it doesnt feel like a coincidence that the two characters whom the writers dislike the most / expect you to dislike the most are the black woman and the lesbian
oh it's absolutely not. it can't be. the way the game essentially sets you up to being extremely suspicious of vivienne for quite literally zero reason (she does nothing wrong! nothing to warrent that treatment, even with low approval!) and allows you to fuck her over for seemingly no damn reason + the way so many of the dialogue options are so weirdly antagonistic with sera when she imo so easy to get along with and understand is. hm. well. i'm sure it doesn't mean anything at all (sarcastic)
and the entire damn thing becomes glaringly obvious when you don't view either of those characters negatively. vivienne is my favorite dragon age character overall and sera is SUCH an interesting, complex character. their treatment in dai in comparison to the other companions genuinely infuriates me to no fucking end.
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It's such a shame how many good brother-brother duos or sister-brother duos there are compared to sister-sister duos
I know it stems from writers always feeling the need to add a man in every woman's life
A lot of writers can only make a character who's a sister if she's a sister to a brother and it's a real shame
Honestly I think Nothing from MP is a pretty good example of that
Look at her relationship with her female siblings/cousin vs her male siblings/cousin
Fire ended up being horrible and Feather is a toxic positive "lemme make you feel bad for wanting to change your ableist name even though it literally doesnt effect me" dirtbag
But Nothing had a better relationship with vs her younger sisters/cousins
Farleap and Silentstalk bullied her and Feather's sisters thought she was weirdo though they like literally never interacted
It's just always suspicious when a writer seems to prioritize a female character's relationship with guys over her relationship with girls
Like their gender shouldn't matter but they'll always pick their male characters first
The sexism in writing still to this day is wild. Especially where so-called independent creators are concerned. Because I thought the whole point of being indie was creating stuff you wanted to see in mainstream media but didn't get, but a lot of it is just more of the same crap you get from bigger productions. So either people want more sexism, or its just baked into their brain and they don't even realize it.
A lot of better stories out there are about brothers (well, I could argue that a lot of it is lazy and that there is no point to the characters being brothers, especially when strong emotional friendships between men are practically nonexistent in media.) and anything having to do with sisters is as I said, either petty nonsense or there's no point to being sisters at all.
And then there's as you said, an inherent need by creators for women to have men be relevant in their lives when that same standard is not applied to men. You can throw a rock and hit a movie or show with a female pov where her only motivation has to do with a man. Father, son, brother, husband, boyfriend, abuser. Whatever.
That's not to say any of these are bad stories. But when its the majority of supposed woman-focused media, it loses its edge as woman-focused when the women in question are focused on men. The writers either consciously or subsconsciously don't get that women have motivations beyond men. This even happens with lesbian characters, where men should have even less relevancy? LOL And it doesn't even matter who the writers are, whether they're men/women, cis/trans, straight/gay, everyone does this. You'd expect better from queer creators but even then there's a clear preference. And they're wont to bring up that "gender shouldn't matter" but only when it pertains to asking why they're so opposed to women being the focus. Its quite interesting.
MP is in an interesting position of hating both men and women at the same time while not commenting on how the patriarchy has negative effects on both men and women. Not an easy feat but Tribble sure made it look easy. She made Feather Nothing's prime motivator for leaving the pride, and while I have my own criticisms of Nothing's "subtle" motherlyness towards Feather, that wasn't extended to the female cubs. Fire is Nothing's other motivation for leaving the pride, and then he turned out to be a wannabe dictator. Quickmane was shown to be a sympathetic and caring mate who definitely wasn't homophobic, but had no qualms about killing children. And then there's alllllll the women who are meant to be oppressed to the same extent as Nothing, but they all somehow manage to be even worse because the narrative wants us to side with them.
And even Nothing's abusive relationship with Quickmane as we've stated in our review is arguably less fucked up than the relationship she has with her own mother. Because we know what they think about each other, and Powerstrike still insists that Nothing's existence is a burden on her soul or whatever. Like what the fuck is up with that?? I'm sure they could've made Powerstrike less-bad than Quickmane, was this some sort of weird equalizer of the sexes? And you can count Nothing's relationship with Sharptongue if you're so inclined to, but even if you ignore everything else she did, Sharptongue would still be the only positive female influence in Nothing's life. But not a key motivator in Nothing's story. Like not even a little bit.
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ok i honestly feel like a really big part of what makes us love nico as a girl dad is that he doesnt really take himself tooooo seriously you know? like, if his kid wants to put makeup and glitter on him, then he'd let them and he'd even suggest colors that he'd like to be on him! and if his kid wants to tie his hair up with bows and put stickers on his gym bag and stick? then he'd highly encourage them to do so and buy them a whole back of bows and stickers!
oh he’s such a silly goofy little guy and it’s definitely part of his appeal and charm
but that goofy silly side when it comes to his kids??? no joke is too silly. no act is too goofy. he is a proud member of the “well my kid wanted me to so…” club when he comes to the rink with neon pink finger nails or a bow clipped in his hair.
he would send his little girl pictures of him in all his gear with his matching red eye shadow and red hair bow before he takes to the ice for practice, not caring if the eye shadow leaks into his eyes while on the ice. as long as she knows he dad is proud to wear her creations, that’s all that matters.
he would tell her, too, that all of his teammates love her looks and designs she draws on him. she would get so excited she’d ask if she could take her stuff and set up a table in the hallway outside of the locker room, offering her uncles free make overs before or after practice. nico makes it happen (as if there’s anything he wouldn’t make happen for her) and soon the entire team is walking around with red and black make-up all over their faces. observing his teammates gearing up for practice, his heart swells with how much his team loves his little girl, and how happy she is that she got to give everyone a “pretty daddy make-over”. it doesn’t matter that the amount of glitter all over the locker room will likely still be there even after every man on the roster has retired.
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My brainrot today is thinking about just how incredible for a character Eowyn is.
Genuinely. The series might not have many female characters but the ones we do get go so fucking hard.
To me, Eowyn is literally the definition of defining being a woman for oneself. She rejects the roles she is given despite acknlowdging the importance and its mostly because she knows part of the reason is that she is a woman.
The reason why she is obsessed with Aragorn isn't because she loves him but because she wants what he has. She wants the freedom and courage and bravery that Aragorn has at every turn. She literally has multiple conversations during the Two Towers about how what she fears most is a cage. All this girl wants is the freedom to be and not be forced into a role. The best thing is that she literally gets that.
The segment of Return of the King about Eowyn and Faramir is literally about her piecing together what she truly wants. She doesn't want Aragorn. She wants freedom and the ability to choose. Faramir does nothing but encourage that in her. Their love story is literally one of the healthiest love stories I've seen in a long time because at the heart of it, their love is a place to return home to for both parties. Both go off to lead and help their people for a considerable amount of time before returning to each other but that does not diminish their bond. Even Faramir, I believe, falls in love with her bravery and dedication to her loved ones. The reason she went to Pelenor Fields and Gondor with the troops of Rohan was because she had things she wanted to fight for. She wanted to fight for herself, her people, and her loved ones. She is the one who protects Theoden after he is killed so that his body gets the treatment it deserves. She encourages Merry and helps him go to the battle because she sees her struggle in Merry. They feel helpless standing around when there are things to be doing.
Let's also not forget the fact that she was around Grima Wormtounge just as much as the King was. She was exposed to the same poison and awful words that eroded the king. It's even implied that her care for him is part of the reason why Theoden was savable when Gandalf showed up. She had the same power and bravery as everyone else even if she didn't see it in herself.
Then at the end of the day, SHE decides where she wants to go and what path she wants to walk. She walked the path of a warrior. The path of a princess/ruler. The path of a caretaker. But in the end she decides which elements truly mean something to her outside of gender definitions. That is what makes her character so incredible to me. In this she literally kills one of the biggest enemies in that battle with such a badass line.
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Blaha makes me always want to start eating drywall because they're so....fjdjd
Blythe is the star of the show; she can charm basically anyone, can haggle them better deals, can make the most of locked up information sources viable - she speaks in double meanings with ease and does it elegantly. She prances around dressed in expensive and fine clothes, with delicate materials like stockings and still looks put to the 9s.
Raha isn't that, he's none of that. With being neurodivergent, he struggles with social interaction, and prefers limiting it. He always chooses comfort over form in clothing, they're always incredibly utilitarian. He'd prefer camping in the woods than stay at an inn, somewhere he'd be uncomfortable AND have to pay. But he hath bewitched her because he's...earnest.
Blythe with all her talking usually ended up attracting like birds. People who double speak, who are the most suave when talking but are liars, people who's word is sweeter than their action, so to be met with someone who....is none of that - who wouldn't lie to her, who would spend 4 hours cooking just to be able to make her her favorite food, who would knit her a winter sweater, who would genuinely want to protect her. It's new and...how can someone be able to resist that. And he IS knowledgeable, and won't be patronizing - she loves to find out new things and he is a treasure trove of extremely obscure information on botany and monsters.
So of COURSE she likes him. She can be all that, but when she turns around there's someone a constant that will always be truthful, always stand by her, always want to listen. He prefers being an audience, and she the star, so both are happy with the roles
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I know the fandom tends to see Five Pebbles as a sad, self-hating, angsty bug boy but, I struggle to agree with the fandom depiction.
I think a lot of characters in Rain World care a lot about each other, I think they care too much. That's why it's such a tragedy.
Pebbles falls to that too. I think he cares, a lot, it's tough to see but it's there.
Take a look at the bug maze convo - "FP: So why do we continue? We assemble work groups, we ponder, we iterate and try. Some of us die. It's not fair." He clearly realises that there's problems, he realises they're working on something that ultimately does not matter, and they're all stuck doing that. "It's not fair" Its not and he wants to do something about it, he ain't just gonna stand around and keep working on this pointless problem. They don't deserve to be stuck working like this forever.
Problem is, just like Suns, everyone is still working on the problem, and for what purpose? Look at Sky Islands pearl 3 read by Pebbles - "Should we reject a way out of this maze, on the mere principle that escape itself is forbidden?" They are all stuck and no one is doing anything. Gold pearl read by Pebbles - "I need to fix this, and try again. If I can just reproduce Sliver of Straw's results, they will understand." And that's why he's so adamant on solving the problem, if they can all understand that "hey the solution is right here, we can stop now, we can do whatever we want" then they'd all be free. I think he sees how unfair all this is, and how everyone has given up to simply just working on the problem because what else are they supposed to do. He sees all that and wants to help, if he can find the solution then he'd help everyone, and he does these dumb risky things because if he succeeds then it'll all be worth it.
He loves his sister and he loves his friends, and he cares about all the other iterators and even the scugs that pass through. And its all such a tragedy because despite all this love and care we still watch everything fall apart and crumble. It was never fair for any of them.
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