#like if they did that (and also imo did not have him condone what happened to max)

[thecommunityoftrustworthysinks]

rewatching black sails immediately after finishing it and i already miss how good we had it in season 4 (madi is there, vane is not,)

[dazzlerazz]

HI i just started my 72303094023234823058th skyrim playthrough and i absolutely need to talk about cicero bc all the hate from normie fans is so unwarranted imo? ok he's weird, so what. they're all literally assassins. killers. murderers. people die when they're killed by the dark brotherhood. how and why do you draw the line at a dancing clown?? besides, he was genuinely happy to be there. GENUINELY. imagine giving your life to the night mother and sithis only to go to the last remaining sanctuary in skyrim and find nothing more than a bunch of arrogant mercenaries who get their contracts by listening to gossip, basically. not only that, but they mock him, the actual keeper, capital K, and the night mother once they arrive. i ain't saying they deserve what they got, but also. what outcome were they expecting? they're lucky they lasted that long.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!!! THAANK YOU!!!!!!!

Also starting my quadrillionth skyrim playthrough lmao

People don't want to listen to Cicero and hear his story because they think he's a deranged murderer who needs to be put down. Look at yourself hon, you also joined the dark brotherhood, you're no different <3

He can be annoying at times, yes, but I don't think he needs to die for it. When I was a kid I thought he was annoying before I could really understand what was going on on a deeper level, I mean come on I was like 10! As I've grown up with the game I've seen that there's so much more to Cicero than haha goofy jester. I was too much of a wimp to get that far in the story line, but even if I did, I wouldn't have killed him

I could technically say Cicero did absolutely nothing wrong, since none of this would have happened if the PLAYER CHARACTER HADN'T JOINED IN THE FIRST PLACE, meaning they condone murder for money. But also there is that part where he kinda attacked Astrid and Veeja (I think that's his name, it's the middle of the night rn and I'm tired)

People who look at Cicero and just see an annoying jester are willfully ignoring his journals, the progression of the story, the tenets, and even Astrid herself when she lays there dying, saying Cicero was right. Willfully ignoring it

Killing Cicero even makes Sithis upset. If you summoned Lucien earlier and he's with you when you crawl through the Dawnstar sanctuary, he'll tell you that Sithis doesn't want Cicero to die, he wants him to live

EVERYTHING IN THE GAME is telling you to let Cicero live. Everything.

People just don't want to see it

On another note, as unique as each assassin is, I think Cicero adds that unique flavor that brings the whole family together. In a perfect world, Astrid would have seen the error of her ways and accepted Cicero, not betrayed the brotherhood, and the family would stay strong. But Astrid was too worried about everything she built. I don't like Astrid at all, most likely because she's the villain when I think about Cicero, but I do understand her point if view. Change is scary, two people came in and threw everything up in the sky. I get it, doesn't make it right

But even then, there's no Morally Right in the brotherhood. We're assassins, through and through, it's hypocritical to talk about morals

[dream-critical]

Idk just think it’s weird that Q hasn’t spoken out 🤷🏾‍♀️. People getting doxxed and mess (from what I’ve seen/ heard mainly Q’s “fandom” (sorry don’t know the right word to use)) for simply just for being excited for the USMP. Like he can’t just tweet “I don’t condone this” or whatever?

Even about the messaging thing. Haven’t MULTIPLE people tried and contact him with no response (besides Karl)? It is weird that a lot of people tried reaching out and not one response back just saying “I’m ok, just don’t wanna talk” or something.

But me personally (who hasn’t had the time to really look into this) I didn’t see it as “drama” I saw it as “hey this is what has been going on, and I’ve seen what has happened to the people in both communities”

Ok so I'm taking this at face value so if I'm interpreting anything you've said wrongly do feel free to correct me. And I'm sorry if my response seems all over the place I just wanted to reply as soon as possible.

I think in general it is unfair to expect quackity to reply. Is it the most emotionally mature thing to do? No absolutely not. And I'm sure he's aware of it as well. Do I think the whole situation is ridiculous? Yeah. Do I think it was the best move on Q's part? Probably not. Do I get why he did that? Also yes.

Anyway, I think that in a situation like this, where dream has said some pretty passive aggressive things about quackity, both on Twitter and on stream even when they were supposedly still friends, looked down on the things quackity has achieved, like with the streamer awards etc, Q actually does not owe dream a response. Replying to the other people who reached out would mean having to actually acknowledge what is going on and it would end with having to talk with dream as now others will have become deeply involved in this mess. And I genuinely do not think that dream is the kind of person that would actually listen to Q if they actually did sit down and talk but that's another conversation.

Dream also is known for ghosting people (like the way ccs on the dsmp couldn't do lore streams bc dream never replied to them etc) so the way he's reacting to this is just hypocritical to me and the way he has handled it is also very childish. He's basically forcing quackity to reply to him through peer pressure and by relying on his fans bothering Q about it it enough that he'll give up on keeping distance. Which also is not an emotionally mature reaction imo.

You're right the whole situation is a mess, I have even seen some people who claimed to be doxxed being proven false, and while I do feel very bad in case there are people that did actually get doxxed and hope they'll be able to move on from it soon, saying that the majority of the doxxers are Quackity stans is untrue as far as I know. Bc I've also seen lots of dream stans spreading misinfo, claiming everyone is suddenly from lktwt, claiming every person critisizing dream is racist.

Arguments about the usmp/qsmp are mainly rooted in the fact that some people get really vile about it and yes I'll admit some people who dislike dream do go a bit far. But at this point the majority of mcyt twt dislikes dream so it isn't just quackity stans.

I have seen people being straight up racist towards quackity bc of it. And perhaps you could argue I'm biased as someone who deeply dislikes dream but I think there's a lot more hostility coming from the usmp side of the argument.

Either way doxxing obviously isn't ok and I don't condone it and I hope everyone that got doxxers is safe and ok.

However I'd also like to add that the only reason this whole usmp Vs qsmp debate has been going on is bc dream couldn't stop mentioning quackity and the qsmp all the time so I'd say dream also has blame in this and I feel he should tweet something denouncing his stans harassing others instead of putting all the blame on someone else since he's so keen on putting pressure on Q.

Also would like to add that no matter what quackity does at this point, things will not change for the better as the situation has been escalated by dream like a lot.

[girlwithfish]

sorry idk if u literally wanted someone's opinion so if not u can ignore this:

imo he's mostly in the wrong but i can see where he's coming from to an extent? not that i condone his behavior or words at all, bc it seems pretty shitty and tone deaf of him from what you've revealed. rather i think it's bound to be messy to rush into a relationship directly after ending a previous one, especially an abusive one. from his perspective i can see that it's probably a lot of responsibility and pressure for a partner to take on so early in the relationship. like u guys are still just getting to know each other, u know what i mean?

but i think that kinda falls on him and he should've known better, bc it seems like he wanted to move things very quickly and rush into gf/bf territory knowing your recent past and vulnerability. and now he is getting annoyed bc it's not the cake walk he thought it would be. i believe u mentioned he's older too which makes it worse. i can't help but be confused by how he's acting... like i agree w/ u that he is unnecessarily making it about him and expecting you to magically get over your trauma after only a few weeks. what did he think would happen?

i wouldn't blame u if u broke up with him bc i think u deserve to be drama free and heal and live ur best life rn. wishing u the best and i hope u don't mind this message.

thanks for the input! yeah i was actually asking haha. just weird bc ive been pretty transparent and open about still dealing w stuff and not being "over" my trauma. i feel like hes underestimating the effects of abuse and thought id "get over it" even saying he thought id get over my ex the more i was with him which is weird. especially in the beginning when he seemed understanding and presented himself that way. and i think that hes conflating me not being over trauma w not being over a typical breakup which is strange to me and i felt he hasnt been very empathetic toward me. i get its a lot of responsibility but idg why he wanted to date me then or he thought itd just be easy.. just weird mixed signals from him and lack of understanding. like him suddenly being upset w me for sleeping when hes repeatedly told me he doesnt mind. and i feel im not asking him for much or i dont use him as emotional support much or really even talk about my trauma or ex this month (in the beginning we both talked abt our past relationships a lot but stopped) besides the one time a few days ago when my exs mother reached out to me and i was upset for maybe 30min to an hr when we talked abt it and he offered his input which i found unhelpful Idk. and this was triggered all by him asking how i am ystrdy and i said im not doing the best but im getting by and said i didnt need to talk abt it tho and then he said hes seeing me decline bc i still ruminate over trauma and said some weird stuff abt how he feels hes contributing and idek i said im just in a weird place rn and im working through it and then also brought up relationship stuff btwn us how i feel hes not putting as much effort to show he cares and he kind of blamed it on my sleep schedule then went on a whole thing abt me and my trauma and how hes realizing its serious trauma i "need to sit with" and idk i dont feel hes being very kind or understanding and just presumptuous about my own situation. if he didnt wanna be w someone in my situation he shouldn't have dated me and acted like he wants a relationship and "loves" me when he barely knows me. also hes the same age as me

[aemiron-main]

Maybe you considered it an hate ask, even if i just pointed out that you are not really enjoying a villain character if you have to make up theories about how in reality he did nothing wrong ever. I am a Griffith apologist ( i don't know if you know the character but he's quite famous and in his story he did things that make Vecna looks like a toddler) so i know that liking a villain doesn't mean condone those acts in real life, and i hate when others suggest it. But, like i said, you are not analyzing a villain, you're making up a new different character and even if there is nothing wrong with it (this is a fandom and there is content drought) you are a little too presumptuous, always going on defensive mode if someone finds your theories a stretch.

Alright, so, you sent me two asks (and you’re the person who sent this ask), so I’m going to paste the first ask below & then respond to both.

“ you can't enjoy a villain character without making up stupid streched theories about alternative dimensions and pushing them as canon, so no, yours is not a "normal fandom behaviour" and by the way Henry is literally just some bad guy, he's basically Dark Eleven. He's not that deep, he's not Griffith from Berserk (that's a fascinating no pluridimensional villain character that can be analyzed endlessly and he is actually queercoded, henry can't relate i fear 🫢) ”

Look, anon, first of all, if any of what you’ve said was prompted by my posting tonight re: Dani, you must have missed the multiple times where I said that I don’t care about Dani’s takes on Henry or on my analysis- what I DO care about is being accused of forgiving real-life rapists based on my analysis posting about a fictional antagonist.

Also second of all re: a hate ask, I mean, what was I supposed to call it when you opened it by calling my analysis stupid?

I’m not forcing you to read my theories. I don’t care if you believe them or not- you’re the one coming into my inbox making assumptions about me and telling me my analysis is a reach.

You are making a lot of assumptions in this whole writeup. I’m not incapable of enjoying a villain- I simply have evidence to support that Henry isn’t the villain/that things are deeper than what’s presented on the surface level of the show. Hell, I’ve already said repeatedly that Henry being Vecna doesn’t change my opinion on Young Henry not being born evil, and also doesn’t prevent me with sympathizing with him or enjoying him as a character.

However, I simply don’t believe that he IS Vecna. I know lots of people on here analyze based on what they want to be true, but that certainly isn’t the case for me. I analyze based on trying to figure out what’s actually going on in the show, regardless of what I want to be happening.

If I wanted to enjoy Henry and be a full on apologist for everything Vecna’s ever done, then I would. I don’t need to invent any theories to do that. But I don’t think he’s Vecna, and I’m having fun analyzing the Edward subtext. Did it never occur to you that I’m also an Edward enthusiast in terms of enjoying “””””villain”””””” characters??? Or that I enjoy Brenner *as a well-written villain* and as a representation of abuse of power and predation and abusive systems? Which doesn’t align with the idea that I’m simply trying to invent things about Henry so that he’s not the villain. (Sure, I’m not a Brenner fan in the same way taht I’m a Henry or an Edward fan, but that’s because they’re different characters and even Vecna is more sympathetic than Brenner imo, but again, that’s part of Brenner’s character and it’s a good, effective part of it.)

And I’m absolutely normal fandom behaviour- in what world is analyzing the piece of media that a fandom is centered around not “normal fandom behaviour”? And “pushing them as canon”- you mean posting them on my own damn blog and responding to people like you who come into my inbox about it or responding to the weird rapist apologist accusations like tonight? Because I’m not pushing a single thing. And even if I was, who cares! Block me if you don’t want to see it, instead of wasting your time chastising me for interacting with media in the way I enjoy most (analysis).

Like, analysis IS the thing I enjoy most about fandom. I’m not just doing analysis so that I can try and enjoy a villain by making him not a villain- I’m doing analysis because it’s one of my favourite things to do, and because I want to try and get to the bottom of what’s actually going on in ST.

Have you actually read any of the posts? Do you have specific criticism or questions that I can address instead of vague assumptions about me?

And also, I’m not “making up” any character. Again, have you read the posts? Edward Creel is mentioned by name, on screen, with his backstory and timeline written out on screen, and then I’m extrapolating from that using literary analysis techniques (such as looking at subtext and how that subtext is conveyed by elements like repetition, parallels, intertextuality etc) & pulling that sort of evidence from the show.

I don’t just sit there and think of random things that I want to happen. If that was the case, my analyses wouldn’t be full of evidence/screenshots of the show. Even if I’m wrong about my conclusions, I’m not just pulling them out of thin air.

Your claim that I’m not analyzing anything is completely false, even if I’m completely wrong about everything, I’ve still been doing analysis, you can still look through and see what connections I made and what evidence I used to make those connections and how I came to my conclusion based on what we see in the show.

Also, I’m standing outside right now and too damn tired to talk about Griffith because that’s neither here nor there.

Also RE: Henry not being queercoded, that’s honestly a whole other post on its own, but he definitely has significant queercoding- or do you just think that the rant about hating the standard stereotypical reproduction/expectations for relationships while standing in a room full of rainbows and then going on to talk about being “broken” and sent to a lab that has very strong conversion therapy parallels (with Brenner also being extremely similar to Robert Galbraith Heath but again that’s all a big post on its own but is something I’d be happy to expand on when I’m not literally standing outside waiting for a skunk to leave the front porch so I can go inside LMAO) and being extremely paralleled to Will, one of the main gay characters, was all a coincidence?

And also, it’s interesting that you’re accusing me of being presumptuous and too defensive when you’re the one who came in here making assumptions about me and calling me stupid. Of course I’m defensive sometimes- you would be too if you were being called an idiot rapist apologist and being told that your stupid theories are stretches every other day, all from people who haven’t even taken the time to try and approach those theories with an open mind.

I’ve responded constantly and politely and non-defensively to posts that are genuine questions or genuine criticism of my theories, such as in this post. But I don’t see why I should be expected to extend that same courtesy to people who can’t even extend me the courtesy of reading the posts they’re critiquing.

[sayruq]

Do you think Ned Stark ever realized how bad of a man Robert was? I know he condemns SOME of Robert's actions but it always seems to me that he never takes his King's actions as indicative of his character. He said nothing to Robert about hitting Cersei, his anger at what happened with Lady was lacking, he reconciled with him and Jon Arryn after Robert condoned a horrific war crime-Could he have ever realized how bad of a person Robert was in some weird alternate universe?

let me ramble lol

he did. a lot of the tension in ned's chapters is that he is struggling not to relive traumatic moments and robert's 'change' is making that hard for ned. they were brothers, they went to war together, they mourned lyanna together, they went to war together again. there's a lot of history and while a lot of it was painful, ned thought, despite growing evidence before tywin's 'gift', that robert was a good man. or at least ned made himself believe that. the thing about suppressing memories and feelings in order to be at peace with someone is that you have know why you're doing that even if you don't acknowledge it.

ned's life went to hell because of aerys, robert winning was supposed to set things right but immediately that illusion is shattered when robert looked down on the corpses of 2 babies and a woman who had done nothing wrong and more than condoned it, he defended it. he married into the family that did it. ned fought him but they reconciled- imo 50% because of jon and 50% because of ned's long friendship with robert.

i actually think that ned didn't stay in the north just to protect jon and because of his traumas, i think he was hiding away from the reality of who robert was. like sansa, who never sought joffrey out after lady's death despite their betrothal and the fact that they now live in the same castle instead of different camps, ned didn't seek robert out. he didn't visit him, robert didn't come to the north, and we can tell who is the one holding back between the two of them. people characterise ned's arc in agot as him realising just how badly things have gotten with robert as king and i used to think that too. now i think it's all about ned being forced to confront the truths he realised 15 years earlier and pushed aside.

BUT i also think that because ned is a man and robert's violence is often directed at women, he doesn't see robert as the lost cause that he is. ned loves robert. despite the babies laid at the foot of the throne, despite ned having to hide his nephew's existence, ned loves robert. he loves him enough to constantly give him chance after chance to prove himself. however there's also jon arryn's murder. would ned have forced himself to remain in king's landing without that hanging over his head? personally i think jon's death has the same function as sansa's betrothal.

ned and sansa are trapped in a situation where leaving is not easy. they're trapped with two violent people they're meant to love and serve. sansa actually ignored joffrey or didn't think about him unless they interacted. she feared and hated him until he was close by and she was reminded of why she's in king's landing so she clumsily rewrites events in her head and tries to cast joffrey as the perfect prince. it doesn't work well- she thinks about how he likes killing, she nearly forgets her betrothal when she was arguing with ned, she went to cersei for king's landing, not joffrey. while being interrogated she keeps saying she loves joffrey and its paired with heightened fear.

ned reacts in a similar way except that he's much older and therefore is constantly forced to confront robert's frankly evil acts. he sees robert hit cersei, he goes to a brothel where robert impregnated a child, he witnesses robert ordering dany's assassination, robert admits to hitting joffrey. everything wrong that robert does, he either does it in front of ned or tells him about it. the way ned moves past some of these things is partly due to misogyny, partly due to jon arryn's death, and partly due to his love for robert, and a lot of suppression.

how do you condemn someone you love? when robert ordered dany's assassination, it hit too close to home and it also was a different kind of crime compared to domestic violence and impregnating a child. that argument is ugly and a good reason why ned rarely ever disagreed with robert like that. condemning jaime is easier because ned has no emotional attachment to him. robert is practically the only other brother ned has left.

Ned's mouth tightened in anger. "Nor will I. Leave it be, Robert, for the love you say you bear me. I dishonored myself and I dishonored Catelyn, in the sight of gods and men."

with sansa, she barely spent time with joffrey before his true colours came out and her direwolf died. ned had many years of friendship with robert. it was far easier for sansa to hate joffrey than it is for ned. this is the core conflict of ned's chapters- not the murder mystery or even the starks vs lannister set up. it's robert.

i also think like sansa, ned was heading to a point of cutting ties with robert.

For a moment Robert did not seem to understand what Ned was saying. Defiance was not a dish he tasted often. Slowly his face changed as comprehension came.

"I wish him every success." Ned unfastened the heavy clasp that clutched at the folds of his cloak, the ornate silver hand that was his badge of office. He laid it on the table in front of the king, saddened by the memory of the man who had pinned it on him, the friend he had loved. "I thought you a better man than this, Robert. I thought we had made a nobler king." Robert's face was purple. "Out," he croaked, choking on his rage. "Out, damn you, I'm done with you. What are you waiting for? Go, run back to Winterfell. And make certain I never look on your face again, or I swear, I'll have your head on a spike!"

its kind of interesting how the circumstances keep ned in king's landing and around robert even as ned's getting closer to truly leaving him behind. meanwhile sansa does get to leave joffrey behind very quickly. everything ned gets close to doing, his daughter ends up doing it.

[footyleclerc]

So sorry for you having asshole in your inbox. As a new follower I agree everything you said in the last month (idk any posts older and I’m factual so I can’t say everything lmao). Luv you out there during truth XOXO.

Anyway (idk if it’s sensitive. Hope it doesn’t trouble you. Dun reply if you dun want) but Charles’ tweet saying he’s not into politics (that sometimes ppl cite to claim he’s racist and ignorant) is abt Salvini tweeting sth that may promote racism using his image. He’s literally publicly speaking against a rightist politician. How abt taking this into acc too? (Pissed)

Tbh idk much abt Max side tho. If you dun mind can you say abt him?

Salvini’s tweet: https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1279807459096436737?s=21

Charles’ tweet: https://twitter.com/charles_leclerc/status/1291399038697459712?s=21

Charles confirming his tweet’s meaning: https://twitter.com/charles_leclerc/status/1291403685751398400?s=21

Poor boi dk how to express himself.

hey sweet anon, thank you for all your kind words! any fan of Charles is a friend of mine :)

you've asked a very interesting question and since it's a sensitive issue I'm going to try to explain it in as non offensive a manner as I can soo bare with me! personally, I don't believe Charles and Max are racist. if you think I'm going to shit on them and say that they are racist, this ISN'T for you. DO NOT click on keep reading then.

okie, if you've made it here let's start!

CHARLES LECLERC

Matteo Salvini is an Italian politician, who was once the deputy Prime Minister of Italy. he stands for elections with a party called Lega Nord (Northern League), which is a right wing, federalist, conservative party. (tbh the party is pretty confusing cause their policies have kept swinging but they are right-wing under Salvini)

This is the tweet he posted: google translated - Never give up and never bend, always forward with your head held high!

Charles hadn't been taking the knee. Salvini used him as a forefront for his (anti-kneeling) agenda which Charles didn't like and on twitter he clarified:

but obviously people weren't happy with the response. almost all the replies to his tweet are branding him a racist because he didn't take the knee and his tweet was mistaken as him calling the BLM movement a 'political movement'.

luckily a fan could help him out:

still people remained unconvinced and have deemed him to be racist. in my opinion, kneeling is a show of solidarity with the cause but unless you actually want to learn, understand and make a difference, nothing will happen. you could kneel to please the world and still be a racist towards those in your personal lives.

with these professionals, you can rarely ever tell. unless it's individuals and organisations that are very open with their activism like Lewis, Seb, McLaren, Aston etc.

I don't think not kneeling makes Charles a racist. he has his reasons for doing so, and they are quite legitimate imo. he's a young guy who is constantly learning. he has said he likes to educate himself about matters before speaking out and honestly, I think that's very responsible!

MAX VERSTAPPEN

now, moving onto Max. this is where things get a bit messy and you can definitely disagree with me here.

so the reason why people accuse Max of being racist is due to an incident with Lance Stroll during FP2 of the 2020 Portuguese GP. they collided and in the heat of the moment Max said this (team radio):

"Is this f*cking guy blind? What the f*ck is wrong with him? Jesus Christ. What a r*tard. I have damage. What a mongol. I swear." (source)

this was definitely ableist and racist. no excuses, whatsoever. the article also shows how he said it, "wasn't his problem" which was also wrong but RB said they don't condone his words. it's a lil odd but very few on twitter spoke against him.

however, he apologized to Lance after the team had a talk with him. he admitted he made a mistake and while he didn't mean to offend, he certainly did. i am not excusing his actions, they were wrong and he should be held accountable, instead I'm appreciating his response.

you can scoff at that, but remember, not everyone has the awareness that certain language is wrong and offensive. not everyone has grown up in such an environment. cultural or language barriers, what you've been taught at home etc. also play a huge role in what you may think is right to say. don't want to get too into it but his father isn't so innocent in all this. what you hear and experience growing up impacts you massively and THIS is a great article on their relationship. well written and not too biased.

as an Asian and POC myself, I was upset when I heard his words and his apology also didn't make me happy. but seeing that he realised why it was wrong and not repeating it is something I am glad about (it's a small thing but if we want people to learn, you need to be patient).

we all make mistakes, it's how we respond to them that makes us who we are. Max hasn't repeated his errors, he's learned to be better and I think that's the most important thing. he has been so much more careful on his team radios and that's improvement.

I don't think those one or two moments define him as a person. he's much more than that. he's also a young person, learning about the world as he grows just like most of us, except he has the spotlight shining on him 24x7. instead of giving him a chance at redemption and learning, people are quick to attack him and I REALLY hate that. you can't expect people to improve if you're going to villianise them instead of help them learn why they are wrong.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don't think Charles and Max are racist. one has his reasons for not doing a symbolic gesture and one made a mistake from which he has learned. I am NOT excusing their behaviour though and will NOT defend or justify their mistakes. just cause they're celebrities doesn't mean they can't do wrong. it's an expectation we have of all drivers to be like current day Seb and Lewis but that's not possible!

at the end of the day, they're still young and may make a few more mistakes along the way that people will criticize, and that's okay. they will learn, improve and come out as better humans.

it's easy to bring up incidents from the past to hate on any driver, and I'm not expecting anyone to deem Charles and Max completely innocent. you can still not like them for whatever reasons but calling them 'racists' isn't right in my opinion. there are many things you can not like them for, as drivers or humans, but terming them something that serious due to an error, isn't right. you're judging a person's entire character on one choice, one mistake, and both these guys are sooo much more than that. they've learned to be better than that.

this doesn't mean I'm disregarding the racism that is existent in this sport, towards Lewis and Yuki especially. it is a valid problem, one that isn't getting any smaller. from the casual racism from the commentators to f1 media to even the teams being provocative, it's a legitimate issue that needs sorting out. my only point is, those that say racism and racists exist in the sport cause of guys like Max and Charles aren't being the most logical.

if you've made it this far, I hope you agree with me! I don't mean to have offended anyone, and if I unknowingly have, I am very sorry. that was not my intention. if you don't agree with me, feel free to have a polite discourse!

thank you for the question anon! and I hope I made my point clear :)

huge thank yous to @formulino27 and @fcb-mv33 for getting me through the writing of this <3

[makeste]

Can we have your opinion on the fifty or so points of discourse that have sprung up since the chapter leaked? Sooth my heartburnt head with your Colgate cool takes!

well all right then, I’m just going to run through some of these very quickly. and standard disclaimer, these are just my own opinions, blah blah blah, everyone is welcome to disagree on any or all points.

“Best Jeanist is an abuse apologist” - nah fam he’s just mad that Dabi is deliberately using his admittedly-fucked-up family history in order to attack not just Endeavor, but all of hero society.

“okay but hero society is bad and needs to be taken down anyway” -- well okay, but whether you think that’s true or not, the fact remains that Jeanist isn’t condoning Endeavor’s abuse here, he’s simply pointing out the hole in Dabi’s argument. that, and also, two wrongs don’t make a right. and the destabilization of society as a whole, coming right on the heels of a devastating attack in which the heroes were decimated and god knows how many civilians died as well, is not a great situation any way you slice it, and is going to lead to more harm in the immediate aftermath; Jeanist is not wrong about that.

“the other heroes watching the confrontation aren’t being sympathetic enough to Dabi’s tale of woe” -- the tale of woe in which he bragged about plotting to kill Shouto and Natsuo?? also, he set their friend on fire. he tried to set all of them on fire. people generally don’t like people who try to set them on fire, just as a rule.

“Shouto shouldn’t be taking Endeavor’s side” – Touya. tried. to set him and his friends on fire. plus, again, there’s that whole “plotting to kill me and my sibling” thing. but mostly it’s the “trying to murder everyone in the immediate vicinity” thing which is really forcing him to step in here and take action, guys.

“boooo, Mirio” -- what are you all talking about Mirio is great.

“what if Mirio is really Toga” -- or, hear me out, what if Mirio is really Mirio. I mean okay look, I’m not trying to bash on anyone’s theories. but from what I’ve seen, this particular notion mostly seems to revolve around people just really not wanting it to be Mirio. which is kind of rude to poor Mirio. plus, couldn’t we say this about any character pretty much any given week. what if Jeanist is secretly Toga. what if Burnin’ is Toga. I guess if nothing else, this theory is ripe for Among Us jokes.

“Eri getting control of her quirk makes her too overpowered” -- okay but it’s still not a magic “fix everything” switch, on account of she has to recharge it in between uses, which takes months. so that’s going to keep it in check imo.

“Eri is being used like a pawn/puppet by the heroes” -- Eri wants to use her power to help people. she spent her whole young life believing she was cursed, and it’s only recently that people have helped her to understand that that’s not true and that her power can be a gift. she is a sweet and loving child who wants to help others, especially the people who have sacrificed in order to help her, like Mirio. Eri restoring Mirio’s quirk is a development which gives her more agency, not less, because it means she’s finally learning to control her abilities. and she’s not being manipulated or taken advantage of in any way you guys, it’s clearly her choice.

“Horikoshi did Hadou dirty” -- actually agree here lol. but to be fair, she’s not the only one who got injured in this battle; everyone there has pretty much gotten their shit wrecked by this point, except for Iida. and I’m sure she’ll be fine, Horikoshi’s not going to kill or permanently injure her in any way. but I would have liked to see at least one female character still participating in the battle here and that’s pretty much out now, so boo to that.

“it’s bad writing, Jan” -- while you are by no means obligated to like any of these developments, disagreeing with something that happens in the manga does not automatically make it bad writing. also fwiw, I’m kind of boggled by the fact that not one month ago there was discourse about the Touya reveal being bad writing specifically because it was too predictable and everyone saw it coming. and now the fact that the Mirio twist came as a surprise to everyone somehow means that it’s bad writing as well. I’m just saying, lol; Horikoshi just can’t win here apparently.

“everyone just needs to chill” - actually this one’s not wrong! anyway so I guess I’ll end it on that.

[ficforthought]

On being SO DONE with M*sha, a rant a decade in the making!

After giving this some thought I'm going to go ahead and give my opinion on Misha and yesterday’s situation in public for the first time ever. I was going to just post on Twitter but since this has been 12 years in the making I have exceeded the number of tweets I can put in one thread! There’s A LOT in here, so my summary is also long. I'm aware that I will lose followers over this, I'm not looking to offend anyone but it will inevitably happen. I wish anyone leaving all the best as fellow human beings.

TL;DR - having kept quiet for so long I’ve finally reached my limit and it’s all come bubbling out. I’ve never been a fan of Misha, I’ve been ambivalent for the most part, but have never criticised him in any hateful way, that's not who I am, but after all these years of putting up with his bullshit, attention seeking and troublemaking I am DONE. Deleting his tweet containing the word Wincest and replacing it with an APOLOGY just to pander to his Minions and save face is the straw that broke the camel's back. He has consistently pushed his ship on not only fans but on other actors (despite Jensen's discomfort, and him having repeatedly made his feelings known on it), he has stood by while his Minions/Hellers have harassed, victimised, doxxed and sent death threats to people based on their FICTIONAL ships. He has pandered to their gatekeeping, constantly demanded attention in obvious and not so obvious ways, and to the best of my knowledge never criticised their actions even though he's aware of it in a very real way. Some of his Minions have now taken their shit into The Boys fandom and created negativity for Jensen before the guy has even got a foot through the set door, and how is that supporting one half of your ship?

Misha has claimed to be a victim of targeted harassment from Wincest/brother fans (not only shippers) yet his fans have said and done the most despicable things on his watch, all in the name of what he must think is entertainment, or even his idea of a ‘joke’.

Any respect I had for the man based on his humanitarian work has gone because I can only take so much hypocrisy. He and his pandering because of a desperate attempt to be woke and wholly inclusive (which is actually impossible, no matter how good intentions are) are beyond pathetic. Whilst I have never seen why people think he’s so great I have friends IRL and online who genuinely adore the man, yet they have been shocked and upset by his contempt for half of the fandom that made him somewhat famous. It's disgusting and I'm not scrolling by any more. Misha, I hope to never see you on anything J2 related in future because none of us need that kind of negativity, *especially* not J2. Be gone, foul fiend!

OK, so to the too long part. Please be aware that these are my opinions as a fan of the show, of Sam and Dean, and J2, not only as a shipper. I can separate canon and fanon, and can view canon from a gen or shippy PoV. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinion let me be clear that I do not condone constant bashing and hate of a person or character so this isn’t the start of a regular thing for me. It's possible to have an opinion and not show the same vitriol that has been following this man around for years, and that’s what I’m doing. I've not posted this to prompt more negativity, it's simply to get it off my chest and make it clear how I feel. I stand by my philosophy of ship who you want to ship, enjoy it, but don't force it on other people and don't be a dick about it…hmm, that kinda sounds like familiar behaviour, though, does it not?!

I have ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUE with other people liking Misha, Cas or Destiel when it’s for the love of the characters and the ship. What I *do* have an issue with is people who are the true definition of a Heller. I don’t see that as a generic term, don't be ignorant and think I do because I know the difference between actual ship fans and the crazies, both ships have ‘em and I want no part of either of their venom. If you are reading this and class yourself as a Heller then you are part of the problem so run along and as you are all so fond of saying, 'get help' and take your bestie king with you.

I’m stating my opinion in what I feel is the most mature way I can, because unlike many people on SM, I am an adult and can act accordingly, with forethought and without resorting to temper tantrums and bullying of other people to get my point across. I am able to tell the difference between reality and fiction, I don't tar everyone with the same shipper brush and I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinion, but as we know opinions are like arseholes, we all have them and sometimes they stink. Unlike some, for the most part in life (online and offline) I *do* stand by what I say and don’t backtrack or delete things to appease the masses. I have spent a lot of time writing this out to be as clear as possible without being intentionally hateful. Bear with me jumping between actor and character where relevant, at this point they're conjoined. I will say this before I go any further, it doesn’t end well for Misha, I don’t mince my words and if you don’t like seeing facts and opinions laid out, this isn't the post for you.

I’ll say right off the bat what most of you have surmised - I’ve never held Misha (or Cas) in high esteem but I have never *hated* on him. I have shared mild criticism of his actions and opinions on Cas over the years but never, I feel, in any way that has made me feel I have something to apologise for. I have said several times I've been unhappy about Misha crashing con panels, taking attention away from J2 when at those cons *most* people paid their hard earned money to see the STARS of the show they love, first and foremost, and anyone else is a very nice bonus. The odd appearance here and there crashing a panel is fine (and Misha isn’t the first or last person to do it), maybe take up a few minutes then leave, but when someone commandeers an entire panel, that's just not on. It's not only selfish, rude and attention seeking but also disrespectful to other actors, fans and to the organisers who work hard to make sure everything ties in to give us the best con experience we can have. Everyone gets their turn on stage, there's no need to try and hog any more of the limelight, Veruca Salt style. Oh, and if you’re reading this and not getting that reference, (a) you shouldn’t be on my blog because you’re far too young, (b) look it up, and if you still don’t get what I’m saying… well then please refer to point (a). Thank you, kindly!

There was a time in Kripke's era where Cas was - I feel - intentionally used as a pawn by the writers to divert *canon* from the ‘questionable’ relationship between Sam and Dean, i.e. Wincest focus. Prior to that people (other fans) lightened up and just accepted the fact that Wincest had been there since day one in terms of the writing of the show and the fandom. All the cast and crew knew - J2, Kripke and JDM in particular - and made light of it, never judging, never shaming and often encouraging it because they understand it’s a fun part of fandom. Wincest was present enough to be part of the not so subtle subtext, as I said people just accepted it. Kink tomato was alive and well, so was ‘don’t like, don’t read’ and we all just scrolled over things we didn’t like without turning everything into a personal vendetta and excuse for bullying others who didn’t share our views. When the angels came into the plot I think most of us Wincest fans gave the Dean/Cas innuendos the small laugh they deserved and then turned back to the focus of the show which was the brothers, as it had always been intended. Misha, however, milked those moments as much as possible which was amusing at the start but got old *very* quickly, not just for fans (shippers and non shippers alike), but for other actors, in particular Jensen who is on record MULTIPLE times showing his dislike for Destiel. He told people outright that's not how he was playing the relationship between the two characters and CATEGORICALLY said "Destiel doesn't exist" but did it end there? No, it did not because neither fans or Misha let it go, in fact Misha only pushed more, goaded fans into flogging the same dead horse as much as possible. He’s never stopped, not even when there was so much discord in the fandom, a huge wedge was driven into it because of ships, which IMO he heavily contributed to.

Fast forward to over a decade later (a decade, seriously man, let it fucking go!) he didn’t even stop when Destiel did partially go canon. I have never doubted that Cas loved Dean (Sam, too) because in SPN lore angels are made to love, even rebellious ones. I, along with many others, liked that about Cas because who doesn't love a rebel, especially one rebelling for very good reasons, and because of those two wonderful men? Sam and Dean allowed him to see beyond what he'd been brainwashed to believe his entire existence. The fact is that although the nature of that love changed for Cas, it never did for Dean and was CANONICALLY UNREQUITED because Dean was incapable of loving anyone else as much as he loved Sam. All that mattered to Dean, even when he saw other characters as "family" was still Sam…ALWAYS Sam, every step of the way. Again for those who have too much Misha shaped wax in their ears, that’s canon. Whether people choose to see that love platonically or romantically is up to them, soulmates don't always have to be romantic, either way, brotherly love won out above all else on the show. No amount of Misha screaming ‘hey look, Destiel!’ changed that, but it sure didn’t stop him trying, did it?

So now that the obvious has been stated, here's something else we all know - never once in all of the years on the show did Misha drop rallying of the troops to his precious, ego stroking ship. Never once (that I am aware of) has he called out his Minions and Hellers on their continued harassment of everyone involved in the show and other fans despite the fact that they have bullied, victimised and wished bodily harm, rape and death on people who don't see their ship and because didn't get the ending to the story that they wanted. Not once has Misha shown any remorse for the trauma his "fans" have caused, and I’m taking REAL trauma, here, not the kind Twitter stans see as ‘triggering’ - people have been driven to close SM accounts, attempted, and in some cases succeeded in taking their own lives. These Minions have openly mocked Jared’s struggles with depression and anxiety, and Misha - who claims to be friends with J2 and be supportive of them in every way  - has stood by and let it all play out, knowing full well some of the goings on, if not the full extent of how toxic these people are. We know he sees things being said online, and I have absolutely no doubt he spends time online searching his name for things that are relevant in some way to him in an effort to insert himself into a current conversation, or even start one so that attention is on him. Gotta stay relevant, somehow, right, Mish?

He has actively encouraged bullying by his actions of enabling the behaviours above, both by the flogging of the aforementioned dead horse, AND by not objecting to unacceptable behaviours. Remember when Minions and Hellers were slating J2, particularly Jared, for not posting on SM about BLM and other topics? Yeah, he didn’t ask them to stop doing that, either, even when he was tagged in things along the lines of ‘If Misha can post why can’t J2?’ etc. There have been some token protests, con vids I've seen have show his 'objections' which IMO have been done in a very tongue in cheek way, meaning that those people who needed to be pulled aside and told to change their ways just carried on, because their evil overlord didn’t explicitly explain it in terms a three year old could understand that bullying and forcing your opinion on others is WRONG. Not all of his cult are young and impressionable, not by a long shot, but many of the more vocal and vitriolic ones are.

As a father himself I wonder what Misha would do if he found out that his kids were behaving in ways his Minions are? I’m aware they’re young, but kids are cruel and bullying doesn’t just happen online. Even at whatever age they are, would he laugh it off the way he appears to have done with all of this fandom toxicity? Not bloody likely! I wonder if he’s as desperate to gain the approval of his family, friends and colleagues as he appears to be for that of his Minions/Hellers? I would certainly hope so, but that question can only be answered by Misha, himself, and I can and will not presume to speak on someone else's behalf on things in their personal life. For the record I would never presume I know what J2's answers would be on anything, however I do feel that after 15 years I have an accurate gauge on what kind of people they are so would be confident that any opinion I had on a matter aligns with their morals and ethics. As much as J2 have shared of themselves with us - willingly and under no pressure to do so, I might add - we don't *know* them, but we know enough to have an informed opinion. I can’t say the same for Misha because based on the behaviour he’s repeatedly displayed, things I've heard about from other fans as well as people I know IRL who have had direct dealings with him through cons or GISH (including some very actively in the early days when it was GISHWHES) he just hasn’t seemed like a person I wanted to follow on SM. I’ve never watched any of his solo panels, though I have watched ones with both or one of the J's, mostly being left irritated because of his behaviour. Watching the J’s put up with that shit is painful, and it’s a testament to how good they are as actors that they managed to hide at least some of their disdain for as long as they did. Microexpressions give them away, particularly Jensen, and they certainly have faces I have spent many years watching closely. Beautiful faces to go with beautiful souls, both of them! <3

I have precisely ZERO interest in Destiel as a ship, very little interest in Cas as a character anymore (though I did like him in the early days,and his relationship with Jack in late seasons) so I have absolutely no reason or desire to follow anything Misha does. That said, I've obviously been peripherally aware of some things he's been involved in because of friends, from things I’ve seen on SM and general fandom stuff. Despite the things I've already mentioned about his behaviour, up until now I have been able to maintain a level of respect for him as a person because of the humanitarian and charity work he's done. He seems like someone who really does want to change the world for the better and I am in full support of that fact, so much so that I have supported TWO campaigns relating to him. I bought one of the Super Good t-shirts for the campaign he did with Michael Sheen (a true angel!), the SPN/Good Omens x-over to help homeless charities, and I chose the design with text only and not artwork of Michael and Misha on, basically because I didn’t want to be wearing something with Misha’s face on it and I make absolutely no apology for that, whatsoever. I also bought Alex's #TheEndHasNoEnd shirt, which some of the profits went to Random Acts who do great work, so again, despite not liking Misha I still willingly contributed for a cause bigger than me, and to support Alex, who I absolutely ADORE. I'm aware that Stands aren't popular with some of the fandom, however since most of the cast of SPN are happily affiliated with them then I don't feel it's my place to either judge, or to discuss topics I know next to nothing about. But I digress, as a decent human being I have shown support tangentially to a man who I don't care for out of respect for the work he does outside the fandom. Telling you this isn’t to paint myself in a good light - I don’t need your approval, I’m a big girl, unlike some I don’t need constant validation! - only to provide background on how I’ve actively *not* hated on Misha.

Now though, any respect I had for him has come to an abrupt end, the events of the past 24 hours has seen to that. Whilst I have been annoyed at his behaviour in regards to shipping, I don't feel it's ever gone this far, or at least not that I've seen first hand. This man has, IMO, contributed to so much toxicity in the fandom by way of things I've mentioned before, he's claimed - without actually saying the words - that Wincest fans weren't interested in him as a character when he came onto the show, and hasn’t felt included because of the fans’ love of the brothers. Um, hate to break it to you, love, but when you come onto an established show that is about two people, and you’re a *guest star* you can’t expect everyone to love you. Some characters we as individuals do fall in love with straight away (Bobby, Charlie, Crowley and Rowena are good examples for me), it takes time to establish a dynamic, so if that’s how he felt then it was incredibly naive of him as an actor to expect instant acceptance from anyone. Also, why wait until after the show finished to bring it up AGAIN … oh wait, yeah, that would be to step back into the limelight in a way intended to garner sympathy from Minions and INTENTIONALLY piss off bro fans and Wincest shippers alike? How fucking self centred, desperate and disrespectful do you have to be to shit all over the finale of a show that for the most part accepted you and kept you in paid work for 12 years? Well, Misha Collins levels of all of those things, obviously.  

So, on the topics of self centred, desperate to stay relevant, attention seeking and being oh so needy, the tweet yesterday from Amazon mentioned Castiel. He wasn’t tagged in it, so I refer to my earlier comment about searching online, because how else would he have possibly seen that? It’s possible someone sent it to him, I appreciate that, but if we go off past behaviour it’s not any stretch at all to believe that didn’t happen. So, once again, having seen the tweet he took it upon himself to - oh so predictably - turn it into something relating to Destiel. When I saw it I immediately rolled my eyes and thought ‘here we go again’, but then also had a little smile because I really liked the fact that he explicitly mentioned Wincest, therefore seeming to accept that his poor old dead horse wasn’t the only one in the race. I actually mentally tipped my hat to him then because it appeared that he’s matured enough to acknowledge by name the ship that predates his inclusion on the show. Great, I thought, this is a positive thing in a sea of negativity surrounding the man and his sunken ship, because what followed was Wincest trending in the US (it may also have been other countries as well but I had to sleep!) … largely due to the fact that Hellers were responding to it, calling him out on mentioning the dreaded ‘W’ word. I’ll repeat that because it’s been a rare occurrence up to that point… the Minions were actually disappointed with their overlord for mentioning another ship. We all know what they think of it and I for one, don’t give a flying fuck about their opionion. Ship and let ship, it’s all fun (or meant to be) so we have different tastes, that’s life kiddiwinks, deal with it. I mean, you really don’t have much of an example set for you when your king has proven several times over to be one of the biggest obnoxious brats out there, but just give it a try for your own sakes, yeah? Awesome, good on you, besties!

An unexpected development - to my joy and that of other Wincest shippers - them doing that got the topic trending, only *kept* trending by the fact that were all coming online asking why it was trending. Wincest shippers barely lifted a finger, we just flooded each other’s timelines with lovely content and basked in the Hellers - and Misha - shooting themselves in the foot, which was awesome. But did the vitriol stop? No. Did he get the attention he so clearly craves? Yes. Was it in the way he wanted? Fuck no, so poor, emotionally wounded baby backtracked after seeing that his name was trending alongside Wincest because that’s *so* not what someone narcissistic to do it in the first place, wanted.

Now here’s where I could easily have just moved on with an unusually fond chuckle, giving him an ironic pat on the back and a ‘thanks, Misha’ for being the one to instigate hours of fun, but once again his despicable behaviour made that impossible. It’s been more than obvious for many years that he cares more about what his fans think than anything else to do with the show and the fandom in a larger sense, but to delete the tweet and APOLOGISE for daring to be so insensitive to the snowflakes’ delicate sensibilities for mentioning Wincest in the first place was absolutely disgusting. Stating , “I used a term that I had never really given any thought to other than, "that's a thing?! Yuck." is not only complete and utter bullshit, it’s pandering of the highest order.  

We all know he has referred to Wincest on multiple occasions, so to say he hadn’t thought about is a flat out lie, which IMO is an insult to everyone, not just Wincest shippers. Does the man have no self respect at all, why would you contradict yourself in the face of such overwhelming evidence? Instead of either ignoring all the people calling him out, or addressing it with another tweet saying ‘yeah, that happened’ or something similar he chose, I repeat, CHOSE the route of claiming he didn’t realise he was being offensive to people who felt ‘triggered’ by him using the word Wincest. He basically shat all over an entire ship and large sector of the fandom in an attempt to appease his own fan base which consists of a lot of children (or those that act like children) who have no idea what RL is like.

Once again, he’s reinforced the idea that if you shout loud enough at someone just because you don’t like something they said, they will back down and apologise for something even when there’s nothing to apologise for. If he wants to be such a role model then he could easily have pointed out that a fictional ship doesn’t condone RL incest, any ACTUAL trauma people have suffered because of RL situations, and made an effort to make sure people understand that. He COULD have used it as an opportunity to do some good in the fandom by encouraging people to build bridges, to accept that people are entitled to their beliefs and that sometimes we see things differently but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat others with BASIC HUMAN DECENCY because of it. Instead he YET AGAIN chose to show that he cares more about what Minions think of him, keeping them onside to constantly stroke his unbelievably fragile ego in everything he does.

It is my understanding that Misha is big on (or claims to be big on) putting positive energy out into the world, treating people with respect, helping others and accepting people for who they are, not who you want them to be… all this after YEARS of consistently practising what he preaches only when it suits him. He sends out a message that it’s perfectly OK to bully, to spread hate, to draw attention to yourself at the cost of others, to throw colleagues and friends under the bus and at the same time use them to further your own agenda and get hits for your YouTube channel. Is this really the legacy he wants to leave? Is this an environment he wants his own kids to grow up in as well as future generations? Is this what he thinks is a valuable contribution as a human being? JFC, the arrogance, hypocrisy and the need for constant validation this man exhibits is nothing short of cringeworthy… actually it’s beyond that. It’s deplorable behaviour, it’s not new, and he will continue to act like this for as long as he’s being enabled and this harmful cycle needs to end.

I have friends IRL and online who are (now, possibly, were) big Misha fans, who have supported him from either the beginning of his run on the show, or since they started watching, and this is how he repays this behaviour? He’s willfully alienating decent people (including multishippers) all to make himself look good by being seen to do everything he can not to offend people. Spoiler alert, you DID offend people, you continue to do so time and again and we’ve had enough. I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be to be such a perpetual people pleaser, but let me say it’s not doing you any favours in any way, shape or form.

Misha, you are *not* a role model, you’re *not* someone to look up to when you can't live up to the ideals you preach. You’re spitting in the face of people who have supported you even after some questionable things in the past, who gave you the benefit of the doubt because we’re all human and we all make mistakes. The key to growing as a person is not to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, understanding *why* what you said and/or did was a mistake and making a concerted effort to make changes. I don’t ever see you doing that, you will continue down this path of only caring about Minions under the guise of caring for people in general. You are transparent, you are sad and despite the fact I’ve never particularly liked you, I didn’t speak up because I didn’t want to get involved in the drama. Well now I have spoken up and I’m saying you’re a disgrace, you have no respect for other people and nobody is fooled anymore. If it hadn’t been this tweet it would have been something else, but I for one am glad it happened so soon after the show ended so we can finally be rid of the limpet-like behaviour. It’s over, let it go for the sake of what dignity you might have left, for the sake of your family and friends and for the sake of anyone who isn’t capable of seeing through your ‘it’s a joke’ mentality.

You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Misha.

For anyone who made it to the end of my ramble, thank you. This has been a cathartic exercise and I’m drawing a line under it now, I don’t think I could possibly make my thoughts any clearer. I urge you not to get caught up in any petty squabbles with his Minions, let’s celebrate J2 and other cast and crew members who have shown us all respect and who I am proud to call part of the SPN family. There’s always one member of the family who needs to be frozen out for the good of everyone else.

[missmeinyourbones]

there’s been some age discourse circulating on anime tiktok about older folks liking minor anime characters and how they SHOULDNT simp for them and i wanted to ask (1) what did you think about that? and (2) we see how often adults write smut about fictional characters that are minors so ummm how does that work?

imo in general since a lot of underage characters are drawn to be REALLY attractive or rather older, if i like them??? i like them.... but i don’t necessarily come on the internet to openly make sexualizing comments or nothing like that so respectful simping = a okay. like i want to give xyz a hug and a poptart and they’re the cutest patootest person on the planet type vibes.

as i aged, with a lot of new animes like demon slayer and jjk, i simply do not find MYSELF attracted ??? to the minors like inosuke and megumi, who would have been my general favorite characters if i was 15 bc that is how all my favorite characters looked and acted like but stuff that ive grown up with and characters i aged (i was 15, same age as kageyama when i watched hq!!) with are still going to be like?? VERY pedestal heavy & ppl i still hyperfixate over since i am still very attached to them even if i don’t say a word online about them. i am kind of scared of being attacked for liking them :(

but EVEN WITH FICS??? like lol please let me READ them in peace i promise it’ll be between me and my phone but duuude i think actively reading fics about me x fictional character is insane /jk so let me live. i think it’s interesting though because yeah okay chara x reader is bad but people writing smut about underage characters in ships (kagehina as an example) and then ppl are okay with it.... ALSO not to mention how much doujins are made again with the minor characters and suggestive content..... but yeah food for thought

this has been sitting in my inbox for a few days bc ive been trying to think about how to properly gather my thoughts on it so if anyone wants to hear me rant about media literacy and fictional minors you can click below :)

i think people often forget that fiction is just that—fiction. its fake. yes we can pour our hearts and souls into loving certain characters or shows but at the end of the day they as "people" are lines on paper. they do not exist. i think the lines are extremely blurred when it comes to stuff like the age debate because people get weird w/ minors being written about or thought of in a certain way etc.

personally, when i think of a character (especially applied to noncanon universes) i think about them because i like the idea of them. i match them in my head to be fitting to me and my personal character (age included!!!!) so like yes i love canon megumi and his character, but when i write about megumi and "simp" for him in my head hes not 15. hes tailored to my personal demographic and interest (if that makes sense)

i think that people think too much into the whole fiction thing because its literally fake....like people get cancelled for writing FAKE SCENARIOS about FAKE PEOPLE because of their age. fiction is meant to be fake! its meant to be consumed knowing it is not real, and to explore hypotheticals and use your imagination to your own advantage

with that being said....in no way shape or form do i condone pedophilia or illegal age relationships. i think that people need to stop worrying about FICTIONAL age gaps and focus on the actual real life minors being groomed, harassed, assaulted, etc. because this is something that happens in real life to real people. worrying about fictional scenarios that will not be real no matter how hard you try is pointless when the reality of the situation is that real adults being interested in real minors is the real issue.

idk if i worded this nicely or if it makes sense but this is just my opinion on it <3 they’re literally not real and we should be focusing on protecting actual human real life minors <3

[landoncrris]

I have an opinion - I think the only two things mason ever did wrong were the Miami incident and the “being blind”/not caring about being with a blackfisher. And to be completely honest, those were pretty awful in my eyes. However, all of the rest seems so overreacted to me. It doesn’t cancel out the fact that those two ever happened, but I dont like that he’s constantly being attacked over the most minimal stuff either lol for instance, he could start following a girl on insta or drop a like on some random girl’s post and tumblr would attack him in SECONDS and say he’s cringe or even batter him for even leaving his house or something like that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for calling him out if he’s ever in the wrong, but most of the time his fanbase is all over him for things he’s not wrong for. At all.

About the comment he left on girlie’s post the other day, most people said they didn’t understand what he meant by it (I don’t think I did either), so how would it ever make sense to criticize him for it? And call him cringe over it? It could be something only they understand. We know damn well that if he ever left a comment like that on a lowkey serious girl’s ig post then they wouldn’t call him that. Why are we jumping to conclusions so quickly and why is it ok to criticize him for every single breath he dares to take ☠️ I’m not trying to attack you at all, specially since you’re my favourite blog and you haven’t acted like that to my knowledge. I also agree with all your posts and opinions - it’s just I think it’s a bit unfair towards him that people jump on him and attack him WHEN it actually isn’t something wrong he did. This doesn’t mean I condone every single thing he’s done before, but a loooot of it just doesn’t have anything wrong to it and he still gets battered for it. Make it make sense, what a toxic fandom he unfortunately has

oh my god you are literally speaking my mind, that’s to be honest exactly what i thought. i mean yeah, if we count her as a “doing wrong” then i definitely have to mention j*yden too because that guy is just— a big no. but overall i really couldn’t agree more, personally, and i’m certainly not talking about everybody but i feel like some are jealous (which i’m too not gonna lie so there’s no wrong about that imo) and make drama out of everything because of that. i mean i bullied him too bc of the comment but true, we don’t know what he meant or if he was even attempting to flirt so why judge about it so much. like i said i made fun of it too, but i think doing it to that point where it gets disrespectful is just too much, like some of the comments under his comment. and i fully understand why he’d delete the comment bc of it and stuff. but yeah i fear this is how every hot man’s fanbase looks like and it’s pissing me off 🧍🏻‍♀️

[piracytheorist]

(laa - if I have the name, better honor it >:) )

You hit the nail right on the head about the villains! Yes, love them! they're despicable pieces of sht! and they look great doing so! (if anything trying to make them harmless or justify them just makes them less interesting than Literally Some Guy trying to rescue his baby :/ this is just me though!)

You know, something i like about lady dimitrescu? something I see nowhere and is a big part of her character? she's a massive (heh) hypocrite.

Calls Heisenberg a child? Argues with him just like one, writes in her diary about him like one too, all petty and jealous (which lol bc she IS miranda's fav).

"what have you done to my daughter?!" + "how dare you talk about saving your daughter when you’ve murdered mine?"

*4 hours ago happily assisted in the dismembering of someone else's baby daughter; not to even mention the countless daughters of villagers she implanted with cadou (and failed) or turned into wine, which also her 'daughters' were the daughters of villagers successfully implanted*

*berates and sends another of her daughters (cassandra) to kill the killer of her other daughter (bela); is surprised and angry he also kills her too*

"You disgusting outsider!" *is an outsider herself*

I also love that she lies to miranda (about wanting the ceremony during the call), and to Ethan ('all this for a child that isn't even here') to set up the whole 'surprise! your baby is in jars :D' later in the game. All that adds a lot to her, imo + her loving to torture people just bc + hot big vamp mother (bc if she looked like Marguerite...)

"(...)And then he would've been left alone, hating himself for the poor choice he took. Definitely lots of angst and whump potential :3" hnnngh please feed that directly into my brain!

About the Spanish version: the Spanish used is ofc the one from Spain so I have to remind myself the differences in meaning of a good number of words (I'm from Latin America, specif really down south of the continent) for example the one that always gets me is that 'coger' in Spain is 'to grab; to take; to hold' while down here it means 'to f*ck; vulgar for intercourse' lmao

Yeah, I don't understand the woobification of villains... like if you want to write an AU where that happens, go all ahead, but claiming it's canon that the villains are poow wittwe victims that aren't as bad as they seem... That's not the point of their existence, pal. Villains are made to be bad. Sometimes they're understandable, tragic, redeemable... but their actions are bad. And since they're fictional, we are MEANT to enjoy them. We are SUPPOSED to like them doing bad stuff, otherwise it's just sweet fluff. And Resident Evil is not sweet fluff. It's horror, and most of the time horror needs villains that do bad and despicable shit. When a writer writes something, they're supposed to enjoy every little bit of their story. Including their villains. If the villain is just there to be bad and a hurdle to the protagonist's story, that shows in their shallow character. If the writer invests in their villains, you end up with fully fledged, deep and interesting villains... and people on the internet who don't understand this entire concept and think it's their god-given duty to defend those villains and every single one of their actions. But that's not the writer's fault.

The thing about Lady D's daughters... Markiplier, in his first playthrough, even made a comment about how they're not technically her daughters since it's more like a kidnapping situation... I mean she literally picked up three almost-dead women (did she kill them herself, even?) and turned them into blank slates who saw her as a mother. Markiplier, aka one of the biggest Lady D simps out there. Even he could see how messed up the whole situation was, acknowledged it, and at the same time shamelessly simped for her. Because he understood that we are supposed to like her in the story, even though we would not condone her actions in real life.

Dimitrescu's diary is a legit diamond. She acts all classy and "mature" and then she goes and writes "UGH why can't everybody see how I'm better than everyone! I'm gonna go drink my wine that's made out of the blood of my victims!"

Like, look, sometimes you have to respect the aesthetic, you know? There's been a multitude of villains who say they'll do stuff with the blood of their enemies as a trophy... Dimitrescu refines it and drinks it. And if that's not aesthetic idk what is. It's horrifying, but it's goth and classy af. Not just that she drinks it, but that she also refines it into fine wine before she does.

But of course, like any villain, she sees herself as the hero of her story. She's a big, beautiful, powerful, near immortal woman, with all the other human-things just mere toys and food for her. Of course she thinks it's her right to torture, kill them, and drink their blood. But I think it's not just that much of a hypocrisy, more like her inability to sympathize. At first, before Ethan kills Bela, she was perfectly fine with torturing him and toying him, keeping him alive. When she sees that Bela is dead, she turns full-on homicidal, even asking Cassandra to "stop with the games" and kill him on sight. If she had just a bit of sympathy, she would've understood Ethan from the first moment - he was trying to look for his daughter, and they were keeping him away from her. Why is it okay for Lady D to turn homicidal, but it's not if Ethan does (in self defense, even)?

And the "How dare you talk about saving your daughter, when you've murdered mine?" thing hit me even on the first gameplay I watched... like I was like ok you loved your daughters and you're hurting but they were grown ass women who were ACTIVELY ATTACKING Ethan. Rose is a defenseless baby whose dismemberment YOU assisted in and then kept her part away from her father, then tortured him and tried to kill him.

When not controlled by the player, Ethan never attacks someone who hasn't attacked first (aside from the animals, but that's completely optional and ymmv about how wrong it is to kill animals for food). Even when you're close to friendly NPCs, like Elena and her father, the Duke, or the ("friendly") old hag, the game doesn't let you attack or even aim at them - because Ethan is not supposed to go murder hobo mode. He lowers his weapon when he hallucinates Mia, and when after Heisenberg's boss fight Miranda appears as her, he once again lowers it, only raising it when he's certain it's not the real Mia, but Miranda taunting him. All of that is specifically put there to show that even though Ethan will shoot to kill anyone who's attacking him, he won't do the same for defenseless people who haven't harmed him.

Yet Lady D thinks of him as a monster, because he killed her precious daughters... but he's not allowed to be angry at her after what she did (or allowed to happen) to Rose, or even what she WANTED to do to him in the first place. She was putting up a case to have Ethan by herself to torture, during the Four Lords Meeting scene, before Ethan had done anything to her or her daughters. She wanted to torture him for hew own fun, and felt justified in wanting to do so. When she saw Ethan was killing her daughters, she felt even more entitled to it. Because she lacked sympathy for his situation and because she saw him as a worthless man-thing. Why would she even bother?

And indeed, her lying to Miranda (she didn't want to obey, she wanted her revenge on Ethan, but she also didn't want to completely break off from Miranda, because she was the one making her feel SpecialTM and the BestTM) and to Ethan (toying with him, fully knowing she has Rose's head jar but he doesn't need to know that because he won't get it back, right? There's no chance in hell he'll go through her and kill her!) are two very interesting choices, especially since the first moment is one Ethan and the player eavesdrop on. It's like a secret little view into her mind and the way she works.

Yeah, hmm. I fully believe Maggie Robertson did a fantastical job with her and I'm glad she got the award for her performance... but something tells me she wouldn't have won it if Lady D looked like, say, Marguerite Baker...

/

Ahhh, I wish I could write action! If I could I would've tried my hand in writing a fic where Ethan agrees to Heisenberg's plan and then all goes to shit, just for the sake of the angst. I haven't written too many fics with a bad ending, but you know, sometimes you want to take it there just because you want to torture your characters so much, you know? XD

/

I've always wondered how many differences there are there between European Spanish and Latin American Spanish, and if there are any difficulties or misunderstandings when you communicate with each other. The closest I've got for comparison is Greek and Cypriot... and it's not the same because in Cyprus, in the TV news and other "official" stuff they speak with a Greek accent, so the grand majority of Cypriots can switch to a Greek accent... and most of the Cypriots I've met, when talking to each other would talk as they would normally, but once a Greek enters into the discussion they change their accents and speaking mannerisms to Greek. I can understand most Cypriot, to be honest, but if they're talking fast or if they're using too many Cypriot words I can get lost. Still, it's easy because it's super close, it's an easy holiday destination, Cypriots study/work in Greece and (fewer, but still) Greeks study/work in Cyprus, and Cyprus even plays most Greek TV shows. So I wonder for Spanish, what's it like between one relatively small country in Europe and almost an entire continent across the Atlantic, and how many more differences there are XD

Similarly to what you said in the end, there's a Greek singer who is super popular here, whose last name in Cypriot means "bird poop" XD It's honestly so interesting to me how the same language changes and adapts in different places.

[baixueagain]

I haven't read hp in a long time, so I may be wrong. But wasn't the thing about house-elves wanting to stay slaves also a critic of Hermione's behavior and how she thought that just she was doing the right thing in her mindset didn't mean it was the same thing for the people concerned, and that she was basically trampling over them to "enlighten" them?

Yeahhhh the house elf thing is...well, honestly I don’t actually think it’s nearly as bad as people say it is. The metaphor she’s using is (like the werewolf thing) insensitive and could’ve been handled way, way better, but the fundamental message of it isn’t actually that controversial or hideous.

First of all, there’s the whole idea that JKR invented a race of slaves. I’m leery of this statement, because throughout HP, especially in the early books when house elves are introduced, JKR plays a lot with classic folklore. House elves/fairies, while not being as well-known in America, are a pretty common trope in European and British folklore. There are dozens of stories and legends and folk tales about how people can leave out butter or other things for the spirits of the house (often elves or fairies), and that in exchange the spirits would clean and do other chores for you. So JKR picked that up and ran with it, and asked, okay, what if those stories were real, but wizards figured out a way to manipulate that traditional exchange into a form of exploitation?

JKR pretty clearly problematizes what’s happened to the house elves from the get-go when we meet Dobby. Those who treat elves as subservient and inherently lesser are consistently portrayed as straight up evil (Lucius Malfoy, the Ministry statue, etc). Harry isn’t actually that dismissive of Hermione’s views, either. He wrestles with it, too, and feels distinctly uncomfortable, but for some time he doesn’t really seem to know what else to do except to go along with it - which, while not a good thing, is a completely normal reaction for a young teenager to have when faced with that kind of situation. Furthermore, while in general house elves are “said” to be happy with their situation, the two major house elf characters (Dobby and Kreacher) are portrayed as distinctively unhappy about it from the moment of their introduction, though Kreacher has clearly internalised things. Even Sirius’s mistreatment of Kreacher is portrayed as a massive flaw in his character and a giveaway that he’s not exactly the perfect Cool Uncle Type that we originally see him as. Finally, don’t forget that one of the most triumphant moments of DH is Kreacher getting fed the fuck up with the way he’s been treated all his life and leading what amounts to a house elf revolution against those who would keep house elves completely and utterly subservient for the rest of time.

As for Hermione, IMO she’s portrayed as having her heart in the right place but going about things all wrong, to the point that her ignorance about the situation becomes comedic. Which...honestly, that comes across as a pretty apt criticism of the “saviour” types who really sincerely do want to fix the world but end up just talking over the people they’re trying to help - and ultimately pushing those people away.

JKR never actually questions whether or not slavery is a moral evil. What is questioned, however, is this: when someone in an unhappy situation says that they’re happy, how far can and should we go to help them without it becoming a violation of their consent and free will? And that’s not at all a new question in fantasy and sci-fi. Star Trek has asked it. Doctor Who has asked it. Even the Hitchhikers Guide books have asked it. 

Example: I have women relatives who truly sincerely and whole-heartedly believe that women were put on this earth to be subservient to men. They were raised to believe this and have never questioned it. If you asked them if they’re happy, they’d say yes, and tbh, I believe them: they are lucky enough that the men they’ve married are legitimately kind and loving husbands. However, I still find their situation to be morally abhorrent and I fundamentally disagree with how they view femininity and marriage. So what can I do? I’ve had arguments with them about it, and they won’t budge. I’ve tried to expose them to literature on women’s liberation and they dismiss it. In fact, it’s only made them get defensive and dig in their heels, because they resented me telling them that their worldview was an unhealthy and wrong one. Who was I, after all, to tell them that they were wrong to be happy with their lives? Am I supposed to end their marriages by force and strong-arm them into feminism, or is that in and of itself a violation of their consent and free will?

There’s no easy answers to those questions. There never has been and never will be. And I think that’s what Rowling was attempting to wrestle with. Did she do it clumsily? Yes. Should she have chosen a different metaphor other than slavery? Very probably. Is it open to criticism? Yes again. Has she written other cringe-worthily bad and ignorant things into HP? Absolutely - Cho Chang is the shining example, IMO, though there are plenty more.

However, I also think it’s extremely disingenuous to paint the house elf plotline as promoting/condoning slavery, telling people that they should be content with their lot in life, or mocking those who try to challenge the status quo. That reading of HP ignores a metric shitload of evidence to the contrary, especially in the later books. And while I love literary criticism and think there’s plenty to be criticised in the HP books, this is one of those things that I truly do believe is not only unfair, but the product of extremely selective reading.

[aeternallis]

Unpacking the Anti-Sessrin Argument :: Father/Daughter & Grooming

While I was watching AxelBeats’ newest video on the Sessrin discourse, it got me thinking that maybe the reason why the Anti-Sessrin argument even exists in the first place is because Rumiko Takahashi never fully defined Sessrin’s relationship. The audience had different interpretations, of course, but she never explicitly named whatever it is between them. 

It sounds like I’m just stating the obvious, but hear me out. It often baffles me whenever the antis describe Sesshoumaru as having raised, essentially “groomed” Rin for the purpose of sexual gratification. I mean—that’s pretty much the definition of “grooming,” isn’t it: to consistently lower a child’s emotional defenses and befriend them, for the purpose of sex.

But in that same vein, the anti-Sessrin argument also claims (at least most of the time) that Sesshoumaru and Rin also had a father/daughter relationship, from the context of the original show.

Which...kinda contradict each other? 😅 If one sees Sessrin’s relationship as that of a wholesome “father/daughter,” the idea of Sesshoumaru “grooming” Rin is negated, isn’t it? Because in the context of the original anime and the subsequent sequel, describing these two characters simultaneously as “father/daughter” and “an older man grooming a child” wouldn’t make any sense, considering the fact that both descriptions have virtually opposite intentions. 

It can only be one or the other.

At least in a fictional context, anyway. As I said, it’s always been difficult to pin down Sessrin’s relationship because Takahashi herself had never defined it either. Sesshoumaru’s character arc is hella subtle, considering the fact that he’s not part of the main group and at most, he is a secondary character (but one that definitely makes an impression), if not a minor antagonist in the beginning. Lol

I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re going to define the relationship of two characters in any piece of fiction, whatever label that may be has to apply to the entire story of said characters. It would be an erroneous flaw to define the relationship of two characters as one thing based on your initial impressions, then another thing entirely just because you don’t like the trajectory of said relationship. 

I don’t mean to say that relationships are static; after all, the emotional connections between two characters are always evolving, either for better or worse. That’s what makes a story, and what allows the audience to connect with the characters. 

I only meant that the label has to be reflective of the characters’ actions. 

After all, Yashahime is considered the sequel to Inuyasha; it acts as a continuation, not a reboot or a separate story of its own. Yes, the focus has shifted to an alternative main cast, but the story is still being told within the framework of the original anime. 

Father/Daughter_________

As I said earlier, a lot of antis describe Sessrin as having a father/daughter relationship, but what specific actions did Sessrin perform in the original anime gave off that impression? 

From the beginning, Rin has never had expectations of Sesshoumaru as one would expect to have of a daughter to a father. Throughout the original anime, she fends for herself and only relies on Sesshoumaru for protection. In the context of the time period, Rin receives no form of dowry from him, she’s not used as any sort of pawn (political or otherwise) to his advantage at any time, and for the most part, has no right to whatever assets he may own as an heir (in this case, Jaken’s services and Ah-Un’s loyalty). Sesshoumaru instructs (forces) Jaken and Ah-Un to care for Rin, but I highly doubt the latter has the right to command them, were she truly perceived to be an adopted daughter to a youkai. 

For example, in episode 162 of the anime, Rin herself acknowledges that she doesn’t know what role she plays in Sesshoumaru’s life. For some context, there’s a scene in the episode where Jaken explains that in the future after the situation with Naraku is settled, Sesshoumaru will most likely build an empire. In this future empire Jaken envisions, he proclaims that he’ll be a chief minister, so Rin asks the following question:

In this scene, it clearly shows that Rin has no expectations of Sesshoumaru as one would have as a perceived daughter to a father.

Conversely, Sesshoumaru doesn’t give Rin any rights as a daughter would rightfully have from a father. Rin isn’t overprotectively cloistered away in a palace (or in Towa/Setsuna’s case, within a barrier that surrounds a beautiful forest), he does not pass on any sort of inheritance to her (unlike, once again, Towa/Setsuna’s case, in which they both inherited his powers), does not actively tell her of his singular interest in pursuing Naraku, and most of the time, remains emotionally distant from her. 

And to repeat that, emotionally distant, but it doesn’t mean that he’s not affected by her kindness. 

In the end, she’s free to roam around with him as she pleases--or leave his side, as she pleases. She doesn’t have the restrictions or expectations that would be placed upon a female of that time period; Sesshoumaru lets her live her life, as she pleases. 

Grooming  _________

On the other end of the spectrum, I ask once more: what specific actions did Sessrin perform in the original anime that gave off that impression?

And before one begins to even think about that question, please note that using the reason “in Yashahime, Sesshoumaru married Rin and they had children” as the specific action would not make any sense; this action is just an end result, but nowhere does it indicate where or how the perceived grooming took place. 

To reiterate, throughout the original anime Sesshoumaru remained emotionally distant from Rin; his main focus for most of the time was trying to take Tetsusaiga, tracking down Naraku, and/or trying to find a weapon that can match/surpass Tetsusaiga. 

Hell, even in one of their first significant moments together when he brings her back to life that first time, it wasn’t for any reason of trying to obtain sexual gratification from Rin; the audience is fully aware that he was just mostly out to test Tenseiga’s power (as Jaken himself reiterates). Mauledtodeath!Rin just happened to be there as a stroke of luck and an opportunity. 

What limited scenes they did have together were brief (not to mention that he ignored her half the time), and with hardly any insight into Sesshoumaru’s thoughts, this argument is very much a moot point. 

To be honest, the “grooming” argument IMO is actually kind of ironic, yknow? XD A lot if not most of the antis hate the Sessrin shippers because they think that we condone pedophilia and grooming...yet they were the ones to reach this conclusion on their own. They’re the ones imagining a Sesshoumaru who only had dirty thoughts towards Rin, who raised her to be his outlet for sexual gratification. Lol 

Either way, the situation is funny in that context! 

My Conclusion _________

So what does all this mean? Nothing much, only that I still don’t really understand where the father/daughter vibe and grooming thing comes from. Lol When I say I never saw those things in the original anime, I meant it. If one were to think about the context of the story and how it was portrayed, the accusations that are stacked against Sessrin are just assumptions based on one singular fact that Sesshoumaru married Rin and had children with her.

To me personally, the one label that defines the relationship between Sesshoumaru and Rin, the one that makes sense if we were to look at Inuyasha and Yashahime as a continuous narrative, is that of lord and vassal.  

In an interview with Yashahime’s staff (wonderfully translated by ayuuria here), the producer Naka Toshikazu stated that it was a challenge trying to continue Inuyasha’s story because of how Rumiko Takahashi so neatly concluded it. They only had direction to go somewhere with a new story when they realized they could make it about Sesshoumaru’s daughter. 

And it makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, the reason why they couldn’t just pursue Inukag or MiroSan’s story is because those relationships had already been defined. Both are two sets of characters who fell in love whilst they went on an adventure, and they’ve done their part to save the world. 

Would a story about Shippo or Jaken or Koga have pulled audiences as much as the main cast did? Where would the conflict come from? How could they continue the story without having to repeat the original narrative? Without having to create a new Naraku? 

It makes sense that Sesshoumaru and Rin would get together, if only because they were the one relationship that Rumiko has never defined, not in the anime nor in the manga. Zero in episode 15 of Yashahime states, “The Lord Sesshoumaru, one who is known to detest both humans and half-demons, has taken a human for a wife.” 

Just think of how bold of a story that is, one that can match the stakes of the original story, whilst still being able to continue within the frame of the narrative? Think of the implications of what that means in the narrative of Inuyasha, that the one character who arguably hates humans the most, feared and respected by other youkai, went through such a character arc that he would marry a member of a species he claimed to hate and sire children with her. 

Of course there would be repercussions; of course other demons wouldn’t be happy or be easily accepting of it, Shikon jewel prophecy be damned. 

Of course Sesshoumaru has to work hard to earn his complete happy ending with his family. He fell in love with Rin, a human woman, after all. And in the story of Inuyasha, has that not always been the catalyst for everything else? 

[azazelsconfessional]

((so since i can't sleep what shall i talk about since i don't feel like getting on my laptop and doing proper answers/tags and such atm.

Here's something that maybe confuses some of you!

I've had Azazel mention before that Bablon was his first wife. And you may think. That sounds weird. Where'd you get that from.

So if you remember anything about Babalon that was only mentioned in passing, I feel like what you might remember is her comment of 'I only wanted to be equal to men.'

It's a good comment! Important thing to say!

But she also said something else I want to point out that's, imo, rather important to acknowledge.

Bablon ate from one of the Pillar Trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.

Now idk how many of you are of an Abrahamic originating faith(and if so I only partially apologize for the Aggressive Blasphemy on this blog) or were raised one or just happen to be familiar with the mythology there but

As someone who went to Christian school all their school life

The most notable woman to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree in the Garden of Eden which the Pillars are based on was Eve, the first woman.

But Eve never made a fuss about being equal to Adam. That anger towards dominating men is part of Babalon's character, so where did they get it if she's Eve?

Well! If you're familiar with the Jewish side of mythology there's actually someone else of relevance here!

(""blog spoilers"" because this references something that Azazel's been asked about but was somewhat avoidant with because i thought it might be more fun to have people ask about it and ~unravel some mysteries~ along the way but i have no patience i guess)

So! In Jewish mythology, Eve was not the first woman, to my understanding!

In fact, Eve was made of one of Adam's ribs. But earlier on, the bible says that God made man and woman, which sounds like they were supposed to be made at the same time(whereas Eve being made from one of Adam's ribs came about after Adam didn't connection strongly to any animals.)

But the actual first woman was made from the same earth as Adam, refused to be subservient to him, and left the Garden so God had to make Adam a new wife.

And the actual first woman's name was Lilith! And while I don't remember reading anything about her eating from the tree(and I admit I am underread atm shh there's a lot of shit to read), considering she's made at the same time and from the same source as Adam I'm sure she had the time at some point.

Now you may be thinking 'that's cool and all but where does Azazel come into this'

So to start off with that, Azazel got asked about Samael like. A week ago. And if you recall that ask, he was kind of vague about answering it, basically only saying that he liked Samael.

So Samael is often equated with Satan but whether or not they're the same entity is dubious because Samael, though sinful and condoning of sin, is considered "good". I decided to go with them being different for a few reasons, namely convenience and because Babalon surely would have seen him in MC if that were the case.

Samael supposedly means 'poison of god' or 'venom of god'

Which is a fitting name for a snake, I think.

Samael either orchestrated the tempting of Adam and Eve to sin with/using the snake or took the form of a snake to perform this temptation, depending on your source material. I'm going with the latter interpretation.

In the Book of Enoch, which some of Azazel's canon material references, Azazel is also the snake from the garden of Eden--which adds up if you consider God saying Azazel is to be blamed for all sin(Azazel himself corroberates this in-game by telling MC that their sins are because of him in the story where he marries MC and Zabaniyya.)

It also adds up if you make Samael and Azazel the same entity, as Samael condoned the sins of humanity as well as orchestrated Adam and Eve eating the fruit--and Samael could have just convinced Azazel to do it, but why not link two major sinful angels when Azazel already has so much fallen angel lore at once?

What I'm getting at is that, on this blog at least, Samael and Azazel are the same person--Samael is just a name that Azazel had very early along with a different Role. When he took on the Role of the Watcher after fulfilling the Role of [undecided, leaning towards Infection or Temptation], he began to use Samael less and Azazel more until he stopped using it entirely, or maybe took on the name Azazel when Lilith/Babalon was banished. Or maybe he was given the name with the new Role.

And in several sources, Lilith married Samael after leaving the Garden.

And thus, Babalon was married to Azazel on this blog once upon a time(or as married as Adam and Eve were.) They've since 'broken up'(Babalon was banished and Azazel wasn't for like 200+ years after lmao couldn't rrally sustain it even if they wanted to) and Babalon treats Azazel hostilely most of the time. Neither of them really discuss it lol

It's just headcanon for fun and to make some links around with his relationships and it's far from the most far-fetched one I have lol

Of course if people disagree with it or someone who wants to play Babalon or Samael disagrees with it, I have no problem with that and won't enact it on them! But like that's why we have those answers, in case you were wondering.

TL;DR--Babalon canonically implies she's Lilith and I make Azazel Samael for reasons and that's why they used to be married.))

[thebleacher]

Aggretsuko Season 3 Review: My Slightly Hotter than Lukewarm Take (Spoilers!)

Ok so I just finished Aggretsuko season 3, and what I will say is that I enjoyed it. Forget the nitty gritty, as a whole, I enjoyed the series and I was dying to know what happened next. (Spoilers ahead)

As far as the storyline, I would say that I would have never expected for the series to have a sudden development involving idols but I think it ended up being quite interesting and the new characters were good. 

Last few seasons, I often got quite stressed because there were a lot of bullshit ppl like Director Ton or Anai who were literally so crazy and shit. Ironically, for the above mentioned two, I actually liked their involvement this time. I honestly thought it was hilarious when Anai and Haida went to drink LMAO. I was also surprised that Director Ton actually offered to pay for Retsuko’s debt. Like, ofc what he said after was bad (like giving up dreams/focus on work etc), but I do think that a sincere part of him wanted to alleviate this pain for Retsuko. But ofc, Retsuko wasn’t just doing it for the money.  

In this season, I am quite glad that Hyodo-san, Manaka and the two others (LMAO CANT REMEMBER THEIR NAMES) were nice ppl who just had earnest dreams but poor accounting skills (LOL). I still do have my suspicions that Hyodo-san might be a composer but that idk cos we never got to see more. But it’s cute imo that he works so hard to give the OTM girls their dream. I would like to see more of that development and backstory tbh. 

And ofc as usual, Washimi and Gori-buchou were fab. I love them so much. Tbh fenneko was also great HAHA. 

Ok but now we get to our more main-ish characters for this season.  Firstly, I have never been a huge fan of Retsuko. I do believe that she is self-sabotaging and very stubborn. Especially in the beginning, she deadass splurged on a VR bf and I think this is a me-thing, but spending over $300 on merch is insane. That I can’t condone but ig #plot. Either ways, Retsuko literally needs to open up more and stop being such a pushover. 

However, this is where my slightly hotter than lukewarm take begins. 

As a non-japanese, I think we collectively forget some cultural elements to this show. When Retsuko started in the first season, I remember previews being like, Retsuko represents how we (really more the Jap audience and population) feels when we are restricted and cornered by society and the world. And tbh, she still is!! And I think now that this show has gotten more international acclaim, we sometimes forget the cultural elements. I would say as an asian who has lived in western society, the way asians compose themselves (not to mention, one of the most typically controlled asians, japanese), we tend to hold back more and try not to bother others. I think this is exemplified by how Retsuko tries her best to be diligent and hardworking throughout her life. She does it because she wants to please and because it’s what she has to do. 

In other reviews, I have also seen people criticize the romantic elements of this particular season. However, I thought about it, and other than time constraints, perhaps there’s just more to it that will be discussed later? 

If you consider this, Haida actually is quite similar to Retsuko. He is also very indecisive and timid. It’s why he never asked Retsuko out and never tried to do anything. (Also cos Retsuko literally never gave him the time of day and this idrk why) I think the last part where he says he wants to be a safe haven for Retsuko and to protect her, perhaps that was also culturally more traditional. But ofc, even in Japan, with progressing times, women also want to be regarded as more than objects to be protected. (This part is more of me speculating though)

But I do hope that the Haida and Retsuko thing can be more fleshed out later. I was particularly disappointed that Retsuko did not even say anything when Haida straight up got hurt from protecting her. (If you can’t tell by now, I actually really like Haida) I also saw some reviews saying they were upset about Haida insulting Retsuko, but tbh, I did not even see it as offensive. Ig bcas a part of me knew that Haida was there, egging her on so that she could actually vent. I also think that it might be the first time either of them have been honest/candid with each other. Bcas while both of them did the death voice, they were speaking the truth. 

The last two points is that firstly, RIP Inui LOL cos she’s actually a nice girl and seems cool. But ig she chose someone who has been blindly in love/crushing for 5 years. I think that she will be able to find better but I do feel bad for her. 

Last point is that I was genuinely VERY surprised to see such a dark thing happen in this season. Pen knife for attempted murder/assault? That’s scary. And stalking? Tbh these are all very real things idols face and it is definitely not ok. (both in Japan and Korea tbh) I think that that progress was very realistic and something I did not expect, but was a thoughtful and appropriate plot progression. 

Overall, I really liked what happened but am very sad I will have to wait for a long time before new content comes again. TuT  Either ways, good show, good laughs, good feels, much excite.