#well meta-ish ok

[sleepy-grav3]

Amity Park hates the Justice League but loves Red Hood and sometimes other heroes

A/n: I got this random idea so here it is. Oh, and this is good reveal AU ok?

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Due to the Justice League mocking them and ignoring their villain problems that were also publicly interdimensional problems, everyone hates the JL. It got worst with the GIW coming in, who blatantly went against the meta-laws (which included aliens, demons and so much more that weren't human from the beginning). They started to think the Justice League supported them.

In the Infinite Realms, however, there's a revenant that many adored and others respected. He did not hold back against criminals. Criminals that would rape, kill, traffic, sell drugs, and more to people. He especially didn't like when they brought kids into this. He'd avenge people the way they should've been: by promising that their abuser/killer/whatever wouldn't be able to do it again. And in the place they lived in, the only way for that to be possible was by major injury, heavy social outcasting, and/or death. Most prefer the 3rd.

And after how long the Amitians dealt with the attacks which eventually came to a slow once or twice a week type thing, they started opening their minds to the idea of coexistence. Well, further than they had. So when people started to cross over and start making their small haunts in their side of the veil, the Amitian's began to become aware of the popular hero Red Hood. He was part of the undead community, which was trustworthy in everyone's books.

So Amity Park started making merch. Most of it was for Team Phantom, but there was plenty for Red Hood as well. There were other heroes on the side, like for Superboy 1 (who they renamed to Supernova due to their hatred for Superman for 2 reasons, the obvious and that he rejected a mirror-born), and Raven (the half demon).

And with this coexistence, Team Phantom had noticed the positive feedback about killing in the name of vengeance. So they went on the offensive, and after a good year of that, the GIW lost funding for producing no results and just taking up resources. The acts were still there, but nobody enacted them in Amity, and nobody actually knew or believed them outside of the haunted city.

Then the Justice League find out about the hero group there due to tracking merchandise after they started to sell outside of the city. Superman was the guy everyone liked, so he was sent over. He immediately got thrown out and was now questioning who the heck Supernova was and when he rejected him.

Flash? Outcast. Everyone ignored and walked away from him. they had the police, who never did anything or even had to anymore, kick him out.

Green Lanter? Oh the poor guy. He had his ring taken away and thrown out of the city somehow. It took hours to find it.

Wonder Woman, they had to be ok with her. Not at first, but once Phantom had a talk with her and people learned that they were cousins through Clockwork (Kronos) and Pandora, they were ok. ish. Tolerated was the best word and she got the info back to the league.

The batfamily took a trip there, dragging Red Hood along somehow. And right when Red Hood was noticed, a crowd began to form as everyone practically worshipped him. There were many victims he had avenged and an Ancient (Lady Gotham) came and gave him the gifts she couldn't without scaring the guy.

At one point, the poor guy even cried.

[godtier]

so i wasn't gonna make a separate post about this but @sapphire-weapon had a post (that i reblogged a few days ago) in which someone mentioned that they think it was a missed opportunity in RE6 for jake to not have spoken to wesker. i had a p long conversation with sirea about it and my thoughts about that sentiment, but it was also nearly 3 AM my time when that happened so i dunno if i was even articulating my thoughts properly lmao

and yes... this is technically a meta post and i know i said i was gonna do the mmx meta post first... but this one isn't gonna be nearly as long (i hope) and i gotta get the brainworms out before i die

(quick edit note: i reworded the list item below from saying he was "likely a drug addict" to "likely a recreational drug user" because i feel like that better encompasses what i'm trying to get across

(another edit note: i made another post regarding jake's usage of drugs that stemmed from this post! it's marked as mature bc of drug usage, so it won't show up in tag search. if you're interested in that, look here!)

so the idea that wesker being alive in OG RE6 would have brought an opportunity for jake's character is kinda, imo, antithetical to the purpose of jake's character in the first place.

when we meet jake, we know a few things about him, right off the bat:

he's a mercenary

he's likely a recreational drug user or at least heavy/risk-taking user

he doesn't give a fuck about anything but making money

his whole character journey is going from this selfish, money-focused dickhead to someone who actually cares about doing something good, just because it's the right thing to do. at the start, jake refuses to simply give his blood away when sherry mentions needing it for a vaccine. no, he wants a cash payout. 50 million dollery-doos for a pint of his blood. by the end, he lowers the price to a mere 50 dollars. one could argue that was symbolic and he actually didn't care if he was paid or not, but that's neither here nor there.

but why was he like this? because his childhood was shite; his mother was sickly, he had no father figure, and by 15-ish, jake had to learn how to hustle to keep food on the table. and by "hustle" i mean "do a bunch of mercenary work and killing people." and when shit went south with his little group of mercenaries (their entire group was sold out by a heel-turner), jake basically went "fuck alla y'all" and lost all sense of conviction or morals.

during the game, he expresses his bitterness for his father, wesker, pretty clearly. even though his mother still loved wesker, tried to raise jake to respect him despite never knowing him, it didn't matter to jake. he hated that guy. well, really, who doesn't?

we're not gonna talk about excella rn ok

jake's entire character arc is built up around this hatred as well as a subconscious fear of becoming his father. the fear part doesn't show up until later in the story, after he and sherry were captured by the Big Bad's organization. they were both experimented on for several months, during which jake overheard the researchers talking about his father, wesker. this gives jake a sort of "explanation" as to why he is the way he is; he takes the "nature" side of the nature vs nurture argument.

ofc sherry scolds his ass and basically tells him "grow up and take responsibility for your actions."

and here's the thing... this fear, narratively, works just fine without wesker being there.

(since this got obscenely long, pls continue below for the actual explanation lmao)

jake eventually comes to the conclusion that yeah no it's definitely up to him to not become wesker, not his genetics. he does this without wesker being there. that's the entire point of his character journey. in order for an interaction with wesker to even matter or have any sort of impact on jake's character arc, his character arc as a whole would need to change.

see, imo, wesker being there diminishes a lot of the power of that journey. in the game, he isn't there for jake to scream at, to question. all those thoughts in his head that might be circulating around, like why he left his mother, why he did what he did, etc, cannot be answered. this is not a bad thing in a character arc as this is shit that happens to people all the time. people don't always get the answers they may want from family members because those family members are dead. they have to learn to move on without those answers or they have to rely on people who knew that person to fill in the blanks. this is what jake already does in game. he has to rely on sherry, and by a smaller extent, chris, to fill in those blanks for him.

but we as players, observers of the narrative, already know the answers to some of those questions. why wesker did what he did, primarily. anything else is only pertinent to jake and him knowing those answers doesn't change anything for his character arc as it is.

if wesker was there in the game, what would that even add to jake's narrative? a scene where jake yells at his dad? asks him "why did you leave?" when wesker wasn't even aware that he had a kid in the first place? remember: wesker had no fucking idea that he had a child. there would be no reason for wesker to even believe jake in the first place. sure, there could be a scene where he goes "well i'll be damned, ig he really is my misfired chromosome," but... then what? what does that add?

you could argue that wesker could use jake, maybe try to manipulate him into doing shit for his plans, but... that wouldn't work with the way jake's characterization is mapped out. his entire characterization would have to change for this to work in a satisfying way.

jake already hates wesker without ever meeting him. he would not willingly participate in anything wesker offered to him. he already knows that wesker nearly destroyed the world multiple times and had a hand in destroying an entire city. even if jake has no moral compass at the start of the game, by the time he learns about what wesker really did, who he really was, he's already showing that he does have one, it was just dormant up until that point. he's clearly disgusted by what wesker did. what foothold would wesker have that wouldn't immediately result in it just falling flat?

given how wesker is, i could see him perhaps belittling jake, maybe saying "wow you suck for being my spawn," or something during a fight with the intent to rile him up. would that work? no, not narratively nor not in the way jake is characterized. again, jake doesn't want to be like wesker. why would insulting him and saying he's not "as good" as wesker expected him to be motivate jake or even anger him? it shouldn't, because jake doesn't want to be anything like wesker. if anything, it may annoy him, but that's kind of a lame reaction, right?

if anything, the most i could see culminating out of this would be jake standing over wesker after he's defeated again (because it's resident evil and obviously wesker can't win) and having a "wow idk what i was worried about" moment. that's it.

but he doesn't need that. having a scene like that cheapens the weight of him figuring that out himself, without wesker there as "proof."

because the point of his story, of his character arc, is that he figures that out on his own (and with the help of sherry and the events he witnesses) because he has to. he doesn't need wesker there to spoon-feed that to him. he figures that out by working with sherry, by seeing the effects of the C-Virus on everything that it infects. wesker being an abstract entity in his life is enough, because the frustration of not seeing him, not being able to put a bullet in his skull himself, fuels the rest of his journey.

this is where i think that people who make these observations or criticisms (primarily those who think that jake's character would have been improved if wesker was there) need to understand the difference between what's good for a character as a person and what's good for their arc.

interacting with wesker would be good for jake as a person, in that he would no longer need to wonder about it. the answers would be spelled out for him, and he wouldn't have to do any wondering about the what-if. he wouldn't have any doubts left that he'd need to untangle.

but in doing that, it cheapens his arc; it would do more of a disservice to it, imo, than anything else. it would make his journey more formulaic and boring.

it would also clutter up the already cluttered narrative of that game. you have him not only struggling with his heritage, struggling with the fear of becoming his father, struggling with needing to be the "savior" by giving his blood, struggling with his moral compass, but now also struggling with seeing his father for the first time in person?

it makes his arc top-heavy. in that scenario, you could easily replace him with another, completely new character who has zero ties to wesker and the story wouldn't change in any meaningful way. the reason why it works the way to does now is because wesker is already dead. it creates that internal conflict, that internal frustration, that jake has to learn how to deal with since he cannot take that frustration out on his father in-person. he has to make peace with that struggle in other ways.

now, that's not to say there aren't ways that adding wesker into the story of RE6 that don't disrupt that balance. primarily, when it comes to a potential RE6 remake, the writing team can (and hopefully will) rework aspects of the entire game to make the plot more streamlined. this could include adding wesker in and redoing jake's characterization and character arc entirely.

this would be the only way i could see it working out. if jake's entire motivation was changed, his entire backstory was tweaked, then wesker being around could probably work! an interaction between them could be made to make sense and not bog down the rest of the plot as a result.

sirea also mentioned to me in our conversation that adding wesker in to RE6 remake could actually help streamline the plot and i do agree with that. she mentioned that all of the main characters have a tie to wesker in some way, which is absolutely true. having him there would neatly tie their campaigns together in the plotline and make the game as a whole feel less disjointed and messy.

this is especially true when we consider there are 4 fuckin campaigns that all run alongside one another and intersect at random points. it gets so fucking difficult to page through and figure out when certain things happen in the plot. you'll see them happen in order in chris's campaign, for example, then you go start leon's campaign and have to start over again and try to remember what happened at the same time during chris's campaign and so on.

now imagine that not with just two campaigns but four. it gets gross quick. sure, there are parts where the characters run into each other and that helps ground a general timeline in your head, but as far as time elapsed... it's so fuckin hard u guise

there's a reason why it's so hard to summarize the plot of RE6. it's because there is just so much going on in that fucking game.

anyway, that's my rant/sort of meta analysis about why i think wesker didn't need to be in OG RE6 and probably would have made jake's entire arc stupider than it already was

[dpsisquared]

6 (although I think I already know the answer :P), 10, 20!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Other than Dimileth, lol... certainly Sylvain, particularly teasing Dimitri. He's just The Guy that says what the audience wants to say. And there's always an undercurrent of "I'm being an ass cause that's my gimmick but I do actually care underneath all this smarmy bs".

Lately I've been writing Flayn more and she is fun too. Her stage notes are basically "how would an overexcited puppy react to this?" Lol. Petra as well because she is usually dropping some knowledge but you have to really analyze your sentence structure and word choice but keep that same message.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

Utter chaos. Anarchy.

But more seriously, GRR Martin has a quote about "gardening" writing style, where you start with a small seed of an idea and let it grow on its own which is exactly what I do. I have never outlined a fic or even known where it was headed when starting. For example with my ongoing fic rn, I didn't start out thinking "I'm going to write a regency au with a count of monte Cristo type revenge arc". A conversation popped into my head where there was a party at some palace where a few women were talking about Kronya's body being found just outside. I just liked the contrast. Then I thought, oh the gossiping seems regency-ish. Then, I have to ask myself questions to fill in the blanks- who killed her and why? Dimitri-- but how do they not know that? He's hiding his identity-- ok then who do they think he is? What would have had to happen to make that plausible? Etc etc etc, eventually a setting and plot come together. This is why my longer fics are usually complete by the time I start posting. Because the beginning setup usually comes last 😅

Unfortunately this leaves a lot of unfinished WIPs with 1-2k words written in one sitting and abandoned 🫠 Sometimes I come back weeks, months, or even a year later and finish them, sometimes not.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Hmmmm not sure if this counts, but I always try to keep Dimitri and Byleth's relationship balanced. I don't ever want it to be "woman with no personality of her own saves complicated man". I try to show how he has done a lot for her too 💙💙💙

A random thing I do for Byleth is reevaluate any dialogue that has her saying more than two sentences without pause. Almost always I will cut it down if that's the case, unless she is relaying an event or something unemotional like that.

[vivithefolle]

Hey its me who left a comments on your Quora, and bc im a negative hater of Hermione that will make her worshippers cry, i wanna just copy and repeat my unpopular opinions here to yours in order to spread my negativity :p

I think its kinda funny how Rowling self inserted into Hermione but forgot herself is a adult woman, and Hermione is a teenager sometimes, but like only sometimes.

A lot of Hermiones rule bendings and actions just sounds like what an 20s or 30s something would want to do, and would have full conviction as well as planning ability to carry it out. Sorta like the way you cant file a lawsuit and WIN if you are 10 but can if you are 21. Rowling wishes she could do what Hermione can do but forgot she was writing a teenager, then went "oh its ok. She settled it all in the end off pages."

Rowling will be like "Hermione is me and so mature and i wanted to do that to people i hate all my life" when it comes to time traveling - to take more classes than her peers because its fair where? - and "punishing" a bad journalist who spread stupid rumors and "punishing" the students and teachers she hated, or erasing her parents out of her records. Because only adults could break big rules like that and maybe deal with consequences. But then in the same books same chapters she will be like "Hermione is forever 13 year old and hates defying rules" when it come to the characters emotional development. And worse, after that couldnt write all the messy logical backlashes and consequences that this teenagers actions left.

Coupling with Emma Watsons casting and all the Mary Sue script changes influencing later books, the result is the worse, most self entitled, inconsistent, sloppily written female character ever created among all the real, logical teenage characters. Some like Harry is Mary Sue-ish, but hes at least consistent and logical to a teenager. Hermione is a Sue and couldnt even be a decent one that makes a lick of sense.

we like to dunk on Movie Hermione, and her looks and the Ron bashing can make us dislike her because thats not book Hermione, but in terms of being a Mary Sue , movie Hermione is actually a much better written character than book Hermione. One is at least consistent and is a character despite "perfect". Movie Hermiones lines and moments are still things a , very perfect, schoolgirl can know and do. Book Hermione cant decide if shes a teenager character with emotional flaws or a 30 something 4th wall goddess with super meta powers that can solve every characters romance problems. Like you cant choose both of these, Rowling.

its so frustrating bc this is actually why its so hard to convince Hermione lovers and criticizers on points from either side on her personality and her relationships with others. Because a very blazen competent girl that could "punish" teachers and students and new reporters alike on the basis of very adult, very real LAW and ORDER can not act like an jealous, immature 15 year old that also cries all the time with no handle on her emotions, is "book smart" and stick for rules, and vice versa. Which is she?

i now dont really care for Hermione and Ron. She ruined the couple for me. its not that she could be an asshole to him, but because shes not a character. Shes a vessel.

_____

Vivi's commentary: Well darn that is a brutal assessment! I do believe that what the things that make Hermione feel so disconnected is the lack of consequences. I mean, the way she "punishes" Rita and Marietta is totally the way a teenager fantasizes about punishing the people who hurt them, but the fact that Hermione manages to do it without ever having it bite her in the ass is the part that's really making her a Mary Sue for me.

[pixiestickie]

Ok this is kind of a weird ask but that new scene in the manga where Jamil seems to be jealous of Azul lives in my head rent free and I love assigning songs to my favs- does Jamil fit the vocaloid song "God-ish" to you? Reading the lyrics kinda reminded me of him.

I really enjoy reading your character/ship analysis and wanted to know what were your thoughts on this and if you would assign any other song to Jamil(⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠)

HII !! ok so ill have to start with a confession: I don’t listen to music (at least not as much as the avarage teen i am an anomaly) so i dont usually happen to associate songs to characters

ive nevr heard of that song BUT i checked it out and its a BOP. i reas the lyrics in the wiki and i do think it fits !! one could also make it about kalim as well. jealousy is a big part of jamil’s character, so i think this song bangs and fits him. i hope i didnt get this part wrong but i also saw some parts about dancing and jamil loves dancing so that makes it even more jamil core

as an animator i can definitel envision an animation about jamil to this song :))

btw so so glad you enjoy my endless rambles and analysis 😭😭😭 im shy about them but hearing people enjoying them really motivates me . so tjank you sm it means a lot to me i will rxplode

ANYWAY because of the fact that i dont listen to music that much (even if i do have 1 playlist), i dont have songs that fit jamil off the top of my head. i have “bitter choco decoration” which fits him WORD BY WORD but its such a meta song… if that even makes sense 😭 i can also think of is first love / late spring (YES IM GIVING YOU A MITSKI SONG LEAVE ME ALONE) about jamil and kalim’s dynamic

another one i used to have in mind was “aishite aishite aishite”, but like, a very specific translation. people have translated and interpreted it in many different ways to the point i associate one translation to jamil and another to azul 😭

[minetteskvareninova]

Look, I don’t completely hate the show version of Alicent and Rhaenyra’s relationship. I mean, it doesn’t quite come together in a coherent manner, it’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster stitched from different character beats, but man are those beats good.

All of that said, as an adaptation, it’s absolute fucking bullshit. “Oh, we didn’t want to make Alicent just a stereotypical evil stepmother.” - OK, then? So how does that track with “make them the same age and also have this weird pseudoromantic connection going on” (because an actual queer relationship, or, failing that, a well-developed portrayal of a simple friendship wouldn’t fit the superedgy ethos of this stupid franchise I guess)? Is a bad stepmother-stepdaughter relationship so inherently uncompelling that you just had to change it into something else?! Like, what even is this?! This show thrives on toxic and complicated family dynamics! Daemon and Viserys’ whole dealio alone is worth dozens of metas and hours of opinionated video essays! How come you cannot think of anything interesting to do with a young woman marrying an older man (how much older is up to you, he was much younger in the book but whatever) with a child and trying to integrate into his family, and a girl dealing with her father remarrying soon-ish after her mother’s death?! One of my tumblr friends (I hope she’ll forgive me for calling her this, lol) faintingheroine has written whole books (in tumblr post form, but nvm) about a single turkish novel with this kind of relationship at its center! And like... It has no dragons, or battles or whatever. It’s just a girl and her stepmother failing to get along (and said stepmother having an illicit affair, but that’s beside the point). And people love it! It’s genuinely compelling! Why couldn’t Hot D just do that, especially when they were going to age Rhaenyra anyway (so Alicent being mean to her would feel less like bullying)?!

[steelbluehome]

BFI

A Different Man: a discomfiting but darkly hilarious story of a man with two faces

Sebastian Stan stars as an actor whose face is transformed by an experimental treatment for his genetic condition in Aaron Schimberg’s mischievously meta doppelganger tale.

3 March 2024

A Different Man (2024)

By Jessica Kiang

"Stan is beautifully, brutally ill-at-ease playing a man who has never quite believed he deserved either of his faces"

Reviewed from the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival

It takes a while before Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man – a discomfiting but darkly hilarious story of a man with two faces, one soul and zero game – brings up the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. But once it arises, it is an acidic reminder that our simplistic ideas around physical beauty and its relationship to virtue are installed in us as children and remain largely undeveloped after that. Schimberg’s slyly unsavoury act of ethical extortion is not the first film built to invert these notions. But it’s among the first to invert them again, and once or twice more, so that you may well end up facing the same way you did at the beginning, only now you’re dizzy.

Edward (Sebastian Stan in heavy prosthetics) is a man with neurofibromatosis, a condition that causes facial tumours that severely distort his features. He is an actor only ever cast in cheap corporate videos that advise staff how to behave around a co-worker with a disability: “Invite them to social events,” suggests the friendly voiceover, “If you think they’re in distress, discreetly check that they’re ok!” Edward, miming discomfort at a water cooler on cue, tells his fake colleague he’s fine, and thanks him for asking. Disabled people are expected to be grateful for basic courtesies.

In this regard, Edward is the very model of acceptability. Meek and non-confrontational, he avoids making people uncomfortable, avoids triggering their unkindness. He lives a dingy life on the fringes of New York City and not the cool, bohemian fringes but the leaky-ceiling, hostile-neighbours sort. Still, in Edward’s building no one really bats an eyelid at his looks – less, it seems, from compassion than from familiarity and a very New Yorker-ish begrudgery that says: Sure, you got it tough on account of your face, but buddy, you don’t know my life.

But his attractive new neighbour, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve of 2021’s The Worst Person in the World) befriends him and he responds by falling for the struggling playwright to a degree she has no intention of reciprocating. Then an experimental treatment comes good, and – after a skin-sloughing scene that is maybe less horrific to anyone who has ever used a peeling face mask – overnight, Edward looks like Sebastian Stan. Eager to explore hitherto unimagined opportunities for casual sex and professional success, he calls himself Guy, claims Edward died by suicide, and moves to a better flat.

Something, however, keeps tugging at the sleeve of his psychology. When, later, he spots Ingrid hosting auditions for ‘Edward,’ the play she has written about the man he used to be, he is compelled to try out. He gets the part, he gets the girl and then the lightning hits in the shape of Oswald (Adam Pearson from Under the Skin (2013) and Schimberg’s own Chained for Life (2018)), a dapper, charismatic, urbane charmer who has the same condition and similar facial deformities to those that Guy used to have (Pearson has neurofibromatosis in real life). Guy is confronted with the terrifying possibility, in wisecracking, confident, popular, flesh-and-blood form, that his own inadequacies have nothing to do with any condition beyond that of being a bit of a loser.

Even with the deliberate air of staginess and tricksiness that permeates the self-consciously meta A Different Man, there is also a real mischief in the filmmaking. Wyatt Garfield’s mucky, 1970s-exploitation-inflected cinematography. The swishing jazzy cymbals and orchestral intrigue of Umberto Smerilli’s sleaze-noir score. The witty little moments that give the movie’s reality a jittery edge: Guy getting his presidential assassins confused. An ice cream truck absurdly attempting to inch past an ambulance in a narrow alley.

And the performances surprise endlessly, as each character constantly eclipses the others in terms of terribleness. A terrific Pearson relishes Oswald’s pretentious suavity, while Reinsve brings out the bilious shades of narcissism and condescension in Ingrid’s pretty-person privilege. And Stan is beautifully, brutally ill-at-ease playing a man who has never quite believed he deserved either of his faces, right up to a tragicomic climax that, if anything, could be accused of currying sympathy for those afflicted with an excess of facial ‘formity’. Schimberg’s deliciously twisted play on duality and morality and polarity never answers whether it’s better to be despised for what you are, than admired for what you’re not. But it does impishly insist we count our blessings if we’ve never had to find out.

[horizon-verizon]

I know this might be a meme "for now" but do you think they will make rhaenyra's death some sort of an accident lmao

Let's be real, None of us thought that every an each crucial event will happen by accident, even Aegon's crowning, and luke's death are accidents...

So would they make Aegon lose his control over sunfyre or what other possible ways they could change rhaenyra's death? nothing will be book!accurate .

Yes it's very possible they will make Aegon regret it. That Aegon III just happens to stumble out and see his mom get eaten alive after he escaped his captors-because they may kidnap him from Rhaenyra before she tries to go to Dragonstone-and this makes Aegon regret his "impulsive" decision to have Rhaenyra eaten alive.

HBO Max also seems to love to portray male-on-female domestic violence (even outside of episode 10/the show itself), and portray it as not a big deal.

(Aegon’s crowning, actually, goes as Septon Eustace describes and yes he had to be looked for. Wouldn't say that was an accident, since both Otto and Alicent both intended, in the show, to crown Aegon. Luke’s death.....never in a million years did I think they would actually go for Lucerys' death being an accident. Hated it on sight.)

Context: Thoughts and Criticisms for Why They do This

I think the show writers:

misunderstood that the account of the Dance in Fire and Blood is written against Rhaenyra and the blacks because all maesters studied from the Citadel, which is partially (very) funded by the Hightowers, so we must recognize where Gyldayn frames or uses language that is both misogynist and doesn't coincide with what the Westerosi/Targ culture/lore would allow

didn't understand the Septon Eustace was a green, so we must recognize his misogyny and ways he makes narratives for the greens that actually is self contradictory

misunderstood that Mushroom's words should be scrutinized and his aim was to be seen as a bigger player in the Dance and in Rhaenyra's life more than he would have actually been

prioritized appealing to performative activism for marketability (that brideoffires describes as an overall issue and applied to ASoIaF HERE)

didn't understand that a woman abusing a stepchild and "selling out" another woman all of her own will to benefit from the patriarchy for her own selfish ends is still an important story to tell

On the Evil Stepmother trope, this is written by ainomica:

But an evil stepmother who is evil when she is justifying abusing and even sexually harassing little children using her power in the name of the good of her family or her children ?? THAT IS FASCINATING....The REAL DRAW of the scene was to see the byplay of self-righteousness fighting against the obvious hypocrisy of her actions that has existed for Ninnicent since day one. This is why Condal and Hess’s comments are so irritating! They want to play Ninnicent as straightforward victim of situation when they have ended up writing an amazing hypocritical young woman.

And minetteskvareninova:

“Oh, we didn’t want to make Alicent just a stereotypical evil stepmother.” - OK, then? So how does that track with “make them the same age and also have this weird pseudoromantic connection going on” (because an actual queer relationship, or, failing that, a well-developed portrayal of a simple friendship wouldn’t fit the superedgy ethos of this stupid franchise I guess)? Is a bad stepmother-stepdaughter relationship so inherently uncompelling that you just had to change it into something else?! Like, what even is this?! This show thrives on toxic and complicated family dynamics! Daemon and Viserys’ whole dealio alone is worth dozens of metas and hours of opinionated video essays! How come you cannot think of anything interesting to do with a young woman marrying an older man (how much older is up to you, he was much younger in the book but whatever) with a child and trying to integrate into his family, and a girl dealing with her father remarrying soon-ish after her mother’s death?! One of my tumblr friends (I hope she’ll forgive me for calling her this, lol) faintingheroine has written whole books (in tumblr post form, but nvm) about a single turkish novel with this kind of relationship at its center! And like… It has no dragons, or battles or whatever. It’s just a girl and her stepmother failing to get along (and said stepmother having an illicit affair, but that’s beside the point). And people love it! It’s genuinely compelling!

[cfrog]

OC-tober Day 4: Redesign

[full prompt list]

A continuation of yesterday's, let's talk about the Sages' many redesigns! But first: some redraws :3c

[2018 -> 2023]

Full ramble under the cut. Read more at your own risk, it is long.

The Sages got their most recent redesigns in 2021. My main focus was making the Sages more unique in their looks, so it's not entirely just recolors of Sage. This is also when I made them all non-human. Lets go down the line.

[same picture as yesterday, i only have the one]

Again, theyre supposed to all be vaguely matchy. They all have bangs on the same side, they've all got some extra color at the ends of their hair, and they all have details under their eyes (freckles for Red, eyebags for Grey, scars for Yellow, blush for Blue). Aside from that, I kinda went wild with these versions.

The primary Sage's (Red Yellow and Blue) are all supposed to look very similar to Sage. Grey is the black sheep of the group, that should be clear on first glance. Red, though, is supposed to look the Most like Sage, because they have the most in common. The two are from similar time periods and, with the addition of Red being a werewolf, similar situations of hiding themselves. Being a werewolf also draws more attention to Red's anger issues, her original defining trait. It's really easy to tell when she's angry. Because she turns into a big dog. Older Red design had a red scarf across her midsection like a belt, because that's where her killing wound was. When I moved her wound to her heart (because its more poetic <3), the scarf came with! Technically, that dangling section is supposed to always cover her left side. I don't do that tho. ALSO as you may have noticed: Red used to be continually covered in blood. Her new design is less murderous, so that got removed, but I kept a subtle reference to it in her hair. Like really subtle. Here's a close up.

[red's blood-patterned hair, usually covered up by shading]

Anne (Grey's past life) was only given a design in 2019, for the Labyrinth OCT, based off of Grey's old design. Then when I redesigned Grey, I actually based her more off of Anne. Real telephone game going on. Stuff like the wrist/ankle scars just came from Anne's design. For this version of her, I flattened out her hair near the top to better resemble Sage and the others' hairstyles. It also looks pretty :3 Her full lore about what she is is.... so complicated. It's not important. She's a special type of ghost that makes her grayscale ok. I only made her skin pale instead of pure grey because it helps her stand out from Anne. Anne for reference:

[part of Anne's transition to Grey involved cutting off those dress sleeves]

Yellow got the most emo hairstyle of them all, which I think is funny, because she's also the oldest and most well-adjusted. This is when I moved her eye injury to her right side, so I can cover it up and not draw it. I generally just had a lot of problems with Yellow's eyes. I hated drawing glasses realistically, it was the main thing that kept me from drawing Yellow more on previous designs, so I decided to go full cartoon this time. And man I love it. Yellow is an elf btw, specifically from a modern fantasy 1960s-ish. Her main design inspo has always been "librarian" and I love to lean into it, BUT. This design was where I started letting her be a badass too. Hence the mysterious scars. Plus her conspiratorial streak and her wedding ring? God I made her so cool. Best redesign of the set.

And finally, a robot!! Originally, Blue was my excuse for memes and references. They were a gamer. They were a 4th wall breaker. I changed that last one for this design, meta powers revoked. But I let them keep the gamer references by making them from the future. Blue used to be just Some Teen Ghost, which was boring and realistic. I wanted them to have a full job and backstory. So I made them a fnaf reference. To emphasize the roboticness, I started drawing their hair goofy and blocky. I also switched their method of death from hanging to gunshot, to match all the others. Plus, I don't think hanging a robot would work. This moved their wound to their head, but again, hey I don't wanna draw a fucked up eye wound all the time. Solution: robot-based memory problems! Blue already had a thing for ignoring negative emotions, so it only makes sense they'd block out their own death. Their eye's still not entirely functional, though.

Hey, they weren't in yesterday's post, but let's talk about Violet too! Violet has always been a thing with the Sages, and funny enough, their name was always Violet. What exactly they are, though, has changed so many times. With this redesign, I offically made them Blue's "alter ego" (it fit with the fnaf references). Think of it as Blue but with all of those nasty memories. That means you get to see the eye wound on this one! They're also missing their ear on that side. And a solid chunk of their head.

[this Violet is from a meme redraw but I cut out the context]

These are my oldest ocs and I care about them so much. I put so much thought into these. I'm happy I finally get to type this all out. Here's a direct comparison of their hair and skin colors, look at the detail i put into this.

Blue's is technically just desaturated cause that's what mixing blue with orange does.

[uighean]

grabbing this from @galacticlamps bc I am nothing if not narcissus staring into a pond ig!!

What book are you currently reading?

I've just picked war and peace back up after ditching it for a couple months!! I'm like. a quarter of the way through ahjgfkdg. getting there.

What's your favourite movie you saw in a cinema this year?

god I think the last thing I saw at the cinema was the broadcast of a coldplay concert?? (which was rlly good & I do need to pick up the dvd. like. I need to own footage of people of the pride being performed live thank you) but I have NO idea what I saw at the cinema before that omg. definitely nothing this year

What do you usually wear?

if I'm out, then a kilt + button-up shirt/tshirt + knee-high socks + docs. maybe a waistcoat or leather jacket if it's a bit colder

How tall are you?

5'3"ish! I am. small.

What's your star sign?

pisces! I don't care about zodiac stuff at all but I do think it's funny that there's sailors + fishermen on both sides of my family, my star sign is a fish, and yet I get terribly seasick

Do you share your birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

I mean probably but I also share my birthday with my fav animal crossing villager & that's worth more to me than any celebrity tbh

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

just by my name! I've never really been one for nicknames.

Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be as a child?

absolutely not haha. think I kinda talked about this in some tags the other day but I wanted to be a vet right up until I was in late high school/starting uni, & then it all just. dried up. have wound up working in museum collections management & I love it!!!

Are you in a relationship? Who is your crush if not?

yes!!! with @ettelwenailinon ❣️💕💞💓

What's something you're good at versus something you're bad at?

ogufjkdh I am clean out of ideas for this one so I'm gonna say. I'm the gay who can drive and also the gay who can't cook <3

Dogs or cats?

cats, 100%. dogs are cute (& I have a massive soft spot for enormous female dogs who are terrified of everything) but I wouldn't own one. but at the end of the day I am a horse person over everything

What's something you'd like to create content for?

hmm idk!! I think I'm already """"creating content"""" for everything I want to be tbh. I would like to actually learn how to draw but not necessarily anything specific, you know

What's something you're currently obsessed with?

well if you've been around my blog lately you might have picked up on the fact that I'm a little obsessed with holding achilles right now. like, watching it all the way through every day obsessed whoops.

(I need to sit down and actually write out my notes on it bc I have a LOT of thoughts but that's going to inevitably end with me making actual spreadsheets. of recurring motifs and when they crop up. rn I want to figure out all the references to prophecy vs promises (there's an overarching meta in my head about like. the way achilles and patroclus relate to death and responsibility, respectively, and how that drives their dynamic/the plot), but also all the different ways their relationship is defined/described by themselves and others? and how that relates to how ultimately what they want is to be unknown, and the kind of. queer idea of being undefinable. I'm being SO normal about all this if you can't tell)

tbh it's thrown me back into greek mythology in general. I have been watching so many greek god vine compilations & they all absolutely send me

What's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

eurovision.................. god the songs this year are so. there's a handful of ones that are pretty good but so many are just boring pop songs. take me back to 2021. I'm hinging my entire sanity on kalush orchestra's winner's performance tbh that's going to be the highlight of the night

What's a hidden talent of yours?

ok I said I'm the gay I can't cook but the one thing I can make is potatoes. I do really good mashed/roast potatoes. mutuals you are invited over for this

Are you religious?

nope! my family's never been religious for as long as I've been alive, and I just. don't believe in anything. not necessarily ruling anything out though, the universe is very big. and like, I think I have a kind of spirituality in some ways? like I have some vague beliefs about objects holding stories/memories. but I think that's a function of working in a museum gkfjhds, you can't help but personify stuff a bit

What's something you wish to have at this moment?

the uk visa I'm applying for............................ or the truly ridiculous amount of money I paid for it. god why is it so expensive.

not tagging anyone bc I think this was technically meant to be for new year's??? but hey if anyone wants to do it, you're welcome :)

[digital-dhampirs]

why everyone thinks that Johann is Monsieur Spider? Personally I never thought about it (:/) But I think that the author is the master of twists, so it mean that if it seems obvious that it's Johann, it means that that's NOT him XD

Howdy; thanks for the ask! I think there’s a lot of evidence for Johann being Monsieur Spider, but it’s juuuuust vague / under the radar enough for me to not quite be sure if it’s him actually being Monsieur Spider or some sort of red herring. Here’s the main examples…

Noé breaks Spider’s left arm at the Bal Masqué. The next time we see Johann (just a few chapters later) he has a broken left arm, along with a very sus cover story that involves him breaking his arm when Dante and Riche weren’t around to see it happen.

During the trip to Gévaudan, Johann and Dante aggressively guilt trip Noé for resolving the chasseur thing on his own with Vani, saying that they wanted revenge on the reinforced human who broke Johann’s arm. This is played for laughs and could genuinely just be them wanting revenge on the Chasseurs, but it seems like a weird thing to guilt trip Noé over.

Johann is the one person who doesn’t have any reaction to Naenia’s hallucination- causing spell in Gévaudan. The way the panels are set up implies she may have purposefully not given Johann a vision (implying he’s already working for her).

As a general rule, Johann seems to be much more observant and powerful than he pretends to be. Despite not showing any physical or combat abilities beyond what we see from the other dhams, he doesn’t hesitate to threaten to kill Vanitas (and seems to have absolutely no doubt that he’d be able to do so). He’s also excellent at wearing masks, hiding his true feelings towards others behind a polite and flirty exterior.

Then… ofc…. there’s the anime, where Monsieur Spider has the exact same mid- length silver hair as Johann.

At the moment it’s pretty much impossible to say whether this is Mochijun dropping clear and definite hints to Spider’s identity or some kinda long running series of red herrings. Just on a personal level I kinda prefer SpiderLouis, but I also think the sheer amount of evidence for SpiderJohann is very compelling. And I hafta admit, it would be absolutely awesome to see more of Johann’s backstory and true personality in a SpiderJohann reveal..!

[where-his-towel-is]

here’s a thought

so I was reading a bunch of YOI metas, discussing the unexplained turnaround in Victor’s decision to go back to skating in episode 12, instead of the retirement his whole plot arc was leading up to,

and i had this weird little idea

what if victor intends to go back to skating...and lose?

bear with bear with

(and this is more of a detailed hc than a meta, but i hope that the imagining comforts you, if you like me are feeling terrified about the writing and plot arc of yoi s2.)  

it’s canon that victuuri don’t make their final career-path decisions together in the final episode; most of that pondering was done while yuuri was skating if i remember right, since the tension between them only broke just before Yuuri started his free skate routine, presumably so that they can put the personal stuff to one side while they attempt to get this whole competition/GPF/medal business sorted. 

clearly we don’t get any insight into victor’s sudden change of heart in going back to skating, as well as coaching yuuri (does he have any concept of workload tho these are the questions) so imma just run with this hc for a bit.

to clarify, i’m not saying that victor would go back to skating for the sole purpose of losing to yuuri, just so he can boost his bf’s confidence on a false foundation. he’s learnt enough about yuuri to get to grips with how his anxiety works, and to understand that a false win would be the same as a loss.

but at the same time, victor wants to help yuuri overcome it, as far as it is in his power to do so. 

and even though yuuri isn’t helped by the more aggressive styles of training that victor (wrongly) attempts to use (ep 7 ep 7 ep 7), what he does thrive on is a challenge, something that forces him out of his comfort zone and helps him prove to himself that he can conquer unknown territory. this is what the eros routine does, this is what getting his own music does, even what spending time alone with victor does.

so victor decides, as his coach, to present him with the most difficult challenge he has yet faced: going up against his idol.

it’s not like victor will go easy on him, no way in hell. he hasn’t retained his titles this long and become a symbol for so many people by slacking off, he knows how to train and how to work. (i would like to think that he would hold off on the competitions for a little while, given how soon nationals (i think?) would be after the end of s1 and the impossibility of being ready for them.) plus he has a competitive streak of course, which we see at the end of ep 12, just a little.

victor’s incredible self-awareness, of his age and his close proximity to retirement from skating, is enough for him to know that if yuuri continues at the rate of progress he has managed to maintain throughout the series, then it would certainly be a fair fight, and that there is a high probability that he will lose even if he gives it his best shot.

(sidenote: its bizarre how the yoi fandom has got used to talking about victor like he’s an old man, like i know it’s just sports talk and everyone ages out of competition etc etc but it cracks me up cuz he’s only 28, but anyway)

he also has faith that yuuri will rise to and learn from this new challenge, and become stronger for it. as mentioned above, victor’s strategy as yuuri’s coach so far has been to get emotionally close to him, at the same time as throwing him in the deep end, which yuuri himself is not averse to. (his raising of the difficulty level in his routine in ep 5 says to me that at least on some level he understands that he works best with obstacles, its just that he has to believe he can conquer them.) 

and what greater challenge could there be for yuuri, than to go up against someone who he puts on a pedestal (yes, still, even after everything imho), someone who he has looked up to all his life and who has inspired him enough to skate beautifully that he even managed to inspire victor in return? its true, this hc would only work if victor was able to prove to yuuri, really convince him, that he is able to go up against victor without his ego being hurt. (yuuri babe victor’s ego has its own penthouse suite its gonna be fine my dear) 

also, even though the whole season build up can be read as victor realising that he needs to retire, he can also be read as someone who regains inspiration in his field through watching someone else find their own. some of y’all’s meta are pretty damn persuasive (so cool honestly), but personally i’m still not fully convinced that victor wants to stop competing at skating. sure he wants to coach, that’s where his real passion is now, but i think that with every progression yuuri makes, there is a part of victor that is curious - he wants to go back and redo his last GPF and really watch yuuri, see him for the rival that he has become and...take him for a test run, if you will. see if he can walk the walk with victor nikiforov on the same ice a second time around.

so what would the outcomes be? well,

victor wins/yuuri loses to him: as i said, i think that this is less likely, given their respective circumstances. and victor knows this too, we see how much he has already thought about how he cannot progress from this point, and while yuuri proves to be a burst of inspiration, i doubt that that would push victor past the revamped cup-holder-now-installed yuuri 2.0 that he’s fleshed out, not to mention the menace that is yurio, who would be twice as motivated competing against both halves of that disgusting couple victuuri.

or, my dreams come true and

yuuri wins/victor comes in tight second, or even third to yurio: everybuddy is happy - victor got the really interesting fiery competition he’s wanted for ages (tbh i think he’d actually quite enjoy getting silver or bronze if it was his two favourite bros on the pedestal with him), as well as a public declaration of his retirement that satisfies his old acquaintances and gets them to stop pestering him, yuuri finally gets the gold he has deserved for so long and gets it into his poor thick head that he is actually worth something, and yurio getting the satisfaction of seeing victor actually lose for one goddammit time, as well as watching yuuri win (which he would secretly be so smug about, being the one who told him to carry on in the first place). oh and victor gets to see yuuri win up close, which he would be so gone about.

of course, for this to work (this humble hc of mine), we would need to see victuuri finally flesh out some of the problems that have underpinned their relationship and that haven’t been addressed yet - they need to see each other as equals in a solid relationship, with the coach-student relationship as a flexible layer that can be removed when necessary, they need to address the fact that yuuri’s probably not as chill with silver as he made out, and they need to confront their conflicting ideas about victor’s career and what he really wants from life (which this hc would force just sayin). so much important communication would be needed, which means more angst and fandom pain, but worth it in the end, i think.

what do you guys think?

[nevermindirah]

🔥 give me an unpopular opinion on nile in fics 😈

GODDDDDDDDDDDD do I have some opinions about Nile in fics, bless you for giving me this opportunity to say some shit some people don't want to hear 😈❤️

Nile being present in a fic doesn't mean she's there.

There's the enraging predominance in Joe/Nicky fics, and even some theoretically team-oriented fics, where there's a character called Nile who does a handful of surface-y vaguely Nile-ish things but this entity is either (1) a sock puppet for the writer, (2) mentioned approximately once per thousand words, or (3) a plot device with absolutely nothing going on under the surface. I would rather people not include Nile at all than do this shit.

She's the main fucking character, there's plenty of characterization to start from! And our canon is only one movie and a handful of comics, there's so much more to explore about Nile! It'd be one thing if this happened to her no more or less often than any other character, because some people are new to writing and/or don't want to put much thought into the window dressing around their faves, I've been there, it's not necessarily a problem. The problem is the pattern. She's the Black female main character and she gets treated this way? She's the main character and she's the number one character people treat this way? That shit is fucked.

I've had several people with significant reach in this fandom tell me that I'm making things up — or even worse, being somehow anti-Joe — for pointing out that plenty of fics and art and metas and shitposts that include a character with Nile's name and face are totally absent of Nile Freeman.

I honestly believe that white people who talk a big game about racism and misogyny in fandom have a moral obligation to support Nile content. It's not like it's hard! So many of us are churning out gorgeous thoughtful shit all the time! If they can't handle reading and leaving a nice comment on a genuinely Nile-centric fic, they could maybe reblog your damn art!!

People who don't want to hear all that have surely unfollowed or blocked me by now, and whatever, good riddance. But there's also the call that's coming from inside the house.

Nile Freeman in canon is a very smart, level-headed, competent, strategic, take-charge mess. She's a full-ass adult but she's a young adult, she's just had everything she's ever known ripped away from her on top of all the trauma she already had — she's not ok, and she's not gonna be ok for a long time.

Some people have taken the Nile is a Mess thesis to a really troubling place, though. They've made her mean.

Nile's a flawed human person. She hits below the belt with that "like Quynh?" jab at Andy, she says that dismissive "sure" to Booker when he's trying to make them both laugh about his enormous gut wound. She's not infinitely generous and patient and warm. But she is kind. She drops everything, what might feel to her in the moment her only chance to see her mom and brother again, to go save Andy the moment she sees that gun is empty — to save Andy, whose stone-faced slaughtering in the church disgusts her. All jokes about doing it for the tits aside, she advocates for an apology instead of the exile.

I've completely lost my patience for even well-intentioned fics depicting messy Nile as cruel. She would never. That shit is for me personally the very worst version of Nile being present but not there.

[vivithefolle]

I just wanna ask, and don’t get mad at me cause I’m genuinely curious, how do you stan Ron? Like, I like him, but he is definitely misogynistic (slut shaming Ginny, treating hermione like she owes him something and being mad that she kissed someone years before, always objectifying Fleur, and acting like girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much). Like, by DH I feel like he definitely has mostly grown out of it, but still 6/7 books he’s kinda unbearable IMO

how do you stan Ron? 

Like this:

OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM DID YOU SEE MY BABY OH MY GOD. WHEN HARRY’S ARM HAD GONE KABLOOIE BECAUSE OF LOCKHART AND HE. RON. HE WAS. HELPING HIM GET DRESSED???? OH MY GOD BABY???? HHHHNNNNGGGG. AND. AND. AND ALSO WHEN HE. OMG. WHEN HE WAS PUTTING FOOD ON HIS FRIENDS’ PLATES LIKE. MOM FRIEND ALERT MOM FRIEND ALERT MOM FRIEND ALERT. AND THE WAY HE’S ALWAYS BLUSHING AND BEING EMBARRASSED AT THE SLIGHTEST PRAISE BUT ALSO HE’S SO DESPERATELY SEEKING IT BUT HE KNOWS HE CAN’T TAKE IT AND EEK EEK EEK THAT’S SO CUTE SOMEONE HOLD ME IT’S ADORABLE RONALD WEASLEY YOU ARE SO GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME IT’S ILLEGAL TO BE THIS CUTE!!!!

Ok and then.

he is definitely misogynistic 

No. And here’s why.

slut shaming Ginny 

Yes, that was wrong. And guess what, that’s also something he probably - scratch that, definitely - picked up from his mother. And also his brothers, recall how Fred and George too don’t like to see Ginny go around with boys. There’s also something to recall: Ron was there when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets and learned later that it was because she had trusted an older guy. You seriously wouldn’t be paranoid about who your sister dates after that? It was wrong. Yeah. And he more than learned his lesson when Ginny clapped back by virgin-shaming him and basically told him that he was childish because he hadn’t have a relationship yet. So would that make Ginny sexist too? Or is it just for Ron?

treating hermione like she owes him something 

..................... uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh... when? When the fuck did anything like that happen?

He made a prat of himself at the Yule Ball, that much is obvious. But he didn’t tell her anything like “you should be with me” or didn’t insinuate anything of the sort. He was a jealous bitch but kept attacking Krum, not Hermione.

If you mean in sixth year when he treated her with “icy, sneering indifference” for the course of two weeks, yeah that was bad but that’s not “treating her like she owes him something”, the fuck?

being mad that she kissed someone years before 

Yeah. I know. And that was bad, ooooh you got me to admit Ron did bad stuff, that’s what you want to see, right? And I reckon he was also mad that she hid it from him, and that he had to learn it from his sister of all people. We see Ron handles what he considers betrayals terribly. I have some meta discussing the possibility that he has a form of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.

always objectifying Fleur 

Um... no, he doesn’t. He makes a stupid comment about her once in GOF then stops. Let’s also fucking remember that Fleur is a Veela, she literally makes guys stare at her as part of her powers!! I’m not blaming her because she’s literally born that way, but you can’t blame someone who is under magical compulsion either.

acting like girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much 

So tell me why he was friends with Hermione then?

Because Hermione wasn’t Emma Watson the super hawt sexy model goddess. Hermione was Mrs Generic. Until this once at the Yule Ball when she got the pretty princess perfect Mary Sue makeover but then stopped because she had to remain ~relatable uwu~.

Again. Ron made stupid sexist comments. But it’s actively shown that he doesn’t follow up on them. If he did indeed live by the motto “girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much”, explain to me why he wasn’t simping and drooling all over Padma Patil who is explicitly stated to be one of the prettiest girls at school when she was his date? Why exactly did he ignore her and was a miserable twat the whole evening instead of basking in the joy of having snagging a girl that was “worth it”? Well surprise, it’s because HE ACTUALLY ISN’T LIKE THAT AND WHAT HE SAYS IS MAYBE SHIT HIS “COOL OLDER BROTHERS” SAY AND HE THINKS THAT BY EXTENSION IT WOULD MAKE HIM COOL TO REPEAT IT. MIMETISM, THAT'S BASIC FUCKING HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY FOR FUCKING TODDLERS MY FUCKING GOD.

Like, by DH I feel like he definitely has mostly grown out of it, 

............

...................................

...............................................................

so. so why. so why wouldn’t you. use that. as a reason. to stan him.

like.

fuck all the “hurr durr ron weasley the boy who made it out of the friendzone!!!!” bullshit, let’s start going with “Ron Weasley, the Boy who became a Man, and not one of those 'uugghh im such an alpha male’ ones but one that’s got the balls to say ‘hey love, I’ve got an idea, what if you kept doing that job you love and feel passionate about while I support you and do the majority of the childcare while also working a smaller job on the side so we’re never short on money’“

Why you people gotta be “yeah I like Ron BUTT” when you know full-well this fucking awful fandom will rake him over hot coals over the slightest mistake he does - worse, will actively go out of their way to interpret his positive moments in the most negative way possible??? Fuck off with that bullshit. Ron dared to say bad stuff omygah big deal, he was forgiven for it all and you’re just all cowards looking to feel “pure” by telling yourself “oh yeah but he was problematic once uwu”. FUCK. THAT. NOISE.

but still 6/7 books he’s kinda unbearable IMO 

And IMO he’s not, funny how that works

So.

I guess it’s impossible to stan Ron because he was problematic uwu.

Ok.

Then I hereby decree that it’s impossible to stan Hermione Granger because:

“I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t given up Divination now, don’t you, Hermione?” asked Parvati, smirking. [...] “Not  really,”  said  Hermione  indifferently,  who  was  reading  the  Daily Prophet. “I’ve never really liked horses.” She turned a page of the newspaper, scanning its columns. “He’s not a horse, he’s a centaur!” said Lavender, sounding shocked. “A gorgeous centaur . . .” sighed Parvati. “Either  way,  he’s  still  got  four  legs,”  said  Hermione  coolly.  “Any-way, I thought you two were all upset that Trelawney had gone?” - Order of the Phoenix, ch 27

wow casual use of a racial slur yay!!! A+

And it’s also forbidden to stan Harry Potter either since:

It was raining hard now, and she was nowhere to be seen. He simply did not understand what had happened; half an hour ago they had been getting along fine. “Women!”  he  muttered  angrily,  sloshing  down  the  rain-washed  street with his hands in his pockets. “What did she want to talk about Cedric  for  anyway?  Why  does  she  always want to drag up a subject that makes her act like a human hosepipe?” - Order of the Phoenix, ch 25

and

“Harry! There you are, thank goodness! Hi, Luna!”  “What’s  happened  to  you?”  asked  Harry,  for  Hermione  looked  distinctly  disheveled,  rather  as  though she had just fought her way out of a thicket of Devil’s Snare.  “Oh,  I’ve  just  escaped  —  I  mean,  I’ve  just  left  Cormac,”  she  said.  “Under  the  mistletoe,”  she  added in explanation, as Harry continued to look questioningly at her.  “Serves you right for coming with him,” he told her severely.  “I thought he’d annoy Ron most,” said Hermione dispassionately. “I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole —”  “You considered Smith?” said Harry, revoked. - Half-Blood Prince

Victim-blaming! Nice Harry, nice. Always classy.

Ok, Ginny stanning is already cancelled because she virgin-shamed Ron, right, so who’s left, who’s left... ah yeah:

“There you go,” said Fred proudly. “Best range of love potions you’ll find anywhere.” - Half-Blood Prince

Selling date rape drugs proudly ouh là là. Bye Fred.

"Do they work?” she asked.  “Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question...”  “...and the attractiveness of the girl,” said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. “But we’re not  selling  them  to  our  sister,”  he  added,  becoming  suddenly  stern,  “not  when  she’s  already  got  about five boys on the go from what we’ve...”  “Whatever you’ve heard from Ron is a big fat lie,” said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf.

Assuming that only girls use love potions, and only on boys. Men never rape in JKR’s world, only women do, you heard it from George Weasley here folks, I’m just passing on the message. Ah and I hope you’re also starting the Fred And George Hate Club given how he’s also slut-shaming Ginny.

“What’s this?”  “Guaranteed  ten-second  pimple  vanisher,”  said  Fred.  “Excellent  on  everything  from  boils  to  blackheads,  but  don’t  change  the  subject.  Are  you  or  are  you  not  currently  going  out  with  a  boy  called Dean Thomas?” “Yes, I am,” said Ginny. “And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?”  She  was  pointing  at  a  number  of  round  balls  of  fluff  in  shades  of  pink  and  purple,  all  rolling  around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.  “Pygmy  Puffs,”  said  George.  “Miniature  puffskeins,  we  can’t  breed  them  fast  enough.  So  what  about Michael Corner?”  “I  dumped  him,  he  was  a  bad  loser,”  said  Ginny,  putting  a  finger  through  the  bars  of  the  cage  and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. “They’re really cute!”  “They’re  fairly  cuddly,  yes,”  conceded  Fred.  “But  you’re  moving  through  boyfriends  a  bit  fast,  aren’t you?”  Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn’t recoil.  “It’s none of your business. And I’ll thank you” she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George’s elbow, laden with merchandise, “not to tell tales about me to these two!”

Ah, good on you for defending yourself, Ginny, but remember, Ginny stanning is prohibited because she’s been problematic in the past and is gonna be problematic in the future and that’s baaaaaaad. Careful kids, don’t get ideas. It’s problematic to like people who’ve done problematic things.

So I guess nobody can like anything or anyone now. Sorry guys. Liking things is evil, what if the thing you liked had, OR USED TO HAVE, *gasp* flaws, can’t take that risk, ohmygah.

[a-wild-rosette]

When quack-meister was talking about defending the country 'n stuff he mentioned about learning from a pvper... see now I'm a person that likes reaching and I've been lurkin' ur blog for a bit now ( I enjoy your takes a lot :D ) and dare I say.. looter boy reporting for lore..? maybe.. ? It's definitely a reach but maybe this is how H gets back into lore? He did mention returning to the smp soon-ish ( i think ) c!hbomb i want to see you live... - Instyle

Hi Instyle Anon I love you /p

My favorite thing is to make *slight* reach about Hbomb lore that are still somewhat rooted in known facts/canon, and I'm gonna tell you right now, with confidence :D H being involved in Las Nevadas' plot or future DSMP plots, aren't that far-fetched :D

You see you see, while Mister Hbomb Ninety Four isn't *technically* a PvPer, he is by far the worse. In fact, metawise, he's one of the *better* PvPers on the server. Like I talked about this with my friends a lot but, cc!H as a Minecrafter isn't half bad at it, he was one of the people who dealt the most damage to Dream in Dream's Fighting 25 Youtubers video, he's done well in MCC Battle Box, he could definitely hold his ground against at least half of the server. Not to mention, Hbomb has been a coach for a while, so like, teaching Big Q PvP? Why not :D He's more than capable :D

And another meta thing? cc!Quackity said he reached out for people who don't have a lot of lore. H is always involved in lore in the background, but doesn't do a lot of like, solo lore himself, so he is definitely a good contender for c!Quackity to reach out to. And yeah, H definitely did mention/hint that he would return to the DSMP so hype for that! (Also H logged onto the SMP during Fundy's stream after a while not being on - I don't remember which one, but it was either the stream where he first joined Las Nevadas, or the one right after it - and I don't wanna get your hope up, but hey :) It might mean something :D). Also! Also he's in Ponk's lore teaser, so he's definitely gonna be in future lore :D

Ok that's the meta/ooc thing out of the way, here's in-character reasons H might/should get involved into the plot :D

1. c!H has been involved in almost every single major plotlines on the DSMP in Season 2 and 3, except for the prison plot.

c!H is someone who is always in the background of every major events, for two reasons.

a. He wants to be around people and naturally gravitates toward a community. This makes him sad dring Doomsday, because he saw how the server, how people and the community he longs to have, were torn apart. But this makes him come back to help Tubbo and Tommy, because at the end of the day, H still knew and saw them as "people", flawed, did things that hurt him, but still people who needed and deserved his help. Even when he's alone, he still helps people and thinks about his friends.

b. He's just... there in the events with a bunch of people. (Which, I guess, is more like... an extension of the first reason lmao). c!H wants to party /hj. So like, where has a bunch of people right now who's doing lore??? Las Nevadas. Not to mention, it's a casino. It's a whole party. c!H is gonna want to be there!

2. c!Hbomb is pretty good at calling out when people are not being kind/when people are wrong.

c!H is pretty observant and mostly objective, and he is the type of person who will not let himself or his friends be walked over or manipulative. The most notable example is when he said that c!Tommy is not nice to him (which is true, c!Tommy has the tendency to be rude and bully H), and when he called out Niki for her reaction to Tommy (citing that she was doing a bad thing to Tommy, and it wouldn't lead to good things).

In Las Nevadas situation right now, there are two people/situation who need to be called out: Tubbo and Ranboo (or the cookie post situation) and Quackity (the manipulation of the rest of Las Nevadas). c!H can definitely call out the malicious intent and unfair suspicion c!Tubbo casts upon Las Nevadas as well as c!Ranboo's complete lack of spine and hypocricy. But he can also definitely see how Quackity is using the Las Nevadas crew's vulnerability to manipulate them, and because he is close to Fundy, and Foolish (although to a lesser extent), he can probably approach them and talk to them about that. He did cautioned Niki on Wilbur possibly using her to fight his battle for him, so it's not unreasonable to think he would do similar thing with Fundy and Foolish.

3. On that notes, c!H is kind, not nice. He can and will fight for the people he support.

Most notable example is H helping Eret taking down Mexican L'Manberg when they attacked Eret's kingship - because it is the right thing to do, it is what H considered to be both justice and supporting his friend.

Second example is H helping during the Finale of Season 2, because protecting Tommy and Tubbo, joining the server against Dream, was the right thing to do. At that point, he has left the main part of the DSMP, but he returned and fought. Because he understood the importance and fighting for what is right.

This means that when he sees a cause to fight for, in this case, his friends (Fundy and Foolish), he will help them and fight for them. c!H is probably the best example of "choose people, not sides" because he understand choosing people means standing by their sides, and fight with them.

And lastly?

4. cc!Hbomb said he'd rather be a support character. But hey, H, there are some people in Las Nevadas who are in desperate need of some Hbomb-certified support.

[shinygoku]

very intrigued to see what you think of Henry!!! ^v^ (character ask!)

Another day, another Big Green! (The others are Piccolo and Thunderbird 2 lmao)

First impression

"Green ver of that one big creepy dude" (Look, when I was Babby I saw a Gordon picture somewhere that minorly spooked me lmao)

Impression now

Ahh, Henry! In some ways, very much like Duck! Green, long nose, popular with the fans and I'm here like Yeah he's a good fixture of the series lol

Ok well, maybe I should disclaim that he's not one of my favourites, which is partly as I guess it's a bit hard to nail down his personality.

His, for lack of a better term, Illness Arc is fascinating and oddly Real for a series about machinery. Something's genuinely amiss with him, but the lack of a clear cause (at least, to the other engines, who presumably don't know he was built from stolen, incomplete plans and the logical issues that would arise from that) and his frequent complaints turn the other characters off wanting to hear about it, thinking he's exaggerating. Then the Welsh Coal stopgap is found! Then the very next story he has a horrible crash but it was a blessing in disguise because then he's rebuilt as a Black 5 and his health issues are gone forever! (ain't we envious of machines now?) Until Lazy Writer Disease sets in Meta-wise, but more on that later.

I think it's safe to say that it's Entry Level RWS Knowledge to know Awdry's frustrations with the character, and it is kind of hilarious how much he tried to write him out, and iirc Henry wound up with the most appearances and 'his' book has 5 stories instead of the uniform 4 for some reason. But it seems it takes further Lazy Corporate Mandates to actually write him out in BwBa which really sucks and is doing such an iconic lad horribly dirty.

Pictured: Henry as seen by Awdry/Mattel, who are about to just shove him out of the story with varying degrees of success.

Well yeah, for me I can't really settle on an opinion because he never seems to have anything solid after the Rebuild. He's kind of the nicer one out of the Terrible Trio, but sometimes he's as bitchy and obnoxious as Gordon without prompting. He seems to be pretty unlucky and sometimes his misfortunes are self inflicted, but they don't commit to this bit. He gets his (in)famous forest, much to Awdry's chagrin, but it does offer a nice gentler side to him. He also seems to be the main Fast Freight engine, particularly more Fish shipments, but this doesn't really inform his character. He all too often feels like a Spare, Green Gordon who's less full of himself (but still gets boughts of Envy and inflated self importance, like Tenders for Henry), and that's a shame because this nebulous lack of anything concrete seems to be why Bad TatMR Writing diagnosed him with Need Welsh Coal again for quite a long time (dunno if that only changed when Mattel/Brenner came in or not). But then the US dub makes him sound like w--dy all-n and that's the worst treatment of all! I kind of understand the temptation to make him the resident worrier but HUUURGHGHH NOT LIKE THAT

So yeah, the better characterization of him needs to strike a good balance of him being ...I guess a Gentle Giant, who enjoys nature and maybe is a smidge prone to bouts of feeling jealous. Maybe catches the engine version of colds more than the others because the early morning runs in the freezing air? I dunno, I'm trying to combine several traits that have been in Henry but never seemed to stick. But done properly, I could really get behind a nice, faceted character like that~

Favourite moment

It feels a bit mean to say, but it's due to the strength of the episode itself with the fantastic visuals, godly music and shocking drama (with a nice bonus of Correct Head Codes!) that put Flying Kipper at the top of this list!

Another part of this ep, is the beginning where the Driver is saying "Don't tell Gordon, but if you pull this nicely, the Fat Controller may let you pull the Express!". Like, that really squeezes my heart, because his driver is rooting for him, the prospect of a better regarded job is floating there, and knowing what eventually happens, it's like... oof! But in a good way.

...Also I think that must have been something Awdry added after deciding not to kill him off because having that bit and for it to all go up in flames would have made children and me extremely upset and he would have been buried under letters of complaint from angry mothers of the time.

Idea for a story

Other than the overly simple and grimdark "he was in fact killed that day" type coma inducers, I suppose the Two Henries theory being explored could offer some interesting interactions.

Like, what if the Henry who rolls back into The Big Station is instantly accepted and in fact, liked more than og Henry? What if the other engines instead couldn't fully relax around him? Were his memories perfect? Too Perfect?

And what would happen if OG Henry were later discovered... (and in what condition?) Dun Dun Dun dododo Dun!

The thing is, it is hard to really explore this because it's innately such a dark, heavy concept. I don't enjoy the 'Authoritarian Hellscape" lameass interpretation by normies. I like my silly workcom on the rails with warm fuzzies and funny antics, thank you very much!

Unpopular opinion

Some of his faces (even before the worsening first inflicted by Magic Railroad) are pretty weird looking! Maybe cause his forehead is so huge and smooth, but maybe just the odd mouth shapes. I like the variety, but they aren’t what I’d call cute... I find myself thinking ‘Moon Face’ looking at him [even with the lack of craters lmao] and oops I think I missed the weirdest grin of all, but here’s a small sample anyway

Favourite relationship

Not a favourite, per say, but some of the more friction-ish interactions he has with Thomas or Percy are pretty funny. With Thomas’ immortal flippant disregard to viaduct safety, Percy retorting that engines with Proper Funnels do, in fact, need scarves, something Henry wouldn’t know about, and that Henry somehow manages to dismiss Bill and Ben, a feat Gordon needs to take notes from. Even the Something in the Air exchange with Thomas, which isn’t really stellar writing just has a funny lame argument vibe.

For some nice Wholesome interaction, Bear is hands down the winner! Easy pick maybe, and it makes me wonder if Bear’s complete absence in the TVS is part of the downward spiral because he’d offer a lot more Plotlines.... hmmm...!

Favourite headcanon

Other than the universal fandom acceptance that He Digs Nature, Baby is the notion I’ve seen a few times that his “fear” of the rain, or what it would do to his paint, isn’t actually why he stopped in the tunnel, and it had more to do with his mechanical failure and/or him having something of a nervous breakdown. He does come across as something of an ass if you take the episode at face value, but there having a secret deeper meaning is way more interesting 👀