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mayasaura · 3 days

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It really dawned on me watching episode 17, just how important this sequence of events is to Kabru and Laios' relationship, and how. Well. That's for a different post. I want to keep this one free of spoilers. (Certified Safe For Anime Only™)(There are spoilers for episode 17, tho. Obviously.)

Kabru's main concern has been, at least in part, revealed. He wants to figure out if Laios is capable of defeating the dungeon, and, if so, if Laios can be trusted with the power that might confer. The answer to his first question is simple. Yes. If anyone can defeat the dungeon, it's Laios.

The second question is where things get interesting. Can Laios be trusted with power?

In the aftermath of Laios' first fight with Toshiro, Kabru learns that while Laios has no particular respect for the law or conventional wisdom, he does have the humility to consider that his judgment might be flawed if he encounters conflict with someone he respects.

That is the face of a man taking notes, and I think he's making a cautious mark in Laios' favor. Laios doesn't really understand Toshiro's opinion, but he's listening.

Then, in the fight with the Falin-Dragon chimera, Kabru voices dissent—disgust, even—with Laios and Marcille's priorities.

You can practically see the Dragon Age style approval rating drop. Kabru disapproves. Minus fifteen hearts. If it had ended like this, I think Kabru would have lost all interest in Laios. Someone who would sacrifice a dozen lives out of sentiment can't be trusted.

Laios' response, and the way it builds on Kabru's earlier observation, is crucial.

He listened. And even better, he didn't listen blindly. He applied critical thought to Kabru's argument. What Kabru hears from him isn't just "I'm sorry, you were right," but also, "I understand and respect your position and priorities, and here's a very good argument for why killing what I still consider to be my sister is not in our best interest."

He processed Kabru's criticism and came to his own conclusions, and he did it fast. Not only that, but he's right. Kabru hadn't considered the potential consequences of killing the chimera.

Laios proved in this one exchange that he 1) isn't blinded by either his pride or his prejudice, 2) has the strength of character to not just fall back and surrender to someone else's judgment when he's uncertain, and 3) is smart enough to tactically outhink Kabru.

This is why Kabru is so invested in Laios liking him that he forces himself to eat the harpy omlette. This is why Kabru takes Laios' hand and makes sure he knows he wants to see him again. He doesn't understand Laios, and he still has strong reservations about him. Laios' interest in monsters scares him. But Laios has proved to Kabru that he might be capable of being the person Kabru needs him to be.

Top Ten Pictures Of The Moment He Won You Over (Taken Just Before Disaster).

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi spoilers #kabru of utaya #laios touden #we get a LOT of information to process in episode 17 #but Kabru's motivations as I present them here are supported by both his statements in the sea serpent episode and his thoughts in this one #I don't want the post to get any longer so I'm just gonna trust you all to either trust me on that or go back yourselves to verify #delicious in dungeon #labru #sort of

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hotvintagepoll · 2 days

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Propaganda

Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)—iconic actress with purple eyes and a double row of eyelashes, the real ebony dementia ravenway of old hollywood. known for her stunning tastes when it comes to jewelry and her incredible, incredible advocacy during the AIDS crisis.

Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring, The Idiot)— "'The only time I saw Susan Sontag cry,' a writer once told me, his voice hushed, 'was at a screening of a Setsuko film.' What Setsuko had wasn’t glamour—she was just too sensible for that—it was glow, one that ebbed away and left you concerned, involved. You got the sense that this glow, like that of dawn, couldn’t be bought. But her smiles were human and held minute-long acts, ones with important intermissions. When she looked away, she absented herself; you felt that she’d dimmed a fire and clapped a lid on something about to spill. Over the last decade, whenever anyone brought up her lips—'Setsuko’s eternal smile,' critics said, that day we learned that she’d died—I thought instead of the thing she made us feel when she let it fall." - Moeko Fujii

This is round 5 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Elizabeth Taylor:

I've been trying to steer clear of the absurdly-big names, but damnit, those violet eyes got me. The *talent*, the *presence*, the string of marriages and (temporally out-of-bounds) work in combating AIDS and pioneering in the concept of the celebrity fragrance line.

Not only did she have gorgeous violet eyes and lashes for days and one of the hottest voices ever, she was also a big supporter of the gay community

Child actress turned starlet, Liz dominated films as one of the greatest screen legends of classic hollywood. If your protagonist has violet eyes, they're imitating hers.

A Legend. She was serving milf rage in Whos Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. A Star in every sense of the word.

She was renowned for the beauty of her eyes; they were a dark blue but could look violet in certain lighting, something that photographers would actually touch up to look even more so in pictures. But even more striking was a genetic mutation that gave her a double row of eyelashes. She was also famed for her string of husbands -- 8 marriages to 7 men. Two-time hubby Richard Burton once said she was “a wildly exciting love-mistress… beautiful beyond the dreams of pornography.”

Her EYES. Early and loud support for gay rights and AIDS victims. Married a bunch of hot dudes, Burton twice!

just look at her. she's gorgeous. there's a video somewhere of her applying her eyeliner in the mirror and I think about it all the time

THE Hollywood actress of all time. Not only was she known for her long dark locks and blue-violet eyes, she also had one of the wildest life stories ever….. She’s Carrie Fisher’s stepmother because her father Eddie Fisher cheated on Debbie Reynolds with Liz. She was knighted as a dame of England. She was married to seven different men, one of them twice. She was also very kindhearted and did a lot of charity activism.

Asides from being an iconic actor, she did a lot of philanthropy and co founded the American Foundation for AIDS research. She’s sometimes considered one of the last great stars of old hollywood

Setsuko Hara:

One of the best Japanese actresses of all time; a symbol of the golden era of Japanese cinema of the 1950s After seeing a Setsuko Hara film, the novelist Shūsaku Endō wrote: "We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: Can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?"

One of the greatest Japanese actresses of all time!! Best known for acting in many of Yasujiro Ozu's films of the 40s and 50s. Also she has a stunning smile and beautiful charm!

Linked gifset

Linked gifset 2

She's considered by some to be the greatest Japanese actress of all time! In Kurosawa's The Idiot she haunts the screen, and TOTALLY steals the show from Mifune every time she appears.

"No other actor has ever mastered the art of the smile to the same extent as Setsuko Hara (1920–2015), a celebrated star and highly regarded idol who was one of the outstanding actors of 40s and 50s Japanese cinema. Her radiant smile floods whole scenes and at times cautiously undermines the expectations made of her in coy, ironic fashion. Yet her smile's impressive range also encompasses its darker shades: Hara's delicate, dignified, melancholy smile with which she responds to disappointments, papers over the emotions churning under the surface, and flanks life's sobering realizations. Her smiles don't just function as a condensed version of her ever-precise, expressive, yet understated acting ability, they also allow the very essence of the films they appear in to shine through for a brief moment, often studies of the everyday, post-war dramas which revolve around the break-up of family structures or the failure of marriages. Her performances tread a fine line between social expectation and personal desire in post-war Japan, as Hara attempts to lay claim to the autonomy of the female characters she plays – frequently with a smile." [link]

Leading lady of classic Japanese cinema with a million dollar smile

Maybe the most iconic Japanese actress ever? She rose to fame making films with Yasujiro Ozu, becoming one of the most well-known and beloved actresses in Japan, working from the 30s through the 60s in over 100 hundred. She is still considered one of the greatest Japanese actresses ever, and in my opinion, just one of the greatest actresses of all time. And she was HOT! Satoshi Kon's film Millennium Actress was largely based on her life and her career.

#setsuko hara #elizabeth taylor #hotvintagepoll #fuck that old woman #ladies 5

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daiziesssart · 1 day

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a humiliatingly long character analysis of lily evans

Someone sent me an ask that briefly mentioned how misunderstood Lily is, and before I knew it I was typing out this monster. I am. sorry. This is literally just me rambling about her, what I find compelling about her character, and why her character is so often misunderstood.

This is long as hell so I'm putting it under a read more lolol

Part of the reason I like Lily so much (other than my being ginger and projecting onto any redheaded female character I see) is that even though she isn’t explored as much as her other Marauders Era counterparts, we know enough about her to start building the framework for her character. And what I see is a girl who was incredibly interesting, kind, and flawed.

One thing I always think about in regards to Lily is that she was dealt with a pretty unfair hand. As soon as she receives her letter, she’s basically torn between two worlds, both of which have been less than welcome to her. On one hand, we have the muggle world that she’s known all her life, but once she starts integrating into the wizarding world, she likely feels a bit of a disconnect with that world. To twist the knife further, her sister- whom she loved dearly and grew up so close with- starts outwardly resenting her with such unbridled hostility that they likely couldn’t even be in a room alone together without major conflict.

On the other hand, we have the wizarding world– a world she’s not as familiar with and one she soon learns holds a demographic of people who hate everything she is and would rather see her excommunicated or even dead. And even though finding out you’re a witch/wizard is probably such an exciting and life-changing moment, I can’t help but also take note of the difficulties, especially if you’re the only one in your family with magic. You’re essentially uprooted from the only way of life you’ve known at an already complicated age, and now you have to quickly become acclimated to this new world that you only just found out existed. Not only that, but now you’re suddenly attending a school with classes that are primarily focused on this world of magic (which is still brand new to you), and you have to work extra hard to play catch up in order to do well. Like, that all seems like… a lot for a kid to handle.

And then I remember how young she was when she was thrown into that mess. She was only 11, and kids that age desperately crave any sense of belonging. I mean, that’s something that still holds true for adults, but it’s especially critical for a developing child. So imagine Lily, ages 11-15, struggling to stay afloat in this weird purgatory between these two parts of herself, both of which have been the cause for major and traumatic experiences relating to rejection in her life.

(I say it was the “cause” even though it’s obvious that those things were never her fault at all, but when you’re a young kid navigating the world, the only thing you’re able to process is that the common denominator is you, therefore you’re the one who must shoulder the blame.)

So now we have this tween-teenaged girl who has a dysfunctional relationship with two major parts of identity and probably feels absolutely lost.

This is why her hesitancy to end her friendship with Snape makes sense to me. Even though by fifth year he’s already well past toeing the line with the dark arts, Lily was willing to overlook some pretty egregious and troubling things in order to maintain the relationship. I kind of interpret that as her way of desperately clinging on to any sense of belonging she has left; her relationship with Petunia has already been poisoned, and now there are people who resent her existence as a witch; if she loses Severus too, what and who else does she have? And what tone does that set for her, if everyone and everything she’s come to hold close to her ends up turning her away?

It’s also important to note that not only is Severus one of her few remaining connections to the muggle world, but he’s also a wizard who grew up in the muggle world; he understands her, and I don’t doubt that he gave her some stability at times when she needed it (her finding out about her being a witch, her having trouble acclimating to the wizarding world, etc).

I see this as being one of her flaws and I can actually appreciate how relatable and realistic it feels. Lily is not a bad person; on the contrary, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to describe her as such. Not to get all clinical and boring, but the interesting thing about (unhealthy) coping mechanisms is that it can actually be really hard to identify them in your own behavior. Unless you’re in therapy and/or are actively psychoanalyzing yourself, you likely don’t even realize how many of your common behaviors are born from self defense mechanisms put in place by your brain after past events.

To me, it makes sense why she avoided actually confronting the idea that Snape was too far gone. We know that she was aware of the path Severus was taking, but it almost seems like she was still convinced that she could save him, and could possibly steer him back in the right direction. It’s only when she becomes the target of his bigotry that she realizes that the Snape who called her a ‘mudblood’ was not the same Severus who was the one who held her hand and introduced her to this new, exciting world.

In a general sense, yes, it is selfish, to only take a stand when something starts affecting you personally. But I also think it’s important to note that it’s unlikely that this was a conscious decision on Lily’s part. In my eyes, it was easier to delude herself into thinking she still had a chance to save him before it was too late when she was able to separate him from his actions (considering, a lot of the time, she was only hearing about them after the fact, rather than seeing them firsthand). But the elusion is shattered once she sees that the Snape she grew up with– her friend, Severus– is, in fact, the same person who’s out there calling other students slurs, dismissing the malicious use of Dark Magic on others as just “a laugh”. There we see a Lily who is actually revealed to have been somewhat aware of Snape’s involvement with the darker side of magic, and genuinely feels pretty ashamed about her inaction.

Also, this is in no way me being a Snape-anti, and I actually could do an entire separate analysis on his character alone and why I find him so interesting.

Anyways, that moment in SWM is probably somewhat of an epiphany to her. It’s like a dam that’s been broken, and now she’s overwhelmed with the realization of exactly how much she overlooked in order to keep their friendship afloat. And for someone like Lily Evans, someone whom we know is opinionated and unafraid to call others out on their bullshit, that can be hard to swallow and feel pretty mortifying and shameful. And I think this was a huge turning point for her- at that point, she doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding uncomfortable truths anymore and now that she’s getting closer to graduating and being thrown out into the world on the brink of war, this was probably a really sobering discovery.

This is where we don’t have as much info to go off of, and a lot of it is up to interpretation. But we actually have little crumbs to go off of following her graduation and leading up to her death.

One of my favorite little tidbits isn’t in the books, and @seriousbrat's post reminded me about it. Here's the actual entry on Pottermore for anyone who's interested, but I'll summarize: after James and Lily began dating, Lily brings James to meet newly engaged Petunia and Vernon. Everything goes downhill, because Vernon is a smarmy asshole, and James is still pretty immature and can’t help but mess with him (which… fair, I guess). Petunia and Vernon storm out after Petunia letting Lily know that she had no intentions of having her as a bridesmaid, which causes Lily to break down into tears. I mention this because I also think it’s a pretty important aspect of her character; like we’ve seen in her past friendship with Snape, Lily seems more than willing to forgive others most of the time. Petunia is a bit of a complicated character herself, but she was objectively very cruel and unfair to Lily once it became obvious that she was a witch and Petunia was not.

Something that always stands out to me is just how desperate Lily is to earn Petunia’s trust and approval again. Even up until her death, she was more than willing to mend the relationship, were Petunia ever to consider.

This is a detail about Lily that I feel is misunderstood quite a bit. I’ve seen a lot of instances of her character being reduced to a one-dimensional archetype with little to no complexity. And often, that archetype is “know-it-all, prudish, self righteous bookworm who is also a goody two-shoes with a stick up her ass”. What annoys me is that the reason for this is most definitely the scene in which she blows up at James in SWM for bullying Snape, and hurls quite a few insults at him directly after an extremely devastating and overwhelming situation for her. This frustrates me because we know for a fact that she’s the polar opposite of this archetype I’ve seen her reduced to.

In actuality, she’s referred to as popular, charming, witty, bright and kind. From flashbacks we also are shown that she’s opinionated, bold, and not afraid to challenge others. With other context, like her interpersonal relationships, we can also see that she’s pretty emotionally driven and wears her heart on her sleeve.

(I know Remus didn’t mention Lily much in the books, but I really love how he described her in the movies. He tells Harry that the first thing he noticed about him was not his striking resemblance to his father, but his eyes, the same eyes Lily had. He also calls her a “singularly gifted witch” and an “uncommonly kind woman”.

“She had a way of seeing the beauty in others, even and perhaps most especially, when that person could not see it in themselves.”

I know there are mixed feelings on whether or not the films count as canon source material, so take it with a grain of salt, but I personally cannot see a world in which Lily and Remus didn’t become close friends.)

Here we have a direct description of what she was like and who she was, corroborated by recounting of memories of her, and yet for some reason, this feels like the thing that is most commonly lost in translation.

I don’t think I can say why I think that is without mentioning the dreaded M word (misogyny- it’s misogyny), but I also don’t want to get too off topic so I’ll be brief: female characters are typically not given the same grace as male characters. When we have an undeveloped male character, he’s awarded the assumption that despite his lack of depth, there still exists a complex and multifaceted character– it’s merely just potential that hasn’t been tapped into. Whereas when we have underdeveloped female characters, they are taken at face value, meaning that not much exists beyond the little information we have of them. They are not presumed to have a life or a story that exists beyond the surface of what we know like male characters are. That’s why I think characters like Regulus, Evan, or Barty (just to name a few) are more popular than Lily, despite being less developed than she is.

(Before anyone gets defensive, no, I don’t think it’s an individual problem that you alone need to be shamed for. I think it’s the result of a deeper issue regarding misogyny in media as a concept; these are things that we’ve all unknowingly internalized and while it’s not our fault, we still have to do the work to deconstruct those learned prejudices.)

What I find really cool about her character is that despite how much she’s been hurt, she’s also still known as one of the most loving, kind, and considerate characters. There were so many times in her life where the love she received was conditional and ripped away from her– and I think that’s what makes her sacrifice even more poignant. She was able to protect her infant son from an extremely powerful dark wizard, wand-less, knowing that her husband was just murdered in cold blood, just from how much love she felt for Harry. Her love was a force of nature on its own, and I just think that’s such an amazing thing about her.

I know I’m biased, given that she’s one of my favorite characters, but even upon delving into this, I still just find it so incredibly hard to understand how anyone can actively hate her (not indifference, but actual dislike). In my opinion (again, no one is unbiased, and she is a favorite character of mine, but trust me when I say that I’m trying to be objective as possible when I say this), she’s probably one of the most likable characters of the Marauders Era. I think perhaps a lot of people haven’t given her a chance or really taken the time to learn about her character, but it could be a myriad of other reasons that I’ll never understand.

There's so much more I could say but this is long enough and I will stop myself

Lily Evans, u will always be famous to me

#lily evans #character analysis #harry potter #i am a little embarrassed that i got so invested in this. i hope at least one person enjoys this insane essay that no one asked for

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unfortunate17 · 3 days

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i agree with you about being frustrated with how often this fandom has top/bottom discussions but its a pretty common talking point in most fandoms so YR isn’t special for that

No I totally agree with you that it’s a common topic of discussion in a lot of fandoms, but there’s a particular way we have it in this fandom that really grinds my gears.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t care if you hc Wilmon to be vers or if you think Wille tops or Simon tops or whatever - it’s the justification and reasoning that I’m seeing behind these headcanons that I find deeply irritating and, frankly, insulting and kind of homophobic.

This is going to get long so forgive me.

1. I’ve seen so many posts talk about how the show is “brave” and “subversive” by having Wille go down on Simon or potentially bottom, but like - what the hell are we even talking about? In what world is it subversive to show a queer character having queer sex?? What are we subverting?? This show has never shown us anything with its intimate scenes other than two guys that are deeply in love and really horny for eachother and I hate that we keep bringing this shit up!!!

2. I’ve also seen people say that it was very important for us to see Wille moving to go down on Simon in the tape in S1 because it’s “more damning evidence that he’s queer” and otherwise Wille could’ve just said he was horny and desperate but he was actually imagining he was with a girl in his denial statement. But be so fucking forreal, in what world is that a thing he could argue in an official statement to the press? He’d be the laughing stock of the world.

Wilhelm isn’t more or less gay because he went down on Simon vs the other way around. He’d still be having queer sex because he’s having sex with another guy. Arguing that the framing here is for anything other than a plot device so Wille’s face wouldn’t be visible to set up the denial is actually kind of ridiculous.

As someone very smart on here said, “I’m sorry that you apparently have a tier list of sex acts ranging from “kinda straight” to “Gaylord” 😭😭 get well soon, couldn’t be me.”

Imagine for one second Simon was the one giving Wille head? Would you have criticized the show for that?? And WHY?!

3. Next: saying that Wilmon’s relationship is “equal” because you think they’re vers is…a take and a half lmao. What the fuck does being vers have to do with a relationship being equal?? Why are we assigning arbitrary hierarchies to sexual preferences??? Why are we implying that topping and bottoming are somehow not equal and you have to carefully balance both, when, ideally, it’s just whatever the fuck everyone is into???

Wille isn’t selfish for topping. Simon isn’t sacrificing anything by bottoming. They’re fucking because they’re in love and they want to 😭

TLDR: Wille doesn’t suck Simon’s dick for class liberation. Simon riding Wille isn’t a commentary on how he’s “girl-coded.” It’s just sex, leave them alone to have a good time and stop assigning agendas to queer sex.

#ask #this got long and crass and I’m NOT sorry #I stole this response from a convo I had with someone in the DMs so ty for your contributions to this post bestie you know who you are #but I could not bite my tongue for any longer #young royals

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megaderping · 1 day

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I think the biggest issue with Naoto discussion is that there are so many intersecting perspectives with very strong feelings involved, and if a Persona 4 remake does happen, I fully suspect that Atlus is going to have their hands full figuring out how to handle the character in the modern day. First there's the cultural context of misogyny in the workplace and especially in the legal and justice systems in Japan, which informs Naoto's character a lot. It is important to consider this, as this was a Japanese game made in 2008 at a time where queer visibility wasn't nearly as prominent, but that alone doesn't invalidate criticism to the arc's execution, regardless of creator intention. A big point of contention is how the arc was handled. Specifically the way it uses talk of body alteration procedures, surgical equipment, and treats the idea of transition as scary. If you consider how draconian the laws behind legally transitioning in Japan are, you can perhaps make a case for why it might cause Naoto internal conflict as complete surgical transition/sterilization/diagnosis were all requirements at the time of the game's development and only recently were declared unconstitutional. Though, as this excellent video pointed out, it's possible this was meant to be a reference to the story Flowers for Algernon, given the weapon you get if you return there later. However, even if that was the intent, transgender people exist in Japan and have since well before Persona 4, and anime such as The Dirty Pair aired in the 80's with very progressive takes on transness. It's very unlikely that the team behind Persona 4 was completely unaware of queer issues and symbolism, given that Persona 3 had that infamous transphobic joke in the original version's babe hunt.

The Dirty Pair, a 1985 anime that was surprisingly progressive.

I think the issue, more than anything, is that the tropes at play don't exist in a vacuum and what comes after Naoto's dungeon raises a lot more red flags. Jokes about Naoto's chest size, the narrative framing Kanji's crush as only acceptable after the reveal, on top of the uncomfortable execution of the romance route in Naoto's Social Link. You get so much "Naoto is actually a girl" in a way where it's other characters talking about/over Naoto, which is what really makes the framing off putting to a lot of people, myself included. And it's not even that you can't do an arc about a female character fighting against prejudiced preconceptions in the criminal justice field without controversy, because Persona 5 pulled this off far less contentiously.

Sae Niijima deals with many similar themes but doesn't seem nearly as contentious, and I think a large part of that is due to Sae openly presenting as a woman from the start. The game openly depicts the misogyny from Sae's superiors and coworkers, such as how she's unmarried and fighting an uphill battle for success in a male-dominated field. Persona has toyed with these ideas in the aftermath of Persona 4 and even when revisiting older titles. Persona 2 went back and added the character of Shiori Miyashiro in the PSP release, a lady detective who has a lot in common with Naoto (e.g. knowingly endangering oneself to get the truth behind a supernatural case). It's also astonishing that we have Lala Escargot in Persona 5, which also had that infamous gay couple that played into horrible stereotypes that were only slightly fixed in royal's international release. Lala, whether trans or a drag queen, is given surprising respect, and her identity is never called into question. A Persona 4 remake could learn from this and cut back on the characters asserting what Naoto feels, what Naoto "really is," etc, and let Naoto and Naoto alone decide. Ultimately, Naoto means different things to different people, and these things can carry great personal weight and importance. Many trans and nonbinary Persona fans see themselves in Naoto. Others favor Naoto as some flavor of gnc or find Naoto embracing femininity and detective work empowering. I think the problem is that when this topic comes up, there's a lot of hostility. Trans fans and people who favor trans Naoto get told to shut up at best, and at worst get hit with shit tons of transphobia and gross conduct. On the other hand, I don't think people who prefer more canon-compliant depictions of Naoto are inherently malicious. It's how they approach these discussions and treat people that makes a difference. Just because someone uses she/her for Naoto doesn't mean they're being intentionally transphobic, but I totally get people wanting to avoid material that uses those pronouns all the same. I also don't think people are wrong to be uncomfortable with the resolution of Naoto's arc in canon. I think people who get upset when fanworks go with trans or NB interpretations of Naoto could stand to be more empathetic, as a lot of those fanworks come from people who connected to Naoto and want to explore what could've been. I don't think more canon-compliant fanworks are inherently malicious either, but no one is obligated to stick around works or spaces that make them feel uncomfortable. Tbh, I'm just wondering what Atlus will do. Persona 3 Reload removed that one transphobic joke during the babe hunt in all languages. Persona 5 Tactica had male marriage fantasies for Joker. I think Atlus is trying to be more inclusive, but Persona 3 Reload also kept Toriumi's crush on the protagonist and Chihiro defending student-teacher romances, so it's really unclear how much of Persona 4's more divisive aspects will be retooled. Because it's not just Naoto. Persona 4 has a lot of aspects that haven't aged well, like all the jokes about Kanji being predatory if he's attracted to guys, or Kashiwagi being creepy toward students, or the fatphobia with Hanako while Ebihara's past of being overweight is treated with more sympathy. I love Naoto and Persona 4, but I also think it's important to be able to criticize elements of the game that could be executed better.

#naoto shirogane #persona 4 #persona discourse #discourse #persona #tw: transphobia mention #meta #can add additional tags if necessary!#tbh i wasn't sure what all i needed to tw for #sae niijima #long post

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red-balloon12 · 3 days

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Why the “They’re Out Of Their Honeymoon Phase” argument doesn’t work (all that much)

So one of the popular arguments against the “Chaggie doesn’t have chemistry” critiques is that “They’re pass their honey moon phase.” And for a bit I believed in that sentiment. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like that argument is kinda…dated? Because Moxxie and Mille are actually married and they had an actual “honeymoon” phase and yet they’re still very affectionate one year later.

My problem with this is that there shouldn’t be a set amount how affectionate a couple should be after a set period of time. Both M&M and Chaggie are Vaild couples. Chaggie strikes me as a couple that A. Are too busy to really be affectionate in public or B. Are a couple that don’t like to really PDA. Both are valid reasons as to why they aren’t as “passionate” with one another as M&M (or OzzFizz for that matter)

And I know what some of you Chaggie critics are going to say. “But how are we going to be convinced they are a couple if they don’t do couple-ly things. That isn’t entertaining.”

Well, they could keep doing what they’re doing now “building off of each other during work” while flirting a little. That way they still keep a low PDA while still doing “couplely” things (although they do hold hands a lot in public and Vaggie isn’t afraid to call Charlie petnames in public sooo…take that with what you will).

But honestly, in an ideal world, Chaggie shouldn’t have to prove themselves as a couple. People should just take them saying “yeah, we’re a couple” and just leave it. Because the reality is, low PDA couples exist in real life and I’ve seen a lot of couples feel seen by Chaggie because they are also low PDA. I think it’s important to showcase different types of couples. Couples that aren’t raunchy like M&M, couples that don’t show a lot of PDA like Chaggie, couples that are pretty raunchy in public like OzzFizz.

(And sometimes, couples may seems like they’re dating their “best friend” because sometimes…that’s what it is, a lot of couples had to be friends at some point, that’s how they work well with each other. This doesn’t add much to my over all argument. I just wanted to take a jab at the “they seem more like friends” argument)

So what does all of this mean? I think we should replace the “they’re out of their honeymoon phase” and replace it with “they’re just a couple that doesn’t like showing a lot of PDA and that’s okay.”

#hazbin hotel #chaggie #hazbin fandom critical #otp analysis

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mansionofhaunts · 1 day

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I do wonder exactly how much of this lore Brennan has had in the tank since freshman year, because I doubt he's had all the specifics completely worked out. That's not a diss or a criticism: when Fantasy High first launched, they had to have had zero idea that Dimension 20 was even going to have another season, let alone another season of Fantasy High, and one of the earliest lessons you learn as a DM is that you never plan too much, because sometimes that's wasted time and energy.

From my own, comparatively modest experience DMing, I look at Porter and Jace being weird, and the Nightmare King crown as...seeds you plant, thinking, "hey, maybe I'll get to that later, but I can lay some groundwork down now, right?" I've got stuff in my own campaigns like that, where I'm like, "I maybe might not ever get to this, but: I'm putting a character here, right now, that thirty sessions from now, I can expand upon," you know? And I have ideas for those characters and what they might be up to, and how it interacts with the entirety of the world I've built, but I don't know the specifics, and I won't work on those until maybe it starts being more relevant.

My guess is: Brennan didn't have the full history of Ankarna sorted out in Freshman Year, but he did have an idea for something like that, and knew that you need to plant some noticeable NPCs around to come back around to later, maybe. Did he know that Porter was going to work with other students to ascend to godhood? Probably not in freshman year.

I think he did start to lock that stuff in in Sophomore Year, however, because that's where he had to commit to building out the Nightmare King lore. That's also where there was considerably more time between sessions, and I think where he got to spend more time just...existing in the world. But yeah, like...Porter transferring Kalina to Ragh? Gotta believe that Brennan was locking in on what he wanted to do with Porter then, for sure.

There's one other aspect of this that's important here: the rest of the crew's contributions to the story absolutely shifted the direction of what Porter's plot was probably going to be, because while, as a DM, you kind of know some tricks you're gonna pull and some twists you want to use, the players are also going to do that. The direction Ally took Cassandra in in particular had to have a massive impact on what he was planning, because Ally played such a huge role in defining who Cassandra would ultimately be in the campaign.

This is a lot of words, I guess, but the sort of long term planning that DMs have to do while not committing overly hard is so fascinating to me, and I wonder if he'll get into this on Adventuring Party. It's such a specific skill, and Dimension 20's format is a unique application of that skill.

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 6 hours

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[submitted 4/24/2024; 📂 for later reference]

WIBTA for reporting teachers to my school principal on the basis of the quality of their teaching?

Hello! For context, my school follows K-12 and I'm in my 2nd to last year (G11). Where I live (I don't know if it's the same for other countries) we all have to get into a track, and each track usually has its own teaching staff led by appointed coordinators who report to the principal every month or so regarding the performance of the teachers under them, though I've heard of some teaching in two or even three other tracks. This information will be important later on.

My first class in the morning is literature, more specifically 21st century literature, and it's taught by Mrs. G. The first thing that gave me a hint that the English-based subjects wouldn't be as great as I hoped was the fact that she was a nursing student. (It's on her Facebook profile. Nearly everyone I know in school posts concerningly detailed stuff about themselves on Facebook, and I just use it for the Messenger...)

Second or third in the morning on a normal school day is Ms. C. She's a DOST scholar which doesn't bother me in the slightest, but out of all the staff that handles the track I'm in, she's the only one who handles two subjects: Statistics and Reading & Writing, another English-based subject, one she doesn't have any certification for. (Again, from Facebook.)

Still, I know well that our system isn't perfect so I sat through their lessons. I was the kid that read a lot of books so I consistently scored high, but I noticed after reading a bit of DepEd learning plans that my classmates and I weren't getting the most out of their lessons for the competencies we were supposed to achieve - for literature, we needed exposure to representative texts from each continent, and for R&W, we were supposed to learn types of reading (archetypal, sociological, etc) earlier. The kindest I can say about them regarding their teaching is that they're deviating from the learning plans in a bad way + spoonfeeding the classes without making them think critically which I know is an important skill when it comes to their subjects.

I later learned from my mom who used to teach at my school that they're still able to hold their positions because they, for lack of a better word, bribe the coordinator with food and a bit of guilt-tripping since some of them are related to him, all to stay in the staff of my track because it's the most convenient one (2nd floor, one hall only). And the coordinator has let it happen for how many years already. It's a matter that should've been reported to the school principal and the division office, but I guess nobody's really had the guts to try and fix this for the sake of the quality of our learning.

I'm going to feel really guilty if I took up on that though. Mrs. G just gave birth this year and needs the salary to provide for her son, and Ms. C doesn't want to give up R&W so she can have enough teaching load + to keep staying in the staff of my track where it's safest to avoid her possibly abusive boyfriend, from what I've heard over the year. I want to do something, not out of malice, but out of concern that the next G11 batch wouldn't learn those 2 subjects and the necessary skills for them properly (because not all of them can afford to self-study).

So, WIBTA?

#aita #am i the asshole

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kitkatopinions · 2 days

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One of the things that many anti-rwde posters get really worked up about is the complaint that bumblebee is rushed, but at least for my part, I feel like there's a misunderstanding on what the real problem is.

They always say "how can people say that the ship is rushed when there were signs early on?" And I think the real problem isn't that there weren't signs. Tbh I personally don't read Blake as romantically interested in Yang during the first few seasons, her treatment of Yang isn't actually that different from her treatment of her other teammates and whatever closeness they accomplish is usually initiated by Yang, but it's easy to read Yang as having a crush on Blake. It's easy to read a lot of characters as having a crush on other characters, like it's easy to think that Ruby had a crush on Weiss, Blake, Penny, and Emerald during different times in the first three seasons, and like it's easy to think that Yang and Weiss were romantically interested in each other specifically in season five. I wouldn't think any of those ships 'came out of nowhere' or 'didn't have any juice' or so on. My main point here is that Blake and Yang weren't a forgone conclusion, but yes, despite the fact that nothing was clear solid proof of romantic interest OR clear solid proof of early writer intention to actually make them canon, there were hints that Blake and Yang could potentially turn into a real ship and it eventually did when the writers got around to it under criticism of queerbaiting and while running out of money.

When I say that I think the ship was rushed, I don't mean that there was never an indication that Blake and Yang might be romantic before they got together or even before their first big significant 'shipping moment' at the end of V6. When I say that I think the ship was rushed, I mean that the writers bypassed growth and working through conflict that I think was necessary for Blake and Yang's dynamic. When I say that I think the ship was rushed, I mean that they invented conflicts just to throw them out one after another without ever addressing it on screen. I mean that there are things very important specifically to the character of Blake like her time in the White Fang, her family, Ilia, and Adam that Yang hasn't talked to her about on screen (except Adam but it was not in any detail.) This isn't even bringing up the fact that they were forced into confessing their feelings for each other and when that happened, Yang didn't say anything about Blake that was true past her being a Faunus. Which makes it seem like the writers don't care to put in effort with the ship but that's just my opinion.

The ship between Blake and Yang wasn't rushed because 'there were never any signs' that it might happen, it was rushed because the writers didn't actually put in the work to deal with the conflicts they themselves wrote for the ship and just bypassed them instead. It was rushed because they went from 'Blake has spent seemingly a year apart from her team while Yang was angry at her the whole time and now the two are awkward with each other' straight to 'they barely leave each other's side, Yang gets angry at the thought of even doing a mission apart, they're in love, they caress each other's faces' without the writers really addressing that quick change.

It's got nothing to do with whether or not I think Yang's 'save me a dance' could be an indicator of real romantic feelings that would get developed later. The writers just fumbled the bag on execution, per the norm.

#rwde #anti bumblby #anti bumbleby #anti bumblebee #anti bb #anti bees

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shunnedmorlock · 3 days

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I know I probably give off green vibes in this account but I actually don't think it's necessarily wrong for the blacks to be portrayed as the correct choice. Reading Fire and Blood I got the sense that choosing between the two might be difficult for a Westerosi noble, because for them the question of loyalty to the crown versus loyalty to tradition is an actually difficult one, whereas for me, even if Rhaenyra wasn't the storied queen, I immediately sympathized with her because it's bullshit for her to be excluded on account of her gender, even if I didn't think she'd be a very good Queen.

So it's entirely legitimate for the show to be "biased" and that's not actually a good critique. Because this didn't actually happen! It's fictional! And I think the show actually did a pretty good job of having Otto and Alicent make cogent, non-misogynist arguments against her. If she were Viserys' only child, she might have a chance, but with brothers, any discontented lord could rally other lords to a war of succession at the drop of a hat.

In my opinion, a better thing to criticize is how the show went about engoodening the blacks - mainly by downplaying their more negative qualities, rather than adding distinctly positive or interesting qualities. The Starks are a go-to example of a "good" house, but it's important that they're all flawed people, and not only are they flawed, they don't always agree. The Strong boys, on the other hand, are more or less the same person, with no sibling rivalries to speak of. Baela and Rhaena, despite having the most distinct personalities in the books, have none, and neither seem to have any resentment or disagreement over the Strong boys claiming their inheritance. There was a lot of potential with Rhaenyra and Rhaenys, but they awkwardly wrapped that up in e8 without much reason.

#asoiaf #hotd #rhaenyra targaryen

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elbiotipo · 3 days

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I am watching a video with criticism of geographical determinism in worldbuilding and realized that I don't really remember seeing any fictional stereotypic merchant state that relies on rivers.

Norse and Rus were whom I had in mind, but to my knowledge British and Japanese people also heavily utilized rivers for trade and I would be very surprised if Ancient Chinese people didn't.

I don't know about history of First Nations of North America and did they have trade in our understanding, but I heard that river system of North America is so convenient that the entire 19th century demand for transportation could have been covered by it alone, without trains.

Just some ideas

Freshwater systems are woefully underused in worldbuilding. The other day I was reading about the history of my region and I was amazed at how big and sophisticated native canoes were in the Paraná, the Paraguay and the Amazonas, and how virtually nobody talks about it. We are talking about ships that could hold about 30 people and some were bigger than Columbus caravels. For centuries into the colonial era, the Spanish and Portuguese hired or pressed into service native navigators for the rivers which were though to navigate as a sea. Still before that, they were the major arteries of commerce and trade through the continent, this is well known. Even Patagonian goods are reported in Corrientes (North of Argentina) which indicates that trade there got very far. As for the Chinese, not only rivers were important to the but also they boasted an amazing canal system but that's about all I know.

One thing I learned recently about rivers and cities is that cities were often founded on the side of rivers, yes, but almost never at their mouth. Look for example at Paris, Rome, London, the Egyptian capitals. They were founded by the river, but the mouth of the river next to the sea is where the delta is, and deltas always change and flood, carrying mud and slit, they aren't good places to build at all. Good river cities are built in the 'deep side' of the river where you can build ports, not in the side where sediment accumulates. Another issue with river cities are marshlands. For example, I remember reading that the marshlands of ancient Rome were drained at great cost. Ancient peoples knew that marshes were 'unsanitary' even if they didn't know why (it's because they host mosquitos and parasites, not because of anything bad wetlands have on itself) and they had to deal with them. There are some exceptions to this, like Venice which was basically built on a marshland (or the Netherlands).

And indeed rivers were (and still are! I see ships going up and down the Paraná every weekend!) a very efficient way of transportation. There's lots about it written in Europe, but river barges were basically the railroads of their time. Before the advent of railroads, people in Europe (and China) weren't thinking roads, but canals, the French built a lot of canals at great expense which became obsolete later by railroad.

Unfortunately the sources about river canoes and transportation in America (continent) are often tucked away in papers and history books, there really isn't that much accessible literature and illustrations about it. Which is a goddamn shame because learning about native canoes bigger than Spanish caravels (and they were still building them in Paraguay and Argentina during colonial times, according to my sources) blew my mind.

#worldbuilding #history #rivers

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risathefairyofshampoo · 2 days

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What kind of an it-girl would you be in the Kpop-industry?

Pick a Pile

1st Pile 2nd Pile

3rd Pile 4th Pile

Take a breath and close your eyes. Then pick the pile you find the most appealing/which catches you first and feel the most connected to! Tarot should be taken lightly! Let's go! ;)

1st Pile

Nine of Swords R, Ace of Wands, The Star R, Seven of Wands R, Eight of Pentacles, Page of Cups, Ace of Cups, Page of Swords, Eight of Wands

So first of all, I'm getting a pretty young vibe!! A really young and hard-working soul. You would be pretty happy and exploring. Being open to new opportunities and new people. Trying to reach your goals, and you would always be active! I think you wouldn't have much luck. You would have to work for your position and therefore you would be working 24/7. No rest. Just working, working, working! Especially if you get hate/ criticism. You wouldn't say anything. You would take that and work even harder on yourself! I also see a lot of creativity. You would be known for your hard work, that is also really creative and that fits the industry really well! Like I see you composing your own songs, writing lyrics, designing albums... Your solo career would be 100% be made by you! You would be such a positive figure. You would be known for your positive aura and image.

❝ ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

2nd Pile

Nine of Swords R, Judgement R, Queen of Cups, King of Pentacles, The Hermit, Five of Cups R, Seven of Swords R, King of Cups R

Wow! So I would say that as an It girl you would have many bran deals! Like a lot! You would have a lot of money and financial success! You would be known for your model jobs. I see you being on a lot of magazine covers. Working with a lot of big companies together! And engagin with many festivals, fashion weeks and so on. You would attend a lot of social events. But I see you getting a lot of hate, and the general public would always have an eye on you! You would also doubt yourself a lot! I think you are someone on the more introverted side. Someone who has problems with anxiety. You would always think how others view you and how you make everyone like you! I also see something coming out from the past (?). Maybe something you did or you would be involved in a lot of scandals. Even though they aren't true. I really think you would be the topic of the country and the K-pop industry. And because of your sensitive and anxious nature, you would worry a lot. But you would enjoy all the success.

❝ ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

3rd Pile

Ten of Wands, Ace of Pentacles R, Four of Swords, Three of Pentacles R, Queen of Swords H (horizontally), Six of Swords

You are giving me Cha Eunwoo vibes. I see you as a K-pop idol that has a lot of solo schedules. Like a solo career, modeling & acting. But I don't really see you being a "big" it girl. Like you are known and praised by a lot but you're actually not that important. I'm getting a lot of negativity. I also think that you or your company would react really weirdly when it comes to scandals. I see you being very talkative and opening up, saying your opinion but in the next moment you're like. "Hm what did you just say?", "Ohhh, hahah" like not caring, laughing things of and then leaving. You would maybe be in a group and after the disbandment you might not be that important anymore. And I see you moving on from the kpop industry... pursuing maybe acting or modeling. But you would simply just give up because of all the stress and your interest for your other career and then your fame wouldn't last anymore. This was kinda hard lol. Everything is messy and chaotic so I'd say that would be your life and career.

❝ ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

4th Pile

Ten of Swords R, Eight of Wands, Ten of Pentacles R, Four of Wands R, Five of Cups R, Knight of Swords R, Three of Pentacles, Queen of Cups R, Seven of Wands

I feel like you would be an idol that goes through many phases. You would always rebrand yourself. You are someone who has some mental health problems; I'm sensing a lot of anxiety and stress. I think you would try to always work and make yourself interesting for the general public. But you wouldn't have many opportunities. You might get some brand deals, but then out of a sudden, they cancelled everything, and here you are having no success when it comes to finances. But you wouldn't wrap your head around it and move on quickly. But you're tactless. You would get pretty hard after some years. You would get really toxic, aggressive, and just not nice after some time. You would always stand up for yourself and always try to get back into the industry and into the minds of the people. You would work really hard on yourself and would improve your skills so more people see you. You are giving me Hyuna vibes. Trying to rebrand yourself whenever something comes out, and I can imagine that a lot of things would come out and that there would be a lot of scandals. And in regards to your love life, I feel like you would always try for love, but it wouldn't work because of your image and your career.

❝ ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

#pap tarot #pic a pile #kpop tarot #tarot #tarot community #kpop #kpopidol #music #aesthetic #tarot cards #tarot reading #kpop gg #kpop it girls #hybe labels #kpop industry #kpop bg #risathefairyofshampoo

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 3 days

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What do you think of Bea and Eug looks at W&K wedding? I know some say they chose ugly hats because they were jealous. But I think they went over the top because it was the most important wedding of the century yet, so they thought they had to bring some extravagance. Also looking back, their outfits actually matched the time and they also were not the biggest fashion girlies.

They did the best they could. (For the record, I’m their age - 1989 baby here.)

The late 2000s/early 2010s were a terrible time for young women in their teens and twenties, both in terms of how freely and viciously one’s weight was discussed (and the more not-a-size-zero you were, the meaner it was) and how terrible the fashion trends/options were for us back then.

It wasn’t until Kate began polishing her image with coatdresses, color blocking, and expertly-tailored looks after the wedding that quote-unquote millennial fashion began to transform from “corporate wear you can also go clubbing in” to giving us separate options for separate occasions.

Bea and Eugenie did the best they could with a shit stick of trends and a hyper-critical fashion press that didn’t like anyone who wasn’t waif-thin or who dared to express their individuality. But all the credit goes to them for having learned from their mistakes and figuring out the looks and styles that work best for their bodies.

And even more credit goes to Beatrice, who auctioned her infamous hat for charity.

#ask #brf #yorkies

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olderthannetfic · 2 days

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i saw this post today where this person was talking abt fandom racism and was pointing out some real issues within my fandom and favorite ship that I too had noticed… but then kept bringing it back to the lack of one particular other ship they liked, when it's like, no that's not the problem, and that ship is unpopular because those characters have zero romantic or sexual chemistry and barely any scenes together. (it was really funny that someone had reblogged this to take their 'lack of seeing this one character in a sexual way in fic miiight be racist' complaint to be like 'i think you're right! we should have more fic about [a long list of different ships involving that character with people they have ACTUAL chemistry with].' it was really funny. ofc op totally missed the point they were making there.) anyway i just feel like way too many useful conversations about this stuff are ruined by people making it about shipping or other really subjective fandom preferences. i get that this is because something like 'number of fics X ship or character has on ao3' is an objective measure, and something like 'level of orientalism in how a lot of people are writing this desi character' is not, but i wish people would realize it tends to alienate more people that it converts. and ime, it's often the people who maybe would most benefit from hearing those criticisms (e.g. are writing unintentionally racist stuff in their works, and are someone who would want to know about that and how to do it differently) who tune it out the second you make it into insulting their shipping preferences.

i mean, there WAS some real racism in the star wars sequels fandom, including among the fanfic/shipping side. not just the shitty dudes harassing kelly marie tran. we saw the really bizarre 'predator' language people directed at john boyega just for making some joke posts on instagram about disliking reylo and its shippers. it was the very classic racist thing where people see something as automatically more threatening when a black man does it. ....but how many people had already tuned all that out because the people most outspoken about the racism in the fandom kept reducing it to 'if you ship reylo over finnrey, or kylux over finnpoe, you're a racist'? it's like a boy who cried wolf thing. if you've shown that you can't uncouple serious discussions and concerns from just being pissy that your otp is not more popular, people are going to see you as someone who can't be taken seriously and then ignore you when you do have a real complaint. it's like how i'm sure that some of stitch's essays are thoughtful and important, but i have no desire to read stuff by someone who is infamous for harassing people just for what they ship. i don't feel like i can take any of that person's judgments about fandoms i'm not in, for instance, seriously.

that's not to say fandom preferences in shipping can't ever be influenced by racism (or other 'isms') but is it ever really *that* specifically that is the problem, or the broader pattern it is part of? and i feel like 'maybe fandom is a little too focused on het and slash ships between two young skinny conventionally attractive white people' is a message more people are open to than 'your specific white M/M or F/M otp is racist'

anyway it reminds me of the stuff i've seen sometimes in academic fandom studies about how you can't really honestly study a fandom where you're deeply mired in its discourse - you need to focus your work on fandoms that you're familiar with but not in that way. and i think that maybe also applies to some of these discussions about fandom racism and misogyny. maybe you're just going to have better takes on something when you're not deeply invested in other unrelated arguments about it, like about which ship is the most popular. like i could not care less about star wars shipping and have zero take in reylo vs. finnrey, so that's why i feel like i could trust my perception that the way a small minority of reylos were posting about john boyega's instagram posts was racist. it didn't matter if he was genuinely being a jerk to them or about their ship. he obviously wasn't a 'predator' and it was pretty telling language for a group of largely white people to use about a black man making fun of their ship on a different social media site.

The laying pipe thing was blown so out of proportion, yes. Call it sexist, sure, but it wasn't fucking predatory.

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