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bam-monsterhospital · 6 years

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i feel like i could honestly write a goddamn thesis on the writing of the 2017 spoodermins cartoon and how its handling of the whole osborn legacy/arc/issues are not only the best i’ve ever seen, but strengthens what the original versions of the goblin arc set out to accomplish all the while showing it in a way i’d say is more effective to the viewer/reader.

(spoilers for like... most of season 1, especially the final arcs and the finale)

i’m like, fresh in essay writing hell, and i was halfway through forming this mentally when i decided i needed to write what i remembered down, so work with me here. But seriously, it says something positive about your work’s writing when you can get me to not only feel for harry osborn, but actively like him.

The whole osborn arc in spooderminz lore is like.... it’s an ordeal. Father of bff turns into murderous villain, takes things way too personally, father is dealt with/dies, son/bff learns about shit, son/bff reacts negatively towards spoodermins, suddenly murderous villain is back wtf, oh no it turns out to be son/bff carrying on the legacy. defeat, the end. It’s a big mess, but extremely iconic. And i have seen it done several times in several works, at this point p much done to death. While norman osborn is a great villain, and like pretty much a staple of any spiderman-related thing, harry’s always been more of a means to an end rather than his own character. He’s put in as your protag’s bestie, set up as son of a future villain just to make that personal tie to peter. Spoodermins shows up and harry may react positively at first but there is ALWAYS a point at which he becomes pissy and whiny about peter’s alter-ego and it’s hammered in over and over seemingly just to keep up alter-ego-balancing inner-friendship drama. I was always annoyed with him as a character in every single piece of media i consumed, which isn’t really fair because he’s never really been given much of a character; bits and bobs heading his way tend to take the form of jealousy towards peter for whatever reason, or just plain old shittiness. Which doesn’t make sense, because you’re supposed to believe these two dumb boys have been friends for a while in most incarnations. And not like, the kind of ‘friends’ you hang with when you have no alternatives, but actual best friends.

the 2017 cartoon makes it believable. you can see why they’re friends, you can see why they’re best friends. It’s everywhere and undeniable, these two goofy nerd idiots who’d probably be glued at the hip if they could help it (we also definitely have robbie daymond & max mittleman to thank for a lot of this, those wonderful dorks). The friendship finally makes SENSE; they’re supportive of each other, they’re what friends actually behave like. Not only that, but in this dang lil disney cartoon, they actually give harry character. he’s not just some rich dude blank slate for future villainy. he’s also a big ol’ nerd himself, like peter. He wants the best for his friends and actively encourages peter to put himself out there and to not sell himself short. he’s amiable and compassionate, and just seems like a decent kid? What. Whaaaat. Unheard of.

So. the inevitable spooders = bad. How does this cartoon handle that part of harry osborn. Surprisingly, they make it understandable. It’s not ‘oh he killed my dad’ or ‘my dad doesn’t like him’, or ‘he was mean to me/his actions lead to injury on my part’. It’s a misunderstanding that, yeah, would make anyone wary of spoodermins. And it’s not just one time; the initial instigator leads peter to pay too much attention to trying to get back on harry’s good side, which leads to him fucking that up and giving an even worse impression, over and over again. Makes sense. But there’s also another element to it that i’d like to get into more detail further down this rant-o-thon, and that’s the fact that harry’s being constantly conditioned to be wary of spiderman through his father.

This isn’t something new, no, but the way it’s done in this cartoon is like..... a whole other spiel lemme tell ya, and i really fucking appreciate it. But we’ll come to that later.....

Let’s talk about norman osborn, because i gotta in order to fully explain my delight for how all of the osborn shit in this series has been set up. Norman’s a ceo of his own company. oscorp. blah blah, we already know this, everyone knows this. is oscorp a technology company? sure. was it always a tech-oriented company in the metatextual sense? pffffff.......... probably, i don’t remember those kinds of details from my goshdang childhood and then adulthood revisiting the comics that lead to that childhood. ANYWAYS, norman was villainous long before he got ahold of a flying jetboard and pumpkin bombs. He’s the textbook example of a bad boss: manipulative, cold, values progress/capital at any cost, etc etc. So i personally am always curious what people are gonna do with him. Like, the idea of a corrupt corporate exec isn’t new or innovative or anything, that’s not the point: i feel you could do a lot with that sort of character? Plus it gives me such nostalgia (i also blame kingpin for this, but i digress). Usually the most interesting part of norman is geared towards the ticking timebomb nature of his lore, and what people already know will happen eventually. And that’s not really fair to norman? because again, you can do so much with a character that has that level of power, that level of influence, and that utter and absolute lack of morals. Not to mention, what’s the relationship with his son? Hmmm? The 2017 spiderman cartoon is the best portrayal of norman osborn i've seen. out of all the comics i’ve read, in my physical hands and online, finding bits and bobs on the internet in the early 2000s. Out of all the various different cartoon series and video games i’ve lived through and partaken before and during my time from 1990-2018. The best. this is norman osborn. this is what that character is, how he is, how he should be set up. Norman osborn is a threat without anything to do with any sort of goblin. (also helps that goshdang josh keaton’s been voicing him andfjadksl;d...... holy hell. yeah. yeah dude. nice).

So, what’s one way to get across the moral bankruptcy of your business leader character and present him as a absolute manipulator all at once, but without having to rely on long story arcs and revealing long-term plans within plans? Show his relationship with his son. Here we go kiddos! THIS IS IT:

This norman? This norman has been micromanaging and manipulating his son for a long-ass time. This norman gaslights not only his employees, but his son. constantly. this norman wants to control the very way his son thinks, not as a ‘oh my fuckin teen boy needs to learn the value of bein’ an osborn and carrying on my legacy’ kind of junk, but as ‘my son is a shell, and what he want’s is fuck-all because my own plans are bigger than that, and no one is allowed to have choices other than me.’ In this series? Textbook classification of child abuse. And it’s been going on LONG before the present. Suddenly things make sense. Harry’s unwillingness to distrust his father, despite norman being sketch as fuck, and even despite receiving doubts from his bff? Makes sense now. Does that mean he automatically distrusts everything else around him in favour of lauding his father and his father being the only worthy thing in his life? No. If he’s met with reasonable doubts, he tries to follow them; but they’re all quashed by norman’s manipulations. by his gaslighting. His CONSTANT gaslighting, holy shit i’m super impressed how much there is and how it’s worked into almost everything he says to harry. Almost EVERYTHING. Think about that for a bit.

I need to break for a little history lesson, so hang in there. The green goblin shit, ‘back in the day’ and whatever.... y’know how when you have a rogues gallery of supervillains and you need to distinguish the atmosphere between them? Some are more business oriented, some are professional and negotiable, some are just shits, some are in the wrong place/wrong time? The green goblin was always the absolute worst shitty shit. Just like. fuck dude. I don’t wanna say joker levels, because that’s inaccurate to the relationship between hero and villain here, but...... Let’s just say there’s a reason why child-me never enjoyed learning the episode of the 90s cartoon she was watching was going to fucking include the green goddamn gerblin. Because he takes things personally. He is out to torture and murder and make peter suffer, and it’s fucked. Hell, even the fuckin spider-girl universe (an alternate marvel universe where peter grew up, married mj, quit being spooders and his powers transfer to his teen daughter) gave this sense of gravitas to the fuckin green goblin by showing that he was the reason peter had to stop being spiderman, since the last fight they had ended up in a blown off leg for peter. Jeez. Just. Green Goblins = bad times. So, in spider lore, peter eventually deals with the green goblin, finds out he’s norman osborn, oh no, blah blah, norman dies or something some how. problem solved. no more goblin. thank fuck. oh ho, but don’t look now, what the fuck is this? green goblin’s back? what the absolute shit? oh fuck is this norman back from the grave? no. it’s not. ta-da, it was harry all along trying to avenge his father/carry on his father’s name. Harry Osborn is just a reveal. just a twist reveal. nothing more.

so endeth the goblin shenanigans or that’s what we thought.

cue, a new goblin.

another green goblin? nope. introducing: the hobgoblin. What the fuck, right? Is this more osborn shit? Turns out nope. it’s not. Harry’s like in jail or whatever. Normon’s dead or whatever. Who the fuck is the hobgoblin? All of a sudden, we have the same tricks and theming as the green goblins, but in a less personally malicious serious-shit package. The end. hobgoblin’s identity doesn’t matter, really, (and like oodles of characters have been it in various media anyways so who cares) because his function is just bringing back goblin-y-ness without all the osborn baggage, while also still carrying a bit of that goblin identity mystery. just a bit.

You may be wondering “why the fuck are you talking about goblins so much alyson? what’s the difference? they’re all goblins right? do you just have a goblin fixation?” And you may be right. BUT! > I bring this up because the hobgoblin? Cooler than the green goblin. less goofy outfit (barely, but just fuckin go with me), all the enjoyable bits of the green goblin, but also more palatable. I bring this up, because of the harry osborn association with the hobgoblin. If i fuckin go out on the street and talk to someone who has like my level (or prob less.... okay a lil less) of spoodermedia experience, they’d probably be like ‘yeah norman’s the green goblin, harry’s hobgoblin’. But that’s wrong. Because the entire purpose of the hobgoblin was to reintroduce this identity mystery fuckery while keeping around a goblin, which at that point had kinda been like..... pretty iconic. But the goblin bullshit is still confusing as fuck.

The 2017 cartoon solves this bullshit.

What does it do? We all expect norman to go goblin first (fuck even like.... okay spoilers - partway through the first season he gets caught in an explosion and we think ‘oh fuck this is it, he looks dead but we’ve gotten p much confirmation he’ll be back, he’s so gonna go gerblin’). But it didn’t happen. Instead, what DOES happen, is the series plays to what it had previously established: norman orchestrating everything and living vicariously through underlings to accomplish his goals. Norman takes everything harry had worked on, augments and upgrades it, and with this new warped arsenal pushes harry to take on this identity of the hobgoblin. Not the green goblin, the hobgoblin. At this point he makes the most aggressive push towards what he had been constantly trying to hammer in to harry from the get go, what he expects of harry, what he wants from harry. Because it doesn’t matter how smart harry is, how much he invents, or what he invents, how much he accomplishes and helps people... it will NEVER be enough for norman as long as it deviates from the path he’s meticulously set out.

Soooo.... what....... no green goblin then? Oh no, how are we gonna do the legacy bullshit and identity confusion now? Well again, this cartoon handles it wonderfully by -AGAIN- working with what it had previously established. Through confusion and red herrings there is another identity mixup mess between Harry and Norman, but this time it only further reinforces Norman’s micromanaging and abuse of his son.

i really gotta like... summarize, because i WANT to recount it all in detail but i’m super tired right now. here we gooooo: Okay, so harry had been experimenting on himself to save his dad and whatever. It works, gives norman a cure, norman’s fine. Norman reveals hobgoblin outfit and armory (which is basically a collection of everything harry’s invented but warped and suped up), is all like ‘now you gotta be an actual hero not like spoodermins’. Harry and peter end up being able to work together and be besties again and both love it and it’s refreshing and reminiscent of what we got to see early on in the season when they were hanging out more. yay! Except not yay because norman’s pissed harry hasn’t killed spoodermins, and tries to sow doubt into harry’s accomplishments through the power of suggestion and also belittling what he’s done. Phew. Superhero team ups, but OH WAIT WHAT’S THIS. Harry’s not doing so well and is trying to brush it off but we kNOW it’s that fuckin self-experimentation goddammit child. It’s fine though. it’s totally fine. But then BAM, after one team up takedown, hobgoblin starts attacking spiderman? whaaaaaat? Later, peter calls harry and is like ‘the FUCK DUDE’ but norman answers (norman, what are you doing with your son’s phone on your desk? hmm? where is he?), and is all like ‘nah harry’s been speepin’. Then he goes to harry’s room and there’s the boyo on the floor in hobgoblin gear........ to which he expresses confusion. hmmm. Norman plants it in his brain that ‘oh no this is good, OBVIOUSLY your subconscious is being a hero and attacking spoodermins, this is fantastic, i am finally proud of you maybe. MAYBE’. -__- SO, this gets into harry’s head that ‘yup, absolutely my fault peter, sorry bout that, apparently my subconscious hasn’t forgiven you and you need to stay away because i don’t wanna hurt you gosh’. jfkdsladsa. This doesn’t stop the hobgoblin attacks though. And during the final one, peter figures out it can’t be harry, because harry already knows spiderman’s secret identity. So spiderman’s there, harry’s there (just woke up confused, again in costume hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) and, this mystery goblin is there... AND BAM GUESS WHO IT IS THAT’S RIGHT FUCKERS, IT’S NORMAN DAD-OF-THE-YEAR OSBORN.

FUCK

I can’t even express how much i love all of this. English is failing me at the moment, aaaaa. So remember throughout all of this i was saying how norman’s been conditioning harry since forever? Yeah, take that and apply all the consequences of that to this situation. Norman cannot leave well enough alone, and even went in and personally fucked with a good thing harry had going (mmmmm like a early plot point that kicked off harry’s initial distrust of spoodermin, mmmmmmmmm), all to keep him under his thumb and limited to the path norman set out for him. Norman did....... did you dress your unconscious child in the hobgoblin outfit twice to further gaslight him and make him feel responsible for YOUR actions??? Did you wait for one of his fainting spells or did you drug him????? I have SO MANY QUESTIONS surrounding your parenting skills norman, and none of them are good. Anyways, that path norman is so focused on harry following to the letter? It’s not even a path norman has set out for a son, for a child, for someone he cares about, it’s a means to an end. Harry, to Norman, is nothing but tool to further Norman’s vision. What is his vision? He wants utter control, down to the finest detail, over ..... well everything really. I mean it’s stated as the city, and the reason being supposedly to improve it... which i dunno, maybe norman genuinely thinks he really IS the only one who can improve new york, and the micromanaging just fed into that, but like it doesn’t really matter because even if it was genuine, his motives and means have gotten to the point where it’s just.... like..... borderline sociopathic. Completely uncaring to the wills of others, not because they don’t exist, but because they are meaningless and don’t serve his purpose.

This children’s cartoon has set up a very real and understandable (and when you think about it/look at it with adult eyes like i have> frightening and unnerving) relationship of abuse between a parent and child that makes previously established iconic bits of lore in the spiderman mythos make sooooooo much more sense and have such a greater impact.

THE END.

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0freak0 · 3 years

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I've seen a lot of pointless gatekeeping for what counts as punk rock music lately, so I'm proposing a new classification system based on one single question:

Does it inspire you to jump up on the table and kick things around or riot in the street? Then it's punk.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

#punk #punk rock #rock #pop punk #hardcore punk #folk punk #void punk #grunge #punk music #punk makeup #goth #nu goth #classic rock

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maxs-hot-takes · 3 years

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Okay, heres my examination as to why I absolutely LOATHE Hajime/Izuru:

Warning: this will be nothing but Hajime slander. So kinnies, unless you want your feelings hurt, just don't read

Okay, so, I believe the entire story of Danganronpa 2 could've proceeded normally without Hajime. He really had nothing to contribute to the storyline at all. Even him being revealed to be Izuru didn't really change the story. Even with the Anime, he was not really needed. Junko could've accomplished her goal without Izuru. She still would've done the very first killing game, she still would've bumped into Ryota, and she still would've caused the rest of the games to happen. He was not needed whatsoever. He was turned into a angsty sonic oc.

He was a rude motherfucker in the anime and in game. He never truly cared for any of the other characters aside from a couple. But he would say shit behind everyone's back. Just being rude as fuck in general. He is so much more rude than the other protagonists in the games. And somehow he was just forgiven by going fucking super saiyan or some shit. He was selfish. He spied on people in the games. Like Mahiru and Hiyoko in the shower or Nekomaru giving Akane a massage. And then he goes to criticize Teruteru or Souda as if he hasn't done worse. He's a fucking hypocrite.

Secondly, Izuru. He's literally just the. Shadow the Hedgehog of Danganronpa. Just more boring. He literally doesn't do shit. All he does is walk around saying that shit is 'boring'. And what kinda bullshit is him having ALL of the ultimates. That's not fucking possible. Nobody, even if they were experimented on, can have all of the ultimates in the world. And they don't even have him use any of it. He's never really seen using his new abilities. So that entire thing was pointless.

I could go on and on about this shit.

But in conclusion: Danganronpa would stay the same if Hajime didn't exist

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

#danganronpa goodbye despair #hajime hinata #izuru kamukura #hajime slander #izuru slander

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kozzax · 4 years

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what’s really cool about the dream smp from a literary analysis standpoint is that the way it’s written is so distinctly different from the way “mainstream media” is written. the dream smp is somewhat scripted, yes, but we also have confirmation from the creators that a lot of it is also improv. the entire exile arc-- and again, this has been confirmed directly by tommy on his recent chill stream --was decided upon a few days before he was exiled. the conflict itself had already begun, but the entire exile? decided upon a few days before tommy was exiled, while tubbo was playing animal crossing, and agreed upon because it would be cool.

this is standard practice for roleplays. spur of the moment ideas turning into huge plot points with no clear inbetween area. this is not standard practice for published media. tv shows and movies and published books all go through rigorous editing and plotting, and a lot of the time the final product isn’t anywhere near the original concepts. there are, of course, pieces of published media that don’t follow this process; but those pieces of media are far and few between.

i think part of the reason the dream smp community is so big on analyzing what’s going to happen and picking apart the characters and understanding the story is this key difference in how it’s written. roleplay stories are well known to be more wild and chaotic and full of seemingly pointless twists and turns than published medias for a reason.

many people are taught how to analyze a story to bits through english classes in school. we’re taught to tear stories apart and look at every little detail to help identify themes and tropes and foreshadowing. but we’re taught this through published media; through media that has been edited down and processed into something more distinct.

the dream smp is unpredictable because we’ve never been taught to predict something like it. some of the things we start talking about and discussing, the creators themselves haven’t decided upon. i just think its really cool to think about it.

the dream smp is so so so different from so much other media by the nature of how it’s created alone. i think that’s maybe also why it keeps so many people coming back for more-- the twists are so hard to see coming, and so whenever someone starts something new we’re surprised and immediately pulled back in for more just to see where it’s going.

thank you for coming to my tedtalk once more

#dream smp #dream smp analysis #but like... in the meta?#meta #i legitimately just think this is super neat #it's something i just like. remembered while i was thinking about the favor

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nobodycallsmerae · 3 years

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There was no denying it now. Raven was with her group of friends. Family. Everyone was there but her eyes were fixed on him. They always were. There was no denying it now. She had fallen for the green-eyed boy. And she'd fallen hard. She should have seen it coming, honestly, by the way her heart would start beating faster whenever his unique green eyes shone whenever he'd catch the sight of her. Or how heat would pool at her cheeks by just looking at that small, bashful smile he'd always reserved for her. She should've, but she didn't, and she was cursing him now for being so good at hiding his emotions. From the beginning, he'd been good, great almost, at hiding his true feelings. He always wore that metaphorical mask in front of others, not showing his true self to anyone. But then he'd warmed up. Knowing that this group of friends cared for him, for being whoever he was. But she understood why he did that, hide his true feelings, because he was always taught to do that. He was trained and was taught how to fight rather than having a normal childhood (which none of them had), and his guardians weren't exactly the most loving people. But he'd grown out of that, because, here he was, enjoying with his friends. Raven smiled. She still remembered the first time she'd met him. She'd NEVER thought even in her wildest dreams that she'd ever remotely be interested in him. He was shorter than her when she first met him. To her, at first, he was just a short, annoying, irritating prick. But as she'd gotten to know him, reluctantly at first, she realised that he was so much more than that. But instead of that short teenager, she was now admiring the gorgeous man in front of her. Sure he was good looking, way too good looking, but her feelings for him grew even more as she got to know the person underneath. He was one of the kindest people she'd known. He always went out of his way to do anything for the ones he loved. And the way he was so passionate about animals was just oh-so adorable... Dogs, cows, cats; he didn't care what animal, he loved them all equally. And just how gentle he would be with any animal always made her heart soar. She loved everything about him. Especially how he cared for her, how he made her feel so special. He'd seen her through her worst days, but in the end, he was always there, standing right beside her. Even at times when she'd doubted herself, he would've always been there, telling her that she wasn't alone, and that this was her home, with the Titans. ` 'Hey, Raven.' He greeted, taking a seat beside her. 'Everything okay?' All Raven did was smile. Sure, she'd fallen. But she knew he'd be there, ready to catch her.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, for the million dollar question! Is the above boy, whom Raven has given her heart to, Gar Logan or Damian Wayne?

Now, I know you're gonna read the post again, and you do that, and no one's gonna stop you. I mean-

"Back up people, She's gonna bloww--"

THIS. THIS IS WHY SHIP WARS ARE TOTALLY POINTLESS!! IT'S JUST A WASTE OF YOUR TIME AND YOUR ENERGY AND OOF-- THEY’RE PRACTICALLY THE SAME PERSON WITH D.I.D LIKE WTF-

I was just recently chatting with my best friend about the teen titans in general, but as normal teenagers and not super-heroes, and he's like, "Damian and Gar are literally the same person with DID (dissociative identity disorder) lol."

And I'm like, "Wait, What.. What'd you just say!?"

And then he's like, "I mean, yeah, compare them without their personalities!! They even have the same love interest amiright?" And then I was like- 🤯

So, like, yeah, stop fighting over the same crap dude. And I’m not talking as a BBRae or DamiRae shipper here, I’m saying this as a person who loves Raven and Damian and Gar, all equally.

I don’t have twitter, (thank the lords for that) and I know most of the gory stuff happens there, but even if you look through some of the darker corners of tumblr, you see some pretty shitty stuff.

Like, why the hell are you even fighting?! If Gar wasn’t the happy-go-lucky dude and if Damian wasn’t the serious guy, and if you look at them as regular teens (like in an AU) and not as superheroes, they’re two identical peas in a pod!! LET ME ELABORATE IT FOR YOU:

-green eyes (!!!)

-love for animals

-vegan (!!!)

-harsh childhood (but then, everyone has that)

-hides their true feelings

-was shorter than her when they were teenagers

-is always there to comfort her.

-LOVES RAVEN FOR WHO SHE IS!!

BUT. But, I’m also not telling y’all to ship the other pairing that you don’t ship!! Don’t misunderstand that! I don’t mind (care) what you ship and you don’t ship, because everyone has their own preferences, I understand that, what I’m just saying is that… Why the war?

I mean, if you don't like the other ship, kindly stfu. Just enjoy whatever you like! Why do you need to increase your blood pressure by unnecessarily spreading hate?

So please y’all, stop fighting. DamiRae and BBRae happen in totally DIFFERENT universes, (it's not even as complicated as Dick/Kory and Dick/Babs) so there’s literally no reason to have a ‘ship war’ because when we had BBRae, Damian was a kid, and when we had DamiRae, Beast Boy was dead.

So yeah, thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

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dizzydancingdreamer · 4 years

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Alright I’m feeling a tad violent so lets do this--

I am SO mad that there are people who love Damon but can’t find it in themselves to give even an inkling of that love to Kol— I am all about the freedom to choose the characters you love and the characters you don’t but, like, this isn’t even about love at this point it’s about respect??

When I say ‘love a character’, I mean giving them respect

The vast amount of respect this fandom gives Damon and the vast lack given to Kol is astronomically uneven— The double standards are absolutely WILD

And I’ve ranted so many times about not adding hate to a fandom so that’s not what this post is going to be— I will not add any fuel to the Damon fire because although he is problematic so are so many other characters that I love— but I will be pointing out a few things about Kol that make me violently angry

First off I want to talk about the similar anger between Damon and Kol

They’re both in situations where they resent what they are— and they handle it in rather similar ways, lashing out with violence— but garner different reactions from people

and what makes me mad is that Damon is 150-200 years old ish (I can’t quite remember) and Kol is 1000+ and yet for some reason Damon’s anger is more justified???

Don’t forget that Kol was tricked into becoming a vampire too— he didn’t have a choice— and then immediately after him and his family were turned their dad turned around and was like “shit I didn’t mean to do that my bad” and TRIED TO KILL THEM ALL FOR THE NEXT 1000 YEARS

let’s also not forget that Kol was the only one of his immediate siblings— Freya not included for obvious reasons— who could harness his magic and loved magic?? And that when he became a vampire he lost his magic which, again, was his identity— which as teenagers and adults we can recognise is hard enough to uncover as is

and so here Kol is, probably somewhere between 18-20 years old, now with everything he had / was striped away from him, dealing with mood swings he doesn’t understand as well as his own natural puberty mood swings, on the run from parents trying to KILL HIM, terrified and sad and pissed off

and yeah he starts to act out a little because what the fuck else are you supposed to do when you have no identity, are a fugitive at no fault of your own, and are experiences inhuman emotions that make no sense

Kol lost EVERYTHING— all of them did but he especially did— and so reasonably he turns to anger and violence

and OH LOOK HIS BROTHERS ALL OF A SUDDEN START DAGGERING HIM

So now— on top of the above issues— his brother’s and sister form an unholy alliance and don’t include him and decide the best way to deal with the issue is to shove a knife in his chest and let him sit for a few decades every ten or so years

do you know how fucking terrifying that must be? Does it get better? Dying? He can never truly die— a form of punishment in and of itself— but he must feel like he’s dying every god damn time and I don’t honestly believe that it gets better the more you do it

and Finn mentions in The Originals that when you get daggered you’re not just asleep— you gain that consciousness back and are able to hear the things around you slightly and can understand that people did this to you and are scared, confined, angry, sad, etc.

so now he’s in a box for decades, sitting on the betrayal and anger and saddness and fear that he has NO opportunity to confront— not once did anyone sit their younger brother down and say ‘hey, are you okay?’

it’s all just simmering and building and he’s so angry all he can do is see red and he feels like no one fucking loves him (at least Stef fucking loves Damon, Kol’s brothers pretty much hate him) and it’s all just pointless to him now because he has NOTHING

AND THEN EVERYONE HAS THE AUDACITY TO WONDER WHY WHEN HE’S RELEASED FROM HIS BOX THAT HE CAUSES SO MANY PROBLEMS???? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

Kol was treated like absolute shit from the get go, he was turned at a vital age in development, when you’re supposed to be finding your purpose, had his magic— the one thing he truly loved— stripped away from him, had his family turn on him because they couldn’t handle the mood swings and emotions that came from the loss and his age, had all these things riding against him and people have the raw audacity to even suggest it can’t be justified? Pathetic

let’s not also forget that Kol didn’t even get a chance to learn social norms each time before he got redaggered— how scary it must be to be reintroduced to a new fucking society every seventy years and then not even get a proper chance to learn about it

he had all chances of becoming a well adjusted person ripped away by his family and then HE GETS BLAMED FOR NOT BEING SOCIALIZED PROPERLY WHAT THE FUCK

it’s the lines from season three of The Originals that hit hard—

“Oh, you're angry are you? Well join the party! I've been here 1,000 years. I was building that dagger to protect myself against you, Nik. I'm not the bad guy in this chapter of our family's story. I'm the wronged, I'm the dead, but never mourned. And whilst you got everythng you ever wanted, I got a family who didn't care if I lived or if I died.”

And even here— when he FINALLY confronts his family— he gets brushed aside and FOR WHAT???

FOR WHAT

Because none of us can take the fucking TRUTH?

They all have the raw audacity to act like they’re so much better than him and they fucking aren’t

what’s even worse is that Kol kept trying to find his magic and study and learn. This man didn’t ONLY choose violence, he fucking tried to do his magic and surround himself with people like him and everytime he got even an inkling of happiness from it he had it ripped away by his fucking family

you can’t even try to say that he didn’t try to find happiness— he tried everytime

yeah, murder is fucking back, okay, but this man has been CRUSHED by the people who were supposed to love him and I think the anger is reasonable

and so now you’re going to tell me that Damon— whose family— whose BROTHER— didn’t actively seek to kill him— has more rights then Kol?

Stefan LOVED Damon— he would have NEVER done what Klaus and Elijah fucking did— and yet you’re going to even suggest that it’s the same??

That his violence is justified and Kol’s isn’t???

Okay ew, just ew

that’s PATHETIC

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

#wow I didn't know that was building up so much lmao #Kol mikaelson #the originals #the vampire diaries #damon salvatore #to #tvd #dizzy rants #dizzy is so pissed

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anextraordinarymuse · 4 years

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My thoughts on Red and Liz so far

I’m going to put this under a read more, because I haven’t been part of this fandom long but I have already discovered that these two are divisive for a lot of people.

If you are dead set that this is a father/daughter relationship, this probably isn’t the post for you.

Okay, so I just finished Season 3 Episode 5, Arioch Cane, and I have Thoughts and Feelings™ about ... well, so many things. This is going to get long, so buckle up and I’m sorry in advance.

Up to this point, I absolutely do not understand the choices the writers, actors, and producers made if they did not want the Red/Liz relationship to be read as romantic. Because they have made deliberate choices that lead you right down that path and it’s driving me crazy, so here is an incomplete list of those things.

The end of 1x05: Red is sitting in the library and tells his helper guy that he’s investing in the future, and then his guy says “your future is arriving now” - enter Liz, and the whole time the song that’s playing is Wicked Game. GTFO with this - seriously? I will grant that it’s a remix of the song (it’s by Emika, and it’s beautiful and worth a listen), but it is still a romantic song that they chose to have playing for the entirety of Red and Liz’s interaction in that library. Music is a deliberate choice that is made in post production (it’s added after the scenes have been shot). Maybe you should have picked a different one.

The NUMEROUS and pointless references to Liz being his girlfriend. They start as early as 1x02, and this drives me nuts. This is a common and well-known trope across tv shows and movies (any story medium, really, including books) to hint at romantic relationships/feelings early in the story. It sets up the eventual hookup or love reveal that comes later. And it’s all over in terms of Red and Liz, and it’s never corrected except once in 1x02 when Red tells Liz she can pose as his girlfriend from Ann Arbor and she says “absolutely not.” It’s never refuted again, not even by Liz. Ressler asks her in a later episode if she and Red are having a lover’s quarrel and she doesn’t answer; Ressler asks Red if he’s in the doghouse (a term that is only used between romantic partners) and he doesn’t answer; Madeline Pratt comments on the age difference with “isn’t she a little young for you?” (a jab at the May/September trope and at Red); Luther Braxton taunts Red over the phone and says “your girlfriend, the princess”. I could keep going because these instances keep happening, and there is absolutely no reason to keep putting these lines in if TPTB had no intention of presenting a romantic angle/possibility for this relationship. That is a DELIBERATE choice the writers made.

This brings me to my next point: Red is never the one to explain away the romantic/sexual tension/looks/hints/undercurrents. Other people do, Liz does, etc. but it never comes from him. Many examples are listed above, but two very prominent ones that come to mind are in early season 3: the first time Red sees Liz with her blonde hair he is speechless. He just laughs and does that nervous tongue flick tic (say that three times fast) of his, twice, and then gives that dry laugh. That moment is just like every reveal I can think of where the female lead comes out looking hot as hell and the man is speechless. Red can’t fucking string a sentence together - he stops mid-sentence and can barely swallow. Seriously? Seriously writers/powers that be? Get. The. Fuck. Outta. Here. It’s Liz that says something about her mother being blonde and thus looking like her, and Red ignores that too. He doesn’t agree or explain away his reaction at all. There is no explanation or redirect or anything of the sort. The other glaring example that comes to mind is when Red tries to tell Lizzy what he sees when he looks at her and physically can’t get the words out. He just stops mid-sentence, again, and takes a drink instead. When he does finally tell her he can’t even manage to look at her. And I could scream for absolute years into the void about “when I look at you, that’s what I see. I see my way home.” Oh, and the song choice again here? It’s “our house” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and has the line “play your love songs all night long for me, only me,” which you can hear during the scene. I mean, just ... just fuck off writers.

Also, for several weeks while they’re on the run, Red and Liz are hunkered down on a theater stage ... that is staged as a house. They’re literally playing house. *sigh* I hate it here

And now we get to episode 3x05, Arioch Cane. I could write an entire paper on this episode. Maybe I will at some point. Anyway, everything about this episode. Everything about the last, like, 20 minutes of this episode. Solomon calls Liz Red’s girlfriend (and we’re back to this) and not only does no one correct him, he then goes on to give us this: “What is it with you two, anyways? That’s what everyone wants to know. Some say it’s a daddy-daughter thing. Others swear it’s a May/September. I prefer to believe it’s a little of both.” .......... yeah. Right on the nose there, writers. No one will ever convince me that line wasn’t a statement directly from the writers to the audience that yes, the romantic subtext and tension and whatever is there. You’re not crazy, audience, we put that shit there and we did it on purpose. You want to read it as daddy-daughter? Fair and valid. You want to read it as romantic? Also totally fair and valid because we put that shit in there. There’s more I could say about this episode, but honestly at this point my brain is just done.

All of this to say that, up to the point of 3x05, I would argue that Red does not see Lizzy in a familial light. I am less sure about Liz and how she sees Red (for many reasons), but I think it has been established that the writers purposely laid a foundation for the romantic route. I personally fall on that side so far, and I think it would make for such interesting storytelling if they go the May/September route. So many intricate, nuanced roads to explore with that option!

TL; DR: Maybe they don’t go that way later on for whatever reason - and I’m sure as I get farther into the show I will have more on those points - but in the early seasons they purposely left it open to interpretation. The romantic imagery, subtext, tension, etc. is all there, no matter what they decide to do in later seasons.

Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.

#Jess' thoughts #lizzington #in which I try to make sense of the stylistic choices TPTB have made

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mystic-kitten-writer · 4 years

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heyy i just wanted to check in to see if you’re doing okay! hope everything is well. you can always talk to us!

Hi, boo~!😊

You know, I don’t think you understand how nice it was to get this ask today.

Like I didn’t realize how off I felt until I got this, and I’m just like damn. I’m really just not content today. I’m going to put the rest under a ‘read more’ (hopefully it works!) because honestly, I really want to just talk.

I’ll be honest babe, for this past week I’ve been feeling really down.

I’ve mentioned this in passing often, but I do have depression. Always have, always will - I literally don’t remember a day where my depression hasn’t been looming above me. But this whole week it feels ten times more intense?

By now, I know my triggers, what to do when I’m feeling blue, and stuff, but nothing seems to be working. I kept pushing forward, trying to keep productive and answering asks because no word of a lie, it’s one of the few moments where I feel genuinely happy - but since Friday it feels like I’ve hit a wall.

It has come to the point where I was editing Limerence because I was going to post today, and I had to stop because I felt absolutely nothing. I figured it was just me being overwhelmed, so I started editing Eden instead, and again - I felt numb. It was the weirdest, most uncomfortable feeling I’ve had in years.

I was on the phone with my best friend and as we were talking, he flat out told me that for the first time in our whole friendship, he’s never heard me sound stressed or on edge.

And I hate complaining because it sounds like I’m just whining. Like yall, I haven’t even ranted or told any of my friends that I’ve been feeling like this, literally keeping it between us atm lol

I feel like I just needed to write and rant, so to the anon who sent this ask - thank you for giving me space to just vent. It was a pointless vent, mind you, and I could probably go on for hours - but seriously, thanks for coming to my Tedtalk

But besides me, I hope everything is going well on your end and your safe and healthy. Also, the offer to rant, literally about anything, is always on the table and my asks are always open 😉

Take care, sweetie~! 🥰🥰

#ask me anything #anon answered #my pointless rants

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wanna-b-poet31 · 5 years

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From Safety to Protection: How Aziraphale’s lies change throughout Good Omens (A meta)

Guess who finally read the damn book?! :D For the purposes of this Meta, I’m viewing the book and the mini-series as two halves of the same whole, not necessarily the “same” characters parading in each, but definitely similar enough that the inner thoughts of one can help us understand the inner thoughts of the other.

The Breaking Point

So, can we all agree that Aziraphale is not cut from the same cloth as the other angels?

While he has still been exposed to the toxic “homelife” of Heaven, been consequently conditioned to believe Heaven’s “there’s nothing to see here” rhetoric, and he has witnessed many travesties at the hand of Heaven, he has difficulty reconciling his “good” heavenly orders and his (from Heaven’s perspective) “pointless” love of humanity.

In short, there is plenty of cognitive dissidence between the actions (or inactions) of Heaven, and what Aziraphale knows to be the “right” thing to do.

For examples of his struggle, look no further than this passage in the book:

His gut reaction is to tell Crowley. He goes on to describe how he not only “likes” Crowley, but they both like the Earth, and that he unquestionably trusts (and clearly desperately loves) Crowley.

The question here is not “can I trust Crowley”, the question is, “how do I protect what we have?”

He WANTS to tell Crowley. In the context of the mini-series, he WANTS to find Crowley before he runs off to Alpha Centauri and save the world with him. He KNOWS that doing so, saving the world IS the right thing to do. Both selfishly and selflessly, he KNOWS Crowley and the world as worth saving.

However, in the same breath he asserts his trust of Crowley, he acknowledges that he does NOT see eye to eye with his superiors and that Heaven and Hell both treat the world as an elaborate chess game. Something meant to be won, not protected. Not loved.

And yet, he decides to contact Heaven Anyway. Partly because he knows what he is “expected” to do, and partly because the nature of his abuse makes it difficult to reconcile his three “truths”: that the world is worth saving, that Heaven is intrinsically “good”, and that the “good” side treats the world as a chessboard.

But they’re HIS side. Surely, that means the two ideas can be connected? Surely, they’d be more than willing to see the redeeming qualities of humanity? Surely, the powers of Heaven, which he has been told are undeniably good, would take care of their little anti-Christ problem. Right?

WRONG.

He is continuously told by Gabriel, by Michael, by Uriel, by damn Sandalphon, and finally by “the Metatron” how “the war is meant to be won, not diverted”. There is no love for humanity, and finally, Aziraphale SEES the abuse. He recognizes that they are gaslighting him, “supporting” his choices, when they have no intention of preventing the war.

Clearly, every other character we meet devalues his deep-rooted love of Humanity. We can see that after 6000 years every other supernatural character has fallen into line, having somewhere along the way stopped loving Humanity for Humanity’s sake, and loving it as means to an end -- a war. Every other character that is, except himself and Crowley.

Once it’s clear to him that no one in Heaven actually cares about humanity. Nevertheless, they persisted.

Together.

On a side of their own.

So, what does one abused angel with some undying love for humanity (and Crowley) choose to do with his revelation?

He chooses to lie to save the world.

SAFETY IN LYING

It would be disingenuous to say that Aziraphale is a stranger to lying. He does it all the damn time. However, it’s his growth from lying to protect himself to protect Crowley and the world.

For example, one of his “biggest” lies is to God. Despite confessing his actions to Crawley and is comforted by the demon, when he is confronted by the voice of God herself he is pretty damn terrified. The voice who literally just cast out angels for asking questions knocks on his door and asks him a pointed question and he lies.

On one level you could argue he is protecting humanity here, but really, he’s doing it to protecting himself. He is terrified of falling, and the trauma associated with that fear motivates Aziraphale. He has seen his cohorts fall, he has seen war, he has seen the lack of love, and he can not take it.

Losing love, or worse, doing the wrong thing, clashes with his identity as an Angel. Based on the emotional manipulation going on in Heaven, I think it’s safe to say that he’s not getting much support from them for this anxiety, so he has to ignore his feelings.

Look at the fear in Aziraphale’s face when he admits the truth to Crowley. Certainly, the demon is lovestruck, but Aziraphale looks terrified. His body language screams fear, his mouth falters, his eyes are begging for forgiveness, and his brow is furrowed. He knows the gravity of his actions and needs the reassurance that he is deserving of validation.

But, given how all the other angels treat him poorly, and that the voice of God is confronting him with anger in her voice, I think it safe for us to infer that he is not given validity for his compassion.

So, he lies because there is safety in lying, and the lies he tells protect him from the vengeance of his abusers.

LYING ABOUT CROWLEY

He also lies to Heaven to protect himself from their judgment about loving (or at least being around) Crowley.

Not always an outright lie of commission like he does with the sword, but he hides and protects the one relationship that isn’t one-sided in his life. Just like his lie to God, he is not doing it necessarily to protect Crowley (yes, it’s an added component,) but he’s also protecting himself because he would be just as likely to be destroyed if they are discovered as Crowley is.

Again though, his lies aren’t for vanity, but safety. The choice to be in the metaphorical closet about his relationship with Crowley most likely stems from his constant abuse by Heaven. To cope with their belittlement and his own cognitive dissidence, he has developed mechanisms for deterring their wrath against him for loving unabashedly. It’s not a healthy environment for him to be in, and it shapes how he interacts with Crowley and humanity.

This is not a commentary to his character. Simply to survive his abuse, he has to lie about his interests, his loves, his humanity, because to be anything but the hive mind results in more trauma. It allows for his safeguards to remain intact.

THE CHARACTER GROWTH

Whereas Crowley can come up with lies with ease, Aziraphale is a terrible and liar. Once he reaches his breaking point the kind of lies Aziraphale tells is no longer rooted in personal safety, but the protection of others.

Throughout the series, we examples of lies of omission, commission, and character lies. However, it’s not something they are seen to do particularly often, which lends to the idea that Aziraphale is somehow flawed or broken to Heaven.

He’s none of those things, but having him believe this to be true, helps Heaven maintain their dogmatic hive-mind. Except, Aziraphale consistently defies their norm. His ultimate rebellion is his choice to lie. First about the antichrist, and then about the divine plan.

He doesn’t know if what is “Great” is “ineffable”. He’s taking a chance that neither Beelzebub nor Gabriel knows either, and instead of deflecting their wrath off of himself, he uses his questions to protect Adam from Heaven’s wrath. And, likely to stop Heaven and Hell from forcing Adam to restart Armageddon’t.

Unlike his previous lying examples there is no ulterior motive to his lying. No selfish or safety concern he has. Just stepping forward and using wit more cutting than a flaming sword. Aziraphale’s skill is with words, He doesn’t actually know if it will work, but he has to try when the world needs defending from Heaven who has pushed it onto the precipice between death and life.

TLDR: Aziraphale lies to heaven for safety reasons but once he realizes the depths of his abuser’s indifference towards humanity he lies to protect others.

Thanks for coming to my Tedtalk

#Ineffable Husbands #good omens #good omens meta #crowley #anthony janthony crowley #aziraphale #lying #goomens #go #a/c #aziraphale loves crowley

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