#but when fans like a FEMALE morally gray character... oh boy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

psyga315 · 5 months

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A breakdown of an analysis of female portrayal in media

Originally the entire post was going to be a takedown of the post, but to iamafanofcartoon's credit, a lot of the points they make are valid. However, given their bias towards RWBY, some double standards come up ironically as they bring up double standards.

"A lot of people are incapable of viewing female characters as anything other than an innocent saint or a portrait of pure evil. Arguably the best characters are morally ambiguous ones who live in the gray area between good and evil, but women are much less often afforded that distinction than their male counterparts."

This is the biggest piece of irony ever when you remember how they treat Ironwood, someone who has moral ambiguity (at least in Volume 7) or even how they regard Ruby lying to Ironwood as something that isn't something morally ambiguous, but rather 100% guaranteed the right thing to do.

"I’m been having a huge problem connecting to media. The only women around are very young or very old and their main defining feature is usually motherhood."

They say as the protagonists of RWBY are women who are very young.

"A lot of the time if there is a military high ranking female character or just female leader that is masculine or butch she will be the villain to be defeated by the traditionally feminine or at least more feminine heroine/love interest of the hero."

Oh, military being evil is just a trope in of itself. You should be familiar with it because you like to bring up a certain someone who fits that trope to a T over and over:

Wonder why he gets shit.

I'm going to pause and heavily commend I Am A Fan for bringing up the overuse of the term Mary Sue and how it's now used as a phrase to shut down any female protagonist who just happens to be just a little too much in the screen time, especially given its ironic origin being that it was to parody the "I get into Starfleet, befriend literally everyone, and then tragically die" trope that cropped up in several Star Trek zines.

There's a lot of debate with Rey and the sequels, but we'll leave that for another day. All I will say though is that holy shit, the defense for Rey here is top notch, especially that part where they compare Rey's handling of weapons to Luke's handling of weapons.

A lot of the post starting from when they criticize the overuse of Mary Sue is actually a really solid read and I recommend you giving it a look, even if you don't agree with what they say.

That said, it comes crashing down over to here:

"You heard of The Bechdel test: Two women have to talk about something other than a man. There is no time window."

Ignoring the fact that the Bachdel test isn't meant to be taken seriously (something that the linked page literally points out), RWBY failed this test numerous times.

Ruby: (putting the pamphlet away) Yeah! Great idea, sis! (holding out her hand as she clears her throat) Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies! Weiss: (seemingly enthusiastic) Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!

That's just the straight up example. "But Psyga, she was being sarcastic!". Okay. Well, the condition is that they have to be talking about a man and not specifically someone they're dating, so pick your poison with these two Bumblebee exchanges. One has them talking about two men!!!

Blake: I had someone very dear to me change. [...] you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So... I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did. Yang: (wipes her eyes of tears, then says as calmly as possible) I saw him attack me, so I attacked back.

Yang: Do you… (loud exhale) Do you think we should've told Ironwood about Salem, before he put so much on the line for Amity? Blake: Sounds like you do. Yang: (sighs) I trust Ruby, but I think he deserves to know what he's stepping into. We all did.

But you wanna know the most batshit insane part? Stretch the definition, and you can have RWBY fail this test first try.

Glynda: I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger. Ruby: [Roman and his gang] started it! Glynda: If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back... (she notices Ruby's smile) ...And a slap on the wrist. (she demonstrates with her riding crop, which Ruby barely avoids as she gives out an "Eeek!) But... [Ozpin] would like to meet you.

Like, I would bring up that Rick and Morty pointed out how it's not meant to be taken seriously, but then I remembered it's called Rick and Morty and not Rikki and Morticia, so it might not even be in I Am A Fan's radar.

"Go watch RWBY or Legend of Korra. Both involve a deconstruction of tropes. Both involve women standing up against an authority that demands respect based on being authority, not based on respect. Both shut down the white male savior trope so hard, that men and women who love the patriarchy despise both shows."

What they don't tell you is that the "standing up against authority" bit in RWBY only lasts for two Volumes and it ends up making the main character's deep-rooted depression outright suicidal because their actions in doing so had lasting consequences to their psyche. Not to mention that up until Volume 6, they had been following the instructions of authority.

A straight white male one at that who in Volume 4 went into the body of a person of color and has to possess him in order to continue giving instructions. And that's when the girls start to question his authority and even yell at him. If that's not fucking yikes, I don't know what is.

Korra's standing against authority is more "let the bad guys depose the authority and then we'll clean up the mess" but that's neither here nor there.

Also, I don't think adding a fe in front of male counts as shutting down the white male savior trope.

But of course, anything that Team RWBY or Korra does is immediately held to a double standard and ripped into for anything that they do NOT because they’re flawed or because of writing decisions. Its because they’re LGBT women that they’re held under a microscope.

No, it's because people explored the long-standing consequences of their actions and what it means for upending society as a whole. I haven't been in the Legend of Korra discourse but I definitely know the discourse of RWBY to know that them being LGBT has nothing to do with them getting criticized.

In fact, two of the four girls aren't even LGBT in the first place and the other two are B but you keep denying that and call them L.

Or have you noticed that every fixit fanfic for both series involves defending the Patriarchy while supporting toxic masculinity and trying to revive the White Male Savior trope that both shows have tried so hard to bury six feet under?

Have you noticed that RWBY involves four girls defending the patriarchy while supporting toxic masculinity and trying to revive the White Male Savior trope that it ironically tried to bury six feet under?

Because after Volume 3, the plot is about them going from Kingdom to Kingdom and protecting the Academies, which the last King of Vale had essentially turned into castles to house powerful relics.

When all four of these relics are gathered, they summon two brothers who will pass judgement onto mankind and are seen as, so far, one of the only ways to truly deal with the true threat of Salem, i.e. they are the white male saviors.

Despite being even more trigger happy and axe crazy than Volume 8!Ironwood.

And just to show just how much of a tangent I Am A Fan's post is... That's the very last paragraph. Do you see why I call them FNDM-GPT?

EDIT: This motherfucker reposted this from March! https://iamafanofcartoons.tumblr.com/post/711784852348878848/we-need-to-address-how-media-and-media-critics

#rwde #rwby

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nanamikeento · 3 years

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i’m sad and need some left frankie in my life this print from your prompt list just screams nervous frankie. could you please write anything with it!!! “I’m sorry. I should have asked first, just… it reminded me of you.” p.s. i love u and your writing

a welcome surprise

gif by @pcdrospascals

Pairing: Frankie Morales x female!reader

Summary: Frankie comes home with a surprise, but ends up getting caught off guard by you.

a/n: hey anon, I hope you’re doing okay!!! Sorry this took too long to answer ): but I wrote something very sweet (or at least I tried to) for you! hope you like it!

warnings: none

word count: 1.1k

masterlist

The house is quiet when Frankie makes himself in, the lights are off save from the dim one coming from the TV. He figures you’re in the living room, watching your favorite show as you wait for him to return from his night out with his friends. Like you always do.

He silently closes the door, takes off his jacket and places his keys in the ceramic bowl next to the door. His shoes come off next, trying to be as quiet as possible, Frankie walks to the kitchen and notices a pamphlet on the dining table. Curious, he takes a look to find it’s about an animal adoption fair that’ll happen in the next weekend at the park just next corner to where you both live. A smile tugs the corner of his lips as he remembers you telling him about it the day before. Your enthusiasm made him laugh at the time, as you reminded him that you’ve always wanted a cat but never was able to when living with your parents, due to your father being allergic to cat hair.

While Frankie is grateful for the small apartment you both just recently moved in, the idea of already adopting an animal doesn’t really please him. But he can tell you won’t give up easily.

With a sigh, he walks to the living room where he finds you asleep on the couch. Carefully, he leans in and presses his lips on your forehead making you suck a breath and mumble his name. His hands automatically tug on the soft blanket covering you as he says softly,

“Got space for one more?”

You scoot over so he can lay next to you and, even with the tight space from the couch, he curls himself on you, pulling your warm body on his.

“How was it?” You ask in a sleepy voice, referring to his night out with the boys as you bury your face on his neck.

“The same,” he answers, shrugging a little, “I missed you a lot.”

Frankie feels you smile on his skin, “It’s been like three hours.”

“Exactly.”

You both fall into a comfortable silence, save for the commercial playing on the TV in the background, and Frankie is almost asleep when you speak.

“Did you see the pamphlet?”

“What pamphlet?” He plays dumb for a moment, but you know him like the back of your hand.

“You saw it.” A soft laugh escapes your lips and your breath fan over his neck, “I think we should get a cat.”

It’s Frankie’s turn to laugh, “Oh, you think?”

“Yeah…” He can hear the smile in your voice, “I know you’re more of a dog person, but I…” You trail off, letting out a soft sigh.

You’re right. Frankie was never someone who likes cats, preferring dogs much more. But lately, you’ve been talking about it a lot, looking for animal shelters on the internet, giving him hints about getting one. Tonight, you’re bolder, actually asking him about it.

Frankie notices the sleep in your voice and smiles softly, he gently presses his lips against yours before climbing off the couch and taking your hand.

“I’ll think about it, sweetheart,” he says, “For now, let’s just go to bed.”

You let him pull you off the couch and guide you to the bedroom, unaware of his plans already set for the weekend.

…

Days later, Frankie steps inside the apartment with a smile on his face and his heart thumping inside his chest with excitement. He calls your name as he toes off his shoes and shrugs his jacket off. You come to him running, a worried look on your face. A look that faded away when you saw he was okay, closing the door with a box in hands.

“Frankie–”

“I have something for you.” He beams at you, walking to the dining table and setting the box on it, pushing towards you.

“I need to tell–”

“First.” He interrupts you by pressing a kiss to your lips and cupping your cheek, “Please open it. Whatever you have to tell me can wait.”

A sigh left your lips and you nodded, turning to open the box. Your movements freeze and your jaw drops when you see what’s inside.

A black kitty mewls inside, curiously looking at its surroundings. Frankie notices your reaction isn’t the one he’s been waiting for. His own smile drops from his face as he starts to get nervous, saying your name in a question. When you don’t respond, he starts rambling.

“I’m sorry. I should have asked first, just… I saw it in a petshop window and it-it reminded me of you.”

“Frankie–” You whisper and then start laughing, reaching to pet the curious kitty.

“What? What’s wrong? I thought you’d–”

“Nothing is wrong.” You turn to face him with tears in your eyes, “Just– Wait here.”

You take a deep breath and leave for the bedroom. When you come back you have a cat in your arms. Not a kitty, a grown gray haired cat and when Frankie sees it, he starts laughing too.

“I went to the animal shelter after work just to look,” you explain, letting the cat sit on the table along with the kitty on the box, “But I couldn’t resist. It reminded me of you too.”

Frankie smiles reaching to pet the senior cat as you scoop the smaller one in your arms. It meows quietly and you smile at that, while he tugs at the gray cat collar, looking to the nametag.

“Really?” He says, giving you a stern look, but a smile tugs the corner of his lips.

“I told you it reminded me of you.” You shrug, laughing at his expression, “Besides, I didn’t name him. His old owner named him Catfish.”

“Right.” He narrows his eyes at you, “Then, I’m calling this one Little Liar.” He scratches under the kitten chin, making you laugh and beam at him.

“Thank you, Frankie,” you murmur, “Really.”

He leans in to press his lips against yours, the hair of his moustache tickling your upper lip, “I’d do anything for you.”

You melt at his words, smiling and cupping his cheek with your free hand.

“I love you.” He says.

Your response was interrupted by the sound of a meow from Catfish – the cat. You both laugh as he tries to rub his face on Frankie’s hand.

“Not you!”

“Frankie!” You scold him, laughing, “He loves you already. And I do too.”

Frankie gives you a warm smile and a wink. You both sigh content with your growing family, and Frankie thinks this might be not too bad.

Not if he has you by his side.

...

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#frankie morales x reader #frankie catfish morales x reader #frankie moraled #frankie catfish morales #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #myfic

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justmenoworries · 3 years

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Fate: The Winx Saga - How Not To Reboot A Beloved Franchise

Okay, I think I speak for everyone here when I say: We saw this coming.

We saw this coming as soon as that godawful trailer dropped on youtube. But because I hate myself and because I wanted to give this pile of shit a chance, I watched it.

All of it.

It sucked and I won’t do it again.

The End.

....

Nah, I’m kidding.

Here’s why Fate: The Winx Saga sucked ass.

(Spoilers under the cut! Pfft, like anyone cares.)

The Story:

I suppose now you’ll expect me to tell you that F:TWS was a generic, boring slog-fest.

That it offered the most clichéd take on a Chosen One-story since Eragon and that it’s half-assed attempts to be scary through bringing in a zombie apocalypse made it even more painfully obvious just how hard the story was trying to be edgy and ‘’’’’’mature’’’’’’’’.

And, yeah, that’s pretty much how it went.

...Oh, I’m sorry, did you expect something fresh and surprising?

So did I when I watched this garbage.

The title says Winx, but honestly the story is more about Bloom than anyone else. At least they were faithful to the source material in one aspect, am I right fellow Winx-fans?

I hope you like Alfea, because you won’t be spending time anywhere else! Gone are the dozen colorful, unique worlds with their own eco-systems and culture.

Now we have The Otherworld, which is just earth, but with magic.

Oh yeah, and remember how each magic and non-magic users had their own, specialized schools to got to?

Cloud Tower, Alfea, Red Fountain?

Yeah, that’s all Alfea now.

Remember how Winx Club juggled great, charismatic villains and everyday teenage-drama in a way that made both seem interesting and neither obnoxious?

Fate fails miserably at that.

The subplot about the zombies- Oh, sorry, The Burned Ones ™ slowly invading Alfea couldn’t be more dry and uninteresting if it tried. You have hints of political intrigue in the background with the Solarians scheming and taking over in the end, but trust me when I say: You won’t care.

And since the character are either miserable, unlikable or both, you also won’t care about the teenage drama.

Because it’s every single teenage drama plot-line you’ve already seen in edgy reboots like Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, etc.

To add insult to injury, season 1 ends with the villains and antagonists taking over Alfea with Solaria’s help, as if anyone would be baited into a season 2 after you just dragged us through a worse version of The Walking Dead.

I would say this is what you watch to lull you to sleep, but all the incessant whining and belly-aching wouldn’t let you.

And because this is the ‘‘‘‘‘‘mature’‘‘‘‘‘ reboot, there will be no transformations and no bright colors. Just some nice effects for magic and that’s it.

Because, you know.

No one watched Winx Club for those, am I right? /s

And because in modern, edgy reboots women can never just be friends, the Winx Club start out hating each other, until suddenly they’re the best of friends in episode 4, Stella included.

Cool, huh?

The Characters:

I’ll get straight to the point: The main cast is horrible.

Not acting-wise, the actors are doing the best they can with the script, but the way they’re written...

God, the way they’re written.

For starters, Stella is a Karen now. In the very first episode she attempts to get Bloom killed, then runs away to cry into Sky’s shoulder rather than apologize.

Flora was replaced by a white character named Terra, who the writers probably thought would be received well solely because she’s awkward and makes a lot of Strawman-Feminist statements.

Techna got straight-up written out.

Musa was white-washed and is a Mind Fairy instead of a Music Fairy now, because her being the Fairy of Music wasn’t ‘‘‘‘mature’‘‘‘ enough for this reboot.

Bloom is a whiny, spoiled brat who is willing to endanger absolutely everyone around her to get what she wants. And in the end, the plot rewards her for it.

Aisha is the only Winx Club-member who remains likeable, but she’s firmly planted in the supporting character-role.

Most of the Specialists got written out too. No Timmy, no Helia, no Nabu, no Brandon.

Sky is still there, but he serves mainly as a boy toy for Stella and Bloom to fight over, because that needed to be a thing, I guess.

Riven was changed from Jerk with a Heart of Gold who learns to be better to just a one-note jerk who never changes and never learns. He’s also not with Musa in this story. Even though their romance was by far the most engaging one in the original series, aside from maybe Aisha and Nabu.

We get a new character named Dane, but he’s just there to be either a bully-victim or a side-character for others to take advantage of. Did I mention he’s the only black guy in the main cast? Yeah. There’s also this really asinine running gag that he might be gay, to tease a possible relationship with Riven, but nothing ever comes off it.

The teacher-characters are all pretty much the same: Duty-driven, want to protect the ones under their care, but end up alienating them by not being entirely honest with them because they think their students aren’t ready for The Truth, blah blah blah, moving on.

The villains don’t fare much better.

The Trix got fused into one single character named Beatrix (haha, get it?) and she’s just... The Worst. And not in a good way. She’s obviously supposed to be the Charming Bad Girl-type but you’re more likely to laugh your ass off every time she opens her mouth than be intrigued. Whoever wrote her dialogue clearly has no idea how teenagers talk. She hooks up with Riven and Dane for no reason in particular and it’s heavily implied these three are going to be the new Trix. Which is...no. Just no.

The headmistress’ secretary gets killed off in the third episode and doesn’t do much in the first two, so I have nothing to say about him.

Rosalind is a worse, female Darth Sidious who is trying so hard to get Bloom to join the Dark Side and I guarantee you, you will not care. The story also tries to present her as something of a well-intentioned extremist, but forgets to actually let her have a point in her murders and genocides.

Hey, remember when Winx Club characters were different and unique?

The writers of this reboot clearly don’t.

The Aesthetic:

Hey kids!

You know what’s better than bright colors and nice, comforting palettes?

Slapping a dull grey filter on everything and calling it a day!

If I had to list all the reasons why Fate’s lack of style is so heartbreaking and disappointing, we’d be here all day.

So I’m just gonna show you a few screenshots from both the original series and the reboot and let that speak for itself.

The Original:

The Reboot:

Honestly, what do I even need to say?

The reboot sucked out everything that made Winx Club Winx Club and replaced it with “YA-novel palette #17247845453″.

Thanks, I hate it.

In Conclusion:

Fate: The Winx Saga could have been a new take on Winx Club’s story.

Maybe even introduced new concepts and characters tat could have been just as iconic as the original ones.

It chose to be every reboot ever instead, made everything grimdark and fundamentally misunderstood the meaning of “Gray Morality”.

Do yourself a favor and re-watch the original instead.

It’ll be a much better use of your time.

#fate the winx saga #review

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limit-list · 4 years

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so i just watched the artemis fowl movie and i would like to say: what the fuck.

i typed out this entire post and then deleted it, but here’s an incomplete list of everything the artemis fowl movie did wrong. (feel free to add on)

[SPOILERS AHEAD for the Artemis Fowl movie]

okay first of all.... i don’t even know where to start. just what the crap was disney thinking? i’m going to attempt to create a list of everything i hated about it, as a huge fan of the book series. disclaimer: i was literally a child in elementary school when i read this series, so my knowledge might not be as complete as possible.

there is no criminal action. for the heir of a line of criminal masterminds, there sure is a lot of lawful behavior!! in the book, artemis threatens a sprite for information. he holds holly hostage for gold. he’s leading a criminal enterprise. i just.... no. his whole thing is that he’s morally gray. in the movie, he denies that his father was a criminal, which??? buddy that’s the whole point.

his mom is dead. um... no? if i’m remembering it correctly, his dad is assumed dead in the first book, and artemis’s mom is mentally unstable. she’s not dead.

artemis sr. knows about the fairies, and he’s the one who taught artemis everything. also no? artemis learned about fairies from a book. artemis sr. is just a criminal mastermind.

commander root is female. haha, no. okay i get wanting to show a female in a position of power, makes disney look good (but like releasing a movie about a police force rn? ...read the room disney.), but it’s a plot point that holly is the only female in the force. that’s something she has to deal with and overcome all the men constantly underestimating her, and it really made her a character that i know i looked up to as a kid. by making commander root a woman, they just slipped around that entire issue. ugh.

holly short is white. okay, correct me if i’m wrong, but aren’t all elves supposed to have dark skin? i’m pretty sure i remember that from the books. on a similar note, i think butler is supposed to be white, he’s russian? if this is wrong, and it might be, then i’m sorry, but that’s what i’m remembering.

holly’s motivation to being in LEPrecon is that her dad died. it’s actually supposed to be that her mom died of radiation poisoning from the humans, and she joins up to get revenge on the humans. she actually had a reason to hate artemis beyond the whole, ya know, kidnapping her and holding her hostage.

artemis and holly are WAYYY too friendly. no. nope. they have zero bonding beyond the whole daddy issues thing, which isn’t even supposed to be a thing!! holly only punches him once, which is a travesty. artemis wanders up to her “cell”, asks if he can trusts her, and whips off his glasses. for a genius, he sure is a dumbass.

artemis willingly wears casual clothes. he does get his suit eventually, but i thought it was hilarious. i’m mostly mad that they made him less sociopathic (but like that poor actor. i hope he knows we don’t blame him, he did his best with an awful script).

mulch is portrayed as an off brand hagrid who has explosive diarrhea. that’s enough on that.

the whole thing is narrated as if mulch has been captured by MI6 and is being interrogated. there’s no reason for this. literally none!!!

they call butler by his first name. it makes me so uncomfy!! that’s a whole thing, he goes by butler, and they turned it into “call him butler and you die” which is just so wrong.

juliet is butler’s sister, not his niece. i may be upset. the actress was adorable but like no.

artemis is just... so disney-fied. i know for a fact that the boy is not athletic, but they have him surfing and riding a hoverboard through the woods. they took away all of his moral complexity, instead turning him into someone who says “he’s not a criminal, he’s my dad!” have i mentioned that he wears casual clothes? ugh.

um wtf is an aculos? a way to get around artemis being greedy and turn him into a kid who only wants to do the right thing? did not enjoy that.

LEPrecon doesn’t try to kill him after the troll, i assume because they don’t send in his ransom gold. instead of attempted murder, they save artemis sr. through the power of ~friendship~

oh, opal koboi is in this. they mixed together a few different plot lines from the books. did not enjoy, made me think of the percy jackson movie where they tried to sum up through the fifth book in the second movie.

i wanted to see butler fight a troll whilst wearing armor, but instead i got holly hanging from a chandelier while butler kinda stabbed it with a random bull statue and artemis shot at it. sad.

they leave it open for a sequel. i wish they wouldn’t. stop ruining my childhood favorites. let me wait for a fully animated tv show with different seasons for each of the books.

#artemis fowl #artemis fowl movie #artemis fowl spoilers #spoilers #i dont wanna get attacked for posting spoilers but im so peeved #movie? what movie?#imma choose to ignore this movie like we choose to ignore the pjo and atla movies #not atla content #fowldom

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seasaltmemories · 5 years

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The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein Review/Analysis

Really expanding my pallet by tackling a book instead of anime like I’ve done in the past, but I have a lot of complex thoughts about this that I pretty much need to spill out immediately

Summary time:

Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend. Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable. But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.

All my reviews are extremely personal, but this is going to get even more personal bc of the unique relationship I have with the original Frankenstein, I read that back in my senior year of high school and while it wasn’t a favorite of mine, I had my fun with it, I wasn’t the most diligent student, skipping much of the latter half bc I wanted to focus more on my senior thesis, but I really enjoyed Victor as a protagonist. In contrast to how adaptions portray him, he’s a pathetic teenager/20-something who drops out of college bc he gets offended when his science professors laugh at him for wanting to study alchemy instead of a real field of science. He gets sick at the drop of the hat, is so self-centered he really only acknowledges others when they are right in front of him, and a coward who can’t take responsibility for any of the problems he creates, all without being particularly malicious, I more enjoy laughing at him than fangirling over him, but there is a lot of humanity there that I find endearing in its own way

But I was an Elizabeth fangirl, the girl goes through equal amounts of hell without knowing it is all the fault of the man she adores. While the narrative mostly kept her as “love interest” I felt their could be a lot of pathos to her tale and even wrote an essay about it. However as I looked for academic material/retellings, I couldn’t find any that shared my sentiment

Recently I was brought back to Frankenstein because of a local writing contest that was celebrating its 200th birthday. While it was looking for horror submissions in general, I wrote a modern retelling with the intent of giving it a female perspective and subsequently won first place for it

So when I discovered this book, published around the same time as when I wrote my own retelling, it seemed made for me. And oh those first few chapters were a treat, it felt exactly like something I might even write: Elizabeth is someone who plays the angel bc she fears she won’t survive if she is anything less perfect, and no matter the situation this suffocating anxiety grips her every action as she tests people’s reaction to her, I was on cloud nine for all of act 1, other reviews seem to dislike the slow past of that part as it all takes place in one slow day with lots of flashbacks, but I loved marinating in Elizabeth’s inner world as I hadn’t be able to before

Act 2 is where some complicated feelings mixed in, and to talk about then completely I’m gonna go into spoilers. If you are interested in it so far or tend to like my writing of worn-down girls trying to survive in worlds where their image can decide their fate, then I recommend it. For full effect it helps to have read Frankenstein since there is so much of the novel is tied to the original and it pays a lot of love to the cultural icon it has become as a whole, but apparently other reviewers have enjoyed it without that prior knowledge. If you are still on the fence/don’t care about spoilers, let’s dive into the next 2/3rds of it

First of all, this novel reads so much like fanfic. I say that as not a measure of the quality of its writing, bc at its core it is fanfic, and since it falls into that genre, it shapes many of its strengths and flaws. For example, Act 2 is the weakest section of all bc so much of the plot is recounting plot point by plot point or the original, and aside while the POV switch makes certain events, like Justine’s death hit harder and in a different way, it also inherits some less tightly-written sections, like Victor traveling to England to build the bride. But in a way I can excuse that because by then I had started to treat it like fanfiction and took that as a sunk cost that couldn’t be avoided bc of the format

What really shows that this is fanfic is the fact that rather than simply retell the original, it uses the material left behind to build an original story of a woman trying to find an identity that has never felt her own, and I don’t find any fault in that because I have done the same, hell I’ve written about blonde teenage Elizabeths in the 19th century who tailor their entire personality for their dark, morally ambiguous cousin that they are in love with it, but because I can so closely relate to the mere concept of writing a story like this, I find I am much more critical of matters of personal taste than I would be otherwise

To put it bluntly, TDDEF’s Victor is not Shelley’s Victor. And while it tries to play that “untold story” angle to explain the discrepancies, it does not work. Here Victor is like one step away from being a literal demon child, lacking any care for anyone besides Elizabeth and always ready to cut someone/thing open with a knife. He is completely obsessed with her, being inspired to conquer death not because of losing his mother, but because he realized her morality when she catch a life-threatening illness, and while it works for the story TDDEF wants to tell, it is not the Victor I know as he goes on to do even worse things than Shelley’s version

Now again I am faced with having done the same before, taking much less morally gray characters and in fanon dying then a few shades darker, but while this is nitpicky, it makes a lot of the details between the two works not line up so well, even before the narratives diverge

Like for example I never bought Victor’s love or even obsession for Elizabeth here, like Shelley’s version they are often apart and even when together Victor is stuck in his studies, yet here she becomes his entire motivation, part of this was because TDDEF wanted to highlight the problematic elements of the original relationship, but I feel like it still could have been done while veering closer to the original depiction, like despite all Elizabeth does for him, he treats her more like a pet he has to remember to feed and allows her to go through a lot of trauma to save his own skin, that’s still a damning portrayal without falling into the evil cartooniness TDDEF’s version sometimes does, but even within that criticism I can see my biases getting in the way bc I like and write male love interests who mean well but can still fall into toxic behaviors

Regardless, Act 3 is where the narrative really comes into its own, and while I still prefer Act 1, it preferable to the safeness and predictability of Act 2. It is completely unsubtle about the message it wants to send, and while I can’t fault it for it, that’s when the YA label really starts to show, my feelings about the YA genre could fill an entirely different post, but to explain what I mean about feeling YA in the most simplest terms, well I would have absolutely adored it if I was younger, sometimes it may get cheesy or self-indulgent but I know if I was the target audience it would have shaken my entire worldview on what books could do and say. And a lot of that is bc it caters to the adolescent appeal of fanfic, like the narrative could have ended two chapters before its true end, but it instead goes on what feels like a fan’s post-canon imaginings, which while a bit too sappy and simplistic for me, is the type of closure younger me would be starved for

So I am in an odd position, feeling on one hand almost betrayed for it drifting from the vision I found perfect, but also knowing it did so to be true to a vision younger!me would have needed, I guess the best way to describe it is that while Act 1 is still something I personally enjoy, the rest is something I more appreciate from an academic/impersonal perspective. And while I can’t say I am completely satisfied to be there, I feel like maybe a high school girl who reads Frankenstein for her English class and falls for Elizabeth like I did may now be able to find others giving her the type of love she needs Elizabeth to get

#the dark descent of elizabeth frankenstein #my reviews #seasalt talks #whoo boy this is the longest one I've written so far #partly bc I have such a more personal relationship with it than anything else #if any mutuals have read this/or decide to read this bc of me then PLEASE talk about it with me #bc like I said so my feelings are so specific I feel they can't be mirrored in anyone else's opinion #so I want to know other's take #on an unrelated note apparently the author has written a genderswapped Vlad the Impeller #Impaler*#I might check it out bc I'll likely be less loyal to the historical account like I am to Frankenstein #and the trashy part of myself is just like 'Yo Alucard!'

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trifrost17 · 5 years

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YGO Advent: Kaleidoscope

Summary: KaibaCorp takes a stand against bullying and in true KaibaCorp fashion, they go over the top to promote their new campaign.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811635/chapters/40724954

23: Kaleidoscope

When Ryou came to him with the idea, Mokuba was honestly extremely surprised. He hadn’t thought these sort of issues mattered to the man, but Mokuba was quickly proven wrong when Ryou laid out the entire situation.

“And I’m tired of no one making a statement! This is unacceptable and I want to throw our support behind him. I want KaibaCorp to make a statement. To do something… big.” Mokuba tilted his head, thinking it over. It was rare when Ryou actually asked them of something, especially something like this. Seto would have likely rejected the idea outright but Mokuba kind of liked it. He definitely appreciated Ryou’s enthusiasm and intention.

But this was still a corporation and Mokuba had to weigh the pros and cons of doing something that was so controversial. “I want to do this, Ryou. But let me think about how before I go to Seto with this. Give me a little bit of time to figure this out.” Ryou had smiled and thanked him.

It really hadn’t taken him much time at all, though. As soon as Mokuba told Yugi and Atem about Ryou’s idea, they were on board. And with Yugi at his side, Mokuba was reasonably sure they could convince Seto to do anything.

With his usual ferocity to do the right thing, Yugi tackled the project with Mokuba like the champ he was. He pulled Ryou back into the mix, dragged in Joey, Atem, and Duke—all of whom were also fired up for the entire idea—to decide on a plan of action before marching into Seto Kaiba’s office with their proposal.

“I hate bullies, Kaiba. You know that. And we have a chance to make a difference here. I’ve talked to the boy and his mother directly and they are so honored we would do this. And I’m tired of these stories, Kaiba. I want to change people's attitudes. We’re KaibaCorp, damn it! Let’s use our influence for good,” Yugi finished, leaning forward on Seto's desk to see the taller man eye-to-eye. Yugi was probably the only employee who could get away with touching his desk like that; but then again, Yugi's pose wasn't really coming across as challenging Seto's authority as much as it was showing that he was eager for Seto to do the right thing.

His big brother had hesitated, but only briefly. Mokuba had realized that in their older age, Seto was far more willing to take a stand and even potentially risk his company if it meant doing what Seto considered to be the right thing. Granted, Seto's morals were still often skewed and rather gray of most things, but this situation wasn't one of them. He nodded.

“But we’re going to make this big. KaibaCorp doesn’t just donate to charity. And we don’t just make statements. If we’re doing this, we’re doing this KaibaCorp style. Yugi, you will program new DLC packs for every game offering alternate clothes for every character model. Those will be free additions. Then create special DLC—promo ones—where we can use the funds to donate. I want them for every major game: Capsule Monsters VR, Dungeon Dice Monsters VR, Spherium II, Monster World VR, and Millennium World.” Yugi grinned and nodded. But Seto wasn’t done.

“Wheeler, I want this livestreamed on your channel. Make announcements about it. As soon as Mokuba has a time hammered down, we’re getting this to the Kaiba Dome and you’re going to start promoting this thing asap on your channel.”

“Righto, boss man!”

“Devlin, I’m putting you in charge of hard copy versions. While Yugi works on the DLC packages, I want you to get arranged special editions for the game board versions. As well as for Duel Monsters. Get new character figurines out for Capsule Monsters, Spherium, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Monster World. I’ll work with Industrial Illusions about creating special cards for the promotion but I want you overseeing special edition card sleeves, booster packs, game mats, and anything else you can think of. I’ll get special edition Duel Disks started and released asap, too.”

Seto’s head swiveled to Ryou. “You came up with this idea. You’re in charge of character designs. I want those done asap so you can get those to Devlin and Yugi. Meanwhile, you’ll be working with our fashion division to create costumes for all of us to wear at the showcase to show our support. Then I want an entirely new fashion line to come out of this, too. This will be the only thing we’ll take part profit from—but some of the proceeds will go to charity. Pharaoh, you’re the fashionable one, if all your magazine shoots are to go by. Work with Ryou and help him design the clothes.”

“And me, Big Bro?” Mokuba asked, raising an eyebrow. “Am I arranging all the promotions?”

“Yes. Once you have dates from Yugi, Ryou, and Devlin about how long production will take, get this settled. I am also making you the spokesperson here, Mokuba. And I want the family that sparked this there, too. If you find anymore relevant stories, get those, too. If KaibaCorp is getting involved with a political issue like this, then we’re going to make it huge. So big, no one can ignore it.”

Mokuba grinned, nodding. There was a lot of daunting work ahead, but all of them there were enthused about the idea. “And the title? What should we call this project?”

Seto thought for a few seconds before finally saying, “Kaleidoscope.”

“Ah,” Yugi nodded, impressed. “To represent all the colors in a spectrum that reflect a person’s identity?” Seto smirked.

“Exactly.”

“Okay team!” Joey began, clapping his hands together. “Project Kaleidoscope is a go! Let’s go make a difference!”

To get everything done and arranged in only two months was a record. It was a massive undertaking—new DLC, new figurines, new clothing line, and even special edition Duel Disks and Duel Disk skins. But it was done and ready to go for launch.

And all the while, Joey had been drumming up support, while also gathering new stories to discuss at the launch event. Even Seto was impressed with Joey’s initiative to bring in their customer’s stories into his livestream. For a few weeks, he had been asking his fans for their stories about bullying and then discussing them with the crowd, making statements about how wrong it is. He would play games online with the victims, telling them how life would get better and how the bullies were so wrong. Mokuba had arranged for several of those fans to come to the launch event.

It was definitely shaping up to be huge. They had been promoting for all two months and all the seats for the Dome had sold out. Not only that, they had sold out of all tickets for Kaiba Land general passes for the park, too. On the day of the event, everything around Kaiba Land was packed; even news media crews were there to see what this Project Kaleidoscope was all about. Many outlets had gotten the rumor that it was an anti-bullying project of somesort but no one knew the full details.

The seven of them going on stage arrived at the Dome early in the morning to prepare, going through sound checks and testing all the technical aspects of the presentation. They explained what they were going to talk about with their guests and prepped them for their parts in the show. And then they spent hours getting dressed and made up in their costumes. At 3:00 prompt, Mokuba signaled for his other coworkers to head on out. It was time for Project Kaleidoscope to be revealed to the world.

The crowd response was deafening; as soon as they caught sight of Yugi, Seto, Atem, and Joey, they went absolutely wild. But then, as the crowd took in their appearances and what they were wearing, their screams turned somehow louder? Mokuba wasn’t sure how to describe it. It was a different feeling, though. Almost like they were being laughed at.

Perfect. That attitude was exactly what they were trying to combat.

Mokuba came to the center of the stage, Yugi and Ryou both standing beside him. The rest of their group stood behind them in a semi circle. Mokuba tapped the KaibaCorp mic on his earpiece on, greeting everyone with a loud, “Hello, Domino City! Welcome to the Kaleidoscope Project!”

He was greeted with more excited shouts before the audience calmed down. “We’re here today to announce a special project that is very close to all of our hearts here at KaibaCorp.” Mokuba paused, looking down at his outfit. “As you can see, we all dressed up for the occasion. But,” he began his tone turning soft and stern, “we aren’t doing this for humor. We aren’t doing this so that everyone can go, ‘Oh look! The King of Games and CEO of KaibaCorp are in skirts!’ No. We’re wearing these Magician Girl costumes proudly and to show support.”

The crowd fell silent as Mokuba gestured behind him. None of the men behind him showed any awkwardness, not even his older brother, in their costumes. Yugi wore the long dress of the Silent Magician replicating the design exactly, including the cut outs on his hips that exposed large parts of his thighs. Atem happily wore the costume of his favorite female magician: the Dark Magician Girl. He didn’t look the slightest bit uncomfortable with the short skirt, which was amazing, because truly, the skirt was so short, it was borderline indecent. If Atem bent over, his entire ass would be exposed.

Briefly, Mokuba thanked every god available that Yugi had made sure everyone wore the tight booty shorts underneath their skirts so that nothing would be exposed to the public.

Seto and Joey wore the Lemon and Apple Magician Girl costumes, while Duke had on the Kiwi Magician Girl outfit, and Ryou wore the Chocolate Magician Girl outfit. The only costume really modified was Mokuba’s, as he wasn’t too keen on wearing some semblance of a diaper for the Berry Magician Girl. Instead, he wore high-waisted shorts with legs that that barely covered his hips. The rest of his outfit was made up of thigh-high boots and shoulder-length gloves.

“You see, the point of this project is to show our solidarity with kids and youth who are being bullied and mistreated for simply being who they are. One of our designers was made aware of the story of a nine-year-old boy who was harassed and bullied from classmates, even being sent home from school, after he decided to wear a Silent Magician’s outfit during their school’s costume party for Halloween. Silent Magician was this boy’s favorite card and he wanted to show how much he loved the card by dressing up like her; but because he was a boy, he was treated cruelly by his classmates.” Mokuba scoffed, shaking his head in disgust.

“We’re tired of it. We’re tired of these stories—we’re so tired of hearing of boys being bullied because they wear skirts or dresses or nail polish or makeup or anything that seems vaguely feminine. We’re tired of girls being told that it’s ‘just a phase’ or ‘they just haven’t met the right man yet’ when they come out as anything but straight. We’re tired of parents mistreating their children because they are trans or gay or some other sexuality that isn’t straight. We’re tired of asexuality being ignored. We’re tired of boys and girls being picked on and bullied for being different—for simply being themselves. So KaibaCorp is taking a stand. We’re telling these kids, hey, it’s okay to be yourself; there is nothing wrong with you. And when your environment makes it not okay to be yourself, we want to help. We want to do whatever we can to help.”

Mokuba shook his head, glancing back at Yugi and Atem, then looking over at his brother and Joey. “On this stage behind me, we have so many men of different sexualities and with a vast array of life experiences. And as we took on this project and learned about our fans and their life experiences, we realized that people could benefit from hearing that there are more people out there like them. So KaibaCorp is coming out. We’re here in front of you showing who we are. We're showing you that there are more colors out there besides blue and pink; that there is a rainbow—a kaleidoscope, if you will—of gender identities and sexual orientations and those are normal, too. This is Project Kaleidoscope—we want to give you a lens to look into and see those colors and know that there are others out there like you.”

He took a deep breath. Mokuba had made sure beforehand that everyone on stage was comfortable with him talking about them. All the men had agreed. But still, revealing things so personal about themselves was not easy.

“I understand it first-hand how necessary it was to find someone like me. When I was a teenager, I struggled with my sexuality because I wasn’t… normal. I wasn’t like other boys; I didn't date, I didn't want to have sex, I didn't find girls or guys or anyone sexually attractive. It wasn’t until I talked to Yugi that I found a word to identify myself and realized that I wasn’t alone. That there were others like me. That, out of everyone, Atem was like me.”

Mokuba had been seventeen when he had confided into Yugi about how he thought he was different from other boys his age. He hadn’t felt comfortable going to Seto about it, since Seto never seemed to express interest in relationships at all, and Mokuba did want a relationship at some point. He was scared to bring it up with Seto; but with Yugi, it was so much easier to confide into him. He wasn’t judgmental and he was so approachable.

He had expressed how he had noticed he had never found anyone really attractive. Other boys his age were always talking about how this girl was so hot or that girl was gorgeous, but Mokuba couldn’t wrap his head around it. Mokuba didn’t want to have sex with anyone; the idea of just seeing someone and going, “Yeah, I want to bang them,” well, it was beyond him. It was almost repulsive to him. Still, at the same time, he wasn’t against sex as a whole. With the right person, he could see himself being sexually active, but it had to be someone special and someone he was close to.

Yugi had smiled after Mokuba was finished and said the words that he needed to hear the most: “There is nothing wrong with you, Mokuba.” Mokuba had felt like a ball of anxiety had broken when Yugi said those words. “If anything, you sound like Atem. I think you may be demisexual, like he is. It just means you need an emotional connection before you experience any sexual attraction to someone. And that’s totally fine. You should talk to him if you have questions—he can definitely answer better than I can. But I can tell you as someone dating a demisexual, there is nothing wrong with it. We have a wonderful relationship.”

Now, it was time for Mokuba to say those same words to some other youth that may need to hear it. “Atem and I are known as demisexuals. We only experience sexual attraction to someone we form an emotional bond with. But you know what? Our orientation—there is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with us. We both have wonderful partners and are in fantastic relationships. Atem and Yugi have been married for almost ten years now. And I’ve been dating my amazing girlfriend, Serenity, for almost three years now.”

He gestured towards Yugi. “Yugi is bisexual and my girlfriend is straight, but they're still in relationships with demisexuals.” Mokuba pointed to Ryou next. “Ryou is gay.” He spun towards Duke. “Duke identifies as pansexual, but just like Yugi, he likes all genders. Joey is bisexual, too. And my big brother? He’s asexual. But even with this array of sexualities, we all have different relationships and some of us have no partners. And that’s totally normal, too.” Mokuba smiled, extending his arms out as if to encompass everyone behind him. “We’re all on various points of the sexuality spectrum. And we’re here to show you that you can be happy no matter who you are.”

Mokuba nodded back towards his brother. “My big brother doesn’t experience any sexual attraction. But you know what? He’s still in a relationship with Joey; they’ve been dating for years and it works. Ryou prefers not to be in a relationship; same with Duke. They are both perfectly happy being single. And you know what? That’s totally normal and fine, too. No one needs to have a significant other to be normal.” Mokuba rolled his eyes. “You see, what is normal for one person isn’t normal for another. It’s fine to be different. But we know that sometimes, your environment makes it dangerous for you to come out or be yourself. Sometimes it’s your parents. Sometimes it’s your school. Sometimes it’s your friends or peers. And while oftentimes, those hostile environments are out of your control, KaibaCorp has decided that it can try to lend a helping hand to lessen that type of hostility. We can’t fix everyone. But we can sure as hell try to make life just a little better for others.”

He took another deep breath, gesturing back at their outfits. “You don’t have to be gay or straight or even trans to want to wear different clothes. You guys want to know something? Atem wears skirts and dresses all the time. He’s a cisgendered man, totally secure in his masculinity, and he enjoys wearing makeup and things noted as feminine.” Atem nodded in confirmation. “But have you ever seen Atem? He’s fucking amazing. He’s an amazing duelist. He’s a fantastic person. He’s a totally devout father and such a loving husband, it’s almost sickeningly sweet to watch. His choice of clothing preferences doesn’t make him any different—doesn't make him somehow less than someone else.”

Yugi stepped forward at Mokuba’s nod, tapping his own microphone to speak. “This is what we’re trying to push for. We want to break these boundaries that limit people; we want to redefine what normal is and show that there are people like us, people like you, all around. And we want to lead by example. We want to show not just children and teens and young adults that their sexuality or gender identity or even what type of clothes they prefer to wear doesn’t invalidate who they are, but we also want to show that same message to parents. Because, you know what? It’s fucking hard to come out to your parents.” He took a deep breath and Mokuba watched his eyes flicker to his children sitting in the front row.

Téa had flown in from America to see this; she was holding Yugi’s daughter, while his mother was bouncing his son on her leg. Both of them were nodding encouragingly at Yugi. Atem seemed to sense his husband’s pain and came forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. Téa noticed Yugi staring at them and whispered something in their children's ears; both kids lifted their hands and waved happily, yelling for their dads. Yugi smiled, waving back, while Atem blew both kids kisses. The tension in Yugi's body loosened.

“I get it,” Yugi finally said. “I get not having a parent accept you. My father works overseas. I haven’t seen him since I was fourteen, but as a child, I was always so desperate to please him. I wanted so badly to make him proud. Even when I became an adult, that desire to hear him say, ‘You’ve done good, Son,’ was always there. I couldn’t shake it, even with my amazing mom and Grandpa and friends and boyfriend all accepting me for who I was. I just always craved that affirmation from him.” He gave a broken smile.

“I never got it. I spoke to my father about a month after I announced my engagement to Atem. It was the first time he had spoken to me almost a year—which was a miracle itself, because he hadn’t spoken to me for four years before that. On that phone call, he told me he was… he was ashamed to call me his son. He said that I had dishonored his name by trying to marry another male and that he would disown me if I went through with my marriage. It was… one of the worst moments of my life. Every nightmare I ever had about coming out was coming true.” Yugi blinked away his tears, while Atem wrapped him in a backhug, resting his chin on Yugi’s shoulder.

“I was lucky, though, because my mother and grandfather still love me and accept me, and my husband, and our children. I was able to stand strong and tell my father I didn’t care about his opinion and that he was no longer welcome into my life. But I’m fortunate to have that ability—I was an adult and still had a support system. There are so many youth out there trapped in bad situations, hiding who they are. We can’t save everyone. We all know that. But KaibaCorp can at least put our money where our mouth is and work to help support the agencies and the people that do help those kids in trapped situations.”

He nodded back towards Mokuba, who stepped forward again. Behind them, the screens lit up with their new products. “That’s why, starting today, we’re releasing special edition DLC packs, special figurines, limited edition Duel Disks, and a brand new KaibaCorp clothing line! We want to make it normal in games for boys to wear skirts or dresses, or girls to wear pants and armor, or for there to be a gender neutral option so no one has to conform to the gender binary! We want to give everyone the chance to express themselves freely in our games and this was how we decided to do it.”

The screen flashed first with the DLC packs, showing a variety of new costumes for the Magicians of the various games. “As you can see, we’ve created the option of swapping female and male clothing, as well as creating a more neutral option. This extends to every class in the games, not just the Magician line. These are all free options, too. The purchasable DLC, though, will be color swaps, more elaborate costumes that Ryou and Yugi personally designed, and a few costume swaps from various games. So, if for example, you’ve always want to dress the Pharaoh from Millennium World as the Dark Magician Girl costume from Spherium II, you can now do that with these new DLC packs.”

Mokuba clicked his arm piece, switching the screen to the next images of figurines. It had recognizable characters, like the Dark Magician, as well as models that looked strikingly familiar to Atem’s Pharaoh character or Yugi’s Heba character. “New figurines available for the board game versions of Monster World, Spherium, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Capsule Monsters! The Dark Magician is dressed like his pupil and the Dark Magician Girl is dressed as her teacher. We also have a special Millennium World figurine set that does come with alternate outfits. The monster creatures have alternate colors and rainbow versions of themselves, too, to match our Kaleidoscope project theme.”

He paused, letting Joey step forward to brandish one of Kaiba’s new Duel Disks. It was silver but the lights were all multicolored, while the large powersource light nearest to the elbow was designed to glow like a kaleidoscope. Seto also stepped forward, showing off his Deluxe Duel Disk. The lights on his elbow and shoulder piece were colored purple, while wires that connected the lights glowed silver. The Duel Disk was black with white highlights. It was the colors of the asexuality flag.

“We have several new Duel Disks styles available. You can find them in our Kaleidoscope style, or in various colors representing the different LGBTQIA+ flags. My big bro is wearing the asexuality colored Deluxe Duel Disk, while Joey has our Kaleidoscope version in the basic model.”

Mokuba grinned enthusiastically as Kaiba and Joey showed off the Duel Disks. “The best part of all of this? All proceeds will go straight to charitable organizations that aid LGBTQIA+ youth. We’re serious when we said we want to help. We’re not here to make a profit on these items. 100% goes to charity. We’ll use the profit we make on our normal items to fund the production of these special edition goods.”

It was hard to read the crowd. They all seemed in shock, though there were definitely some diehard fans of the new products; Mokuba was still getting some pretty vocal response from the stadium after each announcement. Good. There had been a fear of alienating some of their fanbase but all of them had decided to take that risk and push forward with the project anyways.

“Finally, our last line of items—introducing our Kaleidoscope fashion line! You’ve seen our KaibaCorp exclusive clothing before; the sleek coats, elaborate shirts with too many buckles, tight leather pants, collars and chains, and a multitude of Blue Eyes White Dragon inspired clothes. This is something completely different. Atem, I’ll turn it over to you.”

Atem tapped on his mic, grinning at the crowd who cheered for him. Even though he wasn’t nearly as active in the dueling circuits anymore, he was still a crowd favorite. “The Kaleidoscope line is for all people. We have clothes for whatever you’re feeling: gender neutral, feminine, or masculine. Mix and match the clothes to your delight! We have seventeen various colors and patterns, all of which are available in every style of clothes we could offer: dresses, skirts, pants, tank tops, shorts, one-piece bodices, sweaters, suits, jackets, hoodies, sweatpants—we have as many varieties as possible to fit whatever your needs might be. After all, I know first hand that sometimes you want to wear short, flowy skirts and lacy tops, an other days, you want to wear comfortable sweats and a relaxing T-shirt. With this line, you can do both.”

“This is the only line that won’t have all 100% going to charity,” Mokuba admitted. “We want to be totally transparent about this, though. Because it is an entire line of brand new clothing, we have to be able to cover costs of production. Still, 40% of all proceeds from every Kaleidoscope branded article sold will go to charity.”

“We hope,” Yugi cut in, smiling gently, “that you will support us in the endeavor. We want to help others and we’re hoping you will, too, as well as show other companies it’s okay to stand for what is right. And representing every different identity and showing kids that they are normal—that normal is really just a kaleidoscope of different things—is what is right.”

The applause was immediate. Mokuba felt his chest loosen with relief.

“Now, it wouldn’t be a KaibaCorp promotion without a duel of somesort!” Joey screeched, grinning wildly. “We don’t aim to disappoint! It’s been a few years since they competed officially, but for the first time in three years, all four of us will duel again! Kaiba, Atem, Yugi; are you ready?!”

This time, the roar from the crowd nearly bowled them over. Ever since releasing Millennium World when Yugi was 30, right before he got his daughter, he had stepped back from the dueling circuit. When he was 31, after 15 years of reigning undefeated as the King of Games, Yugi had officially stepped down as the world Duelist champion, allowing someone else to take his place.

Everyone still called him the King of Games, though. The title had never been given out since, even though it had been almost three years since he had retired. Since then, Yugi had focused only on designing games and his role at KaibaCorp. He hadn’t participated in a public duel since his official resignation.

With him, though, Seto and Atem had also pulled out of the dueling circuit. Seto was a shoo-in for world champion, but he refused the title, as he had never been able to beat Yugi (he had beaten Atem on a few very rare occasions) and Yugi, being his greatest rival and goal, was the only reason he had really continued to push as long as he did. Seto still dueled in public battles occasionally but normally only to defeat the current world champion in special battles. Unsurprisingly, he kicked their asses.

Atem, the Pharaoh, had retired as soon as they had their first child. He had explained that he may return to the dueling circuit once their children were old enough to travel with him, but for the time being, it was more important to him to be a father. Much like Seto, his only recorded losses were against Yugi, Seto, and Joey. He, too, had only made a rare battle appearance over the past four years since retiring at 30. Normally, it was only for special promotions for new items or for Joey’s show.

Joey was the only one who semi-actively participated in the dueling circuit anymore, but even then, it was clear he just didn’t have as much fun doing it without his friends and rivals. He was also such a legendary figure that most of his competitors psyched themselves out fighting him. Still, Joey enjoyed joining small tournaments and appearing in random events just for fun, normally allowing whoever he beat to move forward in tournaments. He had done that twice with the world championship, technically winning it but refusing the title and giving it to his opponent.

“We also all argued about who to team up with who, so since none of of us can agree, you’re going to get three two-on-two duels and one final free-for-all duel with all four of us! Can you handle that, Domino City?!” Mokuba was reasonably sure at least two people passed out from screaming so loudly. He also thought his eardrums had busted.

The first match was Joey and Yugi versus Atem and Seto. It was hilarious to watch, as his big brother and Atem snarked back and forth with each other, while Joey and Yugi pulled the most bizarre combos out of their ass that made it seem like they were playing it by the seats of their pants.

They weren’t, of course. Joey’s gambling style of playing worked to Yugi’s advantage, as he knew how to plan around Joey’s off-the-wall strategies. He crafted genius plans to work with Joey, and though it seemed that Atem and Seto were clearly going to be the winners since most of Joey and Yugi’s dangerous strategies ended with them losing copious amounts of life points, right at the end, Yugi pulled out a carefully planned trap (clearly turns in the making) that decimated Seto and Atem with Joey’s cards.

The first win went to Yugi and Joey.

The next battle had Yugi and Seto teaming up against Joey and Atem. Seto’s pure power deck was reinforced by Yugi’s clever strategies, while Atem and Joey did their damndest to pull the rug out from Seto and Yugi. Atem tended to rely on tricks and illusions, pretending to be backed into a corner, only to have lulled his opponent into a trap; however, he was still an ardent gambler, just like Joey. Yugi and Seto were both strategists through and through, and Yugi could easily predict Atem’s tricks. Joey was a little harder for Yugi to predict (since Joey really didn’t plan ahead, exactly) but Seto’s overwhelming power was a perfect foil to Joey. With Yugi reinforcing Seto and out-trapping Atem’s traps, Seto was able to destroy Joey’s tactics.

Once more, the battle ended in Yugi’s favor, as he and Seto defeated Atem and Joey.

Then it was couple versus couple. Unfortunately, unlike the other two battles that didn’t have clear winners, it was extremely obvious who would win this fight. Yugi and Atem didn’t even need to communicate verbally; their moves were so seamless in strengthening each other and playing off of each others traps, that it almost looked like they were one person with two decks. Joey and Seto didn’t stand a fucking chance. Atem and Yugi simply slaughtered them.

They paused the duels to give the four men a break, using the time to bring out the children and teens to tell their stories. Ryou, Duke, and Mokuba sat down with them, talking through the bullying stories. After talking through everything and asking what else could be done to help others like them, they gave the kids some of their new products, before wrapping up.

Finally, the most anticipated duel of the day to close out the event. It was a free for all and honestly, for most of the duel, Mokuba was sure Yugi was going to lose. All three of his opponents clearly targeted him, trying to get him out first.

But Yugi was as slippery as water. He deflected attacks onto the other players, playing extremely defensive for the majority of the battle. Joey was the first to go out, as one of his gambles he tried against Yugi backfired horribly and cut his lifepoints over halfway. Seto saw the opportunity and took it, knocking him out.

After that, Mokuba had expected it to come down to Yugi and Atem, but surprisingly enough, his brother managed to pull off a trap that shattered Atem’s defenses. Yugi had the option of knocking Atem from the game or targeting Seto and he actually picked his husband. He had smiled and apologized, cheekily asking his husband not to be mad at him, before sending his Silent Magician to finish off Atem’s lifepoints.

Then it was Seto and Yugi battling it out, at least until Yugi summoned Gandora-X and wiped out Seto's monsters. They swapped card effects and trap and spell cards back and forth on the turn, reminding Mokuba of their duel way back before Yugi had graduated high school, during that whole Diva fiasco thing. Much like that duel, Yugi ended the duel with summoning his Dark Magician back from the Graveyard and attacking Seto. This time, though, the duel didn't get interrupted right before Seto's lifepoints hit 0; his health dropped to nothing and Yugi was declared the winner.

Even though he was longer reigning as the King of Games, Yugi was still undefeated, defending a title he didn’t even technically have.

After the duel, Mokuba gave a few more announcements to wrap up the event, finally reminding everyone to buy their new products, before dismissing them.

He sighed sighed in relief as he turned off his mic, watching the stands begin to clear. Mokuba was honestly really ready to go home. The event had been an emotional one and he felt so drained.

Before he could go much further, though, he was nearly run over by two very excited children running onto the stage, yelling, “Papa! Daddy! You were on the big screens! You won!!” The smiles Yugi and Atem gave as they saw their children made something warm blossom through Mokuba’s body.

Atem swung his son up into his arms, while Yugi hefted their daughter up, raining hugs and kisses on the excited children. The two children laughed in sheer delight before hugging their fathers tightly.

It was for people like Yugi and Atem and their children that they were throwing events like this. That they were coming out in support of LGBTQIA+ rights. Atem and Yugi were wonderful fathers, loving and so caring to their children. Mokuba and Seto had a shitty father—he knew what a terrible parent looked like and Yugi and Atem weren’t that.

Because children deserved to grow up happy and loved, and people like Yugi and Atem deserved the chance to give children that type of love. That was why they were doing things like this.

Mokuba could only hope it made the change they wanted. Even if it was only a small one, only one step at a time, even if it only helped one kid, well, then they had succeeded.

But looking at the dynamite force that was behind Project Kaleidoscope, Mokuba had a feeling it was going to be a much bigger success than just helping one kid. No, KaibaCorp was going to change the world. And this was just the beginning.

#yugioh advent #puzzleshipping #yugioh #one more left to go omg finally

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hellacre13 · 6 years

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Keep seeing Batman fans say SuperWonder is too obvious so she’s better for Batman but I don't understand why? As a Wonder Woman fan and reader of DC, it's clear Wonder Woman is not remotely a valid love interest and she does not fit into the bat mythos at all.

The people calling Superman and Wonder Woman obvious are admitting actually in reality if these two optimistic characters did exist they would be drawn to each other. Yet they see this positive attitude towards love and relationships as boring. It’s a mind boggling thing to damn something healthy. They tend to say Batman is not obvious and her opposite in terms of how they operate so that is more interesting. They see Diana as a “perfect woman” to make hypermasculine versions of Batman better. She cannot be attracted to a man who might be perfect for her. Notice I did not say the “perfect man”. There is no such thing. Living beings are not born in a vacuum, and we face too many variables to be perfect. But there are many men who have had good upbringing and morals and try to live a productive life and try to give back to the world. And like women, all are different. And we all are drawn to different traits in partners.

When we put everything aside, like money, skill, power, looks, status, we all seek a basic thing and that is to just be happy. Now to be happy we don’t all need to hook up, or marry or have kids. Many great people who changed our world for the best did it regardless of a partner. But when we do opt to choose a companion? What is so boring about two people who share the same aspirations, goals, fight for the same ideals getting together? Isn’t that what draws people together? Not what sets you apart but what connects you together? Research has shown these things makes for the best foundation for a lasting relationship. It’s not solely how you look, or what you can do or even where you com from. It’s what you have in common and what you believe in, and how you connect on an emotional level. It’s how you can support, and grow together while still being what you want to be as an individual.

Far too often imo fiction has taught us that the bad boy is interesting and the good guy is not as compelling. Yes, the bad boy can be interesting depending on his journey and destination BUT it never should be at the expense of the nice guy. Basic decency is sneered at on some level when it comes to modern romance. We have been inundated with stories of the brooding, mysterious enigma or cad who is irreverent, violent, unattainable, emotionally damaged or closed off. And he is worth fighting for than the man who is just a good man defined by his deeds, and noble motivations, and the way he treats everyone including the women around him with respect. He is no challenge if he is just a nice guy who is stable and grounded with a nice sense of humor. You are lulled into this fantasy that you are so powerful and so amazing you can change jerks.

No one person changes jerks, cads or badboys. A jerk changes themselves if they’re lucky or they stay a jerk. Often it is the responsibility of the “good girl” to correct this man even if she has nothing in common with him. Like I don’t know how or why this is her job because she she fits some goody two shoes stereotype. It’s not that we see people as people and we all have different experiences that might make us more attracted to someone. It’s supposedly this formula to fictional romance. The ironic thing is the bad boy can also have a good male friend too to balance him…but if there is a female around…she has to open her legs for him to teach him properly. It’s usually the most cliched love triangle troupe used and bet your bottom dollar the good boy usually loses to the cool bad boy.

The irony in all this is these very folks who push these ideas…when it comes to themselves…they want the good woman or man for themselves in real life. When they have children they want someone who will be obviously good for their children. Nothing is too boring then when you want that for your self. You don’t go…oh he’s too nice a man for my loving daughter or she’s too sweet a person for my kind hearted son. They want the honest, decent, compassionate, kind, good people for their leaders. So why the hell are we sending messages that they are boring? Why can’t an alpha female like Diana be drawn to an equally powerful but noble man like herself? Who we draw to us says a lot about us. If you’re an Amazon Princess who is here to spread peace when it comes to connecting with others, why wouldn’t you be drawn to a kind , calm ,patient, compassionate man?

I am sick of these troupes and stereotypes. And Superman/.Wonder Woman is a pairing to me that defies that. I grew up reading classic novels and more often than not the males were often more on the nobler, kinder side. Then when I became a teenager and young adult it changed and there was a shift to jerks. Characters in real life you should run far away from, you’re suddenly drawn to.But you know, romance and all that…we are lulled into this belief love can change anything. But love is love. Love feels as it is. It feels good. Not terrible.

Clark and Diana’s relationship has always been based on trust, truth respect, friendship from the very start. They have positive traits but having been raised differently still have much to learn from each other and grow…because life itself if what teaches us growth. And know what? They talk. Communicate. Reciprocate. They like each other. As people. They challenge each other’s point of view because no one man or woman knows everything. Don’t underestimate how important those things are when it comes to forging relationships. It isn’t about flirting or arguing. Hell it isn’t even about kissing or screwing. Those things don’t define what makes a person right for someone. You can crush on a zillion people and it can go nowhere. As you can kiss, sleep together and you still probably don’t have to be the right person for someone. It’s about connecting. Understanding each other. Being better together but also still being a whole on your own. You can’t have someone complete you. You need to do that yourself.

But that apparently all this is too obvious and boring. No. It’s not. Obvious is assuming all women will drop their panties for rich men who have many women because he is amped up by his fanboywriters to be the best at everything. That is the male fantasy that he has to do nothing to work for their love, or earn their respect…they just drop it for him. It’s nothing against his character but let’s not pretend that people don’t think Batman is so cool and they love the fact that he has all the cool trappings and can just attract women and can drop them at will or pick them up at will. The only woman Batman is at a loss at is usually Catwoman because she falls in such a gray area you can’t stereotype her too much as too bad or good and he cannot control her.

For most of Batman’s history Wonder Woman was never on his radar as a love interest. It took one cartoon where by it spends it time having Diana…a proud amazon…chase after a man for a date for no good reason other than he’s Batman. She doesn’t teach him anything in that cartoon. They have no give and take. Superman and his foes faster teach him lessons. He doesn’t grow from being with her because he never was with her. But to the fans of this, based on this shallow dynamic, they insist that writers throw Wonder Woman at him.And see her as his property because of this and are trying to influence Batman writers to do it in comics.

While Superman and Wonder Woman has had decades of friendship and even sometimes romance in the source material. But that deemed as nothing. As a Wonder Woman fan who read her books for years Batman fanboy writers trying to define Wonder Woman does not sit well with me. Especially when it comes to making her a prize for a man who did nothing to earn her love. Tom King Batman/Wonder Woman debacle even managed to top that absurdity Greg Rucka did in Blackest Night. King made Diana actively and aggressively try to get Bruce to sleep with her, and he says this is feminism. I don’t know about him, but using Diana as a side hoe to tempt Batman while his finance is alive and well is not feminism. The story never even had Diana interact with Selina woman to woman other than to come talk down to her in the end. And she could not even recall her own partner Steve Trevor as she flaunted herself. But Batman remembers his and puts a stop to her come on. When she is rejected she pretends she cares for Selina’s feelings. And based on this ridiculous story we are to swallow Batman and Wonder Woman are suddenly besties. None of the stories showed anything whereby Diana as a character gets something she needs for her growth. This was out of character for Diana. No one who knows Wonder Woman, who is about sisterhood and a noble person, who, if she loved someone and they are with another, would respect their happiness…you would not recognize her in that story.

So yeah, I’ll take obvious any damn day.

#superman #wonder woman #superwonder #batman #catwoman #batcat #steve trevor #tom king #justice league

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idontneedasymbol · 7 years

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12x10 Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets

I like Steve Yockey’s titles; they’re quirky and quite SPN, and the random-character-name personal stamp is a cute trend (at least for now.)

I like Steve Yockey’s episodes so far, too. This was maybe the most Team Free Will ep of the entire show? Some great interactions on all three sides!

Must feel sorry for Sam, caught in the middle between Cas’s issues and Dean’s. (Sam and Cas really need to get into a fight sometimes, just to give Dean a taste of trying to play referee, as both Sam and Cas have had to take the role when Dean and Cas or Dean and Sam are having it out. There is a little moment in the church in this ep when Sam is arguing with Cas about reasoning with Lily that Dean steps in a bit, but want more!)

But do love that Dean’s issues didn’t stop him from helping out -- of course not, because the real issue is that he’s worried about Cas. And that was obvious all along, but he actually admits it in the end, and oh, Dean, you are getting so much better at this dealing with feelings thing. Still a long way to go, but he’s more open about acknowledging both his emotions (to himself and everyone else) and the behaviors they result in than ever before.

Lily Sunder was interesting and sympathetic (...even given her introduction, which, OH MY GOD Supernatural, if you air the last two eps back to back, that is TWO women of color stabbed to death in like 10 minutes, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?! And Benjamin (and his unnamed vessel) were actually a really intriguing character concept, and yeah, this is SPN, most of the cast is dead by the end, but just...the visuals. You’re better than this, show...you should be better than this.)

...Ahem. Anyway. I liked Lily, and I really liked her story, I didn’t see the twist coming -- like, it was pretty obvious there was something up with Isham, but that the girl wasn’t really a nephilim at all, that was fittingly horrible. So was Akobel not really Lily’s lover at all but just her bodyguard? I was a little *head tilt* about why she was going after the whole squadron, but figured it was mostly to get to Isham -- either to summon him, or to remove his line of defense. And also she was missing a good chunk of her soul by now.

Which I also liked -- it’s always great when introducing a power to give it a drawback, and soul-burning is a great reason why the boys should never do spells like that, for all the power they offer (it’s good that is the price, because I think it’s one of the few that Sam wouldn’t pay. And Sam otherwise is pretty damn willing to take terrible bargains if he thinks they balance out (Dean is less likely to calculate it so carefully...)) But I liked that Lily still had enough of her soul to still have a moral center -- that she wouldn’t hurt humans, even if they get in her way.

And love that she has to see the Winchesters for like five minutes to have their number, to know what to say to convince Sam (and totally right, too, she’d have quite a partner in vengeance if Dean had been killed...) Though she probably knew them already -- it doesn’t seem like they introduce themselves, so she probably knows the Winchesters by reputation through hunter/magic circles.

Plus she’s set up to return as either an ally or a villain, and I could enjoy her as either.

Yockey seems to really like the show’s mythos -- hunter society last time, exploring angels this time. Like Benjamin’s gender and his relationship with his vessel (though I wish we could’ve seen any of that, rather than just being told about it.)(also re: Benjamin, Sam’s expression when he says, “She’s his...friend,” like, on the one hand he is unusually qualified to understand how an angel and their vessel could love each other...and then it’s completely incomprehensible to him for the same reason.) Also the mention of nephilim grow up and “entire worlds die.” Which is completely different from how Metatron and Cas treated the last one, but the show’s mythos is loose enough anyway, sure, let’s go with what’s cool. And the idea of angels possibly knowing what happens on other worlds/acting on other worlds. Which has been mentioned before -- by Death, I think by Zachariah (so are there humans on these other worlds, to mate with angels to make nephilim? Are these other planets or other universes they’re talking about?)

Points observed upon rewatch:

It seems like Dean is the one keeping in touch with Mary? Sam keeps asking him for updates. Is Sam reluctant to reach out, or is Dean just reaching out more, or what? Whenever Mary and Sam are together they seem fine...or is that why, that Mary and Dean are still a little awkward, and find it easier with long-distance?

Mary is presumably on a BriMoL-requested hunt, to not want backup?

Don’t know if was the direction or what but Dean looked way young for most of this ep -- more like Jensen (who’s looked younger than Dean for a few years now, still haven’t figured that one out...)

Sam’s bitch-face through this entire episode is epic. There’s about three different points he looks like he is fighting so hard not to pop Dean one.

At the crime scene, weren’t there cops called first? How did they miss the big shiny angel blade???

The burned-wings around angel bodies are back -- when is the last time we saw those? It’s one of the shows more awesome signature effects; glad they’ve gone back to it.

Squeezing onto the bench, omg you dorks!

I am a little confused how Sam didn’t get blinded when Dean did, since they seem to flinch back from the light at the same time (or does Sam have +5 resistance to angelic magic?) But yay both to Dean grabbing at Sam and also asking about the plate, like, he’s just been blinded but he’s tracking what happened by sound.

Did Cas mention anything about his previous (female) vessel? I’d expected a reaction if so.

And his vessel was blue-eyed and dark haired, could plausibly be Jimmy’s relative, which is mildly in favor of angel-vessels-follow-bloodlines (which is a mythos I’m very partial to, so liked seeing it here.)

(Speaking bloodlines, so Isham’s vessel was Chrissie’s father’s ancestor?)

Akobel’s whole pro-human “how could anyone know them and not love them” speech implies that Lily told him all about Isham, no wonder he had to go...

And Akobel was a seraphim -- the second time the word’s been used; it’s also Cas’s...rank? class? apparently?

Sam tries to argue reasoning with Lily, and Cas replies, “that won’t work, she won’t quit -- think about it, would you?” which Sam has no counter because, yeah, everyone has your number, guys, that’s what happens when you keep sacrificing yourself for each other like this!

“Cas is our family,” AWWWWW.

Love Dean’s “we don’t want to kill you,” and Lily’s raised-eyebrow, “I don’t want to kill you...(idiots)”, haw.

Dean’s little “wait wat” finger wag, oh Dean.

And then whispering in the hall right in front of her, you dorks...

Why was Cas so weakened healing Isham? Was it because it was such a bad injury, inflicted by an angel blade? Or is healing other angels extra hard? Or is Cas lower powered? Or is this the Cosmic Consequences?

Dean going to his go-to angelic defense (with a bizarrely sexy palm-slash, unf him with a blade) and then refusing to use it for fear of hurting Cas!

Sam to the rescue, and the brothers tag-team fighting an angel!

And Cas stabs him...how many eps with Cas does he not stab someone? I think he needs a 12 step program...

Have we seen the external shot of the bunker at night before?

The end scene is very sweet, with both Sam & Dean worrying about Cas and reassuring him and trying to make him feel he belongs; and also discussing the nephilim and all the shades of gray there. Also interesting the way the Winchesters talking, because it sounds like they’re basically willing to back Cas’s play, but at the same time they know that as it is a baby, they’re not going to be able to take care of it themselves. (Sam miiiight, if he were really convinced of the danger; I don’t think Dean could no matter the circumstances...) While I’m still not a huge fan of the demon baby plot, there are some possibilities of making this interesting (...especially if someone other than Buckleming can writing it...)

#12x10 #season 12 #lily sunder has some regrets #spn meta #ep analysis #meta #my meta #spoilers #my post

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