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brightstar2000 · 2 months

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Can you rate all TSAMS characters based on your personal opinions?

Well, I'll start with my favorites, i suppose. This list is from my favorites to least favorites, then my opinions on each one underneath

Eclipse (v3/4), Solar, Eclipse (v1/2), Old Moon (reborn vers), New Moon (before Nexus), Sun, Lunar, Jack, Earth, KC, Ruin, Molten, Old Moon (og vers), Dark Sun, Blood Moon, Nexus.

I'll leave characters like Gemini, the Astrals, Lord Eclipse, Servant Sun, Dazzle and Monty off for now since they aren't really part of SAMS itself or are too minor of characters to form a whole opinion on.

Eclipse v3/4: Definitely my favorite iteration of Eclipse. It was so nice to watch as he grew and changed to become better. As someone who had wanted an Eclipse redemption arc ever since I made my first SAMS AU, Aka: the Regretful Eclipse AU. I'm so glad he got a redemption like i was hoping for. I'm also very touched by his actions as of late. Even if he won't admit it himself, or tries brushing it off as some regular Eclipse trait, he cares. Especially about Earth. The fact he also pushed through what Dark Sun was doing to him in order to try reviving Solar, and even cared enough to try getting Nexus help before he lost it. I was very touched by that too. He also sacrificed himself so Solar could continue to exist, and I have high respect for that. Self sacrifice is one of the highest respectable things someone can do in my opinion. He's also staying behind to try helping with the negative star power stuff despite how badly he wants to leave to ensure their dimension is at least safe or the negative power is dealt with. Best native Eclipse so far.

Solar: He's been a favorite of mine ever since Moon first sent Lunar to meet him. It was so nice seeing a version of Eclipse who is nice. Him also comforting Lunar, and telling him that he was not a mistake. I was so happy when they had him come live with the main cast. I miss him dearly. In all honesty, I had a real genuine grief response after he died. Even though he is fictional and i knew they were probably going to bring him back like they did with Lunar, i still genuinely grieved for him for a bit.

Eclipse v1/2: Honestly, at first, i really hated Eclipse. I wanted him dead and gone. I could appreciate him as a villain though. He was a well put together antagonist in my opinion. Hated the character, but respected him as a villain. I started liking him after I made my Regretful Eclipse AU. Even though I knew he would be nothing like the Eclipse i turned him into in that au, i still started liking him. He used to be my least favorite, but then became one of my favorites. His second iteration was kind of an embarrassment, i'll be real. He did the og dirty when he became aimless and just didn't know what to do with himself after he got the star. I still do appreciate him though, and the fact he somewhat tried to warn them about the astrals before he was blown to bits. I still don't agree with everything he did though and will not defend him in that regard.

Old Moon (reborn): I really like this version of Moon. While i do think his change to be better was pretty fast, i also see it as him being very serious about being a better brother to Sun. I think that ties into how he was feeling before he died. He had a lot of regrets, and wished he was better for him. That is what he was hoping Nexus would be, and for a while, he was, i will not deny that. I like that he is involving Sun a lot more in what he's doing as well. And they have better communication now than they used to. God, i hope that stays... poor communication caused so many problems for them before. Actually.. it caused all their problems-

New Moon: I really liked him at first. I was so happy to see him being better to Sun, and doing things with him that og Moon didn't, like hugging him and comforting him. Then Solar came along, and he started distancing himself from Sun, and sidelining him. Sure, he was still acting better than og Moon, but he wasn't really talking to Sun much anymore and confided in Solar more and more. At that time my biggest gripe with him was how much he was excluding Sun. Then Solar died and he started to spiral. Despite his family offering to help and support him through it, he started lying to them about his feelings and working more secretly. He wouldn't open up about his actual feelings. It took Eclipse telling Earth about what was going on with him to get him to drop the act, and he immediately hurts them for confronting him about it when they just wanted to help. I know people give Earth trouble for "abandoning" him then, but i think they forgot that Earth was also hurting, or just disregarded how she was feeling.. Solar's death affected all of them, and Earth was close with Solar too. She was in a vulnerable mental state too, and he used her insecurities against her in that moment. Then he ran off and hid again, still working in secret to try reviving Solar. And they can't help someone who they don't know the location of, and he made the excuse of them not knowing how to help him to stay away. If he had stuck around instead and let them try to help him, they could have learned what he needed through some trial and error. He didn't give them the chance to learn that. Which is also why i get mad at the people who keep saying that his family should have done more to help him. I feel like they think the family should have known how to help him from the get-go? He didn't exactly make it easy for them either... he fell down my favorites list very fast, especially when he tried to kill Earth. This placement is for when he was still good. Which is also why i have him and Nexus in seperate places here.

Sun: Honestly i don't have a lot of opinions on him. I do admire his persistence despite everything he's been through. He still is nice and caring when he has pretty much every right to be more cynical by now. He still powers through it and upholds his kinder nature. He's a lot stronger than he gives himself credit for. I am glad this current arc is giving him more plot importance than the last couple had, but at the same time, i am also afraid of what it possibly entails down the line with how things are going.

Lunar: Yea, I'll admit, i went crazy about him when he was first introduced like so many fans did. Precious bean, must protect, and all that stuff. Even to the point where i joined one of the monthly events they hosted in the discord. The comic one, where we were supposed to draw things that we thought could happen in the future. My comic was even one of the ones shown in the reaction video they did on the event, the one that had Lunar in it helping Eclipse find the star. (And tbh, i think my comic had a big impact on the plot, since my comic was the only one that had Lunar in it shown in the video, and then shortly after that, it was brought up in a lore video. Quote: Sun: "Lunar! That's his name, he told me his name.... IS THAT WHAT THE FANART IS?!" Moon: "Did they know?!" Sun: "Why didn't they tell us!?" Yea... if i didn't make that comic, i'm not sure if that would have happened, and it may be what helped them find Lunar so fast, but that is all purely speculation) As time went on, he started going down my favorites. I think mainly because i miss how he used to be. I don't hate him, i'm just not head over heels for him anymore.

Jack: I find him adorable, a lot like Lunar was to me at first. He's silly and i love his friendship with Dazzle. I am glad he has grown some as a person too, since he wasn't initially made to be as sentient as the others. I hope he continues to grow as an individual too.

Earth: She was never really a favorite of mine. I'm more neutral about her. I don't hate her. I admire her want to help others even in times where she isn't exactly in the right mindset to do it. She deserves a break though. Her friendship with Eclipse is also very sweet and i love watching it grow.

KC: Also a character I didn't like at first who grew on me after his store visit with Glamrock Freddy that changed him. I admired his want to help people, going against the very code he is named for. I was disappointed when he just let Blood Moon murder him. Made Moon's sacrifice for him almost worthless.

Ruin: Ruin's a Rollercoaster for me. Hated him, kinda liked him, got suspicious of him, questioned myself about him but stayed suspicious, hated him again, now i'm more neutral but worried about him. At least he wasn't trying to cause too much more damage than he has. (Before he was captured by Dark Sun and Nexus..)

Molten: Also kinda a mixed bag. At first, i was almost all for him getting Ruin, but that was also when Nexus wanted to use Ruin as a sacrifice for Solar. And at the time, i was still grieving in a sense. Was mad at him for killing Solar, of course, and was all for sacrificing him for him (grew out of that as time went on), and wanted Nexus to stop Molten so he could use Ruin for Solar. Currently, since Molten is willing to change, i am starting to like him and wish him the best when they finally clear all that crap the creators put into him.

OG Moon: When i first started watching the show, Moon was my favorite general fnaf sb character, so Show Moon quickly became a favorite of mine too. Though he was explosive and abusive to Sun, and i was not a fan of that, yet he stayed my favorite until Lunar came along. I do agree with Nexus when he said that og Moon was a real asshole. I know he somewhat tried to be better, but he fell back on older habits and hurt Sun. I'm so glad he is how he is now, which, again, i think stemmed from his many regrets that he finally came to truly realize when he was set to die. That realization finally put him on the right path.

Dark Sun: I knew from that first episode he appeared in that he was going to become a problem down the line. Or, i at least knew that was not the last we'd see of him. I knew he'd become relevant and lo and behold, i was right. He's honestly confusing. Like, he helps the people he's against. I know it's for his own benefit, it's all part of his plan. Yet, he has said many times before that he just wanted to be left alone. I'm very certain that none of our crew would have sought him out again after that first meeting, so i don't know why he's deciding to meddle in their lives like he is. He's part of the reason Nexus went crazy. He may be the best villain the show has come up with since Eclipse v1. I still don't like him. He also lied about killing his Moon and left the guy to suffer in a cell, all broken. I think Dark Sun's base dimension was a swapped dimension, where he is like Moon, and his Moon was more like Sun. A Sun with Dark Sun's tendencies is honestly very scary to me, so Dark Sun scares me.

Blood Moon: Was never a big fan of them. I kinda see the appeal of them, but it's not my kind of appeal. I liked the first twins better than the clone twins though.

Nexus: I hate him. He used to want to keep his family safe at any cost, but he nearly killed Earth, calling her just "collateral damage" in the situation at the time, and has expressed ill intent towards Lunar, the Astrals, and the others in his ex family. He threatened to hurt Jack who was the last thing Solar made. One would think he'd not want to hurt Jack because Solar made him. Nearly everything that happened with him while he spiraled was his own doing. He lied, he hid, he hurt, and he disowned his family. In the episodes, both Sun and even Earth said they still cared about Nexus despite it all. They didn't disown him, and i don't blame Earth for stepping away when he hurled her insecurities and insults at her, which, she also said she was going to consider forgiving him for before he tried to kill her, which is a reasonable place to draw the line. If not for Puppet, Earth would be dead. I really hope that Nexus just has some sort of virus or corruption making him like he is, and he can be recovered, but i am not seeing this happening anytime soon, if at all. I will not defend him though. He does not deserve it at this point. At first, i could write off his behavior as him grieving, but as he just got worse and worse, it got harder to see it that way. Grief may still have played some factor but it was no longer the main factor after a bit, and then it no longer was. He made his choices and it led him to becoming how he is now. There is no excuse for him anymore. He has no kill code to blame this on. It's himself, and also influence from Dark Sun. I do hope he can still be saved, but i don't see that happening soon.

Apologies for the long rants..

#sun and moon show #the sun and moon show #tsams #sams #sams nexus #sams eclipse #sams new moon #sams sun #sams solar #sams old moon #sams moon #sams kc #laes earth #laes lunar #sams ruin #sams dark sun #sams bloodmoon #sams jack #sams molten

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aguineapigcouldntdothis · 6 months

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I think I might have to message my friend and have a genuine conversation with him about how he's falling into extreme left antisemitic ideals. he acts SO supportive to my face and then in public and online he posts things that are plain misinformation with antisemitic undertones. id really, really, really wanna keep being his friend i just dont know how long I can continue when he acts like this. what the fuck are you supposed to do when someone is nice to your face yet the views they express publicly go against that? what side do you believe? even if the side he shows in private is what he truly believes, he's still saying antisemitic things in public and supporting those ideals.

I want to believe that he's just misinformed. don't get me wrong, he 100% is, I just dont think that's it. I feel like he's just trapped in that social justice cycle where he believes he HAS to talk about things as quickly as possible or else something bad will happen. and I want to pull him out of there with every fiber of my being I just dont know if I can without destroying myself in the process. I love him he's my best friend and we've been so close for years and still none of that changes the simple fact that I am jewish. and I feel scared associating with people going down this slope. I know for a fact he wouldn't hurt me in any way RIGHT NOW, but what about a month from now? 6 months? a year?

I can't stay silent because thats not who I am. so I've gotta talk to him about it soon. tomorrow I was gonna send him his very late birthday gift and food for him and maybe I still will. if I do then that shows that I at least have a little faith this conversation won't ruin one of my closest friendships. and even if it does end, I still love him and I want him to have those things. I wish this weren't so hard and I wish it didn't hurt so much I have such a tiny circle of people it would actually physically hurt to leave and he's one of them.

he's friends with all my other goyische friends too and oh g-d I won't even know what to tell them if it ends badly. will their trust in me dissipate? will they begin to see me as a dirty jew who ruins friendships over problems they see as minor? will they tell me to just suck it up and deal with different opinions? im the only jewish person in that friend group so I've got no one else who understands this specific pain.

I wanna talk to my mother about this. she's not awake right now but she'd understand. she never really got when I talked about experiencing other forms of bigotry just antisemitism because she's been through that too. I know i can handle the actual confrontation myself i just kinda wanna cry to my mother about it.

#jewish #jumblr #yall should know that when I wanna cry to my mom about it its really bad #i wanna cry to her and then talk about it with my grandma but with her there'd be more shit talking

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save-the-villainous-cat · 5 months

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Hi Cat!! Hope you're well. I've been wondering, and I don't have anyone to talk book to, so here I am.

What do you think of reading books that might not be written very well? Like don't get me wrong I love a good book where I'm none stop thinking about it and examining it because my mind is blown on how someone could possibly write this, but sometimes, especially when I come back from a reading slump, I just like to read something that makes me feel good.

For example, Iron Wing. I skim a bunch of the parts that are boring, but for the most part, I can enjoy it. But I'll doom scroll on tiktok for a bit feeling bad because I'm apparently reading a book that sucks and everyone hates.

I'm not talking about Collen Hoover type books screw her for ruining booktok.

Hm. Hm.

First of all, thank you for the question! I’ve had this discussion quite a few times and lots of people don’t really like my opinion about it, arguing that literature is entirely subjective and as long as you like it, it’s good literature.

Literary criticism is a fundamental part of literary theory and in my opinion it’s quite important to be able to analyse and criticise texts. Simply, because with literature you cannot only communicate but also manipulate your audience.

Literature has always been more than simple communication and I don’t think that anyone should consume media without thinking about it and criticising it. Because the subtext truly delivers the message.

What is this text about? What is its meaning? Why does it exist in the first place?

Personally, I wouldn’t want to read/watch a story that doesn’t have anything to say — something that is just scene after scene with no actual meaning. That’s a waste of my time.

However, when it comes to “badly written” as in “I dislike the writing style,” that’s different to me.

I read the Spy x Family novel a week ago and personally, I don’t think the writing style was that good. It definitely felt more like a screenplay for an episode.

That could be a translation problem though since I have the English copy. However, the themes and subtext of the little stories, the character dynamics and characters themselves are so dear to me and well-written, I cannot help but enjoy the story.

All together, I think there’s a difference between a good story and an entertaining one. To say a story is good because it is entertaining doesn’t make much sense to me whereas a story obviously can be entertaining because it’s good. Story structure and character dynamics do have certain “rules” you have to obey while writing to make your story work.

I can acknowledge that particular stories aren’t good but entertaining, but arguing that a story is good because it’s entertaining isn’t a valid argument. (In my opinion)

That being said, other people’s opinions on a book you like shouldn’t matter to you. Once you have that book in your hands, the words are yours to read. The text is yours to consume and no matter how you decide to consume media (with criticism in mind or not), do what you think is right for you.

Personally, I believe it’s important to listen to other people when they have valid arguments and make a good point. And even then, you don’t necessarily have to agree with them. I just cannot consume media without turning my brain on. (Unless it’s a show that’s playing in the background because I need someone to talk or I’ll go insane)

But as always, don’t let a random writing blog on tumblr tell you what to think. You have to decide for yourself.

#no writing #an answer for an ask #thank you for your ask!#a very interesting topic!

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lazyollie · 1 year

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〈 • Tfa ships • 〉

Terrible or wonderful

For the first we can all agree that the Transformers Armada ships are kinda wild and weird. When I joined to the Transformers Trumbler fandom I bumped into some interesting information but let's talk about this later.

So I find some ships what might be acceptable or maybe not. I'm gonna talk about why may people ship them and in my opinion is valid or not.

(Please write Constructive criticism in the comments.)

Before I start I wanna say this is my opinion and if you think something else about this then let me know in the comments. Please don't make hate comments!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: I watched the Japanes version so maybe some story line is different.

Megatron x Optimus prime

This ship is almost ruined but we have some interesting facts what can save this ship.

From the begining Optimus and Megatron acting weird with each others. They fight is really difficult from other's.

[It's could be because of the animations are not the perfect and the artist of the series was kinda lazy about drawning of the characters. We all saw some fails:)]

First fact: hands

They always touching each others hand in every fight. The robots never forget to do this. The problem is how they holding each other hands. Like a couple who start dancing romantically.

Second fact: look

Megatron teasing Optimus so badly. He's smirk whenever he see Optimus is kinda interesting.

In this scene Galvatron looks at Optimus so teasingly, AND THE POSE! There's something we don't know of them I swear. The last battle of them was the most weird fight.

Third fact: optimus death

We all know that sad scene where Optimus sacrificed his self for the Earth. Megatron on that days was super changeable. He looked like he would miss Optimus.

Megatron also said that "I can't believe I will say this but It's good to have you back" (I'm pretty sure he didn't said just like that, but that's what I get it from it.)

If I have to say something about they ship than I would say, this is cute. I love them. So in my opinion this is an 'alright ship'.

Starscream x Alexis

A ship what I hate so badly. It's cannot be real. Why would anybody ship a robot and a human together? I dunno.

When Starscream joined to the autobots Alexis was the first person who trust on him. She was friendly with him and tried to help him. Our broken hearted robot seemed he didn't care but he cared deeply.

After he left the Autobots for a revenge on Megatron. He dropped the blankie what he got from the kids for his birthday. Alexis was upset about it of course but she still believed that Starscream is good.

In the Space Starscream and Alexis became friends after Starscream saved her again and again.

Someone find a official blog where they said that in the show Alexis character seems like she is in love with Starscream. This information is important.

They just friends. The cutest duo ever. I just want them to be together again.

I don't support this ship.

Hotshot x Red alert

They had an episode where Hotshot doesn't acknowledged Red alert's work. They had a fight. But at the ending of the episode Hotshot realised Red alert's job also important.(Or something like that. I feel like I have to watch it again:') )

I don't know. I never thought about this two like a ship before.

Maybe It's a little bit strained. Some people just want to see a ship in them. I have no idea.

Your choice.

Cyclonus x Demolishor

They are best friends in the series. I ship them. I want them to be a couple.

Here we can see Demolishor saves Cyclonus from falling down.

Our evil psychopath Cyclonus and the soft Demolishor are the perfect matching. SHIP!

What I noticed about Demolishor:

After I rewatched the episode where we get a look of how Megatron treated Starscream. Later one of their teamate (I forgot his name) did a drama what caused to Starscream and Megaton had a fight. At the whole time I felt like Demolishor tried to stop this. It was so cute.

Back to the topic...

THEY ARE BOYFRIENDS!!

The cute fanarts made me ship them.

It's alright ship in my opinion.

Optimus x Red alert

Woo. So a medic and the leader of the Autobots. They story started on Cybertron where this two were already best friends and fought together in the war.

They have a perfect dinamic and they get along with each other really well.

The introvert and the extrovert<3

I really don't know. I feel neutral about this. I wouldn't said this ship is unacceptable but I wouldn't said either that couldn't be a ship.

Share your own opinion about it in the comment.

Jetfire x Starscream

There's an episode where this two visited together a planet for a mini-con (I guess). Starscream. I believe the reason is why people ship them is because maybe this two character had a good friendship with each others in the G1. I am just guessing I haven't watched the G1 yet but I saw some fanarts.

I don't know what to say about them.

Starscream x Hotshot

Well well well. Before I start let me apologies. I ship them.

They are like a moon and the sun. Like enemies to lovers. Like introverted and the extroverted. Like the Pessimist and the Optimist. I love them so much.

Let me show it for ya:

I can't explain myself. I really want to tell why I ship them to understand it.

This is my curse.

Nevermind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can only say this is my opinion. If you know more really good or a really bad ship then comment it. If there's enough ship I'm going to make a part 2.

Bye bye!

#transformers armada #opinion #tfa #starscream #optimus prime #megatron #demolisher #cyclonus #red alert #jetfire #alexis #hotshot #ships

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gurathins · 1 month

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what's the cynosure project 🎤 what does it aim to achieve and what is it actually achieving? is it public knowledge? what would the public reaction be to it if it is not currently public knowledge? who gets hurt - are the researchers and staff involved as much victims as the targets or are they complicit and bystood?

hope u don't mind me using long hair toby. or well, actually, not exactly long hair toby but like, toby right after its long hair era. haha. anyway. i looked at these questions and somehow went "oh this could sound like it's opening up to someone about it." someone it trusts a lot.

older toby's opinions here if u want to read them too.

will maybe add a drawing later once i draw it. but, well, haven't had time to do work on it 😭

toby's answer under the cut. warnings for death mention.

"We, um. We were testing out if there's a way to, um, create a hibernation-like state in emergencies so that it would be less likely for the badly injured patient to die while, um, waiting for help. And additionally to that, have the technology that causes such state also try and stop the bleeding. The idea is that it would be helpful since the patient wouldn't, well, bleed out on the street. While waiting for the EMT to arrive or to get to the hospital. Um, things like that. At least that's what was the long term goal..."

"No one really knows about it, it was a secret project and only some parts of it were public because it was, well, it was my doctorate topic. A thesis fair idea that got the corpo headhunters really excited. Signed up for an accelerated phd program this corporation and one university had, which basically meant, um, working in a corporate lab and whatever you come up with is their property. And that they make most decisions on how to use it in the end."

"The only public information, as much as I know, were my articles and doctorate, which didn't really say much about the project itself, only about how it could be possible to have a human in such state based on the tests."

"I don't know what would be the public's reaction if they found out about it.... especially about what happened in the end. It's um, well. I think Mackie would be in ruins? One can hope, anyway."

"During the tests we found that, while it does work as intended, it could also, well, be used in a wrong way. As a weapon, kinda. A bit of reprogramming or a glitch, and it would make a clueless carrier drop dead because the tech would block out their blood vessels, or won't let cells get oxygen. It was really bad. We mentioned about it once to the project leader and the steering group, saying that precautions should be made so that wouldn't happen."

"What do we get instead? Well. A few months later the steering group's report accidentally comes up to my, um, friend, Jack. He finds a mention of this exact problem there, except it's listed as 'possible other uses'. Honestly? I don't know what I expected from a corporation, but, well. I didn't know what they're like back then, I guess."

"We ended up deciding to bring this up to the media. It sounded like a good idea. Jack did some searching and we were contacted by this, um, anonymous person who claimed he were working for one newspaper. He told us he needs the whole report for the article, which only existed on a physical drive in the archive. We, um, planned a heist."

"Everything was going well for most of the time, until a guard showed up. Jack shot them. I ran to them and tried to help them, while ignoring Jack telling me to leave. We got into a small argument and in the end he just...left. The guard survived, at least, they even sent me a thank you card with a photo of their family, everyone being so happy. But, um... Jack didn't. They found his body at the place where we were supposed to meet this media person. I still don't know what happened, but I guess something went wrong and, well..." *long pause*

"I don't know if we could have stopped it. We told them it's a risk and that it should be made sure that this would not be possible. They pushed this part of development to the end of the backlog, and, well. I don't know. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if we would've continued to say how important it is to get rid of it or how unhappy we are about it? Or if I went to talk to the steering group about it?"

"I, um, I.... I feel like this is all my fault, as someone who came up with the whole thing... and as someone who picked the wrong way to try and solve the problem..."

#asks #oc: tobias #🔍 cynosure

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anxresi · 2 years

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NEWSFLASH: Pink-Streaked Plot Device Confesses Crush To Equally ‘Perfect’ Protagonist. A Nation Of Undemanding Fans Weep.

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May I offer a few stray observations?

1. Zoe is not ‘Amazing’, Marinette. She’s just written that way. (Bonus points if you can catch the movie reference there)

She’s obviously SUPPOSED to be because she has so many friends and loved ones, can do everything she puts her mind to SO well and hasn’t got a single fault in her oh-so-sweet personality.

The problem with being so gosh-darn flawless though, is that you’re straight-out BORING... especially when put into the confines of a TV show where we expect the characters to be more than just insipid one-dimensional goodie-two-shoes.

If only they had someone better to replace her, like a rebellious anti-hero... with many layers to their character and plenty of scope for growth and change... yes, that would be MUCH more interesting than a perpetually shilled Creator’s Pet...

Oops, they already got rid of her. So sorry, my mistake.

2. People should be honored to be ‘loved’ by Zoe?

Not really. She probably ‘loves’ everyone, due to her single-note ‘nicey nice’ persona excluding her from expressing any mild distaste about anyone. Including her own newly-psychotic sister, who’s probably told her she despises her for years.

She’d probably skip merrily into whatever-bullshit-name-Hawkmoth-has-these-days’ lair in a yellow sundress and a basket full of oatmeal cookies, give him a little kiss on the cheek before prancing out singing ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie, leaving a trail of fluffy bunny wabbits and freshly-bloomed daisies in her wake.

Aaawww! *Retch*

3. “Adrien’s not the one I’m in love with...” OOOH HERE IT COMES! BRACE YOURSELVES...

4. ...AAANND like a deflated balloon, a broken swing and a show running out of ideas so quickly it shoves in these ‘serious’ moments that’ll never be referenced again, Zoe never explicitly says those three magic words (Alakazam, abracadabra and hocus pocus, right?)

I guess she wanted to be ‘special friends’ with Marinette the same way Rose and Juleka are. A more hopelessly unsubtle, pandering load of nonsense would be impossible to find... but it won’t stop a certain percentage of the audience from instantly shipping these two and finding this moment both ‘inspirational’ and ‘emotional’ (I can just see the hyperbolic tweets now: OMG I WEPT BUCKETS! I CAN RELATE SSSSOOOO MUCH etc)

Sorry, but I can’t get on board. I would say this was badly done whatever the sexuality of the couple, so you can kindly burn your placards screaming ‘BIGOT’ right now. The fact it’s so cynically aimed at a demographic that are often sadly overlooked in animation until recently (and naturally, afraid of some kind of Moral Panic the writers STILL can only hint at gay relationships instead of announcing them out loud) just makes the whole shameless manipulative process even worse, IMHO.

To all those who aren’t catered to by an often very heterosexual-focused cartoon industry, watch The Owl House. Give She-Ra a try. Just anything, instead of this pathetic... what was that term I heard the other day... Gaybaiting?

Yeah, that sounds about right.

(N.B If you get something positive out of this episode I am not seeking to devalue your experience or ruin your enjoyment... I am just saying, I think this is badly-done, poorly written tripe designed to earn the show brownie points when frankly it deserves none. A great example of virtue-signalling, to borrow a tired right-wing trope. You might disagree, and feel free to argue your case, but please respect my opinion by not calling me a bunch of profane names in response. Thank you.)

5. The short scene ends with Marinette letting the supposedly lovestruck Zoe down gently, with a hug and a silent promise to never speak of this again (believe me, they won’t).

It’s a good moment for both of these favorite, endlessly-hyped characters of Thomas... Marinette gets to show her ‘human’ side and improve her already sterling reputation, whereas a lovesick Zoe takes her rejection surprisingly well.

No tears, raised voices or even mucus bubbles... the entire emotional catharsis is over in less than 40 seconds. Guess they were too busy with more important stuff in the episode like Cheesy Chat puns, Hawkmoth’s Ham’n’Cheese and Marinette getting spotted panties from her Lucky Charm (I wish I was kidding... but I’m not. I’ve READ the leaks... *Shudder*)

.....................

So, to sum up then: another throwaway moment in an increasingly stupid show that could’ve been something special or left a lasting impact... of course, it does neither of those things.

I mean, what were you expecting at this stage? The people who produce it are clearly not making any serious effort whatsoever, whether that be in the writing department or stopping MASSIVE spoilers from getting out and ruining the plot (although, I think they already did a pretty good job of that even before this latest round of security breaches).

So if they don’t care, why should anyone else? At least it’s fun to vent about... but time for a break now, to watch something with a bit of actual quality. Hmm... *Decides to see the Amphibia finale for like the trillionth time.*

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #chloe bourgeois #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Zoe Lee #ml salt #ml spoilers #Disney #Youtube

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purplebass · 1 year

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I want to say that I relate to the part about feeling insulted when someone insults a character I like, it feels like they insult ME. Well for me it hasn't necessarily happened with fictional characters but with other things I loved. For example, I had this favorite band a while ago and one of my friends would sometimes say rude things about them, like how she couldn't understand why they were so popular and that their music wasn't that good. I felt like my taste and by extension me were getting insulted. It took me a while to understand that a) she did NOT mean it like that, it was just that the band wasn't her taste at all, and b) even if she did think people who like the band have horrible taste, I should not let that make me feel bad. People like things others find bad all the time because taste and opinions are diverse. No one will ever like or respect everything you like, and you will never have everyone like or respect YOU. And you cannot let that ruin your day. Easier said than done ofc, especially when you strongly identify with something, but you cannot go through life forever needing everyone, especially strangers, to feel and act a certain way in regards to you.

I will also say that it really depends on WHO says the hurtful things. I had another friend who insulted that same band but she clearly did it to make me feel bad about myself and my taste. So in that case I had a reason to feel insulted bc she was actually insulting me. But most people are not like that.

I generally believe I felt offended because a) I'm passionate about my interests and b) I would never speak badly about other people's interests and c) also because I'm an insecure person tbh.

I didn't really do anything (i.e. distancing myself from my interest in order to feel better), the interest simply went away at some point, so I don't really have any tips in that regard. But stepping away for a bit might be a good idea. You can always come back if you want.

Sorry I can't help more, I just thought I'd share and I want you to know I understand you <3

Thanks for answering 🥺 that's probably what I'll do. I don't want to go for good but I can manage my time here (do the pomodoro technique lol) so I have a healthier relationship with this site. I will still love these characters, I just need my obsession to wean off a bit because that is the problem... the hyperfixation and too much identification to the point the lines blur. At the end of the day, they are fictional and I am a real person.

#posta

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juvenalesque · 2 years

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Opinion: Sometimes it is your fault. Are you really a magnet for toxic people or are you the problem? Both.

If you want to see only the best in someone, always give them the benefit of the doubt, we all know that's what our brain will short-cut for us. We see what we want to see. That said, and we do say it, I don't think people talk enough about creating the opposite story: a negative false narrative. If you are a practitioner of the ever so lovely negative self-talk club, you may be guilty of this, too. We who are used to disappointment are sometimes shooting ourselves in the foot. Its so easy to just be nonchalant about it. When you automatically are assuming the worst intentions and you think the other person is always doing this or that to hurt your feelings or never does enough to show affection, you are doing the same thing. If you don't stop and ask yourself, "wait. What have they done to show they care for me? They did show it. Why didn't they change that behavior? Well, did you actually try talking about it, or did you just fume in your head? Did you tell yourself it wasn't worth arguing?" That's not on them, it's on you. You are creating the story you want. Ask yourself why? Do you just expect to be treated badly so you see it before it exists?

Reasons aside, people ask themselves how they always end up in the same situations. It's taboo to suggest that we may be responsible, to an extent, for our repeated scenarios. You don't always just pretend a bad person was good. Sometimes you convince yourself a good person is bad for being imperfect. You stopped treating them how you wanted to be treated and started giving them hostility based on thoughts you weren't sharing with them that could have been resolved with little communication. They are reacting to you, and you're not even aware of how you may be acting. Are you seeing exactly what you don't want to see? Out of expectation? Underlying issues with your self-esteem?

I AM NOT SAYING THAT WE ALL DO THIS ALL THE TIME. However, I think for some people, especially those who have had a traumatic experiences repeatedly for years, especially in their formative years can only instinctually expect the same pattern even when it finally changes. My point is that THIS is how some say "I finally had something good and I ruined it." WE push away the ones we wanted to gold close. Not everyone gets a second chance, either. So when you escape a toxic and/or abusive place, it's important to revert back to life's most basic good advice: question everything. Am I making any assumptions? What evidence do I have that disproves my hypothesis? Am I only seeing what I expect to see? Always ask yourself what the positives are. When they are plentiful, it's an indication that maybe you are seeing a blurry image. If you struggle to think of those positives, it's pretty safe to say it is isn't in your head and the relationship is what it looks like.

If you are looking at something fake, you miss what's real. If you are hiding a great chance behind a lense of negativity, you'll miss out on that real person you didn't see there all along. Relish in a beautiful reality that you create every day. You choose what attitude you think through and who to keep your company. It's your life, don't you forget.

#relationships #opinion #toxic people #see what we want to see #unpopular opinion #negative self talk #pattern recognition #love #real life #manifestation #life is what you make it

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smiles-advice · 21 days

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(TLDR: I need advice getting over a heartbreak that I feel like is entirely my own fault)

Hi, I need some advice but there's no one really I can talk to about this, so is it okay if I ask you?

Almost a year ago now I (20f) had a really bad fight with my best friend and it ended up with me kicking her out of my house and later blocking her. (I handled it badly at the time)

For context I'm really sick/ disabled and out of nowhere she started telling me that it was all in my head and I just wasn't trying hard and all sorts of stuff like that. It was awful but In hindsight I really don't think she understood why what she was saying was as hurtful as it was.. I don't think she really knew what she was doing.

There's a bunch of other context that isn't worth getting into but long story short she was really ableist to me and I couldn't deal with it and got mad and overreacted (I actually ended up calling my dad and he got mad at her too..). It was messy and painful. That's all been and gone now.

The problem is that I did and still do love her and it hasn't gone away in all that time.

In my head I know that she was awful to me about my chronic pain and fatigue and stuff and I know she didn't like me using a wheelchair despite it giving me my life back and there's a whole host of other things. But I can't reconcile that with how she's still my favourite person I've ever met and everything that makes me happy reminds me of her. I could tell you a million things that make her a good person.

It's especially difficult because she's still the person I want to go to for support??? Like so much of what I'm going through with my health right now is so scary and I wish I could talk to her about it.

I tried reaching out to her a couple of months ago to apologise for kicking her out and upsetting her. Like, despite my feelings about how she treated me I genuinely never wanted to hurt her and I regret it more than pretty much anything in my life????

But that went badly. She made it seem like she didn't think she'd done anything wrong (i.e the whole ableism stuff) and I ended up blocking her again. Not exactly my finest moment. I really messed up 100% would have been better for both of us if I hadn't tried reaching out. No chance in hell of me fixing stuff after that.

But now I just don't know what to do with myself. I feel like I ruined our friendship over nothing. The pain of not having her in my life is so much worse than anything she said that hurt me. I feel like such an awful person for hurting her, but there's literally nothing I can do to fix that now. I just feel completely heartbroken but since I never told her I loved her it doesn't feel fair to call it a heartbreak. I just feel like I made such a massive mistake.

I don't know if you're able to give me any advice to get over this/ her. (I've thought over what I could have done differently about 5000 times) But I just really needed to ask someone. Idk I just feel like I'm a terrible person rn lol

(I'm really sorry about how vent-y this is as well)

Hello lovey!

First off, I'm so very sorry for how long it's taken me to respond, my heads been a mess, I've been in a manic episode, I'm getting back. Sorry.

Now, all of this advice is just my personal opinion. Take it or leave it.

Personally, I think you're in the right here. I think cutting people off is never easy, especially when they are so close to you, but I think you did well. Blocking them, not engaging, that's the right move. You don't need someone in your life who invalidates you and your health like that.

I personally wouldn't have reached out to them at all, but I can see why you did.

It's gonna be hard to move on. They were important to you, they played a part in your life, and you can't just forget that. It's important to remember that they weren't a good friend to you, that you're better off without them. Just keep reminding yourself of that.

Also, don't apologise for venting. I don't mind!

Hope I've helped, sorry again,

lots of love 💕

#answered #asks #anonymous #long post

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deaneverafter · 2 years

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I don't think Beau has lack of communication skills it's just his ex was I want to use some choice words for her but I won't say them lol she always puts him down and doesn't let him talk so how would she know about his communication skills? It's her that doesn't have any also am I the only one who also hates the daughter? They both treat him terribly I hope Beau and Jenny get together I hope it's not something we're just seeing because they have tons of chemistry. I have another question for you why did they have that one guy and Cassie break up after that slowburn for them makes me think it'll be one of those she won't find the one until the end.

She's mean, I don't mind saying that. They both are, and it makes me so sad to see Beau humiliated, and so disheartened and upset. I can't imagine he could've done anything so bad as to deserve to be treated like that, because if it was something that bad, why would they even talk to him at all? Anyway, they've written him as such a good guy and Jensen has played him as so lovable that making him the bad guy now is just not even going to make any logical sense. Also, he doesn't owe her anything, he doesn't have to tell her about his investigations, she divorced him, so..... and anyway, if he had said something, he'd just get accused of trying to ruin their family weekend. We already saw how antsy he was about being at the camp, probably because he knew she'd overreact. If he'd actually said there was some danger, she'd just accuse him of being the problem. But then he didn't say anything, and now he doesn't have communication skills 🙄 The whole thing with Emily and her gift knife is...... interesting, because all I can think is, she treats Beau so badly, her fixating on the knife isn't going to endear her. But also, just as an individual, apart from her behaviour towards Beau, which is bad enough, she's not...... very likeable, in my opinion.

I also hope Beau and Jenny could be something, be there for each other and make each other happy. After everything, they deserve it (and this is totally unrelated to why I don't like the ex. Even if I felt that Beau and Jenny were totally platonic, I'd still want Beau to be able to move on from the past, and be happy. I'm still hoping that that's what the Carla dynamic will be about, working through his emotions and realizing that he's over Carla, that he'd just been holding on to the idea of the family he used to have, not any actual feelings about her. I don't really want him being humiliated running and pining after her, while she lives her happy life).

Oh, as far as I know, that's because the actor was busy, so they had to write him out, at least for now. He might come back, but considering that he's with Jerrie now, even if he comes back, I don't think there will be anything between him and Cassie. Which, I'm surprised to say I don't mind? I really liked their relationship, the slow burn was so slow that when they finally got together, it was very exciting. And when he got written out, I didn't think I'd be rooting for anyone for a while. But, I actually am enjoying her and Cormac's dynamic a lot. Her and Lindor had a nice, calm sort of romance, but with Cormac, there's a lot of chemistry, and it's much more intense. All things considered, I don't know that he'll end up being the One™️, and yeah, it might be a while before she finds the person she ends up with, but I am intrigued by this relationship!

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pyroclastic727 · 4 years

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Is Amity autistic?

In the Owl House fandom, we hear a lot about how Luz is written to be ADHD. Now I would like to present the flipside: Amity is coded as autistic.

Here’s the breakdown.

Amity is touch-averse. “BuT aMiTy ToUcHeS LuZ aLL tHe TiMe” nice try. The key to autistic touch-aversion is only being okay with touch when she initiates it. And that totally matches up with Amity. See, Amity is really happy when she initiates touch with Luz. She’s also cool with it when Luz holds her hand after standing near her for enough time that Amity can predict an incoming touch. That’s because Amity consents to that touch and expects it.

But when other people touch her? She doesn’t take kindly to that. When Luz initially bumped into her at Covention, she snapped at her and degraded her. Even when she bumped into Luz in Enchanting Grom Fright, her initial instinct was to snap at Luz, since she didn’t expect to be touched. When Hooty touched Amity’s face without consent, she flipped out and beat him up. Not even Lilith beat Hooty up when he wrapped her up in his mucus-filled tube, but Amity gave Hooty the injuries we all wanted to see him with, because he breached her boundaries without her consent. Even as late as the last episode, Amity fell over when her face got close to Luz’s on the bleachers, because she didn’t expect it.

Amity stims. Okay, this one took me a while to catch, since most of the time, Amity is very controlled with her actions. This symptom isn’t very intense; her senses aren’t understimulated too often, and she really only does it when she’s really excited.

Mainly, when Luz offered to carry her. While she adorably scrambled for words, she also flapped her hands against her legs. At first I thought it was just a cute thing she did, but there’s more to it. She was so excited to be held by Luz that it showed up in her hands flapping...a common stim. With Amity feeling more comfortable around her new friends than the old ones, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more stimming in the future.

Amity always has The Mask as her expression. You know, the one with her eyes half-lidded, eyebrows raised, mouth slightly downturned. I also call it the Resting Blight Face, for...reasons.

At first I thought it was just a way to hide her true emotions, since her parents are assholes. But even though Luz makes her feel accepted, she keeps doing it. It’s more like...you know that feeling when you’re thinking really hard, or uncomfortable, or ashamed, or even just relaxed, and you can’t think of which expression to wear quickly enough, so you put on an unreadable one to tide people over? Apparently most people don’t do that, since allistic people tend to have expressions for those feelings, ones that arise naturally.

Another symptom of autism is having hard-to-read expressions, or being less expressive. In Amity’s case, it’s the fact that she doesn’t see a need to have an expression in calmer moments, so she just uses her usual expression.

Amity hyperfixates. This has several facets, so I’ll break this down.

She initially hyperfixated on school. And that’s how she became top student. Amity Blight is who you would mistake for a “gifted student.” But make no mistake...she is not gifted, and gifted is a bullshit label used to overexert people and force them to keep school as their special interest for their entire lives (and I may have a bit of a vendetta against it). Anyways, we already know she’s a perfectionist. My theory is that Amity originally was hyperfocused on school--the Abominations track, to be exact--and that’s part of how she got so good. Then, her focus shifted, but the school expected her to keep being top student. Cue the perfectionism; she was no longer able to focus on school like she wanted to, but everyone expected her to, so she got insecure about it.

She hyperfixates on Azura, just like Luz did. Yeah, she keeps it secret from the world, for most of the time. But she definitely likes Azura a lot. I mean, she started to reconsider her opinion on Luz when Luz offered her an Azura book. She destroyed her jock career because she tried to use an Azura move in real-life Grudgby. Her interest in Azura is long-lived, starting about the time that her interest in school would have expired (which would explain why she stayed closeted). And we can’t ignore the fact that she sees Azura in Luz and is definitely enjoying the parallels between herself and her fictional counterpart. (Which might not be a coincidence, but that’s an entirely different theory).

She hyperfixates on Luz. Yes, part of this is a crush. But a lot of us have watched Amity’s personality go from alpha bitch to cutest little bean in the Boiling Isles, all thanks to Luz’s influence. Lumity is not a rivals-to-lovers speedrun due to bad writing, it’s due to Amity hyperfixating. She’s already extremely introspective, going so far as to keep a diary where she analyzes and makes sense of herself. It’s not a stretch to say that she identified the faults that kept her from Luz and worked hard to change those off-screen.

Amity keeps a journal. To me, this seems like masking. You see, Amity is what people would consider to be high-functioning, since she can pass for allistic. But in order to do this, she has to put in significant effort on her part. See, when she does something that makes it so she doesn’t pass, she just sees it as a problem (since she probably doesn’t know about autism, and she passes well enough that she would totally be undiagnosed). Then she tries to fix the problem, in order to keep being perfect.

Amity has awkward body language. Thanks to the journal and other ways of masking, you don’t see this early on. But once she feels comfortable enough around Luz to let her guard down...she completely forgets boundaries. To review: in episodes 15-17, she throws herself at Luz, holds her formal rival’s hand for 24.71 seconds, blushes every time she sees Luz, and loudly declares her thirsty thoughts about Luz in uniform before literally running away. While some of this can be seen as normal gal pal things or crush things...you’d think a repressed wlw like Amity would try very hard not to touch Luz, so as to avoid being outed. Or at least she would do less of that stuff, so as to respect Luz’s boundaries the way she wants her boundaries to be respected. But that’s not the case, since she straight-up misses a lot of social cues. And since she feels comfortable around Luz, she doesn’t feel the pressure to be so paranoid about the cues, and can be her awkward self. From her point of view, she probably sees it as being freed from her parents’ judgment.

Amity takes things literally, sometimes. Now, this doesn’t happen all the time, since she isn’t heavily affected by this autistic trait. But when Luz says “I’m picking up what you’re putting down” and Amity says “I’m not putting down anything” and looks down...she not only missed the conclusion Luz drew from her words, but also assumed a literal meaning from her words. I can’t come up with many other instances of this, mostly because this doesn’t happen often. I would assume that Amity missed these a lot early on, and learned how to mask/identify them.

Amity is easily upset when things don’t go as planned. Let’s review these. In the library, she gets really mad at Luz when they end up stitched to a book, and it takes Luz’s sweet personality to get Amity to loosen up and laugh over it. When she goes to practice magic, and Luz steals her wand and uses it to get her siblings kidnapped, Amity locks Luz in a cage and assumes that she will get badly injured if she tries to fix the problems she caused. When Luz comes to her school, she panics and focus on how that doesn’t change anything. When she burns Willow’s mind, she appears absolutely terrified of being punished, flinching and bracing for impact when Luz finds her near the memories, constantly trying to distract Luz as they work together to save Willow, and hiding behind Luz when she confronts the Inner Willow. When Luz asks her to join her in Grudgby, Amity doesn’t initially agree, instead taking much more of the episode to come to terms with her involvement in it.

Amity likes predictability. She’s not attached to routines, but she does like being able to expect things. If she makes a plan for the day, she expects that day to adhere to that plan, and she doesn’t respond well when it changes. When Luz comes to her school, she focus on how that doesn’t change anything...not how that would ruin things or complicate things. Whenever she gets involved in Luz’s shenanigans, she either gets angry, scared, or takes a while to accept it. In a broader sense, she takes a while to accept that Luz and her shenanigans are a permanent fixture in her life--sixteen episodes, to be exact.

Finally, it would make for some excellent representation. An ADHD Dominican-American bisexual protagonist is pretty groundbreaking. But an ADHD Dominican-American bisexual protagonist girl who dates an autistic wlw witch girl from another dimension is exactly the kind of intersectional representation you’d expect to see from an unrestricted Owl House crew.

...Now, this might just be me hardcore projecting. I’m a little scared to post this because I don’t know how much of this is me reading into imaginary things, or trying to convince myself that Amity is like me. Feel free to debate/disprove me or support me in the comments.

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warsofasoiaf · 3 years

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Hello! Could you elaborate why you think Maekar was a better king than Daeron II? Thank you.

First, and this really isn't in dispute - Daeron II badly mismanaged the First Blackfyre Rebellion by keeping on incompetent and possibly treasonous members of his court in senior command way too long. Butterwell should have been sacked long before the eve of Redgrass, and there isn't an excuse that Daeron had no other options to replace Butterwell as Hand - he had Baelor Breakspear, he had Maekar, he had "stalwart from the first" Lord Hayford, he had Donnel Arryn, the list continues. Daeron II is the commander-in-chief, success is ultimately his responsibility. If he's not going to take to the field, he needs to empower fighting generals who will.

My more controversial opinion is that Daeron II made key mistakes with the Dornish incorporation treaty that he should have foreseen. He didn't build a polity, he didn't sell his policy, he made a treaty that blatantly favored his in-laws and stacked his court with them. While outside observers might not see much wrong with the Dornish incorporation treaty, Watsonian Westerosi observers would see their king selling out their loyalty for the personal enrichment of himself and his wife's family. Had Daeron taken the opportunity to craft a better treaty, either demanding weregeld for those killed in the Daeron I peace treaty debacle or offering one of the concessions that Dorne enjoyed to the other Lords Paramount, that would be seen far more positively.

Daeron II contributed to the factors that led to the First Blackfyre Rebellion, and those are big points against him. Conversely, Maekar as king saw a relatively peaceful reign, and when problems arose, Maekar looked to address them proactively, even to his death. So, between one king whose political missteps cause a large civil war which he prosecutes poorly almost to the ruin of his dynasty, and another one who manages to deter one, I can see pretty easily where my vote falls.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#daeron ii targaryen #maekar targaryen

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blindbeta · 3 years

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Blind / Low Vision Person’s Review of “Blind” by Rachel DeWoskin and Why Writers Should Not Underestimate the Benefits of a Sensitivity Reader

[Content warnings: spoilers for the book. Ableism. Brief mention of an accident involving eye trauma. Mentions of suicide. Stereotypes about blind people. Also this review, because I focused on the portrayal of blindness, comes across negatively. Please know that I have no hate for the author and might even read another book she wrote. However, I did not like the way this book portrayed blindness and, as difficult as it is, I wanted to be honest in my review.]

I struggled with the title, and I’m not even sure benefits is the appropriate word. What I want to convey here is not Brought to You By Big Sensitivity Reader Company vibes, but more This Book Was Not Good and It Needed a Sensitivity Reader Very Badly vibes.

Blind is about Emma Silver, a high school student who goes blind in a traumatic accident. Here is a good summary and review by a blind person. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated well. I’ll start by saying this will only be a review of the portrayal of blindness — I’ll try to leave my other opinions out just to keep things focused.

Unfortunately, focusing on just blindness means that it will not make this review more positive, because this book is about a blind girl recovering from going blind. In a way that is both inauthentic and swerves well out of the author’s lane. I say that because, as I hope will become apparent, this book consists of main character Emma being sad about being blind for the majority of the book. The book doesn’t simply have a character who goes blind. That is the main character’s entire arc.

This is a long review. However, I believe it will be invaluable for my readers and anyone who is interested in writing a blind character. Because this book passes most of my minimum standards for writing blind characters and was still lacking due to many factors, including stereotypes. I included many sub-headings so you can find specific topics easily.

Helpful Links

I include these links in the review. I’ll list them here for easy finding.

Here are two reviews of the book by blind readers: one and two.

Here is a video of the author talking about some of research she did for the book.

Here is my post Things I Want to See More Of / Less Of.

Here is my post about writing a blind character adjusting to being blind and being all sad about it when you aren’t blind yourself.

And finally, here is the post I shared that lists misconceptions about blind people.

The Author

The author, Rachel Dewoskin, is not blind. I did as much research as I could, but even if I hadn’t done so before reading the book, it was obvious she wasn’t blind herself. There are too many inaccuracies and offensive moments. This becomes a problem not because her MC was blind, but because she told a blind person’s story and used tropes in ways I think would be better off written by a blind person. If I’m going to read a story like this, I don’t want to read it from the perspective of a person who isn’t blind. When I get into the details of what went wrong, I hope you’ll see why.

Did the author do her research? Yes. The author met with blind people, clearly researched assistive technology and cane skills, and even taught herself contracted Braille. She talks a little about it in this video.

In fact, I wanted to say I am so impressed and grateful this author immersed herself in things like Braille and cane skills. None of my followers have shared that they went to a Lighthouse For the Blind or taught themselves to read Braille or spoken so passionately about why they loved it.

But sometimes research falls short. Or it is simply not enough.

That’s why I’m writing this review. For you writers writing blind characters when you aren’t blind. Because while the author clearly had good intentions, while the author clearly did her research and put in the time to learn and listen in ways I don’t think many of my followers have yet — the book was not authentic enough for me.

This book needed several sensitivity readers. If it had any, I would be surprised.

The Cover

The audiobook seems to have Braille on the cover, but I can’t tell if it is accessible or simply a picture of Braille. The cover features the word Blind in white print on a black background, with what seems to be Braille in rainbow colors that also spell out the title. I’ll reserve judgment here, since I don’t know the answer. If the Braille is tactile, then the cover is fantastic.

In the video I linked, the author seems to be holding the hardcover edition of the book with Braille on the cover. I can’t tell if the Braille is actually tactile or not.

What I Liked About the Book

I wanted to list a few things I liked about the book.

1. The main character is Jewish.

2. Emma has a large family full of well-developed characters and realistic portrayals of various ages. Everyone reacts uniquely to her blindness and I thought these characters were all used well. The scenes with Emma and her older sisters as well as the scenes with her mom were really great.

3. Emma gets therapy for her trauma. She also gets training to use a cane. These are annoyingly rare in stories.

4. As I said, the author clearly did her research. This is obvious when reading the book and In everything I found when researching the author after I finished it. I want to give the author praise here. I thought her explanations of technology Emma uses were the most accurate I have seen so far, both in books and when doing sensitivity reads.

What I Didn’t Like

I will start with this: Emma, after a year of learning to use her cane, is still using a cane inside her own house. After a year. This is not realistic, nor does it seem comfortable at all to use a cane in one’s own home. I don’t know anyone who does this and according to the other reviews, I am not the only one who was surprised by this.

Basically, this story would be okay with some inaccuracies. That’s to be expected. The real issue I had with this book was that it uses tropes the blind community generally hates and that the book is literally about !!! a character going blind and adapting. That’s the story. If you remove the blindness and the trauma, the story falls apart.

The author told a story that was not hers to tell and she did so badly.

If you are confused about why I dislike this, please read this post called Writing Blind Characters Accepting Being Blind When You Aren’t Blind Yourself.

What Did The Author Do Badly?

Trauma and Blindness

The story starts when main character, Emma, goes blind after a fireworks accident. Not only is this cliché, but it also tics one of my boxes in my Things I Want To See Less of post. This author wrote about a character going blind due to a traumatic accident. Link to the post.

In telling a story that was not hers to tell, here are some harmful things in the book:

The author does not do a good job of separating Emma’s trauma from her blindness. To be fair, this is difficult and most people don’t know to go about doing so with purpose. There are a lot of times in the book where the fact that Emma is traumatized leads to her saying a lot of terrible things about blindness and blind people that are never corrected or contradicted in the story. Again, if you are not sure why this is a problem, read the link I shared to my post.

Here are a few times this issue came up:

-Emma develops a habit of rocking, which myself and many reviewers know to attribute to trauma, but it isn’t clear if the author thinks blind people rock, as the stereotype indicates. Is Emma rocking as a trauma response or because she is blind? The book doesn’t make it clear. This is a time where authors need to be clear.

-Emma assumed she will never get a job, be kissed, get married, etc, after going blind.

-Emma yells about being ruined due to her blindness. The first two hours of the audiobook consist of Emma complaining about being blind. She mentions never being able to get a job a few times, assuming she won’t be able to work. While blind people do struggle with employment, this is due to discrimination, lack of transportation, lack of accommodations, lack of community support, and other systemic issues.

-Emma calls herself disfigured.

-Emma states she wanted to die. In another part of the book, when a background character we never met, Claire, completed suicide, Emma wonders if she was so focused on Claire because she wondered if she wanted to kill herself too.

-On the subject of the character, Claire, Emma states: “How easy would being gay be compared to being blind?”

This is especially damaging because some people are blind and gay. It also isn’t fair for Emma to compare them and the systemic issues that are faced by blind people and gay people. Emma not only trivializes homophobia, but also decides being blind is worse. For Emma, being blind is the worst thing ever, which is very isolating to read.

There are times where the fact that Emma is traumatized was not only grouped in with her blindness, but where the author used trauma to write ideas about blindness that are ultimately harmful.

This book, if readers of the blog want to read it, should be a lesson on why separating trauma from blindness is important. Whether that means making clear distinctions in the narrative itself or just not writing about a character going blind after a traumatic accident.

Let’s continue the overall things done badly.

Stereotypes and Tropes About Blind People

1. Rocking —

I have already mentioned the rocking thing above, but to reiterate here, not all blind people rock to orient themselves.

2. Touching Faces —

Emma and another blind character literally feel each other’s faces, one of the most hated tropes for blind people. In another scene, Emma feels another character’s face without asking.

3. Where Are the Audio Descriptions? —

Emma compares her life to a horror movie she couldn’t watch. This is a subtle reinforcement of the idea that blind people don’t watch films or television. The book makes no mention of audio descriptions. I suppose Emma and all the other blind characters simply don’t watch films or shows anymore.

4. Supposedly Fake Service Dogs —

Emma gets a dog that is specifically said to not be a guide dog. Emma brings this dog to restaurants and to school. Emma explains that she can get away with bringing her dog because no one wants to tell the blind kid no. This was, as you may be able to imagine, frustrating to read. Plenty of blind people have been denied access to transportation and buildings with a guide dog that is supposed to be able to travel freely. Emma’s blindness would absolutely not be a big help to her in bringing her dog places where it is not allowed. In showing Emma getting away with bringing her dog into restaurants when he is explicitly not a service dog, the author is contributing to a huge myth that prevents actual service dogs from traveling freely. Yes, this is only a book and it probably isn’t falling into the hands of someone powerful — however, it has probably been picked up by a business owner, a driver for public transport, a teacher, etc.

5. Avoiding words like see and look —

Emma avoids words like see and look. She also gets angry at her friends for using such words. At one point, Emma’s friend says something and Emma snaps, “I can’t see”. This prompts her friend to, according to Emma, never make that mistake again. Toward the end of the book, Emma is still avoiding such words.

Here is a list of misconceptions about blind people. Look at #6.

Here is another review of this book that also touches on this issue. The reviewer states: “The strange thing is that I’ve never known any blind person avoiding the use of words like “see” or “look.” Again, I’d hate for sighted people to read this book and think that blind folk all avoid words with visual associations; in fact, the only blind friends I talk to moan about sighted people avoiding the use of such visual words because they think we’ll be offended!”

6. All Blind People Are Apparently Totally Blind —

At one point in the story, Emma attends a school for the blind. Another character, who I think was Emma’s mother, says that the campus is beautiful. Emma makes this remark: “Why bother making a school for the blind beautiful? It’s lost on everyone anyway.”

Wow, Emma, that was rude. This is another example of where Emma’s pain and anger cause issues for readers. If they take this at face value, they may think that blind people don’t notice or appreciate beauty. More importantly, they might also assume, like Emma, that all blind people can’t see. As I have stated many times on this blog, most blind people have residual vision. Not everyone is totally blind. This is why, like beautiful grounds, schools for the blind also have things like stairs with high contrast.

7. Subtle Use of the Idea That People With Low Vision Should Rather Strain Themselves Than Be Blind —

This one was less obvious for me. However, once I thought about it again, I understood what I was reading in this character. There’s a rather outgoing character named Seb whose personality is very refreshing in this story. Seb attends the school for the blind with Emma. Seb has low vision.

So Seb wants to get a job. Remember how Emma was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get a job now that she is blind?

Instead of showing Seb getting a job to prove that idea wrong, he knows he has to conveniently not mention being blind when he applies, showing up in sunglasses and without a cane. The book states he worries he wouldn’t be able to fill out the application.

Here is what the book states:

[Quote] “He got hired without telling any of the guys who ran the place that he wasn’t sighted; I know because he had confided in me and Dee the week before that he wanted the job—if friend worked there and said they had an opening—but Seb was worried he wouldn’t be able to fill out the application. So he showed up one night before closing time, wearing sunglasses and not carrying a cane, and asked all casually if he could grab and application and bring it back the next day.

And he spent all night filling it and brought it back the next day. He didn’t mention that he was blind or that the application had taken six hours to finish with the help of his sighted brother.” [End quote]

Seb has no obligation to reveal any personal information to them. If he wants to fill out the application on his own time, in a way in which he feels comfortable, that is fine. However, the book implies he thought he would not be hired if they knew he was blind. Rather than talk about the employment discrimination that is such a huge problem for blind people, the book decides to skip over this. And rather than address Emma’s fear-based expectation that she will never get a job, presumably because she doesn’t think blind people can do anything, the book ignores it.

Seb getting a job, especially in this way, does absolutely nothing to assuage Emma’s fears. Or challenge any possible low expectations the readers may have.

Seb fills out the application by himself and it takes six hours. Six. Hours. His brother also helps him eventually and it still takes that long. No one I know, even with intense internalized ableism, would sit there for six hours doing something like that.

Seb should be using a magnifying device or a scanner app. There is tons of technology out there for people with low vision and the author chose to include absolutely none of it in the book. Instead, she chose to show a character struggling for six hours without exploring his reasons for doing so. Does he do this because of internalized ableism? If yes, how can the same character tell Emma the school will get rid of her “Poor Blind Kid bullshit”?

Now, in some families and some cultures, it would be more appropriate for a family member to help. However, the author tells us nothing more about Seb’s culture, his family life, or his motivations. I assume he did not ask for his brother’s help until later, because I can’t fathom why having a family member help from the start would take six hours.

Why is a character doing this in a story that is supposed to be about adjusting to blindness? Clinging to his remaining vision instead of using a few adaptive tools to make things easier on his eyes hardly makes him a good role model for Emma. Why is a character modeling independence in this specific way? In a way that tells Emma that it is better to struggle with a little vision than to be totally blind?

This is reinforced when Emma says some kids, including Seb, pass well. This is something that cannot be given nuance unless it is written by someone who experienced it. Otherwise, the story shows Emma over and over again that being blind is bad. Undesirable. Which is ableist.

Do people struggle with this? Absolutely. Did the author write it well? No.

And Here Are a Few Things That Could Have Been Done Better

In this section, I wanted to go over things I thought could have been done better. They aren’t necessarily harmful, but I wanted to mention them.

Sunglasses

The main character wears sunglasses when she goes out. This is likely because she has a scar she feels self-conscious about, but this is still a big stereotype that the author could have taken more care with.

O&M Issues

So Emma has someone come around to teach her orientation and mobility, which was nice. The author put in her research here as well. However, the instructor leaves after a time, which seems odd. Rather than work with her around her schools or other locations, he decides she has learned all the basics. I received O&M training until university.

Now Let’s Examine The Blind Characters vs Tropes

In this section, I want to go over the biggest tropes in the stories structure, the number of blind characters, and what I normally advise to get around these issues. We’ll see how this advice compares to how the book turned out.

So, the things to look out for are:

-tokenism

-blind characters going blind through trauma

-blind characters being sad about being blind

Examining Tokenism

Emma is not the only blind character. The blind characters include: Emma, Sebastian, Dee, and Annabelle. I normally say to have one other blind character at minimum. The book meets that requirement.

Examining Blind Characters Going Blind Through Trauma

I also normally suggest avoiding characters going blind through trauma, especially main characters. If the writer would like to go ahead with this, I normally suggest 2 or 3 other blind characters who didn’t go blind through trauma. With 2 as the minimum. I admit, I prefer the main character not to be the one going blind through trauma, simply because the main character has so much power in the perception of the reader.

Let us examine each character.

Emma - went blind through a traumatic fireworks accident

Sebastian- unknown

Dee - unknown

Annabelle- went blind through Retinitis Pigmentosa

On the topic of Dee and Seb, Emma does mention they may have better hearing, which she claims you only have if you lose your sight before the age of ten. We can guess that Dee and Seb both went blind in early childhood or were born blind, but we aren’t sure. What I want here is explicit confirmation that other characters didn’t go blind through accidents. We only get that with Annabelle and her RP.

Not only that, but the other blind characters are not in the novel as much. Annabelle only shows up at the end, seemingly as a way for Emma to help another recently blind person to show how she has developed. Seb and Dee are only in a few chapters, mostly as flashbacks. They don’t get much backstory or development either.

However, it fills my minimum requirements, so I’ll let it pass.

Examining Blind Characters Being Sad About Being Blind

This is literally Emma throughout the entire book. Until the last few chapters.

Annabelle has a similar, shorter arc, although she is only 9 at the time. Annabelle comes in near the end of the book.

It is normal for people to need an adjustment period, particularly if they are young. However, to have the entire book consist of Emma being sad and having trauma focused mostly on her blindness is not something I’m okay with. Especially because, as I wrote in this post, it can leave non-blind readers with a very negative impression of blindness. Again, why would I want to read about this arc from an author who isn’t blind? Why make the entire book about adjusting to blindness?

Anyway, then we have Seb and Dee.

There characters were refreshing in this story, which is mostly Emma being sad and angry.

Dee doesn’t seem to be sad, but we don’t know much about her. She does seem well adjusted and laidback. She and Seb go skiing, so that’s something.

Sebastian gets a little more attention in the story. He does tell Emma the school for the blind will knock the “BPK bullshit” or “Poor Blind Kid bullshit” right out of her. I thought it was funny. Sebastian also has a big personality and interests outside of moping about being blind. He enjoys skiing and, according to Emma, he would have no problem with presenting on the Lighthouse For the Blind in front of people who aren’t blind, unlike Emma, who struggles with calling attention to her blindness. Which I can understand, what with the awkward questions her sighted classmates give her.

However, Seb also has an issue with hiding or fighting against his low vision in some parts of the story. If Sebastian were the main character, I could understand some of the things he does. However, this does not go well at all with Emma’s arc.

Anyway, Seb and Dee don’t get nearly enough time in the book for me to feel 100% comfortable using them as exceptions.

How Would a Sensitivity Reader Help?

If I were doing a sensitivity read for this book, I would suggest including more about Seb and Dee and the school for the blind. I would have explained that the way the story sidelines them shows Emma is not okay associating with her blind friends. I would have asked for more backstory, more contrast between them and the main character, and possibly a few more blind characters Emma met at the school for the blind.

If the writer was insistent on having Emma go blind in an accident, I would have suggested reducing the time she spent depressed and shifting the focus from her blindness to her traumatic accident. I would have had the author work harder to separate the two, even if it took Emma a while to do so. I would have also suggested reducing Emma’s remarks or have them called out. For example, her comments about not being able to get a job or beautiful schools being lost on blind people. Sebastian would have been excellent in this role.

I would have worked with her to either get rid of or subvert the list of stereotypes. Most of them are easy fixes.

I would have told her blind people don’t use canes in their houses. I would have given suggestions for assistive technology for Seb to use. I would have helped her with the section on trauma and blindness, reducing or erasing a lot of the issues I included there. I would have suggested giving Emma an arc that isn’t entirely about adjusting to blindness, even if her story starts with going blind.

I probably would have seemed nicer about my feedback because the author still had opportunity to make changes.

The author could have done more research on stereotypes and cane usage, but I think there is an important lesson here about the benefits of sensitivity readers.

In the end, a sensitivity reader would have fixed most of the problems in this story, despite the amount of research the author did. Research cannot always teach you everything and that is where a sensually or authenticity reader comes in. Moreover, there is a certain respect in involving communities you are representing. In paying them in money or exposure. In listening to their voices and respecting what they say. If the author was willing to learn Braille and sit with blind people to learn about canes and technology, why did she stop at getting sensitivity readers? Why does it feel like she didn’t want to include the blind community in any meaningful way?

I hope this helps someone.

-BlindBeta

#blind person reviews a review tag #book talk ; let’s review published books #review #blind representation #blind #blind characters #writing blind characters #trauma narrative #stereotypes #blind tropes #eye trauma #ableism

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