#because we don't want to be a bother

[uncanny-tranny]

The bourgeois or "exploiting class" doesn't inherently include the person who gets their nails done biweekly, or the disabled person who has a carer, or the guy who got a $70 video game for full-price, or the person who relies on medication (yes even the ones you don't think they "need"), or anything else like this. None of these people will, on average, have the ability to exploit workers by means of ownership or whatever.

While you are busy fighting with fellow workers, you are still being exploited by your boss, by capitalism, by (potentially) not having healthcare, by being overworked and underpaid, and so are they.

#politics #feel like this wording isn't satisfactory for me but fuck it we ball #used bourgeois because i think as a colloquial word it's recognized but like... #...i dunno i think some people use it to mean 'person who can do [x]' even if they quite literally own no means of production #like the idea that you're exploiting a worker by agreeing to a service they provide isn't what bourgeois means #if i paid a carer to care for a disabled person they aren't being exploited by that disabled person... #...HOWEVER that carer absolutely can (and probably will be) exploited by the systems of power (eg their boss or capitalism) #perhaps it's too late at night for me to be posting about this but it's something that bothers me! #*especially* when it comes to disability and other groups already exploited by marginalization 👍 #if your leftism percludes the disabled (including the terminally and profoundly) or the elderly or the queer or so so much i don't WANT ITTT #saw a disabled person i follow lament how afraid they were to have a carer out of fear of Being a Bad Exploitative Person #and they obviously need one and that makes me so fucking angry to know that they are needlessly suffering

[daily-hanamura]

#p4 #persona 4 #hanamura yosuke #yosuke hanamura #EVERYDAY IM HOWLING. EVERYDAY IM SCREAMING. #for context this comes at the heel of yosuke charging at mitsuo kubo in rage because of his flippance towards killing saki and he's hit har #but souji and kanji jump in to protect him #like ok a lot of things going on here such as the obvious OH MY GODDDD yosuke being yosuke and taking things on for himself #because he doesn't want to bother people?? because he's made it his own responsibility? because his survivor's guilt is still lingering? #i mean don't tell me he doesn't look at how he surrendered to his shadow like apart from his self-sacrificing propensity #i low key feel like everytime yosuke demands answers about saki's death from the murderer/god/etc there's this undertone of how #he would rather it have been him #he cheapens his own life so much and for what #BUT ALSO!! ALSO!! not just souji jumping in because we know he would he's down bad for yosuke BUT ALSO KANJI #listen you've all heard me talk so much about how i adore kanji yosuke friendships #i can't really tell whether it's kanji or souji that says “haven't we earned your trust yet” but it's a line that hits SO HARD #regardless of which one of them was saying it and i think it hits hard in slightly different manners #it's kanji's admiration and how he looks up to yosuke and how he wants to be closer to yosuke as a friend/kouhai/whatever you want #tatsumi “who's your partner now!” kanji has so much respect for yosuke he wants yosuke to rely on him too!!! #and this stands out because kanji is very conscious of social hierarchies and such but as a kouhai as yosuke's junior #he's so specific about wanting yosuke to treat him as an equal #i smtimes feel bad for kanji because he has a bit of that vibe of a poor puppy trailing after souyo because he wants to be in their convos! #he wants to be included! but critically he also just! wants them to SEE him!! #going a lil off tangent but i think kanji's attitude towards souji is very much one of kouhai respect like he understands his place #of like deferring to souji or getting advice from him and just generally regarding him as a reliable mentor #and it's the same with chie and yukiko? but idk man. with yosuke. guys. with yosuke i always feel like kanji wants to break that hierarchy #that convention. that social norm. to cross a line and be closer to yosuke. #he's more willing to tease yosuke in a way he doesn't with the other 2nd years. and this isn't coming from a place of disrespect either #AGAIN. KANJI REALLY LIKES YOSUKE. he wants to protect yosuke!!! he jumps at the opportunity for yosuke to rely on him!! #i'm getting delulu but there's those hints of “yosuke senpai i want you to see me as a man!!!” kind of energy here and i'm it's yknow hmm

[fromtheseventhhell]

Why is it always people who don't even like Arya trying to police how we speak about her? They clearly don't read her chapters and couldn't come up with five things they like about her to save their lives, yet they're always worrying about what we have to say. They really can't stand that we don't view her as a one-dimensional prop for another character 🥴

#arya stark #asoiaf #anti sansa stans #always bothered by what we have to say stay out of family business! #that question was rhetorical...the answer is that their fanon is built on her being reduced to an unimportant prop #and they can't handle the thought of her having her own arc independent of another character #cause it ruins their fantasy that she's just an unimportant bodyguard/warrior #it's like the same few posts every week getting recycled accusing us of wanting her to be a hyper-fem Sansa clone #just because we have nuanced conversations about her that don't reduced her to a flat archetype 😭 #if we're really so annoying then just block + mute us and move on it's that simple #you should not be this obsessed with speaking on the stans of a character that you admit you don't care about

[bumblingbabooshka]

B'Elanna, Neelix, Tuvok and Chakotay needed to star in an episode where they just talked about their different beliefs and approaches to spirituality/religion. Paired off and all together. I need to gain more insight. I need characterization and I need it to be messy.

#B'Elanna's difficulty with Klingon myths and religion (especially due to her internalized racism) #Chakotay's current strong belief in his own spirituality despite his initial complete rejection of it (and how B'Elanna seems to admire #and have talked with Chakotay about it extensively in the past given how many specifics she's aware of) #Neelix's belief in an afterlife being the only thing that comforted him after his entire family was killed - the knowledge that he would be #able to reunite with them again and that knowledge being ripped away from him #Does he still believe? Are there other aspects of his previous spiritual beliefs that are thrown into question? #Just because it isn't 'real' does it make it unimportant? How do we even know whether or not it's 'real'? #He died and doesn't remember reaching that tree and seeing his family - does that mean it didn't happen? #Tuvok's line in 'Innocence' about how he's begun to have doubts about whether or not a katra exists and what happens after someone dies #and his firm ties to Vulcan spirituality and ritual #ALL SO INTERESTING!!!!!!!! #star trek voyager #I don't think it'd be a calm or healthy conversation either - they're not therapists and I don't think anyone but Chakotay #would be particularly careful with his words #and before you say Tuvok's a Vulcan so he would be let me remind you that Tuvok told B'Elanna to her face that he thought Klingons #were basically savages - he is INDELICATE to say the least #Neelix is careful with his words bc he's a people pleaser for survival but also he has a tendency to bother people and be overly pushy #and I think he'd do a lot of research and be the one leading the conversation/the reason they get on the topic and continue on it #B'Elanna wouldn't want to talk about it. She wants to talk about it the least. But she must!!!! Bc the episode demands it!! #st voy

[non-un-topo]

Sometimes I procrastinate writing a fic by “storyboarding” it 😅

#pls enjoy: no context whatsoever sdfghfds #it's Content not Context #siggy draws #tog #the old guard #not tagging individual characters bc it's just my dumb fic art #but i will always tag #the old gays #andy looks very awkward because i struggle a lot with her face. she's so.... pointy. so i've drawn her sweaty <3 #why is nicky missing a hand? don't worry about it #trying to colour these but idk #i'm experimenting with how i want them all to look in the fic. wanted to give andy short hair but i'm kind of digging the wild woman look #i finally gave nicky short hair in a historical fic i can't believe it. i already miss the long hair dfds #what do we think should i bother colouring them or just fix the plot-hole in the fic and finally write it?

[thefirstknife]

Hi Bel,

I keep seeing comments about people complaining about the quality of destiny’s writing and story in the last few weeks. I haven’t really engaged with destiny since season of defiance, what’s currently gotten everyone so riled up? I thought that people were enjoying Season of the Deep/Witch in terms of narrative, why is Season of the Wish causing people to deride the destiny writing staff again?

I don't know!

Deep and Witch have been absolute bangers in every aspect to me. I've been enjoying all interactions and lore tabs we've received. A lot of them are stuff that we've never had before, a lot of reunions and closures, a lot of development and interactions between characters who you wouldn't really think would have much in common.

Sloane's return and healing from what she's been through has been fantastic, Drifter opening up with her to help her because he also got help from others was fantastic, Sloane reuniting with Aisha and Shayura brought me to tears (Shayura's descent into madness was triggered by immense trauma of Sloane staying on Titan and Titan disappearing), everything with Sloane and Zavala...

Witch was just incredible in every single way; the focus on Eris, the amount of Eris and Ikora content!!!!! Everything about Xivu and Savathun and their interactions together!! Eris finally fulfilling her goal she promised Savathun YEARS ago, getting that closure.

Wish so far has been equally great to me. All the new stuff about Ahamkara is amazing, finally giving us proof for long-standing speculation about Ahamkara and how they aren't universally evil creatures and expanding on them as a species. I love all interactions we've had so far; finally we have Petra back, Mara's singleminded focus on figuring out how to defeat the Witness and her continuous work to improve as a person, ALL SJUR MENTIONS!!!!! I won't talk about the "leak" because we have no context for it so I will wait for the full story to be revealed before I can pass judgment; something that I think should be a lesson to learn from this entire year. Maybe wait for the story to finish before judging the story.

Literally everything this past year that involves Osiris, but especially this season now that he's back in his element with the Vex. And of course every little detail we get of him and Saint. Osiris honestly shaped this year for me with everything that he's done to uncover the biggest mysteries. I think a big reason is that a lot of people just don't like Osiris, which I consider a massive skill issue.

Other than that, I don't know what are the issues people have besides just not being interested in any of these storylines and attributing it to a nebulous "bad writing" claim. I also genuinely believe that way too many people get wrapped up too much in fandom, imagine storylines they want to see and then get disappointed when the actual story doesn't go there. Almost like people forget that this isn't their story and these aren't their characters. A lot of it is also fandom completely warping characters into not what they actually are and then feeling like the canon story is the one that's wrong.

Whatever is the reason, I guess everyone is entitled to their perspective of the story and everyone is free to explore the story in different ways through fanfics and AUs and whatever. I do that too!

But I would definitely ask people to be normal with how they engage in criticism, especially in the current state of affairs. Writers are developers; they experience a ton of harassment and negativity from the community and also from inside the company. And they are online: they can see what we're saying. It's been documented that community commentary has been used to harass writers:

Imprint this into your brain and never forget what these people had to go through. Let's not forget also the way people treated Seth Dickinson on social media when he was active with Destiny fans. "Fans" were actively arguing with him about his own work (telling him that HE is wrong) and were utterly disgusting towards him when he tried explaining what he wrote. His works are now hailed as the best writing in Destiny and people want him back. If I were him, I wouldn't want to come back ngl, not with how he was treated and not with how fans are still treating writers (and hey, Seth wrote LF Collector's Edition! So he was back, technically, this year!). Let's not forget that a lot of writers are members of various marginalised groups. And I'd definitely not want to go back with zero support from leadership.

Which is also an important aspect for all developers, including writers: sometimes they have orders they may not like, but can't argue against. They do the best they can with what they're given, the time they have and directions they receive. And with that in mind, I am enjoying everything we've gotten this year, obviously with some specific complaints about things I didn't particularly enjoy (like the universally mid reception of Defiance; I've spoken about my gripes with it before, a big one being the shafting of Suraya who should've at least been mentioned in a lore tab).

I can tell that there is passion in their work, even if maybe they would prefer to do more with it, but can't. Maybe even if they want to take different routes, but can't. But from what we got, I can feel that they care about this world and these characters. I can tell that someone lovingly wrote about Sloane and her friendships with two grieving women. I can tell that they deeply cared about Sloane's friendship with Zavala and that they loved showing us Saint and Drifter caring about a fellow trauma survivor.

I can tell that the writers are immensely careful and loving towards Eris; everything she went through was crafted with love and passion from both writers and her VA. Eris' story is such a fundamental aspect of Destiny and I can tell that this was important to the writing team and that they gave her everything they could to do justice to her character and her arc and her healing and her release from the cycle she was trapped in for so long.

I can tell that there are writers who care a lot about Osiris and Saint and their relationship. I can tell that someone cared a lot about expanding on Ahamkara and giving them more personalities. I can tell that someone cared DEEPLY about Sjur and Mara and that her repeated mentions are the passionate work of writers who want us to remember her.

I could go on. And I know that not everyone sees it this way, which is fine; we all have different ways of perceiving stories. I enjoy discussing things we in the fandom disagree on and I enjoy hearing different perspectives! Unfortunately, this has recently become rarer and rarer. And for the love of god, please try and treat writers with some respect, especially now, especially those who are still working and doing their best with the shitty situation they're in. None of the cries of "poor devs" ring true to me unless the same is given to writers, instead of treating them like punching bags.

#destiny 2 #long post #for the record: yeah i also have some gripes with some writing decisions. it's normal #but i feel like those are things that i can learn to accept or let go or even have my mind changed with a different perspective #or by just accepting that the writing team was limited in some way and that this was the best they could do #it happens to every story at some point #and yeah capitalism is the death of art. destiny's story would be better from start to finish if it weren't a shooter mmo #but that ship has sailed a long time ago. like. in 2014. #it's honestly a miracle that we got even a fraction of the stuff we got considering the target audience of fps mmos #and it's fine if this just isn't good enough to some. happens #but i think we can move on without being shitty about devs yeah? #in all likelihood writers may even agree that some of the stuff they had to write isn't the best or isn't what they wanted #calling them bad writers over circumstances we don't understand is just shitty #just like it's shitty to do it to any other dev over bugs in the game or badly implemented features or whatever #none of these people are sitting at their desks maliciously laughing while deliberately creating 'bad' things #and this is especially bothering me for writers because of how atrocious people are to artists of all kinds #almost like writers had to strike this year to be respected and treated as people that matter

[gnometa233]

"Trans men and lesbians can date!!" "Trans men and straight men can date!!" "Lesbian includes attraction to men!!!" "Labels mean nothing just use what you want!!!" what if I threw a rock at you.

#lgbt discourse #queer discourse #queer #yes ive seen all of those things being said unironically #y'all wanna include men in lesbianism so bad #y'all wanna invalidate trans men so bad #just say you're a mysoginist and go #just say you don't see trans men as real men and go #and for people who think it doesn't invalidate their label? #why even bother? why do y'all refuse to identify as bisexual? #why do you continue to disrespect lesbians and trans men #we can be different communities and still respect and uplift each other #identify as you want but one day you'll learn that actions have consequences #and get called a transphobe #and i will LAUGH #lgbt+ #anti bi lesbians #also labels mean things and if you don't agree with it don't participate in society! #because everything and everyone has labels whether you like it or not

[bebsi-cola]

people are so unserious about how they treat trans-misogyny if, for even a moment, they decide to water down the meaning of terf into generic boogeyman, "person i don't like" or "exclusionists". like say you don't understand TERFs and what they are and who they target, which are trans women. they're a hate group that targets a vulnerable oppressed demographic specifically, using bio essentialism and holding hands with the alt-right to do so. i don't expect much from people who want to dedicate their time towards violating the boundaries of physically disabled people, but it's so disrespectful to use a comparison to people who make up hate groups to make a point for your cripplepunk discourse.

#bebsi posting #cripple punk discourse #sorry for the discourse #i usually don't engage because i'm firmly on the side that we deserve a space just for physically disabled people #and i'm not going to argue with people who are incredibly stubborn #but it bothers me that people will use a terf comparison for anything they want to make a point about #instead of caring about the rights and safety of trans women #stop that

[fox-guardian]

[ID: Tags reading "your alice looks like shes adicted to heroin and I love that". end ID]

super normal things to say about a character design for sure

#ramblings with major #addiction #addiction tw #drugs mention #drugs tw #obligatory please don't go find and bother this person i kept their name out of it for a reason #'this design looks like someone suffering the ill physical effects of severe drug abuse' okay well i didn't mean to do that #so idk what i'm supposed to do with that 'compliment' #i Assume it's because i drew her so skinny But I Thought We'd Left Heroin Chic Back In The 90s Where It Should've Died #anyway. can we go back to saying we want to eat the design i much prefer that kind of comment

[iyote]

mousefur canon aroace btw ^

#my art #mousefur #warriors cats #Hella ableist question though #anyway #I drew this cuz I saw a shipping map on youtube with her #and like... I get it!! there are no canon sapphics in warriors and I understand being starved for representation #but also... she's one of the canon queers #and I'm a bit like... where are the hundreds of people celebrating aroace mousefur?? #I don't mind seeing shipping of her because she's not one of my absolute fav aroace characters so it doesn't personally bother me #(I like her! she's just not my fav) #but it made me think... I wish more people knew she was aroace #and I wish that people were as enthusiastic about aroace characters as with other queer characters #because!! we are queer!! #but like. I don't mean to call out the people who made the MAP or the people who ship her #because as I said: I get it! and I also know that most people simply don't know she's canon aroace #so they don't know they're erasing a canon queer character's orientation #I just want more people to love aroace cats ok #my final message goodbye

[jackgoodfellow]

He's despicable, I'll take 12.

[Work-In-Progress]

Please feel free to drop your favorite toxic positivity slogans in the notes!

I want to write at least one such quote on this image. The top contender right now is "We all have the same 24 hours in a day!"

Also valid examples: "Nothing's impossible!", "Anyone can do it!", and "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps!" - or maybe just "Self-made :)"

---

Originally drawn in crayon at my local bar's game night because tabletop games are slow as fuck

#wip #Adventure Time #simon petrikov #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna & cake #the winter king #winter king #fionna and cake #alt-text #image description #my art #I've been trying to get those glasses even all evening. eh. I'll figure it out. #probably will trace a mirror of the the other one #genuinely fucking obsessed with him as a metaphor for toxic positivity. especially as it pertains to class and mental illness. #because the people who say your burdens shouldn't bother you... simply don't have to carry those same burdens #whooole lot of people say we all have the same 24 hours when they have the money to pay someone else to clean their house! #I'll probably repeat all of this in the actual post of the image if I finish it #which I probably will. I've done most of the work already and I want to make him look more fucked up #winter king already seemed sus but when he said he conquered the crown 'thru sheer force of will' i genuinely yelled at the screen #'OH YOU MOTHERFUCKER OH YOU PIECE OF SHIT YOU BASTARD' #'haha! come now. Conquering the crown is as easy as manifesting your own reality!!' - i was screaminnnngggg #he's an incredibly validating character in the way that he is proven to be absolutely fucking full of shit #also he's sexy. which doesn't hurt. but mostly I'm obsessed with how perfectly he mirrors the attitude of 'self-made' rich and abled people #you can do anything you put your mind to!! and if it turns out to be impossible it's because you didn't want it bad enough SIMON!!!! #simon is soooo relatable in that ep #'manifest your dreams! it's! easy! especially if! someone else is bearing all that pesky SOUL-CRUSHING WEIGHT lol' #I thought the episode was going to end with Simon putting on Winter King's crown and #discovering that the WK just got lucky and happened to get a crown that was just... not a problem. just a magic non-cursed crown. #I think that would have worked well but I like what they ended up doing way better #'anyone can do it!' is said out loud but the QUIET part goes 'so if you can't do it that's because you suck'.

[bluravenite]

I know this probably wasn't intended badly or as a critique but

Do not comment on the way i draw Ghoul's bodies.

They're my personal headcanons and I don't care if you don't think a swimmer and touring musician would have a muscular build.

You don't like it? Draw them yourself.

I have designed these ghouls with my own personal headcanons and considerations of their back stories and real life inspirations.

I do not want to see tags in my art saying "he's too soft :(" "they're so buff :(" "why is she hour glass shaped?"

Especially when it's someone like cumulus who i have drawn several times before out of uniform and she is clearly not naturally "hour glass shaped" but ffs SHAPE WEAR EXISTS, especially if it's a uniform you wear to perform?!! She's gonna wanna have back and bust support!!! I have publicly headcanoned that ghouls wear corsetry for support!! I'm not just drawing her skinnier i am just considering other fucking variables!!!

Why are rain, swiss and mountain more physically built??? Because rain is a swimmer and i have used references of Olympic medalist swimmers to use as reference for how i wanted to draw him as well as looked at surfer body types, most of which were skinnier but toned!!! So that's why?? Mountain bc he's in the fucking garden doing sowing and planting work and playing the fucking drums, that's some fucking heavy ass equipment he's helping the band move and he does it seamlessly!!! Swiss also??? He's a multi, he's tall too, he's gotta be strong to help with everything they need, plus you think that he's gonna be bending ghouls over if he were so skinny??? Probably not!!

Another petty one. Consider more variables?? Aka working out releases lactic acid, and the surge of fluids causes your muscle cells to swell up, especially if you're drinking something like a protein drink without a carb/fat filled breakfast.

Do you think a DEMONIC HUMANOID CREATURE, that wakes up at dawn to have a protein shake AND GO SWIMMING AND SURFING is not??? Gonna look??? Buff????

Like??? Sorry if this rant sounds petty but I'm genuinely tired of dealing with people commenting on my own personal original designs.

I have never claimed to be drawing the people on stage. I am drawing MY OWN CHARACTERS, based on the real thing.

Don't just comment on people's characters or art if it's not something they can fix within 3 strokes of their pen.

#raven rants #i am just tired #i thought we were over this Tumblr #if you dont like how i draw my ghouls then just don't reblog?? #and if you are curious as to why i draw them like that?? JUST ASK!! #I usually try to be the nicest i can be to people who are respectful and nice to me #if you shoot me a quick dm saying “hey! i saw this post i was wondering why he's so buff!” #I'll just reply!!! “thank you! i draw hom like that because xyz” #i hate having to make callout posts like these even if they're general but IT BOTHERS ME #to see comments like that in my art!!! bc ??? its my art??? i get to draw WHATEVER I WANT!!! #and i don't owe ANYONE AN EXPLANATION

[eliias-bouchard]

On the one hand I really want to be more open about being plural. On the other hand, En's gonna freak out once he realises how much posting we've been doing.

#We need a proper tagging system for headmate posts. #holism.file #Sure whatever. #En is Lynx. It's short for Entropy which is a word it loves so much that holy made it one of her pronouns AND one of her names. #We don't want to make a system sideblog because 1. Boring 2. All of our mutuals are here and 3. It's hiding. #I can't be bothered to hide.

[mitamicah]

Sad Micah hours. Yay.

#I said I was scared about getting my hopes up right? #well I have been hitting myself so much in a head about it that I now feel sad #and then seeing all of you guys being so happy having all these wonderful experiences with the boys #I want to be only happy for you #and I am #mostly #I just ... cannot help but feel left out #especially in two instances where 1) I was close to having experienced it myself #and 2) all this person has written to me about was their 'wow I wish that were me' stories for days now #I know this is my own fault #that me being annoyed is really me being entitled #that I shouldn't expect anything #that this is my feelings and they are bad #setting my boundaries with one of said people however has made me feel even worse #like I don't deserve to meet the band if I act like this #entitled brat as I am #maybe I should just meet up and shut up #not even bother taking my sign with me or the gifts I made #just smile and give out stickers because that is all I seem good for #we are coming very close to self hating territory here #I am sorry #micahs thoughts

[notmoreflippingelves]

Hi! I just read your post about Mateo recently. If I may, can you give me any specific instances in the narrative of the show where Mateo isn’t called out as heavily as they should have? I’m just curious?

During the Shuriki returns arc in particular, Mateo makes some pretty glaring mistakes that I feel like he should've gotten much more flack for (and based on what we see elsewhere in canon, I feel pretty confident that if Gabe, Naomi, Isa, or Esteban at least --and possibly even Elena-- had made these mistakes, they wouldn't have been swept under the rug nearly as quickly as they were for Mateo).

While it's unfair to completely blame Mateo for Carla's manipulating him during the "Rita" arc, I feel like it's reasonable to hold him a *bit* accountable. He did after all blab highly confidential information (on more than one occasion) to try and impress a pretty girl with how clever and important he was. (Something tells me that if any of the others had done likewise, they would've been called out for it. But because it's "beloved" Mateo, we don't even get "wait, you told Rita how to get into your workshop? And you've known her for only a few weeks? What were you thinking, Mateo?") Moreover, he never even apologizes for this or promises to do better/be more careful with such important, sensitive information in the future.

Even more aggravating is his behavior in "The Scepter of Night." Mateo is so eager to play the hero and claim all the glory for himself that he twice (!) disobeys a direct order/abandons the plan and goes looking for the scepter piece on his own. This directly leads to Fiero and Victor finding the scepter piece and (temporarily) stealing it. And it's really only due to luck and very conveniently-timed infighting amongst Shuriki's allies that Elena and co. are able to get the scepter piece back. While Mateo does receive some (brief) criticism, it's nowhere near the level that it should be.

Also noteworthy Elena doesn't really get particularly "mad" at him (especially considering how angry we see her get at other characters even for more minor things) . She's not truly, actually angry at Mateo (and Gabe and Naomi are only a bit angrier); she's just a little frustrated and disappointed at him in the moment. And apart from a (very short) little "do better next time" speech, Mateo doesn't face any real consequences or lingering resentment unlike other characters who do.

When Isa obeys direct orders in "Sister of Invention," she has to face consequences (Elena grounding her). Similarly, Elena holds a grudge against Esteban for days (if not weeks) after he interfered with the Feast of Friendship (a much lower stakes mistake than Mateo's imo). Moreover, it's possible to interpret Esteban's staying behind in Avalor when the others go to see the Norberg Lights as a punishment (either self-inflicted or imposed by Elena) for his actions in the previous episode.

In contrast, Mateo just gets a brief "I expected better from you" speech from Elena and Gabe jokingly assigning him push-ups as punishment (which he immediately takes back when Mateo tries to do them). I'll give Mateo a little bit of credit for actually apologizing this time (which he doesn't always do). But it's still frustrating that everyone is so ready to forgive and forget Mateo's missteps immediately while this same courtesy is seldom shown to others.

I think it's worth directly comparing a few Mateo-centric episodes with a few more similar ones that focus on other characters so that we can see how there does seem to be a noted narrative bias in his favor compared to the others.

Let's start with two "feeling kind of insecure" episodes: "Spellbound" for Mateo vs. "Naomi Knows Best" for Naomi. In the former, Mateo expresses doubt that he's capable of rising to the occasion as royal wizard. No one (except Gabe and he gets over it by the end of the episode) blames him for not having reached his full level of confidence and potential right away and not being able to immediately solve the problem. And Elena in particular (and by extension the narrative) gives him so much validation and support. Whereas in "Naomi Knows Best" (and to a lesser extent "Finders Leapers" and the "Carla-as-Rita" arc as well) the narrative "punishes" Naomi for her feelings of self-doubt. We're told that *if only* Naomi had trusted her gut instincts and stood her ground right away, Elena and co would not fallen right into the trap and that Naomi needs to screw her head back on straight and embrace confidence ASAP to fix her mistake.

When Mateo feels insecure, the narrative gives him every reassurance about how capable and special he is, that he can learn at his own pace, and his insecurity isn't really such a problem after all. When Naomi feels insecure, the narrative encourages her to get over her doubts as quickly as possible because unlike with Mateo, there's "no time" for her to wallow in self-doubt and actually the fact that she even had said doubt in the first place is what "caused" the disaster.

On a slightly different note, Naomi is also called out for taking a little free, fun time for herself in "The Last Laugh" when the group needs her, and yet somehow I have a feeling that Mateo would've been allowed to take a day off if he wanted without any protest. He complains about long hours in "Movin' on Up" and Elena gives him the big royal wizard's chambers for him to relax and unwind in. Naomi asks for one (1) day off to spend with her childhood friend for her birthday , and suddenly it's big drama. (And at the time, Naomi asked for said day off, all Elena needed from her was help doing paperwork. The Team Ash stuff came up unexpectedly.)

Similarly whenever Gabe and Mateo get their little rivalry on ("Spellbound," "Party of a Lifetime," "Captain Mateo" and a few other examples) , the narrative either presents them as equally at fault or Mateo as the only one in the right.

When Gabe brings in Bronzino to train the Royal Guards in magic, it's specifically because Mateo failed to explain how and why he was training the guards in the way he was. If he'd just explained how they were going apply the seemingly basic exercise they were doing to real magic, Gabe likely would've allowed Mateo to continue the training at his own pace.

(Also like. it's super hypocritical imo for Mateo to get annoyed at Gabe feeling impatient/impulsive about their apparent-lack-of progress when Mateo himself is easily the second most impulsive character in the show after Elena.) Mateo feels entitled to keep important information to himself (or blab it to a cute girl he barely knows) even when its no one else's best interest. He's only okay with being "cautious and patient" when he specifically is the one setting the pace. And yet, Gabe is the only one who is called out for his behavior in this episode--even though he might not have acted as he did if only Mateo had trusted him and the guards with an explanation in the first place.

And then there's just a few other "dude not cool" little moments that never really get acknowledged/Mateo never apologizes for. For instance, there a two low-key terrifying Mateo moments in "Captain Mateo" that are not only not acknowledged but are also framed in context as Mateo being just "so funny and quirky". Near the end of "Should be in Charge," Mateo magically gags Gabe so he can't protest anymore about Mateo taking over as leader of the mission. And this is after having already enchanted one of the stationary suits of armor to come to life and fight Gabe. (Gabe admittedly does lightly shove Mateo out of the way during his parts of the song, but that's still a far cry from literally drawing a sword on Mateo as Mateo does via magic to Gabe.)

It's played for laughs (The Grand Council is just smiling happily in the background throughout the scene which is so yikes), so it's easy to overlook what's actually happening. Frankly, it's pretty horrifying that Mateo's natural instinct upon his experience/authority being questioned is to literally attack and then silence. (And attack and silence someone who is supposed to be one of his best friends and closest allies at that!)

Rather than the narrative acknowledging that maybe it's a bad idea to immediately grant power to someone to someone who is so retaliatory against fairly minor criticism, the Grand Council just gives Mateo exactly what he wants and doesn't even offer a "maybe next time, let's not gag or attack our friends, okay?" alongside it. I mean sure Mateo does step down as captain at the end of the episode, but it's very specifically presented as his and Gabe's voluntary choice and not an order from Elena/the Council.

#elena of avalor #eoa salt #it's not mateo that bothers me so much; it's the double standard that nearly every other character is held to while he is not #gabe is the only one who ever seems to call mateo out on his shit regularly #and most of the time; it's framed as petty jealousy and/or gabe being unreasonable #even when gabe is the one talking sense #i feel like i've heard that mateo is one of the writers' faves and dang does it SHOW! #we were owed a dark mateo arc tbh #mateo thinks he's the next alacazar but I don' think it would be all that hard to turn him into the next fiero instead #it writes itself and honestly i would've liked him more that way #instead of just presenting him is as the specialest; cutest; quirkiest magical boy instead #let him go dark for a short time before realizing his mistakes and then have to work hard for everyone's forgiveness #esteban has to sacrifice his life in order to earn forgiveness for an (admittedly huge) mistake he made 40+ years ago #yet it's apparently too much for mateo to get more than the mildest rebuke over a (also big) mistake he made less than an hour ago? #also like whenever esteban or gabe are really proud/cocky or naomi gets single-episode acquired situational narcissism in “my fair naomi” #the narrative absolutely punishes them for it #whereas mateo is free to be as over-confident and braggy and vain as he wants and seldom gets called out on it #because i guess he's genuinely as 'cool and special' as he claims so he deserves the right to brag? #whereas the others' apparently aren't and don't? #anti mateo de alva

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

maybe i'm just biased because of my specific analytical read, but every time i hear something to the tune of "xyz thing knives did to vash wasn't actually quite as bad as you think it is" my hackles go up. Maybe I'm Just Biased. but i think if you cannot emotionally confront the way that knives' entire character is based around ignoring the consent or wishes of. everyone, but especially his siblings, in a myriad of extremely loaded ways, you should probably have a think about how your knives apologism starts to sound.

#i've been having trouble putting my finger on why this specific thing bothers me so much #and i think where it reaches the point of discomfort for me. beyond just. 'i see we have different interpretations of this scene' #is the way so much of the dialogue on it sounds very much like the Um Actually responses to survivors of nonstandard abuse #it can't actually have been [x] (implication: because [person] would NEVER do [x]!) (implication: because [x] is much worse than that!) #i understand vash is not a real person #and the survivor narrative of trimax is... subtextual. i guess. if you don't want to see it. #but i think the ways ppl discuss the actions of characters they like as though ascribing certain descriptions tarnishes them somehow #& therefore the character likers by association. especially when physical harm is neutral but sex crimes are the greatest evil. #it can give an uncomfortable sense of. how that person confronts things they Don't Want To Deal With. #this isn't about any specific person or post it's just a thing i Keep Seeing and i Really Don't Like It. #trigun meta