#i've got a lot of feelings

[kelyon]

I recently saw a take that Mr. Gold is antisemitic and was so confused??? What do you think?

Oh yeah, I've seen takes like that too. I think the takes are valid (especially when they're made by actual Jewish people who know more about antisemitism than us goyim.) Obviously, I don't think it makes OUAT "irredeemable media," but it is a lens by which we can and should analyze the work.

For the record, I don't think Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz set out to create an antisemitic character. (Eddie's wikipedia page says he's Jewish. Adam's doesn't, but Horowitz is a pretty Jewish last name so I'm making an educated guess.)

Long story short: Antisemitism is one of the backbones of Western society, whether we want it to be or not. It's in our stories (and especially our fairy tales), even when we have no malicious intent.

Let's start with the fairy tale. The story of Rumpelstiltskin has a lot of antisemitic tropes. It's a story about a weird little guy with easy access to gold deceiving a pretty young woman into giving up her child. We've got all the hits here! Any story about stealing babies is probably rooted in antisemitism. Stealing them, eating them, drinking their blood/adrenachrome (I refuse to google that word in order to spell it correctly)--bigots have been saying that about Jewish people for a very long time.

All of the tropes from the fairy tale get translated into modern times with Gold. He is rich and shady and he's always playing people and he can't be trusted. He knows things other people don't know, he dresses differently than the heroes, he's always apart from the crowd so he must be plotting something.

Then we have Bobby, who is not Jewish as far as I know, but who is short and has a big nose. I've seen people headcanon Gold as Jewish as a positive thing, and I can definitely see that. Intelligence and "tricky" cleverness, being small and still outmatching much larger foes--these are traits valued in Jewish culture, and they should be celebrated in characters.

(I've long wanted to read a version of Beauty and the Beast where Beauty is a Jewish woman. It makes so much sense--a woman who loves knowledge and is ostracized by the greater community, who can look a monster in the face and see his humanity, who has faith that if she does the right thing she will make it through this time of trouble, who has gorgeous curly brown hair! But I digress.)

The problem is, that even when Rumple is good, he's not trustworthy. Even when he's part of the group, he's still different. When something goes wrong, he's the first person the heroes blame. He's self-serving, he cares more about himself and his family than whatever the heroes need from him at that moment.

We lovingly call Rumple a lizard man, but the conspiracy theory of lizard people working their will behind the scenes is an antisemitic classic.

Before I end this, I want to go back to the idea of intention, and what we can learn from analyzing a story this way. A lot of the tropes that have antisemitic roots can be dismissed as "Yeah, that's just villains!" That was my response for a long time. Of course villains are well dressed and intelligent, of course they're deceitful, of course they have bad intentions for children--that's what bad guys do.

Then you have to think about real life. Stories--especially children's stories--are lessons. They're cautionary tales that tell us what dangers are out there, what we should be afraid of. As much as I agree that there is a difference between fiction and reality, we need to be cautious about who we think the "bad guys" are in real life. Because once we learn that certain traits equal villainy, we can assume that people who have those traits might be villainous. It's especially insidious when one of the traits in question is deceit. You can't trust any of them! They're capable of anything! We all know that, we've been told it since we were children!

And that's how innocent people in real life get murdered at a synagogue.

Watch out for the things that are in your brain. I said earlier that antisemitism is a backbone of western society. It's also like lead pipes: We modern, well-meaning people didn't put lead pipes in to carry our water around. We know lead is bad for us. We don't want it here. But it is here and taking it out would be a lot hassle and cost a lot of money. So maybe later. Meanwhile, the lead of antisemitism keeps leaching its way into our drinking water and our bloodstreams and it's never going to go anywhere unless we do something now.

[staysafedontdie]

BG3 personal obsession/experience dump

Name: Kia'namid (Keeper; Star Dancer) Race: Githyanki (Redeemed!Dark Urge) Age: Bit older than Astarion when he died; probably in his 40s-50s Voice: That deep, default male one they use for Dark Urge Starting Class: Bard (College of Swords) Multi-class: Bard/Paladin/Fighter (for the wild meta-gaming) Notable features: Piercings, *gold* eyeshadow, tattoos, and a parting gift from Volo Romancing: Astarion (sigh, I knoooow)

I celebrate my new-found freedom with a doodle of my pretty PC that I did not do justice to. TW under the cut for me taking bad care of myself and self indulgent smooch between Kia and Astarion.

I got Baldur's Gate 3 because of the hot vampire like 3 weeks ago and have literally done almost nothing since. I didn't go in my office to my computer, I fell asleep on the couch playing BG3 and woke up to continue playing BG3. My ADHD had me so bad I was barely eating - it was a nightmare (apologies to my husband for being Bad at Human but also because I wouldn't stop giggling about the game.)

The thing that finally freed me was romancing Spawn Astarion and the fact that all of the endings are terrible and I don't want any of them. I DIDN'T FINISH THE GAME. But I'm OK with it for now.

ALSO CAN WE DISCUSS HOW SILLY IT IS FOR BHAAL TO HAVE MADE NOT ONLY A *GITHYANKI* SERIAL MURDERER, BUT ALSO AN UNUSUAL LOOKING ONE I ONLY WANTED THE COOL POWERS BUT NARRATIVELY IT MAKES NO SENSE. Like what the fuck, did Bhaal get extra cocky like 'nah fam, it's fine, no one will notice'. I noticed Bhaal. i have several pages of notes about this guy, I am not OK (I love him very much, he's a very good character)

[hollywoodsargeant]

1 and/or 16? 👀

the character everyone gets wrong

hm. well "everyone" is a broad term but... max suffers from the effect of being written by people who hate him, so he gets wildly mischaracterized at times. (hot tip! don't write fics involving people you don't like!) and the same applies to logan. but less frequently. esp since ships w him are just less popular there's not the same kind of motivation to write him in spite of any dislike like there is with max -- i find that because max ships are Very popular, people who don't like him much might post fics anyway bc they like. want attention. and those fics get hits. which Okay. just write about people you actually like it'll be so much better for everyone involved

BUT! i have seen logan mischaracterized before. i'm sure i could make a case for any of the drivers being done wrong but Yeah. i do think max gets the worst of it though... i fr don't understand how anyone manages to write fics worth of content about drivers they don't even like. there are drivers i don't put in as BACKGROUND CHARACTERS bc i don't like them much... i'm not super vocal abt who on the grid i don't like (for obvious reasons, like: why would i talk about a driver i don't gaf about) but if you read my fics and squint you could probably clock who they are. not because i'm mean to them or make them antagonists or anything, just because they don't get mentioned.

and i answered 16 on main here so there's that answer :)

choose violence ask game

[deanpinterester]

i cannot stress this enough: if your reasoning for clowning on the mcu is "they overwork their cg artists and animators" i 1000% guarantee that a show or movie you have been stanning for years also abused their artists and you just haven't heard about it because the production companies aren't in the spotlight like mcu productions are. that cartoon for kids? that incredibly animated movie? that non-marvel superhero movie? i've seen people declare their hatred for the way the mcu treats their workers and then turn around and gush about a show that i know for a fact was hell for the artists attached

and no this is NOT me saying "this means you should stop hating on the mcu uwu" it's me saying you gotta be aware that this shit is an INDUSTRY WIDE PROBLEM. you CANNOT "fix" it by refusing to watch mcu movies and feeling good about it. you have to be aware that it's EVERYWHERE. why do you think so many animation and vfx productions are sourced in canada? in india and the phillipines? we are not unionized.

i know it's hard to face the idea that your favourite show might have been made unethically especially when you've spent so much time hating the mcu for doing the same thing. you don't have to start hating your favourite show. just like...be aware. don't be smarmy about it. don't claim without research that a beautifully animated movie Must mean the animators were not working 16 hour days and weekends. i do think we can fix this 👍 but we can't fix it if 90% of us don't even realize what the problem really is

[wardingshout]

I'm also having a lot of fun with this game!!

[pianokantzart]

Okay, okay, so.. Raph is an emotionally volatile teenager with anger problems, grappling with a sense of insufficiency and inferiority. He copes by being overly abrasive to the point that his siblings often avoid him. They love him, but don't like walking on eggshells.

The only one who clings to him regularly and without hesitation is his annoying little brother. Mikey has his own problems with feeling insufficient and inferior, but copes instead by being mindlessly friendly and avoidant of all negativity to the point of unhealthy escapism.

So there's... like... there's this special bond between them. They are by no means each other's therapist, but they have a slight effect in balancing each other out. Raph teases Mikey most, but is also most protective of him out of all his siblings.

And then at the end of season 2, when Raph thinks their father has been killed, he goes into a full fledged rage-filled emotional breakdown to the point that Michelangelo is afraid he'll hurt himself. When Mikey tries to snap him out of it Raph turns on him with his fist upraised, but Michelangelo doesn't even flinch??? He just wraps his arms around his brother's neck and tells him everything will be okay until he calms down and Raph does calm down! he buries his face into his little brother's shoulder and I just-

[hiirenvirna]

Hi, prefrontal PIs!

[wispscribbles]

why are you and your drawings so cool 😭🙏

afdsasdfasg thank you !! irl ppl would laugh at me being called cool lol - Have a ghoap as thanks <33

[rapha-reads]

No but I gotta talk about Medusa for a minute actually.

It's been. A very long time since I read the PJO books so I don't exactly remember how Uncle Rick presents Medusa in the book. But the way the show introduces her myth? Fascinating. For me as a Greek mythology enthusiast, that is.

The show makes Medusa a victim of Athena. Of course, the show is mainly for kids, so they can't exactly say that, hey, kids, Medusa was Athena's priestess and she was raped by Poseidon, YEP, or protagonist's father, IN Athena's temple, nah, that's neither kid-friendly nor does it endears us to Poseidon. Not that Poseidon is very dear to us viewers/readers at this point, our narrator/protagonist can't stand his own dad.

But still what fascinates me is that even though they twisted the myth to ft the narrative they still managed to evoke Athena's curse as being actually a gift, and Medusa not feeling wretched over her condition but blessed.

Which is not a modern reading of the myth, actually. Saying that Athena couldn't punish Poseidon for his transgression and could only punish Medusa, but did so in a way that would give Medusa weapons to defend herself against whoever and whatever would try to harm her again, is a narrative that exists since Antiquity.

My point is that the re-framing of Medusa's myth, departing from the traditional, non-kid-friendly version while still incorporating both classic and modern elements, is a good frame of reference for the series (book and show)' entire approach to mythology. And I guess I'm saying that mostly for the non-book readers who are discovering this world, many of whom might be Greek mythology fans and might have gone "wait, why is Hades AGAIN presented as the bad guy when he's the chillest, most normal, most stable god in this entire pantheon", because that's a conversation the book fandom has been having (over and over again) for more than a decade.

Anyway, yeah. As a long time book fan and a show appreciative, here's my advice to anyone who knows WAY too much about Greek myths and still want to enjoy the ride without going every five minutes "wait, that's not correct": reframe. Contemporary rewritings, modern audiences and Fantasy genre.

[tapakah0]

[paintpanic]

Calculating probability of survival... It doesn't look good.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I know this is just a silly bad quality random screencap of a screencap that I found on facebook lol, BUT it's a succinct enough image to easily describe the concept in a quick/accessible way hopefully :

-

(and of course, feel free to elaborate in tags, etc.! (especially elaborating about other senses as well.. can you "hear" in your mind just as well as you can "see"? taste? etc.) It's an interesting topic to me, as someone who's like a 4.5 at MOST lol. I'm curious what option will be the most common :0c )

[grandcovenant]

who's pulling the strings of the puppet king?

[nihilismtrcit]

a medium living in her vampire fiance's haunted ass house

[uncanny-tranny]

I'm going to be real, I've been on testosterone for multiple years and my levels have been very consistently high and whatnot, and yet I haven't gotten to the point where my testosterone "makes" me act in possessive, creepy ways toward women. Not even the women who are drop-dead gorgeous to me!

And that's because it's not about testosterone. It's about the way you choose to interact with women. When you devalue them already, no amount of testosterone is going to influence you further.

[cerise-on-top]

what if the 141 boys had a ridiculously tall husband. like. a little bit taller than konig, probably. and he's really scary to people, actually!!!! but not his s/o , nuh uh, he's disgustingly sweet to his beloved.. sorry i'm rambling, i think (jokes and idiocy aside i adore your headcanons <3)

Hey there! Thank you, that's very kind of you! Also thank you for sending in a request for a male reader, you're one of the first ones and I was very excited to write about a male reader for once :D

TF141 With A Very Tall Husband

Price: He didn’t really think he’d ever be dating someone much, much taller than him. Sure, he doesn’t particularly mind, but he’s not short either, with him standing at 1,88m himself. It makes him feel small at times, especially if you’re pretty muscular too. He doesn’t get insecure about it in the slightest, oh no, but it’s weird to be so much shorter than your loved ones. However, he’s pretty used to scary people by now. Ghost isn’t exactly a delight to have around at first when you don’t know him either, so he knows how to deal with scary people. Might ask you to tone it down a little bit when you’re scaring other people too much, he doesn’t particularly wanna attract attention like that. But you being a sweetheart towards him? It melts his heart. He knows what you’re like towards people that aren’t him, so it makes him smile that you’re willing to do just about anything for him just to spend some time with him. You wanna trim his beard? There’s a good chance you’ve got some experience with that anyway, so he really doesn’t mind it as much. Hell, he probably trusts you more than his own barber at times. Besides, it’s a nice little bonding activity. If you have a beard then he’ll offer to trim it for you as well. Price isn’t really opposed to being the little spoon, or just being held in general. Quite the opposite, you being this tall sometimes puts him in a cuddly mood where he just plops down into your arms. Gently scratch his scalp and there’s a good chance he’ll even fall asleep on you. He’s so used to being everyone’s protector, it feels nice to be protected for once. But he won’t always settle for being held either, it’s his job to make you feel safe and sound as well, and thus he will take on the role of cuddler as well. Will fight you for that role, actually. Price is a real sweetheart towards his loved ones as well, so I think the two of you would fit well together. His mere presence demands respect in the right people, which can sometimes scare others. So, from time to time, you might both scare other people together. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.

Gaz: He makes so many jokes about you being this tall and feigns being hurt about being much shorter than you are. You’re his behemoth, his leviathan and his ziz. Loves calling you the names of monsters that are said to be pretty big, it’s endearing to him. Besides, you’re scary enough that some people call you a monster anyway, if just for your height. If anyone ever were to call you that in front of Gaz, then they’ll end up with a black eye. No one gets to call you a monster but him. While he won’t always approve of you scaring everyone, Gaz does have a few friends that he wants you to get along with, he won’t particularly do anything about it either if that’s just what you’re like. Might try to make you seem a bit less scary by being a bit more affectionate with you in public. Holding your hand, giving you a peck on the cheek, giving you a hug. Those kinds of things. He actually loves you being this tall since that means you can pick him up and spin him around. He’s not been picked up ever since he was a little boy, so he definitely wouldn’t mind you showing off to him just how strong you are. Is also always looking for an excuse to hold your hand. Oh, seems like he forgot just how big your hand actually is and how much it engulfs his. Remind him for a moment and hold his hand, will you? Gaz is a sweetheart towards his loved ones anyway, if you look past the fact he will sass anyone to show his affection, so he loves that you’re so sweet towards him. Though, sometimes he wishes you were about the same height so you could actually share each other’s wardrobe. But hey, at least he gets to wear your extremely oversized shirts and hoodies, one of his favorite things to do. Another thing he also adores is just sitting in your lap when you’re home together and will also place your hands so that you’re holding him in your arms. If you’ve got really warm hands then he’ll place them atop his thighs to keep himself warm. Gaz isn’t the warmest person out there, but that just means you get to warm him up yourself. Is actually a lot cuddlier because you’re this tall and will become your personal blanket.

Ghost: He feels kind of perplexed about you being so much taller than him. Ghost is 1,95m, he towers over pretty much anyone, so how dare you be so much taller than him. Pretends to hate you being this tall, actually loves it. Sometimes he dreams of sparring with you under the moonlight to assert his dominance, even though there’s really no need to since you’re such a sweetheart towards him. He probably just needs to ask and would get anything from you. He really doesn’t mind you scaring pretty much everyone off, he has the same effect on people he doesn’t know. That just means there’s less people to worry about in his life for the time being. You’ll be spending a lot of time alone with each other that way, which he really likes. Though, maybe don’t scare his teammates too much, he genuinely likes them and wants them to be well too. Though, it’s kind of hard to properly scare them anyway. Ghost is usually a pretty quiet man when there’s no need for chit chat, but he doesn’t mind hearing your voice. In fact, he might get worried if you suddenly stop talking and will ask you what’s wrong. If you’ve got nothing to talk about then he’ll ask some questions so he can continue hearing your voice. He also blushes from time to time when you suddenly give him some sugary sweet compliments. He’s a grown, scary military man, he really shouldn’t be, but it’s just so endearing, especially when you, even bigger and scarier, call him your little honey bunny. It actually motivates him to do house chores. Not that he won’t do them anyway, but you calling him embarrassingly domestic names makes him just a tad bit soft, which leads to him trying to be a good husband. You may cuddle him since he trusts you, but he will also want to hold you from time to time. Life is a constant give and take, so prepare to be cuddled. Won’t particularly ask for cuddles, though, since he’s kind of too embarrassed to admit he’s touch starved. To you it’s blatantly obvious, though, which is why you initiate those cuddling sessions. Ghost appreciates it and sometimes hides a smile in either the pillow or your neck. As long as you don’t see him being silly, all is good.

Soap: He used to hate you being this tall. Soap may “only” be of average height, but he’s the tallest in his family, which he was actually pretty proud of. He towered over his father, even. And then he joined the military, where quite a few people were taller than him. And then you had the audacity to introduce yourself to him. You, the tallest man he’s ever met. It hurt his ego. Ever since you got together, though, he slowly got over it. You’re just such a sweetheart, how could he hate you over something as trivial as this? However, nothing could ever stop him from trying to pick you up and spinning you around. Soap is a pretty strong lad too, he’ll make it work somehow. You will feel tiny and cared for too. There’s a good chance he can’t reach your lips to kiss you. Yes, he could just ask you to bend down, but where’s the fun in that? Climbs you like a tree instead. He’s also always thinking of that one post where, instead of asking their boyfriend, the person should just punch him in the stomach. He won’t do it, but he remembers it every time without fail. He doesn’t mind you being scary either. Hell, Ghost is also a pretty scary guy to have around when you don’t know him and he’s one of Soap’s closest friends. Besides, he knows better anyway. You’re a total goof and the biggest sweetheart this world has ever seen. You being scary towards others just means that he’s got you all to himself all the time. Soap is a clingy guy, so you can expect him to cling to you like a koala from time to time. Actually, that was a lie, you should expect him to jump at you and hold onto you very often. Cuddles over safety. You’re likely also one of the only people on the planet willing to hear him out when he’s talking about his passions. And he could go on for hours every time. Explosives, weapons, whatever show you’re watching together, all is fair game. See, you’re one of the biggest sweethearts to him because you actually listen to him, despite him going into great detail about it all. You may not always be able to understand him when he’s talking chemistry again, but you hear him out anyway, and for that alone you’ve won his heart. He also sits on your lap while talking. You’re his little throne now that he takes immense pride in.