#lol sorry for ranting in the tags again..

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

When I see stuff like this I kinda want to bash my head into a wall:

To start off, I’m not sure whether this person was commenting on book or show Cersei, but honestly, it doesn’t even matter because she’s so much more than the ‘ambitious villain’ or the ‘murderous girlboss’ tropes in both the book and show.

(Of course, I do have my issues with the way Cersei was written in the show like most people but this is simply a rant post so I’m not going to go through the differences of Show vs Book Cersei)

Cersei is a female character who was shaped by her environment, who’s insecurities were created by her environment, and she’s a woman who’s idiotic mistakes can be traced back to how her environment shaped her. She’s much more than a murderous girlboss, she’s both a victim of the system and also a beneficiary of it, while also acting as an agent of it to keep the status quo while also desiring what the system denied her.

Cersei is NUANCED and complicated and even now people hate that about her and want her to have been a purely evil woman handcrafted in a vacuum, ignoring the context of her life because readers would rather not engage with Cersei’s victimhood and nuances because that ruins their idea of: She Was The Problem and Always The Problem. (People would rather say that she deserved her walk of shame instead of interacting meaningfully with the theme of systematic gender-based violence that is so prevalent in Cersei’s story. The exploration of patriarchal violence in Show Alicent’s story is done so horribly in comparison.)

And what really pissed me off about these tags is that this person has clearly decided that they don’t care to interact with the nuance of Cersei and are fine with flattening her, and yet they shit on others for not liking Alicent.

Because of the way Alicent is written in this show, she almost always has a ‘woe is me I can do no wrong’ attitude, which of course drives people away from the character (woe is me I deserve to take a child’s eye 🥺). However, what actually annoys me is how she’s made out to be stupid, foolish, ignorant, and inconsistent due to the horrible writing of this show, all of which are deviations from her book characterization. Also, I despise it when people want me to support writing decisions and changes made in adaptations that are downright misogynistic and are meant to attract the male gaze.

But what pisses many people, including myself, off is how the changes made negatively impacted many other characters. Alicent’s terrible characterization is like a black hole that distorts and warps the whole story! It’s annoying af!

So when people like this say: ‘She’s nuanced and people just can’t handle it 🙄;’ I say: No. She’s horribly written and a different character from the book and people have a right to be critical about these changes that stripped a female character of 1) her agency and 2) her intelligence!

And the thing is, there was little reason for the writers to have made all these changes to Alicent’s characterization! In the book she is an interesting character with clear motives and understandable reactions. She’s cunning and ambitious and acts the way a noble lady who became queen would. And despite her clear ambitions and dislike of Rhaenyra, she still makes a comment wondering about who would protect the Princess from Ser Criston, and yet she then takes Cole into her service after his falling out with Rhaenyra. That’s a perfect example of nuance! Show Alicent could never compare to book Alicent’s clear moral values and consistent disregard of said moral values in pursuit of power.

And because of this, Book Alicent isn’t easy to stomach. It’s hard for most people to come to terms with a character like her and it’s even harder for people to feel sympathetic for her at the end when she went mad with grief.

On the other hand, Show Alicent was designed in a way to garner pity, and when the writers felt like her current arc wouldn’t be enough to garner the specific reaction they wanted they would then throw in a time skip and suddenly she’s completely different and yet still Thee victim. She’s designed to be as sympathetic as fucking possible! The camera angles, the background music, and the lighting is set up in a way to make sure you the viewer feels pity or sympathy for her! Cause that’s her role in this series! She’s thee Ultimate Victim!

But too bad for the writers as many people are fed up with this kind of inconsistent writing. Even when the writers created a whole new challenge for Alicent where she’s shitted on by the green council and forced to face the beast she helped to raise, I and many others could never feel any satisfaction as it was clear that once again Alicent was being made to be Thee Ultimate Victim who was just led astray by the patriarchy and was a victim of it and was only just realizing it so don’t you pity her don’t you feel sad for her and now she’s trying to do the right thing so pls pls pls pity her 🥺~ So it shouldn’t be surprising that many people are annoyed by these eNLiGhtEnEd changes that have led to a complete deviation from the source material.

To summarize: Cersei is an excellent fucking character who’s by no means easy to stomach, and because she’s not easy to stomach she’s often reduced to annoying ass tropes by dumbasses who are reading above their comprehension level. But when you actually try to understand her, you can easily see why she turned out the way she did and you can feel sympathy for her while understanding that she’s both victim and perpetrator! On the other hand, Show Alicent is a mess and HOTD is trying to make her serve a different narrative role than she did in the books so ofc people are going to be unhappy with the changes as book readers are once again faced with the annoying reality that the writers don’t give a fuck about the source material.

[francy-sketches]

the king of drip ✨

[adhdtsukasa]

looking at emukasa middle birthday fanarts made me realize something and that something is: fes emukasa is like the perfect emukasa for me (aside of the canon emks, obviously. nothing's topping them) (and this is not an inherently romantic post i just wanted to ramble about them)

sorry i know it's been a few months since their fes came out i should just let it go but i just can't get over the fact these outfits/cards were so criticized for being plain and simple while this is the thing that makes them so good. they look nothing like, for example, shiho's or an's fes cards, which are full of vibrant colors and are interesting to look at, they're basically quite the opposite of who emukasa are on a daily basis and this is the sole thing that is making them pretty. because they show off their soft side that is sometimes overshadowed by how flashy and colorful their usual cards are.

and when you pair them together, they look like the purest form of softness — and that's precisely what emukasa's relationship is. it is what the entire wxs' relationship is, obviously, but it just hits differently with emukasa: because they are two energetic and full of life characters who managed to find a soft solace in each other's presence, who, despite their differences, trust each other so much and around the other person can just be themselves. it's also reflected in the canon by how their relationship evolved from the start of main story through the climax in our happy ending to basically today, how they are more and more in love with each other with every second — whether you think of it as romantic or not.

and fes emukasa feels like coming home after a long day, like falling right into the embrace of your loved one, like sun shining at you when you two are laughing with tears in your eyes, because this is what they are to each other, right? they both know that they are each other's safe place and that they changed their lives for the better because of their meeting. fes emukasa feels like emu thanking tsukasa for helping her save wonder stage and tsukasa thanking emu for inviting him to wxs all over again, because that was when their softness was at its peak. when their vulnerability is at its peak, because they are equally vulnerable on their fes cards.

fes emukasa is their essence and how soft their wishes actually were from the very start, so no matter how good some other costumes were — no matter how fun it is to throw wedding emu and white day tsukasa into fantasy setting, no matter how interesting it is to rewrite the peter pan story based on their amidst a dream costumes — it is them that speak to me the most, even if for most people they are way too simple to be considered fes cards. even if all emu's doing is standing in front of the open gate, ready to go forward.

even if all tsukasa's doing is eating a toast.

[unkat]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Chilchuck Tims/Laios Touden Characters: Laios Touden, Chilchuck Tims Additional Tags: BDSM, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, erotic picture taking, Cock Cages, Boot Worship, Humiliation, Pet Play, Spanking, Grinding, Oral Sex, Orgasm Control, Accidental Orgasm, Teasing, Punishment, Established Relationship, Bottom Laios Touden Summary: After keeping Laios in chastity for a couple weeks, Chilchuck lets him burn off some steam, too much. Luckily, Laios loves to clean up his mistakes.

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF SHENKO 1/?

The end of the world has a way of reminding you of all the things you forgot to say do. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021)

[ghirahimbo]

also, in totk there’s very few mentions of the champions and calamity ganon, and a lot of the stuff from botw seems to have been retconned, like the sheikah technology etc. i feel like that would be such a bittersweet world for post-calamity link to be living in 😭

yes..... yes :')

It's one of my main issues with TotK, to be honest. I think Majora's Mask was able to get away with being a sequel because they took Link literally out of Hyrule, leaving the previous story intact. TotK, because it wanted to take place in that same Hyrule without leaning too heavily on BotW, ended up practically dismantling the old story instead. I think there are many ways they could have paid respectful homage to BotW without the new game completely revolving around it, and retconning/ignoring so much kinda defeats the purpose of it being a sequel at all in my mind? But yes, I do think it would be bittersweet for him 😭

[mobblespsycho100]

tell me about your oc i need to absorb all the knowledge

WAUGAHH yayy yay thank u okay so

Surja Maharaja (not his real name. btw. he named himself "Sun Great King" rough translation lmaoo) is a wandering merchant (*cough* scammer *cough*) who is currently in Melini because he's heard that the rising golden kingdom is full of economic opportunities,,, has a low unemployment rate, and is generally very prosperous and ruled by a passionate king who loves food... and how Melini is mysteriously protected from monsters coming into the border ...

And he decides to research everything he can about the court and introduces himself to the King Of Melini™ as a foreign dignitary from a port city south of the eastern continent (sooo around the eastern archipelago i guess?? map for reference...)

Anyway, he proposes a diplomatic arrangement where the port city's government would help with export of marine goods as well as open up restaurant chains !!! that serve monster food, so . monster food golden opportunity high long term investment business!!! and Laios is ecstatic !

Kabru is not. Lmao. Kabru is instantly suspicious of this "charismatic" "mysterious" "foreign dignitary" that just strolled into the castle ... but he's gotta confirm his suspicions first . So he decides to not tell Laios that he distrusts this guy and decided to uhhh stalk him a bit

anyway Laios lets Surja stay in the castle because like yay alliances diplomacy !! yayy monster food !!! (like ... Laios cant rlly eat monster anymore but ... spreading monster cuisine to other continents??? spreading the joy of food??? hes all in baby!!!) and Surja quickly befriends basically everyone or at least everyone whos currently there (like senshi is visiting but chilchuck is like sometimes there sometimes not cuz like lol he got a shop to run!!!) and Izutsumi is currently there too. Anyway. yea Surja's rlly friendly n stuff ^_^ and it only makes Kabru even more suspicious as to what exactly this guy is hiding

Anyway, more under the cut cuz it might get wayyy too longv amdhskhdjs

Kabru decides the best course of action is to interrogate Surja directly after a few days (maybe the 6th day ? Surja stay in the castle? but Kabru's been watching him and asking the royal guards to keep an eye on him too) ok anyway Kabru invites him to his office (idk if he has one of those but like . whatever. his work quarters .) (they're like on a break btw . ig . so laios is like chilling and not sitting on the throne rn hes just taking a walk with falin and marcille or smth) right anyway Kabru mr. Nice Guy Kabru is like "ok we need to discuss something ... "dignitary"" and Surja is like ooo-kay?

Btw i havent mentioned but even b4 this , Surja kind of has a crush on Kabru already (hes infatuated... hes obsessed... down bad down horrendous and he hasnt even talked with Kabru all that much) so hes like the nervouser (lol. silly) hehe haha... anyway

Kabru tells him to state his true intentions with the king. Surja goes, "huh? what do you mean Sir? I'm just here to propose a trade alliance and business vent--"

Kabru goes, "cut the pleasantries. I've investigated you over the course of these few days and I've sent a letter to the magistrate of the city you claim to represent, and they don't even have you listed as a citizen in their records."

Surja (sweating)

Kabru continues with a simple yet genuine threat, "you do know lying to the king is an offense punishable by death, right?"

Suddenly what Surja thought was going to be a lil diplomatic discussion regarding how the proposal he's drafting up going is ... an interrogation. An uncomfortable confessional where Kabru holds the reins and is playing 5d chess mind games. And Surja takes it as a challenge... and tries to defend himself with the classic diversion of, "I don't know what you're talking about!! Why would I lie about such a thing!!! You must be mistaken!! ahahaha aha

ha.

ha."

Kabru who is unimpressed by the sweaty conman's terrible lying skills starts pushing more on the subject. "How could you lie to the king? what are your plans? I think I know your scheme is to steal from us and our kingdom's treasury, but what else are you hiding? Are you a wanted criminal? A stowaway? " and Surja slams the desk a bit . like "OKAY! OKAY ! I! I did runaway but I've been travelling for ages!!! and I just thought this place sounded amazing !!! this kingdom is a rising one and yet it's already found its foundation and already has a powerful magical defense!!! "

and then Kabru goes... as a test (he doesn't actually believe it) , he asks . if Surja isn't actually human. Maybe he's a monster, a shapeshifter of sorts... a walking corpse perhaps? One that's trying to take refuge in Melini and doesn't even realize that it isn't a real human being... just a monster wearing human skin.

And Surja has a mental breakdown (yay here's the toxic in the toxic yaoii!!!)

Surja on the defensive and Kabru on the offensive, Surja decides to try and bite the bullet and confess that yes hes been lying, yes hes kind of a scammer vagabond, yes okay yes . and then he tries to get some sympathy by spilling his tragic backstory and it catches Kabru off guard

Kabru just wanted to exile or imprison or execute this guy who could have ill intent (and is obviously lying abt a lpt of things) . but when Surja revealed that hes kind of like..

okay. lemme paste this thing I typed . Surjas #traumatic backstory

Just imagine ghis is Surja telling everything to Kabru . so quotation marks . yea this is him Speaking

In the beginning, there was a land shrouded in darkness. And then, there came light.

Where I'm from, what you all called the "dungeon" was the corpse of a dead god, the land we stood upon as well. The dungeon was a temple in my people's eyes... And what you call the "Demon", well. He was our Light. The god that my people worshipped. It's... pathetic, isn't it? We didn't know. We... we couldn't have known.

When I was born... I. I was loved, I think. However I... was never a child. My older brother, he. he had this ailment. He couldn't speak, and he acted like he was possessed by a spirit of sorts, at least, that was my mother's theory. I always thought that he was just different.

I was their light, in a way. I could speak, smile, in an eloquent way as other humans do. They loved me, they did. But I was a sickly child... my brother, physically stronger, mentally weaker, and I? I was their light. The saviour of their reputation.

And that's why... as I grew up I realized that . The ones who took care of me, only saw me as a chalice. And whenever I did something that was... not... in line with their perception of me, they saw a monster.

It was so easy. Claim that I was possessed, sacrifice me, the brighter one, to their god, and their beloved children could be cured of their respective ... deformities.

Ha... well. That's what happened. The demon could grant any wish right? My mo- ... my.... caretaker. Took me to the dungeon one day and said, "Let my child have her dreams come true... in return, give us your blessing of wealth and prosperity! Bring us honor, bring us glory..."

That's why... I'm like this now. I guess I'm a half-beast (you lot call that beast-man here?), a monster (I was always a monster. I think.) I... You're right. I'm not human. I'm just... a walking corpse... a shell of a man...

Now all I have left is my desire for money... and my elder brother... I haven't seen him for ... 15 years now.

so yea he had an awful time . and was effected negatively by a dungeon. Kabru stops. hesitates a bit. Shares a bit about himself and Utaya . to ease Surja from the mental breakdown (it works and Surja bounces back quickly. Surja age reveals that hes not even 20 yet (Surja is 18-19) and that makes Kabru feels like a bully a bit n he feels a bit bad n tried to like apologize and stuff even tho this conman is conmanning (hes not lying abt his age!! just hiding a lot of stuff still!!!) ) ANYWAYYYY like they part ways from tha office (also at some point in the middle a guard came in to try and ask smth from Kabru and the guard nervously asks "is like smth goin on here rn?" and Kabrus like "no its fine" while Surjas like "yea smth goin on rn" anyway the guard just wanted to ask for some instruction so Kabrus just like oh ok just ask Marcille its fine and guy goes on his way)

anyway yeah Kabrus like kinda stressed lookin so Surja goes "hey do u need like some stress relief" n boldly goes up to him anddddd gives him a shoulder massage (Surja flexing his 4 years pro masseur skills) and Kabrus like oh . ojh. uh . okay (is conflicted and doesnt fully trust this man but is now a bit more relaxed and less tense and stuff. unclenched his jaw and shit lolll)

anyway they part ways after this but this is just the beginning of insane toxic co worker yaoi because like uhhh lil bit of a timeskip but Surja becomes like the treasurer... or like secretary assistant in Melini or like . tha economy guy consultanter yippeeee #working in melini

also Surja's a catboy i havent mentioned that yet

kinda hit it off with Izutsumi and Senshi cuz of it yah

A LOT OF THIS IS SELF INDULGENT AND WISH FULFILLMENT BUT I THINK. POST CANON OC . IS FUN . also Labru is canon in this AU theyre basically like married . its set a year after the like last chap of dungeon meshi btw so Kabrus 23 Laios 26 (almost 27 not november yet basically) . etc etc. ANYWHO this is super long already but ty for indulging me and asking abt my oc yaaaay :333 this is a toxic yaoi tragicomedy. this guy is like if Mickbell and Izutsumi got mixed into soup . and was obsessed with Kabrus whole thing 😭😭 its so funny to me theyre funny (doomed by the narrative toxic codependent workplace yaoi)

[reunioninn]

Daisuke's Notes on Venom's Concept and Design:

Like Millia, he was raised in the Assassin's Guild from an early age. He adores Zato.

He was set up to be a long-reach character and flier. I wondered what kind of character I should make. Originally, he had a cello. He actually had a fan for a weapon before Anji did. He also had a large cross, which I thought was the best concept, however, we were told that it was OK to have it as a part of his design, but not to hit anyone with it. When I was struggling, I went out to play games as a distraction. One time, as we were playing billiards, we talked about how interesting it would be to have a fighter who fights with a pool cue. But I thought the character would be too boring with just the cue alone, so I made it so that his hair also covered his face and added a mark on it with a bit of paint. Since the head had such a strong personality, I wanted to keep the body simple. However, I wanted to change the overall shape of the body to make it similar to Zato's, so that's why the legs are like that. As for the pants design, if I wanted to keep it simple, I would have made each leg the same color, but that would've made his figure appear more naked. To find a way around this, I made one leg light and the other dark to add more of a mysterious flair.

[cuddlytogas]

an incomplete list of terrible but extremely popular Our Flag Means Death takes that I would like to never see again please

(and I do mean popular, as in, lots of people seem to think they're canon, to the point where I feel slightly insane and like I was watching a different show to everyone else)

1. Ed's mum was loving and nice and supportive, if hampered by her bad situation

this comes up more in fic than analysis, to be fair, but good god, what show were some of you watching? this isn't to vilify her, because yeah, she's clearly a product of colonialism, white christian supremacy, and domestic abuse, but like. that doesn't make how she raised Ed good. clearly she was trying to keep him safe, but "we don't deserve nice things", and especially "it's not up to us, it's up to god", speaks to me of someone who squashes down any ambition on her son's part, has fully bought into the lies of christian colonialism, and tries to pass them down to her son.

as does happen in colonised communities, particularly among older generations. I know us white people like to think that every indigenous person is a perfect left-wing anti-imperial activist, but that's simply not the case, and Ed's mum is so clearly an example of an older conservative christian indigenous parent who had to believe the lies told by their coloniser in order to survive, but is now passing on that trauma to their children. and I just...

if I read one more fic where Ed's mum is a perfect loving supportive angel who always believed in her kid and always supported and protected him, I'm gonna scream. yes, it's sweet, and it's fun to sometimes veer from canon and give your blorbo nice things, but it's still veering from canon. and yet, I see very few people acknowledge that, or actually talk about the nuances of Ed's mother, and how she definitely tried to protect him, but was far from sweet, doting, and unconditionally supportive.

2. Ed's loving look when Stede is picking food from his beard in 1x07

like most of these things, I enjoyed it as a joke or exaggeration at first, until I realised that people were actually being serious. but every time I watch that scene, I see Ed looking absently-mindedly over Stede's shoulder, because a) that's what you do when someone leans in to pick something off you, and b) surely the point of the scene is that they're so comfortable and easy together that they don't notice the intimacy of what they're doing, but Lucius, an outside observer, thinks it's obvious. right?? I can't be the only one seeing it???

[sigh]

anyway. finally, the really really big one:

3. Ed is a soft uwu babygirl princess femme bottom sub who loves her cat collar and is teaching Stede how to dom him in the "say you're the captain" scene

I mean, there's not much to say except to link to duke's absolutely phenomenal twitter thread about "how the 'babygirlfication' and infantilization of ofmd ed teach is an extension of racist perceptions of indigenous men being inherently violent and thus needing to be emasculated to be considered sympathetic"

but especially That One Fucking Scene, good lord. talk about taking shit out of context. everyone looked at a slowed-down gif of one shot in the trailer and cried "babygirl!! he's such a simp, he just wants to be dommed!!", when actually that scene is about how a) Stede is cringefail and terrible at being a typical harsh, commanding pirate, and b) Ed is lovingly embarrassed by this. he encourages Stede to assert himself (and give Ed something to do during his probation/help him make amends with the crew), but like. normally. he's acting perfectly normal in that scene, and mostly annoyed by the outfit and embarrassed by how badly Stede fails. but just because he's sitting down while Stede is standing, and he happens to take a breath in that one shot (because, you know, people breathe sometimes), everyone's doubled down on their "submissive babygirl" bullshit, and I can't get the fuck away from it.

which - listen, it's fun for me, too! it's fun to explore exaggerated aspects of a character, it's fun to read/write/draw that angle in smut, I get it! but I keep seeing people keep claim it's literally canon, and I cannot stress enough that that is Straight Up False. for the love of god, please just watch the show without your (potentially kinda racist) bias glasses on, and remember to treat the characters with respect instead of projecting onto their every interaction a shallow dom/sub binary just because you find it hot.

Our Flag is a show very specifically about masculinity, and what it means to be a man; how assumptions about that can harm and restrict men; and how men can grow beyond them. it's a nuanced and sympathetic examination of this. the whole point is that Ed is allowed to like nice fabrics and be tired of violent piracy and still be a man. the point is that two men fall in love - equal, honest, sincere love - and are still men, still exactly who they are.

(on that note, insisting that Ed is canonically trans or femme because of these things often ends up just leaning into gendered stereotypes: men are harsh and active and dominant, and women are soft and passive and submissive, and if Ed's not the former, he must be the latter, right? it also tends to hetero-ify the central relationship, casting Stede as "the boy" and Ed as "the girl", needing one to be masc and one femme. not always, and again, I understand and have enjoyed transformative works that take those elements and run with them, and explore what the story could be like if Ed were trans/nb/etc - but it's still a transformative interpretation. it's not canon.)

relatedly: those fucking wedding toppers! it seemed blatantly obvious to me that half the point of those scenes was that Ed is distraught and blaming himself for Stede leaving because he wasn't the ideal partner. it's his entire arc for the first half of season 2! Ed hates himself and believes there's something wrong about him that makes him unlovable. so he keeps and then discards the wedding toppers, painting himself onto one of them, because he's projecting himself onto an image of ideal/successful romantic love that he thinks Stede wants, and in which he doesn't fit. he's trying to mould himself into someone else to make himself lovable, not realising that Stede already loves him for himself.

like, it's important that the groom figure isn't actually like Stede, either. yes, it's blond and has a nice, peach-coloured suit, but a) Stede was very specifically unhappy in the posh, heterosexual, married state the figures represent, and b) Stede by this point looks nothing like that figurine. it's directly contrasted with the image of him in the rowboat, scruffy and plain and earnestly in love, rather than fancy, cold ceramic.

so it's important to the whole narrative that Ed's yearning for/projection onto the wedding toppers is false, and born from his insecurity. he gets drunk, and play-acts a stereotypical image of romantic happiness into which he doesn't fit, but real love looks nothing like that, because real love isn't found in stifling hegemonic cultural structures, but honest, emotional connections between people allowed to be their whole, vulnerable selves. Stede is not like the groom, and Ed is not like the bride, because they shouldn't have to be. Ed should not (and does not) have to warp himself into a demure bride in order to be worthy of love: he's already lovable and loved exactly as he is! that's the point!! of the scene!!!!!!

but no, I have to wade through swathes of art and fic and meta about how badly Ed wants to be a sweet little demure kitty princess, how he wants a wedding night and a ring to prove he's Stede's property, and acting as if this is somehow canon, because people on the internet have zero reading comprehension and are scared of brown men.

the whole point of Our Flag is that you don't need to compress yourself into prescribed social roles, and in fact, doing so will only make you miserable; and that racist, patriarchal, colonial institutions should be resisted and dismantled at every opportunity.

so tell me again why the ultimate message is that Ed and Stede should get married under an arch in front of an altar and their lined-up friends, with flowers and rice falling around them, all dressed in white, one in a suit and one in a dress, with rings and a kiss and a honeymoon after, before they move into a detached house with a yard and a fence and re-adopt the kids that Stede abandoned? and this isn't about promises, fidelity, or even monogamy - I'm specifically talking about everyone in this fandom who seems to think that the ultimate goal is the most stereotypical 20th century cisheteropatriarchal christian wedding, but with the name "matelotage" slapped on top, as if that takes away all of the underlying baggage.

just - I know we're all meant to hate men and masculinity and yadda yadda yadda, but actually, to be earnest for a second, men deserve respect too, because all people and all genders do. and two men are allowed to be in a relationship and still both be men - complex men, with their own, layered relationships to their gender - without having to fall into neatly-arranged dom/sub masc/femme roles, or seal the deal with a hegemonically-approved ceremony.

so please, stop reducing an indigenous lead character to a caricature of a femme uwu princess bottom just because he has long hair, wore a robe once, and you're too scared of brown men to imagine him with proper agency. and then please, for the love of god, stop claiming that that interpretation is canon.

[frau-wilhelm-klink]

I mean this in the most affectionate way possible, of course.

But hey, that's okay! Somebody has to keep the people in Geneva busy😂

[miswaken]

would also just like to say that I obviously love alice as a character, and I very much do not think she is an inherently bad / manipulative / abusive person — which is unfortunately a take I see pop up in the tags from time to time. yes, lying to alan to get him to bright falls for therapy was wrong of her and she knows that. but I think it’s important to remember that the first game takes place after years of alan being a depressed, self-destructive, and occasionally violent (not with alice of course but still) addict. that doesn’t make what she did right, but she’s human and flawed and was very likely at the end of her rope. the bright falls ballad section of herald of darkness flat out says that alice was drowning under the weight of alan’s worst traits and if he’d noticed and addressed it himself maybe this never would’ve happened. the song also says the trip was the last shot at saving their marriage. things were bad! and I think it’s deeply unfair to pin all of it on her like she was some evil uncaring wife who just wanted to institutionalize him and be done with it. and honestly I think it’s also a bad read to assume that she didn’t try to get him help in less direct ways before that, which he probably refused?

similarly, I have to assume she tried other things before the “make him think I’m dead so he hits rock bottom and finally accepts the worst of himself” plan. there’s six years between when the hauntings start and when alice jumps into the lake. you really think she didn’t exhaust all other ideas before that? based on barry’s emails she jumps sometime in the spring of 2023 and the game takes place in september. so again that’s a couple months of attempts before we see the game loop, and considering dark place time isn’t real that’s gods know how many loops of trial and error before we get to these ones that finally work. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that the fakeout suicide was her first and only method of guiding alan.

I could write an essay about the “voyeuristic and manipulative” (ty sam lake for using the words I’ve been using lol) nature of alice’s role in the story and how it reflects the very nature of her artistic medium itself. and I do think there’s an element of her being desensitized to the Horrors a bit and she’s definitely tunnel visioned trying to get this right. but again, this is last ditch desperation at play. she’s navigating these horrible life situations and literal nightmare scenarios as best she can while trying to drag alan out of his hole at the same time. and while her handling of it all might not be perfect she is a haunted woman with problems of her own who is simply trying her best!!

[winryrockbellwannabe]

AAAARRGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[ghostcasket]

I was wondering if I could write about your gay hallmark characters, but not as continuing the story (I wouldn't do that. It would be rude as fuck) but as fanfiction for your fanfiction.

hi! thank you for asking first, i really really appreciate it! just a clarification, my piece isn't fanfiction--100% original fiction!--but yeah, go for it, write all you want, i'd just rather you didn't post it. if you really want to, please just make sure to tag & credit me so ppl dont confuse it with canon 😊 thank you!

[daz4i]

how and why is there discourse about whether or not certain queer identities exist/if people should be allowed(???) to use them. why is "people know their own identity better than you ever could, and they're the only one who get a say on what they are" such a tough concept to grasp

i think if you find yourself offended by the label someone uses (especially if they're a stranger) or think it invalidates your own, it's a good idea to look inside yourself and question why that may be. more often than not, it's a result of insecurity or uncertainty of your own identity (or many other things, but i won't make a whole list here). whatever reason it is, until you resolve it, you shouldn't take it out on people for having an identity you don't understand

many have said it before but it's worth saying over and over. infighting only helps our oppressors. conservatives don't care if you're a cis gay or a xenogender aegosexual aplatonic lesbian, they hate all of us either way. trying to fit in by going for people who are easier targets for them isn't gonna help you, it'll just alienate you from your own community, and you're never gonna please them. the momentary rush you get from hearing you're not like "one of /those/ gay people" is not worth it and is gonna do more harm in the long run, i assure you

also, it is important to me to say this, but having some less than nice kneejerk reaction caused by confusion about an identity you don't understand doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything. as long as you aren't mean to that person, and you take a second to think smth along the lines of "wait a minute, this isn't any of my business" after having said reaction, you're good 👍 a lot of reflexive reactions we have to things are ingrained into us simply by. well. living in a society 🤡 and you're not terrible for having those thoughts. it's your actions that matter, and your second thought (the "wait, why did i just think that?") is more defining of your actual character and morals than your reflex. i know that having thoughts like this, even tho they're unwanted, can very easily make one spiral, so it's important to me that whoever needs to hear this knows this doesn't make you a bad person 🙏 you're good, keep taking actions to be good, accept other people even if you don't understand them, and you're on the right track :)

[garmaballs]

will forever resent my cousins back home for being able to live the life i will never have

[lifeonmvrs]

signal samurai trio, my beloved <3