#in some ways more than others mostly

[rowanul-tyr]

lev wrote about their wol lysander and the background about his jobs and now im. poking at it a little bit for rowan. under a cut i suppose. (i'll do another post for bronagh and ellone bc this will be long)

rowan and his jobs

so rowan starts off as an arcanist. he'd been interested in the practice since the extended period he lived in the sharlayan colony with his parents as a child. (hilarious side note for lev, it's possible he overheard valerian talking about it) as he got older and began considering his options in life, the interest came back to the front of his mind and he eventually decided to join the guild in limsa when he struck out on his own as an adventurer. he took to it surprisingly well, and chalked it up to really retaining the information about arcanima as a kid. he hoped he might be able to find some way to use arcanima for healing, to follow his initial goal for himself.

eventually when he made it to gridania, he followed his guildmaster's advice and tried a new discipline--lances. a physical, in-your-face kind of combat to be in contrast with the magic he was learning. he was startled to find that he also took to it rather easily, and appreciated gawain (iirc thats the guildmaster's name?) giving out the advice he did. he tried his best to stick to that mostly, and (maybe unpopular opinion) but he actually really disliked folques? the guy was intentionally putting others in pretty real danger, rowan didn't like that in the least.

and then the scions and primals happen. i've tapped it before, but rowan kind of. gave up arcanima at this point. lances were more useful against the primals at first, so he kind of. stopped doing magic. he'd also just gotten into contact with y'mitra at this point, too, and becoming an allagan summoner seemed...dangerous, given his new line of work? he didn't want to make the scions doubt him at all--he liked the security being one of them and didnt want to hurt his position. minfilia didn't seem to notice anything different, and he'd eventually confide in her about it and she gave her blessing for him to pick it back up, but he doesn't really get back to arcanima until after the vault/3.0 because of....reasons.

so anyway. he's a lancer now, primarily. maybe dragoon at this point. he likes alberic well enough, and estinien actually has good intentions, so it could be worse. and rowan actually likes the acrobatics he does as a dragoon. and he gets complimented a lot on how easily he's taking to the skills, and gets some heated looks from other fellow dragoons and it's clear they dislike him for wandering in one day and being a natural. it's disconcerting, so he just. focuses really, really hard on honing his skills so he actually deserves to be that skilled.

eventually, the vault happens. end of heavensward happens. and rowan kind of...breaks down. he regrets having stopped learning arcanima. so he pours his grief into preparing to face nid-stinien and makes sure that there wouldn't be another haurchefant. he keeps beocming a summoner a secret from the scions, because that old worry kicks back in in spite of the evidence to dispute the fear of being kicked out of the scions. he needs to be useful, he needs to save people, because that's what he's done this whole time. saving people from the primal threat, saving them from nidhogg, saving them from whatever might try to destroy them. so he has to be better! he has to be the best.

and he picks up other jobs, too, because i'm going to chew on him actually being the Omni-WOL here. and he realizes now that he picks things up way too easily, and so he throws himself into really paying attention to what he is being taught, and practicing. it's both horrifying and a little bit incredible that he's suddenly so diverse when it comes to combat, both magical and physical. some discipline she likes less (the tanks) and some he likes more, but overall...it's strange. but he trains and trains and trains so he feels worthy of the knack he has. some he trains more than others, but it's all to just...be good enough to destroy whatever might try to harm those he cares about.

(in truth, the reason rowan picks things up easily is bc his azem was also an omni-wol type. venat inspired ikarós with how she had mastered several combat arts, and liked learning from the people they encountered in their duties as azem. so they learned everything they could bc they were insatiable for ways to connect with people bc they had trouble connecting with people verbally or emotionally, and that meant that rowan and others before him just had a pseudo-muscle memory of it all)

and then one day he comes across a woman who says rowan appears to be graceful, and could have the makings of a dancer. it's nothing he hasn't heard before, but when he picks up the chakrams, it's not jealousy he sees in the troupe members--it's excitement. they're all so thrilled that he's picking it up easily, and it's different from other jobs because rowan can always tell that while people have been excited he's learning from them so well, there's always something in their eyes that gives away the jealousy, the disbelief.

but anyway. rowan enjoys learning from troupe falsaim, and finds enjoyment in what he's learning there. for the first time since dragoon and summoner, really.

after he merges with ardbert, he discovers that while he'd set aside the axe for other jobs, he's feeling like he knows so much more than before. part of it is how he remembers ardbert so well, meaning ardbert's soul is still like...slightly intact? i'll write it eventually but ardbert still technically is around, just sometimes dormant. but ardbert's mastery of warrior was added to rowan's arsenal, so to speak. and he was baffled by it, at least a little.

post 5.3, rowan has come to terms with it, and he's not really bothered by how people marvel and kind of despise how quickly he picks up and masters techniques others spend their entire lives learning. he also is happy to focus more on summoning and dancing, since no one else knows those fields and he doesn't have to deal with alisaie being upset that he's "further along" than she is.

post 5.3 rowan finally tells the other scions about being a summoner. it just hadn't been ideal to say something during STB or SHB, so after 5.3 just. worked out. yshtola and graha were the most interested, both for the mechanics of it and its relation to allagan history.

so. fun thoughts. i hadnt ever considered in depth what being an omni-wol could be like so this was fun!! :D

#rowan #rowan lore #being an omni-wol is fun i think #in some ways more than others mostly

[turtleblogatlast]

No but like every time I think about Splinter and what he had to go through just to keep the boys alive, my heart hurts for him so badly. Is he perfect? No not at all, but none of them are and by god does he love his sons.

The fact that all of them are alive, and grew to thrive despite the circumstances surrounding them is a testament of how much Splinter loves his boys. He raised four babies following the most traumatic time of his life, all alone with nothing but the sewers to house them (to hide them.) I feel like he’s not given the credit he deserves for all he’s done.

And I get that it’s easy to hold up his flaws and faults when it comes to parenting, I myself like looking into them because flawed characters are super interesting and said flaws make them more realistic and engaging, but he tries, and again, so many others would have given up on the boys or failed along the way but Splinter didn’t.

He’s their father, for all his faults he did his damndest to make sure they survived.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt splinter #rise splinter #he’s not perfect as I’ve said #and he’s got a whole slew of flaws and faults #but he’s a person - we are all flawed #he loves his sons dearly dearly dearly even if he struggles along the way to show that #parenting is not easy! especially as a traumatized mutant who is forced to do it alone #side note but I think this is one of the reasons why it kiiiiiinda ruffles my feathers to see so many people assign parentification to Raph #and in turn make Splinter out to be way worse and way more distant than he is in canon? #like idk I just don’t see what so many others see ig but maybe that’s just me #i guess my thoughts are like- let parents have flaws without villainizing them? #they’re still parents even if they mess up? #we can discuss the repercussions of a parents actions on a child while not casting that parent as an awful person #parents are peopleeee #I could go on but yeahhh #idk it bothers me seeing splinter’s efforts undermined when he’s been through so much #idk if ppl realized this by now but I love me some flawed characters #tho I do think in this fandom the ones whose faults are discussed the most are like #Splinter mostly then Draxum then Leo #of the main cast #and in Splinters case in particular his faults are made to cover his good qualities which makes me sad #because he is SO INTERESTING #they’re all flawed characters and tbh so interesting because their flaws are ALSO their strengths in many aspects

[ambrosiagourmet]

Take this with a grain of salt but I don’t think Izutsumi necessarily MUST be be viewed as canonically aroace. I do not have a problem with that reading at all, to be clear, but I’ve been mulling this over for a while and with how much self-loathing and neglect informs her character it just doesn’t seem to entirely fair in insist on taking the “I don’t have a type” line at face value.

She’s a traumatized 17-year-old girl who thinks she’s unlovable and has never had the freedom to chose what to do with her life. Of course she doesn’t have a type and longs for a mom to love her unconditionally.

#this I guess is mostly in regards to ppl insisting that others must treat her as aroace #like I’m always happen for more rep/popular fanon interpretations of characters as aroace I really am #but I guess sometimes the way I see stuff talked about it’s likeeee is this adding to the richness of the character or is this #smacking a label on her and treating her as a kiddo and yelling at anyone who doesn’t see her that way #also I feel like the assumption that the succubus being non-romantic means that someone doesn’t care about romance feels uhhhhhh #like hey people can desire things More than romance/sex while still being capable of feeling that kind of attraction #it’s not like familial love only takes priority if romance and sex are off the table #idk!!! just having some izu thoughts

[useless-catalanfacts]

Btw if you come on holidays and stay at an AirBnb instead of an actual registered hotel I hate you personally. Not "I hate the gentrification and touristic massification and the way we can't live in our homes and are forced to move away because of tourism" in an abstract way- No, not just that. I hate you.

#I'm from a seaside town that has become popular with tourists who come for the beach and the mediterranean climate #and the typical whitewashed walls of mediterranean coastal towns #in just a few years the average rent has gone up so much that now the average rent id #*is over 1000€ per month #one thousand! #that's a whole salary! #in the past 2 years they've been building a new neighbourhood. they've destroyed the vinyeards to make a new neighbourhood that will make #the town 1/3 bigger than it is. that's a lot. but all those houses are luxury houses with private swimming pools for rich foreigners (we #already have 2 private British schools high schools and college(in the british sense)/baccalaureate where their kids go and never have to #interact with locals. I teach some of those kids and they're very prejudiced against locals and very bigoted against the catalan language #(which ofc they never bother to learn) #there's a law in catalonia that says that for every certain amount of houses you build you are obligated to build a certain percentage of #affordable housing. so in this new neighborhood they built the bare minumum affordable housing which is still too expensive for us #and since there's so few of them everyone is competing to get them. the city hall and the bank have had to make an official competition for #them but you only classify if the renr would not be more than 1/3rd of your salary which is impossible. my cousins who are in their mid 30s #and have been working a good qualified job for 15 years (and their partners too) are considered too poor to be considered for the #affordable housing #everyone is having to move out to other cities away from their friends and family and current jobs. the only jobs left here soon will be #mostly directed at tourists #and the only way to continue living here if you're a normal person and not rich is if you're an only child who one day might inherit the #parents' house #but we look around at what's happening in nearby cities and we see the next step which will be airbnb taking the houses that are left #in many places (I've posted about thia before) there aren't any flats for rent or sell anymore that isn't an airbnb #I'm still lucky in my town when compared to other places like Barcelona which are already full of the airbnb plague #actualitat #airbnb #tourism #touristic massification #gentrification

[transmechanicus]

That prev post reminded me how much it weirds me tf out when someone only interacts with specific subsets of a minority group and learns their associated niche behavior patterns, and then tries to apply those patterns to every member of that minority that they meet afterwards only to be shocked when it doesn’t work.

#my stuff #i went to a queer group a while ago to make friends and the only two other transfems were both way more shy and feminine and reclusive than #and these two had been attending for a while so they were everybody else’s baseline for transfems #this is not the other transfems fault to be clear they’re just giving #*VIBING #and then i show up looking like i spilled out of a metal concert and slapped on the she/her sticker it got me some looks #like ohhhh you think all trans girls grow their hair out and wear pink and play 1 billion hour final fantasy i see how it is #ohhhh you have preconceived notions of what trans womanhood looks like #surprise i wear band shirts and a leather jacket 6/7 days a week i cuss and take up space and have mostly guy friends #and that doesn’t make me any less of a woman

[caliburn-the-sword]

emma made me viscerally uncomfortable from season 3-6 and the reason is because it was like watching a barbarian multiclass as a cleric. like girl stop with the magical energy blasts!! just hit him with your sword!!! punch him in the face!!!!

#mostly a joke #i managed to tolerate and accept it #in the way midas gets the gold touch and elsa and ingrid get ice powers i wish other magic users had distinguished styles from one another #rather than “uses fire and rips out hearts” “doesn't use fire or rips out hearts” “rumpelstiltskin and whatever the fuck he's got going on” #like from a writing standpoint it makes SENSE that cora regina and zelena all have very similar styles #they were all taught by the same man #and regina was heavily influenced by cora in all that heart stealing #and emma learnt from regina #but come on!! give them some kind of magical signature!! #rumple's was spinning gold #regina's was yeeting fireballs #cora's was pulling hearts #but emma and zelena should have been so much more distinct!! they were both running on instinct like let them have wild magic!! #and no i DON'T count emma and regina straight up blasting opposite coloured lights. that shit is lazy and i won't stand for it #this is why i hate soft magic systems #ouat #once upon a time #emma swan

[ichthyorelationships]

an idea i invite anyone else to write about / run with lol....

the premise that The Change gets all messed up for alberto, say it's something that can happen from stress, &/or happens rarely and you just have to wait for it to resolve itself....used as some parallel to struggling through some emotional turbulence / upheaval / questioning / Realizing Things, etc etc

#luca 2021 #pixar luca #alberto scorfano #another idea i've failed to write for & so invite anyone else to run with: ciao alberto but what if he peaces out by swimming off lol #ends up in a coastal town maybe an hour's swim from genoa. but not Getting In Touch w/anyone for a while b/c plausibly he thinks that #giulia may not be a fan of him now by extension; just being too embarrassed asf to reach out to luca kinda lol....luca off doing his own #thing just fine & alberto not wanting to write him now like b/c i Ruined Everything again ahaha.... #and by ''not in touch w/anyone for a while'' who knows. months; a few years even....might stumble across news of him b/c like. #say more sea folk are coming to land / more humans know abt them & not many places are as [harpoon]ly from the start anyways #portorosso exceptional in that way....maybe where alberto settles down they're like legendary but also considered Good Luck anyways lol. #anyways like some people know of him who might; say; swim down to portorosso. have their own teen who knows a teen who mostly lives on land #most convenient re sparking [wow could they mean Our alberto] if he doesn't go so far as to take up an alias lol. but why would he.... #that difference in that massimo might figure that however alberto was surviving before; he could continue to do so now; but even though tha #is some comfort it's still Not Actually Enough....feeling way more Parentally towards alberto than his biological dad like that; obv #and anyways re: this [The Change gets messed up] idea it's more of an inconvenience lol but one that could still have some significance #like if he first finds out the issue exists via hopping right into the ocean; failing to change forms; never being human form'd in water b4 #thee worst....crash intro course to the experience of drowning. observation of How Humans Swim / being able to grab any part of the boat... #and besides That unpleasantness it's like; hey. where's my nonhuman form at #or; of course; being in sea form even while dry....especially if he's still dealing with Nonsense on land. which is presumed. #&/or if there's an upswing in nonsense b/c of Other ways you're Othered...ofc we can consider like; tfw you're a gay fish & maybe that's no #something that on its own would be like Aah until it's like well a) i kinda wanna do things that would make this Visible and b) i've learne #that humans also Have Issues about this kind of thing.... #appropriately my tablet was also all thrown off. no pressure sensitivity; input sensitivity overall was rough #but i would've had to restart my laptop about it lol like eh i'll just work around it

[randomnameless]

Genuine question, not trying to start a fight, why do you get so upset about gods and churches being presented in a negative light in fictional works?

No pbs!

I guess it's a mix of being too common, too forced and having, in general, the cast use common tropish arguments to fight /defeat them.

I rant a lot about this game, but take TS where we have three sort of factions opposing each other, and each are supposed to suck. Who is the faction who never receives any "positive traits" or "pet the dog" moment?

The game force fed us a scene where an Aesfroti soldier - when Aesfrost is depicted as a highly militarised nation with a cult of personality towards their current ruler, that invaded the protag's home and slaughtered several civilians and NPCs in the process - say goodbye to his wife and kids before going to "war" to defend his land against, well, the protags who are invading it to kill their warmongering leader.

As force-fed as this scene was, it, I believe at least, tried to tell us that even the Aesfrosti who pillaged villages and killed their inhabitants are humans, and care about their loved ones, sure it's corny, but it's all about not deshumanising any party.

When we attack Hyzante? Niet, zilch, nothing. No similar scene where random soldiers, or NPCs, worry about what is going on and if they're going to die when their wall has been breached. They just, don't exist in this context.

I think the cherry on the cake is the Golden Route scene, where, apparently, nationalists Aesfrosti decide to turn back against their ultra charismatic leader because, uh, he "lied" when he declared the war and used a false pretense, so the soldiers and people who were butchering babies and invading a city where people were preparing a marriage apparently now have morals and rebel.

There's no similar scene for Hyzante when the cast reveals that the teachings of their Goddess were made up and salt wasn't exclusively given to them by divine intervention, because rock salt exists everywhere. Sure it would be a bit weird and forced that people thinking they're chosen ones and looking down on everyone else suddenly, hm, don't break down when their entire system of belief is shattered, but hey, if the Aesfrostian Gregor can have morals after washing his hands of all this Glenbrookian blood, why shouldn't religious npc #55 not make the same heel face turn?

And then, we have the slavery/human experimentation plot - in general, when TS tries to give nuance, they more or less explain/justify why something that "sucks" is done, it's basically Silvio's character.

Aesfrost' Gustadolph manages to push his "freedom" mentality because his land is a harsh place where people are desperate to survive, salt smuggling is reprehensible, but it's the only way to give some to the ones who cannot afford it. Of course is everyone is free, no one is because, as Gustadolph puts it, they're basically free to die for his ambitions.

Hyzante? Follows a racist creed where Rozellians have to pay for some great sin, and are slaved away in a lake to recover salt until they die. It's, later, justified by Hyzante wanting to keep its salt monopoly else they don't have anything, and wanting to curb down the Rozelle people because they know about the exitence of rock salt (and I guess getting free workers to harvest salt from the lake + having state enemies make his own population docile/not willing to rebel ?).

And then, we have the human experimentations, that are just done for, uhh, Idore's lol. When Hyzante is known for its "advanced medicine" and we could have had the usual dilemna of, idk, having those humans experimentations used to develop this medicine that is reknown in the world (idk, sacrificing a Rozellian to save someone else's life?) - it's not the angle the devs picked. Rozellians are sacrificed to power up an idol, Idore wants to control the world through his idol and soft power (compared to Gustadolph's hard power) and manipulates his people (just like Gustadolph) to do so.

The two are very similar, but who is the final boss? Complete with a transformation in an eldritch monster? The war-mongering imperialist or the jaded old man who is leading de facto a religion?

Hopefully there's the entire "human experimentations for no other purpose than the lols" to settle them apart.

---

I recently watched Dune, and even if I have some issues with the adaptation, the Bene Gesserit isn't portrayed as "comically" evil-er than the Harkonen Empire, I reckon the comparison isn't adequate, because Dune is multi book series when I'm mostly talking about video games.

Symphonia's church of Martel is a font for the Big Bad (tm) to put in motion his nefarious plans, and yet, through the game, we see how random clergymen use their, uh, religious buildings to help people around. Ultimately Martel herself is reincarnated through plot device and tells the big bad to stop being an ass and the story is less about "church and gods evil" but "big bad distorts Martel/church's teachings and role for his plans because he has a tragic backstory"

(but then Symphonia ends with the biggest whitewashing from every Tales I've played for its big bad so I'll stop talking about it because otherwise I'm going to be salty).

Abyss' church is more or less the same thing - the Church is supposed to help people deal with the fact their verse has "predestination stones" where the future is already written, and in the course of the game, we see how it has several factions and one opposes the group (who has the pope as a NPC!) - but it's not a story about "gods bad church BaD".

I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis a long time ago, and while the game seemed to go through familiar "church bad gods bad" route and we end with defeating a god-like entity... I pretty much loved the twist that, in a game that relied on alternate dimensions/universe, the god-like entity was actually the protag if he made different choices!

In those games, if you fight a religious body and someone pretending to be a God or what not - it's not because people fight against an eldritch creature who wants world domination and to erase puny insects, or is the reason why everything goes wrong, but because, at the end, the conflict/fight is ultimately caused by someone, generally a human or at least a non "god like" entity, wanting to destroy the world.

I don't remember if FE was my first JRPG series or not, but I always liked the idea that if the world is doomed in those games and the heroes must prevent said doom, it's not because a god-like being wants to destroy the world, but because people, humans/randoms are the most shitty ones out there.

---

As for the "tropes" often used to deride fictional churchs and religious people, well, I will again point to TS - which did a splendid job in the Benedict Route where you smash Hyzante after allying with Aesfrost.

There's one battle where out protags diss Hyzantese because they worship a goddess and have no free will, listening to Her teachings and Her says (the traditional "religious people have no free will and listen to their churches who tell them how to think!") - which is immediately countered by one of those Hyzantese characters asking Serenor if he's not the same, but instead of blindly listening to a Goddess, blindly follows Benedict. And it ends with the final chapter title referencing automatons/puppets : who is that title talking about ? The fake "idol" Idore created, or the fake "king" Benedict created?

Anyways, the usual "religions people have no free will because their church/religion tells them how to think" trope reeks of r/atheism and the double standard - bar in this route of TS, but I guess, in TS itself in the Roland route! - is never called out, blindly following a charismatic leader is okay, as long as charismatic leader isn't religious?

Regardless of my IRL thoughts about religion, usually those tropes are presented as a "gotcha!" when they are... not at all, but the games/books leave it at that and we're supposed to roll with it.

I'd say it's lazy writing or, as we saw in Naruto, a quick way to end a story without having to dwelve in characters and their motivations : "you're a god/alien/other being and you're bad, so let us do what we want!" - end of the story.

Hopefully some fillers and to an extent, Boruto gave her more meat bar being the 11 hour villain we had to defeat quick and who manipulated the previous sad'n'lonely antagonists - but it still felt rich from Naruto, known for his famous "talk no jutsu" and trying to understand people he's fighting against, to drop the ball with Kaguya, calling her pure malice and ending with some "let us live the way we want" to wrap up the plot so he can wrestle with his boyfriend later on.

In the end, we often end up with "religion bad bcs the big bad manipulates people through it", as if those mangas/animes/vg never have other examples of charismatic people not using religion to manipulate their randoms/people or "gods bad they should let humans do what they want" when we've read/seen/played through various, uh, really fucked-up shit humans did - but on their own! and ultimately, but it's more in fandom spaces, with have Projection 101.

TLDR : church/religion/gods are too often used in those works as the ultimate scapegoat to either wrap up a story in a rushed ending or to pretend to have "nuance" but still have a common enemy where all the "nuanced" characters can grow/be whitewashed and side together against that "common enemy".

Just like in all things I guess, I prefer when something isn't painted as purely negative and all of the positive traits are erased because there is a need for a perfect scapegoat - sure, bring out too much "nuance" and writing/designing a game/manga/anime becomes harder because there's no "clear cut" antagonist, and yet, the one who always gets fucked in this scenario is the religious/church side.

Want a generic stock villain who will destroy the world so the heroes have to fight against them? Just create a "religion" in your setting, and have the big bad either hell bent on resurrecting Chtullu to destroy the world because Chtullu BaD, or have them be the most corrupt piece of shit who manipulate everything in the shadows, so the rest of the world, even the ones who slaughter others bcs they feel like they must start a war, can be whitewashed at the end.

I mean, there's a saying about diverting attention from a fire by starting a bigger one near, or a trope of "aliens made them do it" : who cares if Madara started a continental war and targeted a village full of random civilians he swore to protect because he lost the elections? Did y'know he was manipulated by a woman, I mean, an eldritch thing created by a woman, regarded as a God, who ultimately wanted to get out of her fridge to kill everyone?

Roland must get over his hatred for Aesfrost for barging in his kindgom and killing hundred of his people while they were preparing for a wedding, because hey, Idore is evil and plans on ruling the world through his sham religion!

I'll forever be salty at TS for not giving Kamsell the occasion to rise against Idore, or not even have minor NPCs get the same treatment as Sycras suddenly going all "u lied to me gustadolph so i won't listen to u anymore + sad goodbyes to my wife'n'kids".

Extremism of all kinds can lead to wars/tragedy/fucked up shit - Sure I don't want to get my History lessons in video game medium when I play lol, but what I really don't like is how it feels like depicting "they're extremists because they're religious" feels like the default/easy answer : want a bunch of brainwashed people the heroes must fight against and can't talk no justu their way out of this fight/will fight without looking too BaD? Depict those people as "misguided" members of a corrupt church/believers of a religion, no one will givea fig. If they are instead supporters of a charismatic leader who throws them through the meatgrinder to further their goals? Well, there's no automatic loyalty so either you have to show/depict it on screen, else it can be challenged at key points to demonstrate how those people - who follow the charismatic leader - aren't completely "mindlessly listening to their leader" or how their leader "isn't that bad after all".

#idk if it makes sense anon #replies #anon #i'm not tackling the fandom projected takes anon this is another can of worms #I'm not immune to it far from that #Having grown up in a post 2000s world with some people lit being asked how dare they be religious and all #'religion is the only reason why people do those horrible things' dude are you serious? Did you open a book recently? #TS was really mind boggling about the duality between 'regular' imperialism and 'religious' one #and how one faction got way more care than the other to make a clear cut villain #Also blaming everything on Gods/evil cults etc etc imo is often used to remove agency from people X or Y who start shit #That's why I really liked Fe Jugdral #sure we have nutjobs going to say everything BaD happens because of Loptyr #But DiMaggio seducing Aidean? Danan turning Isaach in a giant brothel? Slavery in the Thracian peninsula? #Dragons in this opus are sitting on the sidelines and only itnervening when one of them starts shit #but otherwise? Humans are allowed to be shitty without blaming 'Gods' for behaving like they did #and they receive their due #From the Tales I've played they mostly avoid this general religion BaD #even if iirc it's one of the plot points in Berseria? who would have guessed lol #I guess I'd say I'm not seriously upset whenever a game/manga ends up with 'akshually the religious faction was the big BaD' #it's just the same canned ravioli again and again #but whenever games/manga/anime try to give some grey morality to antagonists #the ones who always are wrecked are the religious/god-like entities #Is there any room for nuance when one faction has no other reason for doing the things they do bar 'for the lols/bcs i was told to?' #fandom woes

[dylanconrique]

i feel like i don't have as many chenford friends as i would like, and that makes me sad because i love you all so much, i know i am god awful, and i mean GOD AWFUL at communication, but that's also another thing i'd like to improve on in 2024 because i know i am notorious for checking messages and forgetting about them, or seeing a message and feeling too depressed to reply (which has honestly been my entire personality 2023 and then i get depressed for not replying to those people and it's this whole fucking endless cycle).

anyway, if we're chenford mutuals or you've just been following me for awhile and would like to become friends, could you pretty please give the heart in the corner a little clickey-click??? 🙏💕 so i can dm you and we can become the best of friends??

#*carly catalogs #the rookie #tim bradford #lucy chen #chenford #i am however going to do a little bit of a background check cause unfortunately their are a lot of bot blogs in the fandom like????? #i'm sorry but if you're a real human shipping chenford you're gonna have to prove it by changing ur generic tumbl icon and reblogging thing #other than that it's come one come all #i need more friends to tag things and pester in their inbox (that goes both ways btw) #but idk depending on how many likes this gets i'll try to message some people tonight but i'll mostly work through the list tomorrow #send me anything about the rookie/chenford i would love that

[ctl-yuejie]

ramblings on Li Ming (and Heart) and homosexuality

moonlight chicken has so many things to offer in terms of technical beauty and interesting themes but what i cannot stop thinking about is the different ways they approach homosexuality in the story.

we have Wen who has a rainbow flag on his desk and pictures of him and Alan on the wall. Wen, who openly flirts with Jim and has no qualms talking openly about his one night stand. Wen, whose step father knows about his sexuality and is close enough with him to discuss his love life.

Kaipa we don’t know too much about. But his mom knows and is supportive and some of the vendors and the chicken family seem to know. But if anyone was questioning in what reality this show is set with all the class discussion and corona featuring, his part of the story shows that homophobia exists and he is worried about how he fits in with his own family, the expectations of his mother and possible the awareness that he makes the family he has “different”.

Jim is arguably even more visibly gay than Wen in terms of what we see throughout the show. He opened the shop with his ex, they prayed at the temple together and even though he objected due to proprities sake eventually they loudly declared their love to each other and the whole neighbourhood knows. Wen somehow feels like he is living in the remnants of a bubble: his circle of friends seems very queer, his closest friend and the whole gym seem to be all part of that as well. This only might change now with him questioning his work and breaking up with Alan: some gatherings he won’t attend anymore apparently.

And finally, we have Li Ming. At school he doesn’t seem to open up to his classmates on most things and additionally is in the closet. While there wasn’t anything alluding to homophobic rethoric being spread at school we can see how the heteronormativity gets to him and feel that there must be good reason as to why no one knows. And it could just be how Li Ming is judging the situation based on vibes, we don’t know. His mother is or at least was homophobic but at the same time he is raised by his gay uncle who is surrounded by other gay people. And I love how it feels like this might have given him enough security to be comfortable with his own sexuality but how it also isn’t enough to shield him from the world at large.

With so many great shows coming out of Thailand and most of them getting more and more political it just feels so real and 2023 to me that Li Ming is part of a generation that knows who they are but still have to battle with the shadow that homophobia has cast way before they were born.

#moonlight chicken #i had this in my draft for a week now thinking if i'd get the time i could put this more leloquently but that was a lie as it turns out #might edit some stuff later #but for now i just have to write about how fantastic this show is for giving these varied realities of queer life #which are all influenced by their environment but also in the way the characters connect across generations #we don't know if him had a gay mentor who could've guided him #whereas li ming technically has him and his neighbourhood friends to reference #but li ming - understandibly so - seems more closeted than anyone else (minus Heart possigly) #in middle school everyone around me proclaimed how supportive they were of lgbt+ rights #but as soon as one guy came out he become the TALK of the school for weeks #he got reduced to his sexuality #and when he dated a girls some months after he got called attention seeking for coming out as gay before #and most people thought they were doing an open-minded thing #and despite knowing that i know that i am not the only queer kid who decided to not come out lest we'd become that talk of the whole school #and our dating lives scrutinized #even though all of us were super comfortable with who we are #and for me that was mostly the case because i had adult lesbian role models close to my family #so i knew i was good and that nothing strange was going on #but still - this othering made the school environment hostile enough to keep me in the closet #so yes - i am extremely delighted with how they depict this dynamic with li ming

[thedreadvampy]

sometimes I forget that my experience has been. um. not 'your experiences are not universal' vibes but more like 'your experiences are EXTREMELY atypical'

#red said #recent events have reminded me that my life has involved like. a LOT of other people's psychosis #like not in a way where i have been Beset By Terrifying Crazies bc that's not like. a thing. #but a lot of people in my life have had a lot of really severe psychotic episodes #and i FORGET sometimes. that actually that is an Unusual Amount Of Experience With Psychosis for someone who's not #for somebody who has not really personally ever had psychotic episodes (unless severe PTSD flashbacks count) #actually i tell a lie i have maybe had One psychotic episode but because it was very situational and i knew what was happening #i was able to ride it out. because i am literally only psychotic Inside Hospitals and so that's all fine #as long as i LITERALLY NEVER HAVE TO HAVE INPATIENT CARE. Very important to me to never ever ever require surgery i think. #i can handle the amount of psychosis i get from a 1-4 hour stopoff in hospital #as long as i know I'm leaving soon then i can just Cope with the fact that the walls are moving and reality is thin #ANYWAY that's not the point the point is i forget! that most ppl i know have experience of at most a handful of severe psychotic episodes #some people i know have experienced more for sure. especially if the episodes were mostly theirs. #but people really seem to expect me to be more freaked out by their symptoms of psychosis than i am #bc i don't think i really register it as frightening unless they're in actual danger or Currently Aggressing Actually At Me #like i WORRY about them bc it can super suck but it's not SHOCKING or WEIRD #there have definitely been times ive been frightened. one time i woke up in the night and my friend was standing over me with a knife #but also like he was still HIM he was just having a moment. and as soon as i got the knife off him he just came back and broke down. #and we were fine and he was safe and i learnt the valuable lesson that even when people seem like they wanna kill you they probably don't #tbf now I'm thinking about it it's honestly a tossup whether he was there to threaten or because he felt a need to guard us #like to be clear probably don't try and take a knife off someone having a psychotic break. i was 17 and it was 3am and i knew him very well #i probably did not make the smartest call but nobody got hurt is the point #anyway you know there's that kind of psychotic episode and my granny got very violently angry a few times. buuuut you know there's also #been plenty of other times I've been with somebody having an episode and it's been chill as hell. #my ex saw and heard monsters so much that eventually she just got sick of being scared. we used to watch TV with them #i would sometimes have to sit on a bit of sofa that wasn't haunted and we might not be able to watch certain things bc they didn't like it #most of the time she was hallucinating there was absolutely nothing to worry about we just had a few extra variables #honestly of everyone i know who's had psychotic episodes or schizophrenia the amount of times it's been a material risk #is like. low single figures? maybe low double if you include self harm but idk what the cause and effect is there. #idk why you would need to be frightened like 99.99% of the time it truly is usually just Oh No That Seems Distressing For You I'm Sorry

[turtleblogatlast]

Would you say raph has been parentfied? Because he’s the one who had to praise Leo when splinter didn’t. It’s the vibe I got as an older sibling myself I was doing most of the parenting my drunk ass parents couldn’t do.

[ cw: parentification / ]

Personally, and I know it goes against a big part of the fandom to say this, but I don’t really think so! There are certainly instances where Raph takes charge and displays parent-y behaviors but in my opinion it’s not enough for me to say he was parentified as much as the popular take says. More often he’s displayed as a protective older brother and acts as such, not so much a parentified sibling.

Not gonna say it’s wrong to see him as such though! It’s just not the vibes I personally gathered from watching him.

I’m sorry you had to go through that, though, no child should be forced to parent their sibling.

#non au ask #I could maybeeee see a case in regard to how Raph treats Mikey and the episode Pizza Puffs in general but like #idk esp his relationship with Leo has never once clocked me as parental in any capacity #just protective older bro #again perfectly fine for others to disagree I just don’t see it personally #it’s interesting to explore the concept imo #but I think at the end of the day Raph’s more a pressured and protective older bro than anything #someone who his brothers respect but aren’t afraid to mess around with #just as he’s not afraid to mess around with them #it’s always felt really equal to me? like everyone is mostly on the same playing field sans a respect for Raph as the de facto leader #I WILL SAY that being the eldest brother who’s the leader and responsible for decision making can alone make for some anxiety and issues #so the poor boy is going through it either way

[askblueandviolet]

what did you do on Christmas? Do you have plans for the new year? Because you know, you're Chinese, so you haven't celebrated New Year's yet. (Maybe, i don't actually know how it works)

MASTER POST

Asks Start 💙

Previous 💙

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#lego monkie kid #lego monkie kid fanart #monkie kid #monkie kid fanart #lmk #lmk fanart #lmk mayor #monkie kid mayor #blue and violet #technically even though Christmas is a western holiday I think people in Megapolis probably still celebrate it #because Christmas is more or less just about being together with friends and family and not necessarily about religion anymore #but Mayor probably doesn't really celebrate Christmas #mostly because they are an old man and they did not celebrate Christmas before and so they do not celebrate it now #but also because they have nobody to celebrate it with lmao #poor fella #however in terms of the lunar new year they might celebrate it??? #they'll go out and about the city and do some speeches as Mayor and stuff like that #maybe join in with the festivities too and watch the parades #but other than that they will stay inside and try to relax or something #keep Hershey company #either way New Years has been slightly ruined for them because of the new years festival they experienced in TQFTSK with Macaque #they cannot celebrate without being reminded of the memory of that heartfelt time spent together #Hershey is :P

[seventh-district]

not even gonna tag this properly bc i don't wanna get Involved but i do have some Thoughts i need to get out into the void so here we go

(aaa quick edit: CW for mention/discussion of Boothill leaks)

#today's gone Badly and i'm upset but instead of venting abt it i'm gonna channel that energy into doing a bit of tag rambling abt Boothill #well. less abt Him and more abt uh. self-analyzing my anxiety surrounding contributing to fandoms. he's just today's catalyst #like. i know it's mostly a me thing. i'm hypersensitive to criticism and very conflict avoidant + socially anxious + perfectionistic etc. #so I'm the one that keeps myself from posting more stuff out of fear of being criticized or called-out for what i've made #bc inevitably Someone's gonna see it and think its OOC or a problematic take or they'll misread my intent. etc etc what have you #but like. that's inevitable. there's no way to communicate every single thing with all of the nuance required to avoid misunderstandings #and other times it's not a misunderstanding it's just a difference of opinions and that's Fine!! there's no accounting for personal taste #there's no accounting for several things actually. taste‚ bias‚ lore-knowledge‚ differing levels of chronic-online-ness‚ etc #so this isn't me complaining abt the state of fandom culture (although i do think. sometimes. ppl take shit a bit too seriously) #but anyways all of this is mostly just anxiety-fueled. it's not like i very often actually even receive negative feedback or anything #if anything ppl tend to tell me that i'm overthinking it and killing my own fun and worried that my stuff is more OOC than it is #which like. yeah. Yeah u right :) but that's just the way that i am! always losing the idgaf war i suppose #anyways what's Boothill got to do w this ur wondering. well. i've been thinking abt the quickly emerging concept that he's illiterate. #and it just. has me feeling a lot of ways. and watching ppl disagree over it has me feeling some Bad ways. bc it's def a loaded topic! #if you'll pardon the pun there. and i don't rlly have anything new to add other than that i'm conflicted abt it. #like yeah i saw the leaks days ago. of him mentioning 'not hitting the books' much as a child when we ask him why he sends voice messages #or voice Transcriptions ig. ykwim. and like. *braces for impact* ...i liked it? like. it doesn't feel right to call it endearing #i'm not trying to infantilize him. ok that's not the right word either but ugh. you know? what i mean?? who am i kidding even i don't know #it's not quite right to say that it feels like Representation either. but it's something close i guess #as a southern person myself who didn't receive a 'complete' education due to factors that weren't to do with my intelligence #the concept of seeing him as a capable force to be reckoned with and respected who also happens to have not received much formal education #i like that. i do. but there's so many issues w it at the same time. like. as i said‚ being southern myself has me Wary of the way Hoyo is- #writing him. as well as of the way that the fandom is taking the bits of his lore and running away w them. and i'm Very aware of how ppl- #will see a southern character and be All Too Eager to agree that they're lacking intelligence based on our Redneck™ stereotype #sigh. and before we even go too far with this. it's not even confirmed that hes completely illiterate. which is a valid criticism i've seen #there's Multiple reasons that could make him prefer voice to text. but regardless. i'm just worried that ppl will misconstrue my intentions #like. example: that edit i made the other day of him saying 'no thanks i can't read'. wasn't me playing into the stereotype of- #'haha dumb country boy can't read!' it was. in my eyes. something he'd say as a joke to make light of a potential insecurity #like. i think there's far more depth to Boothill's character if ppl could look past the surface. and i dont wanna contribute to the problem #but sometimes ppl Will have stereotypical traits and i wish the same could apply to characters as long as it's done Thoughtfully.

[july-19th-club]

favorite type of villanous characters are the ones whose motivations boil down to

like they dont even have to have any stakes in the broader situation. they just have take pleasure in destruction

#sometimes this can be done in a very funee cartoon villain kind of way a la spike from buffy #and sometimes it can be done in a positively chilling way where this character knows for a fact that some of the effects of their chaos #will also make their life worse. but they just enjoy fucking with other people more than any privation they could personally experience #you can't sway this person with common sense because their own personal logic dictates that it doesn't apply to them #you can't sway them with emotion; your sadness/fear/anger/ineffectuality is part of the entertainment factor #can't sway 'em with threats because dodging threats is ALSO part of the whole point #this second version is the least pathetic type of character mostly because they simply do not give a shit about anything ever #any personal fears are buried or stomped out and figuring out why they do what they do won't stop them from doing it #and yet: in order to keep the relentless making-it-worse guy from being uninterestingly evil there does have to be SOME desire or need #bodily harm or lack of available victims could get you a moment of genuine terror or loneliness that sparks the audience sympathy #which you do need! just long enough for the sympathy to then be misplaced. which you also need bc this is an antagonist #the first version does very well at redemption arcs and is sort of built for them . they're almost too easy for the first cartoon version #the second version should be kept separate from redemption arcs at all costs #or you no longer have that character anymore now he's someone else #writing tag #q #god. one thing is that i know how to spot character types in writing and detail what's good about them and talk about it #but when it comes to then executing the concept? my perception of what's cool and works and my execution are MILES apart #frustrating as hell that i can identify this guy but not create him

[averseunhinged]

wip wednesday i made it wooooooo

this is the only even remotely coherent section of the all human actors au that has been making me cry tears of blood. yes, there is still a bracket. no, i didn't even try to figure it out. i am TIRED.

it's mildly raunchy crack. like pg-13, probs? idk.

In the car on the way home, Klaus made an ill-considered midnight call to his sister, given that Rebekah was three hours ahead in New York City, where she’d been shooting a sit-com about struggling models for the past month. She probably would have been less alright with it if Klaus hadn’t spent the whole call whining about how he’d met the girl he was going to marry, but she thought he was a loser. He woke up the next afternoon to cottonmouth, a deeper sense of foreboding than usual, and about fifty text messages, first from Rebekah, and then from the group chat with the rest of his siblings, deservedly ripping the shit out of Klaus.

The third time he met Caroline was at an industry do, this time much less a party than a press event. [SUPER POPULAR FILM FRANCHISE] hadn’t come out yet, but his Times profile had, which was simultaneously the most horrifying portrait and the most accurate. He’d been giving a lot of thought to the person he was versus the person he wanted to be, and it was all weighing on him. So, when he saw Caroline, his first impulse probably shouldn’t have been that this was his chance. If he’d been thinking more clearly, he probably would have realized that he wasn’t in the best headspace.

“Bekah,” he breathed to his sister, because of course Rebekah was there. Rebekah had been witness to every crushing defeat of Klaus’s life. “She’s here.”

And because Rebekah was a bloodhound for Klaus’s humiliation, she immediately picked up what Klaus was putting down. “Who? The girl you’re going to marry? Where?”

Klaus surreptitiously pointed out where Caroline was standing in a cluster with a few other women, but he was already on the move by the time Rebekah was hissing, “Oh, fuck! Wait, Nik. Goddammit.”

And the thing was, Klaus was a bit foolish. He knew this. He wasn’t unintelligent, but outside of his career, he’d never been known for making well-reasoned decisions. He was impulsive, and while he’d shaken off much of the resentment and aimless rage of his late teens and early twenties, his temper still fueled his choices at times. He wanted to change, was actively trying with some measure of success, but it was an ongoing process. He was all the way across the room before he realized Caroline was surrounded by a veritable coven of women he didn’t want to attempt to flirt in front of. One of the Petrova quadruplets—either Amara or Elena, given that he knew Katerina and knew Tatia—Bonnie-fucking-Bennett, who was flawlessly styled and probably still had no idea who he was, and Hayley Marshall, who had spent years watching Klaus try to make removing his shirt while wearing elf ear prosthetics sexy for MTV and getting into on-set fistfights with Kai Parker for being a smug little fuck who couldn’t be bothered to show up for his call times. So, Klaus was stuck without any chance of a classy retreat.

Regardless, he managed to collect a cheek kiss from Hayley, finally introduced himself to Bonnie, did the awkward yes, our siblings are fucking nod with confirmed-to-be-Elena, and greeted Caroline for a socially appropriate amount of time. It broke down when he had to make a conscious effort not to focus the entirety of his attention on her, with middling success, if Rebekah’s almost silent snickering and Hayley’s bemusement were anything to go by. But after a few minutes, he was, if not relaxed, at least doing a reasonable facsimile of charming and was a bit blindsided when Lorenzo St. John seemed to materialize out of nowhere to press a glass of white wine into Caroline’s hand and wrap a proprietary arm around her waist. Klaus had never met him before, though being in separate wings of the same franchise allowed for a very few degrees of separation, but Klaus couldn’t blame the man when he spent the entirety of their introduction and subsequent conversation watching Caroline with a cross between adoration and hunger so intense that Klaus felt uncomfortable witnessing it.

Eventually, Elena was pulled away by a director with more industry pull than was necessarily warranted. Hayley excused herself to hit the bar again, and Klaus knew her well enough to interpret her shrug and half-smile as better luck next time, pal. Finally, he made up a barely sensical excuse about not having mingled enough and dragged Rebekah away, who parted from Caroline with a hug and farewell that spoke of more familiarity than he’d been aware of.

“Well,” Rebekah said, like the unsympathetic twat she was, “I do believe she’s the girl he’s going to marry, too.”

Klaus pointed a finger at Rebekah, as disgruntled as ever that his younger sister had inherited both their mother’s sweet, lovely face and her innate, bloody-minded sadism. Klaus might have been taller and bulkier, but the extra mercilessness made the difference for Rebekah whenever they’d brawled over snacks, or the remote, or one of her useless, cockwomble boyfriends.

“You knew!” he hissed. “You knew I was going to make a fool out of myself!”

“Hey, there’s no stopping you when you’re on a mission to embarrass yourself. It’s one of your more endearing qualities. And you never said who she was.” Rebekah shrugged. “She’s on my show. Just started filming last month. I don’t know her very well, but I knew she had a boyfriend doing some off-Broadway, avant-garde bullshit with those Augustine lunatics.”

Klaus sighed and slumped a little bit. Rebekah patted him on the shoulder in their family’s typical manner of reluctant, suspicious affection and wandered off to find Stefan, who tended to spend these things hiding behind a pillar, or a large plant, or on one memorable occasion, a standee of himself, and drinking with the quiet desperation of an introvert who might have to talk to people he didn’t know.

The last Klaus saw of Caroline, Enzo was nuzzled into her temple, saying something for only her to hear. Her head was thrown back, laughing, and she looked like everything Klaus had ever wanted.

(But was terrified he’d never find.)

Life went on. Klaus’s world changed dramatically when [SUPER POPULAR FRANCHISE MOVIE] was a hit on an unexpected scale. The box office returns were obscene, and because Klaus got in on the ground floor and his agent was great at her job, he suddenly had more money, and far more fame, than he knew what to do with. But with that came the freedom to do the projects he really wanted to do. Really cared about. So, he was busy. And he was still trying to be better, be the person he wanted to be, not the person it was easy to be.

But he also had too many first dates and hardly any second ones, before he and Aurora decided to get back together for the fourth time. Predictably, it blew up in a final, spectacular way when Klaus had to spend an obscene amount of time in transit, traveling from his shooting location in Hungary to hers in Vancouver and back, just to find out she was fucking around on him again. The thing about Aurora was that she never overtly cheated, because there was always a nebulousness about where he fit into her life that manifested in her casually dating other men without calling it dating. It had been the perfect arrangement for him when he was twenty-three and more cheekbones than brains, but that wasn’t who Klaus wanted to be anymore.

He tried to take a step back after that, but the next time he was in L.A., he slept with a stylist he’d worked with a few times before. Then, he went back to London for his thirtieth birthday, got ratarsed on celebratory Nebbiolo with his best mate from RADA, and had an accidental threesome with Lucien and his fiancé. This resulted in a hungover call to Freya the next morning that was an unflattering shade of gay panic to his only queer sibling—aside from Henrik, who didn’t deserve to be subjected to Klaus’s post-coital regrets—over being a newly thirty-year-old celebrity who tried butt stuff for the first time and didn’t hate it. Freya was a good enough sister that she didn’t hold it against Klaus, but also enough his sibling that she nearly choked to death on her tea, laughing, and crisply informed him that even primarily straight men had prostates.

So, it’s not like he was pining. He wasn’t. But there was a certain level of wistfulness on the rare occasion when he did think of Caroline, which he tried not to do very often, given that he was certain the next time he heard anything about her, it would be because she was engaged to an increasingly renowned British actor with what Klaus could only hope would someday be a hairline that receded more than his own.

(Except it wasn't.)

#oh oops #this is way longer than i thought it was #let me just say: #it's mostly based on klaus's big doofy younger brother energy in the human flashbacks #it gets marginally more serious later #some stuff about klaus's temper and promiscuity and dubious parentage and resentment that elijah's career always overshadowed his own #i mean if the rest of this ever happens #i don't know #it already nearly killed me ded #klaroline wip wed #it had to be enzo btw #i literally ran out of other characters #except alaric #and: no #i repeat: #no