at you 

“I can’t be racist, because I’m neurodivergent” crowd!!

I absolutely do not get why people get worked up about this. The minute a live version (aka NOT animation) project was announced, all of you should have collectively kissed the idea of a 100% book accurate adaptation goodbye, just as with the movie version. 

Do I think the show version will be closer to the books? 

Yes. 

Do I think it’ll be a 1 on 1 adaptation? 

Absolutely not. 

The announcement of the blind casting and therefore going for talent approach should’ve cemented the fact that this show won’t be book accurate at all.

How difficult is it to understand for some of you that the image of Annabeth, Percy, the storyline and everything else that you made up in your mind will NEVER be depicted on screen??? This is purely from a logical standpoint. I know Disney has resources and shit but they aren’t infinite. They have to break even eventually. I guess none of y’all have absolutely any idea how the medium of film works behind the scenes. 

Even Riordan’s (as the author with actual authority) initial version is impossible to bring to the screen. Trust me, there will be other things omitted or added to the show. You can either tune in, or don’t. It’s as simple as that. That is the only thing you can influence.

Coming to the next point: do all of these changes even matter?!

Stripping Annabeth and Percy of their default hair/eye/skin color doesn’t really change anything that significantly imo?? 

If you are reducing Annabeth and Percy to their appearance and not the character, what they have as traits and could represent that’s on you, sweetie.

Additionally, most of y’all are ignoring the polar opposite: the nuances and depth Black Annabeth (less so White Percy tbh) could add are entirely forgotten. How they could enrich the story, bring other perspectives in and give in Annabeth’s case the opportunity for black girls that are sexualized and treated like complete shit everywhere else on the planet (anti blackness and misogynoire say hello!) a chance to see themselves portrait in a multi-dimensional character but NOOOOOOOO!

Y’all act as if Californian Dream girl blonde, tall, tanned Anna Bethany “my father went to Harvard and I’m a descendant of Scandinavian royalty and only white people live in Sweden” Chase lives the same life and is equally as oppressed as characters like Hazel or Beckendorf. You know… the little black girl that lived through segregation, got cursed, killed and resurrected and has Hitler as her fucking half-sibling, and the token negro who was one of the very FEW diverse characters in the OG book series that got BLOWN THE FUCK UP as a plot point.

Like GIRL?! (Nella Rose voice:) ARE YOU NOT EMBARASSSSSED?!

I’m not saying that Annabeth doesn’t have her fair share of issues, all I’m saying is SHE’S NOT FUCKING OPPRESSED. Her problems are not the same in comparison to Hazel, Piper, Leo, Beckendorf, Reyna and others. I know white women loooove playing the victim (see: current real world issues where instead of listening to the warnings of black and brown women and people decades ago, they just sat around until they were on the receiving end for once), but no. This is not the fucking same.

Don’t act like it.

“Oh but the dumb blonde stereotype...“

DOESN’T EVEN FUCKING MATTER?!

Not only that, you could use that for show Percy for all that I care now that his actor won’t be forced to dye his hair/wear contacts. Percy gets treated by all fronts like an idiot (thank you, Annabeth), let him be the one proving people wrong about the dumb blond thing.

As if there aren’t other white female (main) characters that you can latch yourselves onto if you feel like projecting. And you still can, because the OG book series is still a fucking thing!! This is all about the show!

Like you, @mrhomerxsimpson have said, the OG descriptions sound unrealistic and would look tacky in the live action. Fanart ≠ real portrayal of characters. Having sparkly glowing sea green eyes would look weird in reality. The focus of Annabeth’s on her gray eyes… this is readable but would likely transfer poorly onto the screen.

And let’s not forget the trashy exotic portrayal of Cinnamon Toast Hazel and Kaleidoscope Eyed Piper. Let’s just let people and characters of color chill for a while. Please.

I’ve said it ages ago and I’m too lazy to look it up but I think that as long as Percy and Poseidon reassemble each other slightly, the show will be fine. And if these people can act. Also important.

Which brings me to my final point/question: How are some of you unable to understand that different adaptations of the same enterprise can coexist and be just fine?

Book Annabeth 

≠

Movie Annabeth

≠

TV Show Annabeth

There is a reason why you can filter the universe (book, tv show, movie, etc.) in which your story is set on AO3 and FFN. Because not all universes are the same!!!

Rowling is trash but as an easy to understand analogy: if you think about the Harry Potter franchise…

is Emma Watson automatically Hermione Granger for you? Is Daniel Radcliffe automatically Harry Potter?

Because whenever I’ve read a HP Fic they’ve NEVER come up in my mind. Emma Watson is Movie Hermione, but she’s not THE Hermione. She isn't any better or worse than Stage Adaptation Hermione. Watson certainly isn’t the Hermione in my head.

Dr. Who is a sorta weak comparison but there are a million different Doctors sooo what??

Can’t you separate different versions of the same medium? The same core story just with different faces for the same role? Am I in the minority with this??

Book Annabeth is Book Annabeth, Alexandra Daddario is Movie Annabeth and Leah will be TV Show Annabeth. And none of that is in conflict with each other.

If you still want to create moodboards and artworks with Surinamese!Percy, Haitian!Grover and Desi!Annabeth, no one’s stopping you!

If you see Aryan, Walker and Leah as the new default and want to create artwork with their likenesses, also fine!

If you want to go all white like Burdge and Viria have over ten years ago… lame and side-eye worthy but ultimately your decision.

If you want to do all of the above, go ahead!

Just chill and wait till next year when the show finally hits before y’all start throwing tantrums, jeez. Oh wait. Too late!

Peace out.

TL;DR: It really doesn’t fucking matter how TV series Annabeth or Percy look like. Their actors need to act and that’s about it. However, I agree that the book portrayals (at least to a certain degree) would look tacky on screen. Also, this fandom is trash. 

Stop being dickheads and I’m out until November or so for my new finished fic.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Conclusion of my SL season 1 rewatch

I don't have much of a conclusion of what happened in the show since my opinion on storylines have not changed a lot. But I can talk a bit about... other things.

Ok, so it was literally almost a year ago I finished season 1 for the first time (october 9th to be exact - I write this at 23:50 so I might even post it on the 9th if i'm a slow typer - HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!). I know this because at the same day I posted my very first SL fic. I wrote it because I thought the SL fandom would be more into writing a certain ship with how many people seemed to agree they were dating. But then I found NO ONE had written a fic about them. So I took it in my own hands and wrote one.

When I made my conclusion post for s1 after watching it the first time, it actually caused a... little discussion, in my comment section. I don't like Lutteo and I kept talking about how much I loved the non-canon ships. This caused people to legit have a discussion in my comment section about how "wow I can't believe she doesn't like Lutteo how can she?", "I don't really care for the non-canon ships cause all the canon ships are so good, so I can't relate". And they weren't even talking to me, they were talking to each other. Like ?? discuss in DMs, you don't have to discuss stuff in my comment section??

So I actually got the impression from the SL fandom, at least during that time, that they were quite... ready to speak their minds. If you had an unpopular opinion, they would come and tell you that. Reblog your posts and go "I don't agree with you and here's what I think". Always seeming to wanting to change your mind. So I, probably out of spite, started to think the opposite even more.

Now, after a year, I can see that the SL fandom is actually quite chill. Y'all used to intimidate me for years, especially when the Violetta VS SL war was at highest - I literally did not want to watch SL out of spite for like 5 years just because people told me Violetta sucks (and Violetta... is my middle school obsession show. No matter what, I will always have a deep connection to it). When I got over my stubbornness and actually watched SL, I realized "Hey! This show is actually good!" And due to the fandom seeming to not have all the same opinions as me, I kept to those opinions even more. Now, after a year, I guess I have "tamed" the SL fandom. Cause, to be honest, even when the SL fandom was intimidating, the Violetta fandom really was the same, it was just that I was used to the latter so I didn't think about it.

But enough with the fandom, I wanna talk about some characters.

I see much more how Sharon and Ámbar's relationship is not black and white. Of course, I knew this from the beginning, but when I think of the show I think "she was mean in s1, nicer but creepier in s2 and just a creep in s3". But there's so much sides already in season 1. I mean, only in the first 10 episodes, Sharon seems rather... ok, around Ámbar. There's the "Ámbar, darling, why are you up?" scene, for example. Then there's scenes where she is absolutely awful. So awful that Ámbar doesn't want to come home. But Ámbar always fights back. However, even when she fights back, she always has a relapse. She goes back to wanting to please her dear madrina. She goes back to trying to be perfect. And Sharon, also has her circle of abuse - being extremely awful, then going back and being more caring, then turning cold again when you least expect it. God, the family drama in this show is <3

I have, to be very honest, changed my sexuality hc on Nina completely. I had the ace hc for her for so long. Like, I never changed it. I always saw her as ace. But now... I am not sure of that. I thought, maybe she's demi?? She could be demi. But then I remember the first time she wrote with Roller Track, and she legit just exclaimed "Roller Track!! 🤩😍😩". Girl are you...?? I- Back when watching the first half of s1 a year ago, I actually considered a lesbian hc on her - simply because I liked the concept of "girl with overprotective parents who seem to misunderstand her and she has to hide who she is". But that hc quickly disappeared when I realized, ok, no, she's definitely into boys. At this point, I guess I can see her as like... heterosexual but biromantic??? Maybe??

I always see Ramiro as bi, but for a moment I was like "nah he's gay". No, he's... he's bi, I changed my mind again hahaha.

Side note, I have written like 300 posts with "sara's 1 year sl rewatch" so now I am wondering if I should keep using that tag or if I should make a "sara's 1 year sl rewatch s2" so it's not "too many" posts in one tag. Then again, I might just keep using this so I have less tags to remember.

As a final note, here's Jim and Yam "kissing" (and I can't believe the post I made about that didn't get more notes)

And now, we're onto s2 with more chaos, more mysteries and more of my analyses of Jim and Yam being in love that will get like 1 note at most, even if I even tag it with more tags to make it more visible, and the only thing that can make it get more notes is if I reblog it later (cause I guess y'all don't care about Jim and Yam enough. Good thing I'm here to provide some more content. No one else does anyway, so I have to).

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Hey manhwa/sob anon,my thoughts on winter szn is EXACT same to same with you everything you said was what I thought.i thought I was just not satisfied with dongchae being not mc like he didn't really have much even tho it was HIS szn yeah I absolutely agree with u angry with jaemin nd also jaemin x eunchae r my disliked ship...I didn't like the winter szn as much as other cuz of all the things you've said but I didn't really know what nd which thing I don't like so after seeing u write ur opinion nd thought made me think "aah that why , I don't really like this szn"

Also the reason I wanted you to read sob,really like your opinions nd many match with mine although not all

Like you I enjoyed bomi x jinyoung more the cuz I think it would e been really weird between seonhui nd bomi if any of those two were to date jaemin really like their friendship so I didn't want there to be a wall b/,w them tho I will agree with you on jaemin with bomi thing cuz at first I see them nd think ah they will really make a good couple both r similar (bomi mom being strict nd jaemin also being strict although not with him but with brother) both popular kid good grade good personality they would a power couple I'm a sucker for short boy x tall girl so jinbomi won my heart over aslo like the grumpy x sunshine trope also I really liked seonhui & jaehyeon cuz I'm kinda a lover of side couple also their maple 🍁 scene made me fall head over heels for this ship so I didn't really like seonhui x jaemin cuz as I said before the reason of bomi nd her friendship to not fall apart but now that not a problem cuz bomi nd jinyoung bf gf but she had guilt over asking jaemin to come over when his brother was suicide that day tho not her fault(nd yes that the school & mom fault ,hamin flower was good but so sad ) so that why I didn't really like it

On gaeul flower thing I liked it but as you said the discomfort of subin being reminder of her being bullied was really not done well she really got over it fast as you said but beside that I really like them being in college(university? I forgot which one) hs romance is common

Overall Id say I liked the story+ the couple execpt for dongchae flower could be done so much better nd the couple wasnt really good imo maybe I was expecting too much but also I agree you on the speech part I also really loved it!

there's gonna be a sequel (author said it's light hearted than sob) I think in a year Im waiting for it

Really a big post sorry

(Response to this).

Its fine, i love to talk about series anyway.

Yeah, winter season could've been better. I really thought Jaemin was out of character. He was better than that and Eunchae too. Dongchae deserves better.

Actually, i love tall girl x short boy type of ships too and of course, opposite attracts thing. The reason i couldnt root is because she and Jaemin both wanted to be together at that time, even its not romantic love, it was sad to watch them like that. I wasnt into Jaemin and Bomi, i just support people who have healthy relationship and like i said, the way she described that comfort feelings for Jaemin fits more the actual love but at the end, both of them are happy so its fine.

And i really hated what Bomi did with Jaemin, Jinyeong. If my friend did something like Bomi did, i would absolutely hated it. Girl, you didnt make things better but actually worse! And this isnt for her, its for herself. If you dont want to date your bestie's crush, tell her that for God's sake. They are lucky, it ends well though.

I didnt like Seunhui at the beginning because she looks like just rude girl for no reason but the story progress, i find her very cute and i know she has guilty for Hamin's suicide but i still think they also look good together with Jaemin and the way he was teasing her at the start, i shipped them and i dont think her relationship would actually fall apart with Bomi, if they communicated properly. Just because they have past and regrets doesnt mean they cant be together and doesnt mean its not love. Jaemin and Seunhui c/would be really cute and funny too but again, at the end, both find happiness so i am fine with this too so whatever, lol.

I think university romance is better because of maturity, the idea that you will find real love in uni is more realistic to me because at highschool, you are just trying to figure out yourself, you will most likely have crushes than love, its imature form of love. Though, its fun to explore any type of love, especially if its well written.

I heard about sequel, i wonder what will it be about.

[skania]

Tommy & Lizzie in S5

I’m a sucker for parallels and show-and-don’t-tell, and Season 5’s writing of Lizzie and Tommy was so good in that regard, that it honestly kind of shocked me. I was absolutely not expecting that because subtlety isn’t exactly their forte when it comes to the Peaky Blinder romances lol

I ended up gathering my favorite bits as I watched it but I wanted to finish S6 before posting this, to go over everything at once. Having finished the series, I think I’d much rather just share my thoughts about S5 and S6 separately, so here it goes lol

The TL;DR is that before watching S5, I kept seeing people say that Tommy doesn’t love Lizzie. Since I had seen so many people say it, I assumed there must be some truth to it.

But when I watched S5, I found the show told me the exact opposite.

In the first episode, Lizzie and Ada get angry at Tommy because of what happened in Chinatown. Lizzie is particularly offended by the fact that he kept this from her. What does Tommy do?

Lizzie, you need to understand. Lizzie? Lizzie, if Finn had listened to me. He keeps going Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie. He zeroes in on her, something he doesn’t do with Ada.

It’s a very simple scene, but it stablishes something important in regards to Tommy’s and Lizzie’s marriage. Despite what he might not say, Tommy cares about Lizzie’s opinion. He values it.

This is further developed in Episode 2. The very moment he is alone with Arthur, Tommy asks him about Lizzie and Ruby.

He doesn’t need to know what she’s been saying, because he trusts her—and her reading of him—enough to know it must be true. This, again, shows just how highly Tommy values Lizzie’s judgement.

But that’s not the only thing it shows.

Since he knows Lizzie would say nothing but facts, knowing what she’s saying about him isn’t really important. So, he asked because through that information, Tommy would be able to gauge where Lizzie stands in regards to him now.

What Tommy wanted to know is how Lizzie is feeling about him.

Again, this is further developed in their next scene together.

Just like Arthur, Tommy burns Lizzie’s letter. Unlike Arthur, Tommy does read it first.

I feel like that alone sets the context for the scene. The reason Arthur didn’t read Linda’s letter is because he knew it was going to hurt him. He was scared of the contents. Tommy said so himself, earlier, that he and Arthur are the same person. Tommy could’ve easily burnt the letter without reading it, for the very same reasons Arthur himself did it.

But, Tommy read his. Tommy knows Lizzie is so disappointed in him that she’s even thinking of divorcing him.

So, Tommy deliberately tries to hurt Lizzie because he is hurt. Whether it’s because of ego or his own feelings, at this point it’s ambiguous. But what matters is that Tommy isn’t being callous because he doesn’t care. He is being callous because he does care, and he doesn’t like it. Because caring means giving Lizzie power over him, and no one can rule over Tommy Shelby but Tommy Shelby himself.

There’s a lot to say about their conversation here, specially about what Tommy tells her about the dreams he has been having. But this is already long enough as it is, so I’ll focus on two things:

Lizzie is hurt by everything his dream implies—that he has considered taking his own life, that living in peace and quiet with them isn’t enough for him—but she refuses to give him that pleasure, so she talks business. Lizzie puts on an act and implies the only thing she cares about is knowing whether there would be enough money left for her and the kids. So, Tommy does the same. He puts on an act and talks business; tells her he still feels like he pays her for it. Neither of them are saying this because they mean it. They’re just building a wall so the other won’t be able to get through to them.

Despite all this, Tommy still shows up to Ruby’s birthday just like Lizzie asked him to do. Which once again plays into everything the show has stablished about them so far this season.

Despite what Tommy may or may not say, he cares and he cares a lot. The way his usual mask breaks when Lizzie comes out screaming that she doesn’t want him back says it all. There’s raw hurt on his face, which shows it isn’t all about his ego, no.

But of course, Tommy is awfully good at making it all about his ego either way. So he pulls himself together and lashes out. When he tells her that everyone (she) fucking needs him, it’s as much of a reminder to Lizzie as it is Tommy convincing himself that it’s true.

But the moment Lizzie shows she’s willing to take him back? The guy literally melts into her.

When Lizzie asks him to let her into his head, Tommy says that doing so would “clear out” that which “needs clearing out.” This immediately reminded me of the scene where Tommy revealed that it was Lizzie who kept his heart from breaking some nights. No one else.

This is extremely important. Huge, even. But it’s not the most important line in their scene.

His wording here is pretty funny. You’d think he would tell her that he loves her, but that would be too big an admission—it would leave him too vulnerable. So instead, he tells her he owns her. That she is his.

And, really, hasn’t Tommy always been rather possessive of Lizzie? He’s always had good excuses as to why. She wasn’t telling John the truth, she shouldn’t be dating rival families.

Except, now they’re married. So, Tommy finally admits that he wants Lizzie to belong to him. That he wants no other man touching her.

But this parallel right here reveals what Tommy doesn’t say aloud.

Remember the S2 finale, where Tommy gives his infamous speech?

For Tommy, having everything meant having the woman he loved (Grace), his business, his family, his status. Everything.

And now, he is telling Lizzie that “everything” belongs to him. Including her.

So, by this point, Tommy does indeed already love Lizzie, because everything is already his. I love how the series shows it through subtle clues and parallels rather than spelling it out. It fits the characters perfectly and gives their dynamic a layer of complexity that really caught my attention.

Episode 4 only further confirms Tommy’s feelings for Lizzie. When Mosley implies that if he wants Lizzie, he will have her, Tommy has a melt-down. It’s not the business and the dangers Mosley represents that get to Tommy, no; it’s the thought of putting Lizzie in danger.

Right on cue, Grace shows up to haunt him. And what she tells him says it all. It’s not the stone that was cursed, it’s him. It’s Tommy who got her killed.

Grace bringing that up at this point shows that what is making Tommy freak out is the fact that he is terrified that the same fate will come to Lizzie. That he will bring her harm, too.

In the next scene, he is contemplating jumping off a bridge when he sees himself ferrying Grace off, buried under coal. While Tommy refuses to accept it, Ada spells it out. That vision is a representation of his guilt.

Of course, the show just happens to confirms this through a conversation between Tommy and Lizzie out of all people.

When Lizzie feels guilty about her past as a prostitute, Tommy caresses her cheek and tells her that it’s all a “pile of bodies” just “floating by”. The imagery is clear parallel to when Tommy saw Grace’s body ‘floating by’.

It’s at this very moment that the season finally confirms what Tommy hallucinating Grace actually means. The first episode is a misdirection; Grace doesn’t manifest because of the love they felt for each other.

No, Grace manifests because she is the embodiment of Tommy’s guilt. She is not there because Tommy is still in love with her.

After this, the season is much more straight-forward about Tommy and Lizzie. Tommy went as far as to convince Aberama Gold to temporarily let go of his grudge so Tommy could carry on his business with Mosley. But if Mosley “lays a hand” on Lizzie, Tommy will disregard it all and murder him.

And then we get this gem.

So, I really do think that when you look at all the parallels and calls-back, the show does make its case clear even without putting it into words.

To wrap this up, I feel this scene right here plays an important role into Tommy’s behavior around Lizzie in S6.

He trusts Lizzie, he trusts that she knows him. So when Lizzie tells him what she sees on his face, Tommy doesn’t want to deal with it because she’s seeing things that even Tommy himself doesn’t want to admit are there.

Lizzie knows him, yeah; but she isn’t supposed to know him better than he knows himself. That scares Tommy, because he needs to be in control and how can he do so when Lizzie can read him like a book?

But I digress because I’ll probably end up writing a post about S6 too lol

[neptune-midheaven]

💓 Astro Notes PT 4 ! 💓

+i’m back!! i’ll be posting more ever since school ended for me recently, expect a lot more posts going in-depth about each placement!! thank u all so much for being patient, love to you all <33. enjoy these highly generalized observations haha+

*Having your chart ruler in the social houses, 1st, 7th, 10TH, 11TH, sometimes 3rd is a sign of popularity, someone who works well with people, people naturally liking them, seeing them as friendly people, the planet of the chart ruler just affects the exact energy, how it’s expressed what they’re popularrr FOR. Even if it’s pluto the person will still be a magnetic and intense influence in this area. 

*Moon-uranus aspects can become addicted to their phones or the internet as the person emotionally depends on technology, it’s more exemplified with the harsher, tighter aspects.

*It’s possible for aquarius and gemini venuses to identify as asexual, they’re more likely to prefer more mentally stimulating romances rather than sexual encounters, detached natures in their relationships can be the root for this. This is a highly generalized opinion however, it could manifest far differently for ANYONE.

*Pluto in 1st conjunct the ascendant creates intenseee people, they draw a lot of people to them, everyone has their attention.

*People who have part of fortune in their 8th house live a long life, they have luck with escaping death.

*Multiple capricorn placements and the risings especially are veeeinyy, skinny and bony.

*Jupiter in 10th have a reputation for being jolly, fun and extroverted, travels a lot, their careers have to do with the foreign and studies, they’re especially known for being very educated and big humanitarians.

*Moon in 10th, moon-midheaven is known for crying a lot in public, they’re seen having meltdowns, breakdowns or emotional outbursts now and then.

*Moon-neptune were very close to their mothers at a young age, they always cried when she wasn’t near them.

*Sun-neptune were close to their fathers as children, both of these neptune aspects are dependent on how positive or negative the aspect is, positive denotes positive relations, negative being a sign of abandonment or disconnect from one of the parents or both if the individual has both aspects.

*Moon in leo/5th hate when they can’t express themselves and their emotions.

*Pisces mercury/12th house mercury are more likely to develop speech impediments, stutters. There’s just something unique about how they communicate as well.

*Libra in 6th are lazyy planners, they meet a lot of love interests and get crushes at work.

*You’ll experience strong, irresistible attraction toward the sign ruling your 8th house cusp, almost telepathic. 7th house cusp is the energy of the partners whom you attract, date, fall in love with.

*Neptune/pisces in 11th have friends who try to introduce them to drugs, friends can be toxic, draining depending on the condition of neptune, sorry to taurus and some gemini risings.

*Venus in 10th/11th in a chart automatically makes the person an extrovert, a good social worker.

*How tf do i come up with these.

*Having your 9th house ruler in 5th makes traveling seem like a hobby, a fun activity to you to entertain yourself or something you enjoy. These people want to travel everyday. They’re also lovers of learning, they look for smart, educated partners.

*Having your 2nd house ruler in 9th house means a job that involves traveling, making money over seas.

*Cappy suns are huge huge HUGE social creatures. Or the complete opposite.

*Uranus in 11th can make new friends crazy fast due to uranus’ quick! energy, just like lightning. Online, they can gain followers the same way, but their numbers always fluctuate or become spontaneously unstable ex: follow:like ratio could be out of wack.

*Mars in 12th love playing violent video games, like gta for example.

*Uranus in 4th could have an unstable family life if negatively aspected, a stimulating and revolutionizing one if they’re positive.

*Libra moons feel emotionally satisfied once a tense situation is smoothed over or balanced out, imbalance or chaos puts them on edge.

*Pisces suns can never figure out who they truly are as a person because of so much exposure to so many different things, morphing and adapting changes them sm bc they’re so mutable.

*Aries moons can be seen as people pleasers similar to libra moons, however it’s only in a way that they truly care just like libra, they care passionately about the people they love. This doesn’t necessarily make them people pleasers of course!! It’s only an aries-libra parallel.

*Saturn in 9th have delays in getting their degrees, it’ll become easier for them to graduate college after their saturn return.

*Mercury in 4th//cancer have excellent memories, they often make fantastic historians, someone who can keep track of the past. Real estate, home business/ careers would best suit them. They also have lovely voices 😻.

*Mutable mercuries’ speaking style is highly influenced by others, they can adapt to the specific speaking styles of others, adapt to unique communication styles from other people.

*Aries rising produces the most red heads out of all of the rising signs, next being leo.

*12th house stellium people feel so... watery

*Youll feel more empathetic and connected to those who share your moon sign or 12th house placements, any placement at all as you of course can be nice, understanding and a bit empathetic, however these two are far more potent and unifying.

*Aquarius placements mean you don’t take whatever planet is in this sign or house this sign rules seriously, it creates a sense of detachment from that area or part of your life.

*Contrary to belief, fires moons are more empathetic than water moons.

*Mercury in 12th people, i love y’all so much ughhh, you’re so sweet and gooeyy, ur ideas and mind are so important and gorgeous. Very artistic and soft minds, fragile thoughts that need to be encouraged by others closest to them. They’re usually very smart and especially talented and creative.

*Water moons have THE prettiest eyes, all of them are just gems swirling with colorful, vibrant soul.

*Moon conjunct ascendant can have their moods being visibly shown on their faces or expressions.

*Scorpio moons are intense but very attractive, it’s hard to keep your eyes off of them and their compelling auras.

*Libra risings can experience getting ignored in group settings. Virgo in 12th could promote this as they’re always hard working behind the scenes it’s almost neglected.

*Aquarius risings have this cute, quirky vibe about them which makes you want to be friends with them.

*Your moon in someone else’s 11th house is indicative of the house person feeling as though they can open up to you, that you two understand one another completely. It’s a very open minded and comforting synastry emotionally.