#rei is being coerced

[sinkat-arts]

Sunflowers and heart. 

[class1akids]

I honestly wish coercion never became a murky part of the todofam plot because the todofam fandom is worse than ever to navigate. With what we’re stuck with now, I’m willing to bet neither rei nor endeavor saw what happened as s/a and it will hit like a ton of bricks when they both see their separate therapists that yes this is a thing even if both parties were unaware at the time. I don’t even know if hori knows it. Like he obviously knows coercion is bad, but is he aware that by rei not wanting to for natsuo and shouto that it would technically count as s/a? For me such a topic is a step too far to enjoy todofam anymore and it’s sad because they were my favorite part of the manga. Just one of multiple disappointments in the final act.

Tbh, I'm not sure I understand well your ask. The element of coercion is not a last-minute addition - it has been the basic feature of Enji's and Rei's marriage, ever since we first heard of it back in Ch 31:

We did not know the specific details, but the underlying premise was established - the marriage was an unethical transaction - money for Rei's quirk with the understanding that children would be created until Endeavor got the tool he wanted for his own purpose.

The tension around Shouto's existence was also established already back then. How his resemblance to Enji is Rei's trigger...

... or how Shouto perceived his very existence to be a breaking point for his mother.

Children are perceptive this way. Just like Touya understood that he was being replaced, Shouto understood that his birth was a breaking point for Rei and in fact the whole family. The coercion, the sad truth that Rei did not want to give birth to Shouto is written between the lines already back then.

It makes the whole drama between Rei and Shouto that much more believable. If Rei breaks not "just" from being hit by Enji and being helpless to protect her child, but because there is a much deeper violation at play. Rei having to bear Shouto (and Natsuo) as part of a dirty transaction, something she even agreed to, the feelings of repulsion, then the feelings of guilt because Rei is fundamentally a good person who understands that the children are faultless in this situation.

Rei's limp pose as she can't bear to embrace Shouto as he clings to her...

... only then to touch him only on the right side.

Rei is trying her best, but the way she leashes out against Shouto makes more sense with this whole unwanted birth aspect added to the picture.

Just as Shouto sensing his mother's mixed feelings towards him make it believable why he would not try to see her for a decade, despite we know how much he loves his mother and how much he misses her. He believes that even looking at him is triggering for Rei.

And yes, it's a very dark origin, but it was never portrayed as anything else. The fact that Rei and Shouto are able to forge a positive relationship after all that is all the more precious. I'm sure Rei already had plenty of therapy (she spent 10 years in a mental hospital) and has faced most of her guilt, and Shouto reconnecting with her was the last push she needed to get back on her feet.

Shouto and Rei released each other from their respective guilts - so they could move forward and focus on recovery. Because while I'm sure Rei was coerced into having another baby, I'm also certain that she still loves him and is happy about his existence now.

As for Enji - I think he's definitely aware by now how screwed up the entire premise of his family was. Up until now he kept moving from crisis to crisis, having his hero work as an outlet for his feelings of guilt (like we saw in both the Nomu and AFO fights). But I think if he stops because he chooses or is forced to retire, all that crushing guilt will hit him (I hope).

I'm honestly more worried about Shouto who is still carrying the burden of his birth being a breaking point for the entire family, and what pushed Touya over the edge. Right now he's got a solid enough support structure at UA to deal with it, but I could definitely see him suffer from depression later in life.

[doodlegirl1998]

So we know of Rei getting put in a psyche ward when she burns Shoto. And from there she's supposed to be getting better, but it seems like the opposite when she says "We all have to take responsibility" and praising Endeavor for remembering her favorite flower.

The ONLY way I can interpret this is if Endeavor paid off the doctors to make her more susceptible to his words and make her believe he's good so if any chance Shoto dies or fails, she wouldn't put much of a fight to what he wants or has to say.

I wish we could see more of the negative side of Endeavor's abuse instead of the cushioning and retcons to make him better and play off his redemption.

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

I'm of a similar mindset to you. Rei's attitude and mindset now doesn't read like someone who has "gotten better" or truly healed from being mentally broken.

In fact, even now she still reads to me as someone mentally broken. But now also coerced and manipulated by Endeavor and the pysch ward staff into thinking how Endeavor wants her to - for his benefit.

The flower and the fact that it was even let in to Rei's room is atrocious, this is abuser tactic 101 into making the victim 'forgive' or 'go easy on the abuser' because the gift proves that they "aren't that bad deep down."

But they are. They know what they doing. Endeavor knows what he is doing.

The fact that we aren't seeing the negative impact of the abuse on Rei or any of the kids (bar Dabi) is awful writing and only there for Endeavor's benefit.

Imagine if we saw more prominent ugly things that would occur like;

Shoto having chronic nightmares of training.

Shoto flinching at unexpected touches or wondering why training at UA isn't as painful as it is at home.

Natsuo and Fuyumi experiencing the ugly impact of being unloved by their father

Showing Natsuo struggling with neglect in general, unintentional neglect from his mother (who was focusing on Touya and Shoto) and intentional from Endeav.

Showing Fuyumi struggling with parenting her brothers / bonding with Shoto as a mother figure.

Showing Rei having a full blown panic attack in hospital during a bad day when she is reminded of Endeav.

Showing Rei experiencing the full impact of losing a decade of her life inside hospital.

All of that makes Endeav harder for the reader to forgive doesn't it?

The fact that Hori is twisting the narrative of Rei and of the Todoroki kids to serve their abusers "redemption" sickens me.

[adamworu]

Hi, I was listening this NGE analysis/speculation from the time before 3.0+1.0 came out and as it mentioned Kaworu that left me a bit an odd feeling: "Shinji's relationships with Misato, Rei and Kaworu are very similar in one perspective, they all act as guardians to him, the first 2 being like distorted mother figures and Kaworu being like an older brother with a BL spin to it." (It overall trying to say that "therefore the relationship between Shinji and Asuka is the most special")

Shinji and Asuka had feelings for each other, sure, but that doesn't mean the relationship was wholesome. Neither of them saw eye to eye nor did they have any interest in doing so for much of the series. Misato is a guardian, but the relationship is unhealthy by virtue of Shinji being coerced into piloting the Eva. Misato’s ire toward her father unhealthily manifests toward a fronted anger at the angels which she pushes on Shinji. Shinji also pilots Eva to hear words of validation which ultimately... hold very little air. He is only lauded for as long as he’s obedient.

Rei wasn’t a guardian but her nature comes from being aggressively conditioned into motherhood roles, especially given the fact that she's a clone of Shinji's mother. She interacts with people should Gendo/Commander Ikari order it be done.

Kaworu never makes himself above Shinji, (hence my personal grievance with 'worth of my grace' in the Netflix version). Him wanting to make Shinji happy is of a romantic persuasion rather than a parental. The relationship Shinji and Kaworu have for one another is special because the happiness is mutual, though the relationship is far from perfect. Shinji sees Kaworu as an idealized version of himself rather than his own person. Kaworu misconstrues Shinji's happiness, having his feelings being dependent on Shinji's content rather than having happiness existent outside of him.

Kaworu states music as a form of communication and it’s alluded in the original series. In episode 9 (an episode I always allude to Shinji and Asuka’s relationship being detrimental with this getting the ball rolling), Shinji and Asuka have to sync up movements perfectly to kill the 7th Angel. The sync machine being always off with them is a sure canary in the coalmine. Rei’s being perfect with Shinji isn’t alluding to a good relationship but rather Rei doing as she’s told. Not only is she conditioned to be motherly, but she is conditioned to do things to a T. 

Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship is special on virtue that it’s the healthiest; there actually is a sense of communication. Nothing of it is actually forced. It’s chiefly mutual.

[haleigh-sloth]

I cut this ask into two parts because this top part is....idk. I can't ignore it. So, I'm seeing this topic all around today, not just in my inbox.

I'm honestly a little confused. The manga strongly implies....honestly it goes beyond implications at this point, that Rei was not in agreement with Natsuo and Shouto. I mean....she literally was arguing saying it's not a good idea, and too cruel, and pointing out how Endeavor's plan is affecting the two kids they already have.

Then, when does she agree?

After showing us this terrified look on her face. I could go back and watch how the episode handled it and see if they truly removed that implication from the scene, but actually I won't even refer to the anime for this. Refer to the source material, because she looked fucking terrified and disturbed by her husband in that moment, and next thing we see is two babies, and an exhausted, clearly on the verge of losing her shit Rei.

I do think the terms of consent for the first two are debatable. There is a whole other discussion to be had about Rei's "choice" to accept the marriage proposal. I've seen very decent points made about how it could go either or on the consent train there from the get go.

What I'll say I agree with is that Touya and Fuyumi were not coerced out of her out of fear. They were the result of an arrangement she stepped into (again, consent in this area is debatable and just an entire other discussion that doesn't belong here).

Natsuo and Shouto though--I don't know what else Hori could have done to portray the horrific preceding circumstances to their births, aside from showing more detailed insight into Rei's head, making the manga much, much darker than I think Hori was willing to go. It's not subtle, it's not hard to figure out.

Natuso and Shouto were CLEARLY born into a different atmosphere than the first two. There is just....no debating that.

I do not agree anon. I'm sorry but I don't view the circumstances that preceded Natsuo's and Shouto's births as those of Rei being in agreement. That is, beyond agreeing to maintain her end of the deal. Which still, you can see the difference before her "holding up her end" when Touya and Fuyumi were born and when Natsuo and Shouto were born.

Former child welfare worker (an investigator no less) here in the US--the system here is shit.

I can confidently say without a doubt that, remove all the super power aspects of the Todoroki household from the equation, and you have a case of emotional abuse and neglect that the system would have pretty much no authority over. That is, unless Touya's self-harm was discovered by someone who was willing to report it (and even then, not much the system can or will do about it besides order the family to get MH services), or until Touya's death.

Yeah, idk. It really sucks. And I don't take anybody seriously who has these takes because they clearly have no idea what they're fucking talking about, and that's not my problem.

As someone who works with these situations often, has been involved in the midst of some nasty cases, and is uhh pretty heavily educated and trained in these areas--it's really hard for me to engage with people who just...want to say things to sound smart or trying to make some kind of "gotcha" point. I can't take a lot of takes about Rei seriously--those that demonize her AS WELL AS those that absolve her in the like--I can't listen to a lot of people talk about Touya either. I literally have 0 patience for it.

[kenstewydyke]

Not the account called eternal girlhood coming at me and teaching me feminism like bffr. These brainwashed young girls who Romanticise childlike qualities (puke) and pedophilia to pander to obviously predatory older men under the garb of "coquette aesthetic" or lana del rey vinyl are doing so much harm to the movement because they're trying to appropriate the movement for women's liberation and infuse it with deeply patriarchal and blatantly anti woman values just so the men don't hate them. I'm not coming at the lana fandom at large because I'm myself a part of it but these mostly thin cis het white women who glorify rape and abuse and valourise the idea of "getting railed" by an older man ( I will actually throw up). It is extremely dangerous and does absolutely nothing for women but takes our movement backwards by centuries. Feminism isn't for men to find alluring or favourable. It is literally about ending the dominance men have had over society for millenia which they've used to coerce, beat, rape and mutilate us. At this point if someone isn't a misandrist they're straight up a male rights activist and a rape apologist. PERIODT. y'all need some heavy introspection. Stop being pick me's in the year of our lord 2023 its fucking embarrassing.

[egginfroggin]

What inspired you to make wtst and pandemonic Paradise ?

If you were to make another "Emmet-centric" AU, what would it be about ?

Honestly, I just wanted to make Emmet suffer, I think.

To be serious, though, I was introduced to Submas through Ingo's involvement in PLA, so a lot of my ideas involved PLA, either in worldbuilding (taking place in Hisui) or plot (taking bits of story from the game).

The idea for WtST came from me thinking about having one of the twins take the place of Akari/Rei in PLA, I think. Then I thought it would be fun to leave it vague as to which twin had been eeby-deebied, which resulted in the narration consistently avoiding Emmet's name and instead calling him "Faller" until the last two chapter. The scene that started it, I would say, was the one in chapter 3, where Emmet runs from Jubilife upon being banished. I wanted to write that, so I needed a story, and then the story needed an end.

So... basically, Welcome to Sinnoh's Temple is just the fruit of my desire to write angst while also testing the idea of Emmet being the PLA protagonist.

Pandemonic Paradise came about because I looked at the conflict with Volo in WtST and wanted to write a version of things where Emmet lost and Ingo wound up getting dragged into the aftermath. Pandemonic Paradise is very self-indulgent, and is something of an excuse for me to delve into writing some of the heavy emotions surrounding grief and loss. Also, I wanted to write Ingo getting well and truly angry. I enjoy pushing characters' emotions around -- especially characters who are normally mellow and non-confrontational.

Yeah. the Welcome to Sinnoh's Temple series really did just into being because I like angst, it seems.

What I would have another possible Emmet-centric AU be about is a very good question. Most of my ideas involve both of the twins, like Iced Tracks. I do very much enjoy digging into a character's psyche and emotions -- psychology fascinates me -- so I'd like to do something involving those, probably. I do have a vague idea for a fic wherein Emmet, deep in grief, is taken advantage of and winds up being coerced/manipulated/what-have-you into committing some very questionable actions involving space-time, mainly from his point of view.

However, that idea heavily involves themes such as emotional manipulation (in combination with emotional vulnerability), toxic and abusive relationships, emotional/mental abuse and coercion, and gaslighting, so I'd like to do some research on the topics involved before I write that.

(But boy does the idea rot my brain for a few nights about every month)

Perhaps you've noticed a common denominator with all my inspiration (it's angst, and it is very potent).

Thank you very much for the ask, Anon! Sorry that it took me so long to answer. I hope that this answered your question, and I hope you have a good day! <3

[lily-orchard]

Any more tropes you could add to TSR if you could?

Main

Ascended Glitch - The Orchards have a tendency of taking their writing flubs and running with them.

Aliana's hair at the start of the story looks more wavy than curly, and sticks out at odd angles. After being told that this wasn't anything close to how someone with curly hair would care for it, Orchard came up with the idea that Aliana was in a deep depression and not taking care of herself. Though the earliest illustration was redrawn with a better understanding of how to draw curly hair, this element was retained. Aliana ultimately started taking better care of herself in the third act, and this was remarked on in Two Loving Mothers.

Aliana's early demeanour was as a stoic snarker, but after being informed this played on negative stereotypes of black women, this was rewritten to be an act and the reader sees Aliana without that mask on the vast majority of the time.

Art Evolution - Aliana's face became more detailed and defined throughout the story's illustrations, and her colour palette has become less washed out and more high contrast.

Gunboat Dipolomacy - Aliana and Rey are extremely fond of this, usually threatening or coercing the Republic into working together. Doubles as characterization for Aliana, who watched her mother try to work peacefully within the Republic and get murdered by the Jedi for her trouble.

Smells Sexy - Rey is attracted to Aliana's scent, which she describes as being a mixture of wildflowers and cinnamon. Aliana is the same, and finds the scent of engine oil to be alluring because of Rey nearly always being covered in grease from her engineering work.

Tomboy and Girly Girl - Rey and Aliana respectively. Rey's aesthetic is utilitarian and decidedly low effort and the authors have passed around the idea of her being genderfluid, while Aliana is extremely feminine and can spend upwards of an hour on her appearance, even going as far as to wear makeup to battle.

YMMV

Base-Breaking Character - Aliana. Some readers see her as an inspirational and heroic character trying to make the best of a bad situation, getting vengeance for a wrong that's been done to her, and ultimately succeeding. Others are annoyed by the way she talks down to beloved legacy characters and even kills many of them like Mon Mothma and Luke Skywalker. Somewhat invoked as the Orchards knew she wouldn't appeal as a character to certain readers and made no effort whatsoever to change that.

Designated Hero - Aliana has many traits of modern sympathetic villains, such as a nominally socialist worldview, a bitter cynicism toward established power structures, and a willingness to murder those in power without hesitation. She even goes as far as murdering the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. In many stories she would be seen as a villain that needs to be stopped, or even a case of Villain Has a Point. Here she is depicted as a heroic figure, and those who question her methods are depicted as misguided at best, and as moronic at worst. To be expected, as both Orchards have a history of being deeply critical of the "revolutionary as bad guy" trope.

Fridge Brilliance

Early in the story, Aliana remarks about how she doesn't want to get on the First Order's radar, yet she almost proudly flaunts her Sith identity. She also only lies to Rey about it and nobody else, effectively relying on the honor system to keep a secret from this one person, and would have been immediately outed by Leia if Rey hadn't already figured it out. If this all seems like completely irrational behavior, that's because it is. The story later reveals that Aliana was suicidal at this point, and even before then the revelation of what her life had been like after her mother's death would have already made it clear she's not thinking with a completely rational head.

2V is extremely loose-lipped with personal information about Aliana, at least until Aliana explicitly tells him not to say something, yet information on Aliana's ancestors is largely encrypted and unavailable to him. 2V's databanks on Aliana are most likely unencrypted and possess no security clearance because Aliana doesn't possess the programming knowledge to do so.

Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Reyliana

Older Than They Think

Sith being heroic characters has been an element of Star Wars for decades, especially in the Old Republic Trilogy. It wasn't until Disney Canon came around that this nuance in the Dark Side was eliminated.

The First Order is explicitly written to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and possibly eugenicist. This is actually an element of Star Wars deeplore called "Human High Culture" where some humans viewed themselves as being inherently superior to aliens, droids, cyborgs, and even women of their own race. This was a significant element of the Galactic Empire, and so it only makes sense that the First Order, a group of fascists larping in their grandfather's old clothes, would also incorporate it.

Salvaged Story: The Force Dyad. It's used to reinforce the idea that blindly following the will of the Force is bad, and Rey is so repulsed when she discovers how deep the bond goes. Furthermore, it's feedback loop makes Rey's powers so unstable she has to fall back onto her engineering, which the movies slowly phased out.

Truth in Television - Tahleea's end is common for many nonviolent protestors and activists. It's so common, there's a famous quote about it.

Watched It for the Representation - Some readers don't like Star Wars at all, and only read The Sith Resurgence for either the deeply sapphic love story, or Aliana herself.

Trivia

Creator's Oddball - Before this, Lily Orchard hadn't written a longfic since 2011, opting to instead write vignette style (which she continues to do with Horde Champion). The Sith Resurgence went on to be her longest and most fleshed out work.

Creator Recovery - Lily Orchard's own recovery from deep and intense trauma served as the inspiration for Aliana's arc about recovery. Previously, Lily often wrote characters with trauma suffering sad endings. Aliana was the first uplifting ending for a traumatized character she'd ever written.

Character

Aliana

Ambiguously Absent Parent - Aliana's relationship with her mother forms the basis of much of her character, but her father was always mysteriously absent until Act 3 where it was revealed that Aliana's father knew nothing about her, but Aliana herself was fully aware of who and where her father was. She at first rejects the notion of having a father, but after making a promise to Tahleea's ghost she agrees to let him back into her life. The epilogue shows that they have a good relationship.

Expository Hairstyle Change - For most of the story, Aliana's hair is unkempt and barely maintained, and it's said that she sleeps with it splayed out. Anyone with curly hair knows full well that this is asking for it to be damaged and dried out. This turns out to be the result of Aliana's poor mental health resulting in her not taking proper care of herself. In the third act, as her vengeance draws nearer and the promise of a better life on the other side becomes more real, her mother and wife tie her hair back in protective braids. Two Loving Mothers confirms that Aliana is taking better care of her hair (and the rest of herself) after getting her vengeance, settling down and going into therapy.

Girly Bruiser - Aliana favours lightsaber combat over the Force,

Good Bad Girl - Aliana was said to have had over seventy sexual partners. Given that she'd only been of age for about six years, that means she's certainly gotten around, and it's also subtly implied that this was not an entirely healthy coping mechanism.

Head-Turning Beauty - Aliana is most certainly a looker, especially in Act 3 when she cleans up and changes her combat uniform.

Mask of Sanity - Aliana hides just how much her traumatic childhood is affecting her for the first half of the story until she feels safe being vulnerable around the group. Though even before that, the mask cracks on several occasions.

Took a Level in Idealism - In the first act, Aliana is predominately concerned with her own survival. But as the story goes on, and the idea of an uprising in the galaxy becomes more tangible, she starts laying the seeds of a new Sith Empire and plans to liberate the Outer Rim from the Hutts.

Rey

Adaptational Gender Identity - Rey leans more androgynous than her canon counterpart, and after the war she comes out as a he/him lesbian before later coming out as genderfluid with three different 'moods' as she puts them.

Genius Slob - Rey is a talented engineer and computer programmer, but has to be frequently reminded by her wife to shower regularly.

Important Haircut - After coming out as Genderfluid, Rey's hair is used to signify what she's identifying with on a given day.

Masculine - Hair down

Androgynous - Hair partially tied back in a bun, with the rest running down her back

Feminine - Motherly Side Plait

Took a Level in Cynic - Rey has grown largely apathetic with the galaxy after her friends were shunned and tortured, she was tortured herself, the Force tried to bind her to her abuser, and those around her kept trying to dictate her destiny. As as result, she's lost most of her motivation toward the War, Republic and Jedi and her primary goals are said to be 'Build gadgets, kiss wife.'

Darth Mayrik

Cynicism Catalyst - While Tahleea was an advocate and activist who worked predominately within the Republic and believed cooperation with the Republic would bring about a better era for the Sith, her murder prompted her daughter Aliana to learn the exact opposite lesson and conclude that the only way for the Sith, or indeed anyone, to prosper in the galaxy was to permanently keep a gun to the head of the Republic and the Hutts, shoot first, and kill anyone who actively threatens you.

[turtlemagnum]

in one of the episodes leading up to where i am now, they introduced a female character who not only has a face that isn't just yuria's again, but actually has a pretty cool design and seemed like she was gonna be a credible threat to ken. but holy shit did they handle her poorly in what might've been the most sexist way possible. like, i thought it was kinda bullshit that mamiya isn't as competent a fighter as at least rei is, but at least she pretty consistently can mow down the nameless goons about as well as the other two main fighters. but this new character, i think they named her bella, immediately like. her mom's like "hey!! give up fighting and go back to being a woman!!!" and the character sending her after ken is like "heh... ken would NEVER hit a woman... my plan is flawless....." meanwhile like. i didn't really see much of an indication that she didn't want to get into martial arts, and ken explicitly refuses to fight her not because she's a woman but because it's obvious she doesn't actually want to kill him. i definitely feel like we're supposed to take away that she doesn't wanna be a martial artist and that ken doesn't wanna hurt her because she's a woman? but i think what's explicitly said by the two themselves is A Lot Less Shitty and is actually coming from their own mouths, so i'm gonna purposefully misinterpret what the author probably intended to be less shitty.

there comes the point where she no longer wants to fight ken, and now she has to fight the person coercing her into doing this, and i know this is gonna sound weird but like. this is a show where men regularly get every part of their body viscerally mutilated, exploded, amputated etc, and that's all well and good. but the goddamn instant it's a woman getting mutilated, they only show a rose getting cut into pieces and it's like. that's fucking sexist, right? like i know i probably sound weird to a lot of you for wanting a woman to die brutally on screen, but i think if your show can explicitly show men dying brutally in a fight then women should be able to as well, y'know?? gender equality

i think part of why this stuck out to me as particularly shitty is that it frames her whole one episode arc as like, showing how tragic it is that a woman has to be a fighter in the post apocalypse, but it's like... mamiya was literally right there, has been shown time and time again to be an extremely competent fighter, and they never really made that big of a deal about her having a pussy while fighting. and like, i definitely see why they couldn't make her as strong as ken, because he's the Main Guy and you wouldn't want a non-antagonist side character to be an outright equal to him. i get that, there's a reason why you don't make vegeta as strong as goku, y'know. but like, in a world with straight up fucking magic, i don't see why your vegeta couldn't be a woman, y'know? i made mine a woman, at least. but even then, they didn't make mamiya's whole fucking deal that she was Woman, like it was definitely a significant part of her character (arguably too significant) but like, she had other qualities; which is what makes this character being Like That sting that much more, y'know

[nitrochiralfan]

[Slow Damage] He finally smiled like a child (Analysis on Nitro + Chiral’s new game)

酒酿团子 写网文的 创作声明: 内容包含剧透

I do not own this post of the translation all credit goes to the original owner of the post and tiramisiyu for translating this. the original post is here

“Those who are lucky have already been healed in childhood, while the unlucky spend their lives healing from childhood.”

After eight days of sleeping five hours per day, I finally completed my first clear of Slow Damage’s full story. I realized that I don’t really have a solid interpretation of the plot yet, and I just wanted to share my feelings with you.

SPOILER WARNING!!

My overall thoughts: I think this is the greatest of Kabura Fuchii’s five works. This is a story whose title is about pain, yet it tells the story of extricating yourself from pain. It’s a truly healing story.

Now, I’ll give a rough summary of the plot of each route based on my order of in-game progression, and analyze it together with the hidden story.

First of all, let me briefly talk about Towa. Towa is one of the illegitimate sons of the man who is the leader of the Takasato Group and the governor of Shinkoumi, and he has little impression of his father. He’s characterized as being very lazy and dispirited. Although he works part-time in the clinic with close acquaintance Dr. Taku, that’s only because he’s forced to. He drinks and smokes daily, sometimes grabs a coffee, and hates eating.

He has only two other hobbies: drawing and being subjected to abuse. Towa is bruised all over and even lost his right eye, but he likes to be subjected to violence, including violent sex. His art pieces are also different from the ordinary, as he views the world differently compared to normal people. He can see the colored "Aura" of people's emotions, which changes according to emotional fluctuations. He’s also able to manipulate people's hearts by observing their Aura to discover the perverted, unactualizable desires people have. Towa's paintings are based on the actualization of such unspeakable desires, and the paintings he draws are very popular.

Rei route: I never thought that a drunkard who used to pass out in random dark alleys would ever be able to enjoy the view of the sea.

The Rei Route is the least relevant to the main storyline. It basically revolves around the conflict between Rei and his father.

Rei's personality is that of a male motherly figure. He uses feminine terms of self-address, is good at cooking, and spends all day telling Towa that he can’t drink too much, asking whether Towa has eaten, and so on. Towa himself has complained to him that "you are such a mom".

At the same time, Rei is a very ambitious kid. After graduating from high school, he worked several jobs and lived comfortably in Shinkomi, where the income gap is massive. Rei has two hobbies: body modification, as well as going to "Deathmatch" (a place where people find opponents to fight with, for stress relief and fun). Rei may be very feminine, but he fights quite fiercely.

In this route, Rei suddenly learned that his father, who had long since cut him off, had borrowed 300 million yen from the Takasato Group for gambling purposes, and forced him to repay the debt on the grounds of their biological relationship. If Rei refused to pay his debts, his father would be killed.

Rei and his father had huge conflicts when he was young. As a mixed-race child, Rei had always been beautiful - but he was bullied by the school, and later realized that he liked men. Knowing this, Rei's father said "Your male side has already died", which almost caused the young Rei to force himself to live as a woman in order to rationalize his behavior. Later, he also chose to run away from the family.

After learning about his debt, not only did Rei's father not repent for his wrongs, but he even brazenly sought out Rei, coercing him to repay the debt using their biological relationship. Rei hated his father very much, but deep inside, he didn’t want his father to die. Thus, he had no choice but to be lured by the Takasato Group into participating in a competition - or so they described it, but it was more like a gladiatorial sport that the slaves of Ancient Rome participated in, where the rich bet on the lives and deaths of the fighters. Winning meant gaining a large sum of money, but losing meant death. Embroiled in emotional agony, Rei chose to participate.

Although Rei is a very popular, sociable person, he kept all this a secret from his friends and chose to suffer alone. Of course, at the climax of the last round, all his friends came to the scene to cheer for him. Even his father reflected on his actions after seeing his son put his life on the line for him. Rei then won the competition.

There are three general conflicts in this route: the first is the conflict between Rei and his father, the second is the conflict between Rei and his inner desire to be accepted as a man, and the third is how Rei hid the truth from his friends.

The relationship between Rei and his father seems outwardly to be filled with hatred - but we see him nearly sacrifice himself to repay the debt, and deny his identity as a man because of a few words from his father. This implies that Rei actually loves his father, longing for his father's approval and love like a child. I think this is actually a nod to Towa's relationship with her mother Maya in the hidden ending.

Rei's father ultimately realized his love for his son, and I think if the story continued, Rei would ultimately take Towa to stand in front of his father as a man and introduce him as his lover. His father would then give them his blessings with a smile.

In this line, Towa is basically Rei's emotional support. He pointed out that Rei did not trust the friends around him enough. Later, Towa and Sakaki (the next leader of the Takasato Group, someone who cared about Towa as his father’s friend) won the 300 million yen, and paid off the debt for Rei.

This line mainly discusses how a damaged person accepts himself and learns to trust and rely on those around him. It also discusses reconciliation with the perpetrator.

Taku Route: My answer is, I'm here now.

Compared to the Rei route, which is like a passionate shounen manga, I personally think that the Taku route is second only to the oppressiveness of the Fujieda route.

Taku is 20 years older than Towa, and has been Towa's doctor since Towa was a child. If Rei is a male mother who would nag at Towa about his bad lifestyle, then Taku is Towa's "father". He treats Towa more as an adult and doesn’t interfere much, but since he watched Towa grow up, he’s sometimes overprotective of Towa too.

This route comes from the entanglement between Asakura (Taku's college senior) and a child named Hayato. Hayato is the child of a woman from the entertainment district, and Asakura is a doctor with an excessive love for children. As he lacked in love, Hayato couldn’t resist seeking out and even seducing Asakura. Asakura ends up mistakenly believing that he is attracted to children.

The story of Asakura actually alludes to the relationship between Towa and Taku in youth. Taku has only ever displayed care for Towa, but the seeds of his desire were actually planted when Towa was young. This was why the ever-calm Towa called Asakura out for being a pervert with unexpected force after hearing about it (hitting him where it hurts, haha).

This route is mostly set during the change in leadership of the Takasato Group. Although Sakaki is supposed to be the next leader of the Takasato Group, he also has a competitor, Toono. There is also a connection between Toono and Taku - to threaten Taku, Toono drugged Towa (yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking) - I guess this is the one time that Toono’s ever had? After the two of them had a good time, Towa ran away and met Igarashi, one of Sakaki's subordinates. Igarashi told Towa that he stole a drug that seemed to be a new type from Taku's secret underground surgery room.

To cover Igarashi, Towa led Toono's people into an abandoned area in Shinkomi. Toono wanted to shoot Towa dead when Taku suddenly appeared and shielded Towa. When Towa saw Taku fall unconscious, he felt for the first time that he regarded Taku as an irreplaceable existence in his life. Toono then took both of them back to his lair.

Towa learned from Toono that Taku was a son of a wealthy family. Because his parents divorced and his mother fell sick, he decided to study medicine. It was Toono who helped him when he was in trouble, allowing him to become a doctor. Toono then asked Taku to work for the Takasato Group and himself. Those who owe money to the Takasato Group are called debtors. These people are implanted with tracking chips, allowing the Takasato Group to control them. Taku does these things in his underground operating room and also developed a highly addictive drug for Toono. Toono wanted to use this drug to make a lot of money, to gain the strength to fight against Sakaki.

To prevent Taku from acting rashly, Toono took control of Towa and changed Towa into women's clothes (which looked really good). At first glimpse, Taku thought he was looking at Maya. Toono told Towa that Taku was obsessed with Maya when he was young. The straight Toono was also interested in Towa in women’s clothes and asked Towa to be his mistress. Towa agreed in order to gain some freedom.

Towa managed to get in touch with Eiji, Sakaki's subordinate and intelligence officer, and let him know about Toono’s plan. Eiji told him to wait, as they already had a plan. During this period, Towa was under suspicion due to his behavior, and was beaten by Toono and his men several times (it made me so sad) and even had his right arm broken. Taku was very distressed to see this, but he was even angrier knowing that Towa has become Tono's mistress. Taku felt that he could not protect those he valued, so he considered killing Towa and sacrificing himself.

After Towa persuaded Taku against his idea, Taku explained the cause of his depression. He originally intended to become a doctor to help people like his mother, but his mother died due to a moment of his negligence, which became his most painful memory. He owed Toono, yet Toono used Towa to threaten him to make harmful drugs, to which he could not resist. Towa told him that he had contacted Eiji and said that if Taku didn’t want him to, he’d stop being Toono’s mistress - and the two, well…

Finally, after receiving word from Eiji, the two escaped with the help of Eiji’s mole. They ran into Toono, who refused to submit. Toono raised his gun to kill Taku, but Towa shot first, knocking Toono’s gun to the ground. After subduing Toono, Taku took Towa's gun and pointed it at Toono. The bullet shot out, but it only hit Toono’s ear. Taku said that he may not be a good person, but he hasn’t fallen to Tono's level.

After the dust had settled, Taku decided to turn himself in. Before he left, he showed Towa the photo he took of Towa when he was young - a picture of a smiling, bashful child. Taku was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released a year earlier due to good behavior. During this year, Towa stayed at home in the studio, relying on Rei to feed him.

On the day Taku was released from prison, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Taku walked out of the prison and was pleasantly surprised to see Towa had come to pick him up, just like the old days. Towa suddenly remembered that when the two were making love at Tono's place, Taku had something to say to him, so he asked about it. Embarrassed, Taku said that people were always coming and going around him, but he wanted Towa to stay by his side. With a laugh, Towa said, “My answer is, I’m here now.”

On a surface level for this route, Taku was the only support Towa had in childhood - the one who stitched up every wound for Towa. But when you think about it, Taku was also one of the people who hurt Towa back then.

In such an environment, doing nothing is allowing harm to happen. He indulged Towa as Towa relied on him, and even developed desires for him (see Asakura). From an outsider’s perspective, is that not harm done by an adult to a child? Taku knew well that he had done something wrong to Towa. What he regretted the most was working for the Takasato Group - not just for Toono, but probably also for Maya. Taku is the most passive (getting drugged) character among all characters with routes. I personally think this has something to do with his guilt towards Towa.

If the Rei route is about accepting oneself and relying on those around you to heal, then the Taku route is about avoiding pain, and transferring the memory of pain to someone else. Taku chose to remember everything about Towa's childhood alone, and therefore also took on some of Towa’s pain. The accident of Taku's mother's death may also imply that Towa is partly responsible for Maya’s death.

Taku's love for Towa is mixed with guilt and obsession, humble and remorseful. From Towa’s perspective, you can only see the tip of the iceberg, and only after you see the whole picture can you understand the scars hidden in this route. Madarame Route: No need for words between us.

Fujieda Route: We don't just lick each other's wounds. We also support each other as we walk forward.

(I’ll continue updating in the future. If you’re interested, feel free to follow or bookmark it)

[britts-galaxy-brain]

So I just saw The Post. Good fucking lord. ALL of it is bullshit. I'm almost impressed at how shameless of a liar Lily is.

- Nobody has brought up Scars. The fics that are brought up are the Stockholm series, and the short that was written under Alchorative before that (A Mother's Love, A Daughter's Passion).

- The FireRose thing was ALL Lily. Nobody was pressuring her into shit. She was the one doing the pressuring.

- Lily took advantage of Patch's financial and mental situation to get them to draw zoophile art. She's also openly posted zoophile fantasies on her Tumblr for people to respond to.

- See the "cybergrooming" posts.

- See every recorded Twitch stream of her and Lizzy, Lizzy's testimony, and how she is with Mikhaila.

- She wasn't abused by Lizzy, she suicide-baited as a last ditch effort to control the situation. Which then led to Lizzy calling in a welfare check, which Lily has twisted into a "swatting".

- Lily once again admits to coercing me. I have a ton of screenshots of telling both her and her sockpuppet that I was extremely uncomfortable and not interested in being sexual with her, only to be pressured and guilt tripped into it on multiple occasions. The reason I used to question her motive for coming out was due to the fact that she went from transphobic to entertaining the idea as soon as she thought there was a possibility of lesbians being attracted to her.

- No idea where that even came from. As far as I know, nobody has brought anything like that up.

- Also no idea wtf she's talking about here.

- This was the Opal situation. It wasn't "harmful", Lily just didn't like the proportions and threw a fit.

- As far as I know, nobody has insinuated that Mikhaila has been groomed. Ginger, on the other hand, was in her discord as a minor and started dating Lily when she was of legal age.

- This was the response to her playing with the idea of Rey committing suicide after Aliana dies. Not whatever she's trying to bullshit here.

- Flashing your tits at random and soliciting sexual encounters from your audience isn't anywhere near Family Guy. Good gods you're bad at this.

- The Rebecca Sugar thing has been gone over with a fine-toothed comb and she's still pathologically lying about it.

- She doesn't talk about Big Bang Theory because she likes it. Seems like she takes any form of disagreement as "harassment".

- Nobody has said this. They've said she's fetishist about it at worst and willfully ignorant at best.

- Lily has never been a sex worker. I knew her when she was 18 and fell out with her around the time she came out on her channel. This is a bold-faced lie.

- I can't say much about this one since I'm not black, but I'm inclined to believe the black people who have called her out for this.

- She's had way more than "a few slip ups". She just can't wrap her head around racism that isn't just throwing slurs and being overtly violent about it.

- EOT isn't right-wing. This is a good example of "othering". Lily knows Ethel isn't right-wing and is knowingly lying to manipulate her audience.

- It's fine not to like the word "queer". What's not fine is to attack people who choose to use it as a self-descriptor, nor is it okay to hypocritically call trans people you don't like "tenderqueers" after going on about how bad of a slur you think it is.

- Nobody said she's faking her ethnicity. We said she's being extremely disrespectful toward the culture she's claiming.

- She is brownfacing. I've seen her on video chats often enough to know that she is just as pale as me, and most of my heritage is Scots-Irish, German, British, and Welsh. She even went as far as to change the color of her old Zero Punctuation sprite from white to brown.

- Nobody said she hates Japanese people in general. We've said she has a lot of ignorant opinions she refuses to address that come off as racist.

- Not much to say about this one. It's fine to not like anime. It's utterly brain-dead to act like such a broad genre can be lumped together the way she is.

- See my post linking Alchorative, Lily, and Tara together. There were three accounts total. One on e621 under the name Alchorative, that was active since 2017. The other two were on SankakuComplex under the names Alchorative and EbaraTara. Both accounts on Sankaku were deleted as soon as they were discovered and she went into damage control.

- No idea wtf she's talking about regarding the last two.

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

some thoughts regarding the latest bnha ep

Okay first of all I find studio bones’ dedication to objectifying Dabi to be hilarious 

Someone really looked at that panel of him lying on the couch and went ‘make him sluttier!!’ 

Small waist, lower set pants so we can see his v-lines, they are really gunning for that fan service quota 

Okay moving on to my actual serious thoughts now: 

So this ep confirmed a long-time theory for me, one that I’ve had since probably before these og chapters were even dropped, and I’ve slowly been getting more sure about 

It seems, to me at least, that Natsuo’s conception was coerced, and that Shouto’s was the result of rape 

Like, we know that Rei consented to having Touya and Fuyumi

Whether or not she wanted Touya is up for debate, but she at least presumably consented to having a child as part of the quirk marriage agreement 

And in Fuyumi’s case it’s literally canon that Rei wanted another kid and thought it’d be good for Touya to have a sibling 

Obviously there’s massive ethical concerns and questions of consent raised by the whole arranged/paid marriage situation, but in and of themselves, those two pregnancies don’t appear to have been opposed by Rei

In the case of Natsuo, Rei initially refused to have more kids, since she knew that Touya knew that Enji was only producing babies in hopes of them having the perfect quirk to surpass All Might, and she rightfully assumed that having more kids would fuck with his metal health and make him feel even more unwanted/worthless 

But Eni basically convinced/coerced her with ‘oh but if we get a kid with the right quirk that’ll finally convince Touya to give up on being a hero and hurting himself in his attempts to become one’ 

So it's possible that she did technically give her consent in that situation, but it was given under duress and she was coerced into it with the wellbeing of one of her other children as a bargaining chip

As for Shouto’s conception,in both the manga and anime we see Enji pissed off/distraught after presumably learning about Natsuo’s quirk or lack of one, (you can pry the quirkless Natsuo hc from my cold dead hands), a shot of Rei’s face looking terrified, and then an immediate cut to her holding baby Shouto looking both relieved and exhausted 

I mean it is possible that Shouto’s conception was coerced like Natsuo’s, but the whole framing of the sequence really makes it feel like Enji got worse with each subsequent kid, his abhorrentness reaching its peak with Shouto 

Yeah so the implication there is… dark as all hell 

But also narratively fascinating to me, 

Like Shouto literally canonically barely regards his own abuse, he hates Endeavor because of what he did to his Mom (and his siblings)

There's definitely some resentment there over how he was isolated as a kid, and literally a product of selective breeding, but the bulk of Shouto’s feelings towards Endeavor, at least pre-sports festival, definitely read more as ‘I hate you for abusing Mom’ rather than ‘I hate you for abusing me’ 

(this is because Todoroki Shouto is an incredibly, incredibly kind person who puts the pain of his loved ones above his own, and who feels/hurts so much more for others that himself and augh he's such a sweetheart I love him sm but I need him to gain some self esteem right this instant) 

Like, we know canonically that he blames Endeavor (and not Rei at all) for the burn on his face, but he also seems to carry some guilt over it himself?? As if it’s somehow his fault he happens to resemble his Father a bit??

We know he at least felt bad enough about being similar to his Dad (again, something that he has no control over) to not use his fire in combat for roughly 10 years 

So the thought of Shouto, who was already well aware that his birth was both the result of a paid marriage that his Mother likely got very little say in, and a literal eugenics experiment by his Dad with the sole goal of producing and shaping a child into the perfect pawn to surpass All Might, also learning that his conception was the result of sexual assault/coercion?? 

The angst potential there is unlimited and totally fascinating 

Obviously a shounen manga aimed at, like, 12 year olds isnt gonna get into topics that deep past making some vague, dark, implications, but it's all food for thought nonetheless 

Speaking of dark as hell implications: 

I don’t know if it was already there in the manga and I just missed it like a dumbass or if Horikoshi added it in after the fact when he was consulted for this season’s production 

But the implication that Shouto awoke his quirk as a baby specifically as a result of Touya lashing out and attacking him??? 

That shit had me reeling

Like augh the fucking tragic irony of Touya, desperate to just be paid attention to by his father, being the one to inadvertently bring out Shouto’s quirk, the very thing that made his dad fully give up on him 

And of course, of course, Shoto would awaken his quirk in self defence from a family member attacking him, of course a character who’s whole theme is family and abusive/dysfunctional dynamics, and origin, would have his power awoken in that way 

It also, just, adds a whole ‘nother layer to the whole chapter 39 ‘it’s your power isn't it?!’ / chapter 352 ‘Yes, this is my power’ parallel 

(Todoroki Shouto is the character of all time I love him with every bit of myself I swear)

Okay quickfire round because I still have lots more thoughts about the Todoroki family: 

It was already upsetting enough in manga but the scene of Endeavor yelling at Rei and slapping her as Shouto screams and cries and tells him ‘not to bully Mommy’?? Literally had me physically flinching 

I will never be anything but and Endeavor hater okay I don’t give a shit about his redemption arc I need that bitch dead 

Can’t wait for the ‘Dabi is a misogynist’ discourse to once again get reignited 

Obviously his attitude towards Rei and Fuyumi isn’t okay, but Touya was a child abuse victim lacking in the maturity to see that his Mother and Fuyumi were just as much victims as he was 

And to be fair, whilst Rei certainly was also just as much a victim, and didn’t have any power in the situation of her marriage, I do feel that Touya’s resentment towards her, as a child who believes that its his Mom’s job to look after him, is a bit warranted, not necessarily right, but warranted 

Speaking of bad faith discourse regarding Touya’s actions, if I see one more ‘him attacking baby Shouto makes him just as bad as Endeavor’ type take I’m melting my fucking phone 

How are you gonna look at a 13 year old, self harming, victim of child abuse, with such a warped sense of self worth that he is literally desperate for even a hint of his abuser’s attention/approval, lashing out in jealousy at the sibling who has replaced him and made him, in his Father’s eyes, a worthless failed experiment, and go ‘oh he’s just as bad as the grown man who made the active decision to beat his wife and kids???

The lack of reading comprehension in the bnha fandom is unreal but especially regarding the Todoroki’s 

In a similar vein I literally cannot deal with people who victim blame Rei, or Fuyumi and Natsuo, for not ‘getting Shouto out of that situation’ or ‘being complacent in his abuse even as adults’ 

Like ohhhh my godddd literally all of them were victims in an extremely unbalanced power dynamic, that's the whole point

Please go back to middle school English class since obviously you all were too busy doodling eyes to pay any attention

also I hate that Hawks, of all people, has more sympathy for an abuser that his victims

‘Even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki family was true, I’m sure things are different now’

Sir literally what reason do you have to believe that??

Hero worships rots your fucking brain I guess

Ok finally I have some thoughts about that lil preview we got of the vestiges: 

I hate Shinomori’s colour pallate so fucking much I hate I hate it I hate it 

I always imagined him with white/lavender hair, and silver eyes, and a purple hero costume with purple scars on his face from quirk overuse/incompatibility like Nine from Heroes: Rising 

I hate the blonde hair I hate the green costume it's all so so ugly I hate it all

HOWEVER 

Since he was first introduced I have pictured the 2nd user with pink/coral hair, AND I WAS FUCKING RIGHT 

The wave of smug vindication I felt upon seeing that his hair colour was practically identical to what I’d imagined him with was unreal 

I’m not too sure how I feel about the 3rd user with light blue hair?? I always imagined it as light brown or dirty blonde

I think what colour his eyes are and how they animate Fa Jin is really gonna decide for me whether I like it or not 

I pictured En’s costume as dark blue denim (kinda like Jeanist) and whilst the red isn’t bad, the opposite actually, I kinda miss that mental image 

Vestige Might should be glowing and flickering like a fire, not just a collection of gold swirls, do him justice!!! 

Okay I'm done 

[stopscammingartists]

If you admit that the words of glip or anyone who is close to him are all meaningless then why are you even doing this?

if you cant get over your disgust reaction long enough to genuinely engage with the people you're talking about, when they're making no effort to hide from that engagement, why should anyone trust you aren't badly informed?

you don't think that asking people who specifically hate glip to contact you and refusing to listen to anyone who doesn't hate glip is developing something of an echo chamber for you?

I've seen you completely ignore the testimony of people you considered victims the moment they didn't claim to be victims directly to you. this is not how you find the truth of a situation.

I've seen you completely write off terrible behavior of people solely because they had a testimony that you wanted to believe in wholly and without complication.

At a certain point, you're not being skeptical because you're curious, you're skeptical because you want something to be true.

please do better than this.

Typically, I have a hard rule for ignoring asks that misgender Glip.

But I am aware that Glip allows for he/him by those close to them- and I have a pretty good guess on who you are based on how you type, and if right that means you fall into that category for Glip. So, okay, I'll play.

If you admit that the words of glip or anyone who is close to him are all meaningless then why are you even doing this?

This might come as a shock to you egomaniacs, but it stopped being about Glip and you guys a very, very, very long time ago.

You guys have shown you are genuinely incapable of managing a community in a healthy way. It doesn't matter why you do the things you do, it doesn't matter that you guys apologize every now and again for when you hurt people substantially like with Lain / Fluff.

Because I am still seeing you guys do the same shit. Again, and again, and again, and again to others.

Apologies are meaningless, if they are followed up with no real effort to self-improve.

As an example, when Lain originally came out about what Marl did to her, Glip retorted with that Lain was some drama-loving child looking to entrap adults with the provided evidence being Lain interacting in Glips NSFW chats and using the words of (if I recall correctly, it has been awhile since I spoke with Lain) Lains other abuser. Glip sided with the abuser, and used their position online to harass the victim.

Glip apologized! They'd never do that again, right?

When Rina came out about her abuse, Glip retorted mostly with pure ad-hominem. Mostly talking about Rey, who wasn't really relevant to what Rina was talking about. With a bit on how Glip just wanted to help Rina when they tried to get her away from her family.

(Which, by the way, convincing a victim that their friends and family are bad for them is an abuse tactic and does not send the message you guys think it does !)

Glip sided with the abuser, W0z, in this case. Ignoring how W0z wrote a visual novel on Rinas childhood sexual assault and how that visual novel was still online on Glips porn site, ignoring how W0z basically admitted to coercing Rina into agreeing to it on their stupid fucking podcast. Glip then used their position online to harass the victim.

Why should I believe Glips apology to Lain was genuine when they do the same shit again to someone else?

When Glip apologized for how they exposed a lot of minors (myself included) to extreme pornography through PMD-E, for awhile, I thought it to be genuine.

Then in Glips podcast, a minor- Japhet, I believe, admitted to being shown parts of forbidden flora. Japhet who is again, a minor- was on this podcast where sexual topics were being discussed!

Here Glip is, exposing minors to this type of content! Again, and this time, they can't even claim ignorance like they did the last time.

This is why I still harp on what Glip did to kids during PMD-E, this is why I still harp on about what Glip did to Lain and Fluff. Because they are still doing these things, just to others. Right here. Right now.

And it is also why what you guys say is meaningless: Because regardless of what you guys say, you guys still continue the cycle of abuse. Your actions and how they are hurting people are what is important, not your words, and not your feelings.

With that preface- to answer your question on why I am still doing this:

I fucking wish I had some sort of warning about what I was getting into when I got into PMD-E as a minor- I likely would have had more hesitation if I would have got involved at all.

When I have people approach me with stories of what happened to them, interested in talking publicly about it but are afraid of what Glip will do to them in response- I can't help but believe they wish they got a warning before they got involved to. When I see people talk about how the Floaverse community fundamentally hurt them in private, I can't help but believe they wish they got a warning as well. When I see people like Rina speak out and get slammed in a coordinated effort by you guys, I can't help but believe she wish she had a warning before getting involved too.

That is why I am doing this. I understand Glip, as the main abusive individual in this situation- is hurt by someone publicly talking about how they enabled the abuse or abused others. I just don't care. I gain no enjoyment out of it. I made peace with what Glip did to me, as an individual. But Glip (and the group as a whole) is still doing to others what they did to me, Glip (and the group as a whole) are still traumatizing people like they did to Fluff, and Lain, and Rina, and has made no real effort to stop. So now that I am in a position of watching this cycle repeat for over the past decade, I wish to act as that warning to people, before they get themselves involved, and to act as a platform for those that did partake in the cycle and left to talk about it. Nothing more.

Because I understand that you guys will never stop doing this to people, regardless of what you say. So there's just no point in me having a dialogue with you guys. I have a history of being susceptible to the tactics your group employs as well when in a private environment, so it is also a matter of my personal safety to have a hard boundary like this.

if you cant get over your disgust reaction long enough to genuinely engage with the people you're talking about, when they're making no effort to hide from that engagement, why should anyone trust you aren't badly informed?

This is called a leading question, by the way

One way of influencing a person is to ask them questions that are deliberately designed to make them think in a certain way. Leading questions either include the answer, point the listener in the right direction or include some form or carrot or stick to send them to the 'right' answer.

Glip's effort to 'gEunUineLy EnGagE' in this circumstance is a 6 hour fucking podcast. It's gish-galloping at it's finest.

The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique that involves overwhelming your opponent with as many arguments as possible, with no regard for the accuracy, validity, or relevance of those arguments.

This is why Glips go to response to allegations is usually in the form of google doc essays of disgusting page lengths. I understand being wordy- I am wordy as well, but this is extreme and quite frankly: incredibly unreasonable.

They'll never admit it, but they're hoping most are intimidated by the sheer scope of the time-sink of the provided content being asked for here, and assume that Glips premise is correct because there is just so much, so it must be through, right?

When I have wasted my time to read Glips google docs in the past, I always found myself saying 'this isn't relevant' or 'this is flat out untrue'. I have generally heard people saying the same about the podcasts. So I have no reason to believe this time is different, and even if I did I am not going to drop everything in my life and give Glip priority access to my time.

I do intend to listen to sections of the podcasts, and to listen to InsomiacXO's video in time. But at this point in time I quite frankly have better shit to do. So you're going to have to wait.

you don't think that asking people who specifically hate glip to contact you and refusing to listen to anyone who doesn't hate glip is developing something of an echo chamber for you?

What's the matter, scared of what's to come when victims share their stories together and start to notice the patterns?

Not everyone who has approached me hates Glip. I don't even hate Glip. ( I used to, but now I am apathetic to them as a person. ) We have disagreements at times and discuss. I have also gone out of my way to approach people who are not involved and unaware of the situation to get the thoughts of someone like that. Sometimes, they brought up good points and I adjusted to account for them- but a lot of the times the responses I get are 'holy shit what is wrong with these people'.

So. No. I don't think my situation is that of an echo chamber- and I won't argue it here but I am convinced both Floraverse servers are echo chambers, and one of the trends I have noticed is that you guys like to project what you do onto others. So I understand why you would make that accusation despite having no idea how we are currently working in the background.

I've seen you completely ignore the testimony of people you considered victims the moment they didn't claim to be victims directly to you. this is not how you find the truth of a situation.

You can say Boxley's name. It's okay. Boxley is still in the group. They are still in the cycle of abuse.

A very common part of cycles of abuse are the victims defending their abusers and not recognizing the abuse for what it is, thus not recognizing themselves as victims.

When a survivor suffers abuse for a long time, years or even decades, they believe that the abuse is normal – that this is how relationships work. Hence, not only do they stay silent, they go to the extent of defending their abuser, because to them abuse is nothing to be spoken up about – it’s what everyone goes through and is a necessary element of a relationship.

All of this is to say: lmao saying that I am 'ignoring' Boxley when they say they're not a victim while Boxley is clearly showing a handful of common symptoms of being abused, which happens to include defending their abuser is very much not the argument you think it to be.

I've seen you completely write off terrible behavior of people solely because they had a testimony that you wanted to believe in wholly and without complication.

Why do victims need to have perfect behavior in order to be victims? I recognize that Glip is a victim of Marl in spite of Glips abhorrent behavior.

Assuming all of the awful things said about Rey are true (which I do not know, I am unfamiliar with the situation), Rina's association with Rey does not change what W0z and Glip both did to Rina.

Rey could be the worst person in the world, but that doesn't make it okay that Glip tried to convince her to isolate herself from her family and be wholly reliant on Glip by living with them. Rey could be a puppy killer, but that doesn't change the fact W0z coerced Rina into 'consenting' to having her CSA depicted in a pornographic visual novel or make it okay that Glip currently hosts that pornographic visual novel on their site in-spite knowing Rina is not okay with it being out there like that.

Rina and Rey having an association, and what Glip and W0z did to Rina are completely independent of each other. Maybe Rina should be called out for associating with Rey, I don't know! But that association doesn't make what Glip and W0z did to her fucking okay.

It's quite frankly, fucking weird and telling that you guys resort to such unrelated defenses when people speak out. If Rey deserved to be called out, you guys seemed to have no interest in doing so until you needed to as a poor defense against Rina.

This goes for every victim you tried this tactic against, Rina is just one specific and public example.

At a certain point, you're not being skeptical because you're curious, you're skeptical because you want something to be true. please do better than this.

Curiosity? I do not claim to be curious about anything. What are you even talking about? I've been up front about my desire to serve as a warning to people about how your community is dangerous.

How are the stories of the people who have approached me untrue? I have seen the chat logs that collaborate them.

How is my own story untrue? By its nature, I was there.

How is the story of Fluff untrue? Glip not remembering the time they exposed Fluff to their nude body in exactly the same way as Fluff did does not make what Marl did to Fluff and how Glip publicly responded to it falsehoods (This is how they originally defended themselves from Fluff.)

How is the story of Lain untrue? Lain being in Glips NSFW chatrooms because Glip doesn't to any form of prevention doesn't make what Marl did to her and how Glip publicly responded falsehoods.

How is the story of Rina untrue? The visual novel depicting her CSA is still on forbidden flora. Right fucking now. Glip has confirmed that they had tried to convince Rina to isolate from her family and be fully reliant on Glip via moving in with them. Rina's irrelevant relationship with Rey does not make her story of her relationship with the Floraverse community untrue.

By 'please do better than this' what you really mean to say is 'please stop calling public attention to the abuse someone I care about has been committing for the past decade'; and quite frankly, you can shove that sentiment up your ass.

[majorbaby]

Is Twin Peaks like the NGE for Americans? Sad gay traumatized twinks in horror monster series with iconic opening themes and evil dad figure looming over the main protagonist

I'm sorry I can't always tell if someone is joking or being sarcastic esp in writing so my default response is to take things seriously.

I'm not American but close enough to answer this question. I could probably find lots of similarities if I thought about it seriously and they might actually be fun to compare, but I'm inclined to say no for a few reasons:

Cut for references to CSA and rape. nothing beyond what actually takes place in both shows.

- NGE was far more popular than Twin Peaks and I think also more influential

- the saddest and most traumatized person in Twin Peaks is a teenaged girl and that's very relevant to the plot of the show and its legacy (whereas I think it's more incidental when it comes to Asuka, though there are instances of it being more pronounced such as the adam/eve thing in EoE)

- "horror monster" hmm I wonder if that's a fair way to characterize the angels in NGE even to someone who hasn't seen it, and that's including the lilin. whereas the big bad of Twin Peaks is a manifestation of evil, even though they + the angels probably both qualify as eldritch abominations.

- they both deal heavily with themes like depression, isolation, teen angst to the power of a billion and "adults are useless" but "child soldiers" doesn't really apply to Twin Peaks as it does in NGE imo because while NGE has a messiah (Shinji), the messiah of Twin Peaks (Laura Palmer) is very much on her own, no other eva pilots/holy soldiers in it with her. Her story plays out the way it does because she is utterly forsaken by everyone. By the time someone intercedes on Laura's behalf (Dale) it's too late.

- the other main theme of Twin Peaks is sexual abuse. NGE does play with that (Asuka's mind rape, all the fucked up stuff that happens to Rei, the metaphor of "using" children's bodies like that, the overall sense that no one not even the adults are in healthy relationships and everyone is being somehow coerced and manipulated) but it's more explicit in Twin Peaks and treated seriously. A major criticism I have of NGE is how Asuka's sexuality is portrayed, her abuse to me seems almost decorative or used for shock value.

- I can't think of an NGE equivalent to Twin Peaks' protag, Dale Cooper. Like Misato might be the closest thing but she's far too complicit whereas Dale fights tooth and nail to save his Shinji. This is really where the comparison fails - without Dale there is no Twin Peaks story

- in an even bigger way than with Dale, there is no Twin Peaks without Laura Palmer and it is so important that she's a teen girl. If the protag of NGE was Asuka (and in my heart, it is) then I might be more inclined to see a parallel because Asuka and Laura have a lot of similarities. But Asuka, though she's a major character, still doesn't carry the weight of NGE the way Laura does for Twin Peaks

- I think you are picking up on smth re: the parallel of the isolation of growing up in a small town in semi-rural america vs the isolation of being a Japanese youth in the 1980s - 1990s and it is worth mentioning that both series are from the same era and Lynch and Anno are both curious about loneliness and fraught familial relationships... but I suspect there are elements of Japanese that don't carry over well to Twin Peaks. I'd have to think about it more and do a lot more research to see what kind of line I can draw, if there is even a line to be drawn. I'm saying this because I don't think it's completely bonkers to see similarities

- gay stuff [all cheering]: the plot-relevant homoerotic relationship in NGE is Shinji/Kaworu and in Twin Peaks it's Laura/Donna. Shinji and Laura have some similarities (but also major differences like, Shinji ultimately survives his story) but Kaworu and Donna are completely different. Donna is helpless where it comes to Laura's eventual fate - in fact I would argue Laura's love for Donna has more of an impact on Laura's actions than anything Donna actually does. Kaworu meanwhile directly fucks the passive Shinji up.

- the biggest similarity I personally see (aside from the doomed homoerotic relationships lol) is that both stories try to impart that ultimately love endures, humanity endures, even after all hope is lost. but in spite of that audiences do tend to resonate more with the darker themes and motifs.

[flightfoot]

People are allowed to dislike Alya if they want, stop trying to control people’s opinions and get over it man.

It's not so much just "people disliking Alya". People are allowed to just not really like a fictional character.

It's more the absolutely rampant belief and depictions of Alya as being stupid and cruel, with her being made into Lila's minion who will start hitting, pinching, insulting, or destroying Marinette's things on Lila's slightest say-so, which is demonstrably not something she'd do - even when the evidence was stacked against her in "Ladybug", Alya believed that Marinette wouldn't do what she was accused of, and investigated to try and clear her. She was unsuccessful, but she did try.

And then you've got stuff like the Chloe-Alya personality switch, where Chloe's relationship with Sabrina, with Sabrina waiting on Chloe, helping to put together anything she asks for, doing everything for her, etc, is transposed onto Alya's relationship with Marinette, with Alya being made out to take advantage of Marinette, to push and bully her into babysit for her all the time without pay or her parent's permission (which there's little evidence for, and the only character who has demonstrably gotten someone else to babysit for them without parental permission is Marinette anyway, in Prime Queen and probably Simple Man), or even more ludicrous stuff like Alya coercing Marinette into make endless outfits or general stuff for her without pay, which is, again, baseless. And then making Chloe into Marinette's new best friend (ignoring how she treated her canonical best friend, since that relationship has been transposed onto Alya instead), so that together they can hurt Alya in retaliation.

Those cases are especially telling, because it shows that the actual personalities or actions of the characters don't matter for the depictions here. If they did, then Chloe wouldn't be Marinette's stalwart defender and one of her only friends, who treats her with respect.

Instead, it seems like the person writing or arguing for those just doesn't want someone who looks like Alya to be Marinette's friend, and wants someone who looks like Chloe to be Marinette's friend instead - and will perform any number of personality surgeries on the two of them to make that happen.

(Side note: I'm fine with people liking Chloe, fics that make Chloe friends with Marinette, etc. I read quite a few of those. Just don't try to tell me that she's a better person than Alya. She's not.)

I've seen how people can treat characters they just don't particularly like. My corner of the fandom is very Lovesquare-heavy, and isn't particularly enthused about Luka. But even so, I only see some commentary criticising his actions in the week or so after an episode with him airs, and the rest of the time people just joke about him occasionally. Stuff like making him out to be an abusive boyfriend, with stories where like, Marinette gets to hurt Luka back and Adrien comes to her rescue? Those are rare, and generally don't get much traction on the extremely few occasions when they do appear. Mostly people who don't like him just leave him out of their stories and conversations.

It's like some of the stuff I've heard about Reylo in the Star Wars fandom: if Reylo shippers just don't like Finn all that much, that's fine! But making him out to try and sexually assault Rey so that Kylo Ren can beat him up, arguing that that's what should happen, or that it's deserved? Yeah, that ain't okay.

[randomidiocyncrazies]

appmon 49

hoo boy here we go. due to tumblr being weird, the post is split into 2 parts.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR APPMON EP 49

Haru’s breakdown in the recap was rough to watch... someone save this kid from the nightmare he found himself in........

YJ14 and Leviathan are setting the Big L’s capital-P Plan in motion by grabbing people and plonking them into a big meat grinder. Yikes.

i wonder if there’s going to be a push back against smartphones/AIs after the crisis is dealt with? Even if people can’t remember anything about their experiences of being abducted/forcibly converted into data, I can’t imagine the people who witnessed loved ones go missing or the folks watching the news reporting on mass disappearances linked to smartphone/tech usage to be totally cool with it. It’d be reasonable to assume that there would be some extremists who’d shun anything to do with technology/AI/the internet after going through this ordeal.

also, that little smirk looks so wrong on our boy... i hope ‘Yuujin’ is able to fight back against YJ14 :/

(as an aside: i know the abduction and subsequent procedure to grind people into data is horrifying, but i did laugh when the first abduction happened... sorry)

The other kids steeling themselves to take out Deusmon was cool, and I especially like Rei’s conversation with Hackmon:

we usually see Hackmon reassuring and encouraging Rei, so their little role-reversal in this conversation was really sweet. Rei’s stepping up to support his partner appmon and taking the initiative to “not be alone” anymore.

I personally found the designs of the God Appmons to be somewhat... questionable, but it was fun to see them beat up Deusmon. (the “omnipotent” Deusmon vs the “invincible” Poseidomon also has a very strong Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object energy, and I enjoyed the gag with the one hapless vendor who hangs out on the surface web)

back to Haru and Gatchmon though... oof. this is brutal, folks.

AND THEN, because the Appmon Writers are ASSHOLES (affectionate), they have Yuujin appear and encourage Haru...

...before ripping his confidence to shreds.

the only ‘mercy’ (I guess) is that YJ14 goes back to using his cold tone when he reveals his red eyes of doom and makes threats to kill Haru. It’s still really cruel to use Yuujin’s warm/kind tone to ‘encourage’ and ‘reassure’ how protagonist-like Haru is, though.

(It’s also kind of interesting that YJ14/Leviathan treats Haru’s role as a protagonist as a tool to summon a God Appmon. It’s par of the course for evil characters to treat people as tools, but the fact that Haru’s role as a protagonist—the hero who takes action—being the tool is kinda a cool twist. This, along with Leviathan needing to kidnap Hajime to create Bootmon for him, implies that he is also dependent on human agency to achieve his goals. He can manipulate or coerce people to do his will, but he can’t cut out the middle man and do it himself. Meanwhile, Minerva can persuade and guide people, but ultimately the decision to take action is the chosen children’s.)

Haru looks so dead... someone please save this child...

the entire sequence of Haru running, trying to escape the falling debris and destruction, while seeing echoes of his happy memories with Yuujin is INSANE. please watch the sequence becausemy screencaps cannot do it justice:

(btw, love the sinister twist of the heartfelt “I’m always on your team” back in ep 27... though his evil outfit sure is. uh. a design choice.)

like I said, this shit is INSANE.

Gatchmon’s theory about how AppDrivers and their buddies are chosen is pretty cool, and it’s a valiant attempt to kickstart Haru’s confidence... despite Haru’s despair.

Haru claims he has nothing, not even dreams, but that’s not true. Haru has an inquisitive mind, and he’s interested to know about other people’s circumstances. Even when people are acting against him (eg Rei and Cloud), he wants to understand them. Being a hero isn’t necessarily about what one already possesses, it’s about taking the journey.