#in character negativity cw

[astrcthesiai-archived]

📚 my muse’s past/childhood (for Chrome too in case it didn't send)

For another reason, it was a little harder to make Chrome's past/childhood.

Under the read-more is triggering content and ideation for one's death in character. It's something I feel Chrome would say.

I did not want to make it too bloody, so I went with the Tokyo ambulance picture and a generic picture of an accident. The stray cat she saved was a stray she passed by every day going to and going back from school. For my Chrome, it was a black cat with heterochromia, representing misfortune and omen. For other portrayals of Chrome, it could probably be a white cat with heterochromia, which also represents misfortune and omen, sometimes luck. She does not regret saving it. She felt a kinship for the cat she saved.

"I think I was the happiest in my life when I saved the cat. It was then I also knew I came to the end of [REDACTED] Nagi. It was not like my parents would miss me. They ignored my presence and continued with their careers. I knew my mother's answer the moment she was asked to donate one of her kidneys and a piece of her liver. And I was happy."

[elderscrollsconfessions]

i am so tired of all the cicero thirst. he is arguably the most annoying character in skyrim. his voice is heinous, he's so small u could squash him like a bug (this is not a good thing), he's a clown, he looks so awful, like run over by a horse awful. i think everyone who likes him has, quite possibly, the worst taste in the world.

[thecruellestmonth]

Batfam™ posts are like

What are the BATFAM™'s favorite drinks?

Dick: sparkling hibiscus nectar infused with pistachio honey (bubbly and sweet just like him 💙) served in a World's Best Big Brother mug that was chipped in a hilarious incident when all three of his beloved siblings got into a wacky swordfight and sunshine big bro Dick had to make peace between them because he's a loving mother hen

Jason: vodka mixed with Earl Grey tea—in Crime Alley, street rats only ever drink alcohol because they're uneducated and miserable, but Jason also drinks tea because he's now elevated above his lowly origins (how quaint! He's Not Like The Other Poors) and to symbolize how much he LOVES his rich family

Tim: COFFEE!! brewed from a special blend of extra caffeinated Arabica beans, mixed with hazelnut non-dairy creamer (lactose hurts him just like everything and everyone in his life 😔) and one sugar cube for every hug he's ever gotten from his parents in his entire life (none) and also his tears

Damian: lemonade colored pink with Tim's blood (now Tim is dying of blood loss and it's all evil Damian's fault! how dare Damian be so cruel to Tim in this terrible scenario that I made up in my own head)

Babs:

Cass: water

Steph: water (with a bendy straw lol she's such a character)

Duke: water

[tokintormin]

read trigger warnings before reading. tw internalized xenophobia, generational trauma

Please understand that this is the character's flaw, not an actual hate speech on any enthnical group.

[gethoce]

Birth

[galedekarios]

that interview is driving me insane i've been thinking about it for the past hour and i still can't wrap my head around it. i think what really gets under my skin is it just... contradicts with the text of the game. the most positive possible reading of the ending where gale blows himself up is that it was an unavoidable tragedy dictated by fate but even that's a stretch. to say it's a good ending?? or a satisfying conclusion to his arc?? i call bull. it's more infuriating because there is such a clear good ending for gale's character arc and it's the professor ending! his arc was about learning to accept himself as he was, to value who he is as he is flaws and all, and he's done that in the professor ending! and the god of ambition ending is a bad end for him but still ties into his overall arc in a satisfying if sad way (imo). the ending where he dies just... doesn't. which is fine as a tragedy but to imply it isn't exactly that, a tragedy, is wild to me. and it being so blatantly contradictory to the actual events of the game makes me think that whole thing was just catering to people who hate gale which like... why? people who don't like him don't care about his story so why pander to them like this?

uhg. i am sorry for blowing up your inbox like this i just feel like i'm gonna rip my hair out and need to express that to a fellow gale appreciator. i love gale's epilogue SO MUCH it made me feel for a bit like maybe the writers had actually changed how they felt about him but. nope! silly of me to hope for that. wish i could memory wipe that whole interview from my brain dark urge style.

don't be sorry at all! 🖤 i feel the same way in a lot of ways. altho i feel the need to mention that gale's writer, jan van dosselaer, was not involved in this interview.

i started to make a meta post about this yesterday, but reading things like this from gale:

act ii [after elminster] Player: An old man with a craving for cheese. Hardly the great wizard of legend. Gale: A wizard doesn't reach Elminster's age without enjoying their home comforts. Those who seek danger over cheese don't tend to live as long. Gale: For Mystra to have sent him... The severity of her bidding could not be clearer. Or weigh more heavily on me. devnote: reflecting on mystra sending elminster, of all people - a powerful individual, becoming reflective. Gale: Time seems so infinite when you are young... a month is an age, a year is a lifetime... it is a strange feeling, to realise how little of it one might have left. Player: You're seriously considering doing what Elminster said?   Gale: Of course - he offered the clearest solution to our problem. All I have to do is find the right place and time, close my eyes, and let go... devnote: Trying to sound upbeat, not fully engaging with what he's saying (that he's going to kill himself). Gale: Then the slate will be clean, wrongs will be righted, the Absolute will be gone... devnote: Trying to sound upbeat, not fully engaging with what he's saying (that he's going to kill himself). Gale: ...and I along with it. devnote: Still trying to sound upbeat, though this time the reality that this means he will die weighs a bit heavier

and:

act ii [act ii romance scene] Gale: I am terrified - I will not claim otherwise. My face could scarcely conceal it even if my words sought to deny it. nodecontext: Hushed, vulnerable Gale: There is no point in running from the inevitable. Better to meet it, on my own terms. nodecontext: Resigned

as well as this:

act ii [act ii friendship version] Gale: Yes... but there is so much to live for, and so few moments in which to house it all. Gale: Damn you. Damn you for giving me so much to care about. Our friends, our adventures... this would have been so much easier if it was just me. But it isn't. Gale: If there is a way - any way - to save all that's grown dear to me, I want to seize it. I just cannot fathom what that might be, other than to fail Mystra and condemn the world. Gale: Stay with me, will you? I don't want to think of it any more, but I don't want to be alone either.

act iii [before the netherbrain] Player: Gale... I think we should consider using the orb as Mystra intended. To blow up the Netherbrain. Gale: I'm getting rather tired of how often those I care about seem to reach the same conclusion.

when you have this:

and i just... couldn't finish the meta.

it's absolutely beyond comprehension for me how anyone could try to frame this as an ending that is the right one in "many ways", as the "guy who starts off annoying everyone", eating your "most priced possessions", having to "give back to the world".

for the founder of the company to say he wasn't "ready" the "first time", but he's finally "ready" now.

gale's death isn't only unnecessary, an instruction given to him by his former mentor on the behalf of a goddess, who would've sacrificed not only him but thousands of others to achieve her own goals, he doesn't want to die. he's terrified. he wants to live. he is offering this because he believes that his time has run out. because he wants his death to have purpose if it must happen. because he feels he made a mistake far bigger than he can ever make up for. because he doesn't want others to waste their chance at life like he feels he has. the will he leaves behind in the epilogue if he sacrifices himself isn't finished because he thought there would be more time. i could go on and on.

and again, the question is too... for what exactly does he need to "give back to the world"?

being perceived as annoying after coming out of what is presented as isolation and depression? asking for help with a now chronic impairment that feeds on his very soul and wreaks havoc on his body? for making a mistake? by that logic every companion deserves the same fate.

which brings me to the contrast to how most of the other companions are framed in this interview: k*rlach, "the labrador of the party". l*e'zel, "she's so young". ast*rion, "much of what he does it out of fear". sh*dowheart, "the jason bourne" and "victim of religous trauma". w*ll, "the true baldur's gate hero".

the difference is staggering. there's empathy here. there's at least a surface level understanding and/or appreciation of the characters there.

...and then you have gale.

it's alienating and disappointing to see devs have so little respect and care for their own character, as well as for the parts of their fandom who have grown attached to the character exactly for the strengths and flaws he has, for the struggles he faces and for the healing journey he can have if he is helped and lives.

[teakoodrawz]

" I'm a Psycho, loving it~ "

[cdroloisms]

characters who logically assess a situation and choose to minimize harm but cannot eliminate it entirely evil and ruthless and bad for not being able to do the impossible; characters that purposefully choose to act in ways that do harm because of decisions that are made irrationally/emotionally excused because of their mental state. characters who outwardly react are good and characters who keep things to themselves are emotionless monsters. incompetence is absolving and being highly capable makes one inherently more responsible and therefore more to blame. self-preservation is morally wrong and selfish dont you care about everyone else don't you care enough to throw your life away. the worst thing someone can be is cold, to take things seriously, to give enough of a shit to stop fucking around and not enough of a fuck to let half their damn people die for the sake of one etc etc etc forever. ARENT WE TIRED ???? ARENT WE TIRED OF THIS

[realmyths]

So....I'm facing an issue and I'm not sure what to do about it. As I said in my last post, following back is rather slow on this blog. And I wouldn't mind if it wasn't for the fact that I have threads in my drafts currently for some people who haven't followed back. So I'd feel weird doing those drafts. That said, I'd also feel weird sending them an ask letting them know I moved. So...what do you all think I should do? I've posted on the old blog about this one, and it's even my pinned post. I don't want anyone to feel forced to follow back, of course. But I feel like most people don't realize I've moved blogs. Or maybe I just want to give them the benefit of the doubt because I really want to write with them.

I've adjusted my rules and if they've been consistently online yet haven't followed back in a month, I'll unfollow. Of course, I worry this seems a bit harsh, but I can no longer stare at people's blogs longingly wishing they'd follow back. Of course, people can change their minds and follow me if they want to at a later date, and then I'll follow back. I just can't do the waiting for months and months to (maybe) get a follow back, maybe not.

Anyway, I'm wondering if it would be considered rude or somehow bad to send a (kind) ask to some of the people who haven't followed back, just to let them know I've moved blogs. I don't want to freak people out or anything. It would just be like something along the lines of 'hey I've moved. I would appreciate if you would follow me here but if not that's okay too. Just wanted to let you know, that I will unfollow those who haven't followed me back but have been online consistently after giving them a month to follow back. I wish you all the best <3' Something like that. That said, I don't know if that would actually do anything, or if I should just wait and then unfollow as I say in my rules if they don't follow back. <3

[neon-moon-beam]

Not Again: Ableism Post-Teal Mask Edition

Hey, how about NOT being ableist towards Carmine and Kieran?

We've already dealt with N and Submas experiencing this since Gen 5's initial run, we've dealt with Volo and then Nemona, and definitely more but those are the big ones.

Lately there seems to be this tendency of people to want to diagnose every character and you don't actually need to give every single character an armchair diagnosis right out the gate. While representation is important and some characters have enough in their characterization to suggest an illness or disability, or even seem outright coded, not every character is, or needs to be. If a character strongly resonates with your experience with an illness or disability, that's one thing; many autistic people feel seen and validated by Submas, for example. But if you're grasping at straws or stretching a character's actions or situations to make them "fit" a diagnosis, it often comes across more as pathologizing characters rather than humanizing them. It's important to not only think about why you want to portray a character this way, but whether or not it fits with their characterization and if you're using it to show an accurate portrayal, or if you're just using it to excuse/dismiss their hurtful actions, or even demonize the character.

Spoilers for the Teal Mask DLC ahead. CW for ableism.

There's a huge difference between say, Submas who are so heavily autistic-coded you'd have a harder time arguing they aren't, and someone like Kieran who shows rejection sensitivity that may or may not be a symptom of something else, or Carmine, who appears explosive and a cruel bully, but it turns out her anger comes from places of worry as well as being angry about innocent people and Pokemon being wronged. Her decision to not tell Kieran they met Ogerpon was because she knew how much Ogerpon meant to him and how bad he would feel knowing he missed her. People have been quick to decide she has low or no empathy, when the game literally shows her having a lot of it! We also don't know Carmine and Kieran's whole stories yet. We're going to see them at Blueberry Academy next (and Kieran does tell the player that Carmine does everything for him there, which is a reason he wants to get stronger). We don't know why they're going to school there, if they have friends there or a community or if they’re outcast and bullied, or where their parents are. Their attitudes, actions, or even potential symptoms may be situational. Carmine certainly appears to be acting out to the threat of her hometown being overrun by tourists (and considering how tourism tends to impact places and its locals IRL, can you blame her?) Kieran has the conflicting situation of his sister looking out for him at school for reasons we haven’t seen yet, while also verbally cutting him down. He also identified with Ogerpon even before the player arrived at Kitakami, and maybe even projected onto her for a reason. There’s a potential for a lot to be going on here without either of them needing an instant armchair diagnosis before their story arcs are complete.

A character desperate for friends doesn't necessary indicate a personality disorder, especially when their backstory is that they were left out, bullied, or even considered an outsider to a degree in the town they grew up in. Someone like Nemona or Kieran wanting to have friends after experiencing a lot of rejection and isolation doesn't instantly mean they have a personality disorder, and even if the story ended up indicating that they did, that does not give anyone the excuse to write them as "scary" or "yandere". Personality disorders are complex in potential causes and how they manifest, and using them as shorthand to write a character being a "yandere" or abusive is ableist.

And once again, it is time to bring up the subject of “feral” or “unhinged”. Whether or not Carmine has anger issues that can be given a diagnosis or Kieran has a personality disorder or anything else that can be diagnosed doesn’t matter here. Making characters “scary and unhinged” for experiencing basic human emotions is…dehumanizing. When you decide Carmine should snap and go around hurting people, you actually sound just like the people in Kitakami who are ostracizing her and whispering behind her back, making her feel like she has no place in her own community. And the same with Kieran. The last scene of the storyline in Kitakami has him vowing to defeat the player. It comes off as a bit creepy, but it doesn’t mean he’s supposed to have been a creep all along or is turning into one; from a developer/storytelling perspective, it’s literally just creating suspense for the Indigo Disk story. While Kieran is shown to be rejection sensitive, jealous, self-isolating, and at times inconsiderate (Carmine had to remind him that Ogerpon’s feelings on who she should travel with mattered too), he’s also a kid. We don’t have an exact age, but my impression was he might be a bit younger than the player. Carmine does mention him having “teen angst” but it could be a joke as she herself is a teen claiming to be over it, and it could be one of those “older kid jokes about younger kid as though older kid is an elderly person” type of jokes. But if he is a teen, he’s a younger one, and he still has a lot to learn about managing his emotions and expressing himself constructively. Nobody is always mature about that at 13 (heck, there are adults who lack emotional maturity altogether). He shouldn’t be expected to react maturely every time to things that upset him, and he shouldn’t be pathologized or considered “unhinged” every time he doesn’t. Depicting him as “unhinged” also detracts from his positive traits that we see in conjunction with, or even in spite of his negative ones. He’s jealous of the player character’s strength and skill, but he doesn’t actually resent them, despite becoming obsessed with the idea of defeating them. Ogerpon was bonding more with the player, but he still decided to help with the situation with the masks and the Lousy Three. He’s jealous that Ogerpon wanted to go with the player, but he’s still happy for both of them. It’s much more likely that we’ll see him mature as a person and recognize his own strengths independent of Carmine and the player at the end of the Indigo Disk then see him become a “madman consumed by jealousy and pursuit of power”, because Pokemon doesn’t really tell stories like that, and certainly not with non-villain characters! And if Carmine and Kieran end up fitting a diagnosis for an illness or disability, continuing to depict them as “unhinged” based on those traits is very ableist. I and others have said it in regards to Submas so many times, but it’s true for other characters too.

And this is by no means an exhaustive list of examples of the ways people are being ableist after the Teal Mask DLC has released.

With all that said, a headcanon diagnosis doesn’t excuse a character’s actions that have hurt others, and neither does a character who’s acting out is situational. Carmine still lashes out at Kieran and hurts him, even when her intentions are to protect him. Kieran still ended up causing the revival of the Lousy Three and put the player and Ogrepon in an uncomfortable situation, and will likely put the player in an uncomfortable situation at Blueberry Academy. In the end, they’re characters being portrayed with virtues and flaws, and that humanizes them much more than slapping on a diagnosis and absolving them of every hurtful action, and certainly much more than slapping a diagnosis on them and in turn using it to demonize them. And if you’re really interested in writing characters with mental illnesses and/or disabilities, and especially if it’s not based on your own experiences, you need to do some actual research, not just watch a few short videos listing symptoms by a non-professional on the video app du jour. If you’re not sure where to look, Wikipedia articles cite their sources at the bottom of the article; you can read the page you’re interested in, but please check out the cited sources too!

Sadly, this is at least the third time in just under three years that people have immediately started depicting characters introduced, or reintroduced in Pokemon, in ways that have ended up becoming ableist. It’s disappointing and disheartening to see, and to be honest, it gets tiring for those of us talking about the issue to keep talking about it. Many of the people making the ableist depictions aren’t personally affected by the issues they misrepresent, and they can just post their art or fic, and continue on their way. But for those of us who have the illnesses and/or disabilities being misrepresented, even misrepresented as entertainment, we can’t just log off and go on our way. The reality is a series, characters, or even fandom that could be our break from everyday life, and should be our refuge, instead has a fandom that  just plays out our everyday difficulties for laughs, brings up our trauma as an excuse to write a character as “haha unhinged! ooh feral!”, treats characters the way so many of us were treated by bullies, by parents and teachers who didn’t understand, and ends up alienating us from a space that should be ours, a space some of us helped build, only to have to leave as others made it unfriendly to us. It gets so tiring to have to avoid content that should be enjoyable but isn’t, to have friends ask, “Is this really how others see me?” when yet another autistic-coded character is portrayed as unhinged and creepy, or to have them tell you how yet another fic or art dehumanized them via their favorite characters, to watch people describe a character the way your peers once described you as they made fun of or ostracized you for your neurodivergence. It’s tiring to have other fans of the same series make a space alienating, inaccessible, or even antagonistic towards you, instead of fostering community.

Come on people, please do better.

Thank you for reading my post and your consideration. And if you think other people would benefit from reading this, please give it a reblog. Likes don't do anything as tumblr has no real algorithm.

[constellaris]

i'll say this very openly

i don't care how many threads we have or if none of them get "finished". i don't care how many threads end up dropped by either of us. i just love writing with you guys. we could have one or a thousand threads.

i don't care how fast or slow you reply. take your time. your health and anything real life comes first.

i'm always here if you need someone to talk to. always. i may be scatterbrained with dms a lot of the time and even worse with threads, but please don't ever forget i care about you .

now something a little less feel good

i do not fucking care who ships what as long as it's not forced on me in any way. stop treating people like shit over it. grow up. it's why blacklisting tags is a thing and why i myself do it nowadays to protect myself from content i do not like even if my friends like it.

do not fucking come into my inbox with "x does this which means they approve of x". holy shit i don't care. unless i hear it from them i won't believe you.

i am purposely staying away from any drama or shit like that. let me enjoy my damned hobby and time spent with people i consider friends. you don't like someone i write with? i do not fucking care. unless you're already my friend and you're showing me someone is genuinely dangerous, fuck off.

[realmythsmoved]

I think another reason I'm getting the urge to move blogs is...harder to articulate, but I'll try. It'll most likely be long, though, so I'll put it under a cut.

As I mentioned, I am putting a ton of pressure on myself to be active and present on this blog. This is not caused by anything or anyone else. I'm just putting it on myself.

But there's also a feeling of...insecurity? about my place in the RPC. And again, this is on me. It's not the fault of my wonderful RP partners, who I absolutely adore. It's just...I feel like no one would notice if I did leave. By creating a new blog, I'm trying to give those who want to go, if they do, a chance. However, I genuinely love all of my mutuals and don't want anyone to unfollow/go. I think this is why I try to be as active as possible, responding to threads whenever I possibly can. Because I'm worried that if I didn't, people would forget me.

Again, not the fault of any of my RP partners. And moving blogs might not fix this, either. IDK. I just feel like I'm not a very....necessary presence here. Like...people rp with me, and I'm sure they do it because they want to. But it's still hard to convince myself of that. Even though I know it's most likely true, it's still difficult to believe.

But, I will try. Because I do want to enjoy RPing again. And that's hard to do when, whenever I log in here I feel inadequate and insecure. However, that's on me for not realizing and finding a way to deal with these feelings earlier on. I should have. But now that I do know, I will try to believe that people actually want to write with me. That my blog is necessary in the RPC. That I'm not just someone people write with out of pity or just to be nice.

Again, this is not due to any of my RP partners. It's just how I've been feeling. And I wanted to get it out. I'm not sure what to do about these feelings. But I will do whatever I can to work on them. To convince myself of good things, instead of bad. It can be tough, but it'll be worth it in the end.

If you've read all this, thanks. And I love you. I'm not saying this to get sympathy or anything. I just wanted to get it out there, so that I can deal with it somehow. Thanks again for reading. And ILY <3

[boomania]

my head is filled with negative thoughts lately (i hate it)

be honest, you guys, is the current direction of my OCs' HSR verses (that being pathstriders of propagation) interesting enough for me to go down this path?

[flameimpaler]

[I'm going to run my blog how i want and if me setting boundaries makes you mad then kindly:]

[artistafrustadomain]

Could the QSMP fandom stop saying that "this character is the protagonist, and this character is the villain", I'm so tired of people saying that q!Cellbit is the protagonist, and q!Bbh is the villain, all the characters there are the protagonist of their own story, having different objectives, and having actions and consequences with their actions.

I also wish the fandom would stop saying that only q!Cellbit can solve puzzles, are you forgetting about q!Bagi? Even though it took hours she managed to find out who killed the federation workers, also q!Foolish investigating the same case of the death workers I don't even need to mention that arc where the furniture was stolen, Antoine, Aypierre, Tubbo, Pac, Fit and Niki got together to solve the riddles of the stolen furniture.

Basically what im trying to say is : stop underestimating the other characters

[xannerz]

its always surreal to me to see people praise s2 of centaurworld. s2 was so spectacularly bombastic and aimless and it ended in this awkward forgettable fizzle.

i feel like a dick saying it b/c i really do love the show lmao. or, at least half of it lmao (/stares at tnwk). gf and i've been thinking about rewatching it just to write out our thoughts on why s2 was such a poor follow-up to s1 - from the tone to the setup to all the worldbuilding the narrative had to offer in between the (far more) memorable songs of s1. idk. it's sad because cw really had the bones of a cult classic, but idek if you can call it that.

ive seen a few posts commenting on its lack of popularity, and i feel like it certainly deserves more, b/c i do feel like it's a novel idea made w/ love, but the shift btwn s1 and s2 wasnt just in the plot. there was a full-on *fracture* in the quality and direction and i'm still scratching my head over it. more than i should be, probably. but, it's just a bummer.