#people who can support their ship of choice without shitting on the other: you are the only bitches in this place i respect

[mimymomo]

In ‘Lucas on the Line,’ Lucas Sinclair experienced countless bouts of racism and micro aggressions including but not limited to:

Had children run away from him and refuse to touch him because they thought his Black skin color would rub off on them. This happened IN THE THIRD GRADE! And he never told his parents about it!

Calmed his anxiety about being the only Black kid in his homeroom class by coming to the realization that since there was no other Black kids that meant he most likely wouldn’t be bombed

Had to install a camera in his locker because his property got defaced by a glitter bomb

Lost his first and only black friend/mentor who supported him thanks to an ACTUAL MAKESHIFT BOMB being installed in his locker that caused a janitor to go to the hospital for 1st/2nd degree burns (and the white boy who did it barely got punished)

Got teased that the only reason he got on the basketball team was because he was Black

Comes to the realization that he might’ve actually only gotten in the team because the coach has a history of recruiting Black boys for the team regardless of their skill level

Gets called an Oreo (for uneducated: white on the inside, black on the outside) by racist bullies. Erica (who apparently has also been called this) sticks up for him and is the only one who understands what the insult means which means Mike and Dustin don’t know/understand the lengths of how deep the racism Lucas experiences in Hawkins on a daily bases

And these aren’t even all of them! These are just examples I had from the top of my head!

And despite all this happening in the book, “fans” have STILL FOUND A WAY to turn this book about Lucas and his struggles as a Black boy in a mostly white suburban town and his deteriorating relationship with Max and make it about Byler!

The fact that Lucas, one of the only characters of color on this show, can’t have ANYTHING to himself without people using him to push their ships is so aggravating!

He and Erica constantly get shit talked and miss characterized by fans, get excluded/cut out of group shots, and barely get any fanart/fics about them and their struggles compared to the white characters (I could make a whole new post about the terrible way this fandom treats Erica but I won’t do that here). Hell don’t forget that the fandom constantly tries to dispute the racism Lucas received in S2 from Billy was either not really racism, just a moment that Duffer Bros. put in to “ruin” Billy’s character and ultimately can be tossed out and ignored.

The only time I ever see Lucas get any large amount of attention is either due to 1) Lumax (but let’s be honest: 90% of the lumax tag on here isn’t even about them and has now become Elumax 2.0 and most post are people praising ElMax and then being like “oh Lucas/lumax is cute too” in the tags and that’s it). 2) people creating “parallels” of Lumax to their ship of choice (mostly Byler and Mileven) as a way to say that their ship is gonna be canon or 3) to say that he’s bisexual.

And all that is fine and whatever, ship and headcanon things to your hearts content, but if you only care about Lucas if he’s helping push you ship narrative or because you think he’s gay (to the point where some people actually read snippets of the book that talked about Lucas coming to the realization that Black boys like him can be considered attractive and only acknowledge the “queer” reading of the text and completely ignored the big race element that was the main focus), I’m sorry but, that’s not cool. The fact that 95% of the Lucas Sinclair tag isn’t about Lucas himself but white characters like Steve, Eddie, Byler says everything about how the fandom treats him.

I’m just so tired.

Lucas Sinclair deserves the same respect that the white characters get!

I leave you one of my favorite sections of the entire book: Lucas learning to become unabashedly himself:

Rant over.

Edit: in my blind rage I realized I forgot to edit out the Twitter handle. That’s completely my fault. Please don’t hate that Twitter user. I’m just coming back to fix that.

[siapom]

Okay, people. I need to soapbox for a hot minute.

My favorite fandom worlds are imploding on their own people, and it’s fucking ridiculous.

1) Lockwood and Co.

I hate to point this out, but I’m gonna anyway. There is no Locklyle WRITTEN ship in the books. There is an implied ship. The author confirmed that it was intentionally implied. But it wasn’t written. So you know what? There is NO canon ship.

You know what that means? People can ship whomever the fuck they want without “breaking canon”. If you write Locklyle, fine. But that makes you no better than people who are enjoying other ships. And even then, it’s a fandom. It’s imaginary shit. The way to keep the fandom alive and thrive is to NOT PUBLICALLY CASTIGATE AND PUT DOWN other shippers and their ideas, works, or conversations. If you do that, it’s YOU who is poisoning the fandom.

2) Stray Kids

Holy fuck, people! Can’t we all just be adults?

a) Do not attack people who interact with our boys in a professional capacity. It’s not helpful to the group to give them a reputation for having an out of control fanbase. It could cause their opportunities become limited just because others are scared that Stay may get offended by something.

b) If you don’t want to support the new song, don’t. Don’t buy it. Don’t stream it. Don’t get it off of a secondary site just because you can listen without supporting the collaboration.

DO keep your choices to yourself. Your choices are not supposed to apply to other Stay. We can make our own decisions. Other Stay are not lesser, wrong, unethical, Zionists, pro-genecide or any other thing you want to call them. They are simply supporting SKZ their own chosen way.

In closing, this is simple. Do what you want for yourself. Stop thinking your decision has any bearing on other people. Your ego is showing. You aren’t that fucking special. Check yourself.

Thank you.

*steps down*

[hastyprovocateur]

Another Analysis on Mizu×Akemi

(Because there can never be enough)

l gotta admit it... the show was very ambiguous as to which character ends up with who and under what circumstances they're going to like each other. A lot of people see Taigen and Mizu because Mizu's sexuality, atleast in regards to liking men, is confirmed. She did feel attracted to her husband when she was married and she does associate some strong feelings with Taigen since she imagined that heated fight moment in the brothel when Kaji showed her the threesome. Then again... it's a threesome so there's allusion but no absolutes so far.

As for Mizu and Akemi, even if the two women could move in a romantic direction, they were too tied up in their own shit. Mizu was preoccupied with her revenge which is why she gave Akemi up in ep5 and Akemi couldn't see past her marriage with Taigen not because she thought he was a great guy but because he was the best option. He was close to home and not an entire brute as far as she knew. And then she didn't have a choice in marrying Taka either who turned out to be decent but no man warrants undying love just for being half human.

Needless to say, Akemi was dealing with her own shit. Mizu had Fowler to kill and there was little allusion to romance even if there are strong feelings between the two. Akemi, still, had to mean something for Mizu to flash back the first time their eyes met on the bridge when she was close to dead. As well as the addition of Akemi's knife to her blade. Likewise, Akemi claimed to have searched the onryo's eyes for love. But that's it as far as proof of feelings go. Nothing more Nothing less.

Coming to Mizu, even if her feelings were involved somewhere between Taigen and Akemi, she didn't didn't intervene in ep 8 and set the record straight by setting Akemi free, sending Taigen after her so they can be together and then leaving Ringo with Master Eiji. I was convinced that Akemi was gonna run into Taigen's arms after finding her newfound freedom but I was impressed when she chose greatness instead.

As for Mizu's revenge, she deliberately embarked to London alone. As far as she knows, everyone is better off without her but we see quite evidently that after Mizu's intervention nothing is going to be the same again. This doesn't show that she doesn't care, she does to the extent of resolving everything so they can be happy, but for the sake of her revenge, it is understood that Mizu doesn't want to get distracted from her focus or have a loved one get injured because of her path.

NOW... everything else is speculation. It's anyone's guess so I'll try my hand at it. I'm thinking of the bigger picture here and no revenge story ends in revenge right? It ends with love. And Mizu won't be paired up with a Londoner I'm sure, because her story has to wind back to Japan, where she started.

So who could she end up with? Ringo is her best friend and confidante but the writing focuses greatly on their platonic bond. There is allusion to more with Taigen, who is her childhood bully turned blood brother granted he's not major of a character, the writers downplayed him themselves by not giving him that intense of a character arc like Akemi or a whole change of absolute resolve for revenge unlike Mizu.

Writingwise, Taigen was always kinda straddling the line of liking Akemi but really not, wanting to kill Mizu but really not, wanting honour but really not, wanting happiness but really not. His end wasn't concluded beyond him getting rejected by Akemi and his and Mizu's future was not remotely indicated. If he was on the ship with her, the writers would've shown us but he's suspended midair for the time being.

If Mizu is to have a high stake romance, it... has to be with Akemi... don't you think? Taigen never posed any real threat to Mizu, he can't outclass or outsmart her, they have great camaraderie and that's when he finally decided to treat her decently and going beyond to show loyalty, trust and support for what she does. There wasn't heavy ground for him to dislike her initially either, outside of his own arrogance. It wasn't a big change of character on his part to like Mizu since he's never had sincere grounds for hating her in the first place.

Even if Taigen improves his character in the following season, I can't see Mizu and Taigen being balanced and opposed enough for the two to willingly choose the other against the odds as opposed to falling in love due to convenient proximity. Taigen, I'm sorry to say, seems to blow with the wind and doesn't have much determination for pursuits as far as the writing goes. Pairing that with Mizu's iron will creates dissonance. If Mizu chooses love, it would be against the ODDS of all her other pursuits.

Her rage. Her revenge. Her agony.

And that, I only see matched in Akemi.

Only Akemi could go against her grain as much as Mizu to actually fall in love.

Akemi isn't in love with the Shogun's son, but has accepted him as a means to her pursuit for greatness for the purpose of which Takayoshi is a decent man who is likely to not try and subdue her. I'd go so far to say Akemi has rejected love as a means to survive and is bent on acquiring power to ensure her success so that no harm comes her way because. Just like Mizu, she once fought for love only to get betrayed by it.

Seki brought the Shogun's proposal to Daichi because he'd decided on Akemi's behalf that "Im only doing what's right for you." Taigen put his honour above ensuring that Akemi is not displaced in his absence, Akemi's father had all intentions of carting her off as a commodity to the Shogun's for his own political schemes, telling her that she's "not the hero of his family." And Mizu... also doomed Akemi in the hubris of thinking "She's better off."

In Kaji's words- "You stood by as the guards dragged her away screaming." Akemi doesn't see Mizu as trustworthy anymore, any overture for friendship or romance will take a lot from her end because from Akemi's perspective, she rode back captive on horseback with strange men, coming to terms with that fact that her agency will now be ripped away, her teeth blackened as an accessory to visually appeal to her new family and she'll be forced into her new husband's quarters to commit her "wifely duties." Takayoshi not being a brute was an exeption to the rule and for which Akemi is greatly lucky which makes sense why she's decided to stick by her new means and to work within them.

Circling back to stories... just as all revenge stories end with the prevalence of love so do all stories of greatness. Akemi and Mizu both deserve to be loved and it is evident because that's all they wanted initially. A simple house on the edge of nowhere, a life unremarkable and staid. Filled only by love and the company of two. For both Mizu and Akemi, this dream of love only brought crushing pain, it cemented them into paths where they want anything but love. Mizu in her descent for revenge and Akemi on her ascent to power. Their middle ground is love which they will have to fight towards if they ever decide to meet halfway but god... it would be a glorious fight.

In a future season... if a certain someone... fell in love enough to give up... power... and a certain someone fell in love enough to give up revenge. If the red eyed princess... decided to run away with the blue eyed samurai... in that, I will find peace...

[ambelle]

I’ve talked vaguely about white liberals treatment of BW both in real life and in fandom spaces but I feel I should expand on that.

A while back a BW wrote an article about how BM are the white people of the black community. White people were offended and baffled and BM protested. The thing is it's very much true. BM, along with BW are oppressed under a system stacked against us (along with many other demographics), but because BW are women we are also oppressed by BM.

White liberals have the privilege to not have grown up in the hood like I did. So they can claim a world without cops wouldn't turn into open season on BW at the hands of BM. They can say gangs, drive-bys, and drug dealers aren't dangerous and BM shouldn't be prevented from doing it. But when I was little I couldn't use the playgrounds because drug dealers used them as a place to deal and recruit little boys. I couldn't go to the local skating rink because gangs would go there to fight and shoot it up. I had to play in the street with my friends because the MEN in the community were ruining spaces meant for children. Erasing safety in general actually. Not the white president, the men in the community. I can say systematic racism and the BM who did a random drive-by on my house and raped little girls were both oppressing me. Both are true.

But it's not true to the white liberals who have a complete blind spot when it comes to BW because they don't acknowledge we are women. They see us as strong unwavering aggressive machines. We make good allies but they don't need to help us because we are invincible duh. It's the "bw saved the day" shit after every election followed by them going right back to ignoring us the next day.

It's them ignoring all the crazy stats about violence against BW to whitesplain to us how abolishing the police is a great idea. The men harming us will simply stop if they know we don't even have someone we may call for help. Let's abolish the police because they harm BM and BM never do anything they should be arrested for including my rapist. He was simply a victim of white supremacy and I should have hugged him after like the strong mammy I was born to be. No need to talk about black femicide.

Basically, white liberals care about BM (because it's trendy not because they give a shit see ANTIFA), BW care about BM, BM care about BM, and no one gives a shit about BW. That's the reality

But white libs in fandoms are racist in a different way. They like to adopt the struggles of demographics that are oppressed in real life and apply it to white characters. It's why characters like Silco and Jinx are so appealing to them.

(both trying to kill Zaunites here BTW)

Make no mistake If Silco were black fans would be holding them accountable same with Jinx. But they are white and they are (were) oppressed. That's literally a white liberal dream. They get to ignore the fact that Silco and Jinx are rich and they got rich by oppressing poor people and forcing children into child labor.

(that Zaunite teen boy died not that anyone cares. )

They get to weaponize classism to excuse the violence and murder they commit against other poor people. Who cares how many orphans he creates or how many poor children he tries to murder.

Mind you not only was Silco rich off the backs of poor people and the labor of kids, he used the enforcers to help him not only oppress his own people but also frame Ekko (ironically a BM) and the Firelights for crimes he and Jinx were committing.

Jinx who killed multiple Zaunites on purpose and tried to kill Ekko later on. Jinx who is rich and has no motive for the violence she commits. Jinx who is working for the man she KNOWS killed her father figure and tried to kill her siblings. Jinx who never once takes responsibility for any of the choices she makes. But she's white. It's why the fandom supports her hetero ship with Ekko (who they headcanon as being her emotional crutch). They only care about heteronormativity when there is a black woman they want to erase. No other straight pairing gets called "disgusting", "forced", "shoehorned", "a betrayal", or "immoral". Mel is forceful and aggressive. She's a seductress who manipulates Jayce into her bed and into doing her evil deeds.

(He's clearly not into her at all)

He should be kissing Vik's ass and worshipping the ground he walks on. Speaking of Viktor ...him using tech for his own gains, secretly merging his DNA with the core, getting addicted to shimmer, killing a fellow Zaunite and converting up her death + stealing her notes is something no one will discuss.

Because he's white , was once poor, and is "gay-coded". He's thus entitled to murdering a brown woman and entitled to Jayce's body. They weaponize LGBTQ+ rep in order to justify their racism much like the left does in real life.

Mel who shows no ill will towards Viktor is accused of being ableist and classist because she gave him a look when he was arguing with her. Mel who explains why she wants defensive weapons and has several scenes reiterating her motive is accused of wanting war and genocide.

Mel who has exchanged flirty looks with Jayce every episode before she kisses him is accused of raping him. Mel who isn't at all a part of the Vander/Silco/Jinx shenanigans in ep 1 is blamed for the death of Jinx's family because she "controls the council" (even though they often vote against her and Heimerdinger gets a pass despite being there when the cities were founded). Because she's black and rich. Thus they can weaponize poverty in order to villainize BW.

They shout over the people who are actually oppressed. Over the people who know what it's like to have drug dealers and gangs make your life hell while the government does the same on a less personal scale.

This is what white liberals do. It's not new. I won't even get into the weird ass envy/hatred/lust thing they have for bw. The dehumanizing and hypersexualizing shit they do is a whole other essay.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 12

My thoughts below. So, about Claude . . .

MAIN STORY

Please just tell me I don't have to kill Felix, Ingrid, Sylvain, Rodrigue, Annette, Gustave, Mercedes, Dedue, or Dimitri :(

Oh, Arval. Forgot about all of that lamo.

Are we circling back to TWSITD and the origins of Shez's powers? It really hasn't played any role in GW so far. In AG, Shez brings it up all the time (with Dimitri always saying it doesn't matter) and in SB the whole "we only promoted you bc we don't trust your power, sorry now we do" thing.

Nadar . . . doesn't want us to call off the attack. He's really a bloodthirsty jerk, isn't he?

Is Claude JUST now figuring out that taking out the Kingdom is a bad idea for the Alliance?

At least Claude's not stupid enough to not realize Edelgard won't take over the Alliance next. Begs the question then, why?

That's what I mean. This is all potentially interesting, I just think Claude's plans are all really stupid.

So, Claude sided with the Empire because he hates the church that much and actually believes all that shit? Or does he really think Edelgard will stop her war when Rhea's dead? (because she definitely does not in Houses when Rhea's captured in her prisons)

I DO like this for Dimitri though. I'm REALLY curious to see what he does. Is it too much to hope that he'll dump the church to rescue his people from war?

IDK, I just love the idea of a Dimitri willing to sacrifice anything - even his sense of right and wrong (since leaving Rhea to die when all she's done is help him IS wrong) to spare his people pain.

But I'm predicting he'll be too stubborn or not trust Claude or Sylvain furious at his father's death will ruin it

But it's also really cool to see Dimitri kinda backed into a corner with no "good" way out.

I can forgive Hopes giving Edelgard a boring af plot, writing Claude like a moron, and making me kill Blue Lions members, but if they miswrite Dimitri here (or Sylvain, kinda worried about that too tbh), I'm really going to be pissed

Also, like if Claude's plan is really just to gank Rhea to stop Edelgard's rampage, that means he really did all this twisting around just to try and stop one woman's murder rampage - why not just, like, take her out? If this is all really about the least death possible, isn't assassinating Edelgard the fastest way to keep more people from dying?

God, please, please, please have Dimitri dump Rhea to spare his people (I'd feel awful for Rhea, but I really, really hope Dimitri proves to be someone who would spare his people any pain, even at the expense of himself - when he's sane at least lamo).

On the flip side, I'm dying to play GW. It's plot may not make any sense and my opinion of Claude has tanked, but you can't say it's not entertaining.

LORENZ & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Kinda sad they only go to B. They were cute together in Houses. Seems some of the ships got turned up to 11 and others got dialed down.

Lorenz is contemplating his existence in a world where commoners don't rely on the nobility.

He's struggling to see from the commoner's POV, so he wants a commoner to serve as an advisor. Honestly, Lorenz, pretty good call.

The way Lorenz talks about Leonie and her choices, it makes it sound like history was trending towards commoners and nobles not being so rigid without Edelgard doing anything.

Leonie turns down Lorenz's offer because she wants to be a mercenary.

LORENZ & MARIANNE A SUPPORT

Lorenz wakes up after getting injured. Marianne thinks it's her fault, which I saw coming.

Lorenz thought he imagined Marianne asking for help, but she actually did.

Marianne realizes she wanted to live, hence why she called for help. So she's feeling guilty that the end result is Lorenz got hurt.

Lorenz is encouraging and is happy Marianne opened up to him.

Honestly, a better support for him than a lot of the Hopes ones.

CAMP/SIDE MAPS

Balthus is . . . really hung up on the idea of wrestling Dimitri, isn't he?

So some NPC talked about how the Kingdom is getting attacked on all fronts. I can't be the only one who finds it amusing that Dimitri with his smaller army and surrounded by enemies is doing a better job than Edelgard with her massive one lol.

When Hapi proves way smarter than Claude, knowing how massively stupid Claude's plan of "let's kill everyone they love and then force whoever is left over to listen to us! I'm sure they'll be thrilled." Hapi's like, eh, not sure this will work.

Man, Ashe is just miserable when you recruit him. I do find it kind of heartwarming in a weird way how miserable all the recruitable Lions end up being (even in Houses, moreso than the other houses at least). Ashe and Felix taking the cake, but Mercedes was regretting her life choices the last SB chapter too.

Aww, Yuri is worried about Ashe and finds Claude cruel for forcing him to fight against the Kingdom.

Holy shit, Shez really spitting facts to Claude's face, telling him his plan is a giant disaster (Dimitri won't fall for intimidation tactics, and Edelgard won't stop attacking people even after she runs out of excuses.) As insufferable as all of the Golden Deer are in this game, at least we've got stuff like this pointing out how cruel and stupid they're being.

Lamo, take only one unit into the map, as if that's a challenge. I literally only use Lorenz. This'll be easy in AG too bc Dimitri's such a beast. Dreading it in SB though.

Annette is still alive here at least :( And Rodrigue. And Gustave. (we're with the Blue Lions discussing Claude being ... GW!Claude)

Sylvain thinks Claude's an idiot lol. Dimitri and Sylvain are sussing him out.

I love how Dimitri is the only character who's goal is to avoid bloodshed among the lords. The other two are, uh, yeah.

Oh.... is Dimitri actually going to run over the church? Like I wanted? When Dimitri's the best character in GW lol.

Dimitri looking out for Sylvain, knowing how angry he is with Claude.

I had to fight Ingrid :(

SHEZ & LYSITHEA A SUPPORT

Lysithea catches Shez assuring a younger girl that she doesn't seem like a child, but an adult.

Predictably, Lysithea gets angry, because it's Lysithea, but to be fair, she's upset because Shez said the same thing and thinks Shez is being insencere.

Shez admits that it's not cool, what she did, but she's bad at advice and keeps using the same lines she's learned from stories lamo. I love Shez.

Honestly, Lysithea is kinda right to get mad here, at least I get it unlike some of the times with her.

Lamo, Shez can borrow another line from a story. I'm gonna piss her off bc I can lol.

Lysithea buys it. I wonder if it's the same line lol.

SHEZ & SHAMIR C

Having mercenary talk. I had Shez choose to ask for help. Shamir offered once she's free.

Shez comments how mature Shamir is. Shamir comments how relaxed Shez is (but it's a positive thing, not like a judgment).

They bond over having lost trusted allies, including the ones at the beginning for Shez.

Kinda boring, but honestly these two are almost too well matched, like not enough tension and just too normal lol

LYSITHEA & HILDA A

Hilda wants to gossip, but Lysithea only goes on about how awesome Holst is, so she's not interested.

She thinks he should be more careful as head of household, but Lysithea points out that he has no choice.

Hilda is worried who Holst is married. There's an ick here where Lysithea thinks that's because he's too focused on Hilda.

Hilda just talks about who Lysithea might marry, which, yeah...

Hilda offers to help Lystheia out, and some, um, implications that she'll be Lysthesia's new family - she says big sister, but there's def some ship teasing

They made Hilda really flirt with all the girls this time lol

CLAUDE & HAPI B

Hapi finds Claude easier to talk to than Edelgard and Dimitri.

Props to Hapi for telling Claude not to unload his trauma on her.

Hapi's like if you're bitching, why not just quit? Lamo.

Hapi says she'll support him.

MARIANNE & BERNADETTA A

Honestly don't remember if I've seen this in SB already or not.

Bernie likes Marianne's painting, but not her own. This is true vice versa, because of course it is.

Marianne compliments Bernie's horsemanship.

Two shy girls compliment each other, then get shy.

Then Bernie asks what Marianne wants to do after the war and Marianne becomes a Disney princess, wanting to sit in the woods with animals. Bernie wants to finish a story. Honestly, both girls picked amazing options I too want.

Bernie's story is about Marianne lamo. But Marianne isn't mad, she just wants to read it.

I really find their friendship cute, ngl.

Also, Bernie supports Dimitri, so there's no way she's NOT writing fanfic about his life because it's a never drying well there.

LORENZ & RAPHAEL C

Lorenz asks Raphael why he didn't just stay at his family's inn instead and joined the war instead

Raphael wants to keep his family safe, and thinks that following Claude will bring peace to the world (lamo) so that's why

Lorenz is more grounded, saying that all he's doing is exposing his family to the dangers of war

Which, Lorenz isn't wrong, but he also starts prattles more about nobility need to do everything and commoners nothing

But like, does Lorenz really think you can make an army out of nobles only, because, like, that just doesn't happen

Raphael is touched lamo, thinking Lorenz is concerned

Raphael just challenges him to a muscles competition

It is amusing to see Lorenz try to give his spiel and Raphael just keeps doing his own thing

Like ALL of Lorenz's supports in this game is this though, he's more repetitive than Bernedetta at this point

LORENZ & CONSTANCE A

Lorenz is bragging about himself, Constance is in the sun so she's . . . not

You know, I was thinking just how insufferable Lorenz would be in my playthrough because he's like 10 levels ahead of everyone, a god on the battlefield, always MVP - he like trounces everyone so he's be bragging and he'd be right - I wish Claude had to deal with this, watching Lorenz win the war for him and have to put up with Lorenz being Lorenz over it

They overdid it a bit with her sunshine personality - like Dimitri and Marianne are very realistic about a lack of self-worth, but Constance just comes across like a joke (and maybe that's all she's supposed to be)

Poor Lorenz is just confused and wants the normal Constance

I do have a soft spot for when male characters are desperate for the snotty side of a female character to come back (like, really just talking about Rutger and Clarine)

This is going on for too long though without any change

LYSITHEA & LEONIE B

Lysithea mistook a mercenary Leonie talked to for a bandit

But he's just someone who loot dead bodies on battlefields

I always found that kind of distasteful

Lysithea feels torn because she wants to learn about commoners more, but doesn't seem comfortable talking to people who steal coins off dead people, which same

Lysithea of course wants to know about commoner sweets

And Leonie talks about how they can't afford noble treats and likes commoner snacks (hopefully different from Chole's folk food lamo)

SHEZ & YURI C

Shez is snooping on Yuri's letter. I love that Shez is a snoop.

Yuri's pissed though, lamo. He threatens Shez's life though. That's a bit . . . much.

I'm going to pretend I didn't read it lol.

OMG YURI HAS A MOM. SOMEONE IN THIS GAME HAS A MOM.

She's ill so he was visiting her.

He's a bit needlessly sometimes.

IGNATZ & LYSITHEA B

Lysithea thinks there's something wrong with Ignatz.

She guesses right that he's unhappy, but guesses wrong that he wishes he ran his father's company instead of his brother.

He slips up that he admits he's only a knight to please his family.

Awww, Lysithea offers Ignatz the opportunity to live in Ordelia territory and does whatever he wants to afterwords.

She was actually really sweet in this support.

Also, anyone else realize that Ignatz is proof that the church/crests/inheritance isn't the one forcing children to do things they don't want to? It's human greed?

CLAUDE & HAPI A

Claude left a meeting because he was bored of people arguing. Hapi also left a meeting.

Oh, interesting, Hapi asks Claude if he would walk away if someone could take his place. Claude says no that he wants to get a lot done and can't let anyone else do it. So a really uninteresting answer.

LEONIE & LINHARDT B

Linhardt got a gift he doesn't want so he offered it to Leonie.

Lamo, Linhardt forgot the meeting he set up with Leonie.

He gives her a notebook already full, so she wants to give him something in return.

She gives him a rock that turns out to be part of an ancient relic and he gets thrilled.

Linhardt comes to the conclusion that they value the complete opposite things, but they decides they're actually not a special pairing lamo.

MAIN BATTLE

Ugh, not looking forward to this.

Wow, imagine that, the Kingdom isn't bringing them a welcoming party. Like, did Shez really expect that?

They're a bunch of psychos. They're all excited to go kill people because they're strong warriors.

"Let's see if a crushing defeat can get through Dimitri's thick skull." Because you like tried talking with him so many times before???

What is Claude smoking? He's never tried anything but bloodshed of innocent Kingdom people to accomplish anything in this route?

I see what people mean when they say this is one of the most unlikeable casts ever.

Gustave's middle name is Eddie. Not Edward. Eddie. Suffering through GW is worth knowing that.

Also, fuck, I don't want to fight Annette and Gustave, who are only defending their home.

Thank fuck, Annette retreated. Having SB flashbacks where I had to kill Annette. Annette.

And thank God that Gustave did too.

On the flip side, I sort of wish GW wasn't so wish-washy and they all died. At least SB has the guts to show there's consequences for your character's actions. But GW like to pretend only Annette and Gustave matter and it'll be ok to slaughter thousands of low born people of Faerghus every single level because they're not named.

Dimitri evacuated his citizens. I think he's literally the only lord who did that lamo. (I remember distinctly Edelgard not doing that in VW, and I don't think Claude did in CF or AM? Could be wrong about Claude).

FUCK. Dedue. If he doesn't retreat, I swear to God I can't finish this.

Oh, God, not Sylvain too.

Wait, what the fuck, Claude. His "defense" against Sylvain accusing (rightly so) Claude of invading his home and murdering his parents is that "we're all risking our lives here." I guess Faerghus is 2-for-2 whenever someone is actually allowed to criticize people who are invading them.

At least Sylvain retreated.

Dimitri appeared to defend Faerghus. I swear whoever wrote this game didn't care at all about the Golden Deer.

Oh, a cut scene. Also pretty sure Shez called Dimitri Faerghus' strongest soldier.

Well, at least Dimitri being an utter and complete badass in this game continues since Claude admitted that he could never win against him. And he needed Hilda and Lorenz to just push him back, not even defeat him.

Oh, great, more backtracking. Claude has to retreat. Does this mean I have to fight Dimitri again?

You're right, Hilda, it's the same thing all over again. God, this gets old.

It would be funny if it was the Empire, but it's probably just TWSITD. It's pretty funny Claude is the one who learns the least in Hopes vs Houses.

At least Annette and Sylvain are still alive.

Gotta love also how damn badass Faerghus is in general, fighting a 3-way battle and not losing.

Dedue is here too, my beloved.

I love seeing Claude taking another L and having to retreat again.

xxx

[thaeonblade]

Okay MHA...I’m tired...

I know I’m going to get hate for this and I don’t care. But can My Hero Academia go five minutes without romanticizing a fucked abusive unhealthy, destructive or terrible relationship? Because right now, the heroes look like self-righteous dumbasses who should not be trusted nor have any good sense of reason, logic or frankly a consistent sense of morality, ethics and justice. And every time the story pulls out that “the villain is a child inside” crap or goes on about how life was unfair to the mass murderer, it makes the villain look more and more unintentionally unsympathetic. Can heroes like Izuku and Ochako be allowed to set boundaries and priorities to let horrible people hurt them without being considered bad heroes or bad people? Is it really bad for them to not let themselves get hurt just to validate some asshole’s feelings? Ochako doesn’t owe Toga shit. Toga isn’t entitled to shit. But the story is basically absolving Toga of all of the shit she’s done so that Ochako looks heroic for bleeding to death to reach out to this selfish murderous psycho bitch with a stalker complex. It doesn’t make Toga sympathic, it makes her look even more selfish. It doesn’t make Ochako a better character, it actually makes her kind of pathetic and hard to respect. I’m not sorry, I can’t respect people who disregard lives lost, families destroyed and can actually look a mass murderer in the eye and say that she has a lovely smile and admires how carefree she is while attacking her and her friends. This is Ochako’s big moment apparently. Enabling and coddling a fucking murderer because holding her accountable for her crimes and telling her that she mad bad choices and she’s responsible for them is “bad”. Society may have been unfair to Toga, but Society didn’t make Toga kill Saito (yes he’s dead per the databook) or any of the people she left to bleed to death, Himiko Toga choose that for herself. However, when I say Toga’s responsible for her choices I also state that she has the ability to make the right choice and do the right thing. Same goes for Shigaraki, but that requires taking personal ownership and responsibility for your actions. This is why the Toga and Ochako storyline sucks so much because it acts like Toga’s entitled to sympathy and patience and completely ignores all of the horrible and shitty things she’s done or been apart of. When Ochako says that she “can’t forget Toga’s actions”, this is empty protest and her actions and other words like “have my blood for the rest of my life” don’t add up. And no, Toga being bisexual does not excuse shit. She’s still a psycho murderer and deserves consequences. She sure as shit doesn’t deserve Ochako after nearly killing her and all of the harm she’s caused against her and her friends. I won’t change anyone’s mind here, but wanting TogaChako canon is basically saying you support a fucked up relationship between a selfish psychotic murderous borderline-sexual predator and the girl she’s trying to murder. If you want to support a Yuri ship, at least pick one that isn’t romanticizing or enabling abuse and romantizing suffering for an abusive or harmful partner like for example Momo x Kyoka. If Toga was a male, ya’ll would agree with me and you know it. I halfway wonder if some of you only ship TogaChako despite all of the objective red flags because you’re that desperate or thirsty for some kind of validation. Well sorry folks, you’re picking the wrong hill to stand on because canon-wise it sucks. Fanon wise, you can make it whatever you want, I mean it. I’ve read plenty of good fanfics where Toga got the help she needed before she went off the deep end and I enjoy reading about her relationship with other characters like Ochako and Izuku. But just like how Fanon Aizawa or in some cases “Dadzawa” is very different from the objectively asshole Canon Aizawa, Fanon Toga is a sweetheart compared to the psycho murderer Canon Toga is. I honestly wouldn’t care what you ship because it’s your business. I highly question your choice of ship, but feel free to ignore me and enjoy your warped fucked up ship as you please. With that said, I’m free to dislike said ship and use evidence from the story to point out how this is the worst possible cruelty you could inflict on Ochako. But please stop pretending like Canon Toga wouldn’t be a constant threat to anyone she was with. She fucking stabbed the first guy she had a crush on and he died (again databook) and even if he didn’t die, that’s still not someone who should be shipped with anyone. And after reading all of that, if you think I’m some kind of sexist, homophobic asshole because I don’t absolve or excuse murderers regardless of race, sex or sexual identity then we have nothing to discuss because I’m not wasting any breath on you. Fuck off. For the record, I already had this problem with the Bakugou and Izuku dynamic where Bakugou basically gets no consequences for his objectively bad actions and attitude. No justice for ten years of abusive bullying; No accountability for trying to kill Izuku during the training exercise; Izuku holds Bakugou on a pedestal he doesn’t deserve and basically does all of the suffering and giving for their messed up relationship; and the story doesn’t even do the bare minimum to make Bakugou’s “redemption arc” passable. The story ignored it for almost 300 chapters and then puts in a few grand gestures then acts like that’s all that’s needed and goes no further. I also have this issue with how Izuku is lionized for acting on blind idealism and emotionality to try and “save” Shigaraki despite the thousands he’s chosen to kill; the path of villainy that he’s chosen to take; and how he’s going to kill everyone if he’s not stopped. Society didn’t make Shigaraki become a villain; attack USJ; attempt to murder the Class 1-A students and teachers multiple times; send an attack against the Camp; try to make Bakugou join him or die; make an alliance with Overhaul whose torturing a child; or willingly take AFO’s quirk to be even more destructive and evil. That was Shigaraki’s choice. Tomura Shigaraki made that choice. Tenko Shimura made that choice. The little child within Shigaraki is irrelevant. It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you. If Izuku and Ochako really respected Shigaraki and Toga, they’d respect their choices and stop holding back. Take off the kiddie gloves and defeat them however they have to. If the villains have to die so that no one else is killed at their hands? So be it. Nope, instead the story treats Shigaraki and Toga like children who can’t be held responsible for their actions because it’s all society’s fault. Which is insulting to them as characters, insulting to the many they’ve killed and Izuku and Ochako are also disrespecting their friends, teachers and comrades who’ve died or almost died including Midnight who was killed by one of Shigaraki’s men on Shigaraki’s command. What is heroic about disregarding the families destroyed? How will Ochako and Izuku explain themselves to the families of Shigaraki and Toga’s victims? Will they have any answer that doesn’t involve blind emotionality or idealism? I doubt it. What’s wrong with holding the villains accountable for their actions and giving them deserved consequences and acknowledging that society is flawed and wrong them? They are not mutually exclusive. You don’t have to scream at the audience about how you’re ignoring the problem if you don’t absolve these unsympathetic people because you know murder is wrong. And while we’re at it, if Horikoshi really wanted a story about Izuku and Bakugou repairing their relationship, then he needs to hold Bakugou accountable and responsible for his shit. Izuku needs to be allowed to love himself, knock Bakugou off of his “symbol of victory” pedestal, and learn that he doesn’t need to tolerate shit from Bakugou nor prove anything to him. Instead, Horikoshi’s portraying his characters as emotional pushovers and I’m sick of abusive horrible harmful people being treated like they’re entitled to sympathy, empathy or whatever. All because society wronged them and that apparently validates their chaotic emotions and how they’re lashing out and killing thousands of people. Yet, the story expects us to treat them like they’re the victims and they’re therefore entitled to infinite patience, forgiveness and empathy. They’re not. They’re entitled to a punch to the face. And I’m done here. Note: If you disagree with what I said then do so with respect. I don’t care if you agree with me, but harassment, threats and bullying will not be tolerated. Note: Just because I’m critical of MHA, doesn’t mean I’m any less of a fan. I just will not ignore its major problems as I’ve outlined. So if anyone wants to tell me that “I’ll have no peace in this fandom”, then just know that I don’t give a damn if you think I belong here or not. PS: Despite my harsh and blunt language, I really have nothing personally against TogaChako, BakuDeku shippers or whatever. I just hate these ships because of the unfortunate implications within them due to the canonical actions and attitudes of Bakugou and Toga. I strongly and fundamentally disagree with anyone who’d support or defend these ships and it honestly annoys how much some fans desperately force their interpretations over other fans, but otherwise you can like what you like. I just reserve the right to hate what I want to hate and sadly, your ship checks off all of the wrong boxes.

[cowbutch-chastity]

FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

"FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

Post recommendations for your ten favourite fanfics and tag the authors if possible. Tell us what you like about their work.

Tag five people of your choice to do the meme too."

I was tagged by both @heroinejinx and @ghostofyaz 

Since I like so many ships I’m going to separate them by ship and do a few for each one (ending up with 12 fics total), tagging the authors mentioned if I can find their Tumblr (If anyone knows the ones I couldn’t find, lemme know)

Warning: a large portion of these are NSFW and general TWs on the appropriate ones

LIGHTCANNON 

- A Tasty Progress Day by @booking-and-blogging This fic is part of Elfen’s Growth not Pain series, and I unfortunately have not had the chance to read the other fics in the series, however you should also read Non Linear Growth, as this fic is part of that story. This is a great piece of smut that contains a lot of good humor and a very unique take on Lux that I greatly enjoy. Easily my favorite Lightcannon piece I’ve read. The prose is wonderful, the emotions are real, give this fic and it’s predecessors a read.

- The Saga of Lightcannon by @cannibalelf This fic by Cannibal is a monster of a wonderful AU, I remember the day on the Lightcannon discord when the idea for a Norse mythology AU was proposed, and Cannibal delivered it guns blazing. The prose is beautiful, the action is thrilling, this interesting take on Lightcannon is a must read if you want to see Jinx beat the shit out of some monsters with a big ol Axe while Valkyrie Lux watches her very gayly. (TW for extreme violence)

MOICY 

- Biological Imperative by @redundantharpoons I believe that this piece is THE quintessential Moicy work. It follows a slight AU that allows Moira and Angela to interact without world ending dangerous and being on opposite sides, and features a wonderful story exploring the way these two interact, and how the prepare to raise a child together. A fantastic work with some lovely sex scenes that made me cry more than once. (TW for many upsetting things in general)

- Ethical Healing by @idle-lark Lark just gets Moira as a character I think, and even though this fic is from the perspective of Angela, it does a wonderful job exploring her and the gray morality that comes with her. Lark’s dialogue is to die for, and watching Angela and Moira slowly struggle with their mutual attraction and what their relationship would mean for their work is wonderful, I’m constantly gripping my chair waiting for the next chapter. Also Moira has a dog named Darwin, and I would die for him.

GRIDDLEHARK

- sting of a wasp by @griddleshark and @thalergetic I’m a sucker for modern AU’s and this fic is probably one of the best in terms of Griddlehark. Gideon and Harrow are very believable characters, they struggle with communication despite their intense want for each other, and the way this fic is written allows you to really experience that. It’s hot, it’s fun, it has jealous and stone butch Gideon and lamp shopping and I love it.

-  Holy Cross, Alaska by softieghost This series is another interesting look at Modern AU Griddlehark, but with the fun kick of putting the two together in a cabin for three months and seeing what happens, and then exploring the depths of their new kinship afterwards in a cross country road trip. The first fic is very emotionally impactful, and does a good job of depicting a character who’s experiencing a psychotic break, as well how Gideon does her best to support Harrow and get her the help she needs. (TW for many upsetting things in general)

CAMPAL

- this time we're done for by @darlingofdots This fic changed my brain chemistry 8 times over, the AU takes Camilla and Palamedes and puts them in the Cohort together as Captain and Physician, and lets the inherent eroticism of nursing someone’s wounds do the rest. Seriously this is some of the best sexual tension I’ve ever read, the little flirts the two give each other while Camilla is fucking bleeding out is fantastic, and then navigating their relationship after finally coming together is utterly stunning. PLEASE read this fic. (TW for extreme violence)

- insatiable is what she is by @palamedes-sextus Honestly it was kind of hard to choose from Necropal’s wonderful selection of works, but I believe this one is my favorite. It’s a post Nona AU where Cam and Pal finally get a bit of domestic bliss, enjoy it, and the have wonderful sex. The smut is lovely, the feelings are very well written, the prose and dialogue are lovely, go give this fic a read. And while you’re at it check out the rest of Necropal’s works.

SYLVAINA

- Last Resort by @sniperct Boy, this one is a fucking doozy. A political marriage AU for Jaina and Sylvanas that initially sets them as brutal enemies, and then explores how hatred and pain can blossom desire, which becomes a needy and strong love. It asks a lot of interesting and challenging questions regarding the ethics of undead in WOW, and how a relationship can change and grow overtime. I have not had the chance to read it’s sequel yet, but if the writing is anywhere near the same quality I’m sure sniperct did a wonderful job with it.

- Chainmaker by @calchexxis A lich queen Jaina AU that sets up a wonderful “Queen/Knight” aesthetic between Jaina and Sylvanas. This fic has an awesome plot with a lot of unique and fun side characters, wonderful fight scenes, great sex scenes, and a really interesting look again at Undead in wow. Cal’s prose is fantastic as is the case with all of their work, and you should certainly give this fic a read.

SHIARA 

- Resolve by Talaraine Resolve is probably my favorite post destroy ending fic in the Mass Effect fandom. It’s a really cool delve into Shepard and Liara when they are apart from each other, as well as their relationship to other members of the ME cast. It has some great action scene’s a lot of plot and mystery, and a lot of gay yearning/pining. (TW for some upsetting things)

- Death and the Healing by @thewriterinthebatcave with art by @shipsnthenight another awesome post destroy ending fic that takes a slightly different take on Shepard and Liara. What I really love about this fic is how they explore Shepard not as a war hero or a savior or a soldier, but as a person who has been absolutely broken by the awful things they have seen. The fic previous in the series, Comatose With Common Sense, has my favorite character study of Shepard from any fic I’ve read. And all of the art included is lovely. (TW for many upsetting things, mind the author’s TWs as well)

[hunxi-after-hours]

《海中爵》: a crash course

by 七药

Summary:

When Hailian, a talented assassin, gets on the wrong side of the royal secret police in Tisu, he has no choice but to escape to the high seas until trouble dies down at home. Until then, he drifts where the waves take him, doing what he does best — cutting throats, stealing gold, and stealing hearts.

He doesn’t expect a Nanhong naval ship to appear on the horizon, nor does he expect this ship to capture theirs. Most of all, he doesn’t expect the infuriating, devious Nanhong captain to offer him a deal: all of their lives and an unholy sum of gold, so long as Hailian assassinates someone for him.

Everything about this smooth-talking, deep-pocketed Fang Tinglan is untrustworthy, but as storm winds rise and the political vortex deepens, Hailian may have no other choice than to throw in his lot with the smiling villain he knows.

or, in 七药’s words:

海连：方停澜撒过的谎，连起来能绕海岸线一圈

Hailian: If you string together all of Fang Tinglan’s lies, they can ring the entire coast.

方停澜：除了“我爱你”这句

Fang Tinglan: Except the words “I love you.”

海连：包括这句

Hailian: Including those words.

方停澜：……

Fang Tinglan: ...

一个关于海盗，刺客，政变，以及边打架边谈恋爱的故事。

This is a story about pirates, assassins, political coups, and fighting while falling in love.

some bullet point notes:

(bangs pots and pans) PIRATE! DANMEI! PIRATE! DANMEI! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

it’s got everything you love about pirate fiction, including but not limited to: boat battles, giant whirlpools and rip currents, detailed discussion of gunboat firepower, improbable acrobatics high up on masts, badass lady pirates and responsible princesses who take no shit, and an obligatory two-idiots-stranded-on-a-deserted-island sequence

also the audiodrama adaptation is 1) lowkey really good, and 2) completely free

(cups hands around mouth, yells) 跟我念句话 吴韬你是最棒的！

I came here for some fun enemies to lovers and 七药 gave me enemies to reluctant collaborators to friends to lovers to exes to reluctant collaborators to partners in political intrigue to lovers again (finally) and I thank her for it

the worldbuilding is solidly secondary world fantasy (well, no magic), which is fun to see! genre-wise it sits at the crossover of swashbuckling pirate fiction and political intrigue with the tiniest possible hint of wuxia-esque elements

I will never forgive the author for two things: 1) the four year mid-book timeskip and 2) 弗洛. justice for my sweet general boy, he would’ve given Fang Tinglan the shovel talk of his life

七药 really said that true evil is not violent crime perpetrated on the high seas by those abandoned by society, but rather systemic abuse of generational power that perpetuates class divides

Fang Tinglan sure is a lying liar who lies, but I have to admit that it was very sexy of him to casually engineer the destruction of a dynasty and walk away without looking at the explosion

I really was not expecting the thoughtful discussion of the merits of monarchy as an institution of governance or the deconstruction of the technological treasure trove trope in a book I picked up for swashbuckling pirate shenanigans but I’m into it

the supporting cast in this book is also phenomenal: you have the stone-faced intelligence officer Farooq, Hailian’s precious nerd sister Haiyu, wants nothing more than to be a corrupt politician but gets tricked into being a good regent Zhou Buyi, the walking comedy that is Aubrienne, the entire flock of children Hailian adopts along the way, and I wish we got more of promiscuous spymaster Mercury, he was pretty iconic

I really do love the way 七药 developed the relationship between Fang Tinglan and Hailian; though we get a lot of these two and their 默契 synchronicity (back! to! back! badasses! BATTLE COUPLE!!), they also have fundamental philosophical differences that lead to them clashing (see above: lovers to exes), and inform the respective ways they grow and develop as people

[erithel]

It’s definitely a thing. I cannot begin to count the confessions from klancers who after the fact just said they always hated him. Or they wrote klance fics and you can tell it’s not a labor of love- with a confession later on that yes they hated lance and purposefully wrote him like That(tm) because they think he’s a selfish no good asshole. There’s actually a really popular klance fic I know whose writer said if they did a rewrite of it they don’t want it to be associated with lance at all.

And it’s just heartbreaking.

And I don’t know, with the years gone by the makeup of the fandom really shifted from loving lance to despising/resenting/couldn’t really give a shit for him. And it really feel like klancers who only really like keith led this charge. I’ve seen another klancer said Lance isn’t a noble character while only Keith is. There’s others who said he contributed nothing to the show but followed allura around.

Just from observation even if they don’t despise lance or to the degree above, it’s like many klancers don’t think of him as a character that’s worth investing in? Keith in current prevailing klance content is given a lot of leeway, excuses and characteristics to mull over (or in the previous ask ppl like that give him positive canon Lance traits) but Lance is just… there in their content. He’s canon alluranceLance but to keith: to be the support and make Keith feel better or loved or simp over without any nuance or reciprocal. His complex canon traits and the early deeper fandom traits are just given away because his role is just Keith’s love interest or, worst, to be the asshole that Keith rises above and be superior to but also falls in love.

And it’s more blatantly clear when they on the occasion just replace Lance with any other character in their content and it’s literally a cut and paste same character but different names. There’s no investment, no thought to Lance’s person and there’s no love to him when you can just replace him with hunk/matt/lotor/allura/etc with Keith and it’s the same dynamic, same relationship and Keith reacts the same way.

People can have their opinions blah blah but I feel like the popular opinion on Lance in the klance fandom had really deteriorated for the worst since allurance. Like people feel like they can’t be mad at allura because they don’t want to be seen as something (which is true cause it’s not alluras fault) but taking it out on the male character who equally was a victim of bad writing is A-okay and passable. I rather they just find a different ship for keith and leave lance out of it if they dont even like him or make an OC to be shipped with Keith and be done with it.

Okay. (deep inhale) Hold my beer.

Holy shit this is really sad.

And honestly a bit problematic in my opinion, if you look at it from a deeper level.

Because people not being able to find the good traits in Lance’s character (that are definitely there, like wtf) means that they (like the showrunners) are operating with the mindset that people have to be the best at something to have value.

One of the most interesting things about Lance’s character for me was his insecurities. Mainly, how he didn’t think he was contributing anything to the team because he felt like everyone around him was better.

But what would happen if you took Lance out of the equation?

The team would still function, yes.  But they would function as coworkers, thrown into a situation and forced to get along because they had no other choice. 

Lance was the human aspect of the team, and that is just as important as being tech savvy, or a skilled fighter.

And I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to understand that they still have worth; that they can still contribute even if they aren’t The Best.

And oh, yeah, there’s the little thing about how there literally wouldn’t be Voltron at all if Lance wasn’t there?  Like in terms of contribution, thaaaaaaaat’s a pretty big one. 

Also damn, it’s doing such a disservice to Keith’s character if people are writing him in such a way where his partner is just there to simp of fawn over him. To me, that seems extremely out of character and honestly just plain boring.

Any kind of relationship is only good if both parties are getting an equal amount out of it.

Klance is good imo because they work well together.

Keith grew up an orphan, never feeling like he belonged anywhere. Always being the one to leave first. Lance grew up with strong family values, but a ton of personal insecurities about not feeling good enough/ constantly being compared to others.

Keith embodies self-worth to Lance. Lance embodies home and family to Keith. They inspire each other, learn to trust each other, and challenge each other.  But most importantly, they take no shit from each other.

I think this is where a writer would lose me if they are writing “Lance” who could easily be replaced by any other character, because the fun part of writing anything is learning to write the different ways characters might view the world or react to situations.

I get that some of these stories are most likely just Keith-glorification fics - and whatever, people can write what they write - but it will always be more interesting to me if someone actually takes the time to write a well-rounded character instead of just a space filler to just exist in the orbit of the character they really want to write.

And, look, I think I also deserve an award for waiting until the end to mention that the entire time, the gossipy bitch inside me was slamming her hand against the table demanding to know who this popular klance writer was you mentioned (out of sheer curiosity).  But in all honesty I’m glad you kept it anonymous. :)

[arcplaysgames]

Actually, no. lemme recap now because I bet once I meet the Big Bad and beat them it'll be like 2 hours of cutscenes and dialogue.

Where did I leave off-- REALLY? THAT LONG AGO? FUCK ME.

Okay SOMEONE remind me LATER to sum up Empress, because I completed it. Note to self, it's around 12/2 in your screencaps.

So Shido wins the elections because it turns out that no one saw the Thieves' big calling card for him, and those who did didn't remember it. There is obviously Some Shit going on with people's mass apathy syndrome.

Because Persona only has one theme and it's "people will be too lazy to pay attention to the truth, fucking sheeple," I guess.

/clucks tongue. I'm not really impressed by this turn of the story, I'm kinda Over the slow increase in apathy that winds up being the undoing of the world until we beat up a god and save everyone. This is the third time, I would have shaken shit up by having the Hidden Big Bad send the Thieves a calling card, demanding they come protect their Treasure, and then you meet the Big Bad and just gimme a villain with a motive, goddamn. It's a supernatural story, the sky's the limit!

I shouldn't kvetch too much yet. Anyway, Shido admits to his crimes, but the populace doesn't seem to care and still supports him.

Shido's lackeys basically go "okay Shido had a major meltdown buuuuuut we can still carry his agenda forward bc if we don't, we're all going down with the ship here."

Excellent question. In P4G I had a pretty strong idea what was doing that and here I do not, can y'all drop some hints?

Morgana points out that the general public has a Palace and has a Treasure. It's Mementos. So if the crew wants to force a mass shift in the world's perception, they can do that. But like all other Palaces, when the Treasure is taken, Mementos will collapse, to be replaced with new, corrected cognition.

In the process, the crew will lose their powers. Oh and Morgana is gonna die.

The game hasn't said that part yet but if they didn't kill Ryuji, they're gonna kill Morgana, fucking bet.

I love you, Morgana Notacat.

This was actually where I got my idea of what Morgana is. Morgana's upgraded Persona is Mercurius/Hermes. Yanno, the god of messages, of thieves, of swiftness, and well-known classic psychopomp.

Morgana keeps remembering himself being born in Mementos. He's without a doubt some manifestation of humanity's rebellion against systems, the literally cognitive patron saint of Phantom Thieves. He's a mascot in the most literal sense, an emblem of good luck for the Thieves' work.

Even the fact he's a cat kind of fits in nicely. Cats are free spirits who opt-into being it other people. They are creatures of choice.

I'm gonna be big sad when Morgana fucking dies lemme tell you. I'm pretty sure he's, like, sustained by Mementos and the plan is to collapse it? Yeah, Morgana is fucked.

Goddamn HERMES, that's so cool. Morgana, our psychopomp into the bowels of the collective unconsciousness.

GODDAMIT NOTIGOR WHAT DO YOU WANT, IT IS CHRISTMAS FUCKING EVE, YOU BETTER GIMME PRESENTS.

I know that you know that we all know that this isn't Igor but sometimes it fucking floors me how much he isn't Igor, jesus fucking christ. Who tf is this guy. I hope he's the Big Bad somehow bc there ain't anyone else at this point.

Please don't pull another It Was The Gas Station Attendant, Persona, I'm fucking on my knees begging you.

lmao i love the game poking the player to ensure they noticed Morgana is acting odd

Deep in Mementos is... this..... uh..... thing. A bunch of otherworldly veins flowing down into the core.

/looks nervously around

so uh. is it a hot take to say that, uh, the last segment of this game here, the Mementos Depths, is the ugliest place in the game? Just wondering because wow working through this place, I was struck by how completely aesthetically unappealing all of this is. It should be mysterious and eerie but mostly I am finding it.... blurgh. I thought Kaneshiro's Palace was pretty unappealing too, but this is bad enough I feel the need to remark on it.

/gestures at screen. What is all this????? oh god it reminds me of the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2. Except that game came out in 2010 for the previous generation console. /winces

Anyway.

The Depths of Mementos is a prison of complacency.

All of the Shadows the Thieves defeated are in the prison cells. They are relieved to be there, where they don't have to think. Everything is taken care of for them.

Man, remember back in Persona 3 when it turned out that defeating all the Full Moon shadows was actually the thing that doomed the world? Wouldn't it be hilarious is the Thieves fucked all this up the whole time? l m a o.

I honestly don't know if that's what's happening here yet, I haven't reached, like, the Explanation, but it does feel a bit like alllllllll the way back at the start of the liveblog when I was contending with the ethics of the entire idea of stealing someone's heart and what it does. The game went out of its way to justify doing it with Shido's attempted suicide, but the bridge to far for me (and thankfully for Ann too) was killing these people.

But now what happens seems to be akin to ego death instead, and.... I dunno, man, is that much different than murder?

SIGHS LOUDLY

okay is that true or is this another fucking situation where Izanami is like "WELL REALLY when you THINK ABOUT IT all I'm doing is giving humanity what they really want soooooooooo it makes you think huh, doesn't it make you think"

MAYBE THE GAME WILL PROVE ME WRONG, I DUNNO YET.

oh my god. oh my god.

IGOR!!!!!!!! IGOR IS IN THERE!!!!

LEMME IN!!!!!! LEMME IIIIIIIIN I NEED TO SEE HIMMMMM I NEED TO TALK TO HIM I MISS HIM sobs

yeah no, bet, it's igor's cell. which means Notigor locked him up? maybe Notigor is the final boss, that'd be great, it'd slot in perfectly with this place being a prison and Reverie having been stuck in the shitty Velvet Prison this whole time.

please igor help me, i'm so tired of the edgelord execution shit.

PSYCHOPOMP MORGANA!!!!!!!!!!

me pressing my face against the bars whispering I'll be back for you igor i love you

lol what if it isn't even igor in there can you imagine

[purlturtle]

❤️🧡🤍🩷💜A WLW ASK MEME❤️🧡🤍🩷💜 List the top 10 ladies you’ve been obsessed with Ever Of All Time! Then send this on to 5 sapphic mutuals 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

Oh wow thank you!

And, I just saw your own answer to this, and I gotta say I relate so hard to the "fictional ladies only" part. When I latch on to someone, it's typically a fictional character, because we know both so much about them (what the story tells us) and so little (the spaces in which we can make up our own ideas and headcanons). And the second half especially is never for me to become obsessed with someone, and it just doesn't sit right with me to do that with real people.

Also, I don't have ten to list, no matter how I slice it. "Obsessed" is a big word; for me, that's the point where I actively (not just reactively in response to someone else's thoughts) think about that character, their backstory (both canon and imagined), their reactions to situations and scenarios, sometimes the question of shipping, all that.

Yeah, of those, I got four.

Deanna Troi was my first love, and will always be my Imzadi, in a way. I identified so much with her. I too felt emotions so strongly, and it was great and wonderful to see that depicted as an *asset*, as something cherished not just by her but by the people around her, as something central to her life and her profession. Also, to see her defend that life and her choices against her mother, who wanted different things for her, and seeing her state very clearly that no, she was choosing *this* path and it was good for her? Came at an entirely crucial time (I was ten when I started watching TNG. It was airing then, so it accompanied me till I was seventeen) to help me take a similar stance with my life.

I also adored the relationship she had with Riker. I adored that even though they broke up, and *badly*, he supported her. Not her him - those storylines are myriad, and often to the woman's detriment, unfortunately - but HE SUPPORTED HER. Without afterthought, just because he still cared for her. I fucking loved that. No jealousy, no pushing, just care offered freely. It spoke to me and shaped me just as much as identifying with her did.

In checking out what else Kate Mulgrew had done, because I didn't want to stop looking at her face and gestures, nor listening to her voice, I found Warehouse 13, and both Myka Bering and Helena Wells full-on whammied me.

I met Kathryn Janeway, *really* met her, in my early thirties. I hadn't watched Voyager when it aired - don't even really know why; just that I didn't - and got my teeth into it DEEPLY after a bad breakup. I instantly fell in love with her. I didn't want to *be* her (that, I already had with Deanna 😂😂), I wanted to be with her. Honest to Xena imagined myself onto Voyager, half like a teenager, half in the fiercest case of "I can fix her" that you can imagine. This obsession carried me into writing, and that carried me, slowly but surely, into fandom as a community space, not just a solitary "I love this show" feeling.

This was the first *ship* I became obsessed with, and that hasn't stopped. I don't ship anyone else as hard as I ship them, and for the first time, I experienced an obsession that wasn't immediately personal (no "I want to be her" no "I want to be with her" just "LOOK AT THEM AAAAARGHH"). I wanted them together. I wanted them to heal each other, for Myka to make Helena better and for Helena to make Myka "worse" (as in, less rule-bound, able to let go and enjoy herself more). I wanted them to be happy ever after, but I also ADORED the pain of them being denied that along the way, because it made them both more complex, more real characters. Helena had so much baggage, had gone through so much (Myka too; I'll get to her) - it would have felt too fairytale for Myka to just waltz in there and suddenly everything was peachy. And I LOVED that the writers sent Helena away to deal with her shit on her own. I know the Doylist explanation is that Jaime didn't have time to appear more often on the show, but the way that the writers chose to deal with that rings so fucking true for her character and her arc. Yes, my heart broke when Myka said that HG was who knew where (God, Jo's face when she stares teary-eyed and forlorn into empty space should come with a fucking warning). And yes, my heart broke in Instinct all over again. But it makes sense. It makes so much sense to me, and I love and respect the writers for giving Helena that. The space to search for healing on her own terms, *on her own*. Fucking feral over it.

And Myka. Closed off from pain incurred through loving and caring. Still protective as fuck so that others might not incur such pain. Like, her loss didn't make her callous! She doesn't take it out on others; she brings it all inside. (And I will love Pete forever for seeing that, and both respecting it and yet still being there, poking in ways that are so very him and yes, probably infuriating at times but also, maybe, the exact thing Myka needed. That man has an instinctive emotional intelligence that is astounding, if you're ready to overlook him licking mustard off Farnsworths.)

I love them. I am obsessed with them. I want to put them in every story I see. I want to make them find each other in the show's canon, in every AU I can think of, in every way I can think of. Their story - both them as individuals and the dynamic between them as a couple - is so fucking intriguing; it's the ultimate catnip and I am full-on addicted. And it is through them that I finally found a home in fandom as a community space, with all my other wonderfully deranged Bering and Wells shippers, all equally feral about them. And I love it; I love y'all, I love this us that we have.

To see her fall in love without even realizing it was - ungh. AND WITH A WOMAN. FUCK ME. JUST. ARGH.

Nothing I've ever felt for any other character comes close to these four. They hold a special place in my life and in my heart, and that is why I'm putting only these four here and not more. Anyone else I were to put next to them would be a desaturated blurry blob, overexposed and overshadowed by these four queens.

Thank you for asking! I loved having the opportunity to gush about these ladies who have my heart.

[prozac-shaped-urn]

If I could somehow make a group chat on here I 100% would but I can’t so here’s the next best thing.

@droughtofapathy and @voltives I wanna thank you both for not telling me to shut up about Hacks even tho neither of you really give a shit about the show. I know all of us fangirls (gender neutral) have our thing we get excited about That No One Cares About But Us, so I know it’s a universal thing and shouldn’t feel like you’re doing something nice, but it does. I’ve spent a collective 20 years of my life entrenched in fandom and my experience has been largely positive, but it’s fandom. Weird shit happens daily. Nasty toxic shit happens hourly. I’m no stranger to the drama and bullshit that comes along with squeeing on a public platform.

It’s nice to be able to fangirl my heart out without fear of being judged or ridiculed for a particular stance on something. I learned I don’t need to be in a fandom in order to experience being a fan, and in fact I like it better this way — by myself, alone, on my own blog, collecting shit I like, not worrying if me saying I don’t ship Avorah is gonna come back to bite me in the end!

It was a hard break from the cycle of paranoia and defensiveness I lived in for 20 years, but it’s been very beneficial for my mental health. Fandom is a fantastic and enriching experience I hope most people are able to have at some point in their lives, and there’s nothing quite like it, but I’m not the kind of person who can casually engage with others about my favorite things. And the mercurial nature of fandom does not mix well with my hyper-vigilance and need to constantly prove I’m right about everything. I get far too invested in things that don’t matter. It turns my life into a constant state of preparedness. I hate who I become when I’m in that state. It’s not good for me. And that’s a shame because I miss it! I miss talking with people and sharing things and growing friendships. I miss the community of fandom. It’s really hard to be a lone wolf, but it’s less stressful knowing that I don’t have to censor myself or provide receipts or constantly defend the writers’ choices. Will any of it matter in a year? NO. So why get upset about it? Because it’s how my brain works; that’s why!

Thank you both for just letting me say my thing and not pushing me away. I know you get it! I know you do. But yeah. It feels nice. Supportive. Like of course you’d both do the same thing and expect me to behave the same way, but idk. Just feels good. Unexpected but in a positive way.

Did any of that make sense?? I’m gonna assume it did unless you tell me differently lmao

[trickstarbrave]

i hate most veganism conversations bc it always no argument against them is ever enough despite how "compassionate" they say they are and it usually goes back to being western "humans are separate from nature" ideologies or racism or pure ableism

"factory farms are bad which is why you shouldnt use animal products"

thank you for education about factory farms, but i feel there is a middle ground between "no animal products ever" and "actively supporting factory farms". stuff like sustainable bee keepers also help plant based ethical agriculture that you need for your food systems. stuff like backyard eggs and sustainable honey are ethical sources of food without death and i also dont have a moral issue with a living animal dying because that happens in nature all the time

"no. thats not good either. no animal LIKES dying and you dont HAVE to use animal products, therefore you dont get to. and honey and eggs are still bad because the animals have been domesticated and bred for these purposes which makes it unethical because humans had a role in it"

you misunderstand the processes of domestication and that if a species wouldnt benefit from it as well it simply wouldnt happen. domesticated animals in ethical, non-factory settings do live longer or safer lives than their wild counterparts. and also no, because of my various health conditions a fully plant based diet is not doing to be possible for me. for example i can't absorb omega-3s from seeds and nuts very well at all and i need to take a fish oil supplement to have any hope of absorbing it well.

"well not everyone in society should have to live according to YOUR needs. fine, you can keep your shit since you apparently "need" it but we should just do away with it otherwise because its bad for everyone else, morally wrong all the time, and bad for the environment"

removing it for everyone else means policing other people's health and bodies to determine whether or not you think they "deserve" it or not because they have no choice or if they should be forced to make due with subpar nutrition because of your moral principles. it will ultimately cause more harm, remove education on nutrition, and make it harder to access these things for someone like me who needs it. and also a lot of cultures have used animal products like eggs and meat and milk for thousands of years without destroying the environment, and trying to ban it for them too is blaming them for western factory farming based agriculture and destroying their cultural heritage in the process.

"no one's culture should involve eating meat"

well it does because humans have been eating meat longer than recorded history. in a lot of places meat is a more reliable source of protein and calories and other essential vitamins and minerals than plants. your lack of respect for other cultures outside of your own makes you a bit of a dick

"okay but that was BACK THEN. we dont HAVE to eat meat anymore. things can change"

you're right, but that abundance of plant based food sources is due to unsustainable agriculture. the same model that made factory farms also makes unsustainable mono-crop fields and run offs of pesticides and over-uses farm land and harms and exploits workers. it causes as much damage as factory farmed meat and the two industries are heavily intertwined with cheap grain bi-products humans cant eat going to feed livestock and livestock manure used in farms or cycled back to feed fish. if you want to truly end exploitation in the agricultural industry and save the environment that will involve giving up the conveniences of having whatever fruit and vegetables you want year round regardless of weather or where you live because shipping that produce from exploited workers is also causing real ethical harm and pollution in the world and is contributing to climate change. where you live it might be easy to sustain yourself only on a plant based diet because you have a wide variety of things you can cultivate for a balanced diet, but for other ppl it will involve some animal products or even a good amount of meat sources ethically and the animal used as much as humanly possible from organs to bones to skin and fur.

this is also usually supplemented with claims and facts taken out of context (like saying livestock eat way more grains than people do in the US especially--when livestock are eating grain by-products from ethanol production or stuff human beings cant or wont eat), or a false equivalency time and time again of factory farms = all animal agriculture or hunting ever, or insisting you are having cognitive dissonance because "its human nature to love and care about animals therefore if you kill and eat them you're a psychopath"

anyways tumblr stop with the "BASED ON YOUR LIKES" thing youre making me mad

[thebrokengate]

Stranger Things and Murphy’s Law

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, so says Murphy’s Law, and.. boy oh boy were they right about this one.

Early this morning, I finished Vol. 2 of Stranger Things season 4, and like all the rest of you, I have many thoughts to discuss. But most of all, these thoughts are a collection of complete and utter disappointment and grief that I’ve been mulling over on and off for the past 14 hours. I don’t expect anyone to read this entire thing at all, but I will go into the many reasons why I absolutely despised this volume - and by the way.. not even all of it was ship related. So, let’s begin as clearly and concisely as I possibly can, section by section.

VFX.

I should’ve known already going into the first few minutes of episode 8 that things weren’t going to turn out as well as they should for the finale of this season when I saw Vecna again, trapping Nancy in a trance. Granted, the VFX for Vol. 1 weren’t the best thing I’ve ever seen from this series admittedly effects wise, but I felt it held up much more there than it even did here in the first part of Vol. 2. One of the first shots of Vecna in the hallway of the lab was definitely just Jamie Campbell Bower in a suit, and the vine effects tying Nancy down to that chair were subpar mixed with the lighting, removing at least a portion of my immersion already which is.. not a good start. Considering the team was still editing VFX up until the very last moment this time around, I probably should have expected as much for this half of the season to feel rushed, but this is only a minor complaint in comparison to everything else.

Queerbait.

Oh boy, was that a steaming pile of something. Now, whether you agree that Mike ever reciprocated Will’s feelings or not, you should at least be able to agree that it was pretty shit of the marketing team to hype up Byler, for the Duffers to talk so highly of Will’s painting, feelings for Mike, and sexuality, and rope the cast into doing the same when asked (the cast are all under contract here, there’s things they have to do and say and are given little choice in the matter - it’s them or their jobs - so I can’t really put blame on them for this, especially those in the cast who are still young and/or don’t understand how bad queerbait like this actually is), promising big things to get us all excited, only for it to completely fall flat in the end. The El/Mike/Will love triangle was plain and simply a repeat of the same tried love triangle of season 3, if only played up much more this time around for no real purpose. In the end, all three characters have been reduced and dearc-ed (Will - the sad, lonely, pining gay boy. Mike - the character whose sole purpose has become the one-dimensional love interest, grossly attached to and obsessive over El to where his entire life revolves around her existence to the point he’s become unrecognizable. El - the girl with superpowers who can’t live without her teenage boyfriend’s reassurance and lost all progress in regards to standing on her own), and we’re right back to square zero with all three of them - not even square one at this point. They’ve been building up Will’s feelings for Mike since season 1 along with this clingy, depthless, unhealthy romance between Mike and El that started in the span of a single week when El knew nothing of relationships and little of the outside world, and they’ve reduced Mike’s feelings for her basically to “needing to be needed” instead of basing it on friendship or common interests - just two people that are leaning on each other for the shallowest levels of support - and it really comes across as codependent and unhealthy. The relationship was given nothing to stand on while Mike and Will’s relationship was given everything (emotional depth, frequent heart-to-hearts, the ability to open up to each other about everything and understand each other so well, common interests, close friendship, etc.), and yet somehow Mike and El’s relationship still prevails in the end and Will gets the bottom of the barrel. After 4 seasons, if M*lev*n was always meant to be the endgame couple, making Will’s crush on Mike for so long with all of this build-up to nothing in the end - not even a glaringly ambiguous hint to reciprocation - makes the entire plotline completely and utterly pointless and there is not even a fraction of a payoff here. Not for anyone in the love triangle, and especially not Will.

Getting personal. Rejection sensitive dysphoria.

Leading off from that poorly handled love triangle, as someone who relates heavily to Will, the entire thing felt like a personal attack on queer people such as myself and a good portion of this now crumbling fandom. And as I’ve been relating heavily to what Will has been put through these past two seasons, it felt like even more of an attack on me, as suddenly I was right back in my senior year of high school, being pushed aside completely and replaced by my then best friend who I had fallen in love with. I never let myself come off that way to them, and much like Will, I was guarded with my feelings, even as it killed me inside to watch them become distant for reasons I couldn’t understand why. I felt like I had done something wrong even when I hadn’t, and no matter how I tried to fix it, there was never a happy ending and it all fell apart. Sometimes people leave your life for no reason, and it left me virtually traumatized to real relationships. And much as I relate to Will, I was excited to see him receive the happiness I never could in love.. but that’s not what happened. There is no hope in such a message that we must suffer in silence while we watch the people we love pull away from us, and worse in this fictional world where the entire love triangle has become one-dimensional and without proper compelling growth. None of it was necessary, nor did it feel genuine.

Humor.

Short bullet point here, but even the little bit of humor we did get this volume felt dry and flat. Some of the humor I wasn’t a fan of in Vol. 1, but I vibed with it more then than Vol. 2.

Predictability, continuity, and story flaws.

There was no moment of revelation or anything this volume that was up to the standards of the Duffers’ usual writing, which felt very off, fake, and rushed in general. Everything was predictable, at least somewhat guessable (Eddie dying, Max going into a coma, El saving the world yet again, just to name a few), many things were left unanswered (actually raising more questions instead on every level - from bts things to actual story, character, and dynamic questions), the continuity and consistency between volumes was completely off and removed, queer people were given the short end of the stick (with both Robin and Will) as per usual in mainstream meida, character assassinations and dearcs were commonplace, and overall, it was unsatisfying on all accounts. Not even seeing Vecna burn felt like payoff, and actually, you know your story is going badly when you’re even sitting there agreeing with the villain about letting Hawkins basically go to hell and letting everyone die, even beloved characters that you never would have said you cared less for in your entire life. Vol. 1 made me worry for everyone’s safety, and I even cried thinking about the possibility of certain deaths. Vol. 2 however.. left me so unsatisfied with everything I witnessed that I couldn’t care less what happens to any character next season because I felt so done with everyone and everything by the end. I probably won’t even be watching season 5, or at least I’ll let it sit for a while and read reviews from you all (if you’re even still around after all this) before I even think about watching it. At this point, it’s clear to me the Duffers aren’t trying any new concepts, especially dynamically, and every character always seems to inevitably fall back in line to their same placements and lose all growth by the end of seasons these days, and it’s getting annoying and it makes it difficult for people to watch your show as a chore. So many characters are now back exactly where they started, and if there’s one thing I hate more than anything in media, it’s dearcs. Losing complete and total progress for your character is not good writing, and when this keeps happening, there’s clearly some dynamics you need to shake up and change whether you lose money for doing so or not. At least it will be something different and actually unexpected, and maybe even something we might like in the end. Losing progress unnecessarily makes your entire story pointless.

I would rate Vol. 1 as a 4.3/5 stars.. but unfortunately Vol. 2 is going as barely a 1/5 stars, and funnily enough that point goes to Eddie “Don’t ya, big boy?” Munson, just for that gay line delivery to Steve. Joseph Quinn, you’re a real one for that.

Lastly, before I post, I just want to say: this will be my last post here for a while. I will be removing myself from Tumblr, especially this corner of Tumblr if not completely, for some time. How long, I’m not entirely sure, I wish I could give you an estimate. But with complete disappointment all across the board, it’s ruining my mental health to keep reading and I stay disheartened. I will still go back and enjoy everything pre-Vol 2 and forget Vol. 2 ever happened - I’ve elected to ignore it and live with my own canon, as that’s what brings me the most comfort to do, whether that makes me completely delusional or not. But I can’t do that if I stay here, at least not right now. I’ve met some wonderful people here, and I’ll always cherish you guys for going crazy with me through all this, and I’m sorry to every single one of you who are just as disappointed as I am and hope you can find peace and happiness again in your own way with this series, and if not, with something new and amazing. I’ll still check in here periodically, and my messages and asks are still open if you want to contact me. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. I love you all so, so much, and please take good care of yourselves. Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far. I will see you again one day soon. <3

[babsvibes]

Logan is my favorite too! I find myself defending him more than necessary though. You said "I get why people hate the kid" so what's your take on the fandom hate?

Oh sweet darling, I am giving you a hot chocolate and sending my love 💕 I’m right there with you. Logan has all these fun lines and traits that help create stories that actually challenge our other beloved character, so of course people adore him. And, also, of course people hate him. If you want a seminar on how to soften people to this little shit (affectionate), that’s a different long post lol. Right now, we’ll deal with fandom perception.

My take is that it’s easy to hate Logan, especially if you’re looking surface level. He’s an antagonist, a teen antagonist who is going to make teen mistakes at that. He and a fan fave butt heads. If a person doesn’t want to think about why he might act the way he does (and they’re not obligated to even if there is material to draw conclusions from), then it’s an uncomplicated issue. Where it gets complicated is how people express those views. I’ll get into this in a sec, but first here’s a practical method to dealing with hate.

Ask yourself two things when you come across something that makes you uncomfortable:

Was this created to hurt me specifically? If yes, then block and filter to the best of your ability. Nothing you can do will force that person to feel empathy or gain perspective outside of themselves.

If it was not created to intentionally hurt you, ask why you’re uncomfortable? What might be the reason for the creator to make something that causes discomfort, and can you find it in you to allow other people the chance to make their own choices?

People will always have a storm of nuance hiding just under the skin, but how we choose to act on and react to that nuance defines us. Bringing us to a funny thing about fandom reactions. Mentions of death threats below the read more.

The main problem I have with fandom hate is that, because some viewers equate Louise to a person with the ability to feel and react, that means they have the ability to justify calling me an abuse apologist while simultaneously telling me to kill myself. That’s a real thing that has happened btw, and I wish I was exaggerating lol. Other instances of fandom nonsense like tagging ships and characters in hate are also pretty common.

What helps is to practice critical thinking as to why a person might be driven to act the way they do (I know, it’s crazy that you can use these principles for more than analyzing media lol). More often than not, it’s someone facing a feeling of powerlessness in their life. This can be for any number of reasons. Besides the general state of the world constantly crunching out powerlessness, maybe it’s a teenager who doesn’t have a lot of control over their own life. They’re experiencing more of the world and learning terms for behaviors that are Wrong but have little power to make change or Fix it. Creating spite fic and art and sending hate allows a person to reclaim their power in a way that feels justified and uncomplicated. The mean boy gets punished and the mean people who like him can be sad about it. Boom, easy, done.

And please don’t think I’m guiltless. It’s My Party was originally conceived as a spite fic. The meaning changed before it got posted, became something more with a purpose outside of spite, but it doesn’t stop that I was feeling that powerlessness—that the people posting in the character tag and ship tag about how much they hate my favorite stuff, sending me death threats, etc. can do so without consequence. My only form of power is to block and move on, but I was struggling with the moving on part. That’s what I think about when I see people trying to harsh my mellow. They’re feeling powerless, and this will help them move on eventually.

It sucks. It really does. But if you keep making content, supporting creators, and talking with people who DO enjoy your thing then you will eventually drown out the negative voices. I promise.

[sweetrays]

About me: 

Just call me by my username I don't like using real names anymore

(bisexual transsexual male & 2 yrs on T) 

I write novels, short stories, and fanfiction

I draw novel illustrations and favorite characters

I'm autistic and therefore can be perceived  a little bit strange 

My dominant special interest fandom wise is Peter Pan stories. (Hook is my absolute favourite Peter Pan movie. You'll mostly see me talking about the character Rufio) 

I liked OUAT Peter Pan for a little while last year but it's not my thing anymore 

My other special interest is historical (mostly 19th century) fashion

A quick heads up:

I enjoy NSFW art, but I don't post any. There might be some reblogging of that here occasionally. 

A lot of the fanfictions I post are openly based off- have some sort of connection to my somewhat disturbing fetishes that involve characters dying or being hurt

I know some might not be comfortable with that.

If you'd like to be my friend please just skim through the readmore just in case you find my opinions distasteful. If you do, just block me I don't want trouble

My Internet Discourse Opinions

Stupid but very important in order to avoid ugly confrontations nowadays 🙁

"Proshipping" 

-the good pure holy shipping vs. icky yucky nasty evil creepy freak shipping stuff is bullshit. If you give me/a mutual shit over FICTIONAL ship your ass is getting blocked cause that's just a whole nother level of ridiculous. I do not condone the bullying and harassment that is so common in 'woke' fandom culture nowadays. It is disgusting that people are throwing around paraphilic accusations and words like p**o at innocent fanfiction authors who are just enjoying characters with no real malicious intentions. 

I come across ships on ao3 that absolutely disgust me on a day to day basis, even so, the last thing I'd want to do is be mean to the author/anyone who enjoyed that ship. That's because the author has just as much a right to write about just as I have the right to be uncomfortable. No character ship is illegal and people are allowed to be as gross or weird as they like as long as it remains fictional (which in 99.99% of cases no one is actively trying to encourage and/or normalising pairing that would be illegal irl) That's never how fandom, art, or fiction has ever worked. If you think otherwise, all I'm saying is you have some serious issues and you need help. 

When I write an age gap pairing I don't parade my fic around going "EVERYBODY START DATING YOUR FATHER!!" I tag with many warnings to avoid upsetting people who would be opposed to reading it + add a disclaimer explaining how I do not support such things in real life situations because I don't and neither does anyone else who ships 'problematic' things. 

Transgender discourse (neopronouns, etc) 

As a transgender male myself, I don't care what pronouns someone uses or what gender they claim to be. I am pro-block anti-harassment when I see someone I disagree with. 

However, I do block quite liberally when I see people saying that transgenderism is possible without dysphoria. Because it is not. Being trans is not a choice. Dysphoria is the cause of being trans. Even if it's just a tiny bit of dysphoria you are still valid. If you're a feminine presenting trans male, that is fine, if you're a masculine presenting trans female, that's fine too because even if you're trans you absolutely do not have to abide by society's confining gender stereotypes. 

But, if you are feminine presenting non-dysphoric afab going by he/him or a masculine presenting non-dysphoric amab going by she/her. That is not transgender. You just picked different pronouns. Which again, I don't care about the pronouns thing so whatever, but just please don't call that transgender because my brother in Christ, we are not the same. 

Therefore please leave me alone if: 

You have some sort of weirdly obsessive morality/legality bias against people minding their own business with character shipping in fandom

OR

Think that being trans is a choice. 

Thats all, have a nice day. Don't forget to block if you don't like me lol.