#is that they assume 'justified' means 'sympathetic' but like. VERY sympathetic.

[transmutationisms]

I'm confused about your argument, if you don't think degrees should exist as a barrier for participating a particular profession then how you do believe a standard should be maintained? I'm getting an impression you've got all this experience and credentials in academia and are now basically coming out and saying it's all bullshit. And when we're talking about "cheating", do we mean like using accommodations that bend the rules or just not bothering to do the work at all?

ok you might want to read my last few reblogs, which go into some more depth on this. like ave said earlier, the university as it exists now doesn't exist to spread knowledge but to restrict it. so the idea that a degree granted in this system is primarily a means of ensuring 'qualification' is an idealist fiction. again and like i said earlier, a degree doesn't necessarily even line up with what job a person ends up getting---which should tell us a lot about what a degree actually communicates and the way 'being educated' is evaluated independently of the extent to which a person's degree actually taught them anything of value to a given profession. what a degree mostly signifies in actuality is that a person succeeded at being in school; there are many different ways this can happen (even at the advanced level---any academic can tell you, MAs and PhDs do get awarded to people all the time who are incompetent or produce shitty work). there are people with degrees whom i respect immensely, but i don't assume that an academic credential means a person is 'smart' or that their work is high-quality. like, ted cruz went to harvard and herman cain had an md; credentialled experts have fucked up the covid pandemic, produced the industry-funded work that justifies medical fatphobia, etc etc. none of this critique is a new position on my part.

fundamentally idgaf about cheating because i don't think it's unjust to cheat a system that is itself unjust. i don't think it's wrong morally to view a degree as a hoop you need to jump through in order to access certain jobs, and to do what you need to do in order to get through that hoop. in practice cheating is very often the result of students who desperately need eg to pass a class in order to keep a scholarship, who do not have the financial wiggle room to fail and are not being given options or support by profs or the institution. but tbc there is no way to crack down on cheating that only targets 'less sympathetic' cases!

#academia

[shysublimecoffee]

I prefer not to sound harsh, but Miraculous has become a fandom where I find more enjoyment in reading fanfics than watching the show. It feels like there's a lack of effort or an attempt to justify and rearrange elements, often ignoring past seasons and assuming the audience won't notice. The handling of Derision is a notable example, with more astute critics than me delving into their dissatisfaction and the evident retcons.

I didn't anticipate the show going to such lengths as portraying Gabriel as someone deserving of a statue, and it left a sour taste in my mouth to see the hero endorsing it. Adrien/ChatNoir's portrayal has become quite pitiful, with a peculiar shift where Ladybug takes on a significant role in the Agreste Saga despite her absence from that narrative. Ladybug, who isn't even part of the Agreste Saga, is the one delivering heartfelt moments. The decision to sideline Adrien and put him out of commission is disappointing. It's his story yet she the one who has to make it about her. She gets to shine along with a cool costume to boot.

There's a palpable bias from Astruc against Chloe, evident in the show's treatment of her character. Despite her being manipulated by Gabriel Agreste, the narrative blames her for becoming mayor, and the absurdity of the situation is magnified when everyone in the story goes along with it. The inclusion of a scene in Revolution where Chloe is crying is perplexing and frustrating, as it seems to perpetuate the negative and irredeemable image the show consistently paints of her. The added layer of her mother being horrid to her intensifies my annoyance, especially when sympathetic scenes are presented in a seemingly contradictory manner.

I mean you want her to be the worst but yet she has scenes like this? Why not go all the way wtf. Why give her depth only to take it away and then make her be so demonized in s5 and act like she was like this from the start. When she's been a joke

I hate to be critical, but seriously, it's hard to ignore how the Miraculous universe is just dripping with untapped potential. Five seasons in, and the movie outshines the show effortlessly. It makes you wonder about the writers' team and their approach—seems like they're just coasting on low effort for profit, and somehow, it's working, thanks to Miraculous inexplicable popularity.

The show's been beating the monster-of-the-week horse for five long seasons, lacking any creativity in crafting interesting villains. Gabriel, honestly, feels like a starter villain, and if they're going to make him the big bad, can we at least get some villains with a bit more pizzazz? You know craft creative interesting villains? KNDS, Original PPG, Totally Spies they got it so why not Miraculous. It's so damn tiring seeing the same old song and dance with Gabriel 24/7 monologuing to his wife and releasing the akuma I thought Mayura would be important but she's barely there.

It's not even an excuse kids do deserve better entertainment so why should Miraculous lower its standards. Marinette is very weird to me as the protagonist because her lovelife is more focused over everything I gauged her well enough to know about her that the rest of the secondary needs more of a spotlight to be cast on them. I like her but am I the only one who just skips when she starts the whining about Adrien and her plan to again get together it was cute at first now I fast forward to the more interesting part of the episode because it irks me i'm tired okay... what other facet of her character do the writers focus on besides her love life? I hope I don't appear to salt on her but Imma tag it just in case. I think she's in neutral treading to dislike because how can I come back from her gaslighting her boyfriends I'm sorry I can't.

You know what I'm afraid of that if Lila gonna be the next big bad they'll just recycle everything from Gabriel onto her. We'll have the same akumatizations same monster of the week formula only this time it's Lila.

I trust more in the fanfic community to come up with a better substantial plot than Miraculous could ever be. I know romance is a big part but the lore is so damn little it's season 5 are they ever going to expand more in the later seasons lol.

I'm tired from writing this long. Imma go to bed now.

#miraculous salt #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug #marinette salt

[mdhwrites]

Thought you might want to know, but all of Season 2A was written without knowledge of the shortening. Dana Terrace says this at the 16 minute mark of the April 28th Post Hoot.

Thank you! It's neat to know and kind of the assumption I'd had for a long time. In production and being written should be two different phases for a show after all. For the Amphibia outline I did earlier today, it'd mean losing an episode which.... *sigh* But yeah, I've effectively always treated it mostly like S2A was unaffected by the shortening and there are some plotlines I'm sympathetic about with that... But not by much.

Again, I've gone harder into this in the past but S2B had to mostly be the way it was for the sake of S3, full or shortened, unless S3 was DRASTICALLY different than what we got. Hunter needed to be an ally enough to go with them all into the portal so Sport in a Storm, Hollow Mind and Labyrinth Runners would have still happened. You do need to explore Belos and prepare for King's Tide with him so Hollow Mind bare minimum still needs to exist but also for Luz's angst arc, Elsewhere Elsewhen needs to exist. King being a titan needs to be confirmed so Edge of the World needs to exist. We also need to make King the most patient, kind, wisest person to exist so Titan, Where Art Thou needs to happen. And Clouds on the Horizon leads directly into the finale so while a lot of the A plot of that episode is pretty wasteful and lacks payoffs, you definitely still need to include it for where everyone is for the finale unless you alter the finale a lot. And Falls and Follies is a good recap of position and sets the stakes for Raine but... It'd pretty questionable too.

This makes the only episodes who's main plots could really be altered to a drastic degree be:

Reaching Out: Amity's relationship with her father barely pays off and frankly it'd have been almost just as jarring to have King do his conversation during Clouds on the Horizon even without this episode. Otherwise, it shoots the worldbuilding in the head and harms Lumity for the sake of double daddy issues. You also have the confirmation for Eda that The Day of Unity is bad news but no one who lives at The Owl House does anything with that. So let's of setup for effectively no payoff.

Them's the Breaks: I hate that I cannot justify this episode because it is EASILY the most of S2B but... It damages Raine's character, only really shows a potential reason why Eda gave up on the covens but the only story part is the last two minutes. You could have done ANYTHING else, like I dunno, an episode actually about Darius and Hunter/the rebel coven heads, and ended it with the Raine reveal.

That is two episodes. The fact that there are two episodes even is... OOPH, especially when Reaching Out at least has arguments but Them's the Breaks is just Dana gushing about the fanfic she wants to write for her own series. The fact that there are only two, with maybe being able to cut one of Hunter's episodes for his arc, is not good. Not unless the Day of Unity wasn't supposed to be the S2 finale.

And if it wasn't... What the fuck was the original plan?

This is a lot of why I talk about not wanting three seasons. It wanted WAY MORE. I think Dana assumed it'd be so popular and big as to have five or more. There are PLENTY of issues with that conceptually (again, S3 could never have been great) but it is the vibe the story gives. It is too redundant and too slow to be otherwise. TOH's biggest argument against being claimed as having a lot of filler is mostly in that a lot of episodes get a LITTLE done in way or another but it takes very few leaps. When it could do that, actually have a big payoff and move along, it cuts it off at the knees for the sake of 'realism'. This happened with Willow... and also fucking happened with ALADOR. IN SEASON 2B. WHY!? Why would you make a plot point specifically say more work and time will be needed when you DON'T HAVE TIME!?

Even S3 has this. In a season with THREE. EPISODES. Luz has THREE finishes to her arc. In Thanks to Them, she gets reassured by quite literally everyone that she did nothing wrong and should feel confident about her choices before she confidently prepares to head into the demon realm! Then... In show it's like five, ten minutes tops when Luz is self hating and self martyring herself again until the end of the episode has her confidently state that she wants to be understood! And with her friends and new palisman by her side, she will face the Collector!

Only to start the next episode with a dream sequence where she believes everyone fucking hates her, doesn't understand her and that she deserves to be hated. This only gets resolved when the FUCKING GOD of the show tells her she's A-Okay and she has nothing to fear. She's just too gosh darn good in order to have any reason to every doubt herself!

I'm not going to even ask why this happened. I can actually tell you mostly why because Luz is the only character besides Hunter with any character payoffs left to do. So if you want each episode to have a big character moment, Hunter can only replace one of those. They still tried to have Willow do one anyways by dredging up something that hadn't been a thing for TWO. SEASONS. But Luz was still given three different endings.

No, the bigger question to me just fucking HOW!? this sort of thing happens. This has fuck all to do with the shortening after all. Wasted time at this point, moments that mean literally and do nothing, are their choice. They are still the writers who decided to waste all this time despite claiming how much they wanted more time.

It makes it look like any potential S3 would have just been... Well, more of this. More repetition that dilutes its themes and doesn't really go anywhere. After all, if they couldn't fill three hours with actual story and pushing forward the narrative and themes... Why should we assume eight hours would have been suddenly so much better?

I didn't mean to go so hard on this. Sigh. But yeah, there's a lot of reasons why the shortening is not the excuse that people think it is. Why it honestly feels so much like a blessing to the show because people just have this go to statement to try and shut people or shut their own brains up from any issues they might have, even if those issues are self contained to a single episode.

TOH was never perfect and has flaws that run incredibly deep and start early on. No excuse will ever change those facts.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house

[mono-blogs-art]

It is WILD to me that from what I've seen on chaser game w fandom talk, people are much more sympathetic towards Aoyama (Itsuki's guy friend, who outed her at her workplace explicitly because of his unrequited love towards her) than Kou (Fuyu's husband, who found out that his wife cheated on him and lied to his face about it too, and who had built a life and family with a partner who he now knows never felt the same about him).

??? I have a lot of thoughts about how the finale handled that Fuyu/Kou scene but I genuinely thought it was one of the more sensible, complex, and well-done scenes of the show.

I guess as The Husband he is much more of an "obstacle" to the main pair than Some Guy Itsuki explicitly rejects romantically and even breaks ties with after finding out about him outing her. But the show even fucking tells you in the epilogue that Aoyama had a successful career after, while not mentioning Kou at all. We don't even know if Fuyu and him ended up splitting/getting a divorce etc. Presumably she left him (and their daughter??) in China before returning to Itsuki in Japan.

Like I'm sorry to defend The Man in the lesbian show, but he has genuinely not done anything wrong; arguably not even him leaving for a few days after Fuyu treated him like shit was wrong. He has done nothing but support Fuyu and their family. His one interaction with Itsuki was - although justifiably stand-off-ish and charged given the circumstances - polite and respectful. He's not even homophobic!!!!!!! When Fuyu finally admits to the affair and tells him she's actually a lesbian, his only reaction is to A) inquire if she's always felt that way and if yes, why she married him anyway, B) check in with her if that means she'd like to split up, or continue their marriage, and C) to ask her not to meet with Itsuki again if they were to continue their marriage. Like that is literally such a reasonable request, my man is so much more forgiving than I and probably You could ever be. Like there is no point at which the source of his upset is the fact that she cheated on him with a woman, specifically. He doesn't love her any less for it, he doesn't call her names, he doesn't make any snarky remarks to insult her sexuality etc (apart from pointing out that she's been cold towards him, which she HAS, girl I really hope you didn't treat him like shit through ALL of those 5 years of marriage).

And like, I'm not gonna be like "uhhhh this poor man deserves Fuyu's affection since they're married, she should at least give him another chance" like of course NOT. She's unhappy with him, she's madly in love with a woman who she'd give up everything for. She's a lesbian. She doesn't owe him any love or affection but she DID cheat on him. Repeatedly. For weeks. IN THEIR FAMILY HOME, NONETHELESS. LET US NOT FORGET THAT SHE DID VERY MUCH CHEAT ON HER HUSBAND IN THEIR MARRIAGE BED (presumably). Like girl I know you love pussy and I do too but you're still an asshole!!!!!!!!!!!

And even then. She DOES love him. She says so herself, and it's true. And I know this may be wild to imagine but love doesn't have to be romantic. She loves him, in her own fucked up way, because she's deeply traumatized from years and years of internalised homophobia, being broken up with in the WORST way possible, and falling back into (presumably) denying her sexuality once again. Falling in love with being loved, and cherishing it so much that you forget what hurt you in the first place. Like, I can 100% understand Fuyu's reasoning in that situation. Even if I've never been in a similar situation, it makes perfect sense to me. I understand it even if it's horrible. And like yeah, Fuyu's character IS a hot mess and I love her and this show because of it (lmao) but she has treated this man so badly for what we can only assume is YEARS, and still she cherished what he provided for her enough to make her falter when her betrayal was revealed. For a second, the true repercussions dawned on her, and she decided that she wasn't willing to give up her family, her career, and her daughter just to reunite with Itsuki. And so she told him that she'd never go see Itsuki again. Like that is literally one of the most (and only) logical thinking they gave to any character for this show the whole season!!!! But of course it's also wrong like girl no you can't!!! And then she changes her mind for the gay happy end!!!!! Truly I got to eat my cake and eat it too. The finale was actually like. I don't want to say satisfying because I'd really need another scene with Fuyu and Kou for that, but at least satisfying enough for me to pretend that they figured it out somewhere off-screen. Hopefully.

That was my 2am rambling on how they resolved the Fuyu/Kou relationship. And I really wish ppl liked him more because literally my man has done nothing wrong. He's not even homophobic. HE'S NOT EVEN HOMOPHOBIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aoyama however is the fucking worst and I hate that the show portrayed him in such a good light at the end, GOD I will seethe forever

#mono-loguing #i should stop posting at 2am but. i just got home from smooching my girl I've still got some adrenaline in my veins #chaser game w

[luxaryllis]

Hope I didn't ask for another request too soon, but I saw that you write for Genshin Impact? Could you maybe do the dorm leaders from twisted wonderland reacting to mc with a vision?(Sorry I really love the dorm leaders.) Maybe Mc has a different vision for each dorm? And how would they react to what happens when someone loses their vision and how people get visions in the first place? (If you didn't know you lose your ambition and sometimes memories.)

Genshin!Reader with TWST Dorm Leaders

Note: Hi!! And it's alright haha; I'm sorry this took a LONG TIME to answer and post-

And yes, I do wrote for Genshin! And of course I can do that!! It took a bit of a while for me to choose an element per dorm, but all's well!! And yes, I know what happens when you lose a vision-

While I haven't been playing Genshin so much recently (experiencing burn-out), I do know majority of the storyline! I'm AR 53 in my main acc so I know a lot!

And my first Genshin request!! Yey!! I hope you all like this!! 💙💙

Also, please note that the personality/ies of each MC for each dorm will be based on what I think are the common traits for each vision. And for each Mc, I made it that they're used to fighting, like they have enough experience in a battle. But their backgrounds woun't be shown or mentioned, so you can fill those parts in however you want!

And since no one can have all visions at once, I'm going to assume that it's a different MC for each dorm or something, so yeah-

Heartslabyul - Hydro:

Riddle Rosehearts:

🥀 What do you think the world was thinking, putting a Hydro Vision with Grim?

🥀 There's just a bunch of "Vaporize" effects EVERYWHERE!!

🥀 The Welcoming Ceremony? "Vaporize"'d!!

🥀 And didn't the Dark Mirror say that MC has no magic?

🥀 Then WHY ARE THEY USING MAGIC RIGHT THERE, IN FRONT OF HIM?!?!

🥀 Yeah... the welcoming ceremony was full of mist.

🥀 Riddle also doesn't understand why or how this supposed "magicless" student can use magic

🥀 When the headmage had asked MC, they said "this isn't magic... this is my Vision.", gesturing to the strange blue gem on their person.

🥀 What do you mean "vision", that blue gem is where and how they see???

🥀 In the end, Riddle's questions end up ananswered, and a bunch of new questions pop up.

🥀 Someone pls help this boy 🤣🤣

🥀 He's just really confused now 🤣

🥀 Anyway, nothing much really happens.

🥀 I personally believe that most Hydro vision havers have some sort of sense of justice or have a certain TYPE of virtue with them or something similar (even Childe doesn't pick fights for fun; he just fights who he thinks is strong enough; though his mental stability is very questionable-)

🥀 So when Riddle gets mad at Ace because of the Mont Blanc incident, MC's "virtue senses" started tingling.

🥀 So, like the original MC, Hydro!MC also revolts against Riddle.

🥀 But, unlike the original MC, Hydro!MC would add in more comments about Riddle's horrible behaviour, which angers Riddle even further.

🥀 So yeah, plot goes on.

🥀 When MC finds out about Riddle's past, they feel rather... sympathetic... towards Riddle, but still believes that it doesn't necessarily fully justify his actions, nor does it put him in the right.

🥀 So yeah.

🥀 I headcanon that most Hydro-vision weilders are great thinkers or strategizers most of the time; like they can think pretty quickly and sharply. And most of them also do pretty good at playing in the background (similar to Kokomi, who doesn't exactly do much of the fighting (from the fighting) as she does more strategizing and healing in the beckground; and Xingqiu, who literally made an entire plan for the traveler and Paimon to fix the conflict of Chang the Ninth, and didn't ask or receive any credit, due to the fact that he did everything behind the scenes)

🥀 Or I might be overanalyzing-

🥀 But anyway, MC helps the ADeuce combo think of a plan and strategy for the duel.

🥀 It depends to you whether or not you want MC to think that ADeuce would win or lose against Riddle.

🥀 But anyway, plot goes on.

🥀 Again, Hydro!MC also revomts against Riddle, but this time, may have accidentally let it slip that they know about Riddle's past.

🥀 They also insult Riddle's mom.

🥀 ...and Riddle.

🥀 Yeahh....

🥀 That causes Riddle to ALSO insult MC and their parents/guardians.

🥀 Their reaction depends on you.

🥀 Riddle overblots and MC is actually the first one to start fighting it.

🥀 Because of their sense of justice and/or virtue, they just feel the need to get Riddle out of that horrible mindset he has.

🥀 So yeah! Also, since Riddle's Overblot's main attacks are mostly fire and/or grass, Hydro!MC does have a bit of an advantage.

🥀 Also a disadvantage, because there's mist all around now.

🥀 It's also probably flooding a bit-

🥀 Riddle VS Hydro!MC literally looks like 🌊🌊🔥🔥🌫🌊🌳🌳🌊🌊🌊

🥀 MC doesn't have to worry about accumulating blot, so they deal the most punches to Riddle's overblot.

🥀 MC is also the most experienced with fighting a bunch of strange stuff (like regisvines, hilichurls, mitachurls, lawachurls, etc), so they recover quite quickly when seeing an Overblot phantom or something pretty out of the ordinary.

🥀 So yeah! MC does help comfort Riddle.

🥀 They also apologize for insulting him and his mom, though they truly do mean what they said.

🥀 They admit that they may have gone too far with their insults and snide comments, though.

🥀 They also try help fix the dorm.

🥀 The hydro stuff they summoned during the battle also disappear, along with whatever weapon they were using.

🥀 Riddle (and the rest of Heartslabyul) are pretty fascinated by how the water and the weapon simply disappear to those pretty gold sparkles.

🥀 So during the Revenge Unbirthday Party, after the other Heartslabyul students run to chase Chen'ya out, they decide to ask MC about their world.

🥀 MC talks about their world, the visions, the 7 Archons, basically everything that they know.

🥀 They also explain that a person's vision represents their ambition; so when a person's vision is taken away, they also lose their ambition.

🥀 Riddle asks what happens to a person who loses their ambition/vision.

🥀 When he finds out about it, he's horrified. People lose their memories, and sometimes even get mental disorders?

🥀 When MC tells them about the Vision Hunt Decree in Inazuma, Riddle is reminded of what he did as a 'tyrant'.

🥀 MC mentions that the people here are very lucky that getting your magic disabled doesn't have much circumstances or go through any bad effects in this world.

🥀 And Riddle wholeheartedly agrees with that.

🥀 If MC is from Inazuma; and have been affected by the Vision Hunt Decree, be it by seeing a close one go through the consequences of losing their vision, or from seeing someone d*e at the hands of the Shogun or the Tenryou Commission, Riddle apologizes if his actions have caused any bad memories to pop up.

🥀 Afterwards, Riddle and MC often hang out.

🥀 MC also shows Riddle some cool and fun tricks using their Hydro Vision.

Savanaclaw - Dendro:

Leona Kingscholar:

🦁 Another disaster during the Welcoming Ceremony

🦁 Because Grim's flames keep burning MC's dendro attacks.

🦁 This causes a burning smell that Leona does NOT like.

🦁 It's too much for his nose.

🦁 And from my speculation (as we have NO released playable Dendro characters at the moment), Dendro-vision weilders would most likely be quite knowledgeable and possibly wise. Because the Dendro Archon is the God of Wisdom. So, for this, I will be saying that Dendro!MC is pretty smart and thoughful and pretty witty.

🦁 So luckily, for both MC AND Leona, they stop trying to help stop Grim.

🦁 How the hell does this herbivore have magic, when the Dark Mirror said that they DON'T have magic??

🦁 Another confused person.

🦁 But Leona's pretty quick to shrug it off and go about his life, thinking that the herbivore wouldn't be such a bother in the future.

🦁 HAH! BISH YOU THOUGHT!!!!

🦁 Anyway, when MC meets Leona in the Bitanical Garden, Leona (like he does with the original MC) sniffs them.

🦁 He notices that they smell a lot like plants. Their scent is very... nature-y. Not necessarily earthy, but close.

🦁 When he found out that MC was on the case of all the incidents and accidents going on, Leona also didn't think much of it.

🦁 What he didn't expect was for MC to LITERALLY walk up to him and CASUALLY ask him if he knew why no one from his dorm was getting injured.

🦁 Sh*t

🦁 Dendro!MC would definitely wonder why no one from Savanclaw was getting injured.

🦁 Plus, Jack mentioned that, "he probably won't get targeted".

🦁 So MC, being the smart@ss they are, goes to investigate Savanaclaw.

🦁 Leona replies that he doesn't know, and that the culprit might be too scared to mess with Savanaclaw.

🦁 MC refutes this, by saying that the culprit should have also been cautious of Diasomnia, Scarabia, and Octavinelle students too, as they are the most... calculating and most likely to get revenge.

🦁 Leona is now intrigued and interested in this herbivore; he thinks that they seem really sharp.

🦁 Leona then replies, "How would I know? I'm not the culprit."

🦁 MC is now absolutely sure that Leona is a suspect.

🦁 Before they could ask him to come with them (to interrogate him further), Leona adds, "What? If you really suspect that I'M the culprit, where's your evidence?"

🦁 This leaves MC quiet, and they leave Leona, frustrated.

🦁 After that, Leona makes sure that Ruggie is more careful with his "work".

🦁 But this does cause Leona to be a bit more daring at the same time.

🦁 As usual, plot continues, but MC is a lot more thoughtful; they even closely inspect the "crime scenes".

🦁 Plot goes on again.

🦁 Now, MC and Riddle's plan definitely OBVIOUSLY worked.

🦁 Also, MC definitely talks and critically criticizes Leona.

🦁 They mostly criticize his way of responding to a situation where he knows that someone is better than him.

🦁 They also comment on how f*cked up his life is, but the way he acts towards his life is probably even more problematic.

🦁 They don't talk about how he's the second-in-line; they know not to play with that part of his life.

🦁 Also because they don't know about his background yet.

🦁 Leona overblots

🦁 Again, Dendro!MC is quick to go up to Leona and fight his overblot.

🦁 The fight is normal, to be honest.

🦁 Except MC is in a bit of a disadvantage.

🦁 Since I see MC using their Dendro to capture people, like trap them, Leona would simply turn their attacks to dust.

🦁 So they're left with trying to affect him through making plants/flowers with strong pollen to disorient him.

🦁 It works; since Leona's a lion, his nose is quite sensitive.

🦁 Plot goes on.

🦁 I don't see Leona being someone who would willingly acceot comfort, and MC acknowledges that.

🦁 So they don't comfort Leona.

🦁 Instead, they ask him why he wants to be king so bad.

🦁 They also give him a bunch of questions to ponder over.

🦁 Like, "don't you want to be something else?", or tell him that there are other better options than being a king.

🦁 After that, Leona is a bit less hostile to MC; he is STILL wary, though.

🦁 He asks questions about MC world, though.

🦁 When he finds out about what hapoens to a person when they lose their vision, he's a bit more nonchalant.

🦁 Don't get him wrong, though.

🦁 He's pretty terrified at the thought of all those side effects.

🦁 He's also pretty glad that he isn't in MC's world.

🦁 But other than that, he's pretty chill!

🦁 He also plays Chess with MC a lot!

🦁 He thinks that they're a great opponent to go against.

🦁 Their scent is also pretty relaxing sometimes-

🦁 So he steals them away from whatever task to use them as his pillow.

Octavinelle - Geo:

Azul Ashengrotto:

🐙 Now, for Geo Vision wielders, I see them as people with a specific sense of duty and and perseverance; and are often great/recognized in what they do.

🐙 So I’ll be basing that on this MC.

🐙 Azul easily notices that this supposed magicless student has a very... calm and mentor-like aura/vibe to them.

🐙 When Grim causes fire everywhere, Geo!MC doesn’t stop Grim; but they create shields to protects everyone from the fire.

🐙 Azul also notices that the magicless student made certain... constructs? around the place.

🐙 What these constructs do is up to you-

🐙 Azul is now curious. 

🐙 The supposed magicless student actually has magic..

🐙 Perhaps the Dark Mirror was unable to detect magic from them?

🐙 However... shield magic and creating constructs are quite useful...

🐙 Perhaps they would be willing to make a contract with him?

🐙 *insert Azul's capitalism thoughts*

🐙 They could have other abilities that he could take advantage of too...

🐙 Coming back to the Octavinelle Dorm, Azul's thoughts were full of how he could possibly get MC and the new students into a contract with him.

🐙 MC seems like a very respectable person, so they might know what he's trying to do...

🐙 Or not...

🐙 Azul knows not to judge someone based on their cover or outward appearance, so he has Jade and Floyd observe spy on MC.

🐙 Before the Octavinelle Arc, Azul has always been trying to get them in a contract with him.

🐙 However, MC has a feeling that Azul's intentions aren't as nice as they seem.

🐙 So they're quite cautious and wary of him, and often dodge his attempts to capitalize on their talents and abilities.

🐙 They also can't help but think that there's more to this shady b@stard than meets the eye...

🐙 They volunteer to teach him how to use their weapon, though!

🐙 Unless MC uses a catalyst-

🐙 But other than that, they're alert around him.

🐙 When MC FINALLY appraches Azul about the jerk anemones, Azul is celebrating on the inside.

🐙 F*CKING FINALLY!!

🐙 Ahem!

🐙 Anyway, Azul puts in the contract, "The Ramshackle Prefect's Powers, Abilities, and Knowledge"

🐙 He put it in a small font.

🐙 He was half expecting, half not expecting that MC would fully read the contract.

🐙 MC does read the contract; it takes a while to do, though.

🐙 And SOMEHOW, MC finds the small fine print, and explains to Azul that it's impossible for someone to use someone else's Vision.

🐙 They also tell him that they CAN give him knowledge abouy their world, though.

🐙 Azul begrudgingly accepts and acknowledge this and takes off the part where it takes Mc's powers away, should they break the contract.

🐙 MC accepts the contract, after going over it a couple more times to check for any other rigged prints.

🐙 Azul fully expects that MC won't be able to complete the contract.

🐙 However, what he doesn't know, is that Geo!MC is very dedicated.

🐙 Once they start something, they WILL end it.

🐙 So, the plot goes on as usual.

🐙 When Azul realizes MC's plan, he's surpirised, but a small part of him was a bit satisfied.

🐙 Finally, a worthy opponent.

🐙 MC might have commented a bit on Azul's unfair scamming.

🐙 Azul interprets this as MC bullying him, which further brings him to overblot.

🐙 During Azul's overblot, MC was easily able to shield everyone from his attacks.

🐙 They also dealt quite a lot of damage to the Overblot phantom thing

🐙 When Azul wakes up, MC already has a few herbs or a potion to make him feel better from the pain.

🐙 When they confront Azul, they also comfort him a bit.

🐙 MC tells him that he doesn't have to prove anything; and that those bullies were kids.

🐙 Besides, people dislike or are afraid of anything/anyone they aren't familiar with.

🐙 This doesn't exactly comfort Azul, but it does help him be more open-minded

🐙 MC also tells him about their world; and gives him some knowledge about common things in their world, as well as what they're really good at.

🐙 When Azul finds out about what happens to someone who loses their Vision, he's also pretty scared and horrified.

🐙 He is aware that the side effects are NO joke.

🐙 If you are from Inazuma & have been affected by the Vision Hunt Decree, he has a lot more respect for you.

🐙 Azul is also very interested in the Geo Archon; the God of Contracts, you say? 👀

🐙 But other than that, Azul admires MC for MC perseverance and dedication to what they do.

🐙 And MC admires Azul for his business and his hardworking-ness. Even though sometimes, his intentions aren't as positive.

🐙 Basically, both admire and look up to the other and better themselves to be like the other.

🐙 Great friendship, all-in-all.

🐙 MC also works as a guard or a bouncer for Monstro Lounge.

Scarabia - Cryo:

Kalim Al-Asim:

☀️ Oh dear...

☀️ Another disaster during the welcoming ceremony-

☀️ When Kalim's butt was on fire, MC probably froze it for a while.

☀️ The ice was controlled, and wasn't numbingly cold, don't worry.

☀️ MC also probably tried stopping Grim by freezing the fire, aka cancelling it.

☀️ Another mist combo-

☀️ MC also froze Grim too.

☀️ Again, the ice was controlled and not too cold either.

☀️ Kalim was AMAZED by the supposed magicless prefect's powers.

☀️ He probably forgot that the Dark Mirror said that they were magicless.

☀️ He thought that there was a small misunderstanding.

☀️ Now, my headcanon/s for Cryo Vision wielders is that they've mostly lost something, or longing for something that they can't have (like Qiqi, who lost her life and memories; Ayaka, who lives a very rich life, but longs to be treated as a normal person, etc). And most of them have quite ironic circumstances. (For example, Chongyun is an exorcist, but he hasn't seen a spirit; Diona is a bartender, but hates alchohol; Ayaka is a very famous and loved person, but has very few trusted friends)

☀️ So MC has some characteristics there.

☀️ I also imagine MC's attitude to be a bit closed off and reserved; quite the opposite to Kalim.

☀️ Polar Opposites Become Besties trope?? 👀👀

☀️ Anyway!

☀️ Kalim was VERY excited about becoming friends with the person who helped him!

☀️ Actually, I think he already does consider them friends-

☀️ But when he sees them in the Scarabia Dorm, he's absolutely excited to get to know MC better!

☀️ He shows them his favorite food and has them dance/sing with him (if they're comfortable).

☀️ Basically, it's all fun and games until Jamil mind-controls him-

☀️ MC, who doesn't understand what's going on, feels a bit betrayed; because one moment Kalim is all sunshines and sparkles, and the next, Kalim's really scary and demanding.

☀️ They also get very concerned about Kalim.

☀️ That is, until they notice a pattern.

☀️ Before Kalim goes all strict and tyrant-y, Jamil is with Kalim.

☀️ Most Cryo users are a bit analytical, and observational; so I do think this will apply to Cryo!MC.

☀️ This makes MC pretty suspicious of Jamil.

☀️ Kalim still isn't off the hook, though.

☀️ Whenever Jamil stops his Snake Whisper on Kalim, Kalim is always confused as to why MC and the others avoid him, or act a bit distasteful to him.

☀️ When it's revealed that Jamil did what he did, Kalim is betrayed, and MC is quite mad and upset at Jamil on behalf of Kalim.

☀️ When Kalim is still feeling sad, after getting thrown to the "ends of the world", Mc comforts Kalim; saying that while Jamil's feelings is pretty justifiable, his actions aren't.

☀️ Basically, MC comforts Kalim.

☀️ Unfortunately, they can't do anything about the freezing temperatures.

☀️ MC is also probably used to the cold, as they do have a Cryo vision.

☀️ Tbh, I'm torn on how I want the scene where Kalim uses Oasis Maker to go, so you have a choice in this:

☀️ The first choice is that everything goes on normally; the Tweels turn into their eel form and swim everyone else back to Scarabia.

☀️ Or after Kalim uses Oasis Maker to fill up to oasis, MC freezes the river so everyone could simply skate or slide back to Scarabia (ka(e)yaking)

☀️ Or MC summons a Cryo summon that brings everyone to Scarabia.

☀️ Your pick, really.

☀️ When they go confront and fight Jamil's Overblot, Kalim is amazed at MC's talent and ability with their weapon.

☀️ They have him use Oasis Maker so they could freeze the water.

☀️ This makes the mind-controlled people to slip or freeze.

☀️ After all that, Kalim and MC continue to be close friends!

☀️ MC also makes sure Kalim doesn't do anything TOO extreme.

☀️ Jamil sighing in relief in the background.

☀️ Kalim and MC are definitely Freeze combo besties!

☀️ When Kalim asks about MC's world, he's amazed at the Vision stuff.

☀️ But when he finds out about what happens to people when they lose their vision, he's crying.

☀️ If you have a close one who's went through these side effects, he definitely feels sorry for you and cries for you.

☀️ Other than that, you're both amazing besties!!

Pomefiore - Electro:

Vil Schoenheit:

👑 Probably the BIGGEST disaster for the Welcoming Ceremony-

👑 Grim's fire and your Electro do NOT work well together-

👑 Overload reactions make explosions, right?

👑 Yeah... not a great idea.

👑 I think that most Electro Vision wielders are people who are very clear and honest with their identity; and are often loners. They also often reject or contradict what society often think is "normal", so they're often considered "strange" or "abnormal".

👑 So I'll be basing Electro!MC off that.

👑 Also, Electro people are GORGEOUS, or cute-

👑 Anyway, Vil absolutely LOVES MC's appearance; it very much suits them.

👑 Also, that lightning magic they create is very aesthetically pleasing; especially with the prevailent purple and black surroundings.

👑 What Vil DOESN'T like is that the lightning and fire create explosions.

👑 It's very dangerous!

👑 Luckily, the creature is stopped.

👑 When Vil sees MC's friends and that creature are auditioning for the VDC, he's intruiged, and sorta expects that MC would also audition.

👑 Surprise, surprise! They didn't audition!

👑 Anyway, he surprised that MC is just there for moral support; but shrugs it off.

👑 When he gets to Ramshackle, it's honestly even more of a mess because MC has had to stop Grim's shenanigans often.

👑 So Vil is disgusted and concerned cuz HOW THE HECK DO YOU LIVE HERE?!?!

👑 Anyway, plot ensues normally.

👑 Vil overblots, etc.

👑 You absolutely DESTROY his overblot.

👑 Like, he barely stood a chance, since Electro does very well in long-ranged.

👑 So MC's able to deal great amounts of damage while staying pretty far away from him to not get so affected by the poison.

👑 After all that, MC comfort everyone when NRC loses.

👑 After the overblot, Vil approaches you (or you approach Vil, either is fine), and you both talk.

👑 I don't think that acting is a thing, outside of plays and operas, etc; since there isn't a TV in Teyvat-

👑 So MC asks Vil about them.

👑 In return, he asks about MC's world.

👑 When he finds out about what happens to a person when they lose their vision, Vil is also pretty horrified.

👑 There aren't any side effects to losing your magic in Twisted Wonderland, unless it was specifically from someone else's Unique Magic; so this is all foreign to Vil.

👑 Afterwards, he's pretty chill honestly.

👑 He also has MC sometimes model in his room, or do some skin care or hair care together.

👑 MC and Vil also have salon/spa hang outs; he pays.

👑 Vil likes the sort of collected, yet powerful presence MC has, and respect that.

👑 He gives MC clothes to further accentuate that aura they have too!

Ignihyde - Pyro:

Idia Shroud:

(Note: This might be pretty short compared to the others as I don't know much about this character. I might edit this soon when I do know more about the character, though.)

💀 Oh dear...

💀 Pyro!MC using their Pyro to stop Grim's fire doesn't fix anything-

💀 Plus...

💀 Idia is freaking out at the background cuz the heat might melt his tablet-

💀 HOW IS THIS HEAT WORSE THAN THE NORMAL FIRE SPELL!??!

💀 AND WHY THE HECK DOES THIS SUPPOSED MAGICLESS STUDENT HAVE MAGIC?!!?

💀 Plus, being so skilled at it too-

💀 Idia solemnly swears to himself never to go near MC.

💀 He sees MC as this deadly character in a game that saves you, but is really scary-

💀 He also notes that Mc's origins of being from another world is like the generic normal isekai anime/game story.

💀 He now also sees MC as an Isekai Main Character

💀 Now, most Pyro characters are very passionatw about a certain skill, thing, or goal they have. Like Xiangling and cooking; or Diluc and keeping Mondstadt safe; etc.

💀 So Idia sort of sees MC's passion as something to be careful about.

💀 He wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of their weapon and their vision.

💀 Since idk what happens during and after Idia's overblot, I'll be keeping this short-

💀 Sorry-

💀 When he finds out about what happens to people when they lose their vision, Idia is pretty horrified...

💀 He's pretty curious as to how people handle it, but is probably too scared to ask-

Diasomnia - Anemo:

Malleus Draconia:

(Note: This might be pretty short compared to the others as I don't know much about this character. I might edit this soon when I do know more about the character, though.)

🐉 As he wasn't invited, Malleus doesn't know what happened during the Welcoming Cermony.

🐉 He does hear Lilia (who heard from Sebek and other first years) tell him about a supposed magicless prefect who apparently had wind magic, had helped save the students from a fire cat monster.

🐉 Only thing is, it doesn't help much-

🐉 In fact, the wind/Anemo that Anemo!MC uses only fans the flames higher-

🐉 So they had to stop unless they wanted NRC to burn down.

🐉 He found a great interest in this child of man.

🐉 So when he finds out that they are the now-Prefect of Ramshackle Dorm, he's quite satisfied.

🐉 He IS quite sad that he won't be abke to go to Ramshackle for hsi nightly expeditions/walks, but he's still content with being able to learn more about the prefect.

🐉 Now, in my opinion, Anemo Users are often people who also have a sort of sense duty, while still advocating (or longing) for a sense of freedom in some way (For example, Jean and her sense of duty as the Acting Grandmaster, while advocating for freedom for Mondstadt; Xiao and his role as the only Yaksha, longing for freedom from his perpetual agony; Sayu's a hard nut, but perhaps her role in the Shuumatsuban and her wanting to sleep more to be taller, perhaps??). Some Anemo users also have some type of role model or leader or something similar (like Sucrose has an admiration and looks up to Albedo very much; Jean who looks up to Lady Vanessa, and the Anemo Archon). I also see that some Anemo vision wielders prefer to work alone rather than in a big group; or they carry a burden that they keep alone (like Jean and the burden of all the work being the Acting Grandmaster; Xiao and the burden of his karmic debt; Sayu and her burden of being small and often underestimated)

🐉 So I'll be modelling Anemo!MC based on that.

🐉 So, when Malleus and MC become close, MC is a lot more open to Malleus, and treats him like how they would anyone else.

🐉 They admire how Malleus is very strong and efficient in magic too.

🐉 Both Malleus and MC often show off a bit of tricks using their vision or magic.

🐉 MC also tells Malleus about their homeworld, all the adventures they've gone through, all the hardships, etc.

🐉 In return, Malleus also shares some of his own knowledge about Twisted Wonderland; and gargoyles!

🐉 Especially gargoyles!!

🐉 When he finds out about what happens to a person who loses their Vision, he's quite taken aback.

🐉 He's not exactly downright HORRIFIED, but he is pretty surprised that there would be such consequences to losing that.

🐉 Other than that, he's also quite chill about it.

END!

OMG FINALLY POSTED SOMETHING!!

So sorry for the long wait, and I hope you enjoyed this!

Comments and feedback are always welcome!!

Thank you everyone for your support and for reading this!! 💙💙

#twst #twisted wonderland #genshin impact #genshin #twst x genshin reader #twst x genshin #twst crosscrossover #genshin crossover #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #azul ashengrotto #kalim al asim #vil schoenheit #idia shroud #malleus draconia

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Anti-Snape propaganda: his whole reasoning for opposing wizard fascism was ‘oh no, my tragically unrequited crush (who hates me because I called her a slur when she was trying to help me and cruelly married a man who bullied me in highschool) might be in danger!’ If Lily was a Pureblood, he would have no reason not to stay a Death Eater. He’s the one who puts her life in danger in the first place, while spying for the mass-murdering blood supremacist, and he only feels regret and switches sides when it affects him personally.

(In addition, it’s highly insinuated that there was more to the end of the friendship than Snape calling Lily a slur, although, you know, that’s reason enough. She mentions that he’s already hanging out with future death eaters who make her uncomfortable, which definitely presents the possibility he’s already entrenched in the gross racist views whether or not he likes her personally).

This is the quote where he goes to Dumbledore:

“The — the prophecy . . . the prediction . . . Trelawney . . .”

“Ah, yes. How much did you relay to Lord Voldemort?”

“Everything — everything I heard! That is why — it is for that reason — he thinks it means Lily Evans!”

“The prophecy did not refer to a woman. It spoke of a boy born at the end of July —”

“You know what I mean! He thinks it means her son, he is going to hunt her down — kill them all —”

“If she means so much to you, surely Lord Voldemort will spare her? Could you not ask for mercy for the mother, in exchange for the son?”

“I have — I have asked him —”

“You disgust me.”

Yeah, he was totally cool with trading away the lives of his high school bully and his supposed true love’s newborn baby (who she died for! But he cares so much about her happiness, right?) as long as he got to keep Lily Potter like a muggleborn pet. Because let’s be honest, muggleborns weren’t considered equals by the Death Eaters, and I can’t imagine the woman who sacrificed herself to save her child’s life would be super fine with just letting her family be slaughtered in exchange for ‘mercy.’ How would he deal with her horrified trauma? Would he be keeping her under lock and key, or…? I think it’s reasonable to assume some pretty fucked-up implications for the whole ‘I asked the Dark Lord’ comment.

Also, lots of people justify his creepy sadman act (where he used his academic authority to bully the abused orphan who dared to be related to his highschool bully) by saying he was abused and bullied himself, like that doesn’t make it worse? He knows what that’s like, and he inflicts that pain on others, while remaining constantly self-pitying. Additionally, as though his motivation for actively trying to make the eleven year old orphan’s life miserable wasn’t stupid enough, Harry is absolutely not the only one he treats this way. He torments a ton of Gryffindors over the years, so either he just enjoys preying on the weak, like Neville (who in no way resembles James Potter, and whose family life was ruined in part due to the prophecy Snape revealed), or he’s taken his childhood bullying trauma to the next level by assigning it to a quarter of the school population! I’m not saying getting bullied isn’t terrible. It’s very traumatising in some instances and I do feel sympathy for his experiences. But Snape is not a sympathetic figure or hero to bullied children, he’s just a hypocritical self-pitying incel who wilfully plays straight into the circle of generational trauma. If anything, the fact that Harry didn’t grow up to bully children who reminded him of Snape makes him the true champion here.

Sorry, this is stupidly long. I guess I have a lot of repressed rage about the TERFiest of books and how much crap I’ve heard justifying poor writing in the past.

#cw slurs #cw racism #cw bullying #cw harry potter #not a poll #ask #anonymous #propaganda #anti propaganda #anti snape #snape #harry potter

[artbyblastweave]

Drop your Lois Lane hot takes

(also if you're not a Superman fan, what would you recommend starting off with?)

So MAWS Lois Lane very pointedly has some significant character flaws, generally justified by her backstory and often the opposite side of the conventional "positive" Lois Qualities that she exhibits. Trust issues stemming from her canon-typical dysfunction with her father, upstream of her whole truth-to-power thing. Self-esteem issues and a sense of inadequacy, upstream of her tenacity and singleminded pursuit of her goals. Downstream from her self-esteem issues you've got a sensitivity to perceived betrayal or the idea that people are only pretending to value her. Self-assurance and confidence... that manifests as bouts of myopic thinking or lack of consideration for others. There's a level on which I like this more than S:TAS- she was fun in that, but the purpose there wasn't to give her any kind of arc. She's much more dynamic in this, she has a palpable crisis, and it all combines into a perfect cocktail demonstrating why she reacts so very, very badly to being out of the loop on Superman. In her position it's not insane to assume that Clark expressed interest in her just to jerk her around and sabotage her investigation more thoroughly. But in practice... I (and those watching with me, who joined me in screaming at the TV a bunch during the last couple episodes) felt that the narrative was both-sidesing the dynamic a bit uncomfortably, because Clark has very good reason to not trust Lois specifically with sensitive information. Their first interaction involved her manipulating him for the sake of advancing her career. She's been screaming from the rooftops that she dislikes Superman, wants to expose Superman's secrets, and he was on the verge of coming clean with her before that came up. She functionally threatens to kill herself to force him to out himself, right after he got back from the government (and very likely her father specifically!) trying to assassinate him. Very little of this was coherently voiced when they're having it out, and as a result it felt like the narrative was much more sympathetic to Lois's stance than Clarks, treating his concealing the information as the root of the problem here. And when Jimmy brings up that he's known for years but understood that it was probably a deeply personal situation that Clark would bring up when he was comfortable- that's not a catalyst for introspection about whether Lois is entitled to the information, it isn't used as the point to push the idea that both parties have valid motivations here. It's mostly just the catalyst for another gag where now Jimmy is upset that Clark told Lois first (without. You know. the context.) I walked away thinking that Clark doesn't have a disproportionate amount to apologize for in this situation. Not nothing, but not the brunt. The reconciliation arc really breezed past the fact that she threw herself off a building to force the issue. Any relationship where throwing yourself off a building is a tool in the toolbox seems like it might be on shaky ground, communicatively!

The thing is, well, honestly there's a few things. I'm willing to accept off the bat that I might be lily-orcharding a perfectly unobjectionable creative decision to some extent, because by default I'm really biased in favor of anyone trying to keep deeply compromising information about their identities away from their loved ones for fear of their negative reaction, and that's coloring the intensity of my negative response. Another thing is that I think the show is kind of a victim of the megashort season runs of contemporary cartoons- I mean we'll be lucky if we get 30 episodes of this show total, every arc is gonna be at least somewhat pinched when you get 10 episodes and change per season. And a third, final thing is that the season isn't over yet, and they've left themselves with a great springboard from which to address my misgivings.

Clark leans into the idea that he's the one at fault, begs forgiveness, and so on, but that's actually in character for this version; given that one of his biggest drives is to be accepted, it makes sense that he'd do whatever he thought he had to get things smoothed out as quickly as possible, even if there's still a lot going unaddressed below the surface. And Episode 7 (6?) is basically entirely about how Lois's character flaws, scaled up and appended to power, can turn out really really bad. Kryptonite is introduced in this continuity by a bunch of alternate-universe Lois Lanes who try to kill Superman without giving him the benefit of the doubt- all while never expressly communicating to anyone that the root of their concern is how badly things went with their own Supermen. Lois meets an army of herself and immediately, correctly assumes that they aren't on the up-and-up, that they're holding something back. And the episode ends with her in possession of both a Superman-killing tool and information engineered to set off her well-established paranoid tendencies about Clark.

So if the show is being smart- and there's a very good chance that it is- the next leg is going to be about how for a superhero, just being open about your secret identity to your loved ones isn't necessarily going to be enough to defuse the underlying tensions and failures to communicate; the fact that they really speed-ran the reconciliation is going to turn out to be deliberate, a bandaid fix on the deeper problem, and a much worse reckoning is in the pipes once it becomes obvious that Task Force X is headed by her estranged father. (Which seems like the twist they're going for with that- they've never said the general's name out loud, so I think they're going for a fakeout where we all assume it's Wade Eiling but it turns out to actually be Sam Lane.) However. I've definitely watched a bunch of shows where I kept going "If the show is smart," "If the show is smart," and then the show wasn't smart, and it just turned out that the writers themselves hadn't chewed on the implications of what they were depicting as much as I had. I've got high hopes, though.

(tagging @st-just, @best-wizard, and @howlingguardian, who all also asked for the elaboration.)

#thoughts #meta #asks #please please please do not do discourse in the notes of this one #Normally I stop just short of having “depiction is not endorsement” tatooed on my forehead #but this one specifically got under my skin

[taldigi]

twitter statements are not character development. if it dosen't happen in the story, it didn't happen and it's not real. Always assume the worst from big creators who are seeking clout instead of "risking their story" If your fav was stated to be LGBT on twitter or in an interview, it has no weight or meaning or matter until their story confirms this- as much as you want it to be so.

Demand better. Claiming that a foriegn market will not approve does not justify not including it at all. They will censor the material regardless. Some rep is better than none. A foriegn consumer most likely will have has access to information about the original.. "They were girlfriends in the original dub" means the world to people.

fictional characters are not real. Do not defend them as if they are. Do not credit them as if they are. they are imaginary shells crafted to tell a narrative. If you have a problem with a character, you actually have a problem with the writer or the story... but do NOT use this to claim that a character's actions within the narrative are justified.

Characters are allowed to be bad. they are allowed to be evil. not every character needs to have a "Redemption arc" not every character needs to be sympathetic. This is tragically very true to real life. I understand the desire to change, and to change others for the better, but this is rarely a good choice for the narrative overall.

[lesbiansanemi]

Can you talk about the hot demon (?) lady from chainsaw man?

Haha I assume you mean Makima? Or maybe Power?? Idk, I'm going with Makima given the question mark since Power's got the little horns so it's obvious she's a devil and I post about Makima just a teeny bit more than Power but yeah sure lol I have a lot of Makima thoughts

!!!! Heads up for some major spoilers !!!!!

I think Makima is a perfect example of a "taboo" villain. Especially because she is a female villain. There's a reason so many people vehemently hate her, and demand others do too. It's because a good chunk of her actions are rooted in manipulation, I think.

People love villains. Or at least the claim they do, but they tend to only like specific types of villains. Sympathetic villains (which Makima is not), and/or villains who just like... kill/torture people. But people tend to despise villains who manipulate and/or groom other characters because they classify those acts as "worse" or more unforgivable. There's a lot to be said on why that is, but that's not the point here.

The point is that Makima is an absolutely amazing villain, who was written so well there is no attempting to justify what she did, and whether people love her and hate her, it's for the same reasons, it's just a matter of if they find her interesting enough to love, or hate her so much they can't/won't have any other opinions about her.

Makima is a really fun character, because the audience can see all the red flags. Almost every time she is on screen, the reader/viewer is made viscerally uncomfortable by her interactions with other characters. It's obvious that she's manipulating everyone around her into something (and also grooming him, in Denji's case, as a factor of her manipulation). Despite that, while Denji has halfway wondered a few times if Makima is a "good person," for the most part, the other characters don't see/don't notice these red flags because Makima's manipulation of them is that good, namely in Denji and Aki's case. A few of the other devil hunters have made a few comments about her being a bit shady, but it's not in the broad scheme of things, it's just her aloof personality, I think. Denji and Aki love Makima, because they have fallen so thoroughly for her manipulation of them.

And her manipulation is even more interesting regarding Aki, because it's that Makima doesn't even really view Aki as a person she wants to manipulate. At this point, he's merely a tool when it comes to getting Denji where she wants him (as is the same with Power).

Makima's intense need for control made Denji the target, and Aki and Power were just rolled up into it. She recognized Denji's intense need for meaningful human connections (as obviously he has never had those before), and weaponized it. The most obvious way she does this is by feeding into Denji's misguided belief that sexual intimacy is the only real intimacy that matters. Everyone could tell it was... not great when she agreed to have sex with him if he killed the Gun Devil. That's the obvious manipulation that the audience is seeing right out the gate. What not quite everyone is catching onto until it's too late, is that Makima is constructing this scenario with Aki and Power to get Denji close with them as well. That's the real manipulation going on here, the hidden motive. There's a reason she made them all live together, put them on the same team, and it's not because Aki can keep them under control or is there superior. It's because she knows they will all end up loving each other and caring about each other, and Denji will get those very real human connections he so desperately craves without realizing it's happening.

All to build to Aki and Power dying. Not just dying, but Denji being forced to kill Aki, and Power giving up her life for Denji. Which just drives Denji straight towards Makima, and makes her the only person to him, in a much more thorough way than she is at the beginning of the series when Denji's fascination with her is rooted mostly in infatuation and a gratitude for giving him the opportunity for a better life. She has complete and utter control over him at that point. Or at least she thinks she does, because she's convinced her plans and her manipulation and her control of everything around her was so so so perfect.

And for all of this to end with Denji not only killing her once he realizes exactly what happened, and it's Makima's fault he lost the most important people in the world to him, but eating her? Eating her, because still, after everything, he loved her that much? He devoured her, so he would always have her with him? And Makima never seeing it coming? Makima manipulated him into loving her so well, but failed to understand exactly how emotions functioned. Her control was perfect, too perfect, and it resulted in a miserable, tragic end for her.

I just??? Makima is such a wonderful, fascinating villain. I fully understand why so many people despise her, but even if you hate her, I think you should still be able to appreciate everything she did and how it all ties up (and if you can't, maybe take a step back and remember it's a story).

Anyways, I love her, and I wish we got to see more villains like her, that don't need to be sympathetic to be compelling, that are absolutely awful and deplorable, but that doesn't make them any less fun to engage with. Especially when they're female villains.

(And I could touch on the misogyny of so many people loving male villains and justifying/ignoring everything they do, while female villains are reprehensible and anyone who likes them is a bad person but I won't go into that here)

But yeah. Makima is such a good character, and I really hope more people continue to appreciate her and everything that went into her and what she does for the narrative more than they just write her off as terrible because of what she did to Denji and not actually have complex thoughts on her

#chainsaw man #chainsaw man spoilers #makima #denji #aki hayakawa #power #asks #kaz rambles

[grendelsmilf]

regan&goneril 😄 and um ... chu chu

hot take perhaps but lear’s daughters all suck in their own unique ways (cordelia too) but also are extremely justified in how they manage to cope with their circumstance (being crushed under the unyielding boot of patriarchal authority) and while goneril is undoubtedly “the worst” she is reacting desperately to the desperate situation she has been molded by. there’s a great debate ongoing throughout s3 of slings & arrows (the lear season) as to whether regan kills goneril or goneril kills herself and i do think that the conclusion they come to (which is the one stated by the text, obviously), that goneril killed herself out of despair for what she had done, is really the only conclusion that makes sense when considering that she is [supposed to represent] a human being. i bring up their ending only because it so totally frames their entire relationship, being pitted against each other and ultimately undone by a man onto whose power they stake their own, the same way that their competition for lear’s love/land/approval in the first scene establishes that their sisterhood and mutual agreement is conditional. i don’t think that lear was ever kind to them, at least, not after cordelia was born, and i doubt he was ever kind to their mother, either. it’s not that they think his sovereign power is ontologically necessitated, but neither of them has enough hope for their own autonomy within this landscape to even consider playing outside its rules. cordelia does for the same reason that edgar does, which is due to loving their father as a human being, recognizing their fallibility in a sympathetic light, rather than viewing their father as a symbol of authority whose frailty can be exploited for a chance at freedom, as r&g do (and edmund views his father as an arbitrary cage from which he must escape, which is valid, but his downfall lies in believing that seizing the keys to the cage is more beneficial than leaving it altogether, wherein lies is his downfall). anyway i think regan is the sister i empathize with the most, because she manages to “do everything right” but she still loses her loving partner and dies placing her trust in love between sisters superseding her trust in heteropatriarchy. and of course, even though she does die, she’s still right to assume that goneril would never betray her, because she immediately cannot cope with the consequences of her betrayal once she does. they’re obviously very different characters, but she sort of parallels desdemona in this regard. “a guiltless death i die…” (i know that offstage deaths are integral to this play but i do wish we had seen goneril’s suicide just because othello’s suicide monologue really does go so hard.) edmund is of course also central to their relationship, and his relationships to both of them define their differences as people so well. and i think that if they had come to an agreement dictating the terms of both of their relationships with him, where he would be married to regan so she could maintain her security as a recently widowed woman while goneril continued her affair with him, they would both benefit without argument. although perhaps edmund would be disappointed because goneril fighting for him proves that he means something to her on his own terms (even if those terms are just being a better fuck than her aloof gay husband). but whatever. what was i saying…

oh yes. chu-chu. i rmr asking you when i first finished utena what chu-chu means and u were like well he is just a little monkey. i think he is but he is also anthy’s “true” feelings, anthy behind her cynicism and numbness, playful and silly and loving and angry. the fact that he doesn’t go with anthy to akio’s observatory represents the way she disassociates when he rapes her. and the fact that utena first claims that she’s staying for chu-chu is so secretly profound in this context because utena, ultimately, even if she doesn’t know it yet, is not trying to protect/save the rose bride, but anthy, that tortured little girl she saw all those years ago. and who/what represents anthy’s true spirit, the unbroken core of her buried deep within her vessel, that supposedly heartless doll with no capacity for love or pain? utena does not remember vowing to free anthy from her torment, but anthy remembers. and chu-chu immediately takes a liking to her, even if anthy steels herself and attempts to guard her heart from the foolhardy girl-prince who reminds her so much of dios when she first loved him.

#wordforworldisforest #ask #hi <3 #ill get to the other ones later but u know i HAD to talk abt king lear #and chuchu ofc

[spade-riddles]

Submission:Analysis of the scene in the Anti-Hero video

I am shocked at the loudness of the scene about the gaylor and hetlor sides of the fandom. I think it shows Taylor really understands the dynamics of the fandom to a minute degree, and is trying to communicate with hetlors, gaylors, and jerk through it. Here are my thoughts:

Chad is wearing headphones, suggesting he is the only one who is *really* listening to her music.

The queer-coded son Chad is more likable and sympathetic, but also pretty pissed off and annoying too (guilty lol), using her to make podcasts and books that are ultimately about himself

"Growing Up Swift" sounds like he's about to say "Growing Up Gay," a common trope.

Nice that she calls us the Chad though, like as opposed to the virgin in the Chad/virgin memes. Like she's calling gaylors cooler. The character has a kind of outlaw vibe, cynical, doesn't care what people think, hates everybody especially fake obnoxious swifties/Preston and Kimber making fake sad faces. So true for us

Preston and Kimber yelling at Chad for recording the funeral for his podcast, like how hetlors criticize us for prying into her life for evidence even though they're the ones who are actually harming her

The ritzy son Preston using her name to get into the country club is like the twitter-famous swifties who exclude gaylors and clout-chase in the fandom

Kimber calls Chad "you monster" like how Tay calls herself a monster on a hill, aligning herself and Chad in their queer-coded villain-ness

Chad is wearing sunglasses while the other two are taking selfies, reflecting how gaylors are often more anonymous online than hetlors

Kimber says "great well, good job chad, you finally pushed it too far" and he replies "what are you implying by that." This sounds like it could be dialogue in a movie where a character is glass-closet gay, but also sounds exactly like how the hetlors are always accusing gaylors of ruining Taylors career/life, sometimes in a subtly (or overtly) homophobic way, homophobia that they justify with "you're crazy, you're a bad fan." Also resonates with don't blame me "they say she's gone too far this time" about being too loud 

Chad says he flew all the way here from Ibiza, an island known for clubbing and tourism. Chad seems excluded from the rest of the family like gaylors must find remote corners of the fandom to congregate to avoid attack. Tourists come have a fun wild time in Ibiza/Gaylorland, and it can be pretty fun to stay for a while, but Chad seems to possibly live there full time. Full-time gaylors living on our clubbing/tourism island can attest it can get lonely sometimes

Chad being the one to excitedly exclaim "there's probably a secret encoded message that means something else" is very gaylor side of the fandom; the other two agree that mom does that but they're not as excited about it and they don't immediately think of it and turn to it the way we do. They're more used to ignoring the secret encoded messages haha. They are very gullible when she writes "there's no secret encoded message" and just stop looking, like the hetlors do every time she hetsplains some nonsensical narrative about tom Hiddleston or whoever lmao

I think she is also poking fun at Jerk with the portrayal of this family dynamic. He is, in fact, the gay son in a ritzy country club family. He is desperate not to be seen that way, to fit in instead of sticking out like Chad does. Naming Kimber something so close to Kimby is like a threat to Jerk -- it's like saying, I could out you easily in some piece of art, I could write about your family, I could say your name in a lyric, I am not afraid. Chad says Preston name-drops mom to get into his country club, like how Jerk's PR and clout is majorly helped by his association with KK. 

I think it harkens back to TLGAD too, as Kimber wants the beach house so badly, which we can assume is Rebekah Harkness's Rhode Island house from the song. I always thought TLGAD was partially a threat to Jerk, as his family is an American dynasty and Taylor plans to have a marvelous time ruining it. Kimber wants that house, and Taylor doesn't allow them to continue the dynasty in it. It could even be a metaphor for taking the baby, cutting off his lineage. Who knows if she never showed up indeed.

In the end, it is the homophobic country music fans and those who need to identify with a specific (straight) form of womanhood that will turn on Taylor if she comes out, as seen through Kimber killing her and then showing up in the Fearless dress. Mainstream clout-chasey hetlors (Preston) will side with homophobes and point fingers at gaylors (Chad) like they always do. When Chad calls out what's really going on a terrible fight erupts. I think this shows Taylor sees us duking it out over her on the internet and feels bad about how ugly it can get, watching us all get hurt and feeling powerless to stop it even though it's about her

The fact that she's leaving both the gaylors and the hetlors out of the will makes me think she might not give us the explanation we want, even in the end; we may be just as disappointed as the hetlors. Maybe she's preparing us for the idea that when she leaves Toe, she won't immediately get with KK or publicly come out/explain anything. She may just be a single cat lady for a while, and we may just end up with 13 cents :/ Even though we are the more sympathetic gay son, we still may get nothing in the end... at least she warned us.

#submission

[mettywiththenotes]

I know a lot of people refuse to consider AFO's backstory as they feel it would humanize him; but in a way hasn't the author already humanized him somewhat? First, by the love he has for his brother (no matter how twisted), then with how he feels shocked with how he feels some guilt about taking people's quirks after their vestige's gets angry at him for doing so, and then with chapter 369 where he is crying. I think if the author didn't want to consider his humanity in a way he wouldn't have shown all of this.

Yes, Hori has already humanized him in a way

I think when people think of a character as being "humanized", they think "character who turns out to have a tragic backstory and/or you suddenly feel sympathy for them over something bad that happened"

And yeah it's true that that is one way to humanize a character, but it's not strictly about feeling bad for them or elaborating on the character's backstory

AFO already is a human character. For one, he's literally the type of person who reads one half of a story and makes it their whole personality + origin story - he's a nerd who looks at the lows of a story and judges the world based on that and how relatable that feels to him

And you know. People like that exist. So that's one thing

Putting that aside though, we also have the brother thing. We don't have a whole lot on that (from either AFO or Yoichi), but we can assume that, in some way, AFO loves/did love Yoichi. It's not in a healthy way at all, more like a twisted sense of control, but if you take into account that AFO was crying just before he killed 2nd, that might have been because 2nd stole something from him that was his (Yoichi) or that 2nd was the very cause of Yoichi dying

Due to the fact that we don't have a whole lot of information, I guess it's up to interpretation on how much AFO truly loved him or if it was only about controlling something weak and vulnerable? Or both? But I think we can infer that he did love him in some way

The guilt thing too

Also he already refers to himself as a human

A very interesting line on his part, because he's not saying "AAA if it weren't for you, I would have won by now!" or smthg like that, like a villain would. This is the kind of thing an MC would say

(Even if you don't view him as human, he views himself as human and that's interesting - makes you wonder about how he sees things)

I don't know if I can explain this well but... he is a human character. I don't mean that as in he's sympathetic or a tragic person to feel sorry for, I mean that he has emotions. For whatever reason as to why he's like this, whether he changed into this kind of man or if he's just always been this way, he's human just like any of the other characters

He feels, he's a nerd, he has goals based off of a story he only half read, he gets scared because of the memory of the man who bashed his head in and killed him, he cries at the end of the battle with 2nd, he continously reminisces over his memories of the comic book and Yoichi

It's like when people say that abusers shouldn't be written off as complete monsters. Humans have the capability to do the worst of the worst, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less of a human from start to finish

And I believe a lot of it is a matter of perception. An abuser can do the worst of things and even get a life sentence for the shit they do, but in their head, they may think of themselves as doing what they did as good or necessary. Doing it for the safety of their victim. Doing it for their family. Doing it to protect themselves. Doing it because it's the only thing that gives them dopamine (naturally, people like to do things that make them feel good). Doing it because the world wronged them and maybe, after everything they've done, they still think of it that way so what they've done, in their head, "is justifiable"

Not saying all of that is AFO, but I think the same thinking applies. Maybe, in his head, he thinks everything he's doing is the right thing. Maybe he thinks of himself as the tragic character who's been wronged by the world and everything he's done is "justifiable" due to the fact that he was "given" this power to do anything he wanted

Perception, too, is a human thing. Everything in everyone's minds can be viewed differently. A lot of people may think the same thing and see it as right because they've been taught to or they themselves have used logic and can back up their thinking with evidence and/or empathy (e.g. "killing is wrong, I know this because it's common sense/I know this because ____"), but you can also have the outliers who either 1) don't care if its wrong and do it anyway or 2) know its wrong and still do it anyway

And even then like. The people who do it anyway aren't completely unfeeling. Just because they killed doesn't mean they can't cry over what they've done or what they feel they've been subjected to, can't feel guilt over it, nor does it mean they can't deny all those wrongdoings and twist their perception to help them cope or suit their needs

Hell, what AFO is doing is already a matter of perception. Everything he talks about with the comic book, his opinions on the world, how people have treated him (All Might, 2nd etc) - based on experience - that is about how he sees things

He's already humanized. Just not in the "villain turns out to have incredibly tragic past" way

Or at least, that hasn't been shown yet. Whether he has one or not, we'll find out at some point. But from what has been shown in the story so far, there is still something human about AFO

#i hope i answered this okay #its a bit all over the place but i hope it makes sense #thank you for the ask!😊 #asks with metty #bnha asks #bnha manga spoilers #all for one #anon asks

[sandraharissa]

I personally did assume that Stella wasn’t that bad based on s1 but it actually has nothing to do with Stella herself and more to do with Stolas’ character seeming more grey and responsible for the bad things that happened to him/ppl around him, and that added interesting depth to his character and a potential for an interesting growth in his relationship with Blitz.

Which I consider massively important bcos in a show like HB, which is a character driven comedy, character arcs and relationships of main characters can make or break the story.

I feel like this last ep was trying to have it’s cake and eat it too and while it may sound negative, it actually worked for me, this is one of my fave episodes and I hope it ‘sticks the landing’ so to speak.

As I see it the episode arguably gets rid of the concept that:

Stolas is responsible here, he’s at fault but he’s doing it anyway

which shows just how much he’s interested in Blitz, that he sacrificed everything for him bcos he was in a boring marriage, and in a way it makes it more romantic

but it also makes for VERY flawed characters who need to grow

plus there’s the (imo unnecessary) element of adding depth to Stella

Instead we get:

Stolas is a victim, he suffered abuse a lot, the cheating seems more justified and honestly like it’s Stella’s fault,

Stolas and Blitz met as kids which makes the cheating more justified cos it’s the second time they meet and the first time was a very meaningful encounter to Stolas emotionally (without the attraction part yet)

The ep sets up that it’s truly a long pattern between them of ‘Blitz trying to use Stolas’ -> ‘Stolas being too focused on himself to notice behaviors of ppl around him and lying to himself, but also having a genuine interest in Blitz’ -> ‘Blitz developing feelings regardless but neither can handle/communicate it’ -> ‘repeat’. Having them interact as kids is a very visual way to show that their patterns of toxic behavior stem from their deep-seated childhood trauma, by actually having the relationship itself start during their childhood.

There’s the added imagery of baby Stolas having an imp plushie since birth that conveys the ‘plaything’ attitude he displays towards Blitz.

Blitz’s meanness in retrospect seems way worse, cos it now looks like Stolas is just used to it cos he’s bouncing from one abusive relationship to the next.

Ngl the emotions hit hard this episode for me, it took me by surprise but having Stolas’ whole life story play out from beginning to end made it pretty sad and hard to watch, and really got me rooting for him, including the affair, and obviously the divorce and him standing up for himself were very cathartic. Despite it being a brand new concept introduced in this episode it works as a plot twist, turning our whole perception on Stolas’ cheating on it’s head and providing a new compelling narrative to replace/follow up on the old one.

As I listed above, things changed somewhat but I’d say the gist remains the same, the relationship is toxic, Stolas has genuine immense interest but unintentionally objectifies Blitz and has a tendency to lie to himself and tolerate verbal abuse from characters around him, Blitz still has attachment issues but ultimately catches feelings for Stolas despite himself. I’d say they’re still shitty ppl and they still have flaws in their relationship in dire need of fixing, they just changed marginally bcos of the context but the core is the same.

The only thing for me that’s needed to successfully ‘eat the cake and have it’ is to get another episode, one that isn’t from Stolas’ perspective, that puts a bit more blame for the affair back on him. It makes sense that what’s essentially a Stolas episode would be sympathetic to him and portray everything that happens as understandable, and it does successfully let us see and agree with Stolas’ pov but we could also use another perspective. We can potentially get an episode in the future that humanises Stella, just to a lesser extent than I originally thought and after she plays her role as a villain, maybe showing her own struggles with craving love/unrequited love/ forbidden love (cos she’s already engaged) and how Stolas getting away with/finding somebody to cheat with is a kind of privilege she doesn’t possess. Or an episode with Via that calls him out on coping behaviors like the affair (or possibly running away cos that’s a s2 fan theory) that lead to him paying no regard to how his actions hurt the ppl around him, and that just bcos he’s hurting that doesn’t mean he’s allowed to hurt other’s. You know, smth neat like that.

#helluva boss #stolitz

[complexhaystack]

I feel quite conflicted about Inside Man... I genuinely wanted to like it. On one hand, Stanley Tucci and David Tennant were stellar as usual. On the other hand, and oh it's a big one, every single character is either very annoying or detestable in some way. (OK maybe Dillon is a welcome comedic presence, but it's established he's a serial killer and cannibal)

The show appears to try expounding on themes of grey morality, that ordinary people can become criminals and murderers if they meet the right targets. While this is an interesting angle to explore, the characters are really difficult to like.

- Harry the vicar: oh man where to start. His terrible choices, one after another, claims to be self-sacrificial, but ultimately is self-centred. He wants to protect his not-too-bright seeming verger who is revealed to be a pedophile - but is mean and manipulative towards him, with the only goal in mind to use him to further his own ends. He doesn't seem to feel remorse towards the man's suicide or how tortured he seems. From start to end, there wasn't any desire to help this guy. Harry assumes he's doing some noble action by assuming responsibility for the drive - when this neither helps the man with his tendencies nor helps any of the children on the drive. And the way he justifies his actions towards Janice as protecting his family is again steeped in self-righteous, self-serving pity. Basically, the way he tries to solve every problem is to say "twas' me!" - which tries to place himself at a higher plane of morality (self-sacrifice) instead of taking true accountability (realising he does have a choice in what he is actively doing or not doing to Janice, Edgar and his family).

- Grieff the Sherlock-type prisoner - initially his intelligence to solve various crimes seemed quite intriguing. But actually some reveals were not quite the "genius" resolutions the showrunners might hope to present, some being quite lame and others seemingly just too coincidental. Nonetheless his final manoeuvre was quite a clever one, and he did have some thoughtful quotes.

- Janice the captive: I'm guessing we're supposed to be sympathetic towards her as the audience and also find her wit impressive. Tbh she seemed very annoying. Had she not flown to conclusions at the start, and perhaps if she used her wit to lay out some evidence Harry and fam could have shared with her to convince her that the drive was not theirs - instead of playing mind games with Harry and wife (which were also pretty lame... they never amounted to anything)... Maybe this fiasco wouldn't have taken place. Her certainty in her own intelligence, just like all the other annoying characters in this show including Harry and Grieff, makes it hard to sympathise with her.

- Mary the wife - er, not helping. How sociopathic are both husband and wife for the wife to be pretty much okay with what Harry is doing? Sure she lets out a couple of f bombs, but very quickly conceptualises Janice's presence as a practical matter to resolve - and is the first to think of murder.

- Beth the journalist - I'm also not sure if we're supposed to be sympathetic to this character. She is harassed at first in a train (which... honestly seems ooc after we get to know her supposedly more feisty side later). Later she is all edgy and bitter towards her interview target Grieff - wow, is that good journalism? And this was before Grieff gave her a moral challenge, which she... Very quickly gave up on her so called friend Janice. Beth seems irritable and tsk-ing at everything that comes her way, and there's no genuine quality why Grieff the posited genius takes a keen interest in her. She seems no more than an irritable immature adult who runs about on other people's wills, having no real opinion of her own. If that's the showrunners' idea of a feisty independent woman, they've failed terribly.

The only normal seeming character is the son Ben, who generally seems to react the most normally to this entirely blown-out-of-proportion situation. And his final action appears to be much more well explained by his poisoning.

I don't know if the showrunners hoped to show all these juxtapositions of morality, but the tone seems inconsistent at best. It seems to hope to posit everyone is a murderer in the right place and time, but the characters already start off being so dislikable, so there's not much leeway for empathy towards them making a slippery slope of erroneous choices.

The show might have been better off called "Hysterics" (since everyone reacted pretty hysterically) or "Bad Faith", since there was hardly any faith or trust any of the characters had in each other.

I presume we may get to see a sequel since we do not know why Grieff murdered his wife, but the only thing that might draw me back is Stanley Tucci's acting (possibly David Tennant may be out of the picture... Or his protégé...).

The prevailing emotion after watching this is... 😬 Haha.

#inside man #hmmmmm #inside man spoilers

[stellocchia]

For the fanfic writer asks, I liked too many of them so you can pick which you want to answer

1) Who is your favorite character to write for and is this the character you find easiest to write for?

14) What is something you wrote in a fic that you are hoping readers picked up on but you don't know if they did? And/or, what is something that you were excited that readers did pick up on?

15) If you could only write one type of fic (angst, fluff, etc.) for the rest of your life what would it be?

17) Do you have any wips that you can tell us about? What are you most excited for in you wip?

19) What is some random info you happen to have that you used in a fic?

You know what? Why not all of them, I have some time to kill.

1 ) c!Tommy or c!Dream. I really don't have a preference between them, mostly because I enjoy writing them for different reasons.

With Tommy, I can do quite a bit more introspection and he's a fun character for when I want to write from a sympathetic perspective. He also brings a certain element of chaos and impulsivity to the mix which is always fun to incorporate.

With Dream, the appeal is exactly how unsympathetic he is and how flawed his reasoning is. You can present the story in an unsettling way by showing your pov character do, say, or think objectively immoral or creepy things while also showcasing how someone like that might justify them to themselves and it's fun.

They're also the easiest ones for me to write, yeah.

14 ) I think one of my favorite moments is the introduction to Wilbur in Tommy's Days of Future Past. Now, most people picked up the fact that he was the mystery voice I was introducing because of the context clues of the scene (aka, Tommy and future!Tubbo were standing in front of the portraits of the old Presidents of L'Manburg and talking about that), but I've had people also assume it was gonna be someone else, even if it was very few people that did.

15 ) Most likely hurt/comfort. I'm not the greatest with fluff, I've written a couple of fluff one-shots, but that's simply not my style. And, while I love angst, I always prefer to write good or at least hopeful endings. I like when there is some kind of reprieve from the hurt, both when I'm reading something as well as when I'm writing it. It's the reason why I generally avoid tags like "Major Character Death" or "Sad Ending" like the plague.

17 ) I've been very tired recently and struggling with writer's block so I haven't written very much tbh. But I do have 3 works in progress that I partially posted that I have every intention of finishing and another couple that have a couple of chapters already pre-written.

And, I gotta say, I can't wait to get back in the swing of things for the ones I've already started posting because I do have a ton of ideas for them. So, yeah, I guess what I'm looking forward for the most there is having the energy to write.

But about the two that haven't been posted yet, let's just say that both of them are some sort of crossover, but for two very different things. And one is mostly sbi focused while the other one is the first (I'm pretty sure at least) Tubbo-centric story I've written.

19 ) Flower meanings. It's something I've had an on and off passion for since I was very very young and I've managed to incorporate it in at least a couple of my fics. And I will probably incorporate it in more because it's something I simply like and find fun to do.

[Ask Game]

#idkjustgowithitok ask #ask thingy

[leftsidebonfire]

This isn't a hate ask, I have real questions I think it would benefit you to think about. These questions aren't meant to be accusatory, just exploratory. Whatever conclusions you come to can only be yours. You certainly don't need to answer each question, unless you want to-- these are just meant to be subjects to think on and digest.

Regarding "mean characters," do you feel the same way about mean male characters? When men in trouble cut others off or reject niceness, do you hate them in the same way? When you see a mean male character, do you assume things about them that you wouldn't assume about a female character, and vice versa? Do you unconsciously justify the mean behavior of men, but not women? Why or why not?

What expectations do you have of men vs. women? Does it affect your ability to relate to characters even when they display the same behaviors? Do any beliefs you may have bleed over into how you feel about and relate to other people? Do any beliefs you may have affect how you feel about and relate to yourself?

I encourage you to ask these questions and really think about it, because no matter what conclusion you come to, thinking carefully about these things can only benefit you.

Im only answering this in the hope that this will get everyone off my fucking back about this (not you specifically)

I have addressed the first question. Many times. But here is my answer: YES!!!!!!!! YES! this part seems to be constantly ignored by everyone wanting to jump down my throat!!! I hate ANY needlessly asshole-ish character.

My main point to this DOES regard the writing around women, though, so that's why I keep bringing it up. Usually the asshole-ish man character gets a scene where they end up being able to be vulnerable, maning the audience sympathize. Most of the time, in the same scenario, the woman character doesn't.

I can't even begin to explain the amount of times I'm watching a movie or show, and all of a sudden, a mean female character appears. Often times, they are the "leader" to the male character, usually the "tough girl" who's gonna "show him the ropes" or whatever. (I'm kinda just making up a generic scene but I can definitely think of several things that follow this format, so just go with me on this ride okay?)

So Strong Female Character (TM) has no time for nonsense. They are curt and rude and mean for no reason. They are cold and uncaring (and never get a scene to show that they ARE actually caring, etc)

Another trope to this is often: Female Character is in a fight and is clearly outnumbered, so Another character (often male but not always) jumps in and helps them, saving them. But then the woman will snap at them and say something nasty like "I HAD IT COVERED" and be rude.

So basically, a character who is very rude to a character who has been kind to them, no, is not a character I'm instantly rooting for. I just find it to be nasty.

Ive got a whole damn list of mean male characters who are rude, nasty, perverts, etc, you name it! And I hate them too!! They can be just as equally flat and one-dimensional as these women. Think of any 80s movie bully. I wanted to beat them senseless!

My favorite characters always tend to be the nice ones. I relate to them, I would be their friend, I empathize with them much easier than someone who, the entire time they've been onscreen, has been nothing but rude and mean for no discernable reason.

This is not the same as a good villain. I love a good villain. I also love to hate villains. BUT the same writing trope often befalls the villains too!!! Male villains are painted as sympathetic by the writers, or often made to be cool and charismatic (look at the Loki phenomenon) but even a lot of female villains are just cruel and mean. They don't get that ~egde~ of charisma that the male villains get. So instead of seeming sympathetic or hot ot whatever it is, they come off as very one-dimensional-flat. Just "Oh, She's a bitch because she's mean."

The whole critique is the idea that women deserve the good writing. I said it once, I'll say it again. a well-written character being mean is not bad writing. A poorly-written one who is mean, however, is. That's all I'm getting at here. I'm saying that they often get reduced to nothing. And I don't have to enjoy a mean character, male or female, if they're well-written or not. And more often than not, they are NOT my favorite character and I form no special attachment to them. It's nothing personal, I just. Don't. Like. Them.

Its not a debate about men vs women. It's a debate about the fact that women characters are USUALLY fucking terribly written more often than not, and it does nothing to make me care about them. That's what makes the well-written women so special to me, especially when they can be strong AND kind. Being strong does not equate to being a bitch. I am far more invested in a strong character who can admit when they need help, or offers kindness, than a "strong" character who shuts everyone out and is nasty all the time.

I LOVE sympathetic and kind characters. I see myself in them. Nasty characters just seem like bullies to me. I had enough of shitty bullies in high school (and anonymous in my inbox) (not you)