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tocomplainfriend · 3 months

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VIV is constantly criticized by her own fault.

TW: Mention of: SA, Rape, Transphobia, fat phobia, Antiblackness.

(Hey, i'mma probably do a post eventually about episode 4. Btw, awfully shit, worse than I thought it could be... BIG TW OF R-PE AND SA IF YOU'RE GOING TO SEE IT. AND TW of the minimization of those topics too.)

(SORRY FOR BAD ENGLISH IN THIS POST TOO)

BUT I NEED TO CALL ATTENTION TO THIS! One of the reasons I criticize a lot of Viv specifically is because of how much she puts herself out there. She sees something she posts on Twitter about it a shit ton (even on "threads" lol). AND because of how lacking of improvement she has being. (I personally know people I have considered terrible when we were teens, but I have seen legit improvement from them in recent years. They seem like people who struggle, but got to grow up and made up for any problems (or pain caused to me or others). People have the ability to change and become better. Something that matters at pointing out issues or discussing-is the idea of creating change on others. It is better to get someone to change for the better than to cast them into the forever jail of nothingness (unless, IDK, they Sexually Assaulted someone, for example). Specially when they are young people. Doesn't mean YOU have to stick with other people that hurt you, no. Doesn't mean people get to do what ever and get away with it.

BUT All of this problem I have seen from Viv are from age 19-30. (you can change at anytime btw) And see constantly repeats herself and her actions. Seems to have never accepted criticism (said by herself too), and never able to see her own faults. The fact that is a continuous behavior is a problem, how she always responds is awful. My post of "Viv has being transphobic for 10 years", was to signal that. If she really had changed over those 10 years to a genuine thing- I could've taken that! But no, the shitty double standard against trans men... the weird treatment. THE MANY STORIES OF EMPLOYEES GETTING MISGENDERED HEAVILY, TOO.

(I know people who were transphobic [When they were teens mainly], that Genuinely improved and changed their beliefs. Now they treat trans people with respect and care! And still learning about gender-fluid people, too!)

It just seems to be further and further away from getting better! The fact that she only decides to take in account voices from SA victims that agree with her- it's painful as a victim, my self!

And yes, people who sent gore or dumbass shit to Viv (or the team) don't help. And go get help why you're looking and sending Gore to anyone. (Also, stuff like this does lead to people not listening to others people genuine callouts). The fact that I criticize something doesn't mean I agree with the people that go and do shit like the thing I just mention above.

AND ALSO A IMPORTANT THING HERE!

This drawing was created by DollCreep. BUT ALSO FUCKING REMEMBER this was done in response to the shit that Viv drew of him.

If you didn't know Viv drew a transphobic caricature of DollCreep using the name Jojo (his old nickname). This put together with a shitty anti-sjw meme video. DollCreep is a transman, Viv drew a character based on him. A furry wolf girl, If you can see in the image the main thing listed below the character name is the fucking "Sex=♀️". SO ON PURPOSE, CHRIST. Like... AND YES-is shitty from both to have drawn this (even if it was in respond) mainly immature in DC part. But that, or any toxicity coming from DC, doesn't delete the transphobia here. (imagine drawing a racist caricature of a poc person, because they are shitty to you). THE POST LINKED ABOVE SHOWS THE SITUATION, and in the end of the day. Viv says that DC is an abusive shitty person to her, but never realizing her own faults or anything she could'be possibly done wrong! (and again, any wrong done by DC in general can not be deleted by the fact of having being treated badly. If he did shitty stuff himself, that doesn't delete the wrong done in general to him or to others by viv)

Here about transphobia:

(this is like 8yrs old too)

Again, she never acknowledges anything that she might have done wrong. "She is a thoughtful person, that wants tor write queer and disabled characters! She wants to tell empowering stories of..." It doesn't even feel close to that when people bring up actual problems in her writing that are stereotyping or bad, and she just yells and cries. It all feels like empty sticks she is only interested in in the surface level, she doesn't want to actually deal with.

When she says "This characters is black guys ♡♡♡" and then the fucking 7th, a grayish character with zero black features. She can not actually try and draw a black person with a different hair texture, she'll faith is hair isn't straight and spiky (has done this so much too). She is all for positivity and diversity (can not draw more than 1 character that isn't a fucking stick with the same stupid face).

She can not write relationships in general. She cannot do gay couples, then don't lean on the stupid old uke uwu defenceless x big rough seme protector stuff. Again, all the interactions with Husk and Angel are sexual harassment. They are already a revealed future couple (and episode 4 is terrible for them, specially with that song). Stolitz is toxic, and predatory. That is not acknowledged, and all Stolas's predatory behavior and power dynamics are put in the background, cause- "look how sad Stolas is :(! HIS DAD IS SOOO MEAN, HIS WIFE IS A BITCH". All her gay characters are in pure surface: over-sexual twinks that are assholes, which also fit into the top/bottom as personality boxes.

Any other point includes sexual harassment as a joke. BUT KNOW SHE WANTS TO BE LIKE "GUYS SA STORIES MATTER, LOOK AT WHAT I WROTE" as if she didn't lean back into the problem of the diminishing of SA and r- (in general and done to men) with her jokes in HB. With all the sexual harassment that Angel Dust puts on Husk and others. (AND YES THERE IS NO WARNING IN EPISODE 4, FOR ITS HEAVY TOPICS! I do believe all series/movies with this need it. SPECIALLY IF IT'S SO GRAPHIC! "Sexual content" is not the same as a warning for SA or R-pe. An adult can see a movie with sex or sexual nutidy- when they see that- but it's different to get straight assault on screen. Victims can watch movies/series with sex in them all good, you cannot just group consensual sex in the same assault or R-pe...)

The thing where Mammon (the only fat character that isn’t from the fucking background.) is like FIZZ YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT. AS IF SHE COULD EVEN DRAW ANY DIFFERENT BODY SHAPE WITHOUT DYING. Like there is only Mimzy (hasn't appeared yet, not given any importance. In the female lead show). Mammon the piece of shit (does the same as Blitz, but he is actually fully bad.) His design is done with 80 fucking layers on top. Like all the test of the skinny character's clothes suck up to their body except for Mammon. His body is hidden in layers upon layers of clothing (that's all you got?). All you main guys need to fill "the skinny have nothing men" and "skinny woman with big hips and legs, but no fucking stomach"?

AND YES! VIV DOES DO THE FUCKING, "FAT = FOOD LMAOOO". You know the thing HH fans and hater where like the "Bee needs to fat thing is bad, cause of fat = food (only food) is reductive and shitty"

(Can I refer to how the show Bojack H, make Diane gain weight cause of anti depressants- and it wasn't a joke! And she was happier too?)

(mine, from post right below)

... like is a bundle of issues. And Viv will never accept that she might be /or is wrong. That's why it hits the fan with stuff. -And again I liked many of the little concepts and stuff in HB and the original pilot of Hazbin. Shit- I still like Sir Pentious and Nifty. I do like Mammon as much as he is a pack of problems to call out, I fucking love the piece of shit Australian jester- The artist work hard on it, and I'm happy it's an openly queer! (as limited as it gets, too....). I liked Huni-cast, I loved the original voice cast! -and that happens! I could be writing this about other stuff too, not only Hazbin... if I created this blog earlier- IT WOULD ALL BE ABOUT RWBY, DANGANRONPA, even svtfoe...Ladybug... or Agretsuko's ending too. So yeah, sorry for the long post (as if all my post weren't)

#vivziepop critique #vivziepop critical #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critique #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critique #anti vivziepop #long post #tw rape #tw sa #tw transphobes #tw transfobia #tw fatphobia #tw antiblackness

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loveyourownsmiilee · 7 days

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I am coming from a place of respect here so please don't take this as an attack on anyone's opinions, likes, or ships...

The last anon you answered mentioned how Buck hasn't had to work for his relationship with Tommy but I think he has and will continue to do so.

He already got left on the date by Tommy and then it was in Buck's wheelhouse to try again. Something we haven't really seen Buck do before.

And Oliver has said he wants Buck and Tommy to deal with struggles that all new relationships have...

Idk...I'm just sharing a different perspective.

Hello and thank you for the respectful message. I hear everything you said. But this is not the first time that Buck has tried again with a partner. When Abby got upaet about the whole catfish thing and left him, he eventually went back to her to explain the entire thing. Because he was willing to work for what they had. And she told him she’s going to Dublin and the man waited months for her.

Then with Taylor, he kinda went back a few times to try again. When they went on the double date with Albert and Beronica and she got upset with him and called him a bad friend, he still called her up and helped her in the end. Yes they weren’t dating at the time but when they were dating, he confessed about cheating on her and asked her to move in to work on things. Then he chased her to another state to prove how willing he is to work on things. It’s always been like him going after his partners in my opinion. Same with Tommy. He left when he was upset after the date and Buck was the one who called and invited him out for a cup of coffee to prove he’s trying again. But the subject of him being on a hamster wheel where he gets a crush and gets the person still stands in my opinion even with Tommy. He didn’t have to work that hard or in my opinion it wasn’t that challenging to get him. And I’m sure we will see more of their relationship unfold. I just, can’t get over the fact that it’s a similar pattern to things we’ve already seen with his previous relationships which is why I personally, again just my thoughts, think it’s the same pattern and he’s on the hamster wheel still. Like you can enjoy a character and not think they’re shitty like some do with Tommy, but also realize it’s the same pattern as we’ve seen before. But again it’s fine if you and others have differing views bc we’re all different people who watch and interpret things differently. That’s what makes fandom unique and certain people enjoy things differently and that’s ok. That’s just MY personally opinion on this subject matter and I hope you understand that. I’m not negating your own thoughts. I read through it and I understand where you’re coming from. But I just don’t see the same thing you do and that’s fine. I hope you understand where I’m also coming from!

#juju answers #un-namedfan1 #Evan Buckley #tommy kinard #he’s low key has to fight for all his relationships that’s not what I’m saying #I’m saying it’s not challenging and if he wants something challenging then it won’t be the same cycle #again this is just my take on things and my opinion #and everyone is entitled to difference of opinions!

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no-m4gic · 1 year

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Hey mod Sitaya! Could I request the THH characters with a autistic reader in their class?

And Welcome too :)

ahh my first request !! i hope my writing isn't too shitty. also bonus tenko and mikan since i messed up the first time. sorry if this isn't what you wanted!

sorry if it seems rushed or is too short!! there were a lotta characters x3

p.s i removed hifumi and yasuhiro since i had no ideas for them...

this took so long

~mod sitaya

THH CHARACTERS WITH A GN AUTISTIC DARLING !

BYAKUYA TOGAMI - finds it disgusting and insufferable

"not another one of these peasants... and an indifferent one? hell."

you? indifferent? wow. worse person to be handicapped around.

at first he'd give you the stank-eye. he'd treat you the same as he treats everyone: like a peasant under him.

but oh no. hell will break loose when he finds out you're indifferent.

he'd be such a drama queen, never wanting to be in the same room as you, scooting away, making a face whenever you were around.

byakuya would treat your autism like the plague.

he is in his most annoying era whenever toko annoys him, making sarcastic remarks and comments here and there.

though once you manage to befriend him or i guess tame him like some beast, he'd stop with the bratty ass behavior. maybe not with the distancing himself and leaving the room shenanigans, but still.

whenever he found you annoying (which is most of the time) he'd just pretend he doesn't care or hear, walk away or recommend you go annoy naegi or kirigiri.

one upside is you could basically ask him for money to buy stim toys, weighted blankets or sensory stuff and he'd just say "take it" and throw a thick, fat wad of cash at you.

MONDO OOWADA - finds himself relating to you

"don't think of yourself like that, s/o. i like you most when you're you."

yeah... even though he's the leader of japan's most popular biker gang, he has his number of his own insecurities and struggles.

one is he was and still is, never able to properly socialize with people, that being the reason why he's always so loud and interrupts everyone.

reverse comfort

he's not embarrassed of you, he's embarrassed of himself.

you always have to comfort him when he finds himself in third or second place.

you and scented candles are his emotional support.

sometimes he'd randomly scare you by picking you up from behind.

need not fear, he also does the same thing to ishimaru, in fact he does it more to kiyotaka than you.

if you're cold he'd lend you his jacket.

MAKOTO NAEGI - would find positivity and hope in it

"come on... it's not your fault. plus, it made you who you are right now, it made you you, and i love that."

whenever you're down, makoto would make up stupid stories to try and get you to crack. [ you can decide whether or not s/o ends up laughing at his stories or not ]

as well as dumb stuff that's happened to him due to his 'luck', like him losing his sock and never finding it.

he'd let you ruffle and mess up his hair, also warning you about his ahoge so you don't stab yourself.

sometimes when he has nightmares he'd knock on your door and ask if he could stay for a bit.

in the morning though you won't have to run to the lunch hall, because well, you'll find your breakfast sitting on your bedside table alongside some juice or milk.

whenever you do crazy things, makoto would just watch nervously and would only interfere when you're about to get hurt.

also he likes to stargaze with you at midnight when everyone's asleep.

KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU - worries about you, yet supports you.

"as long as you don't run in the halls or scream like mondo- you'll remain my closest friend!"

sometimes he'd unintentionally throw in a sarcastic or dramatic remark, but that's just him, and you know that.

usually when you're hyper active to the point where you can't eat on your own, he takes it as his own responsibility to feed you manually (and make sure you don't starve to death)

he'd always start off the day with a greeting and how your day went.

since he's asked so many people that, he can tell when you're lying, and would ask what's wrong.

persistent bby

rarely you warn him about mondo picking his ass up, since you find it hilarious.

however you two always have each others' backs.

CHIHIRO FUJISAKI - relates to you on the same level

"don't worry- if i go, alter ego will stay with you till you go too, and then we'll be reunited! right s/o...?"

aside from mondo, you'd be the second person he'd tell his secret to. he knows he can trust you with it, especially when he isn't ready for the world's criticism.

whenever his day was just a horrible one in general, he knows he can come to you for comfort.

before going to bed you both make each other hot chocolates.

you'd lend chihiro some of your clothes whenever he'd decide his confidence level for that day.

if you can't beat a level on a game, just ask chihiro, he'll work his cheating magic.

when your craziness kicks in, you'll insist and persist he hacks into somebody's account to invade their privacy. (you can choose who)

LEON KUWATA - would try to understand your disability

"i don't know what the heck you're doing, but i like where it's going, s/o."

75% of the time he doesn't know what you're doing, but goes along with it.

you'd always be cheering the loudest in the audience at his baseball matches.

he'd be appreciative of your craziness and impulsive actions most of the time.

like you managing to break a vending machine and get like 10 energy drinks for the price of 1.

but sometimes he'll be really confuse and just leave you be... and by that i mean ditch you like the dick he is.

you'll have to navigate your way back.

once you do find him, you'll grab his shoulders from behind, making him scream like a little girl.

SAYAKA MAIZONO - finds it unique and supports you

"don't say that! you're waayy more special than the them!"

honestly she'd think it makes you unique from the others.

in fact, you guys would discuss about song lyrics and she'd take a lot of inspiration from you and your tales.

overall sayaka wouldn't mind whenever you let your heart out, she enjoys hearing your voice.

she's too embarrassed to admit that, though.

if you have long hair, she'd braid and mess around with it, also letting you mess with hers since she really likes your touch.

if you ever needed help with falling asleep soundly, sayaka would offer to sing you a song or a lullaby, as well as learn the lyrics to your favorite song after that night as backup.

pls- she'd be so patient with you. if you were ever mad, she'd leave you be to cool down. if you were upset or scared she'd hold and hug you, telling you everything will be okay. she'd listen to you vent your heart out.

she spends more time in your room chattering with you rather than her own room sitting miserably on a table rocking her brain back and fourth thinking of catchy song lyrics.

AOI ASAHINA - finds you even more adorable

"eeek!! you're so cute s/ooo!! i just wanna eat you up!"

ooh hoooooo.

asahina would treat you like her baby.

her and sakura will defend you with their life, especially from mondo and byakuya. they're getting their asses beaten if they dared mess with you.

overprotective mother mode

she'd share her donuts and food with you.

whenever you guys meet up for the day she'd give you a daily head pat and compliment like "oh my goshh you look cuter than before!"

she'd also get you stim toys and other stuff to distract yourself with incase she was busy with a competition or training with sakura.

if you really wanted, aoi would also teach you to swim.

also would chase you just to ruffle your hair.

CELESTIA LUDENBURG - doesn't care about it

"as long as it isn't infectious, you can have all the time and tea you want with and from me."

oh you were disabled? she didn't even notice.

celeste wouldn't give a flying fuck about it.

it's more of if you piss her off or not. if you don't, you can have tea with her, if you do... well, she'd either send you to kyoko or act like a less dramatic togami.

most of the time celeste would listen to whatever you had to say, or pretend she was listening and constantly nod her head.

she'd be hesitant to let you around grand bois chéri (her cat), so you'd have to try your hardest to prove to her you won't injure or let chéri get injured in your care.

other than that celeste would treat you like any other person.

if you get too out of hand for her though, she'd get you some sensory or stim toys to keep you busy from annoying her.

KYOKO KIRIGIRI - would be supportive of you no matter what

"who cares about what the others say? you're perfect the way you are, s/o."

gentle head and back pats

sometimes in her free time, she'd follow you around, most of the time just to make sure you're alright.

lets you review cases with her, just to keep your mind fresh and active, perhaps one day you'll impress and blow her mind by solving a mystery even she couldn't crack.

even though she'd be embarrassed, shy or not wanting to, she'd join in your activities if you invited her to, such as dancing or singing.

though she'd never share hers, she'd always ask about you and your feelings.

is very persistent, and would secretly and anonymously send you little gifts from time to time like a secret admirer.

JUNKO ENOSHIMA - would be inquisitive and criticize

"oh my gosh, so you just move out of nowhere? couldn't imagine me like that, SO glad i'm not you."

has no idea and knowledge about disabilities and stuff.

she's worse than togami.

she'd always humiliate and embarrass you in front of people to cause despair

but she'd always find herself crawling back to you.

it's annoying, and she likes that. it brings her so much self-inflicted despair

uses you as an insult, especially towards mukuro and kamukura.

"you guys are WORSE than s/o, so much more annoying, no wonder s/o's spirit is brighter than your guys' futures."

when she isn't in such a despair-ful mood, instead of embarrassing you in public, she'd just grab your hand and lightly squeeze it, all while obnoxiously insulting her sister.

since she's an uncultured swine, she'd either let you squeeze, hug and cry to a monokuma bot or let mukuro deal with you.

SAKURA OGAMI - would be supportive and encourages you

"if you lift your chin up you'll see the path hope has created for you, s/o."

usually you'd watch her work out and bring and make her protein shakes whenever asahina was training.

she'd make sure you're good and healthy, both physically and mentally.

if you also wanted to train and work out with her, she'd offer to make you a healthy drink afterwards.

you two always have fun making smoothies and salads with funny drawings and faces made of tomatoes and onions after work out sessions.

would let you style her hair into ridiculous sights.

whenever you guys were in a meeting or assembly, you, asahina and sakura would crack jokes and giggle together.

both of you have this special greeting where you jump and high-five, most of the time sakura just stands with her hand up though.

TOKO FUKAWA - pretends to find you insufferable but relates to you

"i g-guess freaks talk to f-freaks, don't they...?"

at first she'd try to act like togami around you. avoiding you and giving you the "ew" look.

but later on she'd find herself warming up to you and doing small little affectionate tasks like bringing you a glass of water.

goes by the "if i do this for you, you will do this for me" sorta thing.

so she fetches you that glass of water (even if you didn't ask for it), you'll have to get her a glass of water or juice too next time.

sometimes you'd also help her chase byakuya, just for fun, and a way to relieve your anxieties.

you guys may or may not get too crazy and start a food fight, targetting each other and byakuya.

you both cower away when it comes to social interactions

BONUSES ;; TENKO CHABASHIRA & MIKAN TSUMIKI

TENKO CHABASHIRA - becomes more overprotective of you

"i have to defend you from the degenerate males, stay behind me, s/o!"

whenever anyone, especially the guys, approaches you, she'd jump into action and scare them away.

if you wanna talk to anyone of your guy friends, you'll have to distract her or send her away.

you two would toss small snacks into each others' mouth such as gummies or little candies and make a game of it. never hard candy though, since you guys don't wanna injure each other.

if any guy harassed you, they are going to the afterlife once tenko finds out.

you both do crazy things such as destroying a vending machine just to steal it's contents without paying.

she'd also invite you to watch himiko do magic tricks, but no guys allowed, okay?

since sometimes you can be really clueless and naive, tenko scans the place to look for any guys or suspicious people and hesitates to leave you alone to either run an errand, check on yumeno or use the bathroom.

also, whenever you're using the bathroom, tenko stands outside the toilet door, guarding it with her arms crossed and legs spread.

MIKAN TSUMIKI - worries more about you and becomes more clingy

"s/o! w-what happened?! who did this- or-or did you fall? eek! i'm sorry!"

would occasionally check on you and knock on your room door to a point where it gets sorta creepy and annoying.

you'll have to tell her that you're fine, and you won't die within' 10 seconds when she's off elsewhere.

well since you do tend to do crazy things beyond your control, she knows you're gonna get hurt eventually.

and you do.

when you get injured or hurt, you won't have to head to her office, since well... the nurse will come to you automatically.

though she'd be crying, fearing you were going to die or something dramatic.

"i'm so sorry s/o!! i should've ran quicker- don't leave me!!"

if it is serious and you end up blacking out, somebody else would have to give you medical attention since mikan would be sulking in the bathroom, washing her face over and over again.

she's touch-starved, but is always too shy and scared to ask for hugs.

whenever you guys are in assembly, she'll hold your hand and squeeze it. she relaxes herself knowing you're there, right next to her.

likes & reblogs appreciated, reposts not appreciated!

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wordsandrobots · 3 months

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I just don't get it.

I've been dwelling all day on the times I've seen someone claim/state that the characterisation in Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2 is inconsistent with Season 1 and I still can't understand how people get to that conclusion. Clearly they do. But everything about S2 reads to me as a really straightforward acceleration of the flaws established in S1, and we know from the writing side, the intention was always to have this end in tragedy, even if the timescale changed. (Which, to be clear, is something I think was entirely to the show's benefit, allowing for a midway 'hope spot' where everything works out by the skin of its teeth, driving everyone to greater levels of reckless confidence.)

Most of the major personality rug-pulls happen by the time we hit the build-up to the climax of S1. We go from seeing Orga in his element -- the charismatic, clever military leader taking control of a miserable situation for the sake of his comrades -- to seeing what he's like in the wider world -- winging it, latching on to new ideas like a limpet, chasing the biggest rewards as fast as he can -- to seeing what's underneath it -- his awe/fear of Mika, his inability to do what's smart in the face of what his friends want, and the way he crumbles under the weight of casualties before stubbornly keeping onwards in an effort to turn the loss into a meaningful sacrifice. There is a straight line from the Dort Colonies where Orga gets pressured into becoming involved, to the point everyone insists on going after Jasley, to what happens in the middle of the battle with the Arianrhod Fleet. It's practically the same scene three times over with the desperation on Orga's face dialled up each time.

Same for the others. Despite his light-hearted presentation, Shino is deeply affected by his friends' deaths and commits himself to fighting so they don't have to, ego driving him to do reckless shit that doesn't quite work. Gaelio is a prideful dick who, while he has various good instincts, ultimately acts based on his emotional reactions alone. Hell, Mikazuki is literally introduced firing a gun that knocks him clean off his feet, his body too frail to withstand the violence he's committing on behalf of Orga, who watches with a mix of terror and amazement, that morphs into a teeth-clenched determination to keep going -- because what else do you do when faced with *that* level of devotion at your command?

McGillis is the only one where I can kind of grasp why it would seem inconsistent, because the reveals about the exact shape of his past are left to the back half of S2, and the twist that he was rooting his entire world-view in childish mythology is (deliberately) dissonant with his ruthless manipulation of the rest of the cast. But, like -- he treats Tekkadan as this amazing, miraculous event from the word go. He is heavily invested in imagery (around them, around Kudelia, around the Gundams) and waffles on endlessly about the Calamity War. His wearing of a mask is explicitly framed as playing dress-up, in which he takes a giddy delight. The revelations set all this in a new light, sure. They're hardly inconsistent with it. Not in a show chock full of people caught up in their own ideas about other people and what a better world would mean.

My point is, Iron-Blooded Orphans is about messed-up people in shitty situations making actively terrible life choices because they're trapped inside the event horizons of their own trauma. It is about everyone crushed by indifferent systems of power, shouting loud and proud that they are human beings with hopes and dreams and loves and fears, and smashing them to pieces regardless because that is what *happens* in an unjust world. It runs on its characters' flaws, like any good tragedy, on their flawed reactions to the very real problems they struggle against. Season 2 is an escalating series of runaway trains, each crisis shaping the reaction to the next in worse and worse ways. I could spend ages breaking down how it goes from Tekkadan at the peak of its ability to brazen through problems on sheer guts, to their strength actively working against them even when they are saving the world with it, to where it ends, a tragic, bittersweet peace that, as cynically as it could be read, still contains small triumphs.

At no point does it seem to me to be anything less than extremely clear and consistent about what it is saying. I've had people comment on my fic saying I've fixed the characterisation for them, and I have to state openly, that is not what I thought I was doing! I'm just taking what I saw in the series and extrapolating from it. There *are* parts where I've added stuff, to fill in the gaps you need to when you're making secondary characters into leads. But I know which bits I made up whole-cloth and, well, maybe I'm fooling myself but I don't think I ever had to introduce something to explain anyone's actions in the series itself.

Anyway, sorry for waffling on so long. Please don't take this as me calling anyone daft for where they landed on IBO, it's just that these reactions always make me twitch and wonder if I've hallucinated something over a gap somewhere. Then I go back to all the times Orga rides rough-shod over Biscuit's good advice and -- no! No, the text very firmly set up why this all goes horribly wrong and pays off each and every point like the world's most appalling check-list! You are 100% free to not enjoy that, but it's clearly working as intended

#gundam ibo #gundam iron blooded orphans #g tekketsu #tekketsu no orphans #I am the furthest thing from an unbiased source on this show #I love it so much #but I have also spent two and a half years picking it to component parts #it really is an incredibly solid piece of #*here's why X is doing Y even though Z is right there*#and I admire that a lot on a technical level #spoilers #more rambling

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dana-chan-the-control-brain · 1 year

Photo

The last interaction Dib has with his father for years.

Things said... things unsaid...

Sometimes... you just need to let them know, the things you hold onto.

An echo return of past conversations

Part of the Post Florpus AU in the somewhat distant future.

Dib and Zim leave for college or something, I don’t know.

This comic is ooooooooooold. Like around two years old. I shared an preview update on my Kofi and shared with a few people in discord servers for awhile, but I never posted it publicly.

Part of the reason I held onto it for such a long time: (personal long ramblings under the cut and talk about my grief experiences.)

....was partly because I felt without context for the overall series huge chunks missing about Dib’s character development in Post Florpus and what I have planned, it would have come across as a shallow thing... Dib forgiving his Dad for being a neglectful father or something akin to that and I feared the protentional backlash something like this could have among the Invader Zim community. Since people who connect personally with that show typically all have their own issues regarding their parents. (not always but I see it very often)

And I changed the dialogue of what Dib said to his father over several times. Like “I love you” “I forgive you....” but it didn’t seem appropriate to me. Nothing felt right other than telling him that He’s proud of him in the same way that Membrane told Dib in Enter the Florpus.

And no, Dib doesn’t forgive his Dad for having a shitty neglectful childhood. Cause he was, a terrible parent, but Dib can acknowledge that his Dad is getting better... and working to improve... and knows his Dad loves him... but he also can establish boundaries and set his distance... this is the last thing Dib basically says to Membrane before he cuts him out of his life temporarily when he goes to University.

And it very personally echos the relationship that I had with my Father and Mother. There was a huge period of time where I hated my father after he passed away. For how distant he was in his parenting style and how much he left my controlling Mom to do everything. When he passed away I felt like my Mom was tighter with a leash on me, and it took a long time and therapy on both of our ends to have a healthy relationship with good boundaries.

I’m on real good terms with my Mom now and I can’t imagine a time where it was ever tense between us, and she’s really a different person then the one I grew up with. Heck, even Mom from seven years ago is a different person and was way were then. I’m glad that I can call my Mom my friend too.

I know it doesn’t always work out that way in real life for some people.... but this AU is extremely personal to me, and I like to write about my displacement in my family since my Dad died, and what happened over the years as we coped with that.

Post Florpus AU stemed from me being emotional about ETF due to my grief of losing my father and my own personal experiences with my family just struck the right chord at the right time in 2019. And that has never changed.

I drew this two years ago angry at the time... thinking that there were many things I wanted to tell my Dad. How he could have been there for Mom more when me and my sister were struggling with heavy bullying in school, how Dad could have took on more responsibilities when my Mom tried to go back to college. And how I still wanted him here.... but in retrospect, he did the best he could do at the time, knowing what he knew... as an undiagnosed autistic and everything else....

Like there’s no forgiveness of his favoritism of one child over the other and how he left Mom to do all the parenting. But I feel if he was alive in our family unit today, we’d all have a healthier family dynamic and balance. People can always change, and change every day and I personally don’t hold onto memories of people when I know every five years someone can be reborn. But the effort always needs to be there.

I don’t know. I’m rambling.

In any case, I just kept this under my belt for so long because I was worried of public perception and worrying people might judge me for “Forgiving shitty dads” or something...

Sorry to break it to you... but in this AU everyone does get better. Dib doesn’t even need to be in contact with his Dad, and he won’t for a long while until he matures more.

Forgiveness is a choice on the Membrane Sibling’s part, and sometimes, in this case... it isn’t needed. Membrane himself doesn’t even want forgiveness for his shitty parenting in the past. He just wishes for his children to grow up happy and healthy, and if they want to stay in contact with him, great, but he won’t force himself when he’s not wanted. It’s a delicate balance.... He’s not forgiven exactly, but the Siblings appreciate the effort... and they like who he is now, rather than who he was... but it will take a long time before they can have a proper adult child and parent relationship. Baby steps.

TLDR: My au. My rules. Membrane Trying juice.

#Invader Zim #Post Florpus Au #danachan's art #Professor Membrane #Dib Membrane #Gaz Membrane #GIR #MiniMoose

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luna-rainbow · 7 months

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I feel to a degree that Sam and Bucky's attitudes towards John Walker in TFATWS was kinda...needlessly cruel. Like, they had problems with him even before Walker had done anything wrong, simply because he was wearing a Captain America uniform and was no Steve Rogers. I think this really showed in their fight with him at the start of episode 5, which honestly feels to me more like "Sam and Bucky gang up on and brutalize Walker while he's still going through the process of grieving his best friend who was just brutally murdered in front of him."

I have very little sympathy for Walker, because he reminds me keenly of the particular type of person (often white and male) who has been smooth sailing for all their life and gets their way by trampling over other people but has absolutely no self-awareness of this, attributes their own success not to systemic privilege tipped in their favour but rather believes it’s all from ‘individual hard work’, who then struggles because for once in their life things don’t go their way and their tantrum behaviour escalates until it ends in violence.

I know there are more sympathetic readings of his character (he has PTSD, was unsupported, didn’t get much help) but this is the archetype I saw and…to be honest, if I met this kind of person, I would give him very little patience too.

Also, I remember Walker’s introduction very differently. Sam donated the shield to the museum to lay Captain America to rest, and his wish was disrespected. You can argue that’s not entirely Walker’s fault but he’s also not innocent either, so Sam has plenty of reason to distrust him at the get-go. Walker then went on TV and says “I never met him (Steve), he feels like a brother,” which, aside from being a mockery of the friendship between Steve and Bucky, was a weird ingratiating line while disrespecting Steve’s wishes of handing the shield over to Sam (and thereby letting Sam decide what should happen to the shield). So Bucky, too, had plenty of reason to distrust Walker before they met.

The truck fight I’m putting down to shitty writing. You’re telling me two veterans who had fought super soldiers and aliens and everything in between couldn’t handle a bunch of kids until Walker arrived on the scene? I call writer bias, and I’ve talked extensively in the past about how Walker was the only character in that series given the protagonist treatment of agency and a complete character arc at the expense of our two eponymous protagonists, who were passive and whose character beats happened off screen.

Taking away the writer issues, Sam and Bucky were both pulling their punches because they realised they were up against kids. Walker pulled out a gun and shot one of them (can’t remember if the kid died or not). That’s a much better metaphor for police brutality than the traffic stop scene later, and gives more concrete reason for Sam and Bucky to distrust him.

The only thing mean from Sam/Bucky’s side in that conversation was Walker asking to work together and Bucky saying “Just cos you carry that shield, it doesn’t mean you’re Captain America.” Which, after all we’ve seen of him so far, is a pretty fair assessment.

As compared to all the awkwardly cocky stuff Walker says in return. “Yeah, I have (jumped on a grenade), it’s a thing I do with my helmet” which undermines what it says about Steve’s moral character by covering a grenade with his body. Are we forgetting the “That serum doesn’t exactly have a great track record. No offense”? I love the no offense, which is standard repertoire for entitled people to put the burden of offence in the listener’s court instead of apologising for the offense they’re causing. Are we forgetting the “uh no we didn’t track them we tracked you through Redwing” with a smug grin? Are we forgetting his deaf dismissal of Sam trying to rationalise with why a bunch of impoverished kids are successfully leading a revolution (god the way he just ignored Sam’s point is so close to how entitled white men in real life talks it makes my blood boil)? Are we forgetting the “It’d be a whole lot easier if I had Cap’s wingmen on my side”?

I don’t think Sam and Bucky were “needlessly” cruel. I think they had an understandable emotional reaction - during a period of emotional vulnerability for both of them - to someone they see doing their memory of Steve dirty, and an understandable escalation in their distrust by what Walker then showed of his convictions, attitudes, and intentions. From a writing point of view — yeah I do think Bucky’s disgust was more exaggerated than I personally would have written him, but as far as all the OOC shit Bucky has done in this show, being aggravated by Walker was the least of it.

And by episode 5??? By then Walker has said and done a whole bunch of deranged shit. Sam and Bucky were not “ganging up” on him. Are we forgetting that Sam asked nicely for him to hand himself in? And then Walker going full gollum-mode (“my precioussss”) because Sam mentions the shield once?? (But also yes I agree the writing was once again shitty and focused weirdly on retrieving the shield instead of, you know, the priority of apprehending Walker) And sorry, going back once again to the entitled white men trope, because that’s what Walker is — did Walker show any respect to Sam and Bucky for grieving over Steve? Then why should we expect people to afford him leniency in return? Not to mention that they did approach him kindly and say that he would likely be judged leniently because of Lemar’s death. And even as they’re trying to be kind to him, Walker snipes at Bucky “I’m not like you” (actually you’re not, you dipshit, because Bucky never killed anyone in spite or rage) and assumes the worst of Sam for asking for the shield.

Look, I am all for a balanced view on Walker, because he is a layered character who tries his best but was never good enough, and the sense of inferiority escalates his immature emotional response beyond control. But that’s because of his glaring, major, inexcusable character flaws that he only has himself to blame for. He’s basically Tony Stark who has been trained for violence through the military and doesn’t have the wealth or brain power to channel his anger anywhere else.

Not to mention that Sam and Bucky never sought him out even once, and he’s the one barging in on them multiple times despite them making their boundaries clear.

#tfatws critical #i won’t tag him bcos the walker stan’s are pretty vitriolic too #asks

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belowzion · 4 months

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Below Zion: A Hellaverse Rewrite Chapter 2: Limbo

Hello everyone! I wanted to continue showing you more of what we've established in this Hellaverse so far and I felt like going through each of the circles, one by one, would be a great way to show the state of Hell! We will also be touching up on some of the characters related to each ring while we're at it. Just for your information, the order of circles is as follows:

Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence (30 Years ago, was known as Pride), Fraud, Treachery, The Abyss (Not Considered a Circle)

For today, we will be focusing on...

Limbo

Limbo is the circle, most dominated by Sinners. Its to the point where Hells culture is not actually prevalent here. You can find Earths own delicacies here, Spanish, Italian, the likes. But why is this circle this way, one might ask?

Lets talk about Hell nobility. Each Circle has its own nobility that watches over it. Usually, its three demon lords with one of them being a High Lord. For Limbo, we only have two demon lords that dwell here. Virgil, an actual Sinner Demon Lord, which is very rare -apart from Lust whom has the "Central Powers"- and the High Lord, Behemoth.

Behemoth is the largest demon in all of Hell. His height is so immense that he travels ALL across Limbo, every day without issue. Stomping all over the desolate wasteland, with a sickly greenish grey sky that watches over him.

Very gloomy~

The place itself, due to this, is mostly just a stomping ground for Behemoth, while on his back, a rather large town is built, managed by sinners and guided by their Lord, Virgil.

With the towns leader being a former-human, its easy to see why this part of Hell has retained its humanity for as long as it did. The only problem being that this Circle is very poor compared to the other ones, especially the "Sin" Circles. Shoddy houses made of wood, shitty hotels, restaurants that seem cheap but, warms the sinful soul~

Limbo RARELY gets any demon visitors, most view it as a place for the weak and the poor, its made for humans who were never strong enough to let go of their past. Its mostly due to the demons here being sinners that, this part of Hell gets very little support and is why its mostly managed by sinners themselves.

A regular visitor, Vagatha, finds herself at home among these poor devils. Her soul is that of a wandering moth, trying to find the light and never let go of it. Struggling to accept her demonic nature, despite the kind of Wrathful person she has been in her hazbin, she is so adamant on keeping her humanity, that she uses her old name, Agatha Hyde, in Limbo. To her, letting go of the moralities and the memories that define the sinner, is the true path to wickedness.

Might as well also talk about...

Sinners

Sinners are VERY important for how Hell works. They are the economy, they are power and they themselves can BE powerful. There are still a few restrictions and revoked privileges for Sinners that make life a little harder for them compared to Demons. Most important one of them all is that, they cannot have people sign their souls away to them. Sinners are completely exempt from being able to devour souls themselves to gain power. Instead, their main power source comes from just how Sinful they were in life. But be careful! If you were an EXTREMELY sinful person, you will spawn within one of Hells Prisons, where subsequently, you'll be shoved into a Penance Machine to... PAINFULLY extract that sin out of you. Emptying the sinner of their power, of their "Wrath".

Wrath is used as the general term for magical power here.

This is what happens to extremely evil Sinners. On rare occassions, its possible to be bailed OUT of these penance machines, but only rarely. You need to have some really good connections to Hell, for example, demonic cults could work...

Sinners that are NOT super sinful, spawn in Safehouses. Whichever circle they end up, depends on what their main sin was. The Safehouse is meant to help the sinner become a productive member of Hells society. For a Year, they get to stay in these dorm-like structures, finding a job, a place to live, stable income, that sort of stuff. For a Month, they are prohibited from ever signing their souls away. Buuut after being told and educated as to what Hell is about (These lessons are: Soul-Pacts, The Phone! What is it? How to use it? etc.), they get out of that one month period and are allowed to sign their souls away if they wish! Making them into slaves for other demons...

After a year, they are kicked out of Safehouses, if unavailable to find a living space for themselves, the streets of Hell will take "good" care of them.

Mind you, these Safehouses are NOT there to make Sinners into better people. In Hell, if they want to survive, they must be made as ruthless as the demons around them. So, the teachings of Safehouses, would be quite the opposite of... say, that Happy Hotel thing. Yeah.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading through that mumbo-jumbo! Next up, we'll be talking about Lust! Celebrity Demon Lord Asmodeus! High Lady Bastet! And the three Vs...

#hazbin hotel #hazbin rewrite #helluva rewrite #hazbin hotel critique

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theintrovertbean · 11 months

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you might've just nailed down why I cannot for the life of me feel involved into Nadia's romance. The way she talks about her family and sometimes treats MC is baffling and almost upsetting to me at times. I don't dislike her mind you, I think she's a great character, but when she starts complaining about the audacity of her family worrying about her running off as a small child… I end up liking her in other routes more than her own. Doesn't happen with any other LI. feels bad man

I see your point. She does have a unique and quite unjustified way of talking about her family that I just couldn't understand at first. I expected her siblings to be horrible people, but then Nasmira showed up, and she was possibly one of the nicest characters in the entire game. Made me look at Nadi and think, "Girl, what the hell is your problem? There's no way you are serious."

But, well, Nadia is royalty, the youngest person in her family, and she is definitely spoiled. I think those three things together ensured that baby Nadia had very little contact with children of her age. Most people in her family are much older than her, and she never really got to witness how kids are being treated outside of Prakran palaces. My point is that everyone else got treated like an adult while Nadia was babied. Only Nadia. I think she felt excluded and outlandish, like she didn't belong, not even in her family, which is not nice. Every child wants to be normal, and Nadia was the only person getting the baby treatment. She was already feeling very lonely, but that made her think she was completely alone in the world. We do know that Nadia has always yearned for companionship, and this is something that made her dream feel even farther away.

She really needs someone to bring a 9-year-old child to her and ask her if it's really okay for that tiny little thing to wander off alone in a forest. I bet that hesitantly, but Nadia would say no 😂 That is why dating an MC with younger siblings would do her good. She would finally understand the struggles of being an older sibling.

As for MC. Again, Nadia is a princess from a great nation, and whether we like it or not, even if she treats them like an equal, in theory, the canon MC is always going to be beneath her (not a bad thing if someone is into that wink wonk.) Initially, this shows in Nadia's attitude too, but I think she learns that titles aside, she and MC are both just people and nothing else in the world matters. She also realizes that despite their different titles and finances, she could learn so much from MC about being a person. That's it, just a person. Sure, countesses and princesses are people too, but their lives are so much different from a commoner's.

Nadia lives in an untouchable world where even the slightest bit of physical affection seems like the biggest crime. Would the maids dare to put a reassuring hand on the Countess' shoulder or, gayness forbid, give her a hug? Hell no, because they are fucking terrified of her and the consequences of forgetting their place. Would Nadia actually like someone to put a hand on her shoulder or give her a hug? Hell yes, but she, too, is bound to these kinds of rules and probably wouldn't even think about letting a staff member embrace her.

I'm not sure if it's still in the game, but I remember MC thinking something like they always accidentally touch with Asra because the shop is so small. MC notices that Nadia can't have it and that it makes her feel alone, but she also deserves to have physical affection in her life (this was right before their first kiss.) And this is what MC taught Nadia: that these shitty rules can get fucked, and it is okay to let (nice) people in.

I don't think she ever really looked down on MC (she pitied them at most), but she is pretty much used to bossing people around. I can understand that this was unusual for her and needed some time to adjust. Treating people like her equals is another lesson she had to learn, but I think she did succeed with that. We're gonna ignore the reversed ending because Nadia is undoubtedly superior to MC in that one.

However, in the upright ending, we have a cute, sweet, loving person looking at us like we are the most precious thing in the world, and she would do anything for us. Upright Nadia gives zero fucks about titles, riches, upbringings, or anything because she does not need any of those to love MC. At the same time, she can be herself. She no longer has to hide behind the Princess/Countess mask, she can let her walls down, just be Nadia, and love MC like there's no tomorrow.

The outer layers of her character get stripped down to reveal the kind of person that she is and she can be. She was very, very far from perfect. She was not necessarily bad at first either, but her past is questionable af. However, inside those layers, there's a woman who has been starving for love and companionship her entire life. Did she cause that starvation to herself? That's very possible. She certainly didn't make it easier for herself and the people around her. But MC must stand with Nadia at her lowest (which is the beginning of her route) to see the best version of herself she can be.

And did Nadia learn from her mistakes? Yes, she did. That is unquestionable. She did waste half of her life, but maybe that was the path she needed to take in order to open her eyes (literally.)

In the end, Nadia is a wonderful person and an amazing lover who has managed to leave the past behind for the better. Upright Nadia is baby. She went through a lot of character growth, and that's very beautiful. In the beginning, she is Countess, but in the end, she is just Nadia.

Good job, Nadi. We are proud of you.

#nadia satrinava #the arcana nadia #arcana nadia #countess nadia #nadia the arcana #nadia arcana #the arcana #I'm finally putting my analysing skills to good use

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yukidragon · 1 year

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https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8C9URuw/ omg i just found this audio and dude the bad ending ideas you can come up with this for Jack and Mc. Or Jack and alice if you please.

Goodness. That certainly sounds like a bad end AU for Jack. MC is convinced his love for them is a lie and executes him themselves... It's a very tragic thing to imagine.

I think it is possible that's going to be an actual bad end route for the game. If Jack is rejected, he's going to be the antagonist, guaranteed. He needs MC to not be damned back to hell. No matter how much he loves them and wants to see them happy, he's going to cross lines in order to keep them for his own self-preservation and because of how much he loves them.

I can easily see in the routes of any of the other love interests, or even just in a route where MC doesn't choose any love interests that they'll have to be the one to reject Jack for good. In a lot of ways, MC is dependent on Jack. They feel lonely and he makes them feel good. It's why they get so scared of losing him if they push him away and suddenly they can't touch him.

It makes me think of how one of the inspirations for the game is comfort characters. Jack, in a real sense, is a comfort character to MC. He's not real enough to affect reality (as far as MC knows), but he's real to them. The fact that even months on they still don't really think he's real shows that they're struggling to see him as a person and not as the character he portrays.

Alice, in Sunshine in Hell, has a slightly different mindset than this. She isn't convinced right away that he's real and that she isn't crazy, but she chooses to treat him like a person, rather than a character she's imagining. She's erring on the side that if Jack is real, then it would be pretty shitty to not treat him like a person.

That voice clip makes makes me think of an MC who just simply doesn't believe in Jack - not his love or friendship. He's a monster threatening people in their life. They see his love as a lie. There are plenty of MCs that feel this way and reject Jack and his love as manipulative/scary/fake/etc.

Even with the ability to feel Jack's feelings to some degree, as I've theorized about in past posts, there are plenty of people who still won't really empathize with him. Heck, there are MCs who I'm sure would be creeped out by it, especially since he is being manipulative.

So I can see a moment where MC no longer believes in Jack and is so scared of him that they just take him out in desperation, especially if it's to save someone else they care about.

Even when I wrote that sort of situation, where Jack was a threat to Shaun and Ian due to wrong choices that were made, Alice still believes Jack loves her.

Alice is a pretty empathetic person. She struggles to want to see anyone hurt or suffer. That's why she has such a hard time with the idea of hurting Ian. Even though she has a gun and would be able to bring herself to use it on a person in a dangerous situation, if she has any sort of emotional connection to the person, then she won't be able to bring herself to do it. Even shooting an attacker in self-defense is done, well, defensively. She goes for non-vital points.

Jack would have to really wreck Alice's trust and faith in him, do everything possible wrong to make himself into a lying, manipulative monster in her eyes for her to be able to bring herself to shoot him dead, especially while he's still saying he loves her.

Jack being Jack isn't going to do that much damage to their relationship, especially not when he's so desperate to keep her love. The reason why the Bad End AU resulted in Alice sacrificing herself for his sake is because his love for her is sincere. He's not going to make choices that'll convince her it's all fake. Hell, even Ian couldn't do that, and he slept with someone else.

It would take solid evidence to convince Alice that Jack's love is a lie. She's going to be reluctant to believe that he loves and is attracted to her at the start of the relationship, but even on day one, she can already tell that he cares about her. That's why she agrees to be his friend and why she is doing so much to treat him kindly and cheer him up.

I think Alice's biggest flaw might be that she's too kind and empathetic. She doesn't give up on people unless pushed to the brink. That's why the situation with her and Ian is so broken. Jack is too careful about making sure that won't happen, which is why the Bad End AU is the way it is rather than like the voice clip.

Still, the alternative is a pretty interesting bad end route for another MC. I think I've seen a few pictures of MCs destroying the tape in the past. It would certainly make for a tense and frightening climax in the game.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Ask

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itsclydebitches · 11 months

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Honestly, I think most of the issues in this season exist because they clearly planned four seasons. Ted was supposed to go through a flop era, where he'd be checked out and his divorce and overall shitty situation with Michelle (the therapist thing) would have bitten him in the ass, and he'd struggle with his own positivity. It's crucial for Ted as a character to be critical of his life in Kansas, otherwise his character doesn't do anything but serve as an enlightened american spiritual guide to a bunch of brits (NOT a classy plot line and not a good move, especially since most of the brits are either queer or poc). I swear to god, if they make Ted go back to Kansas and end the series with him returning to the status-quo, I'll riot. His story was clearly about trying something new and brave for the wrong reasons, and finding himself in the process! He was not happy in Kansas! He has built himself a life in England that he never had in Kansas (otherwise we'd see him missing his friends, not the never-ending loneliness).

But it's a season long arc, and a recovery process that would last them another season. I was sure they would stop after the fourth season, not the third!

I think they might have decided to wrap it up early, either because of the impending strike, or because Sudeikis got bored.

Sudeikis has come out and said (on a couple of occasions I believe) that the show was pitched as a three season arc, not four. However, as a fellow writer who always needs about 75% more time/space than she originally planned for a story, I can easily picture how a perceived three season arc could actually need four seasons once you're in the nitty-gritty of writing it. I also don't know enough about the inner workings of Apple TV and Sudeikis' creative process to guess at how everyone was originally conceiving a "season." Certainly the 7-10 episodes of today are a far different beast from the 24 episodes of decades past. If Ted Lasso was still three seasons but with season 3 clocking in at 19 episodes... that would make a hell of a difference.

Regardless, I do think this season needed more time and that the issues there are seen more clearly in "International Break" than anywhere else. Nate quitting his job from one episode to the next, Rebecca suddenly being able to laugh uproariously with Rupert, even Roy having this 'aha' moment about being with Keeley... it's not that I think the show hasn't been building towards these things (it has), but rather that the final push feels sudden and, though not out of nowhere, not what I was expecting to happen just yet if - as said - the show had more time to develop these complex moments of growth. Also, though I'm a big fan of the show's sprawling cast and I think that's integral to its overall messages (you need that diversity in characters and their relationships), there was a lot of 'filler' I think this season could have cut to better focus on those key dynamics. For me, Keeley is the most egregious example in that regard. Shandi and Jack added little to her story imo - beyond a without-a-doubt queer confirmation and a little growth in terms of being a boss - so I would have rather had more of the focus be around Roy and her company more broadly.

Anyway, yeah, HARD agree about Kansas. I've already written about how disappointed I'd be in that ending. Personally, I don't think I'd want a whole season of Ted's "flop era," especially since that's where he started out: the presumably useless American "wanker" who is driving the team into the dirt. The shorter arc we got this season where Ted struggles, doubts, and then makes a tremendous comeback worked well for me. What would I have given Ted instead to fill that time... I'm not sure, which is one of the reasons why I think the show does benefit from that three season structure. There's only so much you can do with the concept of "Presumed failure is not a failure after all and actually is supper successful" before you're forced to backtrack (which undermines the message) or just sit in the boring "They're great aren't they great everything is great" ending. So Ted's football arc works for me, we just need more time for all those relationships. Keep the basic structure we have in terms of overall plot, but add in episodes to fully take the characters through the conflicts Season 2 introduced: How does Nate possibly redeem himself in Rupert's clutches? How can Ted come to terms with Michele dating their therapist? Why is Beard still 'happily' dating Jane after Higgins' intervention and his violent night out? How does Roy overcome this all-consuming belief that he's holding Keeley back? What in the world is going on with Rebecca and this maybe baby? How is Trent going to confess his love for Ted?

As said, the season IS answering all these questions, it just feels like the short structure has landed us with, "This is a problem, this is a problem, this is still a problem, the characters are acknowledging it's a problem... oh look the problem is now solved off-screen/in one scene! Happy days."

#Ted Lasso #Ted Lasso spoilers #I feel like this ask makes it sound that I'm disliking the show a lot more than I am #like you can tell this season is rushed in many respects #but I still think the moment-to-moment writing is REALLY good #like do I care how messy Keeley's arc has been #if it gets me drunk bonding with Mae?#...I mean yeah I care but not nearly as much as I would have if there wasn't Mae bonding lol

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leastdatablebracket · 7 months

Text

ROUND 3, MATCH 16

Propaganda under the cut!

Kenshin Uesugi

Propaganda

He is a cold calculating bloodthirsty warlord, who is also a yandere and overly jealous. Also is obsessed with MC's friend Sasuke, where he both loves and constantly threatens to kill Sasuke.

Cullen Rutherford

Propaganda

stupid racist cop creep whose fans cry about how hes "changed" and "you can't judge him he was addicted to magic drugs" nah he still chose to be a racist cop and abuse his power over innocent people and i hate him. the writers making him romanceable in da:i after how blatantly horrible he was in da:o and da:2 is baffling but i guess they had to appeal to the part of their audience who watch those "mafia boyfriend" videos on tiktok or whatever

He's creepy in origins, though still 100% willing to kill the female mage pc he's crushing on, as well as all the other mages trapped in the circle with him. He's the second-in-command in an even worse circle in 2, listening to and defending the increasingly obviously insane meredith until literally the end. He's one of the people still pushing for the circle system by inquisition, and yes he's going through withdrawals and working through the traumas of previous games. And to be brutally honest his was the first romance i took and while i don't remember much from it, its not worth all the girls going absolutely nuts over knockoff terrible alistair.

He's basically a cop who thinks being born a certain way can revoke personhood and by Inquisition still thinks mages are monsters to be controlled, not people. He gets a fairy tale cutesy romance that focuses on his personal struggles with addiction while showing absolutely no regard to the atrocities he committed and still thinks were justified. He can be romanced BY A MAGE and his actions and beliefs are just glossed over. He believes mages are 'not people like you (Hawke) and me', but if the Warden was a female mage he canonically had a crush on her and would deliberately hang around her despite the fact that he was her *jailer*. If that Warden romanced Leliana, there is war table dialogue in which he pesters Leliana for news of his 'former' crush despite her repeated statement that she doesn't want to talk to him about her. All this shitty behavior and lack of introspection gets swept under the rug by the game, not even giving the PC the chance to really challenge his beliefs. Like damn even Fenris could apologize when he lashed out due to past trauma with mages, and if anyone has a reason to hate mages it's Fenris. If you want an ex Templar hottie Alistair is RIGHT THERE. Tbh I know Cullen is a popular romance and I'm not here to tell anyone what they can or can't do or like in a video game, I'm just saying I think he is deeply undateable

Spends the first two games as an antagonist, fervently devoted to the cause of subjugating mages, then a bunch of "character development" happens off screen and the games treat him like he's completely reformed. However he's actions make it clear he still sees mages as dangerous and lesser. Not to mention if you romance him with an elf he doesn't pay your culture more than lip service respect like most of the devout characters

He was a total villain in the first two games who was violently prejudiced against mages and uses one single bad experience as an excuse for it (a bad experience that is pretty much exactly what he in his job subjected graduating apprentices to, mind you, but this is never brought up). Now he says he's changed, but his words and actions say otherwise. He still distrusts mages, sympathises with the rebel Templars trying to kill them, and he never owns up to the terrible stuff he did and helped others do in the past two games. He totally knew what Meredith was doing and says he doesn't, and he still tries to defend her intentions. And you have no option to call him out on it. If you romance him as a mage, he angsts about how he might have seen you as subhuman in the past but NOW you're one of the good ones, and when you ask him if he'll kill you if you get possessed, he dodges the question. And the PC is written as being almost sad that she's a mage? Like 'can you love me despite what I am??' Also if Leliana romanced a female mage PC in the first game who is still alive, he asks her creepy questions about their relationship. Fitting considering his original purpose was to be creepy to the female mage Warden.

I hate him and want to cause chaos. Plus his VA is an asshole.

Cop

I think you covered almost everything but don't forget that beautiful moment in DA2 - Act 2 where you find out some templars had a petition to lobotomize all mages and Meredith, THE HARDCORE TEMPLAR LEADER, rejects it, but Cullen says they got a point. Despite the fact that we just found out that those templars were using lobotomy (or the threat of) to rape people and get away with it. And then Cullen in DA:I is whining that anything that happened it's not his fault because Meredith kept the worse away form him so he didn't know, but also that anyway Meredith had a point and did what she had to do. Meredith does not go mad until Act 3, before she was of sound mind and Culllen was her second in command BECAUSE he hated mages as much as (or even more) than her. What the FUCK did she even hide from you, Cullen. Oh, but he changed! Because the writers make A VICTIM OF THE TEMPLARS say so. And anyway he only says so BECAUSE HE READS MINDS not because Cullen did anything to show it. Also the narrative wants to sympathise with Cullen for his drug problems while Cullen is openly attacking the only other character with the same problem for...having the same problem. And he's the antagonist, so there were OTHER things Cullen could be mad about. But he is mad about the drug problem. Also I'm not an expert on writing characters with addictions but he is an addict only when it's time to have a cut scene where you pity him. Otherwise it has zero impacts on everything else.

#round 3

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swordfright · 1 year

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please write that essay

I assume based on your timing that this ask is in reference to this post, in which case I'm sorry it took me a couple days to get around to answering! This is not gonna be super well-organized but here are my thoughts:

The lore tidbit about c!Quackity actually having WON the bet with Glatt is literally the best possible way that whole situation could have gone. It’s such a solid storytelling move and I respect cc!Q to the moon and back for confirming it, both because I think c!Q's actions after having won the bet are very in-character for him and also because this option is, simply put, more narratively satisfying than the alternative. I'll explain why I think that.

c!Quackity's whole character arc is about belonging and agency and, importantly, how the pursuit of those things can go wrong. When he first joins the server he struggles to find somewhere to belong and gets used by others. His later attempts to exercise agency in order to foster his idea of a safe and stable community (yes, I'm including Butcher Army here) largely end in disaster. So eventually, Q establishes his own country, his own place where he can control every potential element and risk factor, but arguably he does so at the cost of love and friendship and community, the things he wanted to foster and maintain and protect in the first place. His defining fears about community safety eventually become reduced to fears about personal safety. To me, it’s a very clear negative character arc. When Q makes the bet with Schlatt’s ghost and ends up torturing c!Dream for the revival book, the audience are led to assume it’s because he lost the bet and is still beholden to Glatt in this one final way.

The exact nature of his and Schlatt's relationship prior to Schlatt's death carries some degree of ambiguity, but it's pretty widely interpreted as an abusive romantic relationship, and I'd argue that canon supports this interpretation. They were engaged following the Manberg coalition, and we know their relationship was increasingly rocky during this period. If you subscribe to this particular interpretation of their relationship (which I do because again, I believe canon supports it), then this adds a certain weight and gravity to Q's bet with Schlatt's ghost. The bet becomes a horrible postmortem extension of this toxic relationship that has deeply left its mark on c!Quackity, and Q losing the bet puts him in a vulnerable position both psychologically and literally. He is still beholden to his shitty ex, despite having put him in the fucking ground. That's a powerful motivation to get the book and be done with Glatt forever --- so it makes sense that when Q started torturing Dream for the book, many viewers automatically assumed it was because Q lost that bet.

Personally, I never really liked that assumption, because I feel it lets Q off too easy. It's too convenient an excuse. It dismisses the horror and cruelty of Q's deal with Sam by allowing Q the plausible deniability of desperation, characterizing the torture as his final desperate attempt to escape Schlatt's legacy, i.e. “My abuser made me do it, I’m still being threatened and coerced, I’m not culpable for my own actions!” (Which isn't even a justification that c!Quackity himself would ever use, so it's frustrating to see viewers fall back on it. The c!Quackity woobification in this fandom is much worse than the c!Dream woobification but let's leave that discussion for another day.)

But then (BUT THEN!!!) we find out that no, c!Quackity didn't lose the bet, he actually WON. He didn't want that book for Glatt, he wanted it for himself. He tortured Dream for this reason and because he enjoyed torturing Dream, and it’s an amazing anti-reveal because it pulls the rug out from under you but it also makes perfect sense given the sort of person we’ve watched Q becoming over the course of the past year’s worth of lore content. It’s about cycles of violence! In a story that has been about cyclical violence from the beginning, this is a natural conclusion for Q's character arc. DSMP is a story about building as an escape, and escaping what you've built. And ironically, this reveal makes c!Quackity a perfect foil to c!Tommy because Tommy is an abuse victim who, in a lot of ways, strives to be better than his abuser (hello I realize this is a controversial opinion but whatever this is my post) and Quackity is an abuse victim who intentionally strives to out-do his abuser.

Finally, Q winning the bet with Glatt is like, the only option that carries any kind of narrative catharsis. Because if he’d lost the bet, it means that despite Q's tireless efforts to gain agency, he never truly succeeded and is still being used as a pawn. Which is boring imo! It’s literally “area man ends up exactly where he started," which can be a compelling arc but it's not the most compelling possible arc for this particular character in my incredibly biased opinion. Whereas Quackity having won the bet gives his character arc direction. The arc then becomes “area man strives against all odds to achieve agency, succeeds, forfeits humanity in the process.” Area man escapes cycle of abuse only to perpetuate it. Which I personally like because I think it's interesting!

It may not be an uplifting arc, but it’s an arc! It starts in one place and ends up somewhere else. It has momentum! Even though this reveal technically reflects “poorly” on Quackity’s character (idc lol he will be my forever babygirl no matter how many times he violates the Geneva Convention), it’s a plot twist that respects his character so much more than the alternative. There's only so far you can take a story about a guy being powerless. It's much more fun to tell a story where the powerless guy finally attains the agency he always wanted, but at a great personal cost.

(Coincidentally, this is also the reason I wish c!Wilbur's finale stream had ended not with him leaving c!Tommy but with him asking Tommy to accompany him to Utah and Tommy rejecting his offer. But I digress lmfao I'll be bitter about that storytelling decision on my own time)

Anyway, I think @elmhat phrased it really well when they said "We care about Quackity because of his choices." Not just what happens to him, but how he decides to react.

#i realize i didnt cite any sources here #sorry its late and i'm too tired to go hunting for clips BUT #if you want me to cite any of my claims then just shoot me an ask and i'm happy to track down the clip for you!#c!quackity #quackity #dream smp #dsmp #dsmp meta #hope you enjoyed my essay anon #hmu if you want elaboration on any particular point

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irregularbillcipher · 8 months

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regarding the birdie bad dad thing, idk if this is a situation you can logic your way out of by citing facts about the poor guy. unfortunately i think a lot of people think substance abuse = a terrible person regardless of when their addiction began or why, because theres a pretty persistent belief in our society that only bad people become addicted to drugs/alcohol in the first place lmfao. it conveniently makes people coping with mental and physical health crises that much easier to ignore!

yeah, i will say for the person i saw the other day, when someone corrected them and said "hey, birdie didn't have alcohol issues when he was a father, it couldn't have impacted his kids," they did recant. i don't wanna imply this guy stuck their head in the sand or anything, they admitted they were wrong. but it was such a weird take on the character, because all you have to do to see that literally isn't true is to read an eight word sentence at the end of his character bio

like i've seen him forgotten when listing decent parents in the lisa universe-- people pulled from fangames under the assumption there were no non-abusive parents in the base games which, like, isn't true-- and i do think that birdie's current state as a person with pretty obvious addiction issues does just sort of make people forget that he is the only parent in lisa who is never implied to be bad to his kids in any way

part of it is probably just that people don't seem to think about him more seriously-- despite being a party member with one of the most clearly defined backstories pre-definitive edition, he doesn't get a ton of in-depth fan content outside of random fanart, so people just sort of remember him as The Drunk Guy and then if they remember he had kids, might just go "yikes, that probably wasn't good," but i do think you're absolutely onto something about how people will just automatically demonize anyone with addiction issues, no matter what the circumstances are behind it. birdie has one of the most ""valid"" reasons to be struggling with addiction that anyone could dream up-- the man was a single father who lost his kids to a situation that seemed mostly, if not entirely, out of his control and he spiraled after that-- and even acts in a pretty "palatable" way, mostly being weepy or overly affectionate, and there have still been some people who have just automatically assumed he was abusive in some way. he's Bad because he's drunk and well we really don't have to think about him and his grief any further than that! he's just a Drunk Guy, so all the circumstances around it must be his own fault.

idk like he is a side character at the end of the day, despite the interesting parallels that can be drawn between him and some of the most important characters in the game, and the general importance he may hold in a narrative about fatherhood, i don't wanna imply that Not Understanding this random party member is like, the most pressing issue in the lisa fandom. i just think it's a shame that he gets overlooked so easily, and it's sort of disconcerting that i've seen people forget that he was implied to be a decent dad more than once

anyway yeah i agree very much with this ask, and especially how addicts are just unfairly demonized no matter how they actually act as people. i do understand how, in a narrative about abuse and especially abusive fathers, someone might assume that birdie would have also been a shitty dad. like genuinely, i do, especially if they haven't reread the character bios in a while, or just heard secondhand that apparently birdie has kids who passed away. but the fact that people forgetting that the circumstances behind joey and jimmy's deaths seemed more like an issue of a lack of resources than deliberate abuse or neglect is a take i've seen more than once is just surprising, and birdie's current-day alcoholism being cited for why he must have been a bad dad is just sort of frustrating

#again i do wanna clarify that this is only a take i've heard like. twice #and both times the people have been open to being corrected-- i just like bitching about misinterpretations of my faves #but i DO think his addiction issues make people write him off as being less complex than he is (or at least has the potential to be)#and it's a shame. and also like... yeah it can be telling of how people view actual people with addiction issues

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kitkatt0430 · 2 months

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So I'm finally watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and... I'm not sure how I feel about it thus far.

I do like Sam & Bucky's dynamic. Bucky being offended that Sam gave up the shield makes sense because Bucky misses Steve and is projecting things on to Sam. It's not fair, because Sam is his own person and deserves the chance to find himself first, but it's very human of Bucky to behave that way. Especially while he's struggling to make apologies to the people he hurt as the Winter Soldier, probably because he feels it's selfish to seek this catharsis for himself when it means dragging this pain up for them instead.

In turn Sam is also kinda projecting his feelings about Steve onto Bucky. Steve left Sam with a legacy he feels unsuited for, or at least unready for. Bucky is Sam's connection to Steve and he doesn't need Bucky piling on, making him feel guilty about giving up the shield when he already feels bad about it himself. At the same time he really wants to have a good working relationship with Bucky and be there for him in the way he can no longer be for Steve.

Their staring contest therapy is hysterical.

That said, their reaction to John Walker as the new Captain America was a major over reaction and kinda shitty. I get it. They feel like the only person who should be picking up the mantle of Captain America is one chosen by Steve Rogers or at least similar to him in some way. All John really has going for him is he has a very impressive military record. He's a good soldier, but he's not really the kind of person who Steve would have picked and he's got very little in common with Steve, though there are some things they do have in common that stick out.

John is very much suffering from gov officials making promises they didn't intend to keep. Sam gave up the shield with the promise it would be retired and instead the government chose a new Captain America to wield it. Which isn't a great look for the gov where the Avengers are concerned, but it's not exactly unexpected. Despite what Steve clearly believed, Captain America isn't a personal title for Steve Rogers alone... it's an honorary military title. (The fact that they didn't name a new Captain America while Steve was on the run still surprises me, tbh.) And the military is going to use everything at it's disposal to make itself look good which means passing on the mantle one way or another. Sam would've made good optics if he'd accepted and John makes for good optics for completely different reasons.

John was absolutely the wrong choice to be Captain America - honestly he kinda comes off as being in over his head after being picked for being a white guy who bears a superficial resemblance to Steve and has never been accused of terrorism... unlike Steve... which allowed for rehabilitating the Captain America 'brand' for the military. He probably could have made it with support but he gets none and I know from spoilers that Lemar is going to die, sending John over the edge not unlike how Steve reacted when he thought Bucky was in danger. So, you know... superficial resemblance but not entirely superficial.

Honestly, the next Captain America needed to be better than Steve and I could see Sam having that potential. John really just doesn't have it. But that doesn't make him a bad person - he really does seem to me that he's a good person trying his best and it's unfortunate his best isn't enough in this situation.

Anyway, Zemo and Sharon have shown up and I'm enjoying how these two are playing Sam and Bucky to varying degrees. Seriously boys, get your acts together.

So while I'm enjoying a lot of the character interactions overall... this is very much a case of strawman bad guys. Their goals are ultimately good - putting an end to border fanaticism and making immigration between all countries easier is something that very genuinely needs to happen - but their bad methods are used to pretend that increased, selfish nationalism is the right way to go. Someone has to be Captain America. And anything that 'threatens' the borders of America must automatically be bad, including the idea of a world without borders.

There's a lot of rah-rah-USA in the MCU and I knew that going into this show, but it still really sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of watching this for me. When your antagonists are acting in ways inherently anti-thetical to their own stated goals for the sole purpose of making them more villainous/justifiable to treat badly, it makes them less interesting villains overall and it does feel like that's what's going on with the Flag Smashers. It's one thing when bad guys act counter to their cause for a purpose, but when it's solely for drama...

#kitkatt0430 watches #the falcon and the winter soldier #fandom meta #mcu meta #These guys have got stop leaving Zemo unsupervised

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