#you can see his motivations and you can see how his morals somehow justify this (while being hypocritical)

[fungi-maestro]

Questionable Images 1/2 - The Question #8 (1987)

[drdemonprince]

The Barbie Movie is confused -- and it is confused on purpose, because it can't actually acknowledge the role that capitalism and white supremacy play in the patriarchal system that it wants to give itself credit for acknowledging. And so the film introduces patriarchy as a force with no agent or system behind it.

Ken, an oafish goof is able to find the concept of patriarchy and transmit it to the entirety of his society simply by learning about it and speaking about it to his fellow Kens. There is no use of force, no political organizing (notably, the Kens try to take over the political system after they have already taken hold of the culture), no real persuasion even -- simply by hearing about patriarchy the women in Barbieworld somehow become brainwashed by it.

This means we never have to really see the Kens as genuine antagonists, we can still laugh at their bizarrely crammed-together multiple dance numbers and forgive them when they, like the women, are freed of the patriarchy simply by women speaking about the fact that sexism exists. Both the origins of patriarchy and the solution to it is as simple as an individual person telling their story.

The CEOs that run Mattel in the Real World in the film are similarly cartoonish and devoid of real agency. They're even portrayed as generically interested in the idea of Barbie being inspiring to girls. The movie can't even acknowledge their profit motive, and it can't make any of the men running the company look too powerful or even too morally suspect -- but the film does still want to have Barbie encounter sexism in the real world and grapple with the harm "she" (the consumer product, and not the social forces and human beings that created her) has supposedly done.

In the Barbie Movie, patriarchy is a genie in a bottle, and no one is to blame - except maybe Barbie herself, since the movie spends a significant amount of time discussing how she is responsible for giving women unrealistic beauty standards.

And so Barbie is depicted as both sexism's victim and sexism's fault. She's dropped into a patriarchal world that the film acknowledges has a menacing, condescending quality -- but the film can't even have an underlying working theory of where this danger comes from, and who had the power to create this patriarchy in the first place, because that would require being critical of Mattel and capitalism.

And in the film, ultimately the real world with all its flaws and losses and injustices is still preferable to Barbieworld, because you get to have such depth of feeling and experience and you get a vagina, so how bad could really be? And hey, when you think about it, the Barbieworld is just an inversion of the real world, isn't it? A world with women in power is just reverse sexist, so it was justifiable for the Kens to want to take over, and what does it say that all things being equal Barbie still would prefer to leave behind her matriarchy and join the patriarchal capitalist world? That's the real world. Real world is struggle and sexism and loss and pain and capitalism and death and we must accept all of it but it's worth it..

It's not that I'm surprised the film's a clarion call for personal choice white feminism and consumer capitalism. I just expected the call to be a little more seductive or in any way coherent. I wanted to have frothy fun, and instead I was more horrified by the transparency of its manipulation than I was by even the most unsettling moments in Oppenheimer.

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

i'm never gonna get over optimus refusing to put the rescue bots in the war. like fuck man THATS love. he cared so much he couldn't tell anyone about them. he contacted them in secret, took care of them, visited them, presumably fed them, gave them advice, and the entire time he did it in secret. he couldn't let them get hurt because of the conflict.

and i think, while this is really sweet, it's also a really good way to see into optimus' character and to observe his morality. how nice can it be if he's part of the reason they're the last ones left? how much can he help if he's never around? how much can he care if he's lying to everyone around him so that they don't find out?

the rescue bots are a very physical, unavoidable reminder of his failings. we all know optimus has a very deep sense of grief at the war, especially towards megatron. they were very close, and he feels like he failed somehow. at least with megatron, they're enemies. optimus can justify their conflict, because megatron has done terrible things. but the thing is, so has he.

the rescue bots can't be ignored. he has to directly confront his crimes because of them, because he feels an obligation to repent. his war is the reason they're in that position in the first place. the only way optimus can live with himself is to help them. and sure, he does actually grow to care about them as individuals, instead of just what they represent, but still. how can you trust someone who only sees you for what you mean for them, not what you actually are? and for optimus, how can you care about people who represent everything you've ever done wrong?

the relationships in rescue bots are highly nuanced, and this is no exception. i mean, the moral implications of the rescue bots' whole situation are enough to make a philosopher cry! (or jump for joy it depends). like, how do you justify hiding their identities while making them do literal life or death work when they have no choice to be there, are receiving no compensation, and aren't enjoying it? is that really better than being part of the war? at least there, you know you had a role in the chaos. at least you understand it.

i mean optimus himself said in the first episode that because they're the last rescue bots, they HAVE to help. he didn't give them a choice, because he wants to preserve them. and while that's a nice sentiment, he's focused on what they mean for their species, instead of who they are and what they want. right after they're told they don't have a choice, they're told that also, they have to pretend to not be sentient and have to partner and live with these random people from a different species that they know nothing about. that's, at best, a morally iffy situation.

i think we should talk more about a morally grey optimus, who keeps trying to help, but tends to misplace his sentiments. because it's clear he's trying to do the right things for everyone, but the whole thing is such a jumbled mess! for the past four million years, there's always been an enemy to fight. but here, that isn't a thing. there's no overlord trying to harm the rescue bots, there's no violence, no one is being malicious. the situation is because of a war they had no part in, and a conflict they have no place in.

i wanna see more rescue bots being upset because of that. their situation might have gotten better, and they might have learned to enjoy it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a shitty place to put them in. and they understand that optimus really does love them, and that's why he made the choices he did, but that doesn't erase all of their hurt. they had to live as machines, only operating under orders, having others steal the credit, not getting paid, and that's only from the humans! other cybertronians don't even know they exist! that's fucked up!!

there isn't really a message or moral for this post. i just like analyzing the reasons and motivations of characters, as well as their morality.

[brilliant-red-eternity]

Wouldn’t it be better to ship Akane with a guy who isn’t absolutely morally bankrupt or something?Not that she needs to be in a relationship to be happy or something.But isn’t Kougami just a serial killer with just extra steps😭I never got his appeal or how he became the definitive charecter for psycho pass when plenty of better charecters out there.The way people romanticise him(or his trigger happy tendencies lol) just because he’s hot doesn’t sit right with me.Absolutely no charecter growth whatsoever,literally causing problems for everyone by his selfish decisions.At this point I think Kougami getting killed to save someone would be considered his charecter growth.I don’t even see the case for Akane even being attracted to him in the first place.I am sorry.She’s extremely kind to everyone.That’s why she treats him like a human.

To be honest, I had a hard time coming up with an answer. You make it quite clear that you don’t think much of Kogami and how should I argue against it? It’s a matter of personal preference whether or not you have sympathy for a fictional character and want to understand his or her motivations. It’s true that Kogami is not the glorious hero of the story, but wasn’t that precisely the author’s intention? To contrast him with Akane and have him take a more pragmatic stance, leaving moral reasons aside?

I won’t see Providence until the end of August so I can’t really grasp where the negativity is coming from. My advice would be to not dismiss his character out of hand but try to dig a little deeper. Kogami is not some one-dimensional caricature. In the Psycho FES stage play, Akane says that Kogami is a person who “lives between violence and philosophy”. There is a whole spectrum of characteristics that he has, including very contradictory ones. Kogami is idealistic, but also arrogant. He’s courageous in battle, but cowardly when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He has a sense of morality, but doesn’t strictly adhere to it. He is intelligent, but makes stupid and harmful decisions. He’s selfish, but also selfless enough to sacrifice his life for a higher purpose. He fights his opponents with brute force like a beast, but his desire to protect the weak shows that he’s also a kind and compassionate human being.

Kogami is a walking contradiction. Most people are and that is probably what makes him so popular among fans. People can identify very well with a character who has flaws, screws up or fails as long as he tries to move forward somehow. The road to self-knowledge is rarely a straight line, so I can understand that his character growth (or lack thereof) may be frustrating for some. Providence seems to be another important transit station for Kogami and he appears to have learned his lesson. We don’t get to see his rampant violent behaviour in PP3. He also managed to survive three more years until he came to pick up Akane which wouldn’t have been possible if he had continued his self-destructive lifestyle with the SAD.

The term serial killer doesn’t fit him. Kogami isn’t a psychopath who wants to gain control over another human being, nor is he thirsty for fame. People seem to forget that he doesn’t kill law-abiding citizens but criminals and scum and it wouldn’t be a problem in any other action movie/comic book where the climax is always a final battle between protagonist and antagonist. I don’t want to justify violence and murder because it’s morally wrong, but other characters seem to understand Kogami well enough: Masaoka and Saiga assisted him with Makishima, knowing full well what the outcome would be. Ginoza helped him fight Rutaganda and said “I owe you” (because he killed Makishima and revenged his father’s death) before handing Kogami back Masaoka’s revolver and letting him escape. Garcia’s “mug shot” was already on Frederika’s laptop before anyone even knew this man was pulling the strings behind the attacks in Tibet. She probably supported Kogami so generously with expensive high-tech during his suicide mission because Garcia was on MoFA’s hit list all along. However, it is always Kogami who gets his hands dirty. If anything, it makes him an incorrigible idiot.

Kogami seems unable to look away when injustice happens. In this respect, he is no different from Akane who challenges Sibyl every time she sees a problem. They’re both stubborn, but Kogami’s desire for vigilante justice makes him a complicated character. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind is exactly why Akane rejects violence and defends the rule of law. However, the law didn’t protect people from Makishima under Sibyl and it doesn’t exist outside Japan. The law of the jungle creates only fear and instability, and innocent people get hurt. Kogami has accepted to be a tool in the lawless world and he may even consider it his fate. Is that selfish? It rather looks like he doesn’t attach much importance to his own happiness and treats his life as disposable. His selfishness brings him no advantages, quite the contrary. Kogami sacrifices his own salvation and it sends his life into a downward spiral as he becomes more and more detached from the people he loves.

I think Kogami is a baka but he isn’t morally bankrupt. While he claims to have no regrets, his actions and thoughts paint a very different picture. He tried to live without violence and killing in Tibet and he didn’t want Tenzing to end up like him. He openly admits to Akane that his way of doing things is wrong and he was haunted by Makishima’s ghost right after the murder which proves that he has a conscience. I think the only slip he ever had was when he told Akane to kill Makishima in Nona Tower. The scene emphasizes his selfish nature and just like Hamlet, he seemed willing to not only accept his own downfall in the pursuit of revenge, but that of others too. He also didn’t think about Saiga’s future when he showed up at his house after escaping the PSB.

Kogami has refrained from dragging others into his business since then and has kept to himself like a lone wolf. But no man is an island and his egoism remains a problem. I guess he won’t realize that his actions have an impact on others until he receives Akane’s letter as a wake-up call in Providence. It remains to be seen whether he’s willing to change his habits in the future or not, but I’m hopeful.

Regret and remorse are usually two different things. Kogami says that he has no regrets about the past when he talks to Akane on the phone and I think he’s sincere. He doesn’t wish to undo his decisions. In his view, the “dirty work” needed to be done and Kogami believes that he alone bears the consequences and the sorrow, no one else. That changes when he finally sees how much his actions affect and hurt others. Akane’s letter makes him helpless and angry. I think it’s clear that Kogami starts to feel remorse and to develop a sense of responsibility. Remember how Garcia said that Kogami would be living the life of a guy who never took responsibility for anyone else? At some point between PPP and FI, Kogami undoubtedly realized that he needs to apologize to Akane and that he needs to mend his ways. I would consider this character growth.

I understand that some people take a dislike to Shinkane and wish to find Akane a “better” man. I adore this ship but I’m not indulging in fantasies about Kogami and neither does Akane. She has learned to see him for who he is, especially since Shambala. Is it a surprise that she likes him anyway? That she still has faith in him? Kogami is not evil. He’s a man with good intentions who lost his way and nobody but himself can save him. Letting him die while protecting someone would be the easiest way out of his character dilemma so I hope they won’t do it. It would look like a death sentence with a quick karma reset. I don’t even want to imagine how Akane would feel about his death, especially if he died protecting her. There are other ways to atone for one’s sins: to help others, take responsibility and do good in the long run.

Kogami is indeed a brooding hot type of guy, but that’s not why he’s in the story. His purpose is to interact with the protagonist. Kogami started as Akane’s mentor and he inspired her to grow by challenging her. She soon surpassed him and confronted him with her own views about humanity, the law and the idea of how society should look like. They began to form two opposites of the same coin and it became the premise of season one and beyond. No one cares that Frederika kills vagabonds or that Gino shoots Peacebreakers. It doesn’t matter because it’s all about the contrast between these two. Akane’s approach is non-violent, that’s why Kogami’s violent approach looks particularly extreme. They’re like complementary colours where one colour emphasizes the properties of the other. She’s a disciplined person, he’s a wild animal. She looks like a saint, he is the epitome of a sinner. She operates within the system, he is on the outside. They’re incompatible. They’re also intertwined like yin and yang. Is it so outlandish that fans want to see the two of them together? Maybe. But it also feels natural, like holding two magnets with opposite poles together. I can’t help but feel the pull.

Akane doesn’t need a romance to be happy, I agree. She has friends and she completely dedicates her life to creating a better society for everyone. However, her options to influence the system seem exhausted at the end of Providence. Sibyl wants to get rid of her by promoting her to a less influential position in the Ministry. Sibyl also wants to abolish the law. Akane probably felt she had nothing left to lose and therefore killed chief Kasei as the final act of her career. I don’t see her having a happy marriage or kids and all that stuff but Akane shouldn’t remain alone like a martyr. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to experience love, especially in world dominated by algorithms and AI.

We all want Akane to be happy and I can understand your annoyance with Kogami. They’re not a perfect match, especially since they repeatedly find themselves in situations that are extremely stressful and existential. But every relationship is a learning process and a daily struggle. It’s a gain in knowledge about myself and the other, and it’s doomed if there is no forgiveness. Akane and Kogami have known each other for eight years but they have only spent a few months in each other’s company. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what they could achieve together, now that Kogami is back in Japan and Akane is released from confinement? Akane doesn’t place much value on material things, and I doubt she cares about etiquette or social conventions like marriage anymore. She’s an outlaw just like Kogami. Their existence has become an act of rebellion against the system and since they both have been spiritually connected from day one, it would be great to explore their bond further and not just stop.

You said that Akane treats Kogami like a human being only because she’s kind. Is that so? When they first met, Kogami represented the exact opposite of the artificial world of Sibyl in which Akane grew up. I guess she was attracted to Kogami (and developed a crush on him) because he was a human being, someone from the mundane world, a world she thought had perished long ago: paper books, no holograms in his home or closet, file folders and photographs, physical strength and critical thinking. All of the enforcers had a different lifestyle, but it was Kogami who fascinated her the most. He had something archaic about him, something mystical and exotic. He was also quite masculine and Akane liked his physical appearance very much, although this was a bit more obvious in the novels where she described his face as handsome. Was Kogami her first love? Did she like the idea of saving him? I don’t know. Fact is that Akane wanted him to remain human, that’s why she didn’t like the term “hunting dog”. She didn’t want him to become a murderer because she genuinely cared about him. And even after that, she wished that someday they would meet again like two human beings.

Kogami’s obsession with Makishima made it impossible for him to understand Akane. Only on his journey did he gradually come to his senses at the sight of all the shitholes created by lawlessness and anarchy worldwide. After that, he tried to hold on to Akane’s words. He tried to live without violence and killing in Tibet. He saved a bus with refugees. He ensured that Tenzing did not throw her life away. He managed to shake off Makishima’s ghost and found the courage to return home. He allowed Akane to arrest him for the killing of Tonami and apologized after picking her up from the isolation facility. Is it just me or didn’t it look like Kogami was bowing to Akane, because his head and gaze were tilted slightly downward?

Kogami has serious flaws and a preference for violence, but he isn’t bad through and through. I bet we will see his character grow from here. Look at Akane’s happy face at the end of First Inspector ! If that doesn’t give you hope, I don’t know what will.

[darkdrin6]

Hi.

It's no longer a secret that NRS is just abominably treating Bi-Han in the new game, and the more materials appear, the more we are outraged. This man was the embodiment of the tragedy and injustice of the life of an assassin, he did not do the most righteous deeds, but it could not be said that he was devoid of honor or at least some compassion. Bi-Han was just doing his job, it was something he had been used to all his life, and he didn't know any other life than the one the clan gave. And now, from a man with a gray morality, he turns into a flat villain who gets punched in the face in the very first chapter. Thank you, NRS, but you made Tanya, the main traitor of the series, noble. A luxurious solution, just ten out of ten.

And in fact, we feel the need to somehow protect and justify Bi-Han. Yes, of course, we most likely will not get at least some clear motivation for his actions, except for POWER. And, perhaps, more POWER. But this man deserved something more than just the flat motivation of some petty villain for one episode. There are too many antagonists in MK who want POWER, so this is already some kind of bad taste.

(We will not consider Bi-Han from the MK 2021 movie as a worthy motivation, because he also does not have a clear motive. He wants to cut out Hanzo's entire bloodline because he wants to cut out Hanzo's entire bloodline, and there's no explanation for it at all.)

What if we suggest you look at Bi-Han's situation from a certain angle? Consider it a fanon, a random idea, anything that will help us justify and protect this person, we don't care, we will fight for him.

So… How about the fact that Bi-Han's downfall is entirely his father's fault?

Yes, we remember that their father, an unnamed previous grandmaster, is still portrayed as a noble man who loved his sons and even adopted the orphan Tomas, who lost his parents due to the actions of his people. It sounds even too good for someone who leads a clan of assassins in the service of his homeworld.

Such a person must have a certain self-control, such is his life, and this is required by his duties to his clan and the Earthrealm.

Let's remember that Lin Kuei is still a clan of assassins, a secret organization (or at least moderately secretive). Were Bi-Han and Kuai abducted from their mother, as in the original? Most likely, yes. Did the grandmaster feel guilty for this, because he deprived his children of their mother? It is quite possible that yes. But he has a duty to his clan, and his children are primarily a valuable resource. Yes, this is a cruel approach, and what kind of father could put up with it? But when a person is pressed by such strong obligations, he has to put up with it. From the extended scene, we can know that the previous Grandmaster saw the clan's path in service, which was probably part of his views too. And here you can go to the next point.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Bi-Han, as the eldest son, had always been regarded as the Grandmaster's heir. Is there any logic in this? Yes. In the clan, as we understand it, the primacy is passed from father to son, and traditionally the older children become the heirs.

What did this mean for Bi-Han himself? Probably a very special attitude. Realizing that his son would have to carry not the simplest burden, the Grandmaster had been preparing him for this since early childhood. He was stricter and colder with him than with Kuai, because Kuai is the youngest child, he should be an ally of his brother, not the head of the clan. Seeing the unequal treatment, Bi-Han felt jealous and tried to earn his father's attention with his successes. But the more he succeeded, the more was demanded of him. Trying to raise a worthy heir from his son, the Grandmaster unknowingly broke his life from the very beginning. Feeling the pain of being so cruel to his son, but unable to back down, the Grandmaster accepted Tomas into the family and gave him father's unspent love. For Bi-Han, who was desperately trying to be better and achieve a better result for the sake of his father's recognition, it was like being ousted from his own family, replaced by someone else.

His whole life was devoted to serving the clan. Bi-Han grew up with the idea that one day he would lead the clan, that this was the meaning of his existence. All his efforts, efforts, sufferings, everything he went through, were only for the clan that all this was not in vain. His unconditional devotion to Lin Kuei was encouraged, and everything that could distract from this goal was ruthlessly eliminated, leaving only the clan and its goals in Bi-Han's life.

It's not easy to become the best, but he has become. The years had honed his skills, his upbringing had instilled in him unconditional loyalty to Lin Kuei, all his aspirations from now on were directed at the clan and its greatness. For Bi-Han, the clan meant everything, was his whole life. He lived for this purpose.

But seeing how bitter the son was, and realizing that he had gone too far, the Grandmaster said that the head of the clan would not be Bi-Han, but Kuai.

Was it a cruel betrayal? Yes. Bi-Han was literally robbed of his life, the meaning of his existence. Father devalued in one moment everything that he had experienced, what he valued, for which he tried and suffered.

Did he kill his father in anger for the way he just threw years of his life into the trash? It is possible that yes. After all, this man trained him, made him what Bi-Han is now. It was his father who ruined his life, trying to raise the perfect warrior for the clan. The death of the previous Grandmaster finally tied Bi-Han to the clan. His whole life, his personality, his whole world was locked in the interests of Lin Kuei. Because while Lin Kuei is succeeding, Bi-Han is not living in vain.

His fanaticism and his irritation with his father and brothers (to be honest, with everyone in general) could easily be explained by such a development of events. Of course, the studio will not allow itself to outline something like this and probably will not give any explanations at all, so we will prefer to stick to this version of events. In the end, it would make at least some sense.

[w3ndytheraccoon]

If I see one more post about why C!Dream is not a villain, I will rage-

C!Dream is a complex character with an understandable motive, and his spiralings was very realistic and I can one hundred percent see why. He is a very morally gray, albeit leaning more toward black than white, character. It wouldn’t be fair if I just label him as THE villain, because perspectives exist, and in some member’s perspective, like Purpled for example, he’s definitely not as evil as he is in, say, Tubbo’s perspective.

But that doesn’t change the fact Dream was a horrible person.

Just because he had a understandable motive, that doesn’t mean the shit that happened in Exile is justified. That doesn’t mean Doomsday is justified. That doesn’t mean all the manipulation and all the lying are justified. That doesn’t mean what he and Punz did to Vikkstar and Lazarbeam is justified. That doesn’t mean what happened in prison was justified.

Especially Exile and Vikkstar & Lazarbeam ! Exile is for isolating Tommy so he can’t cause trouble, not for abusing and gaslighting him to near the point of fucking suicide ! And what happened to Vikkstar & Lazarbeam was completely unnecessary ! Dream and Punz did NOT need to kill them over and over and over just to test the Revival Book, that is cruel and several violations of human’s rights.

Conclusion : C!Dream fucking sucks and I wish Punz didn’t brought him back. I’m an enthusiast, not apologist. His motive makes him explainable, not justifiable or excusable, and if I ever somehow manage to rip the fabric of reality and teleport to the DSMP universe, the first thing I will do is find Dream to deck him.

… But he’s still a complex character and one of my favourites.

Anyway, if I miss a point or something, do remind me. I’ll probably edit this and add more character analysis in the morning, when my thoughts are actually coherent and I’m not writing something from pure spite and anger.

Morning edit :

He also hurt Geogre and Sapnap. Sure, he never physically hurt them as far as we’re aware, but do you know how painful it is to watch your friend spirals and became the total opposite of how they were ? How helpless it feels when you realised your friend is too far gone and you can’t help them ? How guilty it is when you think of all the times you could reach out and stop them from turning out like this but you didn’t ? How badly that would take a toll on your mental health ?

But anyway, just because C!Dream is a horrible person, that doesn’t mean what happened in prison is okay. The whole obsidian cell with lava door and raw potato ? Yeah, that’s fine, I can get behind that, since it was his idea for prison to be like that. It’s just karma. What I meant is the torture part. Does he deserve it ? Depends who you ask. I personally think it was justified and deserved, but that still doesn’t make it okay.

[izzythehutt]

Saul Wrong?

I have many controversial BrBa/BCS opinions, but the one that I always come back to is that Saul Goodman worked way better as a comic relief supporting character than as a protagonist of his own show.

I actually found him more likeable when he was an unapologetic sleazebag, it was when they tried to make me feel sorry for him in his own show that I lost sympathy. His pathological criminality brings out my inner Howard/Chuck, I guess. It's like....dude...why are you like this? And I don't necessarily feel like the show does a very good job of explaining it. At a young age he sees his father getting taken advantage of by conmen, and apparently accepts the (deeply morally cynical) attitude that the world is separated into hustlers (wolves) and marks (sheep.) His parents seem to have been totally normal people for whom he felt affection but no respect, because he can't stand rubes, and that's what they were. His brother Chuck is not a rube and is the family member whose affection and respect Jimmy seems to covet the most, though it's not clear whether he has any awareness that the very quality that makes his brother's esteem worth having (his commitment to an objective standard of morality—the fact that he can see through Jimmy's bullshit) is the one thing that prevents them from understanding one another.

Somehow the fact that Walt lived a (basically) normal life until his cancer diagnosis, and everything he does is predicated on his awareness of his own mortality, makes the character's moral fall from grace...more understandable to me? He obviously has a bunch of bottled up petty resentments and a sense of having wasted his potential, but I find his pathology way more coherent than Jimmy/Saul's. I think this is really because he was always the main character of a show, and Saul got a gigantic retconned deep backstory for the spin-off which, while enjoyable, was very obviously not the point of that character when he was created. BCS had to answer the question, "why would someone become like this?" but I wonder if there really is a particularly satisfying way to explain why a comic relief criminal lawyer would choose to work with a person like Walt.

I think BrBa did a better job of showing how Walt self-justifies his awful behavior (compartmentalization, projection, guilt) but Jimmy/Saul seems to have something missing (a sympathy chip? He's capable of feeling compassion for people he relates to, but no sense of seeing value in any abstract principle.) Why are you so obsessed with breaking the rules, dude? His brother is basically correct in their final conversation when he assesses Jimmy as behaving like a child who refuses to acknowledge the consequences of his actions beyond how they hurt him. Every moral consideration is made in terms of his subjective feelings. Him feeling entitled to a high-profile job at his brother's law firm when his brother had to bail him out of serious legal problems is really kind of insane.

Maybe the real problem for me is that Walt is obsessed with gaining respect and Jimmy is obsessed with being liked, and at the end of the day as a motivation for villainy in a man, I.....kind of find the latter more pathetic than the former.

[kittycat-in-the-dark]

I wish the fandom discourse surrounding Jason wasn’t what it was because it honestly really sours my opinion of him a lot of the times. I’ll read something with him in it and I’ll be like “he was neat in this and I liked his character” and then I go on tumblr and I see the worst takes imaginable like “Jason only hurts people who deserve it” or “Jason can’t be blamed because he has pit madness” or “Jason is women-coded” and I’m just like “nvm I don’t like him anymore” 😔. I want to like him but at least 50% of the people who talk about him need some reading comprehension first lol

Ya that is so true... and i feel like in most cases is not even just "needing reading comprehension" at this point. There are people that genuinelly never read comics or don't want to, but are interested in the characters, i guess. Or they just read 1 issue and other specific posts online about them... though this might just be speculation on my part... but still.

Jason is a complex character and one that in some ways can resonate with a lot of people. Which is great. But, it also leads to people somehow becoming blind to the character's mistakes and outright inconsistecies in his actions and motivations, which is what actually makes him so interesting in the first place.

Also, either talking about some readers or non-readers, both tend to pick and choose what constitutes "good" or "meaningful" or "real" writing for a character (especially one like Jason). Like ya, the canon writing can be inconsistent at times (and sometimes to a annoying and disrespectful degree), but that doesn't automatically erase all the character development, thoughts and experiencies that led Jason down the path he did. I mean, how tf can you seriously "look in my eyes and say" that Jay's actions in, and some after, UTRH are "good/justified by the pit/completely justifiable by his trauma/etc".

Like, i love Jason, and he is in my top favourite characters. Lots of people love this character, and understandably for various reasons, but i think some people also need to reevaluate if they are actually "falling in love" with the actual character presented to us in canon or a fantasy version of him that they created and then spread around the internet. And well, sometimes it feels like some people have the need to make their fave characters "squeacky clean", because they are afraid to support a "bad/evil" character or something... and like, your favourite characters and stories don't define your morality, lol, only the motivations that you have for liking them in the first place, with messed up filosofies and actions in all. This is meant to be entertaining, not a morality contest online, lmao... but i think i am kinda getting ahead of myself... the point is that people seem to have gotten too used to having just the way they want it, despite the actual "truth" that comes from canon, and some also treat it like some kind of contest of "who is the most traumatized uwu boi out there".... especially with the Batboys... okay sorry for the rant, but i am so tired of people just looking at the stories and the situations in them just from the perspective of their fave.

What is the point of having a fave in an universe/stories where the fave can do no wrong and where you choose to ignore the other characters' motivations and if your fave is actually "in the right" in any capacity. Also, your fave being in the wrong is very fun to read, ok. Stop interpreting everything they do with "emotional and moral" justifications. Sometimes they are just messed up individuals and that are wrong in the actions they have taken - and this is great,, it's wonderful, because it gives them more complexities and it gives you more to explore with your fave... so the question is: why do people like so much to "minimize" their fave and put them (usually) in the victim that did no wrong box... like, where is the fun in that, really? I mean, if some people want a flawless character that did no wrong ever or whose wrongs can be always somehow justified, then i think they should probably look into other characters in dc to get attached to and talk about or if they don't find them in dc look for them in something else that might be more to their liking (just a suggestion, idk).

Anyways, i think the best thing that can be done is to try to instead spread more knowledge about how Jason and other characters are actually like. Because it is very difficult to make people change their minds when they already reach certain conclusions. And also to how to start reading comic books in some cases... though other people in fandom are doing a ton of meta posts and reading guides for characters to help new readers, is just a question of personal want and understanding if they truly want to engange with this media as it truly is.

Also, if you like a character in canon material, i think that you shouldn't let fanon interpretations ruin them for you... i understand it can be kinda hard because it is every where, unfortunatly. But hey, maybe the more people start talking more reasonably about them and truly coming from canon, things in fandom discourse might change (or at least i hope it does a little, lol).

[halogenwarrior]

I sometimes notice an odd tendency for people to think the grief and tragedy surrounding a character is somehow more profound and meaningful if that character is a villain. Now a lot of the times this can be explained with good reasons, such as how often the evil character stands out as having a complex and human reaction to the tragedy while the more heroic character seems boring in how unaffected they are or the tragedy is just thrown in for flavor (like the “obligatory orphan protagonist”) without an exploration of what it means for that character and how it affects who they are. In those cases, it can feel shallow and boring when haters of the villain try to say “(one-dimensional minor character x) had an equally tragic life, why don’t you obsess over them”, ignoring that bad things happening to a character doesn’t make them compelling on its own. That being said, I feel the example of how Thistleclaw was treated by the fandom pre-SH shows that sometimes there is no good explanation and a character being a bad person just makes the bad things that happened to them more resonant to some people independent of other variables. There is a corner of the fandom that really focuses hard on his grief over losing Snowfur, in spite of the fact that the narrative doesn’t focus at all on his psychology with regards to this compared to Bluestar, and even extrapolates things like his grief turning him into a worse, more violent cat because Snowfur calmed him in spite of the fact the actual narrative shows Snowfur was enthusiastic about fighting as well and died as a result of it. Meanwhile other characters who lost someone close to them without narrative focus on how it affected them, like say, Birchfall and the trauma he went through as a kit, get comparatively very little focus and headcanoning of their psychology, seemingly just because they aren’t as morally bad. 

Though interestingly enough you also see the opposite phenomenon in the warriors fandom with cats like Mapleshade, where some people are so uncomfortable with the moral complexity of a character who was wronged in a way that wasn’t justified and then was motivated to do bad things because of it that they try to contort the narrative to make Mapleshade always the sole cat to blame - in this case, the tragedy (despite it being genuinely greater than most other characters in the series, while lots of cats lost their mate like Thistleclaw, Mapleshade is the only one to lose all of her children on top of being exiled) is rendered inherently less sympathetic by the character being a villain. While Mapleshade probably has more “sympathizers” in the fandom than Thistleclaw overall, there is still this clear difference in how the tragedy is either heightened or diminished by their cruel actions. 

[blueepink07]

Things that I hate about Milgram's novel! (Spoilers!!)

Initally, it was supposed to be a comment, but it got so long that I decided to do a separate post.

I only read the summary so other than Torch and Tatsumi I couldn't get very attached to other characters so my opinion on this novel it's kind of biased lol, but I still want to share, because I can't keep it inside me!

(murder, suicide mentions!!)

The thing that I hate the most are the murders themselves in terms of judgment. (Most of them were quite easy to predict.) To me, Tatsumi's case was the only one that felt more morally gray. Because, while it was an accident and killed a person who had already committed murder, at first he justifies what he did and said that it was an act of "Justifiable Righteous Murder". Torch, fortunelly sees past his act and decides to forgive him. (Tatsumi really resembles Fuuta a lot, tbh.)

However, Rina and Mei's murders felt very forgivable to me. The only struggle in the judgment would be that the reporter's death would be considered an act of "Justifiable Righteous Murder" which, to be honest, I couldn't care less about. I personally feel like the reporter should have been in Milgram, not Rina and Mei. Because, in the end, she was the one who pushed Mei until she wanted to murder her. The article (the same reporter wrote it) was the cause of Mei's bullying, and so on. Not to say that in the moment when Rina and Mei stabbed each other, the only thing she could think was that she had an interesting topic to write about. Like, girl, in front of you, two people murdered each other, and that's all you can think about...

Because of that, for me, Rina and Mei were forgiven, making it an easy choice. Again, I didn't see how their murder could be considered morally gray.

Next is Mako.

I hold a little bit of resentment towards her because she killed Tatsumi. Which really felt so unecessarily, I honestly consider it a lazy writing choice. It's like they didn't know what to do with Tatsumi anymore. Also, it was very predictable that he would be pushed off and by whom, at least to me. The first chapters that I had the chance to read had a lot of moments with Tatsumi. So it wouldn’t make sense for other characters to die, considering that we don't know much about them.

If Mako had been pushed off, I feel like it would have been an interesting turn of events. (Waisted potential, really.)

Mako's murder has been cataloged as suicide, which I honestly disapprove of so much. She started all the Justifiable Righteous Murder stuff. You tell me that she, who played a part in so many murders by encouraging and spreading it, only gets to be judged by her suicide... And again, because it was a suicide and she killed herself for Tomonari, of course the murder alone will be considered more forgivable. I'm honestly surprised that in this novel, Torch holds so much to the idea that he has to judge only the sins in the book alone. Mako killed, controlled others, and spread a stupid thing online that resulted in many deaths. I don't know, it's just too much. Somehow, I'm glad that in the current Milgram, we don't have to judge only by their sin alone but also by their development.

(By the way, I don't hate Mako!).

However, I truly feel bad for Mako because she had to spend her life with Tomonari and constantly be told by him that she was the reason he became "so twisted". Again, because I only read the summary, I can't understand how she came to love him so much that she made so many sacrifices. Perphas, because of her guilt, she sacrificed her life to "cure" him and end it all with her own death, only for it to not work. I really feel bad for her.

Also, her book only had three pages. It's like the only purpose of her book was to "complete" Tomonari's book.

(Here, I'm just criticizing the writing choice. Mako would have been more interesting if her whole crime and motivations didn't revolve around Tomonari's character. Again, wasted potential. I had so many hopes for her character. Truly dissapointing.) 

Tomonari.

The things that he did at the end made me so uncomfortable. His book wasn't even open, but I could already smell a guilty verdict. He wanted to lick Mako's "dead" body. Do you tell me that there is something that I should find forgivable about this man?? And the fact that the book of sin portrayed his crime as only him letting Mako die, felt like an excuse to reconsider if Torch should vote him guilty. A poor excuse either way, because in the next moment he "kills" Rina and Mei and, admits that he also killed other four people, after Mako's suicide.

For me, this novel didn't really put me in the Milgram vibe. Many murders were one-sided, and it felt easy to vote. Other than Mako's reveal that she wasn't punished and voted guilty, nothing felt surprising for me; it was really predictable. (Tbh, even Rina and Mei's murder was predictable from the beginning. Tied by the same book of sin? Either they both killed themselves or they were accomplices to the same murder. I really hoped for the latter, because It would have been interesting if one of them had more influence on the crime than the other and would've created an imbalance or something. It would've tested Torch's judgment more.

Not to forget that the novel Torch states something similar:

So many characters were killed off only for Tomonari, whom I truly despise.

But who knows? Maybe this was the intention? After all, Jacka and Torch hate Milgram and escaped into the real world. Perphas, this was the intention: to create something that doesn't feel so Milgram-like for the reader to have the feeling that this novel is about the upcoming(?) Milgram's downfall.

Rereading this makes me realize that it looks like I hate this novel a lot, but I will point out briefly a few things that I liked or found interesting in another short (hopefully) post!

[alovelyburn]

What do you think the endgame of Berserk would be like if Griffguts became canon? And what do you think would happen to Charlotte and the rest of the Black Swordsman party as a result?

....that's quite a question!

I mean in part it depends on what you mean by "canon" - if it's just explicit confirmation of their feelings then I don't imagine much would really change since the feelings are already present.

If you mean them literally ending up together romantically that's a WHOLE can of worms like you have to ask how they'd arrive in that place to begin with and then extrapolate from there about what the effects of that would be.

So let's see, if we're arriving at "Griffith and Guts get together" in this hypothetical Berserk ending, the first thing we need to do is ask what would make that possible. And since the question is about what the ending would be like under these circumstances (rather than like, what kind of fanfic would you write about this thing) I'm going to try to stick to things that would be tonally appropriate and fulfill the narrative promise as best as I can and not like, send them back in time or whatever.

So the first step to getting them to a place where they'd get together without completely going off the rails would be getting them on the same side. The good thing is they aren't really motivated by the same things and so their drives could theoretically both be achieved simultaneously.

For Guts I think there's only one real thing that could enable him to let go of his grudge and that is getting Griffith to a place where he can give Guts what he needs in order to move on. This basically means making him feel the weight of his actions and regret them or at least feel bad about it. That shouldn't be that difficult though, you'd just have to unfreeze his heart. It would probably also help if Guts were given some kind of understanding of why Griffith made the choices he did - a view of the Eclipse mindfuck sequence for example. I don't think understanding in itself would be enough but it would be a point along that path.

For Griffith as it stands what he wants is obviously to pursue his ambitions until he runs out of sky, more or less. Also to change the world. ...I kind of feel like once you get Guts to let go of the past, getting him on board with this wouldn't be that hard, but the other thing is that getting Guts on board would mean unfreezing Griffith's heart and if you do that then the entire equation changes since then the dream/ambition ceases to be the thing he is most invested in. So I think you could justify either having Griffith remain on the throne and Guts become like his enforcer/general, or having Griffith make the sacrifice of walking away from it.

I think for shippers in particular the second is more satisfying (well not for me necessarily, but I mean as a generality perhaps?). It's also probably the most... balanced outcome? There's poetry in it for sure - Griffith gave up everyone he loved in order to hold onto his dream, so in order to regain favor with the one he loves, he has to give up the thing he sold them out for. It would also get around the issue of Guts having to like, live and cooperate with the Apostles who ate the Hawks and raped Casca.

So I guess at this point in the brainstorming we have "Griffith somehow gets his emotions back and feels the weight of his actions, then gives up his dream in order to regain Guts' trust and affection."

So what would that mean for the RPG group.

Well I think in order to get to the this point Casca would probably have to be dead already. As long as she's alive Guts would have a very difficult time moving on, because she is a walking reminder of that betrayal. The other two things I can think of would be Casca becoming an apostle, thus removing a lot of the moral tug of war for Guts, or Casca just ditching them. I'm not sure the latter is really in character, though. Either way I don't see her still hanging around if Guts and Griffith made up - it's kind of a smack in the face if she has her memories back.

Isidro probably doesn't care about the moral implications of forgiving Griffith so I don't see why he'd necessarily leave.

I think that, aside from Casca, Schierke would have the biggest problem with it since her nature/background means she knows a bit more than the others about what Griffith is, and more importantly than that, he had Flora killed. So my feeling with her is that she'd be incredibly hurt and would leave.

This puts Farnese in a position where she has to choose between her loyalty to Guts and her loyalty to Schierke. Depending on how much she knows about Casca's background at this point, and depending on what happened to Casca, that could also be a major factor. In any case, given that her primary reason for following Guts was to find her way, and her other thing with Guts is that she's in love with him, but in this scenario he's decided to hook up with Griffith, I think she would ultimately leave with Schierke.

And obviously Serpico goes with Farnese, although I imagine he'd be more ambivalent about the choice itself.

Puck just goes where Guts goes, and Ivalera goes with Schierke.

...So I guess the outcome of this path would be Guts and Griffith traveling with Isidro??!?!

Additional thoughts:

-I'd probably have Schierke, Farnese and Serpico either go back to Flora's forest and try to rebuild there, or keep traveling and learning new things and seeking new systems of magic.

-Does that make Isidro Guts and Griffith's adopted kid, IDEK.

-I guess this route leaves Falconia in Charlotte's hands. I think it's be interesting if Casca became an apostle and then remained in falconia to support Charlotte by keeping the demon armies in check, though I'm not sure it actually makes sense for her to be able to do that. ...also a lot of them assaulted her uh let's kill all of the survivors from the eclipse off so there's just some that didn't assault her. Ahem. EDIT: Actually unless you can find a way to de-godhand Griffith he's still the master of the apostles. so maybe he could just give the eclipse apostles another assignment I guess?

-Locus and Zodd would probably defect from Falconia and follow Griffith around. Two out of five morning Griffith would wake up to find Guts in a physical fight with one of them over some completely inconsequential bullshit.

-I have no idea about the tertiary rpg group. Leave them in Falconia maybe.

-EDIT: With Schierke being gone this leaves Griffith in charge of ego-checking the armor, I think?

Obviously there are other ways to go with it, and it's not even like what I personally would do, but I do think it's one of the more believable routes one could take toward that outcome.

It's tough though - even though I'm the first to say Guts would forgive Griffith if even a good reason to, I do think the story itself is s designed to prevent them from actually getting anywhere. And in the end I feel like if they ever reconcile it'll be on one or both of their death beds.

Or... death battlefields. As the case may be.

[13eyond13]

Lately more I think of death note I feel that light never used death note for justice but more for justifying his mistake. Let me explain:-

Light was traumatized after killing people but somehow he convinced himself that he was the chosen one. He has a habit of justifying his action/mistake. He even did during sayu's kidnapping. When ryuk asked why he will use death note to punish criminals he said because "I was bored". Yes, light did seem unhappy with justice system but I don't think he would use death note purposefully for that, in yotsuba arc he calls kira murderer. He also killed innocent people like fbi agent, Naomi Misora, Lind L Tailer(in beginning he seemed so) he mocked both Lind L Tailor and Naomi Misora after writing their name on death note. Lying to kiyomi takada and later when she realises he is cheating he responds "why are women like this". If he really cared about justice why hurt innocent people. I feel like it was his was for justifying his mistake. Your thoughts?

Mm, Light's complicated blend of motives is one of the things that makes his character as well-written and interesting as it is.

The way he first started using the notebook in the manga and first became a murderer, and everything about his upbringing and life circumstances, makes the path he takes one you can sort of understand logically and emotionally, even if not agree with or condone. I think he needed to justify becoming a murderer to himself by seeing it as for an altruistic noble cause because he had grown up seeing people like violent criminals as a despicable and lesser type of beings. He saw the current justice system as flawed and inefficient, and criminals as a certain category of inherently morally deficient people, because of growing up a sheltered prodigy in Soichiro's home. He couldn't bear the thought of being seen as a "despicable murderer" himself, either in his own mind or by people like his family. We see how he becomes curious to test out the notebook, but also first specifies it should be the kind of person who "deserves to die," and then picks a victim who most people would agree is a very scummy and destructive person (someone violently endangering a bunch of innocent children). But his criteria for who "deserves to die" shifts quickly to anybody defying him, or standing in his way, or wounding his ego, once he really gets in deep with his plans. And he knows it is wrong on some level, but he excuses it to himself by saying that it will all be worth it in the end once the world is perfectly free of everyone corrupt, and that anybody trying to stop him is basically keeping him from saving the world – which he believes he is the best possible person and only possible person who could actually do so, because of how much he has always been told he is exceptional by everybody else. I think he genuinely believes in his ideals about justice and right and wrong, but at the start he is also having fun being a rebel and concocting all his secret schemes and tricking all the clever people around him too. He is also very afraid of being seen as flawed and mistaken, and of being caught and put to death, and of the shame and embarrassment and sorrow it would cause his loved ones. I think he hides that from the audience and himself most times, and usually compartmentalizes it by telling himself he is right and that they will eventually believe he is too once he "wins". It's really hard to pick only one or the other thing that drives Light to do what he does, and I think it's nearly impossible to untangle all his various motives from each other and claim it was definitely only one thing or the other that drove him to do what he did.

[elthadriel]

Codex obvs, fives/echo? And uhh I'm sorry but I'm so curious, anidala? ...reylo?

Under a cut because it got long :D

Codex my beloved 😭

What made you ship it?

The Rishi episode had me shipping (Cody called Rex Old Boy and I was 👀) it but mostly in the background, then I wrote Boosting Morale for an event week. That was beginning of the end. I also made some new friends within the fandom around that time who shipped it and were writing the much delicious fic about them. From there there was no saving me and I’m obsessed.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

Can I just gesture vaguely at everything I’ve written for them?

I like that they come with built in pining. Even after they’re together they spend a lot of time apart missing each other. There’s a level of devotion that I love. These are men who aren’t allowed to have anything and took this anyway. They barely own themselves but own each other anyway. It makes me weak.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I prefer them having meet post Kamino as a rule. There’s plenty fun stuff with them meeting on Kamino, and I don’t avoid it, but it’s not my preference.

I adore Fives/echo

What made you ship it?

Canon. The last survivors of their squad, the fact even on Kamino when they didn’t get along there was enough of a connection there to seek out being moved to a different squad together

What are your favourite things about the ship?

The codependency. I want them to be unable to recognise themselves without the other as a point of comparison. Which makes it even better that somehow they both have to figure out how to. I just want you to look at them alone, and be able to see the hole the other left behind and they are desperately trying to fill. Look, canon give me a ship where they both have to mourn the other’s death, how could I say no to that?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m not a huge fan of how both of these characters are often written. Fives is energetic but he’s also incredibly smart and driven. He’s not a fuck up or a prankster. Meanwhile, I think Echo is just as much of a shithead as Fives (you think that man wasn’t loving how annoyed he made people reciting regs?) he just disguises it better.

Anidala

I wasn’t sure how to answer this one. I guess I ship it in the sense of I always write with the assumption they’re together, and don’t really ship either of them with anyone else because I don’t think their characters really work without the other. But, on the other hand, I would never write it, would never look it out, and just don’t really care one way or the other 😂

Fuck it, I decided to do a mix from both.

What made you ship it?

I think Anakin’s obsessive love of Padme is so central to everything that happens to him. It’s his primary driving motivator and that’s compelling. And we’re repeatedly told that Padme is a good person and smart, but she gets into a relationship with Anakin, which is objectively a stupid idea considering, and he admits to slaughtering a village to her and she isn’t repulsed. I think Padme making exceptions to her morals when it’s for the benefit of herself says so much about her.

What would have made you like it?

I find the prequels very hard to watch. I don’t even find them enjoyable in a “this is so bad” kind of way. I just think they’re bad. And then Anakin’s characterisation in tcw is just all over the place and feels super different from what we see in the movies. So probably, better canon and probably if I was just more interested in the characters in general.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I hate any implication that Anakin mind ticked Padme or that she felt pressured into a relationship with him. She knew what she was doing and I think it flattens her character into something very boring to pretend she didn’t. Let her justify this man’s viciousness while considering herself just a good and kind person. It’s fun.

Reylo

Why don’t you ship it?

Mostly because I like Finn/Rey way more. Also, while I’m normally here for enemies to lovers, canon was so inconstant with what they were doing with them it was hard to get meaningfully compelled.

What would have made you like it?

I think canon being better and knowing what it wanted to do with them.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

There’s a lot of tropes there that I like. Enemies to Lovers I mentioned, and I often like some unhealthy toxicity in my ships.

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

Eu postei 6.750 vezes em 2022

Foram 3.020 posts a mais do que em 2021!

488 posts criados (7%)

6.262 posts reblogados (93%)

Blogs que você mais reblogou:

@dhiibvulk

@thatqueerweirdo

@pencil-pilferer

@astrangergivingthestrangewelcome

@hydepotions

Eu marquei 2.665 posts meus em 2022

#ask - 117 posts

#// bold - 108 posts

#sherlock holmes - 73 posts

#save - 59 posts

#prompt - 56 posts

#// unreality - 43 posts

#acd holmes - 43 posts

#qatar 2022 - 38 posts

#dracula - 38 posts

#lupin iii - 37 posts

Maior tag: 139 caracteres

#divórcio cringe na minha época as pessoas sentavam no sofá e diziam que não dava mais e chamavam um advogado (nunca vi um divórcio na vida)

Meus principais posts em 2022:

#5

This is a strange one, but I believe that we forget how dangerous Holmes is because of his vengefulness. From sending death threats to the KKK to threatening to slaughter a man had Watson died on the scene, he shows an eagerness in doing justice by his own hands that I don't see adapted often, even if that makes him more dynamic as a character. To him, morality isn't black and white and he believes you can do good even if you harm someone, if this someone does more wrong by remaining unharmed.

Think about it: he's not that different from the men he has condemned, he just differs from them in motivation. He can and will commit the same crimes he had people convicted for if he finds it justified, and sometimes his justification is as simple as "this person has harmed someone that I loved". On this case, it is not a statement for a client; it's revenge for his own sake and the sake of the person he cares about. Why does he let some people go? Because he sees himself in them.

What I'm trying to say is that he is a good man, but he's a really dangerous one.

334 notas - publicadas em 7 de julho de 2022

#4

Ver o post inteiro

338 notas - publicadas em 7 de agosto de 2022

#3

The Hound of the Baskerville is just a Scooby-Doo episode. Random guy does something that makes it seem like there is supernatural stuff happening for money. Two not older than 30 years people unravel it. Increasingly wacky and elaborated shit happens during the investigation and yet it is all somehow explained logically. There's a dog somewhere

355 notas - publicadas em 17 de julho de 2022

#2

You gotta love the range amongst the love interests of Jane Austen books. Mr. Darcy is just constantly going "i dont want to talk to her, she's so cool, she is right i need to change 👉👈", and Mr. Knightley is right here going "you spoiled little brat i want you carnally"

559 notas - publicadas em 10 de outubro de 2022

Meu post nº 1 de 2022

Sherlock Holmes is a polyglot, and therefore we as a fandom should make him fuck up the English language more often I believe

608 notas - publicadas em 16 de junho de 2022

Veja a sua Retrospectiva 2022 →

[roach-works]

Hi *wave* I've been trying to follow the Discussion of what AO3 should do about racism, not least because I get the impression it's becoming a referendum on the presence of [at least] American POC fans in fandom. This is going to sound odd, but I have appreciated your comments even though/because you've disagreed with a lot of the things i think might be good ideas, because you have pointed out potential problems with these actions -- it would be no good to try and fail, right? But also...

well, thank you for the thanks? i personally hold that it is the responsibility of everyone in a society to care for each other. indifference to injustice is capitulation to injustice. however, the ends don't often justify the means, and to go off like a bomb, trusting your righteous indignation will save the day, is the kind of thing that only works in anime.

real life is tedious, frustrating, confusing, and exhausting. simple solutions are hard to apply. incremental progress is often the best you can hope for. there will always be people who are really, really different from you, and they'll have different solutions than you do, even for the same problems, because they'll need different results.

like, that's something people just showing up to the Racism Debate kind of gloss over. black people aren't a fundamentally different type of person from white people. but all other people are fundamentally different from you. so you have to accept that other people are different from you but they're still not alien or wrong.

fans should be able to curate their own experiences. fans of color should be able to shield themselves from the racists of fandom, and allies should be able to find ways to promote this. some aspects of fandom have gotten better over the decades; some have stayed depressingly shitty. A03 lacks certain functions that would let fans of color protect themselves from bad actors; most organizations neglect to protect their most vulnerable from harassment. in a lot of cases this is because harassers are very motivated to twist any means to their end.

here's a metaphor that's stuck with me: someone puts a fistful of gravel down the toilet in your workplace's bathroom. the toilet breaks. this is because no one ever designed a toilet to be gravel-proof. now the company has put up a sign: do not put gravel in the toilet. but whoever did that in the first place does it again.

what does the company do? what do you do? does the company just keep replacing the toilet? it's illegal to put monitoring cameras in a bathroom--does it do that anyway? does it post someone to watch? for how long? or do they try to buy a toilet that is somehow impervious to gravel? does the company conduct a witch hunt and interrogate the employees, knowing full well that this is going to fuck over everyone's morale and the bad actor is just going to lie anyway? do they take the toilets away from everyone, knowing that this is going to cause even bigger problems immediately?

sometimes racists can be pushed back against. sometimes you can scold your coworker or block your harasser or sign a petition or donate or do something. and sometimes the racists are putting gravel in a toilet and there are no easy answers for how to get them to stop.

so, just. i don't know. i'm always going to be pointing out the complexity inherent in the problems and solutions i see discussed, because it feels like someone has to. i want solutions! i take the problems seriously! but i also want people to be able to see the situation more effectively, and if i can help with that, i'm going to keep trying.

[apple-but-sour]

can i ask why is the staged finale so important to the story?

because if the only people who knew it was staged were dream and punz (i dont think sam knew because he seemed to truly believe the prison was made for tommy) then all the damage and trauma the whole incident inflicted on tommy, tubbo and other characters is still the same. it doesn't really make it any better. tubbo still believed he was going to die and so on.

like i get why dream apologists cling to it like lifeline- dream mustn't be all evil if it was staged right? but overall, unless they plan on doing a huge reveal and have a big arc about it, i cant see how it changes anything

btw i don't doubt the finale was staged, i just don't see how its so important and you seem like a person who knows their lore

I'd say it changes more about c!Dream's character than the story at large, but still has a significant impact on the story. This got kind of rambly and long so I am putting it under a cut.

1. This isn't my first time seeing it, and I always find it odd that the assumption of people who were never that into Staged Finale is that the main point of the Staged Finale theory has been making c!Dream "better" somehow. Morally, that is. I don't doubt it's the reason some c!Dream apologists clung to theory, but it wasn't the reason I was in favor of it. I liked the idea of the Finale being staged not because it makes c!Dream Less Evil, but because it keeps him a consistent character. BlueBell talked about how genuine Finale made c!Dream inconsistent here.

2. The Disc Finale is staged. All of it. The Attachment vault, including the Skeppy Cage, were never going to be used. The monologue c!Dream gave c!Tommy about how he needed him to continue bringing attachment to the server was a lie. c!Dream was never going to kill c!Tubbo. You are right in saying this in no way diminishes how traumatizing the event was for c!clingyduo, but as I've said, that wasn't the point of it all. All of this doesn't serve to make c!Dream morally better as much as it serves to show just how complex of a character he is. In the Finale, he ticks off all the boxes of the Stereotypical Pure Evil Villain criteria: he has the evil monologues, the simplistic motivation of control, the arrogant dramatics, etc. Staged Finale reveals that the Stereotypical Villain was an act, a persona. This gives c!Dream a lot more depth and counters the perception many in the fandom have of c!Dream as the one exception to the server's "everyone is morally grey" rule. And I'd like to clarify that by saying c!Dream is morally grey, I'm not saying all his actions are justifiable, it's just that Morally Black or Morally White characters tend to lack depth and exist mainly to fill out a role in the narrative. c!Dream is not that character. He has his own internal worldview and does not exist solely to serve c!Tommy's, or anyone else's, narrative.

3. This is more a matter of opinion, but I always found the Disc Finale kind of sucky, as I talked about here. It followed conventional story structure but did so in a manner that didn't appeal to me. The Finale being staged has massive implications for the writing of the Dream SMP and what the writers are capable of when it comes to storytelling, especially when it comes to foreshadowing and long-term planning. What people put down to bad writing turned out to in fact be intentional. One of the most fascinating aspects of Staged Finale is that to further his plans, c!Dream utilized narrative conventions, in-universe, without breaking the fourth wall, which is something I have never heard of in a story before. He handcrafted a Hero's Journey for c!Tommy, and the perfection of it all was part of what made his plan so convincing both for c!Tommy himself and the fandom. This aspect of the Dream SMP story — characters using narrative conventions in-universe — is something I find very very interesting.

4. I do not think the initial reveal is the end of the Staged Finale's impact. Other characters will likely learn about it and have to deal with this new information, which will be interesting to witness. I'm especially interested in how c!Sam will react when he learns that c!Dream trusted him not to abuse his power. Especially considering how c!Sam grasps onto every opportunity of justifying himself. It'll be a trainwreck and I am going to enjoy it immensely. So even though it may seem like not much has changed, yet, I'm sure more changes are still to come.

There is probably more to be said on Staged Finale, especially by someone more knowledgeable in storytelling than me, but this is all I have on the matter. TL:DR It massively changes c!Dream's characterization, making him consistent, has great implications for the writing of the Dream SMP and is sure to have a bigger impact on the story than what we've seen so far.