spop-romanticizes-abuse - Tumblr blog

spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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actually one thing that I think makes it the true reason I dislike huntlow as a ship is that it's not foreshadowed at all like how lumity was. both Luz and Amity expressly talk about romance in SOME way, even not in relation to eachother. Luz's wizard dream having a prince she was pseudo-into. Amity's diary and mentions of romance. both had clear romantic wishes, even if it was among the other ones such as be a witch and have a life outside of the blight name. willow and hunter *never* speak about love or anything like that, and if Hunter's like. aim was to have Belos love him, or *anyone* love him, I think it'd actually make the arc make sense and if Willow had that insecurity with being a teenage witch with no date or love to be found it'd make sense and I'd actually SEE huntlow being viable rather than shoehorned in where it made both of their personalities make zero sense for the scenes they were both in together

exactly! i always headcanoned willow as aroace because she literally shows no romantic interest in anyone? even her interest in hunter seemed so artificial. she just blushes and tells him he means a lot to her and… that's it? then they proceed to blush whenever they're around each other and there's literally nothing else to indicate a romantic interest.

meanwhile hunter seems less "in love" with willow, and more like he's worshipping her. it's a little reminiscent of how amity treated luz at first but even then, i feel like luz and amity were more on equal footing. we still see amity talking to luz casually, while all hunter does is blush and stutter around willow. i get it, young love and all that. but considering that hunter used to worship and idolize his abusive uncle, i can't help but feel like this kind of relationship is not right for him. i wouldn't say willow is a stand-in for belos or anything but i just don't think their dynamic works.

not to mention, both characters act horribly out of character with each other. willow was this kind but strong girl who only attacked or fought people who deserved it, but she's somewhat forceful and dominant with hunter. (i wouldn't go as far as to say toxic, i don't think she's abusive towards him or anything.)

meanwhile, hunter was this sassy and sardonic child prodigy who was trained in combat from a young age, but somehow he's always a damsel in distress when he's with willow. i have to clarify, i have no problem with women saving men or being stronger than men. but it just doesn't make sense for these characters because hunter isn't just some guy, he has supposedly gone through extremely torturous training and is a very proficient fighter. meanwhile, willow is just a normal highschooler who happens to be skilled at plant magic. how is she the stronger one here?

and of course, the fact that this ship was just shoved into the narrative with no development or chemistry just doesn't sit right with me. no hate to huntlow shippers but i really don't understand how people don't see how rushed and underdeveloped it is.

#reblogging myself #toh salt #anti huntlow

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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i'll be taking a break from tumblr for a while. how long, i can't tell, but at least a few weeks. i've been wasting way too much time on social media lately, and there are other things i need to focus on.

i've queued a couple posts that'll post today or tomorrow. hope y'all are taking care of yourselves, and i'll see you after however long i take this break for!

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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“glimmer sided with adora's abuser and laughed at her trauma—” catra was adora's abuser and the cause of her trauma.

#reblogging myself #original tags:#don't get me wrong what glimmer did was super fucked up #but she was also being manipulated by sw #she is also held accountable by the narrative #she apologizes to adora and never repeats that behaviour #none of which catra does #spop critical #spop salt #spop #spop criticism #spop discourse #she ra #anti spop #anti catradora #antic//a #anti c//a #anticatradora

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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✨ more glimmadora and caitvi parallels ✨

... kinda?

#spop #she ra #glimmadora #glimmer #adora #arcane #caitvi #arcane caitlyn #arcane vi #spop sugar

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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Why do c//a shippers say that Catra openned the portal because she wanted to be with Adora again?

Did they forget Catra had no idea that opening the portal would have created a different reality? No body knew that was going to happen, not even Entrapta who built the portal and told Catra it couldn't be openned because it was dangerous. But Catra still did it because the portal would have either brought Horde Prime to Etheria and the Horde would have won the war or it would have destroyed everything. Catra was okay with both options as long as she won and not Adora. In fact, when the portal started to destroy the world, Catra tried to kill herself and Adora with it.

Oh yeah, it's so romantic how initially Catra wanted Adora to suffer, but then she got a different option that she didn't know about and decided to gaslight Adora instead! 😻

#i think the explanation that most fans come up with is “the portal reality was catra's subconscious desires” or something #that doesn't really explain it lol #also even IF catra just wanted adora to stay with her #it's still wrong (and creepy) to force someone to stay with you against their will #adora didnt want to stay in the horde #catra trying to drag her back there is selfish #spop salt #anti catradora

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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spop stans rewriting canon to make everything about c//a. what's new?

i know it's a joke post but when has bow and glimmer ever left adora out or made her the third wheel? all of three of them were always close, even though glimmer and bow were childhood friends, they still always included adora in everything.

not to mention, if catra ever felt left out in the horde, it's because she treated everyone like shit and refused to let anyone get close to her. scorpia and entrapta wasn't even that close. they were friends, sure, but 90% of the time, scorpia was trying to get close to catra while entrapta was preoccupied with tech.

idk it just really annoys me when stans act like either adora doesn't care about glimmer and bow, or they don't care about her, when that was the only realistic friendship in the entire series.

👏🏼 STOP ERASING PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE SAKE OF a shitty ROMANCE 👏🏼

(Sorry for not replying before!)

Do not harass the OP of the post if you happen to find it.

Goodness, this post annoyed me so much. Bow and Glimmer always did their best to include Adora and I'm sure they would still do that as a romantic couple. Like, the way they're such good friends to her sometimes makes me want to cry. Take when they went to Mystacor for instance, Bow and Glimmer were lying down at the beach with Adora and they reassured she would be okay. When Catra left Adora in s5, Glimmer and Bow were there to comfort Adora as well.

I personally never really bought into the Super Pal Trio. Scorpia and Entrapta enjoyed each other's company, but you're right, Entrapta was more focused on tech and she spent a lot more time with Hordak. Catra might have grown a little close to Scorpia later on, but then she was awful to her after the Portal.

I don't know why SPOP stans love distorting the characters. And although this was a joke post, I'm pretty sure plenty of fans actually genuinely believe that Bow and Glimmer are awful friends that don't truly care about Adora, and that Catra is left out because no one likes her, when it's not entirely true considering how much Scorpia did to get close to her. And Scorpia also gradually learned to respect Catra's space, too, but you'll see stans shitting on Scorpia and implying that she deserved to be treated like crap.

#anti stans #anti c//a

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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I'm not gonna lie, but even as a critical of SPoP and HH/HB, certain takes from antis can be straight-up insensitive towards certain people or just factually wrong

Do not call the creators of these shows "psychotic", "delusional", or any other ableist slurs/insults (seen this occur towards Nate Stevenson)

You can say that you disagree with how the writing of SPoP went without using these labels to offend a non-disabled show creator. C//A is potrayed poorly, but do not use these words to attack the creator of the show.

Do not claim that a character is a minor if canon instances show that they're an adult (Emily from Hazbin Hotel, who is canonically supposed to be coded as 20+ years old)

If anyone says that this can be said towards Catra as well, no, it actually doesn't (at least, not seasons 1-3 Catra). Catra is actually 16-17 in those seasons, making her a minor. Emily was made to be coded in her 20s and she's barely been shown in the series of Hazbin Hotel.

You can't really claim a ship is rushed before the series was even created if they weren't even implied to be a couple until the series officially got released (chaggie; even though the ship is poorly written, it's not the same as being rushed/forced)

Charlie and Vaggie weren't even implied to being a couple in the pilot. Sure, Vaggie was supportive of Charlie, but like...that could literally be interpreted as platonic. Charlie touching Vaggie's shoulder isn't inherently romantic, either. Casual affection can occur in romantic relationships, but their interactions in the pilot could've been interpreted as platonic.

There are other criticisms to the series that are actually valid, but I just wanted to say, as a critical of all of these shows, that not all criticisms are good or well thought out

There's still many MANY other obvious problems with both series, but these are the most important things to note

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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Tonight on The C//A Shipper Mental Gymnastics Show

#“a little different” lmao #lumity were also in a magical world??#literally all four of these were fantastical in some way #anti catradora #spop salt

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 days

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whenever someone says they dislike huntlow, the usual comeback from toxic huntlow fans is that “you're a misogynist and you don't want to see the woman in a relationship being stronger”. so i want to address this issue today. is huntlow bad only because willow is stronger than hunter and isn't a damsel in distress?

in my opinion, absolutely not. that's not the case. i myself am a fan of subverted tropes and relationships where the woman isn't just a passive damsel with no personality. i like seeing independent women and i like seeing men being vulnerable for once.

to demonstrate my point on why huntlow doesn't pull off this trope well, let me compare it to a ship with a similar dynamic: sokka and suki from avatar the last airbender.

let's go through each of the reasons why sukka works as a ship where huntlow fails.

1. Does it make sense for the characters?

the first question here is: do the roles of the strong independent woman and weaker man suit these characters?

sokka was introduced as.. just a guy. he was a regular teenager who wasn't trained in combat. he could fight well enough if he wanted to and being the only man in a village full of mostly children and elders, he was the best warrior in his village (if we are even to believe his claims in s1, that is).

suki, on the other hand, was a trained warrior. she had spent her whole life training in combat and fighting to continue kyoshi's legacy. in her very first appearance, suki is confirmed to be a skilled warrior who is much stronger than sokka.

this setup makes perfect sense. it wouldn't come as a surprise later on that suki is stronger or a better fighter than sokka, and would have to rescue him or help him out in a moment of crisis.

now let's come to huntlow. in s2, hunter is introduced as the emperor's right-hand man who is young but powerful. while most of his intimidation factor came from his artificial staff, it was clear that he was not an amateur and had decent combat skills.

this assumption is only solidified when we see him go head to head with amity, only losing because 1. he was using a new staff 2. he was sleep deprived and 3. he was in an extremely erratic emotional state.

willow, on the other hand, was the sokka in this relationship. she was a regular teenager who grew up in a normal family and went to a regular magic high school.

she was certainly incredibly skilled in plant magic but she was not a trained child soldier like hunter. she had a lot of potential to be a good fighter but she had only recieved the education that every other student had recieved. not to mention, most of her stronger magic came from her emotional outbursts.

so.. does the whole girlboss-malewife dynamic work with huntlow? no. it really doesn't. even if willow trained and grew as a witch, there's no reason why she should be stronger and more skilled in combat than hunter, who had to pass seemingly impossible trials in order to qualify as the golden guard. especially since after the first half of s2, hunter was not only weaker than willow but just weak in general.

i get it, he doesn't have natural magic like the others. but he was still shown to be a very competent fighter. he was also shown to be cunning and strategic, being able to find a way out of any situation if he wanted to. but after joining the hexsquad, he is dumbed down to willow's shy and pathetic boyfriend, who doesn't really do much on his own.

2. are they in character when in a relationship?

when writing a relationship, this is really important. if you write a relationship where one or both characters have to act wildly out of character to make sense for the relationship to happen, those characters are not compatible. it's like when your friend acts uncomfortably different around their crush or partner.

let's start with sokka and suki.

sokka is goofy, cynical and quick-witted, with or without suki. his relationship with suki doesn't drastically change his character, but it does improve it. suki helps sokka change his misogynistic worldviews and respect women, but apart from that necessary improvement, sokka is still the same. he is not out of character when he is with suki.

as for suki herself, we don't see a lot of her away from sokka but it's still safe to assume that she is being herself around sokka. she is not forced into a new role in order to be in a relationship with sokka. the times we do see her on her own, she is pretty much the same rational, independent and nonchalant person that she is around sokka.

and yet, both of them have incredible chemistry and very clearly care for each other. it's not one-sided and it doesn't feel unnatural.

but huntlow?

hunter is introduced as a sarcastic and bratty but deeply traumatized teenager. he is quick to start a banter with whoever he is with, he tends to talk too much, and he generally has a nonchalant attitude to cover up with trauma.

but with willow? hunter is not just shy or awkward around her, he is a completely different person. i can understand that being attracted to a person can make you act strangely sometimes. but with hunter, that awkwardness never fades away. he is always blushing around her, he is often portrayed as pathetic and helpless, and constantly needing willow's support and guidance.

as for willow, she is introduced as this insecure and good-natured teenager. after her confrontation with amity, willow is pushed to the back for a while. all we know about her at that time is that she's the supportive mom friend of the group. she builds her confidence after a while but she is still shown as a kind person who doesn't use force on someone else, unless necessary.

but with hunter? willow is suddenly not just confident but also dominant and forceful. she basically snatches him from the sky and drags him to the ground, just to invite him to her flyer derby team. hunter is practically terrified at this point, but it's played off as a fun cute-meet. later, when hunter wants to leave the team for understandable reasons, instead of respecting his wishes, willow once again forces him to join her again.

i wouldn't call willow toxic or abusive, because she isn't. but i would say that she didn't respect hunter's boundaries in the slightest. she doesn't treat anyone else the way she treats hunter. she's not exactly mean to him but she also does not seem to respect him as an individual. again, she is written wildly out of character just so that she could fulfil the role of the “powerful girlboss” in the relationship. and it doesn't help that a dominant and forceful figure is the last thing hunter needs, considering how he was controlled and abused by his uncle his whole life.

3. Equality

it is my opinion that in a relationship, both individuals should play an important role. and they should balance each other out, instead of clashing with each other. it doesn't necessarily have to be an “opposites attract” situation, they just need to have qualities that brings a balance to the relationship.

in sokka's and suki's relationship, we've already established that suki is the brawn. she's the trained warrior and her agility, skill and speed are her strengths. sokka, on the other hand, is the brains. suki is still a rational and smart person but sokka is the strategist, the “idea guy”.

here, there's a balance. neither sokka nor suki are weak or incompetent, they're just skilled in different areas.

but when it comes to huntlow, willow is the brawn while hunter.. does close to nothing. after meeting willow, he's basically useless. the most impactful thing he does is stand up against belos in “Thanks to Them” and rescue willow from a short fall in the next episode. otherwise, he is mostly pushed to the back despite, again, having a personality and his own strengths prior to meeting willow. the problem here isn't that hunter shouldn't be weak or vulnerable, but rather that he is forced into the damsel role when it goes against his original character.

4. Screentime, interaction and development

one thing that huntlow and sukka had in common is neither ship had too much screentime together. suki wasn't officially part of the gaang until s3 and before that, she just gets two interactions with sokka. but these interactions were used to their fullest potential.

when they first meet each other, sokka and suki do not get along well. sokka was convinced that women aren't good warriors and his pride is hurt by the fact that suki is stronger than him, while suki is understandably put off by sokka's misogynistic and condescending attitude. after he tries to teach her how to fight and is consequently defeated by her, sokka rethinks his worldview. he goes back to suki and asks her to teach him how to fight, apologizing and admitting his mistake. suki agrees to teach him and through this, they bond. it is revealed at the end of the episode that both sokka and suki may or may not have a thing for each other. afterwards, sokka has to leave and suki has to stay behind.

their next meeting is a lot more brief but even here, we see a clear demonstration of their dynamic. sokka is overjoyed to see suki but he still hasn't moved on from yue, so when suki confesses to him and tries to initiate a kiss, sokka rejects her. suki apologizes to him later for what happened, and sokka kisses her as a confirmation that he has now moved on and likes her back. we see a clear respect of boundaries and personal choices from both sides.

finally, after suki is captured by azula, sokka frees her and they are reunited again until the end. at this point, they're basically a couple. there's no more awkward blushing or stuttering; they're just a pair of teenagers who are in love with each other. they have a bit of playful banter and they're very casual and comfortable around each other.

suki was originally supposed to be a one-time character so it's incredible that they pulled off on the best ships in atla with her and sokka. their chemistry was undeniable from the beginning, and the writers knew how to expand on it.

now let's come to huntlow. hunter and willow meet each other for the first time in the s2b episode ‘Any Sport in a Storm’. willow is looking for candidates to join her flyer derby team and she sees hunter flying on his palisman. completely unprovoked, the willow who normally never attacked or forced something on people for no reason, decides that the best way to scout this random guy she doesn't know is by encasing him in vines and dragging him to the ground, destroying the concrete in the process. this may have been portrayed as something of a slapstick comedy, but that kind of humor never stuck with me.

after willow explains herself to hunter, he agrees to join her team, thinking it would be an easy way to recruit students into the emperor's coven. fast forward, they get a few members to their group.

hunter notices that all of these members are visibly slacking off and gets discouraged. he turns to leave and willow stops him in his tracks. when she tells him to give them a chance, hunter ‘opens up’ to her a little, by telling her that he had to earn chances, especially as a “half a witch”. this comes out of nowhere because we never see hunter being referred to as half a witch by anyone prior to this. there were certainly characters who disliked him, like lilith and kikimora, but they called him names like “golden brat”. in fact, it's not even clear if anyone other than hunter and belos knows that he has no magic. the whole half a witch line was added so that hunter and willow would have something in common.

willow, instead of reasoning with hunter or respecting his choice to leave, drags him to the ground once again and seemingly teleports him back to the flyer derby team. while this may not have been done with malicious intent, it was still another instance of willow invading hunter's boundaries and forcing him to do something.

hunter is convinced that the team is, in fact, competent. he plays the game with them and has fun doing it. after getting the team captured to join the emperor's coven and saving them from darius, the episode ends with darius turning out to be the good guy and hunter getting a penstagram (or whatever they call it, i forgot).

after this, the huntlow scenes are very scarce. we barely see them interact, especially not alone with each other. in the next episode, we see willow standing up for hunter and hunter blushing and recognizing that the fake willow isn't willow. while this would be sweet for an already established couple, since hunter and willow barely had a bond at this point, it just comes off as hunter being observant. which is somewhat in character for him.

afterwards, there's just a sprinkle of this ship, most of it consisting of hunter being shy and nervous around willow. and willow treating him like she treats everyone else. there's no sign of willow liking hunter back until literally the episode before the finale. where, instead of focusing on hunter's recent trauma with being possessed by his abusive parent and losing his best friend, the show decides to focus on willow's issues instead. of course willow deserves her own arc, but she already got it back in s1. there was no reason to give her ANOTHER issue to work on, just so that hunter can comfort her and give her a reason to like him back.

overall, it was really forced and these two characters never had the kind of natural chemistry that sokka and suki did. their interactions were either awkward or surface-level wholesome. we get exactly two (2) episodes where they interact properly and even that isn't done well. it just feels like these characters were pushed into a ship dynamic that they didn't naturally fit into.

#toh critical #toh salt #anti toh #toh criticism #toh discourse #anti huntlow #avatar the last airbender

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 8 days

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interesting how both the main villain of the show and the protagonist's love interest has said the same creepy thing about the protagonist, and only one of these instances is heavily romanticized.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop #spop discourse #spop criticism #she ra #anti spop #anti catradora #anti c//a #anticatradora

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 8 days

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Oh to be Jared, nineteen.

#i am concerned about this person lmao #what kind of media are they consuming that C//A is the healthiest according to them???#anti c//a #anti stans

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 8 days

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Like mother, like daughter. I will always love their parallels

#if you've never watched this show #you would think that this was on purpose #and that the writers were implying that catra has turned into an abuser just like shadow weaver #but nope #they never address this in the show #spop salt

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 8 days

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You said the arcs of certain characters in TOH have an 'Us vs. Them mentality.' I take it that's because, as you say, the narrative pins the bad qualities of certain characters on separate parties (e.g. "Amity's flaws are only because of her mom"), but would you care to elaborate further on said mentality and how it sticks out to you in TOH?

So shockingly, not really. It plays into it but I am actually inherently talking about the same sort of mentality that Belos perpetuates but back onto Luz. After all, if you look at the main cast by even mid season 2 we have a problem forming. Eda: Has lost her criminal edge, has no personal interests, is defined by being nice in a way befitting Luz's worldview. Momma Eda.

Amity: No longer is studious and hard working but instead focuses more on her girlfriend and her nerdy interests. Is also now just nice. Was only shown genuine care by Luz, instead of just trying to fulfill her nerdy desires, once she finds out Amity is into Azura.

Lilith: Has turned into a nerd and given up on any ambitions that had led to her previous actions, becoming a nice cool aunt. Only now has Luz tried to form any relationship with her (admittedly, she didn't get many chances before now).

Hunter: Has only been being given kindness because he has shown a capacity for kindness that Luz only really started showing him, beyond not wanting him to die, once he showed he had a nerdy interest in wild magic.

Gus: Was a nerd from go and always nice, even if he could be slightly selfish.

Willow: By mid S2, is essentially out of the show for the past half season, has never had a strong personality and is just nice. Yes, she'll start her jock stuff soon... And never have a real conversation with Luz again, at least not until S3 maybe? So a full season where Luz and Willow, after Willow might have stopped being nerdy/an outcast, where Luz doesn't have an interest in her anymore.

And uh, just as a reminder to S3, Hunter gains a scifi interest post redemption and Luz explicitly listens to NOTHING her mother says to her during her big speech in For the Future until she reveals herself to be a secret nerd. At that point, suddenly Luz dials in.

For TOH, a show supposedly about the individual and self expression, characters either lose their personality and/or gain the personality that matches LUZ. There is less character variety in interests and personalities than even 90s cartoons much of the time by the end of TOH because these characters all lose so much of themselves fitting in with the good guys, especially the redeemed ones.

This is where your argument for this does come into play. I'll frame it as the fandom likes to with Amity: "She didn't have Luz in her life yet."

Amity is only a bitch while she is hanging out with the wrong crowd. Socialites, those with ambition and jocks. The Luz enters her life and despite the fact that the ONE time Luz ever calls Amity out for being a bitch being when Amity is being a bully to King and clearly trying to get a rise out of Luz, making that moment meaningless, that simple fact starts warping Amity. Starts making her turn back to her good, nerdy side. And because this is such an inherently good thing, there is no difficulty in doing this. She needs no motivation, no calling out, nothing. She just needs to desire to be like Luz/liked by Luz. She can discard her entire friend group and do things that should get her disowned with how evil Odalia is and face zero consequences because... I guess that's the power of becoming a nerd.

You are beyond reproach. You can only do good. Same goes for Hunter. Despite YEARS of potential propaganda and the like, Luz just getting into his life and admittedly jabbing at Belos/him a little, is all it takes for him to embrace the inherent goodness, displayed by his nerdiness about wild magic, and start becoming a better person. For this, he loses his home but that is only seen as a positive because indeed, he got away from those hostile that made him a bad person. He could now be a good person because he no longer had those influences and could embrace Luz's way of life.

With the show's themes, why is this the case? Shouldn't their base personalities be allowed to exist? Shouldn't a wide range of ideologies and the like be allowed since that is a part of self expression? Instead, when people don't like Luz approves, they are disapproved by Luz and either need to get the fuck out or conform.

And this is all without getting into how she becomes Jesus in the last episode...

None of this is intentional but if someone told me that the show felt hostile to them because they didn't consider themselves a nerd or because they tried to get somewhere in life, I wouldn't blame them. The show has a weirdly narrow belief in who is a good person. Who is allowed to exist in the main cast, a problem that cascades issues into a lot of its themes. I mean, this is the first show I've ever had to ask if character arcs are actually hurt the themes of the show because of this, a blog I sadly couldn't refind.

There is admittedly an element of this where I might not have thought about it without the fandom. Most people I know who are multi-fandom still agree that TOH is aggressive against others, even for a fandom. That it lashes out and blames others for its problems. Almost like a *gestures at the thesis*

And that doesn't help make any of this be less uncomfortable unfortunately. See you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

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