#many characters and himself reveal that he's selfish not kind

[tatatatatara]

Me seeing posts that say Kaneki is kind: well yes but actually no

[calp0sa]

what do you like and dislike about airy?

CRAZY MESSY INFODUMP INCOMING OH LORD

well there’s nothing i truly dislike about airy, because everything about him just makes him who he is. i just wish we got more insight to him as an Actual person rather than his host facade, even though that was sort of the point of one 17-18, i feel like the fact that he’s pretty much a regular ass dude went over most people’s heads (Not mine though because im really smart and could beat albert einstein in a rap battle) i know the mystique is the most prominently interesting aspect of the whole show… but yknowwww it’d be nice to know a little more about him personally considering how we now know he’s far from a one-dimensional character and shouldn’t be taken at face value (i am side eyeing a huge chunk of the one fandom as i say this) now okay if i were to talk about everything i like about airy we’d be here til the next solar eclipse but i’ll try to jot down everything i can. airy, to me, is the most fascinating object show character there is. i swear every time i observe something about him it’s like i’m opening a matryoshka doll as i dissect his character further and further… every rewatch of one i notice something, whether it be minuscule or glaring, there’s always something for me to brutally analyze. see, and here’s where i contradict myself, because while it’s frustrating not having much official trivia on him, i actually quite love how mysterious he is. i love how he seems like he knows a lot more than he lets on. i love how his caginess only sparks more questions. and i love how FESTERED he is. how you can tell there was so much that led up to him being so numb and stagnant… it does nothing but pique my interest. and i love how this festered-ness parallels with the contestants. i can’t help but feel as if the true extent of airy’s suffering was reflected through those on the plane, how the contestants went through so many fluctuant stages of sadness, denial, hopelessness, anger… all in the midst of isolation akin to airy’s forest. it makes me wonder if ONE served as catharsis to airy. not just a purpose or a distraction, but something to spark resonance within a desolate soul. speaking of distraction, it’s really interesting to me how reliant airy is on escapism, and this is most evident in how he literally takes on such a gilded and contrived host persona to the point where it’s difficult for the viewer to discern who he is OUTSIDE of “airy”. big fan of how the show basically tricks us into thinking he’s this ruthless malevolent all powerful entity until it takes us by surprise and reveals that he’s Just Some Guy, and it could’ve been anyone in his place. but this isn’t to defend him… no… airy was definitely a selfish and inconsiderate asshole (sorry yall) he just isn’t as awful as everyone makes him out to be. airy is not evil, nor is he good, he just kind of sucks LOL. and i love him for that honestly! the thing about this is he should’ve stopped and asked himself “what am i going to gain from this” yet he was so absorbed in trying to hoist himself out of that inevitable pit of dread that he did not care if he destroyed everything else in the process (Might i add that this is a huge parallel to liam’s impulsive vengefulness… i swear i could go on and on about how those two are brothers from another mother) another interesting thing about the hosting stage of airy is the chance that he probably did feel some sort of regret. especially after the shock of breaking his face, being confronted by harsh genuine emotions after such a long time… an iota of the pain and fear he assumed was long gone… as well as the crushing reminder that he basically threw himself and all his senses away just for a stupid game. What a loser amirite. even if he had some semblance of a wish to end ONE, he knew he couldn’t. i’d imagine he told himself mockingly “yeaaaa you basically dug yourself into this, you’re not backing out any time soon” (even though he could’ve easily backed out he was just a loser ass COWARD!)

i didn’t know the paragraphs had character limits! interesting. anyway i can’t help but wonder if airy made that effort to take care of liam in an attempt to break the cycle, the cycle of destroying everything else, including your very self, for the purpose of One thing. maybe airy thinks violence and spite is just a huge waste of time yes of course, but i think he understood liam to some extent (remember what i said about resonance 😁😁😁) i just love how everything about airy is so subtle, yet so major, so jarring and confusing yet when you piece it all together it makes such a scary amount of sense. i love making sense of how nonsensical he is. (of course i do. i am possibly the biggest fan of nonsense there is) now i will add a funny little thing i like about him. i like how he’s all impatient and snarky. and i know you’re probably thinking “franklin how in the abraham lincoln’s bootycheek do you think he’s snarky” Listen, it’s really funny once you actually notice it. there were so many instances where he sounded exasperated with the contestants. my personal favorite being

“yes, as long as you are here, you can’t die”

>”WE CANT DIE?”

“Yes… that’s… what i just said 😐”

he has this barely noticeable “oh my god can you let me do what i need to do” attitude and it’s SO funny. i like to imagine he rolled his eyes a lot while he was hosting. its really funny to imagine. and its also funny to imagine him smiling like an idiot like he did hosting in one 17. that scene was really cute it makes me want to run into ongoing traffic and get continuously ran over by 12 different semi-trucks. if you ignore how miserable the contestants were (sorry contestants) it’s actually really endearing how excited and eager airy was when he got ideas for challenges. i bet he felt so proud of himself it’s honestly kind of sad. he’s sad. what the hell. he really thought he was the SHIT when he said “riches… immortality… whatever your heart desires 😌” Oh my god he’s so pathetic don’t even get me started MY ONLINE CLASSES ARE STARTING I GOTS TO GO BUT ANYWAY FEEL FREE TO ASK FOR AN ANALYSIS ABOUT LITERALLY ANYTHING AIRY RELATED I HAVE MORE THAN A HUNDRED BIBLES’ WORTH OF SHIT TO SAY ABOUT HIM BYEBYE THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS

[desertfangs]

I haven't yet read the books (there's so many!) I've only watched the iwtv movie and TV show and I love Claudia in both but I've had people tell me in the books she's awful and considered to be one of the series villains. Idc about spoilers I just wanna know how true that is bc I dunno if I'd want to read that lol

Hi anon! I was excited to see your ask this morning because I'm gonna tell you something: Claudia was one of my first favorite characters in the series and her death devastated me. Louis was my first fav (understandable, he's literally the protagonist of the first book, we're meant to sympathize with him!) and when he lost Claudia and became numb in his grief, I related. I hated Armand for what happened to Claudia and I held a grudge for a long time.

Anyhow, I can't speak to the show so much as I've only seen season 1, but if you like the 94 movie, you will probably like the novel Interview with the Vampire. It's a pretty close adaptation.

To get to the heart of your question, no, Claudia not an awful villain. Anymore than Louis or Lestat are. If anyone is a villain in IwtV, it's Armand, and even he is not a mustache-twirling evil guy.* Everyone in this series in morally gray and does terrible stuff. I emphasize that because I've been in this fandom for a long time and I've seen all kinds of arguments about who is evil and who is not, and the fact is, all of our vampires do questionable things. That's sort of the point. So it's arguable how much there even is a villain in IwtV outside of Louis' own depression and grief, but Armand probably gets that honor.

Claudia in the books was turned around the age of 5. She is a very small, doll-like child who doesn't seem to retain much, if any, memory of her human life. She is more purely a vampire than Louis or Lestat can really fathom because she lacks that humanity and a connection to humans. She's a natural hunter and killer.

She doesn't understand Louis' sentimentality for humans, and resents Lestat for withholding information she knows he has about their kind. She is a complex and fascinating woman trapped in the body of a small child to the point where even Louis, who loves her dearly, cannot really see her as an adult and struggles to accept her agency. She does manipulate both her parents, in part because they don't often see her as a capable equal, which she very much is.

She does eventually rise up to kill to Lestat out of desperation. She believes he will not let Louis go and knows she can't travel around alone, given her appearance. Lestat himself is devastated by this and by her loss, and even says later he understands why she did it. That he probably deserved it for what he'd done to her, which was trap her forever in the body of a very young child, something he admits was selfish. (And something Marius had actually warned him against doing beforehand, LOL!!)

Like in the movie and the show, she does die at the Theatre des Vampires, and Armand is more responsible for that than I've heard he is on the show (he tells Louis he couldn't have stopped it, only to later reveal he orchestrated it, which Louis knew the whole time).

She appears later in The Tale of the Body Thief mocking Lestat and acting as a sort of voice for his subconscious, but she is just his hallucination in he book. He's dealing with a lot of trauma and grief and that manifests itself as Claudia's ghost.

Where you might be hearing she's a villain is from Merrick, where both her diary and spirit appear and are... not very nice. I gotta say, I am not convinced that is actually the spirit of Claudia that gets conjured, and even if it is, it's possible she's been warped somehow. But I also haven't read that book in decades and often tend to ignore it, so I am not an expert on that score.

I hope this helps! I'm always happy to answer questions about the books! (They are my special interest, if you cannot tell.)

But I do want to say that if you are a fan of the show and curious about the books--which are very different!--I highly recommend you read at least the first few yourself. The best way to judge if you'll like the book versions of the characters and story is to experience it yourself. There's a lot of misinformation that gets passed along about the books, and a lot of misinterpretation due to that because people just repeat what they've heard without having read them. And hey, they still may not be your cup of tea, and that's totally fine! But you won't know if you don't try, you know?

Anyhow, thank you so much for the ask! 💖 Claudia is awesome and deserves more love in the book fandom, but because she dies so early on, she doesn't get as much attention sadly.

*And even when he is, we love him.

[picturejasper20]

Been reading some of ur posts (I think I found u through this post I am showing here. I.e., the screenshot down below, and not a link, because sometimes Tumblr let's me link stuff, sometimes it doesn't. And this time is the latter. Anyways, gonna be talking (mainly, maybe completely, the post down below):

And yeahhhhh, Dipper's dream (or well, nightmares. Because it was more like a nightmare. And the (s), because it was reoccurring nightmares) really helped even further explain a lot of some of the way Dipper (and to some extent, Mabel) acts/acted. Like seeking authority figures, wanting to stay with Ford/Gravity Falls

(though, that was also just Dipper having even more matured, and wanting to try something he cared about, instead of giving something up again. My dude Dipper sometimes gives up a lot of stuff and/or fate really seems out to get him sometimes),

trying to be mature/realizing he might need to grow up faster (and/or like u said, maybe some parentification going on with Dipper. Be that on purpose, on accident, and/or some mixture of that). Etc.

Like, the Dipper nightmares reveal is so interesting/makes a lot of sense

(which is why I find it kind weird how split some people are about this reveal. Not saying u can't still interpret Dipper's nightmares in different ways. Or how the Pines Parents are. Be it better or worst or etc. I do think Dipper's nightmares/dreams leaves a lot of room for interpretation (purposefully). I just find it a bit weird how split some people are, because like, while I do go back and forth on interpretations of the Pines parents myself or I can like a variety of different interpretations of them myself.

(To me, it always seemed kind of implied (imo) in some ways, that they weren't the best parents. Or at least, could be better. Which is you know, normal in irl. Even with good/better parents. And I certainly don't agree with the people saying things or at least the ending makes less sense w/ this reveal. I think things make more sense personally. And/or at least don't make less sense)

I also just wanted to say I read some of ur other mainly GF posts (like the one some about GF's ending, along with Amphibia's and TGOMM some. And the one about one of the stories in Gravity Falls Lost Legends), and I gotta to say they were interesting reads

(Even if I didn't completely agree with them. Like, I think GF's end is basically perfect. And would rank it over Amphibia's and TGOMM. Though, I love Amphibia's final two long(er) episodes A LOT too. And TGOMM's is really great too. I prefer GF and Amphibia's over TGOMM, but that is partially because I love both series more/prefer the 2 series's).

I do think Mabel is just a kid and has moments of selflessness and caring, just like Dipper has many moments of selflessness, but also can sometimes be selfish too (Though, with Dipper, he developed a lot/matured a lot. Mabel some too. They are both great) they are both just kids and seem like real humans to me), and that we shouldn't be too hard on her. But as a Dipper fan (I love Mabel and the mystery twins in general), yeah, sometimes Dipper did end up giving a lot (not really just for Mabel though).

This is getting really long, so I am going to split this Ask into two Asks.

1/?.

2/2

Okie, first thing is that i appreciate your message. Happy to know you enjoyed reading those posts I wrote some months ago. So thanks regarding that.

On the point of Dipper and Mabel not having good parents. Even when i watched the series i remember feeling like something was off. I remember those clips of their parents taking their things away and sending them to Uncle Stan like they were in a rush? It felt to me that there was a reason of why they were doing that.

As you said, if one pays attention to Dipper and Mabel's characters you can tell that there is something going on with both of them. I recall another fan telling me that Dipper didn't take care of himself well and that he often didn't sleep? (With the recurrent nightmare reveal it makes more sense).

The way i see it is that are quite neglectful and they may make Dipper feel like he is different because of how he struggles making friends while Mabel comes off as more social and more ¨normal¨ kid to them. I think they kinda make Dipper having to take care of Mabel and having to be more mature in a way.

They probably have frequent arguments and their relationship is pretty tense? Because it is bad enough for Dipper to have nightmares about it. I assume that the kids didn't pick how bad things were until recently. From what it is impled Dipper may be more aware that their parents' relationship isn't good.

But i doubt they don't care about Dipper and Mabel, because i feel they care enough about them to send them somewhere else do they don't have to deal with all these issues they are having. I think they aren't terrible parents but they probably need to get divorced imo.

As for Mabel, yeah. I don't hate her nor anything but like i feel like Dipper was better written than her as character or more well thought out. Mabel's problems with being self- centered get explored in Lost Legends in a way that is pretty cool, so yeah, nice. (And we get more of Pacifica too)

The book confirming better than their parents aren't good also explains better some of their decisions and behaviour in the show. (Like why Mabel wanted to stay in Gravity Falls).

As for the last point, i think i could write about Dipper's issues when it comes putting boundaries or letting others walk over him but i would have to rewatch some episodes to analyse that in more detail.

[wibble-wobbegong]

Mike vs Selfishness

The sheer number of people who misunderstand Mike as a character, even as fans of his, face one major flaw; they root his actions in self interest. They believe he is selfish. Even with positive connotation, this is wrong.

For some reason, it seems that the world has decided we must have balance between selfishness and selflessness between characters— if Will is selfless, then Mike must be selfish. This is the very trap that the writers set in S4. Their intention was to mislead and misconstrue. Will is shown to be giving up many things over and over and over for Mike, so he’s painted as the selfless hero (which he is). Mike? We mostly see him from others’ perspectives, meaning we only see him take. He isn’t aware of the sacrifices being made for him, but the show is producing the image of him never sacrificing in turn. Your mind will naturally lead you to view him as selfish because of the lack of reciprocity being shown. They want you to go blind to Mike’s sacrifice so the reveal hits that much harder.

But we aren’t blind. Mike is a character so inherently good that even stripping him of any sympathetic connection with the audience cannot hide the love and kindness inside him. The writers are true to their characters, so no amount of hiding will keep Mike’s true nature repressed— you just have to look, and look we have.

If we’re to look at Mike and know he is not what we perceive, how is it that so many people fail to understand that he is as selfless as any other character? Mike is not a boy with a monster hidden under his skin waiting to take what it wants despite how often we see this description of him floating around. This idea is in omnipresent in so many analysis posts or by those who say they’re fans of his imperfect characterization when that isn’t what makes him imperfect.

For example, it seems to be commonplace to believe that Mike is dating El to hide to some degree— not necessarily as a beard, but as an excuse for his behavior; his prioritization if her; his avoidance of Will. Rather than using El as an excuse, it’s much more plausible that Mike legitimately puts El above other people sometimes. When you look at Mike’s story with El it is so very blatant that he wants to do things for her and help her and make her happy. The very beginning of their friendship in S1 had been Mike seeing El and wanting to help. He rescued her and let her stay and took care of her when he first found her— sending her back to Pennhurst was not malicious or uncaring. He genuinely thought it was best for her at the time.

As Mike gets to know her he learns of her tragic past and comes to admire her as a person for her strength and sense of justice. El has lived a life of anger and sadness and abuse and Mike knows this. He sees a good person who has known nothing but suffering and wants to help her live the happiest life she can lead and Mike believes part of her happiness comes from being with him. Of course he’ll do it. He may not love her romantically, but he loves her so strongly in other ways that he’s willing to pretend for her sake. He’s been pretending since the end of S2. She moves to kiss him and he freezes, but they end up at the Snowball together anyway.

He’s giving too much of himself. He takes it too far and abandons intrinsic parts of himself for her happiness— this includes movies, hanging out with friends, music, and more than anything else, Will. Not Will himself but the part of him that belongs to Will. The part that loves him.

Mike’s selflessness reaches the furthest extremes. He’s willing to kill himself for Dustin with zero hesitation. He’s willing to abandon his personhood in hopes El is happy. He’ll shoulder the blame in fights with Will and hide the truth when he realizes Will never meant to hurt him. In fact, he tries to prevent Will from ever realizing he’s angry with him and continues to push him away during the fight at Rink-o-Mania. Mike consistently backs away from any confrontation where he has to address himself and his wants and his feelings when they aren’t there to help others. With Lucas at the beginning of the season, he backs down the second Lucas explains himself. During the rain fight, he’s calm and apologetic until Will brings El into it. Mike will always try to redirect things away from himself and Will is the only person who wont let him.

Normally, selflessness doesn’t take such intense and demanding forms. It doesn’t hurt others. Selflessness is usually shown as positive altruism or as an isolated punishment upon the self. Mike falls into the end of self punishment.

Self punishment always leads to unintentionally hurting others. Usually, se’d see this displayed from the perspective of the punisher. We don’t have Mike’s perspective. The punishments he imposes on himself are not visible to us.

Mike is a good, selfless person. He’s so sacrificial and feels so inferior that he doesn’t value his side of the story and acts as a servant to the happiness of the people around him. He’s rarely confrontational about issues that center around his wants and his feelings. When I say Mike is the prime example of a character who is a victim of themself I mean that he will destroy himself to hand out the pieces to people who he thinks need them.

There is nothing about him that is selfish or holds expectations that can’t be broken down. Mike’s rare selfish acts crumble like worn towers and his sacrifice will never be enough in his eyes. It’s all self imposed, but self imposition does not equate to selfishness. That’s what people miss about his character.

Mike is selfless in the most destructive, dangerous way positive. He has lost any sense of self importance, and that’s pretty clearly reflected in his monologue in the van (which happens to be the only time he really opens up and immediately calls himself stupid for it).

BASICALLY: mike’s not selfish he’s just selfless to the point of destruction and hurts people. hurting people is not inherent to selfishness . bro is big stupid and lives to please lmao

[rjalker]

Sigh. If your conception of the Sphere is that he's God or a god you've also massively missed one of the main takeaways from the novel.

Awestruck at the sight of the mysteries of the earth, thus unveiled before my unworthy eye, I said to my Companion, "Behold, I am become as a God. For the wise men in our country say that to see all things, or as they express it, OMNIVIDENCE, is the attribute of God alone."

There was something of scorn in the voice of my Teacher as he made answer: "Is it so indeed? Then the very pick-pockets and cut-throats of my country are to be worshipped by your wise men as being Gods: for there is not one of them that does not see as much as you see now. But trust me, your wise men are wrong."

I. Then is omnividence the attribute of others besides Gods?

SPHERE. I do not know. But, if a pick-pocket or a cut-throat of our country can see everything that is in your country, surely that is no reason why the pick-pocket or cut-throat should be accepted by you as a God. This omnividence, as you call it—it is not a common word in Spaceland—does it make you more just, more merciful, less selfish, more loving? Not in the least. Then how does it make you more divine?

I. "More merciful, more loving!" But these are the qualities of women! And we know that a Circle is a higher Being than a Straight Line, in so far as knowledge and wisdom are more to be esteemed than mere affection.

SPHERE. It is not for me to classify human faculties according to merit. Yet many of the best and wisest in Spaceland think more of the affections than of the understanding, more of your despised Straight Lines than of your belauded Circles. But enough of this. Look yonder. Do you know that building?

____

He is explicitly not a god and scoffs at the idea that Spacelanders are gods or should be treated as such just because they're one dimension higher than Flatlanders. They're just regular people, just lik the narrator is just a regular person who found himself in Lineland. The only difference is that it seems the Sphere made a conscious, informed decision to visit Flatland, while the narrator visited Lineland by accident and had no idea what was going on.

you could also just make up your own original Spacelander if you want a 3D character who acts like they're a God to Flatlanders.

edit:

here's the translation into 2024 English if it's hard to understand the original:

Awestruck by the idea that the secrets of the earth itself were being revealed to me, a simple Square, I said to my Companion, “I have become a God! The wise men in my country have always said that to see all things, which they call Omnividence, is a power only a God can have!”

There was something like scorn in my Teacher’s voice as he answered me with, “Oh, is that so? Then the most criminal thieves and murderers from my country should be worshiped by your ‘wise men’ as Gods, because each of them can see as much as you do right now. But trust me, your ‘wise men’ are wrong.”

Me: Then, is Omnividence a power also given to those who aren’t Gods?

Sphere: I don’t know, but if a thief or a murder from my country can see everything in your country, obviously that’s not a good enough reason to accept them as a God. This ‘Omnividence’, as you call it, does it make you more upstanding, more merciful, less selfish, more loving? It doesn’t. So how does it make you more divine?”

Me: More merciful and loving?! These are the traits of Women! And we know that a Circle is a better Being than a Straight Line, we know that knowledge and wisdom are more important than ‘love’.

Sphere: It’s not my job to to tell you one type of person is better than another. But many of the best and brightest in Spaceland think that kindness and love are more important than knowledge. They are more like the Straight Lines you despise than the Circles you worship. But enough of this, look over there. Do you recognize that building?

[rrxaiky]

"𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮" - 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬

CW. TW - Character death (Implied: Silver, Malleus, Lilia) , angst (all), breakdowns (Malleus, Silver), breaking up (Sebek) , murder (Lilia), suicide (?, implied: Silver) GN reader- They/them (Malleus, Sebek) + No pronouns used. (Lilia, Silver)

A/N: Possible last post before finals.

M.list

⧉ 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚

How could one be so attached to another that he was willing to keep a withering body? As Malleus was always, always, no matter how hard he tried... He'd scare anyone near him away... He was unable to make friends... Until he met them. A kind, loving soul that was willing to stay by his side who he had dreamt of not only taking their hand but for them to be by him for eternity.

Yes... He could have both. A selfish, selfish desire. Just with a little magic... Just with a little power... He could preserve their once rotting body for as long as he lived.

Malleus held their hand in his, looking at them with a thin smile he could reveal to only them after their death. Eventually, after staring at their closed eyes, his expression grew to be pained, distressed.

He was supposed to be strong.

Droplets of tears fell from his eyes to their cheeks, and he cried out, "Give me my (name) back..." under his breath, chanting it with broken sobs in between. He didn't know how many times he had uttered those few words, but at last, he had found his voice strained, and he finally knew no matter how much he cried or wailed... He had already lost them.

⧉ 𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐞

Ahaha... This couldn't be true. It can't be. He was just in a nightmare... Right? Right?!

He knew he shouldn't have turned his attention away from you. With the chaos that had arose overtime, he needed to protect everything around him, and he had been doing well... Until he saw you being mercilessly killed by an enemy.

His eyes widened as he tried his best to fend off whoever was trying to fight him, his guard lowered a little after witnessing what had happened. Everything around them had darkened. Was it nearing night? The moon hung high in the sky as screams continued to fill the area, Lilia occasionally snapping his head towards you to see your lifeless body on the ground.

If he only had paid a little more attention to you... You wouldn't have had to suffer like this, he thought. And if only he hadn't thought such.

Just seconds after he turned his head, he felt a piercing pain in his abdomen, and the object piercing him left his body and abandoned him to fall onto the ground. Eyes shaking as he stared at them and as the clouds covered the light of the moon from shining down at the warzone...

He knew he had lost his moon.

⧉ 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐤 𝐙𝐢𝐠𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐭

If he didn't focus so much on being a knight... If he wasn't so loud... If he didn't act before thinking, would he still be with them? He could only blame himself for losing them. He was the one who broke their heart first, not them. They tried their best to be supportive, cheering Sebek on whenever they could.

Now, whenever he was training outside of with Silver or Lilia... He'd find everything so much more exhausting. He no longer had someone watching at him with soft eyes, or sometimes reminding him to take breaks.

He hated every second of it, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

He hated himself for letting them go. Why didn't he realize earlier that he loved them so much? As a human, as a friend and as a lover. Sebek was sick of training. He didn't want to train if they weren't with him anymore, and although it hurt him to see them so happy without him, they were now freer than a dove. In fact, a dove so free that could easily fly high up into the azure sky to be left alone by other beings...

Beings like him.

⧉ 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫

"I don't want to do this." Silver mumbled, the tip of his cold blade just barely pressing against your chest. Why couldn't someone else do it? Why was he the one who was tasked to kill you... Why did the both of you have to suffer? Maybe you deserved it as a traitor... But he was innocent. He didn't deserve to feel what you had in your heart.

You reached your hand out to touch one of his cheeks, and Silver felt his heart break, bit by bit, knowing that that was the last time you'd ever touch him so warmly. You couldn't live. You betrayed all of them...

"Don't be sad... You know you have all the rights in this world to be mad at me." "I lied to you, so just kill me already."

How could one just... Say that? He knew you wanted him to quickly end it all, but he just couldn't, not for the life of him. The strong feeling of guilt, anger and emotions that would take over his body if he did was too much to handle.

Seeing this, you lifted your hand from his cheek, gabbing onto the sharp sides of the blade, blood being drawn from your hands.

"Hey Silver... If you don't want to do it, I can do it myself, you know." Silver opened his eyes as soon as he heard you finish your sentence. His expression only made you tighten your grip on his sword.

"What...?" Silver managed to choke out. "You heard me, and you know what I mean. You don't have to kill me if you don't want to..." You continued on, and he felt everything go silent. He heard it right both times.

"So... You don't need to tell them you didn't kill me."

"Just say the job's been done... Okay?"

Reblogs + follows appreciated! <3

[to-mah-to27]

I truly don't know if I have to will to make this into a full fic but I can keep continuing the plot

for those of you who did not see it, I'm talking about this post au where Shun is the main character and it is the story of the Jet Black Wing

Ok so season three comes to a head when Aren finally catches Saiki in the act, but Shun isn't there and he confronts Saiki. And Saiki says "You have no idea the complexities of this problem. Just a naive kid playing hero." and Aren tries to fight him but ends up getting hit over the head and his short-term memory erased.

THEN

The beginning of season four is a replay of that confrontation but from Kusuo's point of view. And we're like whaaaat because in all three seasons prior we have never been in Kusuo's point of view before.

In season one it seemed like it would only be from Shun's point of view because he is the main character. But then after the reveal, it makes more sense that we don't see through Saiki's point of view because we aren't meant to root for him after all. And then in season three the point of view regularly shifts between Shun and Aren, further emphasizing that Saiki isn't meant to be there.

So when season four starts in Kusuo's point of view it is a big deal. And it is the same fight but from his point of view and Aren confronts him, telling him the same things he's been listening to Shun say for the past three seasons ever since he got Black Beat in his arm and he had to start following him around to make sure that he couldn't interfere with his plans. "Why are you trying to destroy the world! There are so many innocent people who don't deserve to die! What could you possibly hope to achieve?" And Kusuo responds the same as he did in the finale that Aren doesn't understand and he's just naive and wants to play hero. But even as he says it he is thinking that it isn't true because really it's -Shun_ who he believes this about. And he's been saying in his head over and over and over as he justifies that he still has to do this.

Because the world is a terrible place full of selfish, greedy people who pretend to care on the outside but will take any chance they can to use people and then backstab them. And since humanity has so clearly failed they need to be eradicated and start over from scratch.

And in all the time he has spent with Shun, he has seen all the ways the hero breaks that perception by being kind and giving and genuine in his intentions to help, expecting nothing in return. So he has been telling himself that Shun doesn't count, that he's just some naive kid who doesn't get all the evil in the world, who doesn't understand it or see it and he's only acting the way he is because of a sense of pride at being a hero.

But since Aren joined, he's had a sense of inner turmoil about this that he's been trying desperately to ignore, because Aren has those same kind, honest intentions Shun does.

Aren, who was one of the power-hungry people he employed to help him destroy the world, only for them to realize in the end that they were going to be destroyed too. Aren, who is strong and perceptive and who readily knows about the ill intentions of many of the people they meet. He isn't naive. He isn't even trying to be a hero. He just wants to help Shun, whose forgiveness gave him a new chance at life.

Then he erased Aren seeing him use his powers to sabotage Shun and for the rest of season four every once in a while there will be an episode from Kusuo's perspective, showcasing his inner conflict about these two people disproving what he knows to be the dark truth about the world.

Shun can tell that his good friend and ally Saiki is struggling with something, and he tries to help and to get Saiki to open up about it. But Saiki has never been the talkative type, so he can't quite get it out of him. Not knowing of course, that it has to do with something Saiki would never tell him, that he is the very enemy they have spent so much time fighting. And Shun's words of faith in him from season two echo is Kusuo's mind.

Is there a way to destroy this world without destroying these two honest people? Does he have to make them hate him in order to do it? Will Shun's spirit break when he finds out the truth?

[velvetroomkeeper]

My top ten Danganronpa ships

Since it’s Valentine’s Day I decided that i should show my top ten Danganronpa ships for the world to see

Now here are some rules

One all of this is my own opinion if you disagree that’s fine but no harassment

Two I do not ship same sex couples for reasons I won’t elaborate on so if you don’t see your favorite slash ship on here then tough luck

Three these ships aren’t just ranked on personal preference but other factors such as screen time chemistry or others so that should set the tone now let’s get in

I’m also tagging @hopeymchope @freezethunder and @wydstepcat to give a list of your top ten ships (you don’t have to follow my rules)

Number 10

Nagito komaeda x Mikan tsumiki

So why do I ship these to together? Because Kodaka said they’re kokichi’s parents! UP YOURS KOMAHINA’S HAHAHA

In all seriousness these two make a surprisingly good ship because of surprisingly compatible both being some of the most mentally broken members of the class as well as nagito being one of the classmates to stick up for Mikan so there’s that and because there’s so much potential in the dynamics for this ship be it the nurse/patient dynamic or just being the insane couple. The one thing holding this ship back is the lack of interactions between the two which is why it’s so low on this list but this should be a good way to start the list right?

Number 9

Byakuya togami x toko fukawa

If your still reading this please put down the pitchforks and hear me out

So you’re probably wondering why I’m putting a ship like this well I’ll explain

As well all know togami starts the game off as a selfish jerk who only cares about winning and doesn’t seem to care about anybody and is more than willing to use toko as a tool for his amusement so with that in mind how could I ever ship something like this.

Well most of the appeal of this ship mostly comes from the development of the two characters in general.after Sakura’s trial makes him reconsider his preconceived views about bonds he starts to treat everyone slightly better and even gives toko a few compliments (which admittedly isn’t a bit much but hey it’s progress) and later in the series we see him actually sticking his neck out for other people so admittedly most the appeal for me stems less from their current relationship and more for what it might look like after both of their development which is why it’s low on this list and honestly togami’s insults don’t seem to bug me as much since toko seems to be enjoying this a bit too much

Number 8

Shuichi saihara x kaede akamatsu

You know it’s true love when you see a girly looking detective boy who’s scared of his own shadow fall out of a locker

In all seriousness these have a nice dynamic between the two partnering up to stop the killing game in the first chapter.kaede helps encourage shuichi out of his insecurities which makes it more tragic when she’s revealed to be the culprit through the rest of the game kaede’s death serves as one of shuichi’s biggest motivators throughout the game

Now as for why it’s so low we’ll most of their dynamic stays in chapter one so

Number 7

Miu iruma x kiibo

News flash lusty girl falls for walking tin can

With how raunchy and egotistical miu is I didn’t think to much of this ship when I heard about it added on by the fact the kiibo was a robot (sorry that was robophobic of me) and when I see they’re dynamic it’s surprising wholesome with miu showing genuine kindness towards kiibo and kiibo being the only student who isn’t gonta to be sad she died and I haven’t even talked about the “maintenance” so yeah number 7 good ship

Number 6

Nekomaru nidai x Akane owari

Ahh yes the gym couple

Nekomaru and akane’s relationship isn’t just fun to watch it’s also sad to think about with how much they spend training with each other (and how many sexual innuendos they have with each other) it doesn’t take long to see why people like especially when it comes to Nekomaru sacrificing himself for Akane and his death being Akanes big motivator throughout the rest of the game really shows how much these two mean to each other

Number 5

Sonia nevermind x gundham Tanaka

What’s better than one over the top edgelord two over the top edgelord

Sonia and gundham is one of the ships that pretty much everyone can agree one (save for the yaoi/Yuri fans and the kazuichi fans crying in the corner) with just how over the top they are together and their shared interest in the occult and much like with Akane gundhams death helps drive Sonia as a motivator for the rest of the story well what do you know

Number 4

Kaito momota x maki harukawa

The luminary of the stars and his murderous girlfriend

Kaito and maki is one of the ships that have one of the strongest developments in the series. Maki’s arc in the series revolves around her dropping the aloof assassin thing kaito is one of the biggest factors in it. Throughout the game kaito constantly tries to reach out to maki to get her to finally open up not only inviting maki to train but also pushing her to open up as well to the point of arguing with shuichi when it’s possible that kaito killed kokichi and tsumugi using kaito to break maki like she used kaede with shuichi overall this is one of the best ships in the series I just prefer these next three

Number 3

Fuyuhiko kuzuryu x Peko Pekoyama

One of the ships we all can agree on

Honestly this ship surprised me and I didn’t like it until further examination in the beginning we see Peko seem to know kuzuryu better than most but it isn’t until chapter two when the whole story comes out.we learn that Peko is fuyuhiko’s childhood friend who was raised to be both a servant and a hitwoman for the kuzuryu clans heir (fuyuhiko) and was raised to be a tool since birth however we know that her feelings for kuzuryu are 100% genuine and she will do anything for him even take a murder out of his own hands so she can take the fall for him but what if kuzuryu well this is best displayed in chapter two when he confesses that he didn’t care that Peko was raised to be a tool and just wanted to be with her and was begging for her not to go to the point where he tried to interfere with the execution and got slashed in the process. The amount of devotion between the two is fantastic and bittersweet and the same time when you have a couple so devoted to each other they are willing to face death for the other

…..

…..

…..

I’m not crying you’re crying!

Number 2

Makoto naegi x kyoko kirigiri

The hero and the heroine but which one is which

What can I say that hasn’t already been said these two probably have the most progressive relationships in the series from unlikely Allies to devoted partners these two have earned their place in the fandom

And now for my number one pick a tragic ship that was simply never meant to be

Number one

Hajime hinata/izuru kamakura x Chiaki nanami

This is probably the most tragic ship for me on this list by a pair with a bond so strong it transcends memory

The pair consists of a boy with no talent but wants one and girl who has a talent but sees no value in it and both end up positively impacting the other hajime started to realize talent isn’t everything and Chiaki starts to see her talent can be useful sadly thanks to someone beating(literally) it into hajime that he’s nothing more than a talentless scrub this leads hajime into the kamukura project and Chiaki suffers a tragic death impaled and betrayed by the person you loved most as she’s in tear because she didn’t want hajime to be talented she just wanted him alone (reminds you of another couple don’t it) but hajime’s love for her remains enough to get izuru to start shedding tears over her death

In 2dr2 Chiaki is hajime’s closest ally backing him up in trials and keeping him out of trouble all this comes to head when Chiaki is revealed to be the traitor and hajime is in the most denial he’s ever been in he doesn’t want to believe that his closest friend is the traitor but sadly is forced to do so

In the final chapter hajime’s memory of nanami is enough to inspire him towards the future and even helps deal the final blow to junko

Regardless of your stance on this ship its clear that these two have a strong bond that still persists regardless of it and that makes this my favorite Danganronpa ship of all time

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone

[lansplaining]

Protagonist-centric readers will do anything but admit that their MCs did lie and impact other characters' decisions. It's not the side-characters fault that they did not know the whole truth because *drum roll* they weren't told anything and/or was deliberately lied to.

LQQ being hated bc he impaled XL in a coffin for a long time but like... XL admitted to killing the King of Yong'an and committing the bloody massacre so what was LQQ supposed to do? Sit down and ask his Guoshi for the truth when we know damn well XL will just continue to admit to it? XL didn't want to tell LQQ the truth to protect LQQ and the two groups of people, and that's completely admirable, but what LQQ saw was his Guoshi stabbing a sword through his father's chest and admitting to everything so him reacting the way he did was completely valid. The single act of killing the king was treason 100x already, and as the son of the king, LQQ's reaction was not out of the ordinary. we don't want XL to suffer and be even more traumatized, but XL already knew that the consequences wouldn't be pretty and lied anyway. idk why fans can't grasp that.

Or for JC's case, HE IS LITERALLY THE ONE PERSON ALIVE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD WHO ACTUALLY DESERVES SOME KIND OF EXPLANATION FROM WWX HIMSELF, THE MAN WHO ACCIDENTALLY CAUSED WN TO KILL JXZ AND INDIRECTLY KILLED JYL DESPITE CLAIMING THAT HE HAD EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL. These two aren't strangers to JC at all; they're his sister and his brother-in-law, or more importantly, his sister's beloved husband and father of his nephew. He deserves to be angry and bitter at the one person who did all that, and there is no time limit for how long he should remain bitter and angry about it. The GCT was a whole mess and they both made HUGE sacrifices out of love but the only one whose sacrifice is made invalid is JC because one, it was short-lived and two, they already didn't like JC so no matter what he does for WWX, it will be seen as something negative.

I don't even want to get into the hell-hole regarding LXC but... damn...

the revelations after a character found out the truth should be "oh man, so that's what really happened" not "this character was a dick because they didn't know about the major sacrifice the MC made for them that would only be revealed many years later, and it's not even voluntary because someone else told the truth, not the MC themself"

I'm not the first nor am I the last person to say this but a protagonist is just a character we see, mainly, from their POV or the character that we follow the story through. That's all there is to it. I feel like a lot of danmei readers have yet to read a variety of stories about an MC that's completely shit but serves to tell a story just as important and interesting.

okay, first of all-- people hate LQQ?? The sweetest, most violent himbo of all????????????? even Xie Lian doesn't hate him for what he did??????

i have nothing to say to such people

i'll be honest, it is really only relatively recently that i've fully come to realise how completely Jiang Cheng deserves an explanation or even just acknowledgement of any kind from Wei Wuxian, and how cowardly and selfish it is that Wei Wuxian refuses to give it. and I say this with a heart full of love for WWX-- he is dealing with Some Trauma (tm) but that doesn't mean his refusal to even speak to JC isn't hurtful and unfair, even if it's what he needs... but man everyone in fandom and fanworks is focused on WWX taking what he needs in this situation and not even remotely considering that just maybe he also justifiably owes something to someone he harmed and who he supposedly (formerly?) cared about (i think he still cares)

the lan xichen thing is literally inexplicable to me and i will never understand it

[nirashiyahell]

My Problem With The Fandom's Treatment Of Niragi; And Why His Fans Are Apart Of It.

Wow, a controversial post about a controversial character! Have fun reading and leave your opinions in the comments or reblogs, remember we are all human beings, thanks:)

Let me preface that I absolutely DO NOT CONDONE HIS ACTIONS and you are able to like/enjoy a character without agreeing with their actions or what they stand for, which brings me to my first point: he is not a good person in any shape or form, he does not have decent morals, and he is not a good. person, but no one in the show is. 1. The Gray Morality Of The Characters In Alice In Borderland

This is something I had caught on to by I think near the end of the first season, and it was reinforced throughout the second season of the show, let's take one of the most beloved characters, Chishiya, as an example: his character obtains a large favoritism boost because of the handsomeness of the actor he was played by, which is an unfortunate curse that many medias face, I say curse because most of these characters are separated from their complexity, and the only striking factor they posses is how physically attractive they are.

Chishiya Shuntaro, while not the main character, has quickly become a fan favorite because of the reasons stated above, now let's look at what makes him a really good antagonist (please note: I will be comparing both the LA and manga!); to start off, he is incredibiy selfish, a trait one must have to survive the games, he is shown to be a very "lone-wolf" type of character since his first few seconds of screen time, despite having Kuina by his side, which is a change that differs from the source material, likely made to have him appear as more likeable; in all the games we see him in season one, he is almost never in a group for more than a few seconds, in the hide and seek game, he wanders off to search for a high position to watch over the players and how the shooter moves, thus isolating himself. He does not view the players as people, surviving in his same situation, but rather shields, guinea pigs, chess pieces, anything that he can manipulate; he makes Arisu trust him enough to manipulate him in the 10 of Hearts game, and does not care of the known consequences that Arisu will face for that. The whole thing about his character in the first half, is that he cares only himself surviving, at the cost of other people, no matter who they are.

He lacks empathy and simpathy, well withing the entire season and the first half of the second season, I dislike this season in regards to how they handled his character, before reading the manga, I was not aware of how many panels were left out that showed, empathized his selfish nature, instead putting him in a game he wasn't even apart of in the first place, all for the sake of some sympathy towards him: all in all, I did like the Jack Of Diamonds game and understand why the writers chose this path for him, and Ippei's interactions with him were a good parallel (and a possible moral dilemma) for him, Ippei was sweet, selfless and caring, traits Chishiya does not have, they end up forming a bond that is quickly cut off because of Ippei's sad death, he acknowledges the boy's kindness, and then returns to his former self; he does not show any more compassion, until a crucial game. The King Of Diamonds was also a game that could have been done a bit better in my opinion, yes it's still a great arc, but it neglected a very important dynamic with a character; Daimon, though again, very short-lived, the interactions with her showed that Chishiya does not inheretly hate humanity, more so he does not care for it, most of the time. Kuzuryu was done well, he revealed a worldview that Chishiya was blind to until then, and actually feels something rather than indifference for the ex-lawyer's death.

Arisu, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of Chishiya, he's the protagonist that would be deemed "morally white" and he is at the start, but his morals have changed in the course of the show, because who does not adapt does not survive: he is a very emotional character, he lets his heart speak rather than his head, this is shown to be a disadvantage, as he gets manipulated easily, but it is also why Arisu gained allies in almost every game, because he was able to show compassion towards other people, he cared about saving others, even if it put him in danger. He suffers for every death he comes across, blaming himself for it because he believes he could have done something, but that does not mean that he's not morally gray; Arisu, for the most part, is stuck in a toxic cycle of self-hatred, which lead to him either shutting down or having miscommunication with the people he cared about, like in the King Of Clubs.

Niragi, in contrast to the other two characters is A VILLAIN. A villanous character is meant to oppose the main cast and bring constant or reaccuring conflict to the story, they have twisted morals, selfish motives, and a foul mouth: this character does things that the audience is SUPPOSED to be against, whenever something happens, the audience is actively NOT supposed to condone it, a villain is meant to be disliked, but it's not the end of the world if he does end up being liked. Niragi Suguru is an extreme of that stereotype, his worldview is animalistic, he sees people as weak, things to prey upon, which is why he attempted to prey on Usagi during the panic of the game in the end of the first season: again, I am no way defending his actions or justifying him, he's a terrible person who committed terrible things, but he is an extremely well-written character. Niragi does not start off as what he is currently, pre-Borderlands, HE is the person people prey on, he is put in vulnerable situations that often cause him to be physically injured, and no one cares, therefore his anger goes unchecked, untreated which leads to mental health issues: before the Borderlands, he is not agressive, he is not assertive, he is not power hungry, he was a victim of serious, repeated bullying that went unseen by people he was meant to trust: in the Borderlands, there is NO law, NO social etiquette, just humans fighting for their lives, this is where Niragi gets the confidence he lacked all those years, this is where he becomes the predator and ceased to be the prey.

2. Niragi's Fans

Niragi is physically attractive, his actor is pretty, apperently that's enough to be defended for, and the reason why someone could possibily not hate his character to death. Liking a character based on looks solely should not be considered liking them at all, and it should absolutely NOT be defended, especially if the character is in the wrong: when people talk about the fans, it's mostly in a mean way, as most of them like him for his attractiveness, not all of them, most. which is why both the character and whoever admits to liking them, is looked down upon at best, receiving death treats is rather expectable at this point, that's not the only reason though; a large majority, if not everything, on the Niragi tag is NSFW-related, no character analysis, no character quotes. Just. Smut. I find it revolting for a character, any character, to be reduced to physical pleasure, there's rarely fluff and EVERYTHING is x reader. He did not have that final scene with Chishiya + that character development realizing he was at fault for his actions to be reduced to a sexy bad boy.

TLDR; I'm too emotionally attached to this burnt man so I'm mad about people not seeing him as a character.

(I was really sick while writing this, sorry if it's all over the place!)

[animanightmate]

We need to talk about this bad boy

Émile Bonnaire. Adventurer, mercantile traveller, ladies’ man. Likes a drink, likes a laugh, loves to tell tall tales. Flamboyant, fun, and impressively fleshed out by the tiny, dapper, gravel-voiced charms of James Callis. Even his name derives from the French for “a good time” (or, depending where you look: “good bloodline”).

We first meet him accompanied by jaunty music on his way from the docks to a tavern, tipping his hat to interested women with a smirking flash of big, dark, pretty eyes, before roaring his intentions to pay for everyone’s drinks as he bursts through the door.

A bit of a rogue, Bonnaire. A bit of a weasel too, but a funny one. And he has an excellently aggressive wife.

Bonnaire is the kind of person who gets other people into trouble but always slips free himself. Pay attention - that’s going to be important later.

Once he’s successfully wriggled his way back into the clutches of the Musketeers, he treats Porthos (and us) to the glories of his exotic wanderings, revealing himself to be something of a liar, or just prone to exaggeration and fawning.

So far, so funny.

Except that the people he’s pissed-off have a habit of finding him, and again it’s those around him who pay the price. Our lads drag a potentially mortally wounded Porthos on to Athos’s old house and, despite comedy punching, it’s clear that things have taken a turn for the serious. The music is cluing us in, you see.

And it turns out that being beholden, duty, debts owed, and notions of family and belonging are massive themes here. As well as definitions of humanity, of who gets to be chattel. Of who gets to own the enacted tragedy.

Porthos rails and growls, and Bonnaire defends himself, claiming that the barbaric (“disgusting” - thanks, Athos) acts he’s perpetrating in the name of profit are “strictly business”. Not prejudice. Porthos spells it out for us, time and again: people are not belongings, everyone is free, no man has a right to own and dispose of another living soul. Except Bonnaire is. Except Athos has. Except the King and Richelieu do, and will. Arguably, these men who kill for duty, as Maria Bonnaire threatens for love (and is killed for revenge) are part of that same culture of disposable humanity.

The episode shows us this, asks us to consider a multi-faceted view of people and their motives and actions. People can be noble and be murderers. People can be friendly and polite, and ruthless killers. People can be charming and fun and human traffickers.

We have a problem in this fandom. A pretty big one, and frankly an old one too. Dumas, for example, seemed to be showing us an unredeemably monstrous Milady while simultaneously demonstrating that, in the society where she found herself, she had little choice - drown, or by killed for a witch, essentially. Tragic, noble, beautiful Athos drowns his sorrows under a nom de guerre, and charges at well-armed enemies in a bid to escape from a crime that d’Artagnan labels correctly as murder right from the get-go in the books. And in the show, Athos condemns Milady over and over for the sins that he himself commits, of killing at the command of the powers-that-be, forever drawn to and repulsed by a woman who shows him all-too-clearly what they both are, and have chosen to be. And yet certain facets of fandom cannot see Milady as anything but evil, and Athos as thoroughly blameless. So many adaptations (or perceptions of them) see Richelieu as nothing but a big old panto baddie and d’Artagnan as a beloved puppy who never did anything wrong. Hi. We have some things we need to address. Dumas gave us a raft of characters who are frankly horrible, selfish, violent people, every one of them flawed in some way, every one of them with issues they need to face, sins to atone for. We do the source material an injustice if we reduce them to simply Good Guys and Bad Guys.

And here, in response to an adaptation deliberately rendered for a modern audience, with dozens of layers in every interlocking scene and arc, people persist in seeing Bonnaire as a funny wee guy who was merely a bit greedy. But he’s funny and flash, so no real harm done, huh? Oh, he’s misguided, not evil! 

The late, great Terry Pratchett broke down millennia of debate by saying that evil starts by treating people as things. Oh, it may head elsewhere, become more granular and a matter of opinion, but actually it’s pretty simple: don’t treat people as commodities.

The people who watch that episode and come away uncritical Bonnaire stans stagger me. This one isn’t even subtle - not only does he leave his beloved wife to die; not only does he lie and cheat and slide away from accountability at every turn, but Porthos roars (and later mutters) an absolute and no-holds-barred, emotional and intellectual take-down of the ethical nadir, the moral pit that is perpetrating slavery. He outlines in pitiless detail what it really means to the individuals (“Men, women, and children!”). He show how the long-term effects of that abuse, even once freed, shorten a person’s life, have resounding repercussions through generations. And he must feel so alone - the others holding him back from hurting Bonnaire, Athos telling him “Yes, it’s horrible, but it’s legal, and we have our duty to take this man to the Cardinal,” before ducking out of said duty himself to go on an drinking binge epic even by his standards. The others are more sympathetic, but still follow the course set for them by their superiors.

I want to tell the Bonnaire fans: yeah, he’s supposed to be fun and funny. You’re supposed to pick up that people can be interesting and quirky and ABSOLUTELY, THOUGHTLESSLY EVIL. That evil isn’t just the simple, unattractive thuggery of Labarge et al, it’s men doing ruthless things for the good of their country or for profit or for love or for power. It’s people feeling desperate and it’s people feeling dutiful. It’s not any one thing (except, at root, commoditising people), and just because they sold the role, doesn’t mean that the actor didn’t understand that either.

This is the message that I want them to understand: evil can look pretty. Evil can be charming. Evil can seem absolutely harmless. Evil can make you laugh, feel flattered, feel affection, feel pity. Yes, there are moral grey areas in the world, but human trafficking is not, cannot, and will never be anything other than irredeemable savagery. Slavery is cruel and vile and inhumane. And just because something has never been condemned in law, does not mean it is justifiable if it diminishes lives.

And just because you find someone attractive does not mean they’re the good guy. Come on, now.

[nyantodamax145]

I JUST FINISHED THE STULTIFERA NAVIS STORY AND I HAVE THOUGHTS.

Let me preface this by saying that I am also part of the demographic of “EN Sucks at Reading”. Well, I can *read*, but I kind of suck at interpreting characters sometimes so bear with me and share your thoughts because I’m very bad at literary analysis and can only understand surface level themes without anyone to guide me but I’m trying my best

I

LOVED IT

And not JUST because my husband played a pivotal role in the event okay

Spoilers under the cut!

I haven’t played through Under Tides yet so I’m missing a teeny bit of context, but oh my god

Laurentina “waking up” and recovering her memories? Alphonso and Garcia doomed to sixty years alone aboard the Stultifera Navis and sailing her towards her slow decay? High Inquisitor Dario’s sacrifice and the light of his lantern refusing the burn out, JORDI being WAY MORE TALENTED THAN HE GIVES HIMSELF CREDIT FOR, STRAIGHT UP REPAIRING A LIGHTHOUSE AND A BOAT BASED ON OLD BLUEPRINTS AND FINDING THE STULTIFERA NAVIS AND SAVING ALL THREE HUNTERS AND IRENE AAAAA

Wait ok let me try to gather my thoughts cause there’s specific things I want to talk about.

Thiago being unwilling to let the Inquisition into his town because he still held a grudge against them ultimately led to his death. He wanted to puppet the Church of the Deep who had infiltrated Gran Faro into pushing the Inquisition out of the town, but was selfish; he wanted to have his cake and eat it too; he wanted to preserve Gran Faro and its legacy, but in the process he let the Seaborn fester and take over the whole place silently, while the Inquisition couldn’t do anything to help because he was simply a stubborn old man. It’s doubly ironic because as Carmen reveals, his Aegir wife was also a part of the Church of the Deep. I would like the theorize that his wife was the one who perpetrated the spread of the Nethersea Brand in Gran Faro, but that’s just headcanon.

Laurentina and Amaia. They’re connected to each other through the Seaborn Cells in their body, and the experiments Specter was put through, and in many ways you could consider Amaia “Specter’s” creator in a sense. Laurentina and Specter really are two different people, and we can see the moment Specter disappears and Laurentina wakes up. But even after Amaia “becomes one” with the Seaborn, Laurentina still calls the abomination by the name of “Amaia”, and I wonder if it’s due to a lingering sense of connection, if only in the sense that they are mortal enemies. It’s kind of like Laurentina knows that Amaia is still in there. Which, well she is, she became part of We Many.

I seem to have missed a critical piece of information regarding Skadi that was covered in Under Tides, so I’ll be skipping over that. Once the Under Tides record restoration comes around I know what I’ll be up to.

JORDI! MY GOD YOU DID SO WELL! Can you imagine piecing together incredibly complex technology only through luck, instinct, and some tattered, centuries old blueprints?! He says he’s an ordinary person but what kind of ordinary person can do all that?! He’s at the very least got incredible skill to interpret old blueprints, and make something as old as that lighthouse to work! Like AAAAAAA I’M PROUD OF YOU ALSO YOU NEED MANY BLANKETS AND SNUGGLES YOU HAVE SO MUCH TRAUMA.

Irene reporting to Dario’s lantern at the very end made me cry ok. She wanted her Maestro to know that she gave it her all, and although the conclusion wasn’t satisfactory she still accomplished a lot. It hurts to know that she had to find out through the very things she was fighting, the things she saw as abominations of sin. It’s like the refused to believe it until she saw Saint Carmen’s face and accepted it.

And the fact that the Stultifera was circling above an Aegir City the whole time… so close, yet so far. The Abyssal Hunters both succeeded and failed, and while they found “home”, they couldn’t return.

There’s… a lot. And I’m no good at literary analysis. I just point out things that I like…

It’s 11 pm, I’m tired, and I’m trying to process everything I just read.

[sweetcloverheart]

Clover Rants Miraculously: Power Of Love (Not) So Strong

I think I (and many others) complained about this already, but it annoys me that the show hypes up how being a good person means being a loving, empathetic person and how love can overcome evil selfish intents...only then to proceed to punish the characters for being loving empathetic people and rewarding evil selfish intents

Marinette realizes she was in the wrong for humiliating Lila like she did as Ladybug and apologizes? Lila becomes her greatest enemy in and out the mask.

Adrien accepts Felix's apology for tricking his friends and tries to be friends with him again? Felix uses it to help screw over his partner and give their main enemy a huge power bonus.

Marinette tries to empathize with Chloe and give her a chance to be good? Chloe betrays her to Hawkmoth and the resulting events of this cause Marinette to lose Fu as a mentor.

Adrien accidentally causes someone to get Akumatized because he lies about his and Ladybug's relationship status? Ladybug takes the blame for this.

Gabriel controls and manipulates his son at every turn? Just a man who loves his family. Clearly a misunderstanding on Adrien's part. Can't he see how much his father loves him!

Adrien realizes telling Marinette to let Lila be was a bad move and tries to help her convince Alya and Nino something's off? He's immediately dismissed and is claimed to only be saying that because Marinette's his girlfriend.

Marinette helps Chloe almost humiliate Kagami at the movie premiere to try and break her and Adrien up? She gets rewarded with being allowed to sit next to Adrien (Sorry Mari but that was absolutely bad on you)

Nathalie realizes Gabriel doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself anymore and quits? She still continues to let him commit crimes and doesn't even try to give the heroes a hint on how to find/capture him

Bustier recognizes Chloe clearly has something going on at home and tries to be kind to her? She's presented as wrong for doing this and gets fired later on

Andre continuously enables his daughter's (and wife's) worse behaviors and uses his position as mayor to aid in her torment of the city and her classmates as he prevents her from facing consequences? He's given a brand new sparkly undamaged daughter to dote on as he abandons his position to live out his abandoned dreams of being a director.

Chloe secretly gives Bustier a birthday gift to make up not initially getting her one? Bustier throws in back in her face to try and emotionally browbeat her during a teacher-student meeting.

Felix helps his uncle become even more dangerous and powerful and leaves Marinette with tons of trauma from the act? He's given immediate forgiveness despite never apologizing and allowed to keep his miraculous (that he had previously used to commit mass genocide with mind you), despite his identity being known to everyone and others on the team being bench for less

Chloe makes an attempt to actually be nice (by threat of Adrien ending their friendship)? She has to be threatened into keeping it up the whole time by her butler with Mr.Cuddly, and then is humiliated when the toy is exposed to everyone

Audrey constantly neglects her family and insults her children to their face? Presented as just Normal Parent Things™

Lila is finally exposed as a liar and revealed to have nearly messed up everyone's future class schedules/graduation forms alongside Chloe? Doesn't hurt her a bit! In fact, now she can go sneak off into one of her fake IDs and cause more trouble, and Chloe pretty much gets a slap on the wrist for what she did.

Bustier gets Akumatized over being fired and the fake video of Andre, and is clearly not in her right mind as she hunts down the mayor? Ladybug and Chat lead her straight to him and all but help her demand Andre resign (IDGAF he did so willingly that scene was not a good look for anyone involved) and Bustier is given the title of mayor, qualifications be damned!

Chloe gets used by Gabriel, Lila, and Tomoe to terrorize the city in a way that clearly couldn't have been done by her alone and is made obvious there's another party involved? She takes the full blame and is taken away to be abused by her mother forever in New York while the actually masterminds get away scotfree

Marinette decides to sympathize with Gabriel despite everything he's done to her, Adrien, Kagami, and the city and tries to convince him to work with her to find a way to save his wife? Gabriel not only backstabs her, but uses his control "shared love" of Adrien to manipulate Marinette into hiding the truth about what he's done as Hawkmoth as the show rewards his obsession "love" for Emilie by letting him make the wish in his final moments and getting him praised as a hero to all of France!

[wc-confessions]

i have a question for you. what’s your fav warrior cat. if so, tell me about them…

tigerclaw. ramble under the cut but basically hes a cool villain i think a lot about how he could have been better if the erins and the publishers werent pussies

anyway hes such a complex character and the result of how living by the code so devotedly can fuck up your views and just how terrible clan life is. there are many cats who are examples of this but tigerclaw is so special to me in his way of exhibiting this. if you really consider it, he truly believed he was doing something good and bringing the clans to how they should be. like he grew up with the code being heavily enforced and the adults around him that he idolized and trusted selfishly using the code to justify their actions and beliefs. like its not only thistleclaw if you think about the enviornment he lived in. whats more doesnt really help that he was already seen as a threat or a nuisance as a freaking kitten. of course hes going to grow older and assume theres a certain path for him, and that he should trust and encourage the code no matter what. i also dont believe him wanting to be leader or deputy was him being selfish or knowingly evil, rather, him believing he was truly meant for those roles. therefore it was only right for him to do what he must to get his way to make things as they should be. he viewed himself as someone rightously abiding by the rules established by his ancestors, someone worthy to set the clans in their places and lead them to rightousness. then having to witness changes to the clans def prbly set him off further, and he just knew in his head he was the one. i can admit that his actions seemed hypocritical considering his relationship with sasha and the way he went about things, but i truly believe they were like more than they seemed. for one i dont think he believed he was going against his beliefs or perhaps he recognized this but didnt think it was a bad thing if he was still making 'right'. then i think he also had this mindset that his actions were a part of a greater plan or what he believed to be a part of his plan, that he jad to do certain things make choices to reach his goal. additionally, becaise of the way he grew up, i think he believed it was better to sort of repress his emotions. like i think a lot of his actions were driven by his inner emotions and there are times where he kind of breaks the whole cold frame and we get kind of a different character (my Favourite scene is when he kind of expresses like a different, emotional side after meeting his kids again even if he doesnt outright share his feelings and for a moment as he witnesses this firestar sees him as a person not like the enemy in his story that drove him to that point. but then hes unsure if its some sort of ploy. then thats never brought up again bc the early wc the erins just Did That)(another scene i wanna talk abt is how prior to the reveal hes shown to be kind of fearful of ravenpaw giving away what hes done before he just plots to get rid of him does anyoneremeber when firestar catches him freaking out at the gathering and wonders why the fuck is he acting weird. i really think at some point he just got better at being evil lying cold etc it was never something he was good at or born with it it was developed and fed). it just makes you wonder if everything was better what kind of person would he have been. then his relationship with others ugh hes shown to be caring and hearty within the clan in the start even tho its SO MINOR. i believe it just says a lot about him. hes respected nd he likes his place he believes hes deserving of leading the clans to greatness he can do it and everyone makes him believe so but then there are those who want to change those ways theyre threatening him and his ideal way of the clans built so perfectly by the code and its pure people. i could go on and on but i dont want to make this too too long

but idk i feel like a lof of the things about tigerclaw early on are ignored because people focus on the depiction after tpb. in which hes another soulless power hungry bad guy also he hates his kids despite what we are shown before. because early on in the series you can see the erins wanted something interesting for him and his relationship with firestar with other characters, his way of thinking, the way he priorities the code, how his enviornment altered him. and yet thats all thrown away all the concepts are replaced its poorly developed and its just makes me go bangs my fist why why why we could have had it better fuck the erins

[egg-emperor]

It's funny how much of the material involving Eggman that's come out since Frontiers feels like such a deliberate response to the fandoms uwuification. Having Sage outright declare her motivations are soully to serving Eggman and furthering his world conquest in Final Horizons. His role and dialog in MOSTH. Him being his same animal kidnapping self in Superstars. And now Dream Team being THE Eggman game lol. It couldn't be more in your face that everything that people had been saying about what Frontiers and Sage meant for Eggman since before that game even came out was wrong wrong wrong. Starting to think SEGA is even more annoyed by the fandoms shenanigans than we were.

Lol yes I'm so fucking happy, it feels great to be this happy and at peace with all the official/canon media. All of it has been so vindicating lately with so many strong in your face pieces of dialogue and scenes that blatantly prove that villainous Eggman isn't going anywhere and are impossible to interpret in any other way, confirming that the OOC fandom depiction of Eggdad does not exist within the actual source at all, just like it didn't in the highly misinterpreted Frontiers in the first place. People didn't believe that it was possible for so many people to get it wrong but so far all the official media since, even in Final Horizon has been vindicating us! And Ian Flynn's words on the writing for Frontiers is just a bonus, it's all there in the actual media itself.

And I love that there's no way they don't know about fandom's shenanigans. Especially not the English side of Sega/Sonic Team but surely the JP side too with Kishimoto looking at feedback on Twitter and Sonic Channel posting Eggman and Sage art that must've brought in tons of people cooing and gushing over a version of the dynamic that doesn't exist. Yet no official media since tried to cash in and change what they're really going for to appeal to them. People can keep trying to delude themselves into thinking what they want is in the text but Eggman hasn't stopped being an evil asshole bastard man, his life doesn't revolve around Sage and being Wholesome Domestic Father™ before being a person and any time he's been around her or mentioned her since hasn't been OOC.

So they're really sticking to their guns and I love that! Of course they wouldn't just decide to change what they were doing with their own characters just because fans wanted them to but it was an irrational fear of mine due to just how popular it is to misinterpret and portray as highly OOC, it's immensely so to the point it's inescapable. But the fact that a year later from the initial release of Frontiers and they still haven't gone heavy on it like that in any official media is a great sign. No games that have released or even Sonic Channel or the social media both Eng and JP. Hell, not even Prime or IDW have! And Ian Flynn stayed adamant on the dynamic of Eggman and Sage being unsettling and shallow and that she can only make him worse and that he's still a bad person.

We got Murder of Sonic where Eggman revealed he specifically programs creations with life-like personalities so they develop the desire to admire him and fulfill a bounty because they want a reward, making them work harder and compete against each other all to do his dirty work and fulfill his selfish evil desires. We got Sage supporting Eggman's evil actions and selfish priorities and desires and him being very reluctant and frustrated with working with Sonic in Final Horizon. We got classic diabolical animal capturing Eggman in Superstars. We got Dream Team where his dreams are all about himself and nobody else and he's still kidnapping and attacking kids the same as ever too. And the Sonic Channel story where he has selfish desires and attempted trickery and manipulation too!

Nothing about him has changed at all! In fact it really does feel like it's just being emphasized even more almost like it's some kind of response to fanon lol. Canon has always been on my side and it was delightful and freeing of all disappointment, anger and stress when I finally realized that base Frontiers actually didn't suddenly break that and neither has Final Horizon or any other media since. If you understand, accept and enjoy real game canon Eggman you'll never be let down! I'm very happy and content with everything we've been getting and I'm much more comfortable and hopeful about Eggman in future media too thanks to all of this. And as long as we have that I'll happily ignore 99% of fandom and keep on appreciating the actual canon media that I really adore XD 💜