#I don't think there's any correct way to enjoy the series either I'm just generally curious

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

Both as an interest check for the thing I may or may not be working on and because I've been curious about this question for years and now have access to polls:

As per usual I'd be interested to see people's thoughts on this in the replies if you have any. I remember back when I first got into the fandom this was a pretty big debate but it's died down a lot as the fandom's shrunk so I'm kind of curious where people sit on this now.

#If you couldn't tell from my writing I lean towards dark content but I can enjoy well written fluff #or at least as close to fluff as you can get with DL #I don't think there's any correct way to enjoy the series either I'm just generally curious #I've always gotten the impression my followers are more here for darker stuff but I could be wrong! #for context the thing I may or may not be working on definitely falls into the dark content category #so that's also why I want to know lol

[anneapocalypse]

They’re all pretty related, so in case you want to merge or skip some: I’m curious about 9, 20, 21, and 22 for 🔥 choose violence 🔥

For the 🔥choose violence 🔥 ask game!

Disclaimer: provocative name aside, I am not actually trying to be mean here, these are just my opinions offered for Entertainment Purposes™️, and I’m not mad at anyone who has a different opinion.

9. worst part of canon

The lack of forethought about representation when the series began. The first game was like, "Seven skin tints! The dark ones looks Bad in our engine! Your family is white no matter what! Brown people are from Over There somewhere! Asians????" Since then, I think the games have each improved on that situation, with increasingly better character creators, more diverse companions, and a more diverse world generally. But I think that there's still a lot lacking, and part of that is because the first installment laid a pretty weak foundation, so all subsequent canon is having to correct for better representation rather than building on a strong start. A few big things I would love to see in DA:D are a better variety of hair textures and styles, a better variety of Asian features in the CC, and more Asian (coded) characters in the world generally since that's an area where it's really been lacking. (Lighting that doesn't wash out medium skin tones to ghosts wouldn't hurt either 😉 but when it comes to video game lighting I assume that we'll just be trading one problem for another. I look forward to experiencing a New Problem.)

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

Inquisition's Too Many Collectibles. I don't mind collectibles, especially when there's an actual reward for collecting them, but Inquisition just has too many. Was it really necessary for us to discover landmarks and regions? Like, could those not have been the same thing? It's fun to treasure hunt and everything but did we need to hunt for astrariums and shards and mosaic tiles and bottles? None of those things are bad on their own, but there's such a thing as Too Much, and I think Inquisition crosses that line somewhere.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Marrying Alistair to become Queen! Like, that's fine if that's the ending you want. Me, I've romanced Alistair multiple times and I've never felt like becoming Queen Cousland was like, the Ultimate Ending to that story. My first ever Warden, Jolene, was a Cousland who romanced Alistair, and while I'd watched Mr. Apocalypse play parts of the game, I was unspoiled for the romance, so I wasn't gunning for any particular ending, and because Alistair clearly didn't want to be king and because he seemed so uncertain of what would happen to their relationship (despite her being a perfectly valid candidate for queen), Jo ended up deciding to let Anora keep the throne and ride off into the sunset with Alistair. I wanted a happy ending for that first run and to me, that seemed the happiest for both of them.

Since then I've also done a tragic Alistair romance with an Aeducan, who starts out a real asshole and has kind of a redemption arc as a Warden, culminating in her giving Alistair the throne because she believes it's his destiny, and sacrificing herself to kill the archdemon because she knows she can never be his queen. I loved that one too! It was so juicy.

I'm not opposed to Queen Cousland or anything, I just remember a time when it was so venerated as the ending for Origins. Really, I just don't think of any outcome in an RPG that way. What I enjoy is exploring all the possibilities.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Once again, consider "everyone" to be a bit hyperbolic, but I am really, really interested in the politics of the setting, something I think maybe a lot of fans consider to be boring or "not that deep." 😂 Dragon Age does not always handle its power and oppression narratives perfectly, for sure, but I also think a lot of the worldbuilding shows a level of understanding of structural power that it maybe doesn't always get credit for. When a group is marginalized in this setting we can identify actual systemic barriers to social advancement for that group, not just "people being mean" on an individual level like you sometimes see in lazier narratives. Orlais isn't just fancier and snootier than Ferelden; it actually has more barriers to upward mobility in place! Society is more stratified, and power is more concentrated, even though both nations are monarchies.

I love the fantasy politics--of people in day to day life, of factions, of nations, of religion. I love it because, at its best, Dragon Age does have some interesting things to say about the nature of power. It's easy to say "Chantry bad" or "nobility bad," but to me it's much more interesting to explore why these institutions function the way they do, the ways in which they concentrate power, and the means they employ to keep it. And controversial statement, maybe, but you can't effectively explore the politics of revolution and social change without understanding the structures you're trying to change. Sera's right about one thing: it's not as simple as just lopping off the top.

#ask anne #peforby #ask meme #choose violence ask game #dragon age critical #blunders of thedas #thedas politics

[boosmidnighthour]

With Total Drama Revival/Reboot/Island 2023 coming back up in my brain after my long break with Ninjago, I've started thinking about the rewrite again. (Shocker, I know.) Don't expect me to think about the rewrite for too long after this; it's a big project and I burnt myself out from Total Drama in general for months because I tend to overwhelm myself with these things.

Anyway, because I've started thinking about it again, I've decided to think about a smaller question.

What would they use the money for if they won?

The reason I bring this up is because we only really get to know two characters' reasons for entering this competition; Emma wants to (or at least wanted to) donate a portion of her money to the animal shelter that Chase made her crash into, and Priya wants to win to show her parents she's capable and to go to med school. (Correct me if I missed someone. These are the only two I can recall, and I am running on old memories.)

But anyone else is practically free reign, as long as it makes sense to the character.

Axel: She'd probably use the million to buy a bunker. She believes in zombies, and a bunker would be the best decision if the zombie apocalypse ever did happen. She has to be prepared after all.

Ripper: Based on his intro, his name, his concept... he'd use the money to buy hot wings, or really anything spicy. Y'know, to beat his life goal and maybe even go farther than that.

Chase: He entered the competition to get exposure for his stupid channel. No doubt. He's already successful, and probably already makes more than enough money. He certainly seems well off at least. But if he wins the million, he could use it on some good quality merch and practically earn the money back after. Or he could use the money to torture his friends still on the channel with him even more.

Millie: She would have used the money for her book. At least some of it. She's pretty sheltered, too, so that - too me - doesn't say her life is very difficult, and her living situation is already pretty good. She's bullied at school, but she doesn't seem to care too much about that, minus realizing how lonely she is outside of the series. If she had continued her book, she would've probably gotten her money's worth back to her, especially after already getting her exposure from the series. But since she didn't go on to make that book, I wonder if she would have continued to make a different book instead, or gone to college to study the human brain or whatever. Most of the money would probably go into a savings account, though. She just seems like the type to think long term over short term.

Damien: Since he entered the show for the money without having any clue what the show was about, I'm going to go ahead and say he's kind of a dumbass. He'd spend his money relatively quickly - not as quickly as characters like Zee, Ripper, or Raj and Wayne, but still. He's into science, so he'd use the money on things related to that, and most likely use it on more clothes. Like Millie, he seems pretty sheltered. He'd probably share the money with his friends back home; he has stated before that he can't hold a grudge for very long, especially if the person he's mad at apologizes truthfully, so if he is mad at his friends back home and they apologize in a way that actually means something, he'd totally share it.

Scary Girl: I kinda don't want to know what she'd use the money for. She's creepy, enjoys screams, and is scarily good at things that don't really make sense to her character. I don't have the imagination to figure out what she'd use it on, either, so... unsolved?

Zee: Soda, junk food, anything he can think of and he's got it in a second. If he thinks further out, or somebody suggests it, maybe extra prosthetic legs, especially after losing so many during the show. Subscriptions to streaming services and cable, too. His room looked well-lived in, so he's pretty comfortable with life, I would say.

Nichelle: I don't really know what she entered the competition. Maybe to prove to her stunt-double that she was more capable than the actress she is? That's more a season 2 thing, though, after humiliating herself on live TV. In season 1, she's already well off; she's rich, she's famous and nearly everyone already knows her, and before she's embarrasses herself, almost everyone loves her. Maybe it's a publicity stunt? To get even more people outside of her demographic to watch her movies more? Not sure. I'm also not sure what she would need the money for. Maybe just to be considered a millionaire? Maybe she'd spend it on better clothes.

Caleb: He looks like a supermodel, but he doesn't seem to be interested in becoming a supermodel. He's not famous, but he's portrayed to be the perfect person, minus the very many relationship mistakes he makes in season 2. He volunteers at places and probably donated the money he had before to some sort of charity. I think if he won the million, he'd continue doing all that stuff, but use even more money to donate to charities.

MK: She's a tech geek that leaves the house a less than normal amount, and she's a bit of a thief. She'd spend the money on the equipment, and then she'd run some sort of scam. All under an anonymous name and face. (As a side gig, she'd be Julia's co-host on their podcast, as was hinted in the second season.)

Julia: Phones. Lots of phones. Probably some professional cameras, too. She would get like... Photoshop or something and run beauty scams. She's not as good at photoshopping as MK is, though, so they kinda work together to make another scam. She'd make some ads to some shady website that MK made. The perfect team. Maybe they'd make a whole website that turned out to be some MLM scheme or something. Plus, she'd probably use the money on some makeup.

Bowie: I don't know. He seems pretty comfortable with his life. Maybe he'd get a phone or two, some new jewelry, some new clothes for Raj - maybe Wayne, too, if he can be convinced - and maybe some new electronics. I can see him getting a foosball or pool table. Maybe he'd use money to get an actual pool in the backyard. He can really be seen doing anything with it, including putting it in to savings.

Raj and Wayne: I'm putting these guys together since the show would do the same. They would use some of the money for the hockey team, obviously. Maybe they'd get ice hockey jackets. Bowie would help them pick out some different outfits (which would have shown up in the second season). Raj would use a little bit of the money on a couple of dates with Bowie. They'd probably spend their money on stupid things, too, like Zee, and Bowie would probably stop them from going too far.

I made this in only a couple of hours, so these opinions are likely to change. If anyone has other suggestions on what these guys would use the money for, let me know. It's interesting.

#total drama reboot #total drama 2023 #total drama 2023 rewrite #total drama #non work

[ruthlesslistener]

not to come into your house after asking an incredibly basic question, but your response is very interesting to me? Interesting feels like the wrong word but it's also v late for me. Most thoughts I hear about the gerudo are either just in it for the Ganondorf lore and thus gloss over other things about them, or only have positive things to say in a way that feels kinda oblivious? Or on rare occasions, people thoroughly tearing them apart. So, seeing your response aknowledge the things people usually tear into nintendo for but still come away liking them pretty wholesale was interesting in a good way! Like a breath of fresh air that hadn't occurred to me. anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts, if you can't tell already they kinda tipped the way I think about the gerudo pretty topsy-turvy in a way I'll examine later when it's not midnight. sorry if this is overstepping or smthn after starting with a two sentence ask. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on them when both of us have more brain power.

Glad that it got you thinking about things! I don't think you're overstepping, but I do want to point out that I really don't have much experience with the nuances of the Zelda franchise, so I might not have very insightful commentary on it. I've never played the games myself, I only watched BOTW, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker playthroughs/speedruns and am partially through smallant's TOTK 100% vods.

The way I think about it, though (and this applies to anything except Harry Potter), is that you can acknowledge the flaws in a piece of media while also enjoying aspects of it that are not flawed, because nuance is a thing and what matters most is not internalizing the bigoted shit you might see and allowing it to influence how you treat/write others. Additionally, it can help you learn about the pitfalls that other writers might fall into, and whether or not it was intentional or not, because different sterotypes/problematic troupes will crop up in different ways in different cultures, and intention makes all the difference between deliberate propaganda and yet another cultural oversight that needs to be addressed, but can be corrected later on. Stories are written by human beings and human beings are inherently flawed entities, so dismissing any and all enjoyment you might find in a story simply because it has problems just isn't reasonable (though blindly defending it isn't great, either).

(The reason why HP is an exception is, of course, because the author directly benefits from its publicity and uses that benefit to actively harm minority groups, so there really is no ethical way of engaging with that shit)

The Gerudo are very much a flawed concept drawing off of the fallacies of Middle Eastern stereotypes, and there's much to be said about the imperialist undertones that run through TOTK with the kingdom of Hylia and its expansion to other territories (though this might not be intentional- Japan is notorious for being pro-imperialist and glossing over all the horrors of imperialism or their past crimes with it. Then again, America is just as bad, if not worse, so I'm hardly on a moral high horse here). There certainly is a lot more to be said about the racism inherent to making the Big Bad Evil of the series a brown man, and then trying to mask that by turning his skintone green, or black, or just generally trying to dehumanize him. Not to mention the fact that a man is born to the Gerudo once every hundred years, and that he automatically becomes their king for whatever reason (with Ganon, I can see it's because he's power-hungry, but still). But you can also enjoy the flashy decor of the Gerudo, the buff warrior woman society with their codes of honour, and the badassery of their chieftans that can call down lightning, because at the same time, the Gerudo are so fantastical that they end up being just that...fantastical.

So while I'm sure there's a lot of nuance that I'm missing given that I'm more of an observer of new games in the Zelda series than anything else, imo I think its fine to enjoy them while still being aware of the racist elements to their story, because while the racism isn't great they're also so different from like, actual irl human beings that it's not too bad. It's more that they were spawned from racist stereotypes that is the direct issue, if that makes any sense

#anon #reply #again! i only really know botw canon so i am missing a whole lotta context #but yeah i think you can enjoy something while also knowing that its got shitty elements to it

[eldritchamy]

read your tags and. (probably) not a girl but anything else you'd recommend rn?

....How do you feel about telekinesis-based witches in very violent Korean supernatural action horror? If this sounds interesting to you, you might enjoy The Witch Part 1: Subversion and The Witch Part 2: The Other One

How about a claustrophobic, tense, atmospheric suspense horror in the vein of Alien but at the bottom of the ocean instead of deep space? Does Kristen Stewart with a butch haircut work for you? If so, watch Underwater.

While we're on the subject, Alien and Aliens. If you've never seen them, change that immediately. Alien is correctly regarded as one of the best horror films ever made, and the (imo superior) sequel Aliens is in my extremely correct opinion the best sequel ever made and one of the best movies of all time. Ellen Ripley in Aliens is my GOLD STANDARD for character arcs. Just masterful writing. Fuck Alien 3. Alien Resurrection is hot trash and VERY OBVIOUSLY a prototype for what became Firefly if you squint, but apart from a few VERY WHEDON lines it's better than Alien 3 honestly. This is not saying enough to count as a compliment. FUCK ALIEN 3. The new films (Prometheus and Alien: Covenant) are OKAY, but a completely different vibe and generally most people either only like the old movies or only like the new ones. Covenant is better than Prometheus imo. And I will say that Covenant has some of the most interesting/inventive xenomorph kills in the series. They do NOT have the same feel as the old movies, though. The design fails HARD to capture the essence of that 80s junk retro-future vibe that makes the old movies so timeless. They're supposed to be PREQUELS but the tech is way more advanced for no reason, which imo was a bad choice.

Supernatural action drama with an interesting plot that will make you wanna read the graphic novel it was based on? The Old Guard.

Wanna see the best and most underrated animated film of the last decade? I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH how much Kubo and the Two Strings was ROBBED during awards season.

Like robots smashing each other with an unexpectedly solid plot? The Bumblebee movie from a couple years ago was shockingly good, in stark contrast to every other Transformers movie.

Want some really well done scifi with a PHENOMENAL concept behind it, framed in a different way than any other first contact style movie, that will make you think about the nature of consciousness? Arrival is a masterpiece.

What We Do In The Shadows remains the best thing in the vampire genre. If you haven't seen it yet, fix that. The movie is great but the show absolutely blows it away.

Star Trek is a good evergreen choice. I don't have as much experience with it as I'd like, but I very much enjoyed TNG up until it hit writers' strike territory and things went really off the rails (mid season 5). Started DS9 but my progress got interrupted pretty hard when my dad was in the hospital for the last time. The different series have different feels to them. Not liking one show doesn't mean you won't like another one. There's plenty of Star Trek to choose from.

I am tearing through The Vampire Diaries at an impressive rate. Is it revolutionary? Not remotely. You can tell a LOT of the character archetypes were pulled from Buffy. But to be fair, it does a lot of those character archetypes better. I got into it partly for a specific character (Katherine Pierce) who is like Evil Girlboss incarnate, and partly as backstory for the world so I can eventually progress to Legacies for ANOTHER supernatural superpowered character (Hope Mikaelson). So far I'm very pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. It's actually a good show. VERY straight, but at least the straight vampire drama is better than Buffy's (even if it's very obvious that Stefan and Damon are basically rehashed Angel and Spike).

Have you seen Shin Godzilla? It is, bar none, the best monster movie ever made. An absolute MASTERPIECE of atmospheric, slow terror as the world fails to comprehend and respond to the physical and emotional impact of a nuclear catastrophe on Japanese soil. Absolutely PHENOMENAL movie. The version with all the deleted scenes in it is even better. Incredible film.

Do you like speculative fiction about artificial intelligence, and also think Alicia Vikander is pretty (who doesn't?). Ex Machina is really interesting and good.

Like the classic stuff? John Carpenter's The Thing and the 70s Invasion of the Body Snatchers definitely live up to their reputations.

Want to turn your brain off with a comedy about morons who are in over their head? The Three Amigos is pretty good and has one of my favorite jokes in any comedy movie. (It involves a veranda).

Wanna turn your brain off with goofy kaiju bullshit? The old Toho Godzilla movies are very fun. Be mindful of the older ones, though. If it was made before 1970 and features an island setting, there's usually some outlandish degrees of racism. King Kong vs Godzilla is the worst offender, but a BUNCH from that era had very severe colorism and "primative island culture" vibes. Also probably avoid Godzilla vs Megalon, which even manages to beat King Kong as hands down the worst film in the entire series. It was filmed in under two weeks and Godzilla is only in it for the last forty seconds because it wasn't even supposed to be a Godzilla movie at all. I'm a big fan of the Heisei era movies (1985-1995) personally, with the Millennium series (1999-2004) being a close second. But if you want maximum goofy kaiju cheese, you want Showa (1954-1974). It's all rubber suit bullshit and it's a good time.

The Maleficent movies are fantastic, if you haven't seen them.

The Mummy and The Mummy Returns are cinematic masterpieces. Do not watch The Mummy 3: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I mean it doesn't even have Rachel Weisz, what's the point.

The Resident Evil movies are very bad. But they're a guilty pleasure if you're into really bad 2000s cheesy action. If you're into it, they're fun.

The Underworld movies are kinda like that but with vampires (and werewolves) instead of zombies. They're awful movies, but they DO have Kate Beckinsdale in a corset so you win some you lose some.

Want action cheese but more 80s? Demolition Man is fun. The original Judge Dredd is also better than it has any right to be. The NEW Dredd is genuinely a good and cool movie.

Want to watch a shitpost? Romancing the Stone and the sequel, Jewel of the Nile. Very fun to watch with friends because of how batshit insane they are.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE. I can't believe the post got this long before I thought of it. It's a great story about a female assassin and a polycule of librarians with guns. Sometimes a family is a little girl, the woman who shot her dad, and 4 gay aunts that love books guns and each other. Great music, too.

For turn your brain off but cute, charming, and low stakes/drama, Kiki's Delivery Service is one of my favorite Ghibli movies. It's about equal to Totoro with how gentle the world and story are. Also has some anti-capitalist vibes and a lesbian artist who lives in the woods. Plus it's about a witch, and who's not a sucker for decent witch movies?

Person of Interest is a really interesting show if you haven't seen it. It's about a national security algorithm that gains sentience and a small team of independent ex-spec ops agents use it to save people because its creator refused to let the government have access to it.

Do you want to absolutely lose your goddamn mind wondering how something ever got made? Try watching Zardoz. Holy fucking shit I've never been more confused.

Do you want that feeling but good instead of bad? Kung Fury.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the best film in the series THERE I SAID IT. It does every single thing the series NEEDED it to do to be good and relevant and fresh for a modern audience. The series has been stagnating for a long time and Dark Fate is EXACTLY the direction the Terminator franchise needed to go.

#eldritch recs #eldritch movies

[imakemywings]

Hi! I saw and liked your analysis of Ambessa & Mel and that you implied in your tags that you don't like bashing either about it - which gives me hope, because I wanted to ask what you think about Flemeth from the Dragon Age series? I think she has many parallels with Ambessa and enjoy her character as well... (I know there are many people with very strong - negative! - opinions about Flemeth because of Morrigan, hence the "gives me hope" part)

Hi Anon, I'm glad you liked it! Arcane has been on my mind again and I've always found Mel and Ambessa fascinating characters with a disappointing lack of analysis in the fandom at large. Unfortunately, there is a lot of hate for both characters, especially Mel, which I think is unwarranted--but that's another discussion.

Flemeth is a great question. I'm going to say I haven't given Morrigan and Flemeth's relationship nearly as much thought as I have Ambessa and Mel's, but I know there are fans out there who have. I'm going to put this in her tag to see if someone else is looking for the chance to give some analysis on Flemeth!

I will say I think Ambessa and Mel's relationship is actually more clear-cut than Morrigan and Flemeth. Dragon Age sort of goes back and forth on the details and the nature of their relationship. Origins seems to make a very clear, obvious case that whatever affection Flemeth might have for Morrigan, she did intend to eventually steal Morrigan's body for her own use. We're also given plenty of fodder for the notion that Flemeth was not a particularly maternal parent and believed that approaching Morrigan's upbringing with harsh realism would keep Morrigan safe later by teaching her not to be too trusting or naive. While Morrigan expresses agreement with this tactic--and strongly disapproves whenever she believes the Warden is coddling someone--she also suggests there were moments that Flemeth's lack of sympathy wounded her in ways that stick with her as an adult and at times seems not to understand her mother as a person.

However, in II, Flemeth appears again as a (chaotic) force of good for the Hawke family and has some kind words for Merrill on Sundermount. Here, she seems eminently reasonable and is a part of the Hawke mythology. Then in Inquisition, Flemeth will tell Morrigan when confronted that Morrigan was never in any danger, and that Flemeth would never have taken her body without permission.

I've seen some fans argue this was simply retconning of Flemeth as a straightforward villain, but putting the Doylist analysis aside, what does this mean within the realm of what we're given as canon? It means, for now, we're left choosing who we think is more believable: Morrigan or Flemeth. Most fans will be inclined to believe Morrigan, simply because we're given a lot more chance to understand and befriend or even romance Morrigan, which is apt to put us squarely in her camp and believe her original analysis of the danger presented by Flemeth was correct.

However, assuming for a moment that Morrigan perhaps overestimated or misunderstood the danger posed by Flemeth, what else can we believably see? If Flemeth does house the remnants or soul of the elven god Mythal (who, from what we're told, appears to be one of the more sympathetic of the Evanuris, the only one whom Solas speaks of with any regard), it would be easy to see why she might not understand Morrigan's fear or connect with Morrigan's feelings about anything. If we're talking about an ancient, immortal god soul, who has lived largely in isolation for at least a generation (Morrigan repeatedly notes how isolated her childhood was, that it was mostly just her and Flemeth the whole time), there's every reason to believe she is virtually incapable of understanding things from Morrigan's perspective--not out of malice, but because Morrigan's mortal life is simply too removed from Flemythal's experience in the world (Possibly comparable to how the citizens of Thedas did not even seem like people to Solas initially.)

It's also possible that whatever danger Flemeth did or does pose, Morrigan misunderstood it by virtue of being unaware that Flemeth houses Mythal's soul--it may indeed be the case that Flemeth is dangerous, but on a totally different scale/in a very different manner than Morrigan thought when she believed her mother was just a witch (Morrigan is shocked to learn about the Mythal connection).

I should probably also address Morrigan's own parenting. In an Inquisition game where Morrigan arrives with Kieran, we get a glimpse at what Morrigan believes is good parenting. While I would not go so far as to say Morrigan is an indulgent parent, she also appears to have softened a great deal from her Origins attitudes. Kieran clearly trusts her and Morrigan appears reasonably affectionate with him. She is extremely protective of him in the Fade. Are these things a sign that she's rejected Flemeth's parenting tactics as too harsh to use on her own child? Arguably. One of the things she says to Flemeth in Inquisition is a rather damning "I will not be the mother you were to me." This is a pretty harsh condemnation of her own upbringing.

But you could parse it with the same analysis used on Ambessa and Mel: How much of what Morrigan and Mel say is truth, and how much is their lashing out with hurt feelings because they misunderstood their mothers' motives? The difference with Morrigan and Flemeth, I would argue, is that Morrigan starts out agreeing with Flemeth--it isn't until later, after Flemeth's (perceived?) betrayal, after Morrigan becomes a parent herself, that she changes her view and decides Flemeth was too harsh with her. Mel appears to have always had friction with her mother stemming from their diametrically opposed philosophies until it culminated in her being sent away, a move she freely admits hurt her deeply, and continues to hurt her.

All of this makes Flemeth a difficult character to analyze, imo. Your analysis of her is likely to be strongly predicated on whether you find her more believable than Morrigan or not. Personally, I'm inclined to believe Morrigan was not totally wrong that Flemeth is dangerous. I would also venture to say Flemeth--at least as she appears in Origins--comes across more selfish than Ambessa, who at least nominally acts to protect her family (even if you believe her methods are misguided). Ambessa, at the crux of her confrontation with Mel in E9, recognizes that Mel was hurt by her actions and offers to bring her home (on a condition...) Flemeth, by contrast, seems more dismissive of Morrigan's fear and hurt. Even if Morrigan is totally wrong, clearly she believes and has believed for years that Flemeth intended her real harm--enough that she made an effort to convince the Warden her mother had to die to keep her safe--but Flemeth does not appear to have much sympathy for any of this (Which again--she may not really be capable of, being Flemythal. To her, these things may all feel so trivial that it escapes her how upsetting it's been for Morrigan.)

So what would Flemeth's motivations be for lying to Morrigan in Inquisition? I would guess three main options:

a) She wants to preserve some remnant of Morrigan's trust for later use (For what? Why? Just as a precaution--don't burn a bridge if you don't have to?)

b) She was actually telling the truth.

c) Whether or not she was telling the truth, she has some attachment to Morrigan's affection and therefore wanted Morrigan to believe the best about her (that she never meant to hurt Morrigan).

It could be a combination of factors. Given her last scene with Solas in Inquisition, I sincerely doubt we've seen the last of Flemeth in this series, and Dread Wolf might force the Dragon Age team to finally pick a lane on whether Flemeth is a villain or not (and to what degree).

Anyone else who has devoted time and thought to pondering Flemeth and her motivations--please feel free to share your thoughts!

#flemeth #anonymous #if you have existing Flemeth meta feel free to share a link to the post! #meta #mine

[fuckyeah-hetalia]

Howdy!

About this blog:

This is basically a one-stop shop of all things Hetalia! I'm keeping my queue stocked with art, edits, fics, etc, and if you have stuff you'd like to promo --it can be your own creations or someone elses!-- go ahead and submit it ☺️ Or if you want to do it anonymously, tell me who or what you want to shout out in my inbox!

All ships are welcome, and gen fics are too! I will do my best to tag for things, so if you are submitting a story from like Wattpad or FFN, please add tags to help people avoid it if there's something in it they blacklist.

That said, things do slip through, and I am running this blog by myself. I will not be able to read every fic that is submitted or even all I reblog or post the link for, so if there's something in it you need tagged, let me know but don't be mean. We're all here to enjoy the country gijinka, after all.

For fic submissions, I only have a few rules:

Give appropriate warnings.

Add the fic's status! Meaning if it's complete or incomplete. If it's incomplete, please note the date it was last updated, and if the author has stated somewhere they abandoned the fic, mark it as abandoned, please. 🙏

While you can submit classics ("Gutters" or George deValier fics for example), I'd like to focus on works by fans currently creating. Still feel free to submit your favorite LJ kinkmemes and fic that was abandoned or orphaned years ago, but we keep fandoms alive by helping new creators 💞

If the fic is n//sfw, please use the "spicy" tag, since I think "n//sfw" keeps posts from showing up in searches.

General rules:

I, the Admin, am a human being. I may get tags wrong, and I have a life outside this blog. So if I need to be corrected, please be kind and also patient. I may not check this blog every day, so if you send me a message or ask, I may not see it right away.

Related: I do not have the time or energy to do background checks on every creator. If I reblog someone who is bigoted, let me know but with proof. If you want me to believe Goody Proctor danced with the Devil, you need to show me evidence.

Also related: This is not my personal blog. I will not be answering any personal questions, even who my favorite characters or ships are. That's what my main is for. This blog is only for sharing other people's work.

No ship or character bashing. There's a huge list of characters and even more ships. Make use of your tag/content filter and the block button if you can't stand seeing something.

No bashing others' interpretations on characters either. Someone portrays your blorbo in a way you don't like? Block them and filter their URL.

These are fictional characters from a comedy skit-type web series/manga/anime. I will not answer questions or take submissions relating to current events.

Lists may expand as time goes on, but mostly I just want this to be a place we all have fun 💞💞

#about #byf #admin notes

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

your post got me thinking about how i used to like boyles stuff, but when i started watching mock the week i heard him do a bit where he said something along the lines of "back in my day political correctness was called "sp*zzy gay talk"" which really made me sour on him (idk how it is in canada but in the uk sp*z is a straight up slur towards disabled people) and move away from watching his stuff. and on the one hand i get it, this was in like 2006ish so every third joke is questionable at best, but on the other that was the most blatantly offensive one i'd heard so far, and i actually i haven't seen much of mock the week from between 2007s series to 2015s series because i specifically wanted to avoid any more surprise slurs and offensive "jokes". i know its not fair to judge someone by what they said fifteen years ago and i am glad to hear he seems to have changed, but its still unfortunately the first thing i think of when i see his name.

Thanks for this, I always appreciate getting messages from people who have other things to say about stuff I’ve written on here. For anyone who’s reading this and is confused, this message is referring to this post, though at the time this message came in I hadn’t written the update yet.

I think I remember the exact Mock the Week moment you’re talking about, and I understand why your or anyone would not want to watch that. That particular S word isn’t “as bad” where I’m from, but it’s still a word I’d never use. And not just because it’s worse elsewhere. I learned at some point last year, while watching some British show or other, that in Britain that word is an outright slur, while in North America it’s just a generally derogatory word. But even before last year, I did not use that word. Because I don’t want to use slurs or generally derogatory words for marginalized groups that I’m not a part of, and generally think that’s a good rule to have. I spent 2006 figuring out I was (mostly) gay while hearing kids at school use “gay” as an insult, pretty much exactly the way Frankie Boyle used it in the moment you’ve mentioned, and that made it harder for me to accept myself and come out. I definitely do not want to defend Frankie Boyle’s use of those words in that way.

Honestly, I’m thinking of explanations for why I think it’s okay for me to still like Frankie Boyle in the light of all that, and I’m fighting a strong instinct to write a lot of words about those explanations, because they don’t really seem appropriate in the context of the quote you mentioned in that message. I don’t want to defend that one, and I don’t even want to talk about “nuance” or whatever in a way that might make it sound like I’m defending it. That specific comment is indefensible, and my only explanation for why I don’t hold it against Frankie Boyle forever is that I don’t think he’d stand by it today either.

I’ve written about my thoughts on this subject, the subject of how I love vulgar comedy but do not like comedy that hurts people who don't deserve it and how I reconcile those two things, in a few previous posts, and I'm sure I'll write about them in some future ones. But I’m going to resist getting further into them on this post, because any thoughts I have about how context makes certain things okay do not apply to that comment you’ve quoted. That one’s just clearly not okay, a lot of the stuff Frankie Boyle has said is clearly not okay, and I hate the way people can use overcomplicated ideas to defend stuff that is just clearly not okay.

Anyway, it’s absolutely fair enough if the association with that comment puts you off enjoying anything else that involves Frankie Boyle. There are so many amazing comedians out there who don’t have that kind of history, including many comedians who are members of the vulnerable groups that have been hurt by the language he casually used. I hope you can enjoy those other comedians and I’m sorry for all the not okay things out there.

[coldgoldlazarus]

🔥 any touhou or just touhou in general

I couldn't really think of anything better off the top of my head, and I don't know that this is really even a hot take anymore? But like, saying this as someone who does appreciate EoSD for what it did, I do feel it does (or at least used to) get a bit more credit than it deserves?

This may be personal bias talking, but it does annoy me when people treat EoSD as the first game in the series and either dismiss or just don't bother to learn about the PC-98 games. (and this may also be influenced by a similar frustration over Bronies treating older generations of MLP the same way, writing off G1 and G3 because of G3.5's issues) I will admit that it's on some level understandable given PC-98's relative inaccessibility, ambiguous-at-best canonical status, and ZUN's apparent reluctance to aknowledge them, but it still feels really reductive to me. That's also something that seems to have improved in recent years at least, but it's still an attitude I run into from time to time that just bothers me.

On the flipside, while EoSD was what kicked off the windows version of Touhou and everything great that came of it, I personally kinda feel like PCB did more to refine the series and make it work in the long run, both gameplay-wise and narratively. EoSD is a great little self-contained adventure, but PCB brought in Yukari and everything she represents, which I feel like in turn paved the way for the stuff I like about the more recent game's storytelling. (I like that Touhou has maintained this nice balance of deep-yet-ambiguous mythos, with a still fairly chill episodic structure, not leaning too hard in either direction for the most part. LoLK seems to be the big exception, but even then it's still an exception)

I'll also say I used to be a lot harsher on EoSD than I am nowadays; it felt when I was first getting into Touhou like I couldn't escape the Scarlet Devil Mansion crew, and what I was seeing a lot of at the time was their flanderized fanon characterizations, so I was... Not the most fond of them for a while. Since then, it's felt like people have come to appreciate the casts of later games as well, (heck if anything, now I'm the one not in the loop about the newer groups, something about another tengu, and a mining centipede lady?) and I've been seeing more content of the SDM crew that isn't just reducing them to one-note jokes or forced character archetypes (Flandere is not a yandere!) so I've been able to enjoy them a lot more now.

So, yeah, that's my Touhou "hot take"; EoSD is overrated, except by this point it is in fact just rated the correct amount, so I don't have a lot to say here.

...

Watch me, in two or three months from now, suddenly remember or come up with an actual scorching hot take and have to revisit this, lol

#not a reblog #asks #touhou

[xxxregulusblackxxx]

I'm gonna add to the whole people complaining about Sirius being to remember in fandom.

If you look up his description on google (I'm copy and pasteing this)

"Sirius is described as a tall man with long, black hair and grey eyes. Several times during the series, Sirius is stated to be very good-looking and "carelessly handsome" prior to his imprisonment; Harry also noted that as a teenager, Sirius always had a slightly spoiled, haughty look on his face."

So if we're going off canon he's tall, in my opinion tall is like 5'8 to any hight above that and in fanart most people don't give you there hights you just see a hight different so that arguments is out of the way.

Long black hair, LONG his hair is canonically long both before prison and after. Again that arguments stupid.

Grey eyes. Cool we know his eye color.

He's bitchy. Most people draw or write him like that

So I'm conclusion everyone is drawing him correct for themselves with the most important details for them. Now I personally love Gender fluid Sirius as someone who's going through a gender identity crisis having a character that I've LOVED since I was like 9 be gender fluid in fic or more fem presenting I'm fan art is wonderful. But even if he's purely a man, and still fem looking that's absolutely wonderful and perfect. He can be fem and still a biker still a rebel. Just because sometimes he wears makeup doesn't make him any less of himself. It doesn't change the Sirius Black we all know and love.

Either way all those canon arguments are stupid because most of us, including myself hate absolutely hate JK Rowling.

Moving onto Remus. He's in my opinion lanky tall and skinny, he has bad knees and they were Grampa sweaters and love chocolate. They have freckles and scars and just because he may be more masc presenting doesn't change a goddamned thing. Just because he's masc doesn't mean he's "the man" or "the top" either way that doesn't mean Sirius is either of those. They're in a relationship in my opinion and I enjoy reading about them. There also shouldn't be easily identifiable "top" characters. In fics when i see that I get really annoyed because that's just not how queer relationships work. I'd know I'm part of the community in sexuality at the very least. I'm not telling y'all my sexuality because I don't want to have to explain it and explain the differences between it and what other people think it is. Which is exactly what I'm doing for wolfstar.

Also! If you're a straight women who only reads gay fics, in my opinion you're fetishising gay men and the LGBTQ community as a whole. I understand saying that is describing over half the marauders and Harry Potter fandom and I may get hate for it, but as a queer person it's my opinion and what most of y'all do to Wolfstar and any gay Ships in general.

Also

Hair length

If you wear makeup

You're body type

What you wear in clothing

NONE OF THAT DECIDES YOU'RE SEXUALITY

Which is what a lot of y'all are doing to Sirius. Just because some people draw him with makeup and having more feminine features dose not make him, "the bottom" or trans or gay. You could if you wanted to have a completely fem Sirius and a straight women get together in a fic, and it'd be okay. Because none of that decides his anything. Also he's a fictional character, I'm upset with all of this because if you're attacking artist and Sirius I'm general for being to feminine you're going to start attacking real people.

Anyways I went all over the place in that but it's my opinion and you don't have to read this or like it or anything. You can just scroll and ignore me

#sirius black #remus lupin #lgbtqia #rant

[adler-obsessed]

Hi! I'm new in the fandom and wanted to ask why everyone seems to be hating Derek Landy? Yes the books are pretty brutal and he's low-key sadistic with the characters, but aren't most book authors? I just finished book 6 and I'm really enjoying them so far. I'm just curious and don't wanna offend anyone.

oh boy buckle up - I just want to first of all say welcome to the fandom!!! Although it may seem a bit negative sometimes, it’s mainly because we love the series and characters so much!

There’s a lot of people who know more about + have details on Landy’s problematic statements/actions so guys/fandom if you could add that onto this post, I’d appreciate it.

A short summary:

problematic representation in books

the disaster of Phase 2

attacking fans (bonus: his gf attacking fans)

problematic relationships with young fans

But I’ve been meaning to do an analysis of why Landy’s representation of queer people and the LGBTQ+ Community has been problematic for a while and I have examples so buckle up everyone:

So, as a brief introduction, there’s several reasons why people aren’t the biggest fan of Landy - one you won’t be aware of for awhile is Phase 2, which starts after Book 9

Phase 2, I think I can say confidently, has not been as well received as Phase 1. Lots of the characters we liked in Phase 1 don’t appear or have lost all their character development from Phase 1. There are so many side plots that are very confusing and most people aren’t particularly interested in them so large parts of each book are quite boring for most of the fandom.

But onto my main argument (edit: in a reblog below, Faceless has linked many of the examples I discuss if you are interested)

Landy has had quite a bumpy ride when it comes to representation: in the Demon Road series (outside of SP) there was a very problematic portrayal of a wlw relationship. He claimed that everyone is eventually bisexual, and then there is a wider issue of representation in the actual Skulduggery books.

Firstly, those characters that are in the LGBTQ+ community tend to have that aspect of their life continuously pointed out/or mentioned (like Landy is trying to show how ‘diverse’ he is) but then have very little character development/or mention of anything other than that.

There is a supposedly major wlw ship in Phase 2, but it is so underdeveloped it feels more like a main character and her cheerleader. In the last book we finally got some development only for them to then break up (although I somewhat liked the realistic reasons behind it, it did disappoint me)

Linking from this, there is a general difference in how Landy treats non-canon queer ships versus straight ones

When asked about the possibility of a non-canon straight ship, he said he didn’t like to dismiss the fan’s ships. In comparison when a fan asked about mlm ship, he immediately said no to it (keep in mind there was no dubious relationship between these two in the books, they are super close so it made no sense for him to completely refuse it)

Landy also likes to point out his queer characters like China and Tanith, who are both canonly bisexual/pansexual (he confirmed to a fan that China and Eliza were a thing) and yet, whenever the two are romantically involved with someone, it’s a man.

Now, before I get people attacking me saying they are still bisexual even though they’re in straight passing relationships, I AM bisexual, I hate it when people invalidate my sexuality just because I am in a relationship w a guy or girl.

But eVERYTIME, these two end up with a guy, and the only time Landy has confirmed they aren’t straight are either in blink and you’ll miss it moments or outside of the books (sort of like Rowling claiming characters were gay on Twitter, and yet these characters were never seen expressing these identities in the books or in later media)

So why is this representation problematic? Because writers like Landy seem to think they’ve actually done a good job - stating once that a character identifies/or has a certain sexual orientation, and then never elaborating on it again, as if that somehow wins him brownie points.

I’m not going to talk to much about Never - for context this is a gender fluid character in Phase Two - because I myself am not gender fluid, so I would not want to speak for that side of the community incorrectly. In my personal opinion, having several genderfluid friends, Never’s characterisation is bloody weird.

For context, in the books, Landy changes the pronouns that Never uses and others use to address him/her practically every sentence. At times it feels less like a portrayal of a genderfluid character, and more like a mockery (one of my aforementioned genderfluid friends stopped reading the series at this point because they found it too close to the mocking insults their grandparents would use e.g. changing pronouns every sentence as if making out that their gender identity was some absurd thing)

Again, rest of the fandom feel free to interject in here, there are definitely people more qualified to speak on this than me.

I also want to talk a little bit about the problematic way Derek handles female members of the LGBTQ+ community in comparison to the male ones. I’ve mentioned above a bit of the problems with China/Tanith but I want to go a bit further into the issue with the male ones: namely, there are barely any.

While the three main female characters are all canonly bisexual, none of the major male ones are (if I’m wrong, please correct me!) and the only one who could possibly be considered major is Anton Shudder and his boyfriend who are confirmed to have been in a relationship, oh wait, when they are both dead. Apart from that, there is not one major male member of the LGBTQ+ community in these books that Landy claims are so diverse.

I think it is also slightly worrying that so many of Landy’s female characters are bisexual, characters who Landy also constantly describes as pretty/gorgeous/attractive etc. because it just feels like that typical thing of men fetishising wlw women (particularly bisexual women) hence why I also think the fact that two of these women never have a relationship with another wlw in the actual books is very problematic, as these sexual orientations feel more for show than actual canon most of the time.

There is a very big problem with the way Landy goes about queer representation in his books, and the worse part? He thinks he’s doing great.

#skulduggery pleasant #Derek Landy critical #apologies for the mammoth essay but I had feelings

[noizplayssomestuff]

if you're still doing the ask game- can you answer D 1 thru 6?

Heya!

Sorry I the answer is probably late, I kinda didn't have the time to check tumblr the last couple days y.y But yes sure I'm always up for ask games!

Once again it got way too long despite me already cutting myself off at the end, so I'll put my answers under the cut 😅

D1 most overrated character

I kind of don't understand ppl liking Ryuji or Shimano. But that's just me not liking them and basically screaming at my screen when they're on. Everyone is obvs entitled to their own faves, I just don't personally get it, but I don't have to tbh (sidenote I also still have to play dead souls and apparently there is some premium Ryuiji content in that one so my mind remains open)

D2 Most underrated character

Huh. I think people enjoy most characters I appreciate as well and I don't really get the "Why is nobody talking about x" so far. Guess I am pretty lucky ✌

Howeverrrrrr I would like even more love/fanwork on the girls of the series. They were usually done short or dirty (you know who I'm talking about) and I would appreciate more thoughts around them. When I got more time again I want to do some stuff of that sort as well (writing, drawing whatnot, but that's after my BA *sobs*)

D3 Most overpowered character

For the games I played thus far? Akiyama or Y0 Majima. They both become power houses that I kinda mow down everyone with. That might also just be due to me really vibing with their fighting styles though lmao

D4 Which character should never have existed?

Y3's Kanda. Hate the guy. Cannot stand him, any time he was on screen I wished they had done anything other than THAT as an antagonist. Ew.

D5 I feel like I answered this? Correct me if I didn't lmao

D6 Was Kiryu a good father to Haruka and Daigo?

Within the context of the games? Sure, yeah. He didn't go into this voluntarily with either of them, but sort made the best of the situations (including his own emotional and/or upbringing short comings). I think Kiryu as a person can be a good dad in general (as seen with the kids later). However, his relationship with Daigo was kinda neither here nor there to me, since it did definitely not start as a parental situation and even later I would personally argue that he is more of a mentor and rolemodel, but that's just my reading of their relationship. Due to that the transition from handling Daigo as someone he had to more or less babysit to later seeing him as both an adult but still that same young man he somewhat helped raise was kind of. ...rough. Buuuut exactly them working it out and Kiryu approaching things with an empathetic understanding, as well as though love I think made him grow as a person as well. But I digress....

#rgg #ask game #noiz talks #answers

[kakiwrites]

love from another world

Genre: fluff

A tetsuro kuroo x reader

Synopsis: A time where elves, fairies, dragons, and other wonderful creatures live in harmony, how would you choose to live? On a pirate ship? Making potions? Who do you stumble upon along the journey? A soldier, a poet, a king? Well, that’s for you to decide.

 (masterlist is under navigation!)

 a/n: I loved this request so damn much~ hope I made you guys smile with this! I love to see all the wonderful and creative requests in my inbox so please don't be shy to leave some more! Without further ado, let's get started!

@isentsworld i kind of changed your request! Hope you enjoy either way 💖

 You didn't know how you got there.

 One moment, you were in your room, falling asleep to some soft lofi music then the next you were waking up in some sort of candle-lit room with a couple of maidens looking over you worriedly.

 "We found you freezing outside dear. The knights had to bring you in. you even garnered the queen's attention." one of the maidens said, watching over you in worry in her eyes. You sat up and look at them, confused. You were pretty sure you fell asleep in your room so why are you here in this strange hall.

 Just then, the door burst open to reveal the queen in a simple yellow colored dress, beside her was a literal raven-haired knight in shining armor, the chinks, and plates reflecting the yellow color of the light. His hair was messy and all over the place. How could he put his helmet on?

 The queen rushed over to the bed to see your state. "it is her, the one the witches warned me about." the queen muttered, mostly to herself. "I have to tell her that her prediction was correct." the queen said excitedly, turning her back quickly, striding along the halls. The knight, who was just as confused as you are, following the queen before getting stopped.

 "w-wait, what am I supposed to do?"

"look after her kuroo, explain what happened!"

 That was the only thing the queen said before walking away to go see the witch she mentioned. The maids scrambled out of the room as soon as the knight, kuroo, said so. He awkwardly sat in a chair in the corner and ruffled his hair in thought. You cleared his throat to get his attention.

 "hm? What is it my lady?" he said, looking at you. He slapped his hand over his mouth and looked away. He didn't mean to say that. You could see his cheeks were dusting a light pink.

 You giggled, standing up and walking over to inspect the man. He seemed experienced, with small and big scars littering his skin. You could tell he's been in many battles. Kuroo looked back and jumped. He wasn't expecting you to be that close.

 "oh my- please don't startle me like that, miss…" he asked, bowing down in front of you. You shook your head panicking. You weren't royalty, why was he bowing down to you?

 "it's (y/n). Now, will you please stand up mister," you said, trying to push the man up. He finally stood straight to look into your (e/c) irises to see the panic and the confusion spinning within them.

 It hypnotized him.

 Were you some kind of witch or siren? He felt like he lost all common sense. He felt like he was floating and the only thing he could see was you.

 What kind of spell is this.

 "…mister kuroo?" he heard you say, snapping him out of his racing thoughts. He looked at you like you were a star that just fell out of the sky. But you weren't a star.

 "sorry miss (y/n). What was that? I didn't really hear you." he excused himself. This was too formal for your taste. You weren't used to someone addressing you as a miss.

 "Please, call me just (y/n). No 'miss' or any formalities. I'm a normal human and nothing else. You shouldn't address me so formally." you said, shaking your head in the process.

 The knight slowly nodded his head, looking down at his boots before gazing back towards you. He still had that same gaze. What did he want from you? "okay then… mi- I-I mean, (y/n). C-call me kuroo then." he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. You sat down on the edge of the bed, patting the free space next to you. Kuroo got the hint and sat down.

 "Are you a witch of some kind?" he asked. You stared at him in shock. He couldn't be serious. He might be setting you up for a cheeky pick-up line when you remembered, this might be a land filled with magic and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if you were. He was being serious with his question.

 "no, I'm not even from here…"

 "from here?"

 "like from here. I'm from another world."

 "oh…" he said, pausing to think for a moment before finally speaking up once more. "tell me about it then."

 "what?"

 "Tell me about your world and I'll tell you about mine."

 You smiled at him, giving in to his curiosity. You moved further up the bed and made yourself comfortable.

 "well then kuroo, what would you like to know?"

  Hours felt like minutes as you talked to this knight about everything In your world. How TVs and phones worked, how you could communicate and talk to someone on it with ease. Kuroo, on the other hand, explained that there were protection crystals and teleportation ones too.

 A knock from the door drew you out of your trance. The door opened to reveal a girl with a witch hat and a small pouch in her hand, just behind her was the queen.

 "see, the one you predicted is here." the queen said as she excitedly entered the room and clapped her hands. The witch nodded and smiled at the queen before approaching you slowly and cautiously. You looked back at kuroo for help only for him to be pulled back by the queen, looking at you with the same confusion.

 "my dear, it seems like something happened between our world and yours. And I'm here to fix it. I can get you back to your world and-"

 "wait." you cut the witch off quickly, jumping out of bed and rushing towards kuroo's side, much to the surprise of everyone. You wrapped his arm around his tightly and he did the same, pulling you closer.

 "can I stay here for a while? I want to see the things kuroo told me about," you asked, looking pleadingly at the queen and the witch.

 "only if kuroo accompanies you, deary." the witch said with a smile, standing up and watching the scene unfold as the knight looked at the queen who nodded her head once in approval then pulling you into a side hug with a small smirk.

 "I would love to accompany our guest~"

  And that's it! I personally found this really challenging and my head was kind of out of it since I had a lot of school work  to finish so I was glad that it still ended on a good note! Requests are open so please don't be shy to leave an inbox! I love you guys 💖❤️💕

General taglist (don’t be shy to comment your tumblr @ below): @tokyoghoose @macaronnv @kuro0luvr @reogou @lnarizakis @himichii @midnightangelfox

series taglist  (don’t be shy to comment your tumblr @ below!): @astrxrism ​ @kurookinnie @isentsworld @inkumistuki

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #kuroo x reader #tetsuro kuroo x reader #soldier poet king

[brittie-frog]

Haunting of Bly Manor

Right.

I love horror and after spending sometimes days watching video essays on gay history, specifically in (horror) movies and film, I now kinda understand why so with the Haunting series and its gay rep and them not being the villain of the story, I loved it.

(Quick note I have only rewatched the show twice and can only take from my own experience of media)

My phone also knows me so will suggest news stories on things I've recently watched or current murder cases. So it suggested me this story today:

I went in open minded knowing that some people were angry about the ending falling into the 'kill the gays' trope (which I will come back to).

At first it was fine, talking about the ghost story/love story comment and how it relates to the show and has good analysis that I agree with. Then it goes on to basically summarise the show.

It keeps mentioning that all the gay subtext is implied:

why Dani broke up with her fiance

why Jaimie is reluctant to be vulnerable with Dani (before the monologue)

And that there needs to be a “lot of filling in between the lines” to understand their romance despite their practically constant flirting (Jaimie's 'Poppins' for Dani is the cutest nickname) and multiple kissing scenes. However, I digress, it can be sometimes hard to understand certain attitudes to each other at the beginning.

It also states that its like they want on the pat on the back for "making them queer, without making anything about them very queer". I don't know what this means, but I took two interpretations:

That not all queer people need to stereotypically look queer to be and that is a step forward for gay rep (I prefer)

That the creator wants to be celebrated for making gay rep without truely showing their queerness (which I think is pretty false)

Then it talks about the fireside chat and Jaimie's backstory, describing the monologue as "shoehorned" into the scene and "devoid of any mention of her sexuality". This is where the first part of my 10 minute research for context comes in. This is set in 1987 in a small town in England with an American. In charge of England at the time was the famously homophobic Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that implemented Clause 28. No one in this setting and right mind - especially after being ridiculed for most of her life - would come out to any one, flirting or not, that they have known for at most a month or two. Also, this entire scene resolves around Jaimie's attitudes towards people, and why she's reluctant to get close to people, favouring taking care of her flowers over interacting with others.

Then it talks about Owen and Mrs. Grose having "more meaningful screen time and backstories that continue throughout multiple episodes".

First Hannah. We basically get Hannah's entire backstory in episode 5: how she met Owen, scenes of her working at the Manor (in non-chronological order) and how she died in the first episode. Then that continued into the final episode when she finally comes to terms with her death and her love for Owen to save everyone. We don't actually get much backstory in the way of her childhood or even how she met the family (from what I remember, correct me if I'm wrong).

Now Owen. His backstory is that he grew up in Bly, left to go to France and became a Sous Chef, only coming back because his mum got diagnosed with dementia and he needed to take care of her despite her constantly mistaking him for other people. That is also only explored through Hannah's memories of the interview and the bonfire-side chat.

Those are both sad backstories but you can't call them any more or less meaningful than Jaimie's of in depth about how her and her family were ridiculed and bullied throughout her life and even spent time in juvie. They all have points mentioned in their stories that I would love more indepth on: how Hannah met the family/met Sam, either Owen's childhood in Bly or his time in France and why Jaimie spent time in juvie. But I also realise this is a short series that has to make fleshed out characters and tell an entire story in 8 episodes.

The article then talks about how even the ghosts got an entire episode to themselves when they barely show up. If you look in the background of the majority of scenes you'll see them and personally I really enjoy getting their stories of how they died. However, that episode is about more than just finding out about the ghosts and Viola's life, it’s mainly about what led to her being the first ghost and causing other dead people to stay as ghosts and the origin of those specific words that give a ghost access to an alive person’s body, to help explain the majority of the show. If I showed my friend this show and removed that episode I would have more questions asked than when my mum finished it.

Now I don’t know what to say. I agree there is no law on art so it can be anything and I usually think that the haunting series are in a slightly different universe (it’s how sleep at night knowing that someone can’t be so stubborn they become a murdering ghost) but also yes, trans-roles should be given to trans people more often. However they are actors and their job is to play some they aren’t for entertainment so for the most part I agree with Scarlett about being able to play anything. Also yes the self-congratulatory approach after playing an LGBT+ character when you’re cishet is kinda bad unless you have the full support of the community telling you it was a good portrayal and accurate representation. It won’t be enough for minorities if our representation, that people outside the communities are calling great, are just surface level characters that are just there for tokenism but you can’t compare Bly Manor characters to those types of characters. All of them have so much development and are well done that the majority of the community that has watched the show have no problem with and love their representation.

Personally I love both Theo Crain and Jaimie and Dani because they represent different things. Theo Crain is on a basic level. as a lothario, a stereotypical butch lesbian, constantly hooking up and struggles to actually open up and love people. Dani and Jaimie are soft, domestic cottage core lesbians in a flower shop AU. This is not a bad thing and just because they have a “tepid romance” doesn’t mean it’s a step back. Also more context time:

 As said before Thatcher was in charge and heavily homophobic, creating laws to stop people from teaching children about homosexuality since gay sex had been decriminalised recently

 It was the middle of the AIDs epidemic. Dani was coming from a country that was doing nothing about the deaths of thousands and going to a country where hysteria about AIDs was rampant but they were doing more, like the ‘AIDs: don’t die of ignorance’ information leaflet despite it not being as huge with 46 deaths by 1984. (That assumes that the AIDs epidemic happened in this universe)

Dani clearly had some form of internalized homophobia before even coming to England because she spent so long with her fiance hoping to feel the way she’s supposed to (I think the ghost of him is her guilt and internalized issues personified as it constantly appears when she’s trying to move forward.)

Also in the final episode it shows that is probably at least some homophobia in America as they kiss in the shop then look outside and go to the back so no one can see. (This could be interpreted as seeing if anyone is planning on coming in so they can escape without having to stop early for customers but Jaimie had already changed the sign to closed.)

Now onto the ‘kill the gays’ trope. Yes this is a huge trope that is so damaging to the community that we’re constantly the ones killed off for views or when their tokenism is no longer important, that is fucked up! However this doesn’t mean that we should give every gay character plot armour, cause that’s also unrealistic, just to please the select few that will call it out as a damaging trope. There is huge difference between say, The 100 killing Lexa and Bly Manor killing Dani as one has plot relevance and brings the story to a close while the other enraged an entire generation so much they started a brand new convention to celebrate queer relationships/characters in media. It’s also not like she was the only one to die, it’s horror after all, Hannah, Rebecca and Peter, the parents and all those ghosts died or were already dead.

Like many of the comments on the article - If all you got from this show was it falls into kill the gays, you have completely missed the entire point of the show.

#bly manor netflix #haunting of bly manor #dani and jamie #just my thoughts #ramblings #this is a product of my frustration

[myassbrokethefall]

I'm halfway through s2 of Sex Education. I decided to take a break cause while there are storylines and relationships I'm invested in, I have no patience for love triangles and the like atm. I remember you posting something about a disappointing twist for GA's character so I looked it up because idk when/if I'll pick up the show again and woah, I did not expect that AT ALL. I don't think it makes much sense and it does seem like an unfortunate trend for her characters [tbc]

[cont] (obviously the thing itself is not bad, and I'm sure the Sex Education writers will do it better than txf's - the bar is low in that regard anyway - but it still leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth)

Yeah. Honestly I would not NOT be on board with it necessarily, if it weren’t for the UNFORTUNATE context of the repetitive grimness of the Scully situation. And especially the last “shock” twist of MS4 and Gillian’s apparent unhappiness with it. And even all mixed in, for me at least, with the withholding of the script and all that bullshit. Just like some ugly gendered power dynamics shit. The tentacles of CC continue to reach outwards. Sigh. 

While I enjoyed S2 of Sex Ed a lot overall, I found the ending frustrating on many levels. I felt they either fizzled/dropped the ball on some of the storylines, or went with bummer twists that didn’t really feel earned to me. I also felt like they have not completely nailed down the tone that they want for the show, and it vacillated way too hard for me between “fun raunch” and “earnest PSA,” at the end especially. And very much that they did the sitcom thing of picking certain beats that would be the plot and kind of forcing those through, and just letting everything else that they set up nonsensically fall by the wayside. 

Most egregious example for me (Sex Education S2 spoilers ahead, obviously): Jean’s confidential notes getting spread all over school (BY THE HEADMASTER, which was straight-up ridiculous to me no matter how much a mustachioed villain they are making him), and this EXTREMELY egregious confidentiality breach of dozens of minor children’s sensitive personal health information making barely an impact beyond furthering the plot of the rivalry between Jean and the headmaster in the context of his wife leaving him. Like, this would have major MAJOR ramifications for everyone, the headmaster should like, go to jail for doing that, Jean should have been WAAAAAYYYYY more upset about what that does to her professional credibility and how it affected the lives of literally every one of her advisees at the school and how many of them maybe will never trust a therapist ever again...and yet it seems to barely register with her, or with anyone else. And is more set up like, haha what a big disaster oh noes! This crazy high school. And instead the big climactic conflict with Jean at the end is...she’s upset that Otis was doing the sex clinic at school. Which is also not good? I guess? But I feel would be like a tenth of the badness of her fucking patient notes getting stolen and her being made to look like an unprofessional, incompetent, unethical therapist? To a degree far far beyond “grr that mean headmaster, what a jerk”? But they wanted an ending conflict between Jean and Otis so they like, picked that one. Thematically it makes sense since that was the start of the whole series, but in a like, stuff happening to people way, I feel the correct scale for that issue would have been a mild “Otis, I know you were trying to help and I’m sure I have myself to blame for this in a lot of ways, but, it’s not ethical to do that and certainly not to make money from it.” Instead of this BREACH OF TRUST!!! I CAN NO LONGER SPEAK TO YOU stuff that it didn’t really warrant, to my mind. 

My other beef was that so much (rightly so) was made of Aimee’s trauma and how it affected her in lingering, unexpected ways, and that was heartwarming and lovely to see her friends and her boyfriend be understanding and supportive of her and help her work through it. ...And then, during the over-the-top sex musical (here I am agreeing with the mean headmaster that this was highly inappropriate for a high school...), literal dick puppets are being dangled unexpectedly next to people’s faces in the dark in the audience, and there was no concern that THIS might be traumatic to Aimee? Or like, anyone else who might be an assault survivor and might not enjoy being startled by dicks? This is what I mean by the tone being inconsistent. And I know life is not tonally consistent, and people don’t always react in ways that others or even they expect. But after going through that whole arc with Aimee I was kinda like “no concerns at all about this eh?”

Anyway. I really like the show a lot but I wondered if they were rushed writing the ending or something. I have more BEEFS with some of the storylines but those are some of the bigger ones. 

But yeah, the pregnancy thing, while it felt sort of like cheap shock drama that the show frankly should be too good for, was not at the top of my list of complaints. At least, I do have a great, and I think justified, hope that whatever they do with that plot, it will be done with more sensitivity, intelligence, nuance, and comprehensibility of how the female body works than on XF. 

(And in general, this is a continuing series, so any issues that I have with the storylines as “resolved,” they will still have plenty of chances to elaborate on in the next season.)

#my opinion only! #still a show i love #sex ed #sex education spoilers #sorry this is so ranty i've been holding it all in lol #Anonymous

[a-crimson-lion]

Further Discussion On Katsuki Bakugo

[Original Post Here]

@homez18

...I seem to have stumbled upon a rabbit hole which my hubris continues to lure me towards.

Because I genuinely want to have a discussion over your points (and I don't want to bog down my original post with too many reblogs), I'll move the discussions here.

[This isn't necessarily to flaunt my nonexistent superiority. I honestly think that you have a good argument going for Katsuki. I'm just seeing how my own analysis stacks on top of that. I'm no expert, but I'll give it my best shot. Also, spoilers for anyone else reading.]

Let's start with "I don't think Bakugo overestimates himself." This is an interesting point, which I believe does hold water. When I think about it, I realize that Katsuki actually suffers from a different problem, which I'll get back to later. As for "He's never shown to overestimate himself," that's... not entirely correct. As of late, I can think of at least TWO examples in the series where Katsuki could legitimately be overestimating himself. But first, let's address the basic issue.

9 times out of 10, Katsuki will UNDERESTIMATE his opponents.

This isn't without reason. Katsuki's strong, and he knows it. He's been strong since even before his quirk manifested, at least mentally. When his quirk kicked in, his strengths shifted to primarily physical, though he's still an intelligent person. However, even if he can gauge his own strength, he does an admittably horrible job of gauging others' strengths. Since he's been praised for nigh over a decade for having such a strong quirk, Katsuki's got the idea that he's among the best of the best. He might not be #1 yet, but he knows he's gonna get there eventually. The problem starts when he decides that everyone else is beneath him by default.

Don't tell me he doesn't underestimate others either when he tends to call everyone "extras" or just a crappy nickname (at least until he acknowledges them).

One instance where Katsuki distinctly underestimates his opponent is during the Battle Trial with Izuku. Granted, this is more of a hubris case than anything, considering Katsuki's absolute hatred for Izuku (that later does mellow out into begruding respect). The thing is, Katsuki knows Izuku has a quirk now. He knows his quirk is super strong (it beat his ball throw by 0.1 meters, after all) but there's still a part of Katsuki that believes Izuku is still a bug. He's still a worthless Deku, and to top it all off, Katsuki is convinced that Izuku hid his quirk from him since the start.

While his absurd self-centered persona is not the main focus, one must admit that Katsuki's hubris is a certain level of concerning.

So Izuku and Katsuki have a big showdown, and to Katsuki's surprise, Izuku pulls something else entirely. He manages to wreck the building above them, taking the explosion and allowing his team to pass. Katsuki thinks Izuku is looking down on him, but Izuku simply states that he wouldn't have used his quirk if he could have thought of someone else. And as Izuku collapses and the trial comes to a close, Katsuki is shaken by the fact that Izuku beat him. Worthless Deku beat Katsuki Bakugo, and he wonders if Izuku could beat him in other ways. Katsuki underestimated Izuku.

I've talked about Katsuki's obsession with strength previously, but the same idea applies here. If Katsuki wasn't so gun-ho on taking out the enemy (specifically Izuku) for the hell of it and actually tried to win the exercise, he might have been able to beat Izuku. But he's so caught up in his definitions of strength and victory that he ultimately falls flat, underestimating his opponent's capabilities to win, even indirectly. This dame idea comes back to bite Katsuki when Neito Monoma briefly takes possesion of Katsuki's headbands (granted, he does get them back later) because Katsuki didn't even bother paying attention to him, once again underestimating him.

Now, as I've stated before, Katsuki has overestimated himself at least twice. The first time was with All Might during the Final Exams. When All Might brings up his handicap weights, Katsuki has the gall to say that All Might's handicapping is "insulting." Katsuki knows that All Might is strong, he knows that All Might is the NUMBER ONE HERO, and suddenly handicapping himself is insulting? Granted, that's the same attitude he had against Shoto at the end of the Sports Festival, but just to put this scenario into perspective:

Katsuki is a 15 year old hero in training with a powerful quirk, a few months of experience, and versatile experience with his quirk among other strengths (including Battle Tactics).

All Might is an adult (age unknown) Pro Hero with a powerful quirk, years of experience, and, as a Young Katsuki once said: "No matter how bad things look, he always wins in the end!"

To put it simply, Katsuki is a Level 15 going against All Might, a Level 200 (whose handicap probably brings him down to Level 100).

Combined with Izuku (a Level 10 on his own), they might be a Level 30 (50 if I'm being generous) but All Might is still twice their skill combined, and Izuku and Katsuki's troublesome dynamic make it even more of a hinderance to fight against him. Katsuki even tries attacking All Might multiple times, even though he fails consistently each time, doing virtually nothing to change his strategy. It gets to the point where Katsuki gets straight up KO'd because he can't acknowledge that All Might truly is leagues ahead of him. Objectively, Katsuki knows that All Might is on another level, but subjectively? Shouldn't be too hard to beat him.

How would he have passed without Izuku again?

The second time Katsuki overestimates himself is actually fairly recent. Before Izuku and Katsuki head off to intern under Endeavor, they have a meeting with All Might. During that meeting, Katsuki remarks that he's be able to use all of One for All's quirks right then and there, whereas Izuku has only learned to *bloop* with his first new quirk.

Again, Katsuki is only focusing in the physical aspect of things, in this case OFA. We don't know exactly what All Might and Izuku told him about it, but I'd like to think they'd at least cover the basics of OFA's sentience. That, and the fact that since Katsuki is in on the All Might Tea Parties now, wouldn't he at least hear about Izuku's vision when he was undergoing the Black Whip episode? It's already been established that Katsuki has a strong quirk and is physically strong to an extent, but we've seen time and time again that his emotional strength needs some growing time. Plus, it has also been established that OFA gets a boost when it's motivated to save people. Katsuki has no such motives unless it benefits him. He's giving himself too much credit claiming he'd master OFA at that point.

Phew, that was long.

Otherwise, the rest of your argument is fair, homez18. Katsuki does fight to prove himself. He fights (and succeeds) to prove himself during the Entrance Exam. He fights to prove himself during the Quirk Apprehension Test (getting 3rd place and "losing" to Izuku in the ball toss, which pisses him off). He fights to prove himself in the Battle Trial (which is why he's so torn when Izuku wins). He fights to prove himself during all the events after that, like the Sports Festival or the Villain Attack at Camp. He does all that to prove himself.

The problem arises when he shuts out virtually everything else.

Yes, he should be mad at Shoto for not going all out at Katsuki during the Sports Festival, but he heard Shoto's backstory. He KNOWS Shoto hated his fire side, and saw how adamantly he refused to use it. He might not have heard what Izuku said to him in their fight, but Katsuki is so stubborn that he refuses to realize that people have issues beyond Katsuki. Not going all out against him is a personal slight. Being too weak is a personal slight. No one wins.

During the Villain Attack at Camp, Katsuki has every right to defend himself. But he's not defending himself. He's seeking out conflict because to him, fighting is the best part of being a hero. If he was truly defending himself, he'd have headed back to camp with Shoto, even begrudgingly so. Instead, he ignores Mandalay's warnings just because she brought up something about Izuku, and then narrowly avoids getting cut immediately afterwards, foreshadowing his poor choices.

TL;DR Katsuki tends to underestimate others more than he overestimates himself, and while he does fight with a warped sense of honor, it doesn't make his actions any more "noble."

Thanks for reading, homez18. I hope you enjoyed, and if you didn't? Well, that's on me I guess...

-Crimson Lion (24 September 2019)

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #katsuki bakugo #katsuki bakugou #anti bakugo #anti bakugou #just a little bit #character analysis #character discussion #drabble #meta #response #long post