#like some good stuff happened too but the bad stuff outweighs that so greatly

[procyo9]

i poke my head out of the gutter for one freakin second and fate shovels shit in my face!!!!!!!!!!!

[sakebytheriver]

So sorry to bother you. I think I just need someone to help ground me, and you seem really nice and genuine. I’m planning a trip to New Orleans (to see Lizzo and get my hair cut and highlights and That tattoo I’ve always wanted) and then flying out to DC (for another Lizzo concert and it was a great opportunity to visit and get a feel because it’s a place I’ve really really been considering to go and work and live). I was going to stay with my friend for the New Orleans part of the trip but now I can’t (which is fine she has company so I get it) but now I’m getting all in my head that this is a sign and this trip is a bad idea especially because I’m traveling alone. I don’t know anymore. If you have any advice I will greatly appreciate it! If not that’s okay too!

Oh wow, I mean first off I wanna say that sounds like a super fun trip, I've been to both New Orleans and Washington DC and they're both incredible places. DC has tons of museums to visit, my dad and I went to basically every single one we could, I adore museums and DC has some of the best. And New Orleans is a beautiful place in a million different ways, when I went it was for a high school trip and they'd arranged all these cool experiences for us to go on like we went to downtown and walked around all the different shops and we did a swamp tour, this family owns a gater farm and they take people out on boats to see the area and they had snakes and turtles and a bunch of different animals for us to meet, the son was a professional wrestler and he wrestled the gaters in front of us and their entire family was on Wife Swap 😭 we watched their episode on the bus after. They were both trips I will never forget and I suspect this trip will be one you never forget too even if there's some bumps in the road. I had tons of bumps in the road with these trips, bad things happened before them and during them that made me feel like the whole thing could be ruined, but there were things on these trips that were amazing and make every bad thing look like nothing in comparison. I mean, you're going to see LIZZO that's fucking awesome and the other things too, haircuts and tattoos, these are great plans, just because there's a bump in the road doesn't mean all of that awesome stuff is negated. Traveling alone is always scary and can feel isolating, but sometimes it's better that way, then the only person you're dependant on is yourself. If you wanna wake up early and go on a sunrise hike you only have yourself to convince, if you wanna sleep in and have a lazy day there's no one else pushing you to do something else. I recommend looking into some stupid fun tourist things you can do on your trips, maybe join a bus tour, you could probably look online and find groups of people to hang out with while you're there, idk if it would be applicable, but I use this app called Meetup where there are groups of people who post fun things they want to do but they don't want to go alone but they have no one else to ask, I'm even in a group called I always wanted to do that but I didn't want to go alone, so there's tons of stuff out there for you to meet people. Also you're def going to meet people at the concert, another personal story incoming but I went to Taylor Swift's Reputation concert in Boston 😭 (im sorry im a swiftie) and I went alone, but when I got there the people sitting behind me were super nice and they were both around my age and we started talking and complimenting each other's looks and we took pictures and videos and cried together on emotional songs. I never spoke to those two after the concert but I'm always gonna have the pictures and videos we took and so will they, I'll remember them as two nice strangers and they'll remember me as one nice stranger.

In the end your trips sound incredible and you should be excited for them even if there's a few bumps, the good stuff will outweigh the bad in the future, I promise

[faunusrights]

what is going on with all the bias on robyn hill’s wiki page, anyway? - an aside

As someone who uses the RWBY wiki with some degree of frequency - often because I’m looking for art references, or Semblance and weapon names - I’m used to... some amount of bias in the articles for different characters? Like, let’s be real, it’s not a perfect wiki! Community-maintained stuff isn’t easy to all keep on the same track! But, generally, it gives the facts well enough and doesn’t do too bad a job keeping all the balls in the air when it comes to new information from all four corners of this franchise.

Well, until you open the article for Robyn Hill, and realise it’s an absolute disaster. Like, really; the impartial voice just plain doesn’t exist for her, and almost all of her wiki is written in such a way that she reads as being an absolutely insufferable, hostile, hard-to-like character. Even if you aren’t a fan of Robyn personally, you have to admit that if you hadn’t seen the show yourself, you might very well come away from her article presuming she’s a major antagonist of Volumes 7 and 8.

Like, for instance, let’s take a look at the first paragraph of her Personality section:

Robyn has a direct and confident personality, having no trouble being confrontational with Atlas personnel, including the Ace Operatives. Robyn also seems to suffer from overconfidence and arrogance, shown in her encounters with Ruby and celebrating her election victory before it was verified. She is aggressive and hostile in nature, quickly jumping to conflict without thinking through consequences. However, she is also shown to be reasonable when the situation calls for it.

And, for good measure, here’s another paragraph from the same section:

In "With Friends Like These" Robyn displayed a rather impulsive side of her personality, when upon hearing that James Ironwood's plan to abandon Mantle and arrest those against him, she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen onboard a Manta with Tyrian Callows in custody. Despite the fact, there was no order or her arrest. Her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

(Taken from Robyn’s RWBY Wiki page. Bolding is mine.)

In every instance here, all of the “negative” aspects of her personality take centre stage; she’s confrontational. She suffers from arrogance. She is aggressive and hostile. She started the fight. Her brashness led to the crash. All of this is only compounded when her positive traits trail behind as an afterthought; she’s direct and confrontational, overconfident and arrogant, aggressive and hostile, impulsive and jumps to conclusions... but hey! As least she’s reasonable when the situation calls for it. 

The way that this information is presented to the reader is quite literally on par with how the wiki presents the personalities of the actual literal villains who appear throughout the show. Let’s take, for instance, the Personality section of Cinder Fall:

Cinder is ruthless and sadistic, as demonstrated when she delivers a killing blow to a clearly defeated Pyrrha Nikos in "End of the Beginning" and when she throws a spear at a defenseless Weiss Schnee in "The More the Merrier." She is relentlessly driven to gain power and determined to cross any line to obtain it. Cinder demonstrates a cunning that shows in her successful manipulation of events and people throughout the first three volumes. Cinder is also arrogant and egomaniacal, and as such, relishes in dominance and gloating, displaying shameless pleasure in the misery she has caused others.

Or, the Personality section of Raven Branwen:

Raven is cynical, patronizing, selfish and stubborn. She believed her act of "kindness" of saving Yang's life from Neopolitan was sufficient despite having left Yang at a very young age and refused to protect her daughter when in need after that.

Raven is also very prideful and hypocritical, refusing to acknowledge her faults and always trying to justify her actions both to others and to herself, often putting the blame on others for them even if she feels real guilt about them.

It makes sense that for an antagonist, the primary faults and flaws of their personalities will come first, as to better represent them as the villains to clarify to the reader who they are and why they act as they do in their storylines. However, the fact that Robyn arguably has an even more caustic write-up then Raven, despite not being an antagonist, goes to show the lengths this writer has gone to present her in a significantly more negative light than she ever appears in the show.

If this doesn’t seem convincing, let’s look at a more direct comparison; what does the wiki say about Ironwood? He’s present in the same seasons, and has now become more of an antagonist in the latter episodes; is the wiki quite as blunt about his flaws?

Ironwood is courteous to his allies, as shown by his first onscreen interaction with Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. He is also far-thinking and tactical, wondering about the future, as seen when he speaks to Ozpin about Qrow Branwen's message. He also has a jovial, friendly, humorous and proud public persona, which he uses as a spokesman for the weapon manufacturers of Atlas.

However, as courteous Ironwood may appear, he can also be incredibly blunt, often preferring the direct approach. When he feels necessary, Ironwood is not afraid to bring the full might of his military command to bear, which sparked disagreements with both Glynda and Ozpin. Nevertheless, Ironwood is extremely loyal to his comrades, and however questionable his methods may be, he seems to have genuinely good intentions behind them.

Uh, no.

Instead, when his flaws are mentioned (for example, being blunt), it’s written in a significantly less... abrasive manner. It’s referred to as the direct approach, versus Robyn who is described as confrontational. Even then, his flaws are folded in to his (alleged) positive traits; he is not afraid, extremely loyal, and has genuinely good intentions, despite the fact that the show has now proven that Ironwood’s flaws greatly outweigh these. It reveals how thoroughly all of Robyn’s actions are presented as the work of an arrogant troublemaker, whilst Ironwood’s actions are presented as the efforts of a man working towards some greater good. 

Also, I’ll add that in both examples, I used the first two paragraphs of their Personality sections. These are both the first two things you read about these characters, yet look at how differently they’re summarised.

What is interesting, however, is that despite this bias being extremely self-evident, the comments on her page generally chime agreement, referring to her as “overconfident, arrogant, impulsive and hotheaded to the point of being unlikable”, and claiming that she’s “literally the worse character in the show next to cinder, blake and yang”[1]. Someone mentions that Robyn has earned quite the hatedom... but why?

Broadly, my experiences of Robyn Hill’s writing in the fandom has been through a queer lens, and the vast majority of writers who’ve covered her and the Happy Huntresses have been women, or queer, or trans, or all the above... basically, the people who are usually responsible for a vast majority of fanfiction, let’s be real. These writers love Robyn, and have explored and extrapolated on her character to marvellous degree. Yet, at no singular point have any of these flaws ever been written quite as strongly as the wiki implies they are, nor have I seen much evidence of them myself in the show. For instance, let’s take one of the more serious points in her Personality section; she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen [...] her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

When we watch this scene again, Robyn did initiate the fight... because she was rightfully aware that Clover would obey his orders, even if they were wrong. Despite everything that happened prior in the entirety of Volume 7, when given orders to bring Qrow in alongside RWBY, it was clear that Clover fully intended to follow it through, which Robyn knows from prior experience with the AceOps:

[image ID: two images of Clover, Robyn and Qrow in the dark-grey interior of the Manta ship. Robyn has her weapon aimed at Clover as he stands in front of Qrow. Clover is saying “Only Qrow is under arrest [...] please don’t make me arrest you too.”]

Her knowledge of the AceOps means that she reacted accordingly; trying to stop him from taking Qrow in and obeying Ironwood’s plan the only way she knows the AceOps respond to. Her reaction isn’t unwarranted. However, my point isn’t to argue that Robyn was right or wrong, but rather that regardless of who started the fight, the way the wiki explains this specific incident is that it’s solely Robyn’s fault that Tyrian escaped and crashed the Manta, but we know this isn’t the case. Robyn and Qrow both fought Clover, and it was Clover’s good luck (or Qrow’s bad luck, depending on how you view it) that allowed for Kingfisher to break Tyrian’s bonds. Her brashness is blamed for the outcome, but in reality, this outcome could have been avoided together if Clover had not chosen to follow his orders and bring in an innocent man. Also, she didn’t crash the Manta! That was all Tyrian! The intentional tying together of these two events as her fault, however, are a neat package of blame.

In these instances on the wiki, Robyn’s personality appears amplified, focusing specifically on her flaws and exaggerating them to the extremes that, as noted earlier, matches the language used to define the very villains of the series. Yet, the people who enjoy her and the Happy Huntresses often perceive those same flaws to a significantly lesser extent, or even see those flaws as actually being boons of her character; for instance, reading her alleged arrogance as passion. So, why such division?

Before, I mentioned her “negative” traits, and I put this into quote marks because traits don’t always align nicely into good and bad. All aspects of a person can vary on how positive they are based on context - even the show proves this, with protectiveness becoming paranoia (Ironwood) or loyalty becoming subservience (Winter). Even a character that is broadly composed of more unfavourable traits can have this contextual shift; Cinder’s stubbornness to her goals makes her a fast learner and a tenacious opponent.

Yet, why did the writer (or writers) choose to highlight almost every aspect of Robyn’s character as a bad thing? Why did they frame her decisions as such? I have a suspicion it’s to do with her character at large; she’s a bold socialist politician who believes in equality and fairness for all, who refuses to stand for incompetence and obedience towards evil causes. She’s outspoken in her views, and reacts strongly to those who threaten to overturn her work. Also, she’s a woman, in charge of a group of other women, at least one of whom is canonically trans. To those who agree with her in real life, Robyn appears as a great character! We admire her work ethic and we support her ends. To those who may not... well, it’s not hard to see how they might perceive her as more of a cocky, authority-defying upstart. Of course, the core text of RWBY doesn’t quite believe the latter; RWBY has always placed Robyn as the direct counter to authoritarianism, whether it be Jacques, Clover, or Ironwood, and even the article admits that she is a potent voice for the people of Mantle. Still, it’s clear that there’s plenty of people in a vocal minority who are deeply dissatisfied by Robyn, and aren’t afraid to make their stance on the matter exceedingly clear.

So, what does this all mean? Well, here’s what we can say for sure; Robyn’s article is, and has always been, stringently biased against her character, and often misconstrues her motives and decisions. This is maybe the more obvious part, but how should her article be worded to make this less so? Likely, I’d rephrase a lot of it to be less damaging to her character; she isn’t hostile, she holds people accountable. She isn’t quick to jump to conflict, she is familiar with how Atlas responds to anti-authority with violence. She isn’t arrogant, she believes in the power of the people as being the right thing to fight for. Even this makes it clearer that her character is about resisting the oppression inherent in Atlas, and is a much clearer outline of her personality as a whole. People may disagree with this phrasing and summary also, but given her character is based on Robin Hood, it’s also not far from the mark in terms of what she should represent.

TL;DR: Robyn’s wiki page is written with a deep bias against her character and what she represents, acts upon, and chooses to do in the show; I have no doubt that in canon, this sort of language would probably be used by Jacques himself as a smear campaign, haha. Whilst I can’t speak for the author and their motives, I have a distinct feeling that this article was written, or edited, by someone who is either:

not a fan of Robyn

not a fan of a new female character

not a fan of a new female character in a position of power

not a fan of a character with socialist/communist/antifa ideals

all of the above and then some???

Even though I’m not going to edit her wiki page (I’m very shy and I’ve never done it before), I think it’s worth analysing this if only as a reminder of the inherent biases of an author even when people are trying to present a character’s information impartially. This isn’t the first wiki I’ve seen misconstrue - or even make incorrect assumptions on - facts about a character, and it won’t be the last. In the meantime, though, I leave you with this fact:

Robyn Hill slaps huge nuts and I love her.

[1] I’m not naming the users who posted these things here, because it’s unnecessary. You can find them for yourself at the bottom of Robyn’s wiki, but there’s no need to respond; some people just don’t like Robyn, and that’s fine - I’m just explaining how bias leaks into wikis like water into a sponge. It happens!

[himboarcher]

reasons i've seen folks say that grad critics hate grad:

they hate travis (in fairness, i’ve def seen some comments of people shitting on trav for the sake of shitting on trav, but it’s not super common and typically gets downvoted into oblivion on reddit.)

it's not balance / travis isn't griffin (???????)

they hate neurodivergent people (again, in fairness, i have seen a handful of comments that could come across this way! but most of the time when travis being ADHD or his NPD is brought up, it's by defenders saying that criticizing travis is ableist because he's neurodivergent or, in one particular comment, infantilizing him bc of it and literally comparing grad to putting a kid's artwork on the fridge. there were some comments early on that pointed to him being a narcissist as the reason for things people disliked about grad, but everyone seems to have realized that that's a shitty train of thought and left it behind.)

they're just toxic haters (again, there are a small handful of people like this because this is the internet, but the genuine criticism greatly outweighs their bullshit. i 100% think that the people, which is mostly just one dude who is also insufferable on reddit, who have been responding rudely to positive tweets under the episode announcements lately are out of line and need to stop. there's been an influx of that lately, presumably because people are frustrated that after over a year of grad going on, there's been no improvement to most of the major issues. that's still no excuse to be a dick to folks, though.)

vs some of the actual reasons i don't like grad:

the racism / racist tropes, and the way that they’ve straight up ignored this criticism and will likely never acknowledge it. pretty wild considering a core tenet of their brand is their willingness to acknowledge when they’ve messed up and do their best to course correct.

clumsy attempts at inclusion that are shallow and often end up being fairly offensive ("...ask me about my wheelchair," anyone?)

on a related note: i don't think that travis had bad intentions, but as an nonbinary person, it feels othering to me that travis only has enby characters give others their pronouns unprompted. i'm thinking specifically of kai here. having listened to their introduction, i don't think it's as bad or awkward as some people have said, but i can't remember travis ever having another NPC tell the PCs their pronouns, especially not a cis character. it's not a huge deal, but it's something that rubbed me the wrong way. admittedly, i don't think it would bother me so much if travis hadn't dropped the ball so much with performative inclusion in the past.

okay i'm putting the rest under a read more because even without getting into all of the problems i have with it, this got Long.

little to no player agency. player choices are ultimately meaningless and have little to no effect on the world. even when he seems to go along with a plan they come up with, it always ends with them having to go back to travis' pre-written script (see: subpoenaing the xorn, but not really because they had to go with travis' original plan of "send the xorn home through the rift".) the players repeatedly get told things about what they think or feel or what they've been doing to an unnecessary degree. fitzroy is the only one who really gets space to play and decide things for himself, and that's only because travis has decided he's the main character.

the NPCs are all too nice and willing to give the PCs anything they ask for and more, unless the PCs are trying to follow their own plan and then the NPCs are completely useless. but honestly, aside from gray, all of the NPCs are just.... nice. travis refuses to even let his antagonists be mean or cruel or even more than just slightly rude, because that'd be a bummer and we don't want that! the "twist" of gordy the lich king actually being polite and chill is not a twist at all because everyone is like that in this world. the NPCs are also wildly overpowered, but then suddenly absolutely useless when the PCs actually want their help.

too many cliffhangers that are dropped immediately at the beginning of the next episode. i feel bad for travis because so many of these cliffhangers actually set up good momentum and seemed like things were gonna get interesting, but almost every single time he just dropped them at the beginning of the next episode. like when althea showed up to interview the boys and the next episode started with travis being like "actually you went to sleep, she said she'll be back tomorrow!"

that time travis specifically said in his exposition dump that the thundermen left their horses behind because they thought the centaurs might be offended by them riding horses, only to later on rag on them for being surprised that the centaurs had horses they could ride.....

also the centaur arc in general, but i already listed racism above, so.

the way that the toxic positivity and parasocial tendencies in the mcelroy fandoms have made a large portion of the fandom take ANY criticism as a personal attack on travis and/or on themselves for enjoying something others consider bad, either morally or just quality-wise. it’s okay to admit that something you like has problematic elements or just isn’t as good as it once was. you can and should engage critically with the media you consume.

related to above: the way travis has handled genuine criticism, which is to throw public tantrums on his twitter or make weird passive aggressive tweets & ultimately ignore all the genuine criticism and advice he's been offered by claiming it's all subjective, even after he specifically asked for it and set up an email for folks to send in genuine, objective advice for him (after he threw a tantrum on twitter and replied to someone's criticism publicly, which resulted in his followers dogpiling on that person bc how dare they insult their internet best friend). while i was writing this last night, he actually announced that he’s taking a break from Twitter and acknowledged that he’s been using it as an echo chamber where he can easily get validation from folks, and honestly i’m happy for him that he’s recognized this problem and is stepping away for a while! i hope he’ll genuinely use this time to reflect on how he’s been behaving and find a more healthy way to use social media. i’m leaving this point in because i think his Twitter being such a positive echo chamber was encouraging him to do stuff like this, and him somewhat acknowledging his behavior doesn’t mean it can no longer be discussed.

rainer. extremely cool concept in theory and i was very into it until that awkward "does anyone want to ask about my wheelchair?" moment. also when travis had her use her mobility aid to RAM INTO A DOOR instead of just fucking knocking???? also all the times travis has tried to force a romantic relationship between her and fitzroy, despite fitzroy displaying no interest in her in that way. also, just to clarify: as an ace person, i don’t think this is aphobic! (and it’s kind of a stretch to call it that imo, especially since griffin never explicitly said that fitzroy's aromantic!) i just think it’s weird and awkward and a little uncomfortable for me personally, mostly because it reminds me of the times i’ve been in similar situations.

less of a problem than a lot of the other stuff and more just bad writing, but the forced emotional moments. in general, nothing in grad feels earned (why are the boys heading a war? when they have multiple actual heroes with combat experience on their side and a supposedly powerful secret organization? and the thundermen are like 21 years old max and have only had like ~10 fights in the entire campaign?) but there've been a couple times where travis has tried to force unearned emotional moments, presumably because he knows people enjoyed those with the last campaigns. but the difference is that in balance, the big emotional moments happened because they were earned. in grad, it's just travis throwing a baby pegasus at us for a few minutes and then the next time she shows up, it's supposed to be a tearful goodbye.

there are absolutely no stakes. remember when the thundermen got told that if they left, gray would kill 10 students? and then they left and came back and it turns out that what gray actually meant was, "i'll tie ten students who are mostly nameless NPCs to a tree and throw some dogs at them that you can easily stop in time, then throw a tantrum because how dare you but i'll leave before you can really do anything to hurt me lol" travis did have fitzroy's magic get taken away, but like. it didn't really do anything? also all he had to get it back was be coerced into using drugs by an authority figure and trip in the woods?

we're told that the school is weird and the hero system is corrupt, but the world of nua is still presented as more of a liberal utopia than anything? althea getting fired because of a corrupt villain is the only time we've somewhat seen corruption, but even then, she was still allowed to get (what seems to me, anyway, but admittedly i don't know for sure bc nothing about the HOG makes much sense) a fairly important job from the very people who stripped her of her hero license or whatever the fuck heroes need?

travis doesn't actually seem to understand how capitalism or bureaucracy works and just chalks up everything to "red tape." also more on the rest of the boys than him specifically, but the "let's destroy capitalism!" thing turning into just pushing some filing cabinets over................... okay.

and one last piece of extremely subjective criticism: it's just kind of.... boring. i think a lot of people, myself included, would be willing to overlook 90% of the problems with graduation if it didn't feel like such a slog to get through.

also people saying that we can't or shouldn't criticize graduation because it's "free" is absolutely absurd for several reasons. first, something being free does not make it above criticism. second, there ARE people who directly financially support the show with monthly donations. three, there's a difference between something being free and something being not for profit. podcasting is their full time job. they make their living off of money made from TAZ and MBMBAM (and probably their other shows to a lesser extent). this not a fun home game that they are graciously recording and sharing with us. it is a product they are producing that they make money off of, both from ads in the episodes and merch & books based off of these podcasts. they have marketed themselves as professionals, and both griffin and travis have been on panels where they are marketed as professional DMs and appear alongside other professional DMs (which makes it incredibly frustrating when people say that travis is just a newbie DM and we can't criticize him because of that. if he's a newbie, then he should not be taking part of panels as a professional DM where he speaks as an expert). TAZ is free in the same way that an episode of NCIS is free. i may not pay for it directly, but the creators are paid to create it and profit off of me consuming this product. so saying we should be grateful for any mcelnoise that the benevolent good boys share with us and that we're not allowed to criticize it "because it's free" is absolutely wild.

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

So, Skam España just ended, and I just wanted to write a bit on it (sorry if it’s a bit too rambly), because this show is deeply connected to my experience in this website, and everybody I met here was directly or indirectly through this show, and I’ll forever be grateful for it. Also, it’s an amazing show (I actually liked this season, but I know it’s not a popular opinion so I won’t dwell on it anymore), I don’t really watch that many shows, and the only Spanish show I remember watching thoroughly is El Barco, so for me this show was mindblowing, taking place in my city, with characters roughly my age that spoke the way I did, talked about things I talked, went to places I went, and I even got blown away when suddenly the green bus in season 1 appeared, similar to the one I get on every day to go to uni, or when Cris went to the Retiro in season 2, one of my favourite places ever. And these characters felt real for me, Dylan and Hugo reminded me of my friends, Jorge like those cool guys I always wanted to befriend in High School but never had the guts to do, so I kept admiring them from the distance. And, even if I’m a white straight male, (probably the opposite target audience for this show lol) I related to the girls, especially Nora and, above all, Amira. I don’t drink, don’t smoke, and I hate parties and going out. I’m also really unconfortable when my friends talk non-stop about sex related stuff, just like Amira, and, of course, I’ve felt alone, hopeless and helpless countless times, just like Eva in season 1 or Amira in this last one. And this show makes me kinda proud of my country for tackling such hard and present topics tactfully and respectfully. Of course it’s not perfect, what show is anyways, but I think the good stuff greatly outweighs the bad stuff.

As for me, before getting into this community, I had at most 50 followers (most of them porn bots), and right now I have 823 (how the fuck did that happen????) and I’m sure there not that many porn bots haha. As I said, every and each wonderful person I’ve met in this site, some of them I can even call my friend, were indirectly or directly related to the eskam community. And I’m sorry but I have to talk about this wonderful community and all the amazing people I’ve met through this show cause y’all need to know how incredible and special and just the fucking best they are. First of all, the first person I ever spoke with here is @eskamtrash, I can’t even begin to describe how an amazing human being she is, she’s everything, and right now she’s the only person, both online and irl, that follows me on all social media, so I’m sorry about that 😅. Then we have the translators part of @skamesptranslations from season 3 on, they are the best people ever and I love them a lot, I literally cannot express how much I love them, I’m so fucking grateful for having met them: @naguaraquerandom @kindaemotionalkindaemotionless  @hajarsbrown  @alicechesire @nometoquesel  @skamdotcom and Zobe and Juana, I don’t remember your @s I’m a disaster :(    Finally, I’m gonna forget some of you I already know but some amazing blogs of this community that I admire and respect and adore so much are @gotskamstuff @carlosmachwitz  @theflowerisblue (i did never talk to you sadly but I saw how you translated everything and i already know you’re amazing!) @what-islife15 @iidiota  @subrealismoartificial @sanadeservesabetterseason @amifeelingokay @skamesp @rosalia-de-castro (i am obsessed with your @ btw)  @odi-et-amo85 @1havenoidea  @zitrolena @j-purplesunsets-rainydays @sisoyyoalgunproblema and @bekahtheskamfan. I know I’m missing more people but I’m really bad with remembering @s :(  but yeah, thanks for making all this experience 10000 better, I hope you all get everything you dream of 💛

Special mention to @sarcasmisalifechoice @languism @shrimpcolors @your-local-bi @cae-des and of course @non-binary-archer, people that I think met due to skam españa (maybe???) but right now they’re so much more to me, and I love them to pieces.

So yeah, Skam España was a lot, it was a beautiful experience that I’ll never forget, and I will remember y’all and all the amazing moments we had :)

Long live Skam España 💛

[bunnylouisegrimes]

Episode 9 Review (The Future: What Does It Hold?)

Tagging @coldsoba per request

This episode was a headache for me. I was anticipating it, and although it wasn’t entirely bad and it wasn’t the worst, I think this episode highlights all the bad aspects of this season and brings them together. It brings some of the good that this season brought out together as well, but it’s evident to me now that we’re reaching the end so far that the bad is outweighing the good. This episode has me worried about the future of the series, and angry overall. I’m concerned that if this series does continue and has a season 3, it won’t be good, and it will turn into a shit show like The Walking Dead did (they want a season 3, although, based on the low ratings and low viewership, AMC might cancel, no one truly knows yet, especially if BBC and all that other stuff helps boost it).

Before I start this review, I’d like to say right here and now: this is a pretty critical analysis, and possibly has a bunch of unpopular opinions, but I’m saying it anyways. I’m mad, I’m annoyed, and I’m ticked. Last week’s episode ticked me off, this... Oh, man... just know I’m cool if you disagree with me, but I’m hoping by the end you all understand why I feel this way.

Now, don’t get me wrong: like most episodes of this show from this season, despite entire scenes and plot points being bad, it has great moments to enjoy. Did this episode contain lots of action and intensity? Hell yes, and I liked that. Did it stay true to the book ending so far? In a few ways, yes. Pretty much all the ways it didn’t due to the changes they made that were already questionable were the things I didn’t like, which leads me to this: Do I like the direction the story is going, based on what we know and have so far? Hell no. Of course, we don’t know 100% the direction it’s going until next week’s episode, but right now, I’m very on the fence.

Because there is a lot of bad I’m going to discuss, let’s get the good out of the way.

Lou and Vic in the beginning, as per usual, are sweet and I love them. Tabitha and Lou’s interaction was sweet as well. Seeing Charlie frightened and shook was oddly cute, but also funny. And Wayne and Charlie’s interaction... I’m sorry, it was just adorable. I like the idea of Maggie and Vic going to Christmasland together, that was a good choice (although now... I’m uncertain).

To begin the negativity, we’ll start with Charlie and the house scene. I like Charlie confronting his own fears, it’s a very interesting concept. I find it kinda stupid and confusing Charlie wouldn’t know this house exists in his own mind, I mean, it is a part of his own mind, even if it was in the back of it. Why would he not know? Despite that, we’re gonna move onto the meat and potatoes. Now, Cassie’s POV, based on how she was presented in the show (which I still hate, btw, and I am greatly annoyed with how she is not the abuser she was in the book, but I’ve discussed this already a million times), makes sense. We get why she’s pissed, she should be, although I don’t think she understands that her ex-husband had all of this shit happen to him as far as creating Christmasland and becoming a vampire and all that by having a mental snap. It all happened due to his mental pressure. He didn’t have full control (if any control!) over that entire situation. It happened, his life depended on souls and energy from that moment on, and he had to make do with the shitty end of the stick being presented to him. Christmasland is both good and bad, and vampirism is both good and bad, and Charlie has to try to make do with what he can to give himself and his daughter happiness, and focus on the positives. Cassie could’ve maybe given him at least that credit, but she makes it out like, “You’ve brought her happiness in presents and candy, not making her a woman.” Uh... Cassie? Charlie and Millie became vampires out of his control. All this shit happened, how the hell could he reverse all of it? Is there anyway he could? It’s not even explained if he can, but the writers ignore this fact and make it out to be like, “Look, he’s so evil!” Writers, is there anyway he could change these things, even if he wanted to? “Well, no, not exactly, but look, he’s still evil!” So... you’re not even allowing him to have an opportunity to change, and then when he’s stuck in the situation and making the best out of it, even if it isn’t 100% the best way... he’s still super heinous and evil? “Yes!” Okay... whatever... see this is another reason why it annoys me how they’re writing Charlie as “the worst person in the world,” when really, he isn’t. He’s not an angel, but he is not as evil as this show wants to present. Pretty much all of Cassie’s criticisms are valid, but she could’ve at least given Charlie some credit. Nope! But the thing that really bothered me in the back of my mind was how much better this scene would’ve been had they actually written his backstory properly. I kept thinking how much better it would’ve been if an abusive Cassie comes back to haunt Charlie and taunt him, degrading him, and mocking him, how much more sense it would’ve made. And if Millie pointed these things out to him, it might’ve changed his mind some (he would think, “oh, even my daughter kinda agrees with the abuser”). It works here with the way they portrayed her, despite the point I mentioned about Charlie making the best of shit falling flat on Cassie’s end, but it would’ve been 1000% better if they made her an abuser and she scared Charlie, then Millie brings up similar points and Charlie’s POV starts to change a bit.

(Plus, I’d like to add that by doing that, you’re setting potential up for a Charlie redemption arch, and he wouldn’t have to die, Vic and Maggie wouldn’t have to die, and season 3 has interesting potential, and you still have your main characters that we enjoy).

On the topic of this scene, here is a take a friend of mine gathered from it that I definitely can see as well: The point they were trying to make in this scene is that Charlie is a coward. This is their interpretation of Cassie being ‘abusive,’ they didn't leave it out (her being angry at him) like we thought they would. They wanted to give her a concrete reason to hate him so much and call him out for his bad deeds. Also, this house, which was hidden away at the back of his mind, is a mesh of Charlie's fears and his guilt. Based on his facial expressions and his mannerisms, and how he forcefully held Millie, this was all out of fear and guilt for what he did to them that first time and how The Wraith pretty much consumes you. She's literally trying to tell his stupid ass that they can never leave, otherwise, they'll turn to static, which they will. Millie can't go anywhere because she's stuck there and Charlie knows because he was selfish, he robbed her of her future without intending to. Charlie is highkey a yandere, even for his own kid, but it makes sense because he's never really had anything, Also, as to why he’s sort of controlling in a sense: he's driven by fear and also anger if you think about it. Christmasland is how he projects and saving other children because he had a rough and traumatic childhood, he has some serious mental health issues. This I see 100% presented here too, which is a good aspect coming out of this scene. This season does show us a really vulnerable Charlie as they explore his past and give him a breaking point, which we like! But we both definitely agreed that they wanted to make Charlie more of a dick than needed throughout this whole season. Maybe these writers really wanted more drama, especially Manx family drama, through Charlie acting worse? Not so sure. Either way, it gets on my nerves, and it’s almost inconsistent with the narrative they want to spin. They keep going back and forth with “Charlie’s so sad” (which, I would agree, he is, but they even mess that up and somehow still make him look worse) and “Omg he is the worst person ever.” I hope I’ve explained myself well enough in this area, it’s a very complicated and convoluted topic that has me conflicted and annoyed myself.

I think most importantly, the thing that annoys me about all of this Manx family drama the most is: How tf are they gonna “live normal lives” and “escape?” Millie grabbing onto the ornament prevents her from disappearing, which really doesn’t make sense. I’m sure they’ll clarify it next episode, but how is she gonna become a woman and live a normal life? For Christ’s sake, Charlie can barely understand the modern world as an adult man! You think a kid like her is gonna truly enjoy it or understand it? I have my doubts on this and how they’ll write all of that. Plus, she’s a vampire! If she returns human and all the other kids do when their ornaments break, and this is something that confuses me even in the book... where will they go? Oh yeah, they’ll somehow find normal lives! Honestly, it would make more sense to have them move onto the afterlife. Are they gonna keep them human and alive to make them the stars of the show? That possible concept of, “Oh, the kids are gonna be the stars of the show now!” No, writers... just no. Nobody is gonna care about that. Again, it’s a possibility, and it’s a possibility I’m not thrilled by personally. I don’t want them to be the stars. They can be awesome supporting characters, but not the main focus. Idk man, I’m just saying right now, I’m not so sure how this whole concept is gonna work and I fear how they’re going to write it.

Next up: Wayne’s shitty behavior. Wayne is acting like a really big asshole, and it’s getting on my nerves. “He’s now a vampire!” I hear someone say. “Of course he’s acting this way!” Yes, but the reason why it’s especially annoying is because Vic keeps trying and trying to get the point across to him, and it’s all for nothing. We know Vic’s opinions and her heartfelt feelings for her son, and she ends up having to repeat herself when she might as well be taking to the wall. What’s the point? Filler? We already know Vic’s determination is strong. In the book, how Wayne was acting was better. He held onto himself, but he also didn’t, but Vic’s words managed to get across to him quite a few times throughout his journey. This would’ve been much better on screen, but the writer’s were like, “HA HA NOPE!” The scene that really angered me: what was the point of Vic making her speech (which was really nice btw) only for Wayne to not listen... you’d think that’d be the scene where he changes, but the writers decided to turn it into a shock value filler moment (similar to Chris’s death, which, btw, all this nonsense is making his death for near nothing). And, let’s not forget my question from last week.. where is Craig in all of this? Hmmm... guess he decided to take a vacation from helping his biological son, because he’s just gone! Why?! What was the point?! He better at least appear next week, but even then... too late now, buster! Probably should’ve been here earlier! I mean, for real, what was the point of Craig’s character at this point? What a waste of potential...

The worst part imo from this entire episode: Okay, so the writers make Charlie an even worse villain, even giving him those subtle sadistic undertones even as Vic is trying to talk to Wayne (alright, I get it, there’s that element to “saving” Wayne that’s vengeful when it comes to Charlie, but it’s honestly just too much darkness; it’s almost out of character, especially when it’s in a scene like this. I get it, he likes the idea of getting revenge on Vic, but does he have to be THIS dark? That laugh he gave was funny, yes, and I couldn’t help myself but laugh just because of how stupid it sounded, but looking at the reason why he laughed... if anything, he would’ve stood there with a smug smile and say something like, “I told you he loves me more.” They make him way too dark and it really takes away from the fact he is a villain with moral code, but these writers have seemingly forgotten that with the exception of the one scene in episode 7 where he condemns Bing’s rape. Of course, the rapist might be getting a redemption arch anyways, not Charlie, but uh... moving on from all that past shit!). Yeah, as I was saying, they make Charlie darker. Okay, let’s forget my opinions on that for a moment: the characters have the opportunity to make him, this super evil and irredeemable villain, weak to the point he couldn’t get up at all... But Maggie stops him from being in this state? WHAT?! That shit is very out of character for her, and it’s very out of character for Vic to just stop! Vic would’ve persisted, and if the roles were reversed, Charlie would’ve persisted. That’s the thing about them both: they are persistent and protective about their kids. Why did Vic need to stop? “We need to find your son!” MAGGIE! You’ve both tried multiple times already! Focus on Charlie when you have the chance! How stupid are you two?! And better yet: Why would Vic drop the weapon?! She would’ve grabbed it!!!! What the hell is this shit?! I can’t even express how stupid this is... I get you can’t exactly kill him, but you could make absolute certain he would be subdued and unable to even have the chance to get up and grab his weapon. But nope! They need to attempt for the thousandth time to save Wayne in the exact same way, when it has shown not to work. You’d think they’d at least attempt to think of something else, even if their options are limited, but nah, we’re gonna do something very out of character instead... why?

Things aren’t looking too good for Maggie, so I have to ask: is Maggie gonna die? And if so, that is beyond fucking stupid. They set up the potential for a plot with Tabs and Mags for the third season. I didn’t pick up that they officially broke up, rather just separated for now, and... for what?! If she’s seriously gonna die, I’m gonna be extremely pissed. That wasted potential and insult to her character would be so fucking stupid. Yes, she dies in the book (in a different fashion, and it’s probably not that great how she goes there either), but look at all they’ve done for her character, especially giving her a girlfriend, a character that’s become even more important. Her death would be questionably more insulting here for sure!

Overall, while there were things I liked about this episode, I am majorly disappointed and concerned for the future of the series. I’m afraid it will take directions that are not good, and if it does continue, I am afraid it will be a living dead show of sorts. I think the only true way this show can carry on and be good is if all our main most important characters (Vic, Maggie, Charlie, Lou, Wayne, and Tabs) are all alive. Now, Vic and Charlie might be the only exception to this, just because they both do die in the book, and although even that is rough and not the best, it is expectant and I think this show can still be good with Maggie, Lou, Tabitha, and Linda taking care of Wayne (I’m not gonna go into the potential with Millie in this scenario because that’s a rocky topic lol). But if this show follows the path of TWD, where we have a whole new cast of characters you’re not really gonna care about and all the old cast you got to know and love is just gone... that’ll be the cherry on top of this shit sundae. I am excited for the concept of exploring the world of other Strong Creatives, as many rumors speculate the next season will contain, but if the show that explored the world of zombies failed by getting rid of pretty much their whole old cast... what about this show? They’ve already messed up quite a few things I don’t like this season I’ve discussed before, and if they go the route of doing anything that can get worse... I can’t describe how disappointing it would be. Not saying things have to be perfect or my way all the way, but it has to be generally good and enjoyable for everyone. Growing attached to a cast of characters only to erase many of them and focus on a new one is not a way that is good and enjoyable for everyone. AMC: This happened with TWD; for the love of God, don’t let it happen with NOS4A2.

As I said in my last review: let’s hope next week is better, and AMC, for the second time in a row, doesn’t deliver a disappointment of a show.

[evartandadam]

I want to write a thing about Sasuke’s development throughout Naruto- and where Kishimoto failed his character. (I have been asked about my opinions on Sasusaku, but before I can remotely get to that, I need to establish what I think of Sasuke as a character by himself. He is a very interesting character, and he deserves his own rant.) 

There are two important points in Sasuke’s life, and both of these points establish the main theme Kishi wanted Sasuke’s character to feature.

The first point is when Sasuke leaves to train under Orochimaru, and the second is when he is approached, and changed by Madara/Obito. 

Point 1: Taking the Path of an Avenger. (Main Theme)

In Naruto:

Sasuke’s main theme throughout the series is slowly succumbing to the darkness for power. 

He leaves his village and friends behind. Does this mean he doesn’t care about them? Of course not. He cares. But the point is that he chooses his revenge over his potentially fulfilling life with his friends. He would have been much happier if he could have just let his revenge go (and he knows this), but he didn’t. This is the point Kishimoto wants to drive home about Sasuke throughout Shippuden. Sasuke chose revenge over love (and forgiveness).

And who can blame Sasuke? His brother, after murdering their entire clan, DARED Sasuke to kill him. Sasuke, as a 7 year old, was faced with a responsibility to take care of family business, something no child should have to wrestle with. But it happened. And growing up, he feels it is his job to kill his brother. He listened to Itachi, was molded by Itachi. A traumatic external force in his life effected him greatly. Killing Itachi is now his DUTY.

The problem is that Sasuke is now only 13, and still developing mentally and emotionally, so he isn’t necessarily going to make the best decision about fulfilling this duty. 

He knowingly goes to a terrorist S-rank criminal who wants to use him as a vessel, instead of staying at the village with Kakashi, whose power almost rivals said criminal. 

Sasuke doesn’t know really anything about his own village, obviously.

He doesn’t know anything about Kakashi or his abilities. How strong and famous this man really is for being a ruthless killing machine by the age of 13, like Itachi!

Kakashi would have been a great person to learn from. That’s why Kakashi wanted to teach him.

But Sasuke assumes that because Kakashi is a “good guy”, he is weaker than Orochimaru. And this is his mistake. 

Because his brother is “evil,” and very powerful, that must mean that evil people are better ninja, right?

Sasuke acts on what he does not know. And he does this all the time!

Ok so he’s 13 and kind of lacks basic foresight and judgement. So he goes to Orochimaru. And we skip forward 2 and 1/2 years. 

In Naruto Shippuden:

Sasuke is much stronger.

He has held onto his core beliefs. (he refuses to kill innocent people for personal gain.)

Sasuke at this point is super cool, cause he’s edgy, but not a terrible person. Everyone loves Sasuke at this point. He’s got a cool top that shows off those pecs he’s been working so hard on. And he gives less of a crap than ever before.

He is mysterious, because the author purposefully doesn’t let the audience see his thought process or emotions. But we know enough.

But then what happens? He kills Itachi, as he planned all along. What he doesn’t count on is that Itachi isn’t the evil entity he had pictured in his little kid brain. And someone brings this to his attention. Makes sure he knows.

And this brings us to the second point.

Point 2: Manipulation from External Forces (Extension of Main Theme)

Before we get back to the Naruto timeline, let’s go over what makes Sasuke fall for this external manipulation:

"Sasuke is basically a very pure person who doesn't think about whether what he does is good or bad. He just does what he wants to do, which causes trouble for others" - Masashi Kishimoto

Itachi describes Sasuke this way:

And I love this, because it does describe him perfectly. I think this statement stuck out to many readers. 

What Itachi means is that Sasuke: 

lacks the ability to look ahead and judge things clearly. 

He is easily influenced- gullible, even. 

And even though he managed to cling to some moral standard up until Itachi’s death- not killing innocent people- everything else is easily replaced on a whim.

By focusing solely on killing Itachi, Sasuke left himself wide open to attack. Not physical attack. Something even more dangerous: emotional manipulation. He neglected every aspect of himself other than the physical- and the desire for revenge. What I’m saying is that Sasuke is extremely emotionally stunted. And people recognize this, and use this to their advantage. Anyone can come up to him and plead to his cause, and he will fall for it, against any better judgement he may have. If he were a character in a video game, he essentially maxed out his stats in one area, and left every other area under-developed and weak.

His ideals always outweigh his reality.

So, how does this aspect of his character get him in trouble? Well, let’s discuss a very big shift in Sasuke’s character.

Madara’s influence:

Back to the Naruto timeline:

The truth about Itachi totally shakes Sasuke’s world. And “Madara” is totally loving this. He’s going to use this to his advantage.

So. Sasuke feels that he has a new duty. He must now somehow avenge his brother. And this means he should kill the Kage- wait, what?

Oh right. Madara is talking into his ear.

“Itachi literally lived and died for this, so obviously he wouldn’t want what I’m suggesting, but you should totally do the dirty work for me and destroy everything Itachi believed in. That way, you can avenge him. I’m totally like, empathizing with you right now. I’m definitely not just saying this to get you to do what benefits me.”

Ok, so of course, Sasuke blindly listens. 

And this is the second part to the main theme that Kishimoto explores with Sasuke’s character. What happens when a person, devoid of anything in the world besides revenge, falls into a false sense of justice? What happens after that quest for vengeance is fulfilled?

And at this point in the show, we see a new Sasuke. This Sasuke is very different from before. Why? 

Sasuke is throwing his past moral compass out the window. 

He’s going to kill people he doesn’t even know are guilty of anything. (Danzo definitely saw it coming, but Tsunade? What has she done to Sasuke? She is a great Hokage! She has nothing to do with Itachi. Neither does Gaara, or the rest of the current Kage.)

But Sasuke doesn’t care about this! Madara convinced him that they are evil, because of their position. 

The Kage are automatically evil, because they represent authority. And it’s important to recognize that Sasuke doesn’t care about past authority or current authority- it is not his authority, so therefore, it is bad. It needs to be purged.

Sasuke is putting his problems on unrelated people. 

And this is when Sasuke really falls into some dark stuff. He is actually becoming more of a villain.

The Final War:

By the time we see him in the war, he is ranting about “revolution.” 

Sasuke is very deluded. And it’s due to outside influence. He is young and brash, and his world is very small. So so very small. All he knew up until this point was revenge and his brother. He doesn’t know how to live a normal life, or how to let things go. It’s like he was asleep until this point, and he finally realized that there’s a bigger world out there, and he needs to do something about it!

Sasuke is rather pitiful. But very zealous and dangerous. And I think people in the fandom downplay this too much. People want to like Sasuke- resonate with him. Up until recently, everyone is nodding their heads like “we feel you Sasuke, this sucks.” But people need to recognize when pity needs to stop.

Sasuke’s best trait is hyper-focusing on his goal. And this is also the most dangerous thing about him. He is easy to manipulate, as I have established earlier. And he is on the far end of fanaticism. He isn’t thinking about individuals anymore. He is only thinking about the collective... kind of like... the Akatsuki?

After all, didn’t the Akatsuki want to create world peace by killing a bunch of innocent people and enforcing lack of conflict through silence?

And we all agree that the Akatsuki are totally missing the mark, correct? 

After all, is it really for the greater good? Sacrificing innocent people for one’s own idea of peace? Kind of narcissistic to assume one knows best.

Sasuke is talking about doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to “change the world” to make it “better”. Whatever his version of “better” is. And this is totally wrong! How is becoming what you hate most supposed to prove that your version of peace is correct?

Sasuke is getting high on “justice.” And by justice, I mean elevating himself into the god plane. He thinks he is better than everyone else- his opinion is the only one that matters. After all, these pathetic people can’t possibly think for themselves. He must force them to see the truth!

And he thinks this because his world is so small, and “Madara”, implanted an idea onto his “blank canvas.”

This is literally what’s going through Sasuke’s mind during the final arc of the show. It is extreme, and exactly the opposite of what Naruto, our protagonist, believes. So obviously there is going to be a clash.

This is where I think the author screwed Sasuke over.

Ditching the Main Theme of Sasuke’s Character:

Sasuke up until this point only knows a few things: His first reason for existing was based on a lie, and he now thinks he is fighting for the truth- that Itachi died for nothing good, and it is up to him to change the world.

Naruto fights Sasuke, and when Sasuke realizes he can’t beat Naruto in a PHYSICAL FIGHT, he suddenly changes his drastic opinions on everything he believes in. He says “Sorry, I was crazy, let’s start over.” And that’s it. End credits start to roll.

Kishimoto took Sasuke’s character on a very long journey. And it was all leading up to this peak- the point where Sasuke literally bursts. Sasuke resembles a very specific type of person- a particular path one can take in life. It is about a boy who chose the life of vengeance over happiness and positive personal growth. And the consequences of that decision.

During the entire show, I am expecting something drastic to happen to Sasuke. He is a drastic character. He is a flawed character- a beautiful example of what revenge can do to a good person. As an author, it is important to make this character’s fate what it is being set up for- tragedy.

So there were two (good) writing options here:

Sasuke either needed to die, because his mind could not be changed and he was a danger to innocent people, or, he needed to be redeemed over a decent period of time.

By the time Sasuke enters the war, he is far gone. Is it possible to change his mind again? Sure. He is still young and bendable. But it wouldn’t take two seconds.

Madara didn’t change Sasuke’s mind- he filled blank space. Implanted an idea. He put something on a blank canvas.

Naruto, however, has to undo all of this brain washing. He has to change his mind.

There is a difference here.

Covering a blank canvas with color is easy. But covering those old colors with new ones is hard, and takes time.

As in, Kishi really needed to rethink his timeline for his manga.

The best thing he could have done, since he obviously wanted Sasuke to be redeemed, was to make Naruto fight Sasuke BEFORE the war.

Here’s an alternate timeline:

Naruto finally catches up with Sasuke before the war, and they fight it out. Sasuke loses, but only by a bit. And Naruto actually talks to him. Not the usual “this is my Dream”, but listening to Sasuke and discussing his experiences, and countering his opinion in a personal manner.

Naruto thinks he can’t change Sasuke’s mind, and he worries that if he doesn’t kill Sasuke, something bad will happen to those he cares about in the future. And Kishi puts a lot of time and emphasis on this encounter. This exchange of opinions. This is the cornerstone of their relationship up until this point.

But Naruto decides not to kill Sasuke, explaining the concept of unconditional love to him. And he leaves him.

And Sasuke spends time thinking on this.

And then the final battle begins, and Sasuke drops in, deciding on helping Naruto after all. Thus concluding the Naruto/Sasuke conflict.

This order of events would have been much better. Naruto and Sasuke fighting after the war seemed unnecessary, and it just didn’t flow. It made Sasuke look extremely fickle, when he is actually very stubborn.

Based on this sequence of events, why would Sasuke help Naruto defeat Obito? When Obito was literally trying to change the world “for the better,” just like Sasuke was. Maybe Sasuke didn’t agree on the method. Sasuke would rather kill everyone and start over with him as supreme leader. (Which is... worse than what Obito had in mind? Obito wanted everyone to live in a peaceful dreamworld, where everything was good.)

So, I guess my point is that Kishimoto had a path for Sasuke, and a few points to make about his choices. But he then ditched the consequences of those choices. Ignored the theme he created from the very beginning. In the canon timeline, we as an audience didn’t really learn any lessons from Sasuke’s journey. Sasuke’s part in the story kind of fizzled out. It didn’t have the zing I was hoping for. 

Sasuke deserved more attention. More focus on the climax of his personal journey. And more time for the falling action after this climax. 

For me to want to see him back at Kohona, I wanted more of his thought-process and journey. It would take time for a person as damaged as Sasuke to fit back into the social confines of his old village.

I would love additional thoughts on this! :)

[losangelesleftygayvoters]

Ballot Measures

General Election November 6, 2018

State Measure 1: YES

The most California Measure ever. Essentially, YES on Prop. 1 means affordable housing for veterans, working families, seniors, people with disabilities, and Californians experiencing homelessness from California’s severe housing crisis. And interestingly, Prop. 1 doesn’t raise taxes, it authorizes the state to borrow $4 billion by selling bonds for housing programs. The argument is that the housing shortage stemming from the influx of millions to California requires bigger solutions. Sure. But again, veterans, Habitat for Humanity, Congress of CA Seniors, Coalition to End Domestic Violence, and BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES agree. In fact, the only person (singular) publicly opposed to this measure is a dude named Gary B. Wesley who vowed forty years ago that he’d oppose every measure brought to the people forever no matter what. Good for you, Gary, you’re a man of your word.

State Measure 2: YES

A “yes” on 2 authorizes money from the Mental Health Services Act to be spent on housing for homeless people with mental health issues. The main arguments against the measure are that money spent on housing, even if for homeless people suffering from mental illness, is spent on housing and NOT on mental health; and that the measure would, by necessity, soak up funds from organizations and actions intended to deal with mental health directly. But, by percentage, the population in California suffering most rampantly from mental health issues is the homeless, and studies, experts, and common sense all support the idea that to treat mental illness effectively, you need to be able to find the patients. So money spent on housing the mentally ill is essentially the most basic element of their treatment. The secondary argument is that housing will suck up funds for other mental illness programs, which is correct. The LA Times says the percentage of money the housing measure would actually suck up is small, but they don’t provide a hard figure. Vote your conscience here (as everywhere), but our conscience is saying the argument for outweighs this argument against. And again, endorsements out the wazoo, including from experts and organizations for the treatment of mental illness.

State Measure 3: YES

We’re gonna build some dams and water infrastructure. Great! We’re for that. We hope there will be water to store and move around, so we like the idea of making it easier and better to do so. And also, this bill is a little weird. It’s endorsed by Feinstein and a gang of environmental groups, but it’s opposed by the Sierra Club and a few others. Endorsed by the Fresno and Bakersfield papers, rebuked by LA Times (and nearly every other paper) for not spending the money where it should be spent, it’s one of those bills that doesn’t totally fix the problem of water (but it’s California, it’s been this way since Mulholland…). The rhetoric is so bonkers and thick and hard to process. Ultimately, for us it came down to the fact that it’s one of only two propositions to be endorsed by both parties.

State Measure 4: YES

This measure authorizes $1.5 billion in bonds, to be repaid from state’s General Fund, to fund grants for construction, expansion, renovation, and equipping of qualifying children’s hospitals. Fiscal Impact: Increased state costs to repay bonds averaging about $80 million annually over the next thirty-five years. This designates 72 percent of funds to qualifying private nonprofit hospitals providing comprehensive services to high volumes of children eligible for governmental programs and children with special health needs eligible for the California Children’s Services program, 18 percent of funds to University of California general acute care children’s hospitals, and 10 percent of funds to public and private nonprofit hospitals providing services to children eligible for the California Children’s Services program. Build children’s hospitals, team.

State Measure 5: NO

This is an impossibly confusing measure. It allows individuals over fifty-five to move from their current house to a new location, transferring their tax subsidies. This means that individuals that have lived in a house for thirty years, or a house in an area that has greatly increased in value, can sell their current home and move to another location under most likely a smaller tax. This sounds, yes, like a great thing! But, it turns out it disproportionately affects the poor and benefits individuals in a strong financial place, especially current homeowners. This does not fair well for those trying to enter the market. Currently, eligible homebuyers can transfer a tax assessment if their new home is of equal or lesser value. Also, individuals can do this only once in their lifetime. If the measure passes, it allows the wealthy to get out of paying taxes on moving in a way that is currently only allowed for certain individuals who need it. Nice try, 5, we’re wise to your shenanigans.

State Measure 6: NO

State Measure 6 is a bill that’s been pushed hard by Republican lawmakers and has the strong support of Paul Ryan, Devin Nunes, and that cadre of derpy dudes who want you to build your own roads because taxes are somewhat . . . who knows, immoral, we guess? Here’s how this came to be: in 2017, Jerry Brown and the state legislature passed gas taxes that are scheduled to generate $52.4 billion over the next ten years. And then a few months ago, we all voted on and passed Proposition 69, which dedicated all of that gas tax money to transportation infrastructure: roads and bridges and stuff. Measure 6 wants to basically undo all that AND require any new gas tax to have voter approval. Look, gas taxes aren’t percentage based on income, so they do disproportionately affect lower-income families. That legitimately does suck. And so, yes, Measure 6 does try to alleviate some of the cost of living to a lot of California’s working class by repealing taxes. Arguably, we agree with that. However, passing Measure 6 would cancel up to $5 billion in existing projects where we fix roads and bridges, and those infrastructure projects have yet to be funded at the federal level. There are an estimated 680,000 construction jobs that would be wiped out with the passage of Measure 6. And, we’ve voted on this before. A couple of times. This is an effort to undo what the majority has already agreed to in the past. Nope.

State Measure 7: YES

First and foremost, this isn’t a measure that will change Daylight Savings Time right now. It’s a measure that lets California lawmakers actually decide if they want to take that up IN THE FUTURE. They are currently unable to ever really discuss Daylight Savings Time because of the way the original vote went in 1949. Voting yes here means that the state is allowed to discuss it and possibly repeal it in the future. The idea of tweaking or abolishing Daylight Savings Time (or in some cases making it the only option) is up for discussion in a lot of places, and if changes elsewhere start happening, California would currently be unable to change with them. But, actually, it’s probably something we do want to consider. Yes, every time this comes up, critics say “but kids shouldn’t go to school when it’s dark out!” Fine, sure, but… get this. The time change is really bad for all of us! Rep. Kansen Chu (D-25), Rep. Lorena Gonzalez (D-80), and Sion Roy, a cardiologist, wrote this in the state voter information guide: “University medical studies in 2012 found that the risk of heart attacks increases by 10% in the two days following a time change. In 2016, further research revealed that stroke risks increase 8% when we change our clocks. For cancer patients the stroke risk increases 25% and for people over age 65 stroke risk goes up 20%. All because we disrupt sleep patterns.” So basically, a “yes” vote here will let us actually discuss a future in which we save time, hassle, daylight, and lives.

State Measure 8: NO

This is just about punishing non-union dialysis clinics. It would have a serious impact on patients and make it much more difficult for dialysis patients to receive care. There’s a lot of problems with it. We looked into it, and it just screws patients who want their kidneys to work better. Medical groups are ROUNDLY like, “please, no.” We’re with them.

State Measure 10: YES

This is a bill that hands the issue of rent control back to a more local level, rather than having a single mandated state policy. In 1995, California passed the Costa-Hawkins Act, which basically said that the state of California sets the limits on rent increases for homes occupied after 1995. There’s been some economic changes at very different rates in different parts of California since then. So Measure 10 repeals Costa-Hawkins and lets local governments decide for themselves how to regulate rent control. Measure 10 does not actually create new policy, it just says that new policy can be created at a local level, rather than a state level, which turns out to counterintuitively benefit a lot of marginalized groups. The measure has language that entitles landlords to fair-market-value rent—they just can’t jack up the price so high that it completely screws the tenants. You can imagine how peeps in the “survival of the fittest” crowd (and banks who’ve learned how to profit from foreclosure in the current system) feel about that. It’s a weird bill because it doesn’t actually give too much guidance to how to go forward, and even the Democratic gubernatorial candidate (Newsom) is against the measure, because while he does think there should be more affordable housing in California, completely repealing Costa-Hawkins feels a little fast and loose. That said, nursing organizations, teachers unions, and labor and Democratic organizations throughout the state are trying very hard to keep people in affordable housing. And this measure does provide a sense of relief to that. So, we say yes!

State Measure 11: YES

We spent a long time trying to figure this out. And basically the status quo is that when EMTs are on break, they are uninterrupted (though, like not always, sometimes they’re called to do things when not working). So, voting no preserves that. A yes vote means that going forward, EMTs will have to remain “on call” when they’re on break, but they will be paid for any of the time they end up working. They sort of already are, but it’s meant to streamline some labor laws. We sort of wanted to say you can vote for either thing, but a yes vote on Measure 11 also adds funding for additional training and mental health services for EMTs. After looking at a number of the different arguments in favor and opposed, we say vote for yourselves or ask your EMT friends (ours seemed ambivalent). But we think mental health services for ANY profession is good, so we vote yes.

State Measure 12: YES

Requires cage-free quarters for egg-laying chickens and other animals being raised for food. I mean, we’re all for not being assholes to chickens, so this seems to make sense. Yes, this is super problematic on a lot of levels and cage-free is WAY less cage-free than like “chicken in the wild”—and PETA is against this because they want us to stop eating animals altogether, but for now, getting chickens SOME kind of autonomy and making it slightly less cruel feels like a step toward getting us where we go.

City Amendment B: YES

Much like the Daylight Savings bill, this is another of those “let us at least let the people look into this” bills. It’s hard to know what would happen if it passes, but essentially the city would like to talk about what it would mean to establish a public bank. These exist in other countries like Brazil and Germany and here in the States in North Dakota (which was the only one seemingly untouched by the 2008 crisis). And the theory is that since the city spent $170 million last year in banking fees and $1.1 billion in interest, an LA-owned bank could possibly mitigate those costs. It’s a bold, progressive move and could have implications for the whole country. In the interest of allowing our elected officials to do their job, we say: “Sure! Talk about it!”

City—Municipal Charter Amendment E: YES

You already voted on this in a previous election, but then the state changed primaries from June to March, so they have to ask us to vote again. So we’re voting about voting—twice! This thing essentially aligns city election dates with state election dates. We know barely anyone gets out to vote as it is, so alignment is obviously a good idea, although it means less “I Voted” sticker posts on Instagram. :( This time the city included language that makes it unnecessary to put this back on the ballot if election dates change again. So here we go again, vote yes.

LAUSD Charter Amendment EE: YES

Right now the school district primary elections are on a different day than the rest of the state primary elections. Voting yes would amend the city charter to align Los Angeles Unified School District primary elections with the state primary elections in March of even-numbered years. So, yes.

County Measure W: YES

A “yes” on this measure will create a parcel tax* to pay for cleaning up the toxic runoff that accumulates as rainwater flows over city streets and other paved surfaces and ultimately ends up in the ocean. As it turns out, LA is pretty filthy—so filthy that we get fined for how dirty our storm water runoff is. So, the county would like to spend more money to build infrastructure to capture and clean up the toxins in storm water, plus ensure that water gets absorbed into the ground (rather than wastefully running off into the ocean or elsewhere). So the choice is to either to establish this tax to invest in projects for cleaner, more reliable water, or to spend billions in fines that drain police, fire, and other important budgets.

*From the LA Times: “The measure imposes a tax on property owners of 2½ cents per square foot of impermeable surface—meaning ground that is paved over or otherwise doesn’t let water pass through. That comes to about $83 a year for the average single-family homeowner.”

[simptasia]

Lost for the tv series meme!

thank you very much! i greatly enjoyed doing this!

my all-time ultimate fave character: ben and charlie are ahead of him on my top five list but i gotta pick hurley. he’s the best. hurley is wonderful

a character I didn’t used to like but now do: jack. he grew on me

a character I used to like but now don’t: you what now

a character I’m indifferent about: ilana

a character who deserved better: oh boy lost has a buncha these. i adore lost but no-one is more aware of its issues than i am

michael, walt, eko, naomi… (notice a disturbing pattern there? michael’s actor even said he was very unhappy with lost’s treatment of black characters)

also 

claire, charlotte, ana lucia, libby,shannon, sayid, danielle, alex, boone, locke…

lost is a great show and it’s strengths outweigh it’s weaknesses by tons but nonetheless it has weaknesses and that includes the treatment of its female and/or not white characters. for the most part this show did great things with these characters, like the women on this show are actually very well written and performed. they come across as actual women. it’s just certain choices made with their storylines that are weak or bad choices made by the writers

same applies to the characters of colour. wonderful characters! beautifully performed! lost hasn’t a single bad actor. it’s just. mistakes were made

different ones per character so it’s too much to go into here

a ship I’ve never been able to get into: i ship… like, everything

a ship I’ve never been able to get over: you can’t do this to me

a cute, low-key ship: miles/richard

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:

i don’t what’s unpopular ship wise… uh, oh wait, i seen sayid/shannon still gets complaints for reasons i can only attribute to racism and sexism

and i love sayid/shannon!

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:

i don’t see any of ‘em as “totally wrong” and even the ones i don’t like so much (jack/juliet, kate/sawyer, the sheer randomness of charlotte/sawyer and ana lucia/sawyer), i don’t feel should never have happened

for one reason or another

my favourite storyline/moment:

no way in the living fuck could i pick a fave moment in lost ‘cause this is 6 seasons of packed goodness… but i’ll pick out some fave storylines…

desmond and penny’s love story. so fairy tale + time travel + odyssey

i love daniel’s story. that’s a level of cruelty that i admire in a story

hurley. just. all of him. everything about him. but like, i like how his neurodivergence was an important part of his character whilst also not overwhelming his character. they balanced that so good

i fucking love the time travel storyline stuff in season 5

seasons 4 and 5 are my faves

once i knew what it was, the limbo stuff in season 6 is pretty great (like dorky teacher ben. dad jack = best jack. the whole finale. and omg happily ever after? great episode. and everybody loves hugo!!!

anything with ben, i love him

kate and claire’s low-key love story. THE LAST THIRD OF KATE’S CHARACTER ARC IS DEDICATED TO CLAIRE AND I WON’T STOP SCREAMING THAT

all the “people unlikely to become friends do become friends” storylines that this show is absolutely full of. i love that stuff

theres probs more. i like most of the storylines in lost

tho i think of lost as more character driven than story driven imho

a storyline that never should have been written: 

claire getting an amnesia storyline so early was a bad idea because you don’t do amnesia storylines with characters we just met

portraying kate raising aaron as a bad thing is… hmm? bad

ya know, with his backstory and demeanor, it’s not like daniel faraday needed HELP to be sad so like. no need for that lost lenore trope. mayhap they coulda let charlotte live? develop her character? yah

lost used Lost Lenores too much, like… five times. yeah it’s sad but jeez

many mistakes were made with michael. the writer’s were so bad to michael, holy shit. also his actor is a genuinely talented, funny and likable guy so they could have written michael to play to those strengths. ugh!

ilana was largely pointless and forgettable, it amazes me she was in 16 episodes because it felt like she was in like, 4. they could’ve reworked that stuff because i felt like, nothing for her. on LOST where i feel at least something about everybody! even nikki and paulo!

the temple stuff in early season 6 was BORING

[in a dead empty monotone] season 2 broke charlie

my first thoughts on the show: holy shit this show is good????

my thoughts now: what am i without LOST

[naruto-oc-critiques]

Hagiwara Sengen

(welp guess who??? feel free to be blunt, I wanna know how she appears to other people. Also tell me if you like her design, Is it too impractical? Sorry if its repetitive or has bad grammar, I edited it at like 12am rip)

Name: Hagiwara Sengen

Gender: Female

Era: Pre-Konoha, Wartime Era

Personality: Reserved, Charismatic, cautious, hesitant and loyal.

Ln: there’s a little overlap of personality here with the charisma part, but if you’re planning that as her public persona, it’s fine. from this she sounds like the kind that would separate her public and private life.

Values: Loyalty, strategy and Filial Piety.

Ln: These are all great values! as extra information, are there instances where these come into conflict? It would lend depth to the character.

Fears: No one needing them, becoming crippled or unable to reproduce.

Ln: how did these fears come about? the last two are easily justified since it’s a shinobi society with high death rates, but the first, is it taught, or a clan value?

the ‘loving to talk’ thing is my only gripe with this. you previously said she’s ‘reserved’ and ‘hesitant’, these traits seem to disagree with ‘talkative’. unless it’s another two-faceted thing where she likes to talk to her friends, or to herself, but that would be a personality characteristic then. perhaps you can consider changing ‘loves to talk’ to ‘loves to discuss’? I have no idea, but right now it’s contradictory.

Likes: -Frog/critter catching (As achild this led to a lot of ruined kimonos. Later in life she gained the sense to change into more casual clothes at her retainers relief) -Loves to talk (Though she hardly ever gets the chance to) -Running in extravagent and expensive Kimonos (Though she’d never let anyone see her do it) -Yokan  -Summer (Yokan is traditionally eaten in Summer so she gets excited when it comes around)

Ln: maybe expand more on her childhood? it wasn’t laid out below, and it sounds like she was a real firecracker, so how did she turn out the way she did, was it the upbringing, or something else?

Dislikes: -Long battles (anything that involves endurance) -Writing (She has notoriously bad handwriting and even has an aide to write/respond to things for her) -Hates fish (They’re too slimy and she hates looking at their dead, lifeless eyes.) -People who hold grudges

Family: Asama

Weapon: Hachiwari/Kabutowari

Ln: cool! I’d love to see how she wields it — can’t help but notice she doesn’t have it its holder in her character design?

Group: Hagiwara

Role: Clan Head (Direct Ancestor {Kohana} was founder)

Sexual Orientation: Straight Height: 174cm

Ln: that’s pretty tall. maybe you should have a height comparison thingie (like with a cat or tree or something) in the character design so that the above-average height is clear. rn she looks short in the art, ‘cos of the short length of her clothing.

Appearance: -Body type: slightly pear shaped -Skin: Pale and appears unmarred -Hairstyle: Bun with Sakura petals -Hair colour: Bright green -Eye colour: Red/pink

Ln: one gripe. why sakura petals? Is it the vanity part mentioned later? does it stay on in a fight? 

Clan Info: Clan founder: Kohana Speciality: crushing the enemy with skilled and lethal attacks Clan size: Large (Though their civilian population has always seemed to outweigh the warriors) Clan colours: (not limited to) Golds and blacks General hair colours: Whites, greens and browns (though there has been blondes) General eye colours: reds, blues and greens General chakra type: (not limited to) earth, fire

Ln: are there reasons for the color choices, or is everything in honor of Kohana? I’d also say that having such diverse colors for hair and eyes isn’t quite feasible gene-wise, since stuff like red eyes and green hair would most likely be recessive genes, or else we’d see more of them in the series, but this is pre-village, so, I’d say come up with a good reason (maybe chakra or something) and it’ll fly. But it’ll still be good to hammer it down to one or two colors, like the red-hair-is-Uzumaki thing or black-skin-is-Cloud.

-The founder Kohana was said to have been a villager that fought alongside Ootsutsuki Asura against his brother Indra.

-Kohana wielded a bow

-Filial Piety is core teaching within the Hagiwara because when Kohana was young, she left her poor father to follow Asura but when she returned found her father had died of exhaustion. She blamed herself for his death and instilled into her children not to make the same mistake.

-The Hagiwara then say that she became an ‘Onna-bugeisha’, that was known for charming looks but deadly skill. She eventually caught the eyes of a wealthy man and married. It was said he had a flower garden built in her name and she in turn trained their children in Ninshu. 

-Hagiwara women are generally named after flowers/related things and often care a lot for their appearances (It was supposed to be in honour of Kohana, but it quickly progressed to a tradition fueled by vanity)ooo I like this one!!-Hagiwara were known for horrible stamina and so most of their taijutsu and jutsu is based around lethal and explosive strikes.

-Because the Hagiwara joined battles near the end they had quite a few enemies. (The enemies hated them because they exhausted themselves wearing down the opposing side only to have a new fresh set of warriors take the battlefield to crush them. Similarly, allies sometimes got angry because it felt like the Hagiwara were stealing their victory)

Ln: nice!! so rare to see actual human emotions like jealousy and envy in the construction of OCs and clans, this is great!

-Like other clans, the Hagiwara didn’t necessarily take sides unless they were paid. 

-The Hagiwara have fought the Senju and they only managed to save themselves from defeat because the Uchiha were hired as back up in response to the Senju.

-The Hagiwara may have a large clan but very little of them are warriors. (This lead to it being almost exclusively civilian by the time of Boruto)

-The Hagiwara were fierce supporters of peace and did not take long to ally themselves with the newly founded Konoha. (This happened while Sengen was in power) The idea of a village appealed to them greatly as it meant their civilian population could be safe.

-The Hagiwara were pinch hitters, and were mostly only hired to make sure to drive a battle home quickly.

-The clan/group (Hagiwara) was not known for their stamina and weren’t hired too often, so they established a merchant business under the founding family’s name (Asama)

Ln: hang on, so, what’s ‘Hagiwara’ if that wasn’t Kohana’s surname? what does the Hagiwara name refer to if it’s not the surname of the founding family?

Also maybe explain a bit more of the core principles. If the clan is so big on peace and even has a merchant empire, why did they develop such a decisive fighting style, and how? Were they like the Shaolin monks, who observed, but didn’t participate in most worldly happenings?

Trivia!!

-Sengen is one of the many names Kono-hana-no-sakuya-hime is known by (Sengen name comes from the depiction of the Flower goddess scattering Camilla petals)

-Botan {Tsuyu, Ryuu and Yosho’s sensei) is one of the last ninja descendants of the Hagiwara

-Sengen’s name was originally Senben xP A site mistranslated the name

-Sengen likes wearing heavy/detailed/traditional kimonos in her spare time

-despite her friendly and easy to approach attitude, She didn’t have many friends because being the head of a clan often meant most saw her as untouchable.

-Sengen was a REALLLLLY lonley character

I really like Sengen! I love the values and traits of the clan and your exploration in roles of females in both the social and biological way. The detail about vanity is especially appreciated, though how does it apply to men? How is the lineage passed down, is it through female, in honor of the female founder, or is it patriarchal?

Another aspect that you might want to look into is her childhood. I know you said Sengen finds it ‘hard to establish any honest friendships’, but is that consistent throughout her childhood, or did that happen after her induction as leader of the clan? There are also many political angles that you could consider from having Sengen as the leader of a clan. Are there inner disputes, on what, and how does Sengen solve them? What about inter-clan relations? The Hagiwara doesn’t sound like a particularly popular clan, and they also manage a trade empire on the side. Surely that racks up enemies, how does Sengen deal with that?

Setting the OC in the pre-village era gives you a lot of freedom for creativity! You might not have been able to say everything here since it’s a character submission, so you could very well have answers to those questions already. You’re on great track!

You mentioned a design review? ^^

The outfit is pretty, very much so, which totally fits, since her clan is beauty-oriented, but if that is her clan-head attire, then I’d say it’s not extravagant enough. I headcanon that pre-village era is one of huge disparities, so imo Sengen’s official attire should be more lavish, with way more layers, more makeup, more elaborate hair and ornaments, all over her. And preferably with some huge, un-manageble-without-an-aide trail.

If the attire is her combat attire, then I think that the clan head’s current attire is a little too not-useful. Since she’s so tall, and her clan specializes in lethal, game-ending strikes, clothes should actually be more close-fitting to avoid trailing bits getting in their way, and short fabrics like Sengen’s current bottom piece would be scaled up in size and be both flappy and not much protection. Since they use lethal strikes, I actually think it’s viable that they would incorporate lots of padding into their attire so that the force of their hits doesn’t rebound, which would mostly be around the lower leg, feet, upper arms and hands. And that would eventually morph into decorative+functional padding.

Though, this outfit is okay for her super-causal, everyday wear, and I say that because the Warring Clans era would be quite conservative outside of the battlefield, and allowing even a clan that emphasizes beauty to walk around with so much leg revealed could be scandalous. Or you could just spin it as Sengen’s personality to go against societal norms.

Also, I read this somewhere, that the kimono shows sexuality not through showing leg (that too, but) but showing the neck. So you can think about keeping the open-collar sleeves but changing the undershirt to a tank, so Sengen shows a lot of neck and shoulders.

Another interesting idea is the possibility of Sengen, being clan head, using fabrics and fashion choices to hide battle scars/wounds. It could help to explain away some hanging bits of fabric, like her asymmetrical sleeve could actually hide some scar or blemish on her arm that otherwise could be called out for in the beauty-centered clan culture.

That said, your character is very well-developed, the story is logical and makes sense, and you even made such a great drawing of your character! A lot of effort must have been put in, so if you just go that little bit further she would be so much better! Keep up the great work!

- Ln

[donaldresslerfanfic]

Right and wrong.

Rating: M

Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual Content.

Word Count: 2523

Donald Ressler X OC Maggie Waters.

Chapter: Eighty-One

Chapter Index

Story on Wattpad

Ressler.

The cases Reddington had agreed to give us, didn't exactly took a lot from the taskforce, the first one being something about a treasure, things I couldn't care less about. We were called by Cooper but were quickly left out of the case the first day because Reddington said he could deliver him to us.

I was back at the house at a fake tea party with Alma when Mags showed up, giving us a little look. Both of us were sprawled in Alma's bedroom and she had me and a few stuffed toys gathered around a tea set.

"What are you two doing?"

I looked at Alma, waiting for her to say something, but she looked back at me waiting for me to reply.

"We're having a tea party"

"Tee paty" she said back. I smiled and looked up at Maggie.

"You're back early" she said sitting on the floor next to me, I nodded and watched Alma feed invisible tea to one of her penguins. She loved penguins.

"Yeah, Reddington said he can deliver the guy to us, he's looking for a treasure"

"A treasure?" She asked, taking one of the tiny plastic cups and waiting for Alma to pretend pour something from a large matching teapot. "That sounds like fun"

"I think it's stupid"

Alma looked at me wide eyed, then looked at Maggie.

"That's a bad word" she said emphasizing, looking more at Alma than me. Because she was picking up words like crazy these days, we had to be careful with what we said. She didn't knew much words but I don't know how she definitely knew the ones she wasn't supposed to say.

"I'm sorry" I said, giving Mags a look.

"And what about Liz, have you seen her?"

"No, I-" I stopped, because I hadn't seen Liz but I now remembered that Aram had told me she'd been at the site, and was looking through some files. "She was there but I had gone out. She told Aram she was just there but not back with the cases"

"And what was she doing there?"

I leaned back, holding my upper body with my forearm.

"She was looking for something, Aram said. And that she quickly closed everything when she saw him come to talk to her"

"That's not suspicious at all" she said a little sarcastic.

I hummed, watching Alma sit back at her place, tired from tending everyone.

"If she's going though the files of people we've caught, then she's doing nothing good" I noted.

"Maybe she's working on catching who killed Tom"

"Unlikely, she doesn't have her badge" Maggie chuckled, then looked back at me.

"That wouldn't stop her"

I nodded, that would definitely not stop her, specially if she asked Reddington for help. An angry woman and a notorious criminal were just the perfect recipe for disaster.

My suspicions grew when I went back to the post office the next day and rummaged through the file cabinet, seeing which files she might have gotten.

I was kind of picky about paperwork, someone had to be, so I quickly noted the file that was just slightly out of place, I saw a shadow cast from next to me and lifted my eyes to the side.

"Aram, was this the file cabinet Keen was looking into yesterday?"

"Umm, I think so" he said giving me a look. "Why?"

"Don't you think it was odd she came looking for a file of a criminal? That should give you an idea of what she's doing"

I picked up the file and inspected it. The Stewmaker. No. Liz wouldn't do this.

"Got something?" I asked Aram, dismissing the file and placing it back in the cabinet.

"I might have the name of the person who stole the coin from Mr. Reddington, I was about to present it to the team"

"Let's go then" I motioned at the hallway and walked along with Aram.

I was back at the house a few days later. Mags was curiously smelling my suit before she picked it up, she was going to carry the dirty clothes to the laundry.

"What's that smell?" She asked as she picked up other things from the bin.

"A priest tried to set me on fire today"

She stood up with her hands full of clothes and looked at me for a full minute, frowning, then she opened her mouth to talk to me, but quickly shook her head and headed out.

"I'm pretty sure you're lying"

"I'm not" I said following her.

"A priest?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, we were after him and he had some explosive jars hanging from the ceiling."

"That sounds stupid" she said with a chuckle as she neared the door, she opened it with her foot, placing the clothes over the drier to load up the laundry machine.

"Well, it happened, and I almost caught on fire, luckily I'm too smart"

She choked on a laugh, as she shook her head.

"So" I said leaning on the door as I watched her work "about Liz, remember we talked about the files" she nodded with a little hum "I think I know which file she was interested in.

"Oh, and that's like... A lead on what she might be doing?"

"I hope not. The file was the one of a guy who disolved people" she turned to look at me with the most disgusted scowl she had.

"Disolved?"

"Yeah, he put them in a bathtub and poured chemicals on them and the bodies would disolve and-" I made a sucking sound that gave her visible chills as she buckled her arms to her chest.

"Oh my God that sounds disgusting" I chuckled. "I'm traumatized now, Jesus Christ"

"So I don't think that's what Liz is doing"

"All I can think of is that kid in breaking bad that got shot in the desert and they put them in the barrel with the chemicals" she said with a shake of her head.

I stood there for a few seconds watching Mags trying to get back to work, but I could see her eyes and her face just trying to remove all the swirling thoughts on her head.

"I'll keep the gruesome details to myself next time" I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah, I like it better when you make stuff up like the priest who burns people." I left the laundry room and Maggie to continue with the laundry.

All of my suspicions quickly confirmed themselves when Samar and I were finishing our work day, I had a parole hearing tomorrow and I was trying to collect my thoughts. Samar had gone to inform Reddington of the end of the case, and we met briefly before leaving.

"I'm worried about Liz" she said sitting in Liz's old chair, she was currently occupying it until Liz came back.

"About what exactly?" I asked, my eyes leaving the monitor and looking over it at her.

"When I went to talk to Reddington she was there, and she said she'd identified someone involved in Tom's murder."

"Well that's good news"

"But she deflected when I told her to call it in, and Reddington is helping here, we know where that is leading"

I gave her a twist of lips, then sighed.

"Last time she was here she was looking through the files of the Stewmaker"

"The Stewmaker?" She asked confused.

"It was one of our first cases, a guy who got rid of people"

"So she's-"

"Probably trying to get rid of someone" I finished for her.

"Do you think we should intervene?" She asked, I shook my head as I stood up and grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair.

"If Liz wanted our help, she would've asked. I don't know why but she's always had this impulse of doing things the wrong way"

"When it comes to finding who killed your significant other, what's the right way?" She asked.

I stopped after I shrugged my jacket on, noticing that me judging Liz was kind of hypocritical. I'd done the same thing when Audrey got killed. And I'm sure I would do worse things to anyone who dared to touch my wife.

"I'm not sure anymore" I replied, giving one last look to the computer, leaning to print my statement for tomorrow and shut down the computer. "I'll see you tomorrow at the parole hearing"

"You're going to vouch for him?" Samar asked. I took the printed papers from the tray and checked that they were properly printed.

"We had a deal"

I returned home, Maggie was busy in her study.

"Where's Alma?" As asked as I walked to her and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead.

"She's on time out" she replied, I gave a frown.

"Why?" She simply motioned at one of her blueprints, one that had been the victim of Alma's art attacks. "I see." I pulled a chair and sat down next to her. "Samar said that Liz is definitely searching for Tom's killer, and she definitely is getting help from Reddington"

"Mmm" she hummed and leaned back on the chair, looking at me "and what are you going to do?" I frown a bit in confusion "I mean, she's headed for some kind of destruction, aren't you going to try and talk some sense into her?"

"I don't think whatever I had to say would be useful. It wouldn't be useful to me if someone tried to talk some sense into me"

She gave me a little eye roll and leaned in her desk.

"If anyone appealed at your sense of duty, it would be enough to stop you from doing something illegal"

"My sense of duty isn't making any sense lately"

"How come?" She leaned back again. I smiled because I appreciated she let me get things off my mind, though she looked like she needed to get stuff done.

"I'm not so sure most of us are good. If push comes to shove" I shrugged "most of us would do bad things"

She chuckled a bit. Leaning in she patted my thigh.

"All the good you've done, greatly outweighs that one bad thing you did. And that should apply to anyone."

She stood up and headed out of the office, probably to lift off Alma's time out.

Maggie and I had talked about parenting tips and rules we needed to set straight, and the time outs and discipline was one of them. I wasn't allowed to lift off time outs she'd placed and viceversa, because we didn't wanted to show her that polarity of one parent is bad and the other one good.

At the parole hearing the next day, I definitely said more than I should have, though my talk with Maggie had helped me not to be so harsh on myself, because I might have killed the National Security Advisor, and I might have done illegal things to get information about Audrey's killer, but I'd always managed to get back on the right path. I wasn't saying that I was better that Liz, but Reddington and his world was corrupting Liz more and more each time.

I was surprised when I found out that Cooper knew about what Liz was doing, and he confronted Reddington about it during one of our cases.

We were about to finish with the case of the Invisible Hand when Cooper approached Aram and I at Aram's station.

"I've got news about Agent Keen" he said, Samar quickly heard and joined us "she's to be reinstated in the taskforce as soon as she passes her psychological evaluation. After that, we will help her in any way we can to capture Tom's killers"

I nodded, looking to my side at Aram, who was beyond happy that Liz was going to return.

The cases continued for a few weeks, all to Reddington's and probably Liz's benefit. Liz later introduced Cooper to one of the detectives who were going to help her.

A few days later, I was watching the news about a virus outbreak, one that we'd already taken care of.

"I love you in black" Maggie said placing her hands on my shoulders. I looked up from the chair and gave her a little smile.

"It's for a funeral" I explained.

"Oh" she said retreating her hands and sitting next to me. We were both finishing our coffees, and I could run a little late. "Of who?"

"Some Navy seal that was murdered. I'm taking the wife"

"Why?"

"Because we have her in custody" she gave me a little nod.

I felt something on my side, and smiled when saw Alma standing next to me, I pushed the chair back and pulled her up on my lap.

"How's my princess?" I asked her, she snuck in my chest and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "You were up late last night, not letting mommy sleep" I hugged her and placed my chin on her head. I'd missed the kid, she was growing on me so fast, I felt like I wasn't going to be able to hold her up on my lap for much longer. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No" she said with a pout. She mewled and threw her arms to Maggie. She stood from her chair to pick her from my arms.

"Come here" she muttered, holding her to the side and swaying her slowly.

"I won't be busy for long" I said standing myself and fixing my suit "wanna have lunch later?"

"Sure" she said with a smile. I leaned in and kissed her lips, then I leaned to kiss Alma on her forehead.

So far, I had my worries about Liz and how she was handling Tom's case, I knew she couldn't be objective and she could go to quite some lengths to find out the truth. It wasn't until a few cases later when I heard Liz, Cooper, and Reddington talk in Cooper's office.

"So, while you and Reddington go after Garvey, I'm supposed to, what, read a book?" Liz spoke, upset.

"Actually, I have a case."

"I'm only interested in the man who murdered Tom and finding out the secret that got him killed." I began to walk away from the office.

"I'm going to help with the former and prevent the latter. 50-50 split. Like a good divorce"

I heard Reddington walk behind me as I pulled my phone. It all made sense now. Tom had uncovered a secret, it involved Reddington, and he was doing what he always did, using us, but only to get so close from the truth to snatch it from our hands. While Cooper was talking with Liz about the case, I quickly headed to one of the computers on the other isle from Aram's and looked up on a program the name I'd heard. Ian Garvey. He was an US Marshal.

I closed everything as soon as I heard Cooper call us in for a brief on the case.

A crooked cop, my favorite kind of case.

[investmart007]

MADISON, Ill. | IndyCar's Frye: Wickens' car performed as it was designed

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MADISON, Ill. | IndyCar's Frye: Wickens' car performed as it was designed

MADISON, Ill. — The head of competition for IndyCar said Friday that Robert Wickens’ car performed exactly as it was designed when it tore to pieces during a frightening wreck at Pocono, leaving the Canadian driver hospitalized with serious injuries to his spinal cord and extremities.

Jay Frye also acknowledged that a host of improvements could be made — to the car itself, to the fencing that shredded the car and even to the injury reporting process that some criticized as being much too slow after last Sunday’s accident.

“Any time you have something like this happen, you look at it,” Frye said during a morning downpour at Gateway Motorsports Park, where the series will race Saturday night. “What was good about it? What was bad about it? Did it do its job? What could be better? How long did it take to fix?

“We were very encouraged by how the car held up, certainly not satisfied though, because the driver was injured. We’ll never be satisfied until that doesn’t happen.”

The accident occurred early in the race, when Wickens made slight contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay and catapulted into the fencing above the SAFER barrier. Hunter-Reay barely managed to slip under Wickens’ car as it helicoptered along the fence, and other drivers began trying to dodge the debris.

Takuma Sato, Pietro Fittipaldi and James Hinchcliffe also were involved the crash. Hinchcliffe, a fellow Canadian and one of Wickens’ best friends, had minor injuries to his hands from the debris. The fence sustained about 80 feet of damage, delaying the race for about two hours.

Wickens’ team owner, Sam Schmidt, said this week he would like to see the SAFER barriers at speedways extend higher in places where they wouldn’t obstruct the view of fans. Traditional catch-fencing used for decades is designed to keep cars from catapulting over the wall, but in the case of an IndyCar, it also tends to grab hold of the chassis and break it into hundreds of pieces.

“We’ve very aware of what goes on globally,” Frye said, when asked whether there are innovations elsewhere in wall design that IndyCar might implement. “There are certain minimum requirements we want, and most of our promoter partners greatly exceed our minimum standards. But yes, like with the car, we’re encouraged but not satisfied. We always want to look to help any way we can.”

Frye also said Pocono officials, working hand-in-hand with IndyCar, did a remarkable job to get the fencing repaired, even though some drivers expressed concern with the quick fix.

“Again, same thing we talked about — we’ll look back at all this stuff and see if it was done 100 percent correctly,” Frye said. “We think it was safe. We don’t think there was a problem there.”

Yet there was an issue in the chain of communication following the wreck, Frye said. IndyCar has been criticized for taking too long to report that Wickens was alive and alert, leading to confusion and concern that extended from the garage area to fans watching at home.

“Five drivers came into the care center. One of them was injured, obviously, injured enough that he had to be transported,” Frye said.

“At that point the biggest concern is we’re taking care of our drivers and we’re taking care of our drivers’ families, so they understand what is going on.

“There was probably 10 or 15 minutes that we figured out how we could do better next time. There was one thing we probably missed.

There was an error as we went through. But it will be better next time.”

Then there are potential changes to the car itself.

While the windscreen IndyCar has been developing likely wouldn’t have helped Wickens, it could have prevented injuries to other drivers from the debris scattered by his car. Prototypes of the screen already have been tested by Will Power and Josef Newgarden, and the next step is impact testing.

“Everybody has said, ‘Just put it on the car,’ but there’s cause and effect to everything you do,” Frye said. “And the negative effect could outweigh the positive. So that’s why we’re doing the testing.”

Frye admitted “we’re about a month behind where we want to be right now,” and the first round of impact testing will likely take place the first week of September. Then there will be a second, more extensive round of testing before the windscreen is ready for another on-track test.

“We haven’t talked much about the screen lately, but we’re full-speed behind the scenes, like we have been,” Frye said. “Whether last Sunday had happened or not, we’d be full-speed-ahead still.”

By DAVE SKRETTA ,Associated Press