#people are gonna justify anything their faves do that's the way of fandom

[navree]

I think if they are going to make an Aegon a full on rapist they should do the Brothel Queen(s) so that the Black's image can suffer a similar blow because let's be real, people are already justifying B&C so there's no way they are going to be viewed as bad people. I feel sorry for Alicent obviously because I love her a lot and honestly I will cry if the BQ end up happening because she really can't catch a break (and I would also feel terrible about Helaena because she did nothing wrong, but it just makes no sense for her to be made to suffer it too).

But who am I going to lie to, they'll probably manage it terribly like they've done Alicent's rapes to date and they'll still find a way to make Alicent love Rhaenyra which makes no fucking sense

I think I've been open about my not wanting the Brothel Queens to happen, and honestly that's not going to change. It's a personal thing mostly, I genuinely don't care if it's a good narrative choice or if it would balance out bad portrayals and offer a more grey view of Team Black; any positives I might potentially feel about it are going to be washed away a million times over by how sick the whole thing makes me. I have no, none, zip, zilch, zero interest in watching scenes of two women imprisoned into literally sex slavery and forcibly raped for days on end in any situation, especially when those women are a) characters I like who're already going to be going through some heavy traumas and b) are 1) a woman who was a victim of marital rape since age sixteen and 2) a woman who's had a full psychological breakdown and is completely incapable of taking care of herself in any way let alone performing in a sexual situation. This could be the most well crafted storytelling with the most profound message and the utmost narrative consequences and I won't care, I do not want to see it and I will never want to see it and I get bile in my mouth even thinking of the fact that Mushroom even thought about making it up (which I'm gonna be honest, I'm firmly in the camp that he 100% did) because he found it hot.

And honestly, I don't think it'd be good storytelling, I think it would be really cheap. This show's parent series was notorious for using rape and sexual violence for titillation and shock value, something that HOTD has really shied away from (there's one on screen rape to the best of my recollection, Alicent's, and I actually didn't mind how they handled that in the show, starting it with the shot of Alicent's ruined fingers on the bed as she starts doing her nervous picking and then makes herself stop was incredibly haunting, it's the fandom's reaction to that scene that's insufferable), and going back to it is just gonna feel lazy and unoriginal to me, and more like the writers going "look how awful this is! aren't we so edgy and groundbreaking! aren't you shocked!" over and over. It'd just feel lazy to me.

The thing is, Team Black fans are going to justify anything their faves do, and that would likely include the Brothel Queens storyline, likely under the guise of Alicent deserving it or it being a just punishment for calling Rhaenyra's kids bastards. And listen, no shade, Aemond's gonna be committing war crimes right and left in the Riverlands and I'll be there in my full "you're doing amazing sweetie dot jpeg" era, I get it. But anyone who isn't a full stan, any casual watchers or anyone who's on the fence or just watching the show for the Hell of it, even them Burlington Bar folks, they're going to see the Blood and Cheese scene (provided it stays book loyal in its entirety and doesn't cut away from anything, which I'm hopeful for) for the horror that it is, and for the stain on Team Black that it is. We don't need gratuitous and graphic sexual violence to hammer the point home, especially when Rhaenyra's rule over King's Landing is already filled with a bunch of butchery that made the people turn on her and her family, and even more especially when we know what'll happen to Helaena eventually.

Listen, at the end of the day, you can give me any excuse in the world, that it'll make people realize Team Black are not morally superior, it'll make Team Green more sympathetic, it'll be good drama, it'll be a good storyline, it'll be a compelling narrative, it'll be profound, God himself could descend from the Heavens and tell me that he's ordained that if we get a Brothel Queens scene the entire viewing public will become fanatical Greens supporters, and it will not ever change the fact that I do not want this storyline to happen. Ever.

[spacedlexi]

the post about the mirrors between the Kenny & Jane fight and the Minnie & Clem fight just reminds me of all the similarities between Violet and Kenny. like obviously they’re different characters, I just find it interesting how they share so many traits (being very loyal, may or may not sustain an eye injury, like fishing even if one is rod fishing and the other is spear fishing). there’s some more similarities I forgot to mention but I’ve been patiently waiting for someone to draw Violet and Kenny fishing wearing “women love me, fish fear me” hats or something.

oh yeah, ALSO. they both have moments where you can fight them and calm them down (Kenny on the train, Violet in the ending where you didn’t save her).

this is just so interesting! wish other people acknowledged it.

anon unknowingly unlocking my beef with kenny defenders who hate violet

vi was one of the first characters for me where i realized that a female character can have all the traits people will defend in their favorite male character(s) and yet theyll still find a way to absolutely despise her for some reason

kennys #1 defense is that him losing his family is what drove him to the brink and its soooo understandable for him to act out the way he does (brutally killing people, abusive even if it comes from a place of wanting to protect "his group"). but violet, who acts the way she does (isolationist loner) because.... she lost her family... is a disloyal bitch for some reason 😐 even while shes nothing but loyal to clem regardless of choice (people are quick to defend louis' actions in ep 2 as well and his behavior never makes Him disloyal for some reason 😐 "he lost his best friend!" and vi lost her best friends/gf because of marlon so?), and only has a lapse in judgement after you (determinately) "betray" her 💀 AND she apologizes for it if you do!!

if nothing about violet changed besides her pronouns the fandom reception to her would be so dramatically different and i refuse to believe otherwise

[juvederm]

raving about trans josh . suck my nuts

i honestly don't see a lot for trans josh in art or writing. and i kinda feel like nobody sees a more feminine look or energy for him which is kind of lame. there's nothing that suggests he wouldn't like feminine things, and maybe it's his brazen dialogue that leads people to believe he's like any other dude who strictly presents masculine. which i mean, yes in the game he's never wearing anything that isn't, much like the rest of the guys.

i bring up femininity and masculinity because of how they are depicted in his concept masks. i have a feeling that people might think i "feminize" josh for no reason but the truth is that i got this idea from his concept mask artwork.

sad girl, sheila. sad girl especially is my favorite. and whatever this could just be me running on high levels of copium, but after already headcanoning josh as trans and then seeing these, i cherished this headcanon even more.

i can honestly see josh as transfem or transmasc, he's trans either way to me. i often think about him hiding his true forms of expression in favor of appealing to others, doing it for your own safety, etc, something i think trans people like myself can relate to.

some masks have themes related to motherhood as well.

and listen. i know sometimes horror plays into the themes of femininity within serial killers in horror media (like some being into crossdressing for example), but like i said. when thinking about josh being TRANS and seeing this, it fuels my belief for it more than ever. especially since it's in a Horror game as well.

like obviously this wasn't intended to be in the game as trans coding, it was inevitable for me personally to not let my favorite character get away with being cisgender LMFAO i had to stomp that out, it's just something i do, i think other trans people in fandom can relate to projecting that onto their faves.

and i know the until dawn fandom is fond of trans chris as it's literally the only trans headcanon i ever see no shade. and i like that one! truthfully, i do. sometimes i'm at odds with the way it's characterized in fics and whatnot, but it's a wholesome and harmless headcanon. i just wish i saw more for trans josh :-(

a lot of this headcanon requires brainstorming i think, you're not gonna use a lot of like. in game proof (besides the concept art) to try and justify it bc you literally don't need to for any lgbt headcanon honestly. esp in a heteronormative game like until dawn. like i know there's no way in Hell that SMG intended for josh to be trans, but it's my favorite headcanon ever and the only headcanon i've ever made a whole TIMELINE for because it speaks to me so much.

i also wanna bring up body horror and transformation. this also has to do with trans hannah. this, iirc, was kind of around back in the days of the fandom, but it's truly one of the best. i don't know if anyone at the time considered it. but i took hannah's transformation (and by proxy, josh's too) as trans coding as well, ofc it wasn't intended that way, i just think it makes things more interesting.

the idea of your body changing and you can't stop it sounds a lot like puberty to me and how it felt when i was going through it. sometimes horror movies even indulge in this idea, leading a lot of people to believe it as a metaphor for growing up trans (i've watched a lot of video essays mentioning this concept) and i wasn't gonna let josh or hannah off that easy. you are both TRANSGENDER.

of course this is all just projecting, but i just want these hcs to get some more love. also feminine josh, come on guys, can you really not see it for him? bc i can. maybe not as something he does Outwardly with confidence, but still, i don't see josh as him being strictly masculine, although i still love that look for him. not saying i don't.

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

+ some more masks. i love the doll related ones because i associate josh and hannah with dolls. like a lot.

[effervescentdragon]

The whole Daniel thing has made me think about how drivers that say dumb misogynistic things get treated by the fandom. If you're talking about Hulkenberg or Perez, then they're ruthlessly mocked for it (and rightly so imo), but if its a driver people like, like Danny Ric or Kimi, people seem to bend over backwards to defend them and find reasons to justify what they said. Idk, is it that both are part of very popular ships, where Hulkenberg and Perez aren't? I have a lot of thoughts, but I also have the flu so they're not the most organised (I hope ur having a good evening I love ur blog)

Hello! I think it comes down to the strength of their fanbase and their popularity in general.

Now, i can only speak about the ecosystem.of tumblr because i refuse to go near shitter in general and instagram in any fandomish way, and i do have these debated with my irls sometimes, so keep that in mind.

Firstly, Daniel, Kimi, even Seb (i refuse to leave out my misogynistic king of spewing dumb shit about grid girls who did, eventually, learn better, or at least finally learned not to say that shit in public) are very well liked, popular drivers. Namely, only two of them are wdcs and the third one never will be, but Daniel does have a devout fanbase and his former talent and potential as a driver must be acknowledged. With all those things come the fanbases, which are all prone to idolising their blorbo in any and every motherfucking way possible. Nobody is immune to this and obviously you'll be more ready to make excuses for your pathetic meow meow than for someone you dislike; thats a normal human sports fan fact. However if you look at Checo and Hulkenberg (there is only One True Nico in the sport and his surname is Girlbossberg), their fanbases aren't big, if they even exist on tumblr, or so I believe, unless I have missed a whole part of fandom existing somewhere in my bubble?

Moving on.

Now however, i do think there's difference in fanbases too ngl. We obviously dont all like the same drivers, some are more appealing to whatever attracts us than the others, and let's just say that birds of feather flock together and leave it at that. (A.N. so many people are sooooo wromg about their characterisations of most drivers but that's also my personal biases at work.)

So what I see here is that more popular drivera will have more fans quantiatively first and foremost (qualitative analysis: cancelled because of the imminent death of the author), ans those fans will be ready to take up arms and fight for their (white) boy millionaire. This brings the fans into some lovely personally-induced logical fallacies, like we've seen in the past couple od days. Now, im not gonna preach moral.high ground here like some because i am well aware of what kind of men thse people are (context is everything beloveds), but i will say this. People are prone to so many conscious amd unconscious biases which take a long while to dismantle. That's not an easy job, and when you project onto someone (valid) and develop a personal (to you, and not to generalise but oftentimes also a parasocial) relationship with a celebrity, you start taking things personally. Now this, id say from personal experience, would be the time to go take a walk. Snort some grass. Ride a bull and all that.

Amyways my point was, round the elbow to the wrist (or was it shoulder? i cant rmbr), that people will always rather defend their fave, no matter how shitty he is, than whichever driver they dislike. This is not uncommon; this is human nature.

I will add that a lot of fans (i dont know anything about their demographic) don't know the line between "following/thirsting over a hot dude" and the dangers of a parasocial relationship. My issue with it all is that what they do when thay feel threatened is deflect blame feom their special boy to literally anyone else, and that results in everyone who disagrees with this apparent popular consensus becomes a target of a witch hunt. Some people would rather go around attacking other's well-crticulated and above all well acessible target. Posts and people than call -- OKAY up to this point is what I wrote last night before I passed out like a log. I havent changed anything, which shows in lacking any sentence structure and missing words, so let me continue because I vaguely remember what I wanted to say.

My problem is that it's not personal, and people act as it is because they personally identify their own morals with who they like. And when they feel as if their personality is threatened or judged, they lash out, usually while taking some sort of artificially imagined "moral high ground". That results in hate anons in inboxes of anyone who disagrees with them and calls of "well you never liked him anyway so now you have an excuse". Like baby, no. Don't project your feelings on me. I know how shitty my special boys are, and i am capable of criticising them and stanning them while acknowledging the ways in which they suck. I dont equate my morals and ethics with stanning some boys who drive around in circles.

I think i lost the plot there by the end. Bottom line - when youre already disliked, not many people will rally to defend you, regardless of the fact you say exactly the same shit as someone who is beloved to people. :)

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

I didn’t like this chapter. I’m sorry but there’s nothing Hades can say to excuse his behavior, there was no apology or anything it was just him saying “oh my trauma was so bad that I decided to be a fucked up human being just because of that.” I’ve never been so angry in my life because I know there’s gonna be so many people angry and upset at Thanatos and justifying this absolute steaming hot bullshit. I’m so sick of having to sit through Hades getting out on such an untouchable level while his victims are treated like dog shit. Listen, you could sit up here and say “winnie it’s a comic it’s not going to affect anything” but I don’t like how this is looking you guys, a lot of people in this fandom has this weird victim blaming mentality except when it’s someone they like. I don’t like how this comic rewards you for being a hypocrite and blaming people for the way that others treat them just because it’s their faves, too many people in the world do this already. Because it’s their favorite artist or painter or writer or anything they’ll let them do anything to anyone no matter what.

But on a more lighter note I just don’t like how it didn’t feel like a big deal.. Thanatos was finally being listened to by Hades but Hades took up the whole conversation. Once again it’s about his trauma, his backstory, his childhood. He does this shit every fucking chapter I’m so sick and tired of hearing about him.. I’m so completely tired of him always having the spotlight, he does this shit with Persephone too! Like I don’t like how Thanatos has been overlooked, ignored, disrespected, neglected, and mistreated for so long and the one fucking time we have with him finally being heard and he gets the same treatment he’s always been getting. I feel like this could’ve really been his arc, like for once he stood up for himself and expressed his anger at Hades because he deserves to so much. Not only that but I’ll be real with you, I have a feeling that Rachel made Thanatos forgive Hades so easily just to keep Hades in a “good guy” light. I’m sick of that too, I just wish she had him actually do something good guy worthy for once bro, like how hard is it for Hades just to want to do some good things not for himself obviously if it takes all the characters bending over backwards and feeding him more lies about how great he is then he’s not that fucking great.

Also, I just don’t like Daphne. At first in the beginning I thought this was pretty nice (their relationship) and I was really happy for Thanatos because I really thought he’d have someone who would really be there for him. By now looking back I was wrong as hell, Minthe did a better job with their relationship than Daphne did I’m sorry I’m not even being biased but it’s kinda true. I don’t like how Daphne is basically just there to “fix” Thanatos, it’s obvious she doesn’t see him as adequate or even capable enough to do anything and it’s so annoying, like why are the women in this comic (in relationships it seems) there to “fix” the men?? there’s literally nothing wrong with them damn, they just need someone to be there why does that demean them as broken or wrong. I especially hate that Daphne just ignores all of Thanatos’ boundaries and does what she thinks is right for him, that’s so incredibly insensitive on her part. Your boyfriend obviously told you that he doesn’t want to see a certain someone who literally banished him and neglected him half of his childhood and you still let him in?? Who the hell does that shit?

Anyways, the next thing I wanna add is that I just absolutely hate that Hades didn’t even put in any effort. Like are you serious?? Half his life you treated him like a game inventory and you ignored and neglected this CHILD who was abandoned by his mother and your resolution to that was to invite him to one brunch.. Are you fucking serious?? It’s not even a brunch with only him and Thanatos it’s with his brothers too so he won’t even get one on one time with him. Like why is everyone cool with Hades doing that? He’s not even trying to put in effort to show up STILL even after hearing Thanatos out. I’d love for them to at least play golf or something, let Hades ask what Thanatos wants to do, give him a raise, apologize maybe??, bond over fucking gossip I don’t know, let him in on what you want to do with the underworld, do something with him that’s just you and him. Think about it wingnut that’s literally all he’s ever wanted from you, your time and attention. Asshole, like honestly that’s so fucked up I bet that’s the only fucking brunch he’ll be invited to too.

Last thing maybe because this has to be the most pissed I’ve ever been because of a damn chapter in LO yes it’s because Thanatos is involved. My thing is that Hades character flaw, one of many of course, is that he’s infertile and the whole purpose of emphasizing how much his fathers issues affected his life and how much he wants kids it to have one of the climaxes “fixing” his infertility. Me personally, I think the whole thing is pretty fucked up and insensitive, people who are infertile do not need to be fixed they’re regular human beings and they’re fine just the way they are. But my problem is that I hate how he wanted children so badly and when Thanatos was brought into the picture he completely backed off because he felt like it was too difficult, listen I understand the trauma believe me I don’t have the best parents and I worry everyday that if I ever have children I’ll transform into one or even both of them but never will I ever make a child suffer because of that, the child is innocent just like I am and they don’t deserve to be neglected because of my issues. At some point you have to realize that you’re trying so hard not to become your parents that you end up becoming them, you hurt a child and scarred them for life because you were scared and you made that child exactly like you. Listen, I would’ve forgave Hades for this if he didn’t dream about fucking children in his possessed dream or whatever, this is telling us that he still wants to be a father but only to his biological kids. He stopped trying with Thanatos because he was “rude” and “difficult”, newsflash asshole that’s how children are especially when they just got ABANDONED by their own mother and stuck with a stranger to care for them. Like he put no effort into trying to actually do anything fatherly for Thanatos but had the nerve to still want kids of his own, what do you think is going to happen with yours?? It’ll be the same thing. Children are emotional beings they won’t be pleasant all the time and just because they give you a response you don’t like doesn’t mean that it’s okay to just up and stop trying. That’s so stupid, and he doesn’t try and go to therapy for this particular issue or find some advice from people who actually have children he tries nothing he just complains and never tries to make any effort, and Thanatos deserved effort and his future kids deserve them too. You’re supposed to work to not become your parents not just sit there and let your kids experience the worst version of yourself, you know how that feels so why would you do it to someone else?

Anyways, yeah I’ll do the thing later but that’s it’s. I’m just so angry and annoyed it’s unbelievable.

[diamondcitydarlin]

I was in the critical tag just because I'm genuinely curious/fascinated by the way these people are processing the text and I know I've said this before but I'm gonna do it again; like, I get that in a lot of fandoms and subject materials we can easily pick out villains and heroes, the morally-pure (bc their actions are always justified by the narrative regardless) from the morally reprehensible and we can conclude from these themes that the villains/morally-bankrupt ones deserve nothing while the 'good ones' (arguable, in a lot of cases, but they're usually conventionally hot and/or digestible so they can't really be bad lmao) deserve everything and while that is to be debated in other places, OFMD esp in this latest season is showing itself to not be one of those narratives. OFMD is a story where flawed, sympathetic people do fucked up things, act rashly, hurt each other, destroy things, etc, and then we watch them have to work their way back from that. I know we have had some one-off villains that don't qualify for this, but for everyone within the main cast that seems to be the concept. If you're trying to figure out why one member of the main cast is just too icky to be entitled to the acceptance of the rest you're already missing the entire point. If you're also trying to figure out why your fave is too precious to be held accountable for the things they chose to do, you're missing the entire point. If you think just one character is having a redemption arc here, YOU'RE MISSING THE ENTIRE POINT (they ALL are actually). And more to the point, if you're looking for any of this to actually happen in this particular story then I think you're watching the wrong show. I really, really do. And I'm also going to go so far as to say I think a lot of people are intentionally misreading these themes, projecting their own hopes on to it, saying Izzy's story 'doesn't feel good' or 'doesn't make sense' because the idea that people can be flawed, make mistakes, hurt each other and still be deserving of love and acceptance throws too much of a curveball at their already very limited world view, one in which there are only 'good guys' and 'bad guys', one in which they are indisputably 'good guys' themselves who have never done anything bad ever (even though you definitely have, we ALL have, YOU HAVE HURT PEOPLE, I HAVE HURT PEOPLE, GROW UP AND REALIZE YOU CAN'T LIVE AN ENTIRE LIFE WITHOUT DOING IT AT SOME POINT).

This is a story of acceptance and forgiveness and the moral greyness in us all, not exclusion and punishment, not the hopelessly simplistic idea that the world is just made up of good people who should never be questioned and always get good things and bad people who have no more nuance than just being bad and getting punished for it. Like, can we please try to wrap our minds around more complex themes than that maybe? Can it possibly be true that Izzy and Ed (the two most often compared) are both deserving of love, acceptance and forgiveness? Can it possibly be true that there's more to these characters than just good vs evil? Must we deny these characters the nuance and complexity that's been given to them just because 'it doesn't feel good'? Like idk babe maybe sometimes stories aren't meant to make you 'feel good' all the time, maybe sometimes they're meant to take you out of your comfort zone and examine your own worldview once and awhile IDK IT'S A FUCKING THOUGHT

[neoriots]

are you still gonna consume dteam content while taking a step back from the fandom or are you completely breaking with it? just out of interest

im gonna be honest, this is a really hard question to answer. im gonna drop a cut bc i’ll probably ramble for a moment.

okay so i think for dream specifically, i don’t think i could go back to consuming his content to the level i was before like, ever. i think this was a rude slap of the rose colored glasses off my face that i can just.. never reconcile with, at least for like.. many years. i think i could stand to see him around, i think i could look at smth he’s posted and see it as i see Any person on the internet but i think that Connection with him is personally severed. i think most of that is less what Happened and more his reaction. i think it was irresponsible at best, gross and manipulative at worst.

i unfollowed his accounts, his notifications are off, i just cant let myself be part of His community that allowed a situation like this to even happen in the first place yknow? especially the reaction from the twt community at large, i just cannot support that. it disgusted me and it still Does disgust me. i think he needs to either completely step back from his community or massively rework it to fix some of the glaring issues in it because the way it runs is not healthy or normal at all anymore and i only realized that truly once i stepped back myself. i think a big part of being in his fandom Is defending him, justified or not, and i just can’t look at the past two years and the past week and do that anymore. i cant.

i think for snf i still have an attachment to them, that unless something drastically changed (god forbid.) i think i will continue to consume them but more casually than i did before. they are, as always, tied to him and its delusional to think i could completely support them and be in their fandom without being tied into dreams fandom as well. so i think i will consume their content and whatever else they do, but i wont be engaging in the fandom aspect as i did before publicly. it just seems irresponsible for me and i stand by that still.

i’ve been in the mcyt / gaming creator scene for over a decade now and it would be silly of me to act like i haven’t watched creators who did bad things in the past or even were friends with ones who did (not to drag him but markiplier is my boy and his relationship with pdp Still weighs on me sometimes—and im a rtah watcher and have been for a long time, have you seen the shit thats come out abt them every couple years? yeah.)

the truth is we don’t know these people, they are people on our screens making entertainment and you can never truly know whats going on behind the scenes and as a single person i know my opinions will never change anything so it’s stupid for me to pretend i have some moral high ground for being aware of glaring issues when theres millions who will move on in ignorant bliss of anything going on with their faves, but were watching it just the same. and its always been this way, its just easier to see the problems now with the connection social media gives us.

tldr; yes i will to an extent, but that could change as things change and develop and id be a hypocrite to act as if i wasn’t going to.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

It's the underdog/victim complex. They think they're being oppressed/harassed/attacked by everyone else for liking their fave when no one really cares. Plus purity culture sorta screwed the fandom perceptions where now you apparently can't like a character or be a fan of them if they do bad/problematic things. This isn't just a FE thing either, there was an article that basically said that people can enjoy villains for being villains and requested everyone to not woobify or justify their actions. Guess what happened? People got salty over it and started attacking the article. And yeah it's not just a bunch of teenagers sadly, there are people in their 30s doing this kind of nonsense behavior and it's really sad and pathetic. And fwiw I'm not implying nor intending that people 30 or above can't be in fandoms or anything like that, it's just..you expect them to know or be better than to act like they're half their age with this nonsense.

Yeah, that's so wild to me when they do exactly that - attack others for their faves (especially Dimitri). Like yeah, I hate their fave but I don't go out of my way to attack them for liking her.

Purity culture really, REALLY pisses me off. Not only do people who like EdeIgard erase her wrongdoings, but they only like the version of her they created and not her canon self (i.e. the self that did wrong, but they can't handle the concept of that and their waifu has to be perfect and have her hands clean). Following that, they get aggressive toward Dimitri and his fans for liking him because uwu he did so many bad things. Like, yes, we are aware of that and he actively addresses that fact on a regular basis. He doesn't hide behind "uwu I did it for Fodlan", he doesn't make excuses, and his fans accept his faults for what they are. For some reason the stans seem to think we're just like them and that we erase any faults of our fave and pretend he's a perfect, clean handed individual.

I remember hearing or seeing once in this old Tumblr RP group that they banned Miklan from even being selected as a written character. Like bruh, if you're gonna write roleplays, don't you... want conflict? When I write I find it boring when there's no conflict whatsoever. Even in my dmcl writing, there's still a sort of internal conflict, like Dimitri having doubts about himself and thinking he's not worth being with someone he loves. No matter what I write, I prefer to have some sort of conflict because it helps to strengthen the positive result.

It's funny, too, because these are always the same people who like Hopes Claude more but yet don't think doing anything wrong is okay. They defend his actions instead like with their waifu because it's okay to invade a country and murder its people!

Reminds me of the stan that showed up in my inbox once trying to defend Claude, saying "what innocents did Claude even kill, he only killed soldiers" as if to say soldiers automatically lose all their innocence and rights as human beings for signing up to defend their country. That anon should probably stop and think about what they said and how that applies to real life, because they basically told me my sister deserves to die because she used to serve in the military. Oh no, how dare she be a soldier! She's no longer innocent and it's okay if she dies! Forget the fact that she has three children at home who are very young and need their mother! Forget that her parents and sisters are still alive and would grieve for her! She's a soldier, so it's fine if she dies!

That anon needs a real good look in the mirror and a smack in the face by reality. These people say a whole lot of shit to defend their fictional pixelated waifu without considering how that reflects on them in real life and the fact that what they say does have a reflection on their real life values. Anyone who tells me it would've been okay if my sister died simply because she was in the military is trash and I wish on them what they would wish on her.

I heard about that article! It's pathetic. There is literally nothing wrong with enjoying media and concepts. I have a section I decided to put at the end of this ask explaining how I feel about particular antagonists (Ashnard, Zelgius, Sephiran and Miklan), but since it's a biiiit off course here I wanted to avoid it splitting up my more direct reply to this ask.

Yeah, I know it's not only teenagers and that's also pathetic. While I wouldn't say I just forgive teenagers for being like that (they're old enough and there's no excuse imo, as I mentioned before), it's a lot more understandable that they might be like that and just eventually grow out of it. The fact there are people my age or older acting like angry babies who had their binky taken away is honestly so ridiculous that the term "pathetic" is not even strong enough to explain how ridiculous it is. They act like they're a little kid who had their favorite sticker stolen by some random kid in their class. These are people who should be looking for or having a job, being at least somewhat damn mature online and being a reasonable, mature person.

I was hoping "karens" would die out with the older generations (let's face it, a good chunk of today's karens are bored, angry old/older people with nothing to do and are just miserable people), but evidently we're never getting rid of that lot! It's okay to invade a country and murder its people, just like it's okay to harass and bully people off of social media, didn't you know?! 🙄🙄🙄 Really, how did some of these people get like this? And no, I'm not asking for their uwu backstories to redeem them LOL.

Some of these people are so insufferable that it's disgusting.

Regarding the villain discussion:

It's like I always say and you're about to hear it again: I love Ashnard as a villain because he's a villain, and he's a villain who fully embraces his actions and behavior. He doesn't think he's morally just. He's fighting for the world he believes in. He believes the strong should be on top and should rule the weak. However, he's extremely fair about that viewpoint and if he's defeated by someone because they were stronger than him, that is fair to him and he accepts his defeat. Since he believes the strong should be on top, he believes he should be on top... until someone comes along who can slay him, in which he believes they do deserve to be on top. If he's bested, he no longer deserves to be on top. He's a fantastic villain who never makes excuses and doesn't go back on what he says he believes. There's no "the strong should be on top but only as long as I'm the strongest and will be ruling". Plain and simple, the strongest should be on top whether it's him or not, and he's not, I guess you could say, "fake" about it.

Then you have Hopes Miklan who turns out to be a better person than people gave him credit for. He's someone I always had headcanons about based on Dimitri's take on him being disowned. I felt that he could've been a better person if pointed in the right direction and being told and shown that he was capable as a person even without a crest and that having a crest doesn't dictate whether he's useful or not. Dimitri put him in charge of a massively important, and arguably the most important, area of defense in the entire country. He proved he believed that Miklan had the strength to handle that and proved that he believed if Miklan had a better life and situation in front of him that he wouldn't resort to banditry. The thing is, he was right. Miklan not only started becoming a better person, but he even gets a line where he basically says he liked helping the people in a place that got destroyed in the war. He liked helping them rebuild.

Both of those are fantastic stories and characters. One of them had a redemption arc while nobody ever let any bullshit slide. He wasn't allowed to slip up or get away with any tiny "mistakes". It was literally do or die, but being forced into that situation did genuinely make him a better person. Even if he had to be forced to help them, it's not like he didn't come out on the other side and be better for it. Being forced to do those things didn't mean it just stayed that way and that he was hateful and angry that entire time.

Then one of them is just... a villain. A perfectly written villain who lived and died as a villain. Nobody made excuses for him and he didn't make excuses for himself. There's a reason I don't like Zelgius, and it's not that I think his character itself is terribly written, but it's the forced redemption that he didn't earn that makes me not enjoy his final arc. In contrast, what does Sephiran get? No redemption allowed from Ike until he gets up and proves he's willing to redeem himself. Zelgius could've easily been a character made to earn his redemption, such as being a playable character and having supports to flesh out his new arc, or even just being a story only character who protects and saves the main characters (besides Just Micaiah tee em) and maybe even guides them safely to the Tower of Guidance (no pun intended). Instead he just gets to say he admired his teacher and had a sad backstory so suddenly... nobody is mad anymore. Certainly not Tibarn, who had like 50+ percent of his nation wiped out, that being any able bodied man who could fight besides the ones who were lucky enough to be with Tibarn's fighting force at the time all that happened. 🙄

[cousticks]

Fave character and why (overall)

What type of characters do you typically enjoy? (for me i usually like dead characters because of their... idk there's just so much to work w there 😭 like so many things for interpretation/potential)

What got you into bsd

What got you into tumblr

Can you give at least one tip or advice on how to recover from a hyperfixation on something when u need to be productive?

Are you better at writing or drawing?

If you could choose, which would you be better at?

Do you like painting?

Are your friends nice?

Forgive me for the random asks. jus answer the ones you want to ty ❤️

Is it weird if I answer all of them? I think all of these are fun to answer so I'm gonna answer all of them. Tysm!!

Favorite character overall is... really difficult. I like so many different characters for so many reasons across so many different medias. Even choosing a favorite from BSD is wildly difficult. Of all characters ever, one of my favorites is Cal Trask from John Steinbeck's East of Eden (the book, not the movie, even though he is played by James Dean). East of Eden is one of my favorite books ever, and most of the incredible themes in it, all of the cycles it represents, as well as the cycles it finally breaks, are done through Cal. He struggles with being good despite a thematic predisposition to being anything but throughout his portion of the novel doomed-by-the-narrative style, until at the end the resolution is that... he doesn't have to be either, he only really has to be him. I love that book dearly and could talk about its themes for hours (and have!). As far as favorite BSD characters specifically, that's near impossible for me to say, but a rough top-group would include Kyusaku, Kouyou, Dazai but specifically mafia era, Kunikida, and Albatross. I don't have any really good reasoning for those top favorites beyond "hehe, I like them," honestly.

I usually enjoy characters that it takes a while to piece together their motivations. Morally grey. And I mean actually morally grey, not the asshole-that-does-nice-things antihero type. I like characters that make me want to think about them and piece them together and study them like bugs under a magnifying glass until they start to catch on fire. Dudes who suck but have so much potential to be more. Make me have to justify why I enjoy them in front of a board of directors. I love to be able to fill in between the lines.

A former friend group got me into BSD back in 2019 because they were all watching it and I happened to have the time and energy to. The sheer amount of media to consume & intrigue of the characters is what made me stay, though.

This is horribly embarrassing but my first stint on Tumblr ~7 or 8 years ago was sparked by learning that the Onceler fandom existed and being absolutely fascinated by it. It was already dying out by this point, so I wasn't active or anything in it, but I thought the way people interacted across blogs to make these wild stories was so fascinating. Specifically the Truffula Flu zombie arcs. I was a Camp Entre loyalist. A couple years later I accidentally deleted my blog and didn't get active on Tumblr again until a little over a year ago, though, when I wanted to start engaging with the fanbases some media I was fixating on at the time.

If I could figure out the secret for recovering from a hyperfixation in a productive way I would be a much more functional person. Sometimes I'm able to approach things with an "if you can't beat it, join it" mentality, and can come up with ways to connect my current task to whatever I'm fixating on. Here's the secret: you're allowed to be cringe with it. If you need to do the dishes and need to make it a mental competition for "oh boy I need to be less of a disaster than Dazai its fucking on" or "I need to do my math homework so Kunikida will be proud of me" or "gotta do my laundry... I gotta be dressy for my port mafia work attire..." then do it. Who cares. That doesn't work all the time, but it can work sometimes. And when it doesn't? I normally just try to clear my mind entirely by doing something that sucks so much I can't think of anything except how it sucks. For me its cardio. I hate cardio exercise. But if I go on a jog and come back I a) feel a little better and more functional because I went on a stupid exercise for my stupid mental health, b) got some of the excess fixation energy out, and c) that sucked so bad i would literally rather do Anything else i might as well be fucking productive. These are not sure-fire ways but they help me. And my most important one? You can't focus when you're stressed. Trying to force yourself to focus when you're stressed about an assignment and panicking because you can't focus will not help you, it will make the problem worse. It is okay to give yourself some grace, walk away, try to put yourself into a healthier mindset, and come back. That's another reason I like to take walks when I can't focus, even if its just a small one down the hall for a glass of water and then back. Don't force yourself. Never force yourself. You'll feel worse and more frustrated.

I'm much better at writing. I'm horrible at drawing, I just do it anyway for fun because sometimes I need to get my fixation kick out in a visual manner. Writing has always been my strong suit.

If I could choose? I think I'd still pick writing, honestly. I'm sometimes jealous of those that can make gorgeous art, but I'm happy in my world of writing because it has helped me in so many other areas of my life as well. I don't live an artists life, unfortunately, and writing has served me well.

I do like painting! I haven't in a very long time, as I don't have the time or energy much, but I used to sculpt and paint my creations. I'm not saying I was particularly good at either, but I used to, and I enjoyed it.

I didn't always have nice friends. But these days? They are. I wouldn't trade the friends I have now for the world.

[mywitchcultblr]

I'm done with your purity

I'm fucking done with all of you westerners fucks who take your freedom for granted. AO3 was banned in china because pissy fans reporting RPF TO THE GOVERNMENT UNDER FALSE REPORT OF PEDO OR WHATEVER thus making life a living hell for Chinese writers and fans. ALSO LET ME TELL YOU that fanfic and AO3 is a safe space for many oppressed LGBT people outside of the west

I can't fucking say that I'm trans and bi without having people beating the shit out of me, but I can fuckin' write that I'm gay as fuck in fanfic or writing gay shit about my fave with fanfic

Imagine some people defending state wide censorship over fanfic, because they don't like icky fanfic, that's a sign that either you are brainwashed or fucking privileged and taking your freedom for granted. You know why Asian and other non western USA-European are more chill with fanfic and fandom?

Why we are less prone to make some stupid callout over fanworks?

Because most of us doesn't have the same information and expression privilege like the west, we take any freedom that we can have

That's in 2017... There's probably more than one million websites being censored rn. I cannot even buy pride pin here because NO ONE outside of internet selling it! The censorship always begin from "banning information to protect children and moral from nsfw" down to censoring Spongebob Squarepants

You don't like something? Just don't fucking read it, it wouldn't stop the author to write and when they do stop writing usually after they are harassed so bad to the point of mental break down or suicide. What the actual fuck...

Defending and supporting state wide censorship because you want to feel superior on the internet is beyond stupid and it showing your privilege... Also yah fuck you who defend china aggressive state wide censorship because adult x adult RPF icky or whatever, I like reading Tom Hiddleston x Reader, because I'm lonely and it's fun. Don't lie that you never thinking of marrying your favorite celebrities or dreaming about dating Gerard Way.

What the fuck you gonna do about it? Crucify my ass? So long you are not shoving it to the person's face, who give a fuck? It's not a justifiable ground to cheer for government mandated national wide censorship. A lot of westerners are so privileged and terminally online to the point their mind revolve around online discourse 24/7 I'm not saying discourse has no damn merits but you get what I said...

Some people particularly white westerners are so privileged they have the chance to goes back 180° and agreeing with conservative mindset they claim to hate so much... Also your kink critical bullshit and your bullshit crusading over dark stories? Yeah. Heavily influenced by TERF and conservatism. Newsflash...

I'm not a person who agree with all ship or stories, i don't claim any moral high ground. I was so scared of getting cancelled due to the hostile neo puritan fandom culture, but seeing people defending China great firewall and aggressive censorship finally broke something inside of me and I cannot stay quiet

I don't give a fuck about your fanfic discourse, If i don't like something i just wouldn't fucking engage with it and wouldn't read...

I'm done, I'm tired. Fucking tagging this shit as anti vs pro because i need to get the message out there and LET THE CHAOS begin

( When you want to escape your country censorship to the internet but then you see the supposed liberated westerners people wanting censorship because they want to feel moral. Yes there are even westerners who don't want to see anything even remotely 'problematic' example: they will attack Zutara or fuckin' Reylo shipper whatever. See? You are terminally online and so privileged... Congratulations... Here's your fucking medal and gold star)

[eisforeidolon]

Am I wrong in thinking all the negative criticism towards Jensen is unwarranted. I mean yes the prequel situation was a mess but I am just finding it hard to believe this man's whole personality did a 360 shift from likeable to being a complete asshole. He is human with flaws which is what people say but for some reason his flaws have made him enemy #1. I don't expect for everyone to like him but the constant bitching and complaining about who he is as a person is exhausting.

To preface, I don't think all the recent criticism is unwarranted. After being involved in the last several seasons of SPN's decline, coming out with a premise for a prequel that seems like an obvious massive retcon, not having any previous experience with showrunning/writing-level storytelling/producing, handling the whole thing weirdly and outright badly in a few places, and then not seeming to be willing to ameliorate fans' pretty understandable skepticism with anything more than "Trust Us!"? I'm bored to death with all the repetitive "but that's not canon!" nitpicking over every minor new revealed detail, but fandom's gonna fandom and it has been ... a bit of a mess, IMO. As to the more personal and overarching stuff, though?

It's not 100% new. It was just that during the active run of the show, Jensen and Jared said much the same things during publicity and Jensen's always been the least active on social media, so there was very little to paint him as Enemy #1 over. Not that there weren't attempts if he acknowledged Misha's existence without prompting (OMG he's pandering to the hellers!!!) or didn't praise Jared early enough or effusively enough in solo interviews (Ugh, he didn't do the show by himself!!!). But by and large there was nothing even the biggest wankers could go on about for more than a week without looking like obvious tools.

Now there's a big justifiable Reason to scrutinize everything Jensen has ever done or said as well as everything he does and says from this point forward in light of his being Clearly Awful Actually! Now that The Truth has been revealed, the same exact way he's done publicity for years is embarrassingly bad. His dry sense of humor and grumpy persona is proof he's an asshole. He really is actually a homophobe for not wanting to be involved in shipping. Etc. This is, of course, entirely different than hellers/AAs/minions doing the exact same thing with Jared's questionable service staff tweets or getting in that barfight being the Reason he's awful and scrutinizing his every action before and since for more proof he's A Horrible Person. Because because.

It's the same dumb bullshit of needing their fave/cause to be "winning" which has to involve someone else "losing" to lord it over, or what's even the point? I find it best to ignore it or make fun of it, depending on mood, because it's really not worth taking seriously.

[eolewyn1010]

Talking about Encanto - Isabela

Took me watching the movie like five times to realize that Isabela is literally striking poses throughout the song scenes, long before the "perfect practiced poses" line of What Else Can I Do. Growing up into her role like this, it's no wonder she's so bitchy. And I'm not gonna sugarcoat this just because Isabela is one of my favorite characters - her behavior is awful. She's a snotty, arrogant, self-important spotlight hog, and a little too old to be such a brat, and I've admittedly fallen for it for a second there because it would really not be anything new for Disney to rely on the well-worn stereotype of the Alpha Bitch. That made all the rest of it a pleasant surprise, the sadness, the anger, the frustration. Like Luisa, Isabela has no way of expressing her negative emotions until bottling up doesn't work anymore, but where Luisa breaks down crying, Isabela just blows up. And I love it. Farewell, embodiment of soft lilac petal feminine perfection - greetings, prickly angry harpy shrieking for freedom.

Note: Harpy is absolutely meant as a compliment here; if I can embrace Pepa as an emotional, angry woman and find her great, why the heck shouldn't the same apply to Isabela?

And also, I don't take an issue with soft lilac and petal pink. I've just lowkey come to resent Isabela's representation in those colors all around. Because not only did Disney go and produce all those toys of her in that look, invalidating her character arc during the movie for the sake of their princess aesthetic for franchise purposes, the fandom also seems to have largely picked up on that...? I don't know; the vast majority of pics I see show Isabela like that. In pink and lilac, in her original dress or variations thereof, posing. A dress that, when compared to Mirabel's lovingly home-made outfit, looks way pristine and artificial, a dress that Isabela willfully ruined, poses she shredded with abandon. Hardly anyone seems to care for her new look that embraces her self-actualization, the colors that she prefers, the reckless and loud behavior she shows when she's happy. Eh, I like her being loud and wild and excited and happy, as far away as possible from the prim little Alma copy she used to be. Prickly, too. Man, I love the cacti.

Isabela has gotten an unfortunate spot as Abuela's fave, be that because she actually looks a lot like her grandmother or because, and I personally prefer that reading, she's the perfect eldest child's perfect eldest child. Of the triplets, Julieta was the one with the unproblematic gift with no possible negative effects, and her oldest kid grows flowers. That also plays in line with my initial reservations about Julieta feeling a bit like a maternal stereotype. Isabela's destined (albeit ultimately rejected) role being the flower fairy princess carries a similar notion of a feminine stereotype. As we see, not necessarily justified, as she can very much grow different flowers and plants than that of this scheme. She just obviously gets discouraged from doing so, see Abuela plucking the one flower out of her hair that doesn't match the color of the others. That's where the motive of toxic perfection really takes up steam, not with Bruno and Mirabel whose sort of gift or lack thereof has somewhat ostracized them from the internal system of the family. Isabela on the other hand stands centerstage in this family. On her, the high demands for flawless presentation reach their fullest extent.

That's what's causing the clash between her and Mirabel, both of them wanting what the other has, and resenting them for it - Mirabel wants to be valued and people (okay, mainly Alma, but also the townsfolk) having expectations of her, Isabela wants less attention and more freedom to just do whatever. There's a post out there theorizing that Isabela and Luisa might have tried to redirect the spotlight after Mirabel's failed ceremony to get their little sis away from unwanted attention. I don't know if that's all there is to it, but I also don't want to disregard the take. Because for all we know, despite the mutual envy and exasperation, the two sisters do not in fact hate each other. Both claim that Isabela does hate Mirabel, but while she's mean, she doesn't actually put her down in the same way Abuela does. She doesn't adress Mirabel's lack of a gift; so while there's a lot of vitriol between them, she doesn't actually hit her sister where it hurts, in stark contrast to Abuela whose talks with Mirabel constantly bring up her not being of use for the lack of a magical gift. She just generally tells her sister she's useless; yeah, she's still mean, but on a level that feels a bit more on equal terms. Mirabel is annoyed by Isabela, she doesn't look for her approval; so Isabela is not in a position to hurt her.

That's not to mean their relationship is healthy. They've taken very much to venting their frustrations about their individual sufferings on the respective other, most likely because their parents and Luisa are absolute sweethearts and are not in for a fight. Mirabel and Isa have a lot of temper between them, see Mirabel losing it when Bruno is like, "to save the family miracle, hug a sister", see also Isabela smugly riling Mirabel for an apology and then tossing her out via physical force. Amazingly, even in that situation, she's right about one thing: Isabela is not selfish. Oh, she likes to put herself centerstage, but up to What Else Can I Do, we have no idea what Isabela even wants because it's not like she would utter it. She can't even talk about herself or her would-be husband when talking about her own fucking proposal. Her marrying this one dude will be good for the town? Sure thing! Her making a grand entrance and spouting goddamn flowers everywhere will distract Pepa from freaking out? On it! Yes, I love her chance to grow and to say "I want" and to embrace herself. I'm basic; what do you want from me?

But, I've said that sometime before, what makes her song so special to me, and really differs it from Let It Go to which it's often compared, Isabela doesn't go through this change all by herself; it's nothing she's running away and hiding with. Her sister is right there, and it's the one family member she has the biggest beef with. But there's that very important tipping point in What Else Can I Do between Isabela having a realization about herself and Mirabel ignoring it because she's pushing her intention, and Mirabel sharing her sister's self-recognition and supporting her in the fullest. When she just doesn't care that she accused her sister of being selfish two minutes ago and understands that, yes, this one is about Isabela, and it's right and important. Goddamn, their relationship arc is simple in its implementation, but it's one of the best aspects of the movie.

And I wanna talk about romance one more time. The most popular take of the fandom seems to be reading Isabela as a lesbian and shipping her with some gal. Personally, I'm admittedly more prone to reading her as asexual, because when she reflects on the prophecy she got from Bruno, it doesn't contain a note on her love life at all and she focuses all on her personal development and abilities. But then, it's equally legit to say Isabela is into men indeed, there were just no sparks with Mariano specifically, so it's whatever to me. Let's talk about that last bit instead, the cancelled engagement.

Because with that, we loop right back into bottling up and the absent communication in this family. Abuela has no idea that Isabela doesn't want to marry Mariano. Neither do Isabela's parents, it seems, or Mirabel until she makes Isa flip a table. Dolores has no idea that Isabela doesn't want to have Mariano, and Isabela has no idea that the man she's about to get unwillingly stuck with for the rest of her life is the man of Dolores' dreams. Hell, Mariano himself doesn't know. And I doubt that anyone would have tried to push it if they had known. Alma is not a tyrant; her amazing lack of awareness is what causes her to put more and more pressure on her family. She wouldn't say, "Isabela, you have to marry Mariano". She says, "it will be so good for the family, for the Encanto" - and Isabela has internalized the happiness of the family in the abstract and the happiness of the town as an extension of that so hardcore that she doesn't see herself in a place to say she simply doesn't wanna do the thing.

So, yeah. Her breakthrough, her taking the initiative to get personal happiness out of her life? Makes me very happy. Good. Character.

[atlantis-scribe]

idk the bit about Rodney being misogynistic bc he got taken advantage of by an older woman feels kinda uncomfy. like it veers too close to a justification for his misogyny. (ik in a real person this wouldn't like excuse his actions but since he's a fictional character it's like kinda trying to paint his worse actions in a more positive light, yk?) and like in real life people don't become misogynist/etc for like. a particular reason like that. seems kinda iffy idk

don't mean that as an attack on you or op or anything, sorry if I came off to harsh or anything! just kinda made me a lil uncomfortable (bc like I have seen similar things with other characters in the past and it always seems a lil sketchy to me)

first of all, you don't have to apologize. I get harsh anons sometimes, and they don't often feel the need to explain themselves lmao. also, I love getting asks like this; they make me all thinky :)

and you're absolutely entitled to your feelings of discomfort! while we're talking about fictional characters (which are vehicles for all the nasty or complicated thoughts & feelings that would get us shunned in polite society), discourse surrounding them still reflect a lot of things outside fandom (i.e. in the 'real' world). there is still that responsibility to be careful with the beliefs and ideas we promote.

having said all that, Rodney McKay is definitely the epitome of a 'problematic fave'. while he is a protagonist in the narrative sense, some of his more obvious flaws can make him a difficult character to like (or in my case, to justify liking heh).

as for the whole backstory headcanon, I can understand why it wouldn't sit well with many people. it does seem a bit shoe-horned and, having seen the same kind of justification for other Favorite White Male Characters' terrible behavior in other fandoms, I can definitely see where you're coming from.

(btw, I can't speak for OP but I'm glad you sent this ask, so at least I'm afforded the opportunity to reclaim my honor explain myself haha)

any kind of abuse should never justify horrible actions or behavior that one has been given a chance to change or rectify. in this case, if Rodney had been a victim of an older, female sexual predator in his youth, then that still doesn't excuse his misogynistic tendencies (and outright sexist comments & actions). it can certainly explain it, though, which is what I find so compelling about the idea.

the thing about Rodney ( & Stargate + all its characters) is that he's very much a product of his time. while today's media still exhibit a lot of backward tropes and tasteless stereotyping, we've started to find more and more artists & creators who are willing to apply nuance and care to their writing / art. though I'm sure pioneer Stargate fans have made their metas and criticism of Rodney already, his flaws as a character are even more easily brought into sharp relief now because he is not the kind of character that ages well.

if you've been following me for quite some time now, you probably have an idea why I like him. it's not the easiest thing to be, a Rodney fan, but I always make it a point to not excuse any of his bad traits. however, it's also no fun if all I do is bend over backwards to justify why I enjoy his character so much, which is why (since his writing is so inconsistent and there are so many gaps to his backstory) fans like OP and I, whenever we're given the opportunity, try to come up with bits of headcanon to tie a few loose ends together.

I certainly won't fight anyone about it, and I'm very much welcome to arguments that would debunk these ideas, but I'm acknowledging it to be a pretty neat concept. do I think real people (or even fictional characters) who are as terrible with women as Rodney is must have been abused by women when they were younger? hell no. does the headcanon make some kind of sense for why he is the way he is (which, again, is more a product of bad writing than any deliberate characterization)? I think it does.

so it's really more, 'if Rodney had been sexually abused by an older woman when he was younger, then that contributed to his misogyny,' and less, "if Rodney is misogynistic, then he must have been sexually abused by an older woman when he was younger'. there's an important difference that (I'm not even gonna euphemize this because it is rampant) so many fans defending their faves often miss.

I love Rodney for all the bits that I love about him, and I try to appropriately handle all the rest that I don't. what I wouldn't give for Rodney to have had better and consistent writing (one that, while not necessarily erased, at least properly addressed his flaws). that's why I like Trinity a lot even though he messed up so much in that episode. it had been an opportunity for growth.

[ tl;dr check second to the last paragraph lol ]

.

for reference: this is the post anon's talking about.

also tagging @frankthesnek in case she has something to say :)

[lovely-english-rose]

14, 19, 28, 30, 36 & 38 for the FE asks

oooh lots of questions! i'll put them under a cut to spare everyone's dashboards from how long this will probably get lol

14. Something you really don't like about this series?

Hm.. Less about the series I guess, and more of the general treatment of female characters- The oversexualization of them particularly. I get having fanservice, but alot of what the games do is just 😬 We respect women in this house, they deserve better- AND if we're gonna fanservice WHERE is the equality? Sexualize the men too. Also, having thousands year old characters looking 12....

19. Favorite (canon) pairing?

Obviously (m)Corrin and Niles- Of course they are canon, IS hasn't come out and said they're not, so who's to say they aren't 👀 it's my playthrough and i get to decide the canon ships! and who am I, if not the walking talking kamu//zero propaganda machine? I mean that's why I'm drawing them all the time lol. I genuinely hope they get an alt together in feh the way Chrom and Robin did earlier this year.

In terms of pairs that are 100% canon in game, I do adore Louise and Pent! What sweethearts!

Also big fan of ~heavily implied~ Eliwood and Ninian uwu

28. Because this fandom doesn't see enough discourse [citation needed], post a spicy hot take here🔥🔥

oh geez I gotta come up with another spicy hot take- lets see. ah- avatar characters are in fact their own characters, none of them are "self inserts" despite having customization options, because they all have their own distinct personalities. also, while you can have a preference for one version over the other, ultimately male and female versions are the same, because they're literally the same character so it's pretty dumb to hate one version while holding up the other one over the same traits- (ex. i have seen people hate m!corrin for being "too emotional" while in the same breath adored f!corrin for being "a strong and emotional protagonist" they're... they are the same character. and people do this with all the avatar units smh)

30. Since horse abuse is currently popular on Tumblr, beat up a dead horse with your take on an oversaturated topic🐴

*leans into mic* Edelgard, while in fact being a very strong and interesting female character, is still the villain of 3h. And that's okay, you are allowed to enjoy villain characters, free yourselves from needing to justify everything your fave does and just enjoy baddies. Liking villains doesn't make you a bad person. Also her being bi does not excuse or justify anything she does?? Rhea is also a bisexual lead in the same game so. Ya know. Also potentially Byleth as well depending on player choices-

36. Share a funny FE-related story, either ingame or not!

I think I've told this one already, so sorry if you're seeing it again- But this is a favorite moment of mine. One (1) time I didn't marry Niles in a Conquest playthrough, for the sake of finally seeing Nina right? So I had Niles go after her, iirc he was closest, and she says something like "you'll never catch me daddy! >:(" and Niles, hitting a fucking crit, "you can't hide from me!" and oneshot poor Nina- I sat there like

thankfully you can recruit her by defeating her, but MAN what a moment. I was shocked then, but I find it very funny looking back.

38. Freebie! Talk about whatever you want 🐉⚔

Outside of Smash, FE was introduced to me by some friends. And the series has introduced me to so many more so, I'm really happy for that! As rough as the community can get, I'm glad for all the people the series has connected me with. And the games themselves have brought me so much joy. Also, love seeing the shining creativity in the community, in art, fic, cosplay, analysis, etc. 😊

Fire Emblem Series Ask Game!

[thereisnochillinsideme]

Y’all please don’t hate me for this.

I just want to talk about Terushima real quick.

Before we start, a PSA: I’m not defending his and behavior in any way, just trying to get a different message across.

TW: I mention rape.

So all the hate for Terushima that I see in the fandom stems from what he did to Kiyoko, continuing to flirt with her without her consent.

That was not a good thing to do and isn’t a good example to set for people.

Bad Terushima!! Bad!! *spritzes with spray bottle*

But what I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t make his character someone he’s not.

I see content creators hating on Terushima and saying stuff like “Omg I’m so sure he would rape me if we ever met.”

No.

Terushima is not a rapist. He has never explicitly touched someone without their consent.

He sort of backed Kiyoko into a bit of a corner while he was flirting with her, but he never put his hands on her or touched her.

Please please don’t hate me for what I’m gonna say next. I’m not in any way hating on this character.

Tanaka is safe. He is our respectful king. The most flirting he ever did was offer to carry her bag

But remember when Noya first came back to the club?

The minute he saw her, he straight up pounced on her.

And I’ve seen people try to justify it by saying “Oh he’s her friend! She’s completely comfy with that!”

For those people, I’m asking you to go back and watch that scene again, watch her face and actions.

Did she look comfy?

But I’m not hating on Noya in any way. It’s obvious Kiyoko considers him a friend and is comfortable being with him, other than those actions. Which he probably later stops when Tanaka marries her.

Noya is also an amazing character and one of my faves in the series. His actions that one time don’t take much away from the fact that he’s a lovely character.

So what I’m really saying, is that you shouldn’t reduce Terushima’s entire character and spread lies about him based on one event.

The problem I see with Terushima is kind of similar to the Denki-Mineta parallel in BNHA.

People compare Denki to Mineta saying that they are both perverts when this really isn’t true.

Denki Kaminari is a flirt. He has a character outside of flirting with people and he’s a genuinely nice person who hasn’t done anything without consent.

Mineta has never gotten consent and does things that are sexual harassment and his entire character is just perversion.

Terushima falls on the Denki side of the spectrum. He’s a flirt, but he’s a character outside of that.

Let’s go more into his character.

He’s in Class 7, meaning college prep. It’s the highest class number out of everyone in the series. Meaning he’s just a giant-ass nerd.

The tongue piercing is the tongue piercing.

Now look at these:

(They obvi aren’t mine, credits to Furudate) He can’t rape you y’all! He has the attention span of a literal toddler and likes DBZ!!

He also does respect women to a certain extent. Look at how he treats the managers!!

And he has TWO elder sisters.

He was such a nerd in high school, but then he became a hairdresser.

In conclusion, Terushima Yuuji is not a rapist. He is a very energetic high school volleyball captain and complete nerd who likes DBZ and doing peoples hair.

What he did that time is wrong, but don’t ever reduce his character to exclusively that. Every character and person has their ups and downs, making them balanced. He’s just another one. He shouldn’t flirt with people without consent.

I also do understand that he might be a character who brings up some uncomfy memories for some of you and that’s why you don’t like him. That’s perfectly fine!!

But to all of you, who slander him and say he’s a rapist without any reason to or do so because other people do, I am respectfully telling you to go fuck yourselves. Thank you for your time.

[iheartbookbran]

*shows face in shame* I watched the first episode HotD…

In my defense, my brother came to spend the week home and he wanted to watch it, so I was just roped in.

Anyways here are my thoughts, part 1:

Starting in a positive note, watching Harrenhal in all its monstrous crumbling glory was pretty exciting. I don't even remember if GoT ever managed to show it quite like that during several episodes the way it was shown here in a single scene.

But not even one of my fave castles in asoiaf could really prevent me from getting mad at seeing Sexist Grandpa Jaehaerys lmao, though it was a good call imo to have him attend the council as opposed to what happened in the book.

He also looked so resigned like “I had no choice but to disinherit my granddaughter in the most bullshit way” But the thing is, you did Jaehaerys. I hope Alysanne kicks your balls in the afterlife.

The disrespect of using Dany's name after what the GoT ending did to her. But of course HBO knows she still commands numbers.

Ok ok ok I'm over it *proceeds to rant for 45 minutes*

So no into? How disappointing because a cool intro was one of the very few redeeming qualities of that cursed OG show.

The people behind this prequel must be really confident in themselves, or be really stupid.

Really like the use of High Valyrian in this episode and kinda already love the dragonkeepers? And of course the dragons themselves. (spoilers) It's gonna be heartbreaking to see them get killed by a horde of fanatics.

Part of me doesn't want to like or get attached to Rhaenyra bc even though I'm on her side during the whole Dance conflict, her character in the book hardly does anything for me, but Young Rhaenyra feels so much like a cool combination of Dany and Arya and it's too hard for me to resist.

Also I know how her story ends which is even worse.

Milly Alcock does such a good job of selling Rhaenyra as this conflicted young girl who's intelligent and capable and yearns for freedom, but at the same time is acutely aware of the limitations society places upon her, and is hurt by the knowledge she'll never measure up enough for her father by merit of her sex alone.

I loved her one scene with her mother Aemma, how aware Rhaenyra seemed to be of how her mother is only valued as a baby factory and not as a human being. I hope they continue to explore how Rhaenyra thinks of her mother even after her death, let's not forget she includes the Arryn sigil into her own coat of arms latter in the story.

'm not really that bothered about how they turned Alicent's character into neurodivergent and a minor. Like, if everyone's getting the sympathetic fleshed out approach I don't see why she should be any different, it would hardly be entertaining otherwise. How she is now doesn't really justify any of what she does later on.

Tbh I would be more into her character if it weren't for the fact that I've seen sides of the fandom already using her as a beacon to hate on the Targaryens for shit a lot of the other great houses also do. And it's really rich to try to paint Alicent as a victim of the Targaryens as if she doesn't (spoilers) marry a Targ and becomes queen, has several dragonrider Targ children, marries said children to each other and climbs the political ladder to place her own son on the throne regardless of the consequences.

Like of course Otto is the paramount culpable of placing his young daughter in that position, and he's despicable for it, but let's not claim Adult Alicent didn't have any agency.

It's super funny to see so many people being surprised at Matt Smith being so good in the role of an overly entitled jerk prince, as if he didn't play the exact same character in the Crown.

Mind you, Daemon is still a piece of shit, and I have no interest in viewing him as sympathetic, nor do I think that's a requirement to enjoy the character. It's gonna be so funny to see him cause problems on purpose (same with Aemond).

Like… this guy literally threw an orgy to celebrate the death of a baby and then acted all surprised when word got back to his brother and he was pissed because of it. That's hysterical.

I'm really enjoying the relationship between Ser Harrold Westerling and Rhaenyra, I think it's very similar to that of Ser Barristan and Dany in the books, would've been great if GoT had shown us some of it instead of anticlimactically killing off Barristan. God, I hate Dumb and Dumber…