#hes just everything Moral of the story!!!!!!!

[sephirthoughts]

Vincent’s lingering obsession with Lucrecia is excellent drama, but their story is not a doomed romance.

This is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think Lucrecia deserves nearly as much pity and excusing of her actions as she gets. This is not character-hate post, it's an analysis of a character I think gets short shrift as a Mother-Mary in a bell jar, and deserves better.

Lucrecia is morally grey. Charcoal grey. I love complex, morally grey characters, particularly when they're women, since usually women are relegated to roles that infantilize and objectify them, particularly in video games, which have historically been a very backward, androcentric medium. I strongly dislike brainless victims, subject to the whims of the male characters, without much agency, and Lucrecia was not such a character.

Lucrecia was an adult with agency and brains. She was a grown ass adult. She was a brilliant scientist. She made decisions with her eyes open, and even sacrificed her unborn child to her work. She is a very interesting character. The fact that she didn't idolize motherhood as the end-all of female existence, and that her obsession with her work was stronger than her desire to be a 'good mother' makes her far more interesting than otherwise. The fact that she regretted it later and wanted him back doesn’t magically make her a good person, or change the choices she made. It demonstrates guilt and remorse, which are part of character development. The bottom line is that she committed atrocities in the name of science, then felt guilty about it later, once she realized how devastating the consequences were to her personally. To say she didn’t know what she was doing or Hojo manipulated or controlled her is to infantilize and disrespect her character. She’s not some sacrificial angel who was a victim of circumstances; she was a willing participant in her own downfall.

Lucrecia is a tragic character, but she's not a romantic lead. Except in Vincent's head. After all was said and done, she had one of those too-late changes of heart that make tragedy so emotionally impactful. She had a human reaction to Vincent's death and felt terribly guilty for her role in all of it, as she should. That doesn't mean she loved him, it means she wasn't a monster. She lost her son, and gradually, Hojo's callous inhumanity and her inability to escape the net she wove with her own hands closed in on her. Did she deserve to never hold her baby son and never see him even once? No. But she caused it, with her own actions. That's tragedy. She was miserable, bereft, and riddled with guilt, so she made a last-ditch effort to make something right...by doing more insane science shit that turned Vincent into a monster. Seeing that she'd only made everything worse, she tried to kill herself, but was unable to, and thus ran off to become a crystal statue in a cave (this is a trope that I dislike, but that's the story, so that's what we've got).

Vincent is a bad judge of the circumstances. Vincent persists in seeing her as a lost love, and someone from whom he was unjustly separated by circumstances. The fact that he is so blinded by his feelings for her that he places her on this pedestal and can't blame her for what she did is excellent characterization, and I love it, but it's because he’s wrong. He loved her. She didn’t love him (I think she was in love with his father, but that's just icing on the tragedy cake, at this point). His lingering attachment, not to the real Lucrecia, but to the idealized version of her he has in his mind, is a very sad reality that adds so much delicious pain to his character. In the end, he is unable to blame her, because he loved his image of her (and Hojo is a way easier target for anger, because he's literally the worst), which speaks far more to his personal bias in the situation than to her actual role in it. She’s not moustache-twirlingly evil like Hojo but she’s not Vincent's star cross'd soul mate tragically torn away by cruel fate. Lucrecia was her own person.

In summation. Their story is not a doomed romance, it's a complicated, messy, ugly tangle of thorns, and one of the best written tragedies in a game that literally bleeds tragedy from every orifice. It's got one-sided love, obsession, mad science, betrayal, jealousy, fetal experimentation, murder, corpse reanimation, and a guy who can't die, and is left to deal with the consequences of everyone else's actions by himself forever. No one is innocent and no one comes out unscathed…strike that. Vincent is innocent and Hojo comes out unscathed. But still. Lucrecia is not a holy mother, she's not a brainless victim, and she's not Vincent's lost love. She's a person he loved, and who didn't reciprocate. Most importantly, she's a person. A whole-ass, complex, morally grey, fully developed person, who made terrible choices, then made even worse choices, and in the end, couldn't escape the fate she wove for herself.

And then wound up encased in crystal so she could be a pretty statue forever cause the game devs just couldn't help themselves I guess.

#lucrecia crescent #vincent valentine #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #ff7 vincent #professor hojo #warning: hojo #science! #opinion #i wrote this without pre-planning sorry it's rough and scattered #don't burn me at the stake #my opinion may change

[kaibutsushidousha]

Thoughts on SHIKI Tohno?

The central arrangement of Far Side is that the Toono family is always at risk of losing their human heart and involuntarily committing uncontrolled acts of violence, and the only way to prevent that is by casting away their human heart and voluntarily committing controlled acts of violence. Its tragedy is derived from how no one benefits from this arrangement and no one has the key to escape it. The biggest acting hands are also the biggest victims. The graph for that is a perfect diagonal upward.

And SHIKI is the perfect victim. Loss of agency is the thing everyone fears the most in Far Side Tsukihime. His oni blood inverted, he was invaded by Roa, and he was drugged by Kohaku. Three layers of loss of agency that he needs to fight off. Narrator Protag Shiki also has his struggles with multiple layers but never at the same time like him. It's thematic overkill, with a risk of Red Garden adding a fourth or fifth thing also wrestling for control of his mind.

All we see of SHIKI as himself is him as an 8-year-old telling his childhood friend to immediately kill him if he ever falls into a third of the state we see him at in the present day. The real human SHIKI was quiet, somber, mature, and self-aware, just like the ghost we see in Drinking Dreaming Moon. In contrast, the main personality trait he demonstrates in Tsukihime's main story is his inability to shut up. All he has is mad ramblings about Shiki's identity theft, Akiha's affections, and the morality of murder. It all feels like he's trying too hard to rationalize his irrational actions because he can't live with himself otherwise, and to say everything he feels he has to say because he doesn't know when or if he'll ever get a next opportunity to talk.

His plot part is essential and he executes it masterfully. Nasu could easily have made him cool, but he went for the wiser route of making SHIKI exactly as sad and pathetic as he needed to be. A delightfully pitiful monster almost veering on comic relief. Incoherent in a way that hurts because you need to empathize with him. Everything that can go wrong in Tsukihime went wrong for him.

#type moon #tsukihime #toono capslock

[atopvisenyashill]

Worst things GOT did casting wise:

- making Dany too beautiful (+ styling her in a way that she never has a hair out of place, always wears BLUE - which makes her look peaceful and soft and angelic, not making her burn her hair off etc). I just think of that one official art piece that's in the illustrated AGOT book where dany is bald, with the dragons and sparks and frames around her and its so striking instead of the "beautiful angelic blonde women stand empowered with her tits out" scene we got

- casting Iain Glen as Jorah and not like. a random Lannister (like. Come on. He is a burly and ugly man... why are you casting one of the most beautiful men to play him.... this is how we ended up with dany/jorah shippers)

-making Joffrey too unattractive (this is not meant to disparage JG who is a great actor and seems like a really cool dude and i'm not saying he's ugly but I think from his very first scene Joffrey looks very punchable and it would have been so much smarter to make the audience .. relate to Sansa's infatuation with his golden looks. In my head (and in all the official art) Joffrey looks like a male version of cersei/a younger version of Jaime.)

- making Dany, Jon, Robb, Marg, Brienne etc 10+ years older than Sansa and the younger starklings .... It's not "the main characters and arya (who is so cool and can kill people) + the little children" it's ONE AGE group of equally important characters

Like I know people are upset at Ned/Jon etc being too attractive, WHICH I GET, but I feel like those were very vibe based casting decisions and i'm ultimately fine with that (I also think it's easier for the audience to root for someone if they're attractive so like. I guess they had to do it) but these other things resulated in people's perception of the characters being so wildly different from what they're supposed to be. The real reason people get so angry whenever someone says they wish tamzin had stayed is because they don't like the idea of daenerys not being this ethereal beauty (TM is beautiful but not in a conventional way) that they can fully root for without issue.

1. NO YOU ARE SOOOOOO RIGHT ABOUT THEM REFUSING TO LET DANY LOOK UGLY. it’s not to say tamzin isn’t clearly beautiful, but i think she’s beautiful in the same way gwendoline christie is, which is that she’s very striking and she has a strong presence but she’s not exactly what people picture when they say “typical hot lady” (which is Crazy these are all able bodied white women, like the definition of “beauty” is soooooo fuckijg narrow that tamzin merchant is ~atypically beautiful) vs emilia definitely is, and YES like everything from not burning her hair off to emilia being,,,,,fuller in figure than dany as a fourteen year old would be is just very clear that they saw dany different than the way she is On The Page. i mean i know people whack george for saying that she’s like a sexy funny lady or whatever but george never lets go of the fact that she’s incredibly young whereas d&d completely miss that part of her character.

i will say i Get the criticism of tamzin perhaps not picking up on the conlangs easily because one thing you can say for emilia is that she had a decent head for the conlangs, she’s even still partially fluent in dothraki lmaooo. but all the other stuff they said about why they recast dany it’s like. hmmmmmmmmmm.

2. absolutely right about iain especially because he’s similar to idk paddy in that he’s got CHARISMA but unlike viserys, they didn’t intent to portray him as a deeply flawed, antagonistic character they went in portraying him as like an objectively Good Guy dedicated to dany. he’s just so much less creepy and pushy in the show and has several scenes where he shows some moral backbone - that “yet here you stand” “yet here i stand” scene is sooooooo good for example, the fact that he actually apologizes for spying on dany, giving him the greyscale story & not having him fuck a valyrian looking woman in a brothel 💀, etc etc - and you also just lose some of the creepiness here because emilia is clearly a grown if young woman and ian is handsome, so it’s like. welll of Course you want to root for them to be together! and never mind that this is a Massive departure from their book characterizations!! again, they have this idea of jorah in their head that doesn’t match up with what’s on the page even a little.

3. i do get your point re: joffrey and i think this is my problem with aidan as littlefucker too - they’re too obviously villains and it makes ned and sansa look stupid. like, in the books we have that moment where robb almost decks joffrey which does seem to signal something bad but the crown prince being full of himself doesn’t mean he’s going to threaten his betrothed’s sister with a sword then get his ass handed to him by a toddler. in the show we get QUITE a number of scenes where joffrey is shown to be a brat AND as you say, just like aidan, jack has a Certain Look, he looks like a shitty jock who has allegations against him ajsjdj like irl when jack smiles he’s so adorable!! but in the show they REALLY play up his ability to channel a greasy aura ya know aksjd. when the point of asoiaf is often that villains don’t LOOK like villains, but some of our Main Villains clearly resemble typical villains in the show.

4. “it’s ONE age group of characters” NO YOU ARE SO RIGHT. like, there’s several years difference from robert to ned to cat to the twins to tyrion but they’re all the same generation of characters. there’s that exact same age difference from brienne to robb, dany, jon to sansa, arya, bran, with theon kind of similar to characters like jorah, who are old enough to remember The Before Times but aren’t quite in either generation. but because they wanted dany, brienne, jon, robb, and margaery to be more of a Typical archetype rather than an exploration of that archetype, they aged everyone up and essentially invented another generation between the “adult” characters and the “kid” characters. not to be super nerdy here but one of my favorite worked shoots in wrestling is one cody rhodes did where he was ranting about the way young wrestlers get put through the grinder and he has this amazing line where he sums it up as “old men talking, young men dying” and it’s not to say there aren’t a lot of old dudes Also dying lmao but you really see this where young leaders are often unprepared for their responsibilities and used as puppets by older men and you just MISS THAT when that whole generation is so grown!

it’s like they looked at those themes of war being terrible and all consuming and brutal no matter how justified you feel you are and went “wow war is brutal 😍” LIKE PLEASE????

#asks #anti game of thrones #anti d&d #anons #also i know famous wrestler cody rhodes is not the first person to say something akin to that #but bc i am a nerd. he’s always the first person i think of bc his acting was amazing in that scene lmao aksjsjs #i think he was channeling some real frustration and anger there as someone from a wrestling family and as someone frustrated #with his own booking. ntm the run ins with injury and Death he personally had. and all this being passed down by vince’s old ass. #i think that wrestling problem where multiple generations of a family are mistreated by some old man making money. #is actually not dissimilar from the problems in asoiaf we see. #like tyrion even says himself! back and back and back it goes. #and for what? for why? robb is so young. ned is so young. #just something that feels completely missed by the show! #and here cody rhodes is feeling it in real life akskskdjd

[pastelwell]

Hiiiii 💜 long time no see! Missed you guys x

Just popping in to say I have written a slowburn hannigram fic 🫢 with plot and everything! Rest assured there will still be pastelwell-typical levels of ust and yearning :)

Here’s a little summary ✨

~

Hinterland

Rating: E

He remembers the blood, inky black on Hannibal’s face, and his eyes ferocious with hunger. He remembers the chill of the night biting at his fingers as the plasma dries and becomes tacky. He remembers pressing his face into Hannibal’s chest and waiting for death, falling through the darkness towards an ocean that roars, the waves a welcoming maw to eternal nothingness.

When they crash into the water he believes it’s over. He followed his final impulse to do the right thing by his friends, his family, the world. The last flutters of morality within him had guided him, even as he looked into the eyes of a murderer who had somehow compelled his fall from grace. Here, in the frigid deep waters, their chapter is closed and their story is concluded. Except it isn’t. This is just the beginning.

His next conscious thought is the recognition that he’s dizzy and in pain, his body burning furiously despite the cold that surrounds him. There’s seawater in his mouth and he’s lost in a seemingly endless abyss of nothingness when strong arms heave him through the gloom towards the surface. The first thing he sees is the stars, glittering above him in a carpet of spilled ink. Hannibal’s hands feel hot even through his clothes, palms against his chest before they curl into fists and hold on tightly.

Will’s awareness slowly comes back to him, as if waking from a dream. He feels sluggish and heavy in the water, rocked by the waves but anchored by Hannibal, eyes still ferocious in a way that Will finds indulgently captivating. It takes a few long moments for Will to realise that they survived. That this is real and unending.

Continue reading…

#hannigram #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #i suck at tagging things beep boop beep

[mandyzoe]

i know ive said this on this blog b4 but pete is so baby kitten coded. like in the face.

^ this is him. when ur being mean to him This is who ur being mean to.

#also i know his associated animal is rabbits for obvious reasons but i find him more deer or lamb coded #but i do like bunny symbolism too #hes just everything Moral of the story!!!!!!! #image #mine #bully scholarship edition #canis canem edit #pete kowalski

[yasmeensh]

Neanderteen with his comically large axe... (He's the heavy weapon kinda guy)

Kujo tries to lift it...

#personal project #stone age #paleolithic #neanderthal #OCs #I'm so excited to start the drafting the part where Neanderteen steps into the story #I'm still story boarding the introduction lmao #Story boarding changes everything #I'm suddenly scrapping everything and starting somewhat all over for the umpteenth time #but I feel like it's more solid with every new attempt #Anyways... i must admit neanderteen is my favorite character #He's the most developed character I think lmaaooo #more than Tam #He faces so many moral dilemmas. I just need to spend more time with Tam to get that level of depth too #I think about neanderteen TOO MUCH

[54625]

people can keep coming up with angsty headcanons about why qPac passes out (crashes) so much- like he's got low blood pressure from not eating properly or he's exhausted from not sleeping properly- and I accept that

but to me he's just that one character in a kids movie that keeps getting injured as a gag. like he's just constantly tripping over roots and whacking his head off the ground, birds just constantly seem to drop rocks specifically on his head, people just keep inexplicably slamming doors into his face without realising it. qPac is just such a cartoon character to me I'm sorry

#ah the age old question- character angst or funny gag? tis a tough decision #qsmp #pactw #qsmp pactw #qsmp headcanons #if i can rant a tad bit here for a second - I'm not really huge on angsty headcanons or fan content about qPac I'll be honest #so much of his character and story in canon itself already feels just like.. idk how to explain it. misery porn? #he's sad and traumatised and things just keep going wrong for him #it gets a little tiring after a while #I'm not a huge fan of stories where the entire point is EVERYTHING SUCKS <an insane sentence from a WH40K fan but that's besides the point #anyway point is i like letting qPacs character breathe a bit #there's more to him than being the resident sad boy #and i don't love treating him like his only character trait is being extremely unfortunate cause it's just kinda boring #i don't have any huge moral problems with it it's just kinda boring #pactw tag

[lady-tortilla-chip]

It’s so wild to me that in ATSV everything surrounding The Spot is considered a canon event EXCEPT Miles. It’s interesting because Miles’s universe isn’t hindered or destroyed by Miles becoming Spider-man, there is no black hole or people being swallowed into it. And yet Miles is considered the problem and as a result not even considered a true Spider-man. Which, what a fascinating parallel to The Spot that is? Someone who through half the movie was not only underestimated but considered not worth that much effort or time. Just like Miles who is treated as unworthy of his title and his placement in the multi-verse.

#was thinking some thoughts while watching it #I JUSY FIND IT INTRIGUING YA KNOW #and CRAZY #Miguel takes responsibility for the Spot and like in doing so it furthers the whole you’re not a real Spider-Man thing #even tho the spot’s only goal is Miles #he’s at the center of everything and instead of being viewed as valuable because of it #he’s considered the problem and a nuisance even tho he’s just a product of other people fucking around and finding out #also Miguel replacing a whole ass person in a whole ass other universe #and considering that the SAME as miles and his story is WILD #Miles didn’t choose to be bitten it just happened to him #AAAAGHHGHG #ATSV #across the spiderverse #miles morales #the spot

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

Imo Jason is “irredeemable” by default because I don’t see what he needs redemption from.

#I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but joining this fandom made me fucking hate the word ‘redemption’ #no person I’ve seen who is in love with the concept knows the who what where when why or how it should work in a story #apparently it isn’t just themes and tropes anymore people don’t understand the proper use of the word ‘villain’ #kelseethe #also hilarious: Jason should recieve sensitivity training HR style from Bruce ‘I’m the government and children are my cronies’ wayne #if Jasons headstrong/‘answers to no one’ attitude towards vigilantism is what makes people think he's villainous #I hate to be a broken record but the baddie you’re describing is Bruce #nobody thinks he’s a villain for only trusting in his own methods/self and repeatedly isolating himself #and on top of that gaslighting and hurting people around him in attempts to do what HE **thinks** is the right thing #you people always thought *him* heroic not problematic for all these traits #the only difference is Jason isn’t psychologically abusive & controlling #yet he’s still the bad guy just cause he liberally kills folks in the crime business. #l'd argue goth ham war is the b*tman story to remind you of everything that makes Bruce authentically himself #Idk how to tell you that Bruce mentally compromising/crippling his son in a twisted attempt to ‘save him from himself’ #is perfectly in line with slitting the same son’s throat because he couldn’t stand to see him avenge his own killer #and yk what a redemption arc could be interesting for someone like Bruce #because he rarely questions or doubts his choices esp wrt Jason. no matter how morally dubious they may be #I think it would be quite fun to witness his extremely restricted worldview be challenged/shattered he deserves that humbling experience

[evenings-at-the-seaofquanta]

Having a moment rn

Also on a more general note:

#honkai impact 3rd #hi3 aponia #hi3 kalpas #hi3 vill v #hi3 flamechasers #meme #thinking about the flame chasers makes me want to bite things but these 3 in particular... #aponia is an incredibly interesting and complex character morality/ethics-wise + i love her role in the elysium everlasting arc #both in the er ch3 with the ''predetermined fate vs free will'' thing and in the story part being the ''human controller'' of the realm #(shes also my best built character and long-time main but thats not what im talking about) #kalpas. at first you think hes only ''the angry destructive one'' but then you find out more about him and his interpersonal relationships #and it just hits you how much he cares. him dying to prove his best friends innocence. his last convo w/ aponia. everything abt him + emile #oughhhh #AND VILLV!! At first i didnt pay her much attention but her arc in ch30 + getting to see her inner workings (literally and figuratively) #changed that completely. original vill-v my beloved #i could also go on and on about them and many other fcs (kosma griseo pardo etc etc) but ill stop now. enjoy the memes #from the sea of queue-anta #<- look i have a funny queue tag now

[sinnabunii]

Hunting dogs light novel when?

#I have so many questions about their characters #their backstories #they fought fucking werewolves 😭 #we cannot just skim over that #please we’ve got these 3 (gonna omit tachi because he gets his moments in the main story) awesome characters #it’d be a crying shame to leave them high and dry without delving into their corner of he bsd universe #I’ve gotta know #was Tecchou a military kid? (my bets are on that) #how old is Teruko? #how did Jouno get caught? #how was he convinced to join? (I refuse to believe it was as easy as it was made out to be) #what events occurred to instil such a strong moral compass in Tecchou? #and don’t even get me started on the enhancement surgeries #I could and would write an essay on everything I want to know about these silly little side characters #who currently sit in a very antagonistic position #they consume my mind and soul #bungou stray dogs #bsd jouno #bsd teruko #bsd tecchou #bsd fukuchi #bsd tachihara #bsd hunting dogs #bsd

[mingos]

sighs as i find yet another dof-centric fic where the author makes their intention to woobify him very obvious by asserting he's "not as bad" by toning down his more unpleasant traits while also giving him a wider range of more vulnerable "human" emotions like sadness & fear & insecurity (y'know... the things he canonically thinks is a weakness & prides himself as having less of than the average)

and apparently having trebol's gang play a more active role in shaping him evil by encouraging him to kill his dad rather that being his own idea?

#‘ 001. ’ (out of character) #*shakes ao3* listen i know that you think he's hot & want to make him more “normal” because of it but please just let him be evil #the whole moral of his story is that yes his behavior was exacerbated by the abuse as a kid but he was just BORN EVIL #his own brother said so; straight up just doesn't understand how they're even related. calls him a beast & inhuman & everything #he *can* experience emotions obviously but his range is so fucking skewed. he is not normal!!! he is delusional!! mentally ill!! a mess!! #if you don't appreciate him at his “complex psychological disaster” you don't deserve him at his “funny flamingo man w hot wheels ass pants

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

i think ppl can and should project onto fictional characters. that's kind of what they're for a lot of the time. even if in the story they dont have the exact same experiences the audience can still find similarities with them and it's empowering to headcanon that, because of these similarities, the character has a similar identity to you. a lot of writers purposely give their characters experiences similar to marginalized groups to make those groups feel seen.

that being said, if you project your own experiences onto your blorbos you HAVE to be able to tell when the story is purposely making the character a metaphor for your experiences and when the story is. not doing that. just because you personally relate to a character doesn't mean the character literally is your marginalized identity. and it definitely doesn't mean that the writers hate your marginalized identity, specifically, if they don't do what you want them to do with that character.

#shut up pandora #this is about a post i say talking about how belos owlhouse has traits that if you squint could be seen as him having schizophrenia #and bc op thinks the show fumbled his character #specifically bc hes a Bad Guy who Does Bad Things and Is Bad #the shows creator is literally ableist and is a fake ally for otherwise depicting other instances of neurodivergence positively #the evidence btw is: #belos seeing hallucinations of the golden guards to represent his repressed guilt which is a trope that everyone on this green earth uses #and the fact that papa titan refers to belos as having 'delusions' #which in this context isn't being used medically but colloquially bc guess what! words can have different meanings depending on the context #and in this context he isnt talking about a medical delusion hes talking about belos's denial of his mistakes #which isnt a mental illness thing its an asshole thing which he is. thats the appeal of his character #the show has problems in general and belos character definitely has problems but this aint it chief #methinks someone was looking for a reason to hate on the queer show hmm i wonder why #even if they werent trying to do that op projected too hard on a character who the writers didnt expect them to project onto so hard #that they forgot that not everything isnt about them so when they didnt like where they went with belos's character #they decided that dana terrace just hated ppl like them specifically #terminally online bullshit #anyway moral of the story is not everything is about you #also dont try to look for this post or anything i dont want ppl to shit talk op to their face #im vagueing for a reason im not trying to start stuff #but anyway even if you talk about how the hallucination trope is universally harmful which i dont think it is depending on how you use it #and even if you think the word delusional shouldnt be used colloquially due to its association with a mental illness #there are so many other pieces of media that use that trope #and there are so many other instances where that word is used and all of its so much more offensive than fucking owl house #youre standing naked in a river in winter and complaining that your soup is lukewarm #oh how i wish that cartoon fans can get as angry about shit like south park as they do about shit like the owl house

[lord-squiggletits]

This might be bc of my personal reading of exRDI/OP bc I'm pretty sure the authorial intent was to just write Optimus as having some fall from grace/borderline tyrannical edge but like

I really kinda wish the story had been written as more of a political intrigue, almost GOT-esque thing (sorry for the cliche) where like, instead of Optimus being written as the narrative's scapegoat to be condemned both by the characters in universe and the meta narrative, he was just written as...morally gray? With more of a focus on "this is a shitty situation where no decision is good" rather than having Optimus just be some sort of white guilt stand-in of how oh, he's a Prime so that means the most important part of his legacy is how Cybertronians are awful and he's no better than the other ones etc.

Like Barber doesn't write Optimus as EVIL or in a way where he's unilaterally condemned as a person who did more harm than good, it's just imo the vibes of the story is more of a dark political/war story where no person is clean and there's no solution to the war that doesn't involve moral compromise. Instead Optimus is forced to make these moral compromises but then everyone else in the story loses their absolute shit and immediately starts calling him a tyrant or a fascist or something.

Like idk, it was partially an issue of the set-up. Because for one, it was really hard to take it seriously when the humans went "omg he's annexing Earth the Autobots were literally the colonizers all along!" (I think the dialogue was written almost exactly like that too sjdjsidn, so bad dialogue was also another issue) yet were perfectly fine working with the Decepticons led by 1. Soundwave who personally helped execute the attempted invasion of Earth and 2. Galvatron who constantly talks about wanting to kill these puny organics. I feel like I would've been able to take humanity's fears of being colonized again more seriously if like, they hadn't literally teamed up with The Colonizer Faction just bc Soundwave promised they were good guys again. So really it's just execution + plot holes + bad dialogue.

And another thing about the annexing of Earth specifically that I wish got talked about more (mostly by the fandom more than in universe) is that like. Basically the reason Optimus did that was because the neo-Decepticons were planning to invade Earth again, but since he's not actually a formal political leader any more he has no power to actually force a war to stop them/request military back up. But also, Starscream didn't give a shit about Earth and neither did the Council of Worlds, so appealing to the government for help defending humanity wouldn't work either. So Optimus annexing Earth was an absolute clusterfuck yes, but in a way it was also kind of a shrewd political move to force Cybertron to dedicate a spot in the government for humans and thus grant humans a say on Cybertronian politics.

What I mean is that in a story/with an author like that of GOT, where the setting is grimmer and every character is morally ambiguous, I feel like Optimus would've had way more room to be an interesting and compelling character. Bc then instead of the story immediately screaming "ALL HAIL OPTIMUS DID YOU KNOW OP ANNEXING EARTH TO THE COUNCIL IS BASICALLY THE SAME AS MEGATRON ATTEMPTING TO GENOCIDE EARTH," Optimus could have been played around with more as a political figure making the shitty decisions in an effort to stop another genocide. Instead of just unilaterally condemning Optimus and immediately comparing him to fucking Megatron of all people, there could've been more focus on the politics of it with maybe some sort of theme of how "being a leader in war is an inherently unethical position where every decision you make will lead to death/conflict/hate."

Like idk I just think it would've been more interesting if the narrative spent less time going "zomg Optimus is totally a tyrant now" and instead went all in on exploring the political conflicts and how far politicians (Optimus now being one, since he's declaring wars and forcefully acting as an ambassador that no one asked for) can go on manipulation and forcing people's hands for the sake of an ultimately good cause. I mean, Windblade was doing shit like covering up for Chromia who killed people in a bombing, making backdoor deals with Starscream, and conspiring with Optimus to bypass Starscream/overthrow him as Cybertron's ruler somehow. The difference of course is that Windblade and exRID were written by two different authors with genre/thematic differences, but as a reader it is really disappointing to see two different political narratives where "a hero turned politician turning to morally gray/unethical methods to outmaneuver a deadly opponent" is treated as clever and heroic for one character, but tyrannical and worthy of ostracization of another character.

Like for God's sake this narrative where Optimus gets lambasted at every turn sometimes by people who work with/are literal tyrants/terrorists themselves is so fucking exhausting. I'd rather read a story that focused more on the idea of, well what Optimus did was unethical but on a political level it was actually advantageous in several ways. Then you could write a story that really dives into a view of like, idk... Does power inherently corrupt or is it just situations like war that allow leaders to seize power and become tyrannical? Are politics an inherently dirty field where the only way to beat your competition (and secure a decent future for the nation) is to become underhanded and manipulative yourself? Is it okay to bypass or work against rightfully elected officials when those officials are turning a blind eye to things like war and invasions and historic racism?

ExRID did somewhat touch on these themes to be fair, but I feel like in Optimus' case they were either poorly executed or just thrown away in favor of having every other character talk shit about him and how he's the worst person ever. Bc like goddammit, I do think Optimus' polarizing and sometimes bad decisions as a character DO make him skirt on the edge of tyranny and shouldn't be downplayed, but on the other hand, I feel like no one (fandom or in-universe) ever tangles with the OTHER side of the story, which is just... Would it have been unethical for Optimus to NOT have done anything? Cybertronians literally put a colony on Earth, injected Earth with alien technology and sleeper agents, used Earth as an incubating ground for dangerous elements like Ore-13, invaded Earth and killed 1 billion people-- after all the shit Cybertron did to Earth, is it not fair (even morally obligated) for Cybertronians to clean up their shit and help Earth defend itself against a crisis that Cybertronians caused? And if Cybertron's government/the individuals within are racist enough that they don't care about Earth, don't see it as their problem, and don't even see human life as meaningful since they don't live that wrong anyways... is it not, in a way, a good thing for Optimus to have overstepped his authority and forced diplomatic relationships between the two planets? So that humans had an actual political channel to go "fuck you, we're in your Council so you'd better ally with us" and so that Cybertron would be forced to go "welp can't write off these humans as Not Our Problem, guess we have to help them." Doesn't forcing Earth to be part of the Council in a way legitimize Optimus' fight to help Earth, since without a formal political office he's just a rogue general fighting an unauthorized war, but with the government involved, defending Earth now becomes a politically sanctioned act?

Like idk. I guess exRID and OP did get into some of this stuff, but as a whole it felt like the story underutilized its political elements and got bogged down in shit like pointless crossovers, and constantly pausing the narrative to have Side Character #2847 talk about how Optimus is a fascist, and having Optimus go on white guilt-esque monologues about how maybe all Cybertronians should die and are unworthy/unable to ever have a peaceful society because their society colonized other planets.

Just so much wasted potential honestly. ExRID/OP as written felt like it was going way too hard into "omg Cybertronians bad and Optimus is actually a tyrant" instead of just writing a complex story and letting readers come to their own conclusions. And also lambasting Optimus for doing things that other characters did (or characters who did even worse things), but letting those characters exist in peace while Optimus has to just be some allegory for colonialism that has to be torn down at every turn because that's Deep and Intellectual.

I just like the kinds of stories about politics that play around with the ethics of it all, like, "this politician is a shitty person but their policies actually prevented some sort of disaster from happening" or "this person did something illegal and defied the law but they did it because no one else was doing anything" or even "everyone hates this person for forcing them into a political deal they didn't want to be involved in, but the fact that they were all forced to become allies actually allowed them to cooperate and save themselves in a way they wouldn't have been able to alone" (which is pretty much literally how the annexing of Earth ended up going).

Like man I don't want to sit here being lectured/having my favorite character be lectured about how much tyranny is bad. I want my favorite character to do shitty things and then go "whoa that was shitty...but also kind of smart...but also caused a lot of problems...but also solved some other problems that could've turned awful if he hadn't forcefully resolved them."

#squiggposting #idw op love #it's less like i want OP to be framed as sympathetic or good and more like.... #'yeah what he did was fucked up but it was also in many ways a good option' #like i wish we'd gotten a more politically interesting story where the goods and bads were explored #instead of it being almost unilaterally the characters all gasping and screaming any time OP #does something morally gray. even tho the entire universe is morally gray and he' #isnt even close to the worst person or political leader in it #like idk what it really comes down to is that a lot of the story felt more like #it was trying to make OP some embodiment of colonialism and how everything bad is on his shoulders #regardless of his personal actions just bc he' #s prime. it feels like it was some weird white guilt allegory pasted onto robots #instead of just writing a cool story about politics and moral grayness and how far one can go #before morally gray means turn into morally gray ends #i feel like under a different writer the story couldve been way more interesting #and it couldve even kept OP's whole tyranny arc thing but just been more well written #treating him as a character who MAY HAVE HAD POINTS ABOUT SOME THINGS #AND MIGHTVE BEEN THE ONLY PERSON WHO GAVE A DAMN ABOUT HUMANITY #AND CLEANING UP THE MISTAKES CYBERTRON CREATED THAT HARMED HUMANS TO THIS DAY #but nah instead of just letting OP's moral grayness stand on its own for reader to judge #he had to literally write in characters going 'zomg the Bots were the colonizers all along' #'[OP's leadership] is LITERALLY FASCISM' (actual dialogue btw) #ppl going surprisepika when OP decides to just kill the genocidal asshole from the golden age #like goddamn could you let OP breathe and be allowed to be morally gray #w/o having the whole story exist to make him some white guilt colonialism allegory that all the other characters scream at

[distort-opia]

the fact that joker needs batman more than he needs joker is a very interesting factor of batjokes, makes me bitter as fuck (pardon my language), but still, a very interesting part of their relationship.

never have i thought that batman and joker's relationship would hit so close to home for me. in one of your posts ive seen someone mention that joker loves but hates batman for that exact reason and man. why did they make joker so damn relatable.

Yeah, it's definitely a conflict on Joker's part, which tends to get a bit overlooked in fandom. Joker is obsessed with, and in love, with Batman -- but he doesn't always like it. He's been trying to kill the guy and telling him he hates him, almost as frequently as he's told him he loves him. But yeah, both me and @lankylordoflevity have discussed this somewhere in my asks before.

But you know, while Joker does undoubtedly need Bruce more... his love for Bruce is a lifeline in many ways. His obsession with Batman gave him a purpose, kept him alive after he fell into the acid vat; his love is everything he has that matters, but it's so all-encompassing because he's got absolutely nothing else. Joker doesn't have a family, or any kind of moral rules, or anything that important to him. While Joker is conflicted about his dependence on Batman's existence, at the end of the day, to him... this love gives much more than it takes away.

But Bruce stands to lose so much. His inability to let Joker go has caused so much harm already. He's made some very questionable choices over time, among which him nearly killing Jason at the end of UtRH to save Joker's life is probably the biggest. His relationship with Jason suffered as a result; all of his relationships suffer from it, one way or another. After being shot in the spine, Barbara had to hear that Batman was seen laughing together with the man who shot her. Over the years, she had to watch Bruce go out of his way to save Joker's life, even when she asked him not to, even when it wouldn't have contradicted Bruce's rules to let Joker die. His relationship with Joker was a big obstacle even in his relationship with Selina; that's kind of the plot of Batman/Catwoman. And this is something Snyder saw too -- how difficult this pattern of Bruce's is to overlook, and how hard the Batfamily avoids addressing it. Death of the Family is literally about the impact of Bruce's selfish and reckless actions regarding Joker on the Family, and the understandable rift that follows when they can't help but realize Joker wasn't wrong. Because the reality is, Bruce has saved Joker's life so many times and in such ridiculous conditions at this point that it's baffling. And what Joker keeps doing after is more murder, more destruction, and worst of all: he keeps being a danger to all the people Bruce loves. Yet Bruce can't find it in him to genuinely let him die.

I guess, what I mean is, Bruce is the one to suffer the biggest consequences for his side of things. Hundreds of deaths, untold destruction, the eternal possibility of Joker crossing another line and killing more of his Family. Joker may need Batman more because he's got nothing else... but how many more excuses can Bruce come up with, to himself and to others, for the fact he keeps risking so much to keep Joker alive? In the end, what's crazier? Needing someone so badly that loving them is barely a choice, or choosing someone again and again no matter the costs while claiming you don't love them?

Don't know if that helps with the bitterness, Anon. Kind of ended up going off with my own thoughts about this. But for me a fascinating part of Batjokes is Bruce's own side of things, that often gets dismissed as him not reciprocating, or him being less invested. Joker is loud and vocal about his love, and it's easy to take him on his word; when actually, Joker would be the first to balk at the idea of a relationship that involved anything other than violence. Bruce is vocal about his hatred for Joker and his wish that Joker would die, but his actions contradict that time and time again; when he's the one to reach out and the one to keep Joker alive, even when Joker himself is trying his damndest to die. As the villain, if someone else murders him, or if Bruce snaps and kills him, Joker... wins. It's what he wants. But Bruce loses when he keeps Joker alive, and he'd lose himself if he finally murdered Joker.

One way or the other, Bruce always loses.

#asks #joker #batjokes #batjokes meta #my meta #Bruce can only 'win' by rehabilitating Joker. or not even #he can only win by HELPING Joker and in the process making him stop killing #and also it needs saying that. in many ways Bruce perpetually saving Joker IS a consequence of Joker's plot armor #and the fact DC needs to keep him alive so they can keep telling stories #but you know what. even then I feel like they could've cut down on the sheer amount of times Bruce had to save Joker #at the cost of others #I get that it's a compelling moral dilemma since we're talking about his nemesis and everything #but overusing it this way led to THIS. to decades of Bruce choosing to keep Joker alive #and Doylist perspective aside. from a purely Watsonian standpoint. how the hell can you explain it at this point #other than through an emotional attachment #it's such a cliche but I am hesitant about the word 'love' for it #both on Bruce's and Joker's side #because it's just so. fucking insane #what they have encompasses half the spectrum of human emotion. maybe more

[barzfrommarz]

Oh how I just love it when i'm slowly realizing that a character who we thought was going through a genuine struggle with mental health was most likely in canon just a projection based on who the creator is as a person

#dsmp #c!wilbur #I hate him so bad why???just why #atleast c!wilbur knows he was wrong #apologized then gave the ppl he hurt space #but its so gross bc u think we have a genuine story of a morally gray character coming to terms with everything and making an effort to #change but no! #btw im ignoring his canon I do not gaf. I will write him how he deserved to be written #also please stop being ableist or mischaracterizing c!wilbur we don't need more shit