#it's so much more adult than any 'complex adult' work i've seen

[snaccpopstudios]

Hi everyone! We're here with the long awaited post on our newest bachelor, Simoun. We know you've all been abuzz with questions about him so we hope to answer some of that in this deep dive into his creation. This post is in lieu of our usual Wednesday devlogs as we've been writing this over the span of several weeks, and was co-authored, edited, and reviewed by Tobias, Jude, ToyboxToonz, Primarvelous, and Sauce. The above image was drawn by @toyboxtoonz.

You can read the full post for free on Patreon, or click the readmore to see it all!

Personally speaking, some of my concerns since Simoun's debut are thoughts like "Do people think I'm making SnaccPop Studios push an agenda?" and "Do people think I'm going through a checklist while making new characters?" It's made it difficult for us to write this quickly because this is quite personal to myself and the rest of the sensitivity consultation team on the DachaBo team.

Concept to Creation

The story of DachaBo begins way before SnaccPop Studios itself was even a concept (that's Sauce's story to tell though). Early Patreon art of Simoun exists from November 2022, back before I was signed on to manage the Patreon and any other projects besides Sunny Day Jack. Sauce had some ideas laying around for several other characters in the DachaBo universe that didn't make it into the proof-of-concept demo:

I dug up an old draft for the DachaBo cat character we teased and it featured a story concept where the cat character was originally a female DachaBo character, referencing the original female design. And overtime he got tired of how he was being treated and decided to change his own self to reflect who he wanted to be, not the sycophants who collected the toys and whatnot ... It was shelved because I didnt have the means to sensitivity check it The designs are half cooked is all but he was supposed to be Indian ethnicity coded for no other reason than I've never seen a character like that

One thing that's important to note is that there definitely are Indian folks who are gender diverse (see Hijra on Wikipedia for a quick primer on one of the traditionally recognized nonbinary genders in South Asia) so it's not a novel concept by any means, but it's also not very common in media whatsoever.

Why The Long Wait?

One of the other contributing reasons as to why Sauce wasn't able to do much with the concept at the time is because we didn't have a VA for him confirmed yet, as I explained in May:

One thing that's rather unique to SnaccPop Studios in all of my experience as a game developer is the fact that all of our series involve coordinating with Voice Actors from the start, which means we need to take the VAs themselves into account when making characters. Adding another layer of complexity in hiring is the fact that SnaccPop Studios is a strictly Erotic Adult brand focusing on masculine love interests, and even if we focus more on the softcore, there's still the unfortunate stigma that any 18+ work has when attached to your name. All of these contributing factors make the potential talent pool that much smaller. This isn't to make excuses: I know SnaccPop Studios can do better on this front. While we can't make changes to some of the existing series' main cast (we don't want to put people out of a role they've been promised), we will do better moving forward to incorporate more diverse characters into our future titles, and that's a pledge

In the field of voice acting, it's best practice to cast actors with similar backgrounds to the character they're voicing, particularly for characters from marginalized populations (ethnicity, culture, gender, etc.), because it's a recurring issue in all professions where marginalized folks are regularly turned down for employment or career opportunities. You don't have to look far for instances where other voice directors failed to cast the proper talent for a character, even in the AAA sphere where they ought to have the resources to be able to find the proper talent; at SnaccPop, we wanted to avoid that situation at all costs.

Finding Simoun's Voice

So we had to confirm a VA first before we could do anything. Sauce, Reece, and I all tried to put private ads out for a trans masc POC (any ethnicity with dark skin) actor for a R18 game, which was largely met with silence at first, then responded to by folks who didn't fit the role in a full capacity (many only hit one or two of the criteria we laid out, some of them none at all). And it's not hard to imagine why: it's common knowledge that the majority of erotic works often fetishize marginalized people who are otherwise underrepresented in mainstream media. Things such as skin color, body type, hair color, age, etc. are treated as traits to be objectified, and on the off chance that queer folks or people of color might see themselves in porn… it's usually not for the most flattering or empowering of reasons. How could we, an exclusively Adults-only studio, convince someone who isn't familiar with us that we wanted to make something for people like them rather than something that turns them into mere masturbating material?

We were almost about to give up on the Catboy until I decided to take a chance on contacting a VA whom I hadn't had any formal and proper interactions with before. I'd been a fan of his work and knew him from an audition he sent in from a previous game I had worked on, but he knew me solely by name at best since we were following each other on Twitter. Still, it was a lead, and after chewing my nails for half a day, I shot off a message to Soren Viloria.

And what do you know? He said he'd give it a shot as his first NSFW role.

Naming the Lad

Soren is a Filipino VA, and despite the fact that I myself seem to be mistaken as Filipino by other Asians quite regularly, I'm actually not as well-versed in that culture as I ought to be.

There's actually a reason why we were so secretive with Simoun's name for a while: he didn't have one yet, so internally we just kept calling him "the Catboy." We wanted to pick a culture-appropriate name for him, something that was meaningful: Soren initially suggested "Siopao" as it was a common cat name (it's a type of Filipino Steamed Bun, so think of how many pets you've seen who have names like Cupcake or Nacho Supreme), but that didn't seem serious enough for a tsundere catboy like him. A few days later, Soren did a little research on a few well-known characters from Philippine media/culture that fit the bill a bit better:

Elías from the Philippine Revolution novel Noli Me Tángere (a required reading in the Philippines). Cat may like his radical tendencies for revolution and his deep, devoted connections.

Simoun from Noli's sequel, El filibusterismo. Holds revolutionary values similar to Elías, but far less noble and more of a loner. Violent at times, and will do what it takes to get his way.

Panday/Flavio, a very popular hero. Part of his charm is that he doesn't have special powers, but took matters into his own hands and forged a magical blade. Has been portrayed in both 'cool' and comedic ways.

Ricardo "Cardo" from the Philippines' longest-running TV drama Ang Probinsyano. Just a cool action hero dude who cares about family, but is also very ambitious and angy.

Seeing as how we already had an Elias Gallagher, Simoun seemed to be the perfect fit, and the name stuck pretty easily.

Simoun's Boundaries

Now that Simoun had a name, we were able to talk about him more seriously beyond the simple "tsundere cat" tropes. You've all already met Gil Finnegan, who we originally brought into SnaccPop Studios to handle the narrative design for DachaBo but was then onboarded to help with Sunny Day Jack, and those of you in the Patreon Discord server are familiar with our mods Tobias and Jude; along with me and Soren Viloria, that brought the grand total of openly trans masculine members on the team.

We all talked about our personal experiences as trans masc/AFAB people, what things we rarely saw reflected in both mainstream and indie media, things we wanted to see more of. Something we all agreed that was difficult to find was trans masculine folks in sexually dominant roles in erotic media, whether that was live video, audio, writing, art, or a combination thereof; there was only a handful of series we could count on our fingers as far as sexually explicit content that featured trans masculine people in roles that weren't exclusively submissive/bottoms, and the majority of us had already seen those or at least heard of them before (ie. Gummy and the Doctor and Sasha From The Gym were prominent ones). Either discovering this content was difficult due to Search Engine Optimization favoring depictions of trans feminine folks, or it simply didn't exist.

All of this, along with the backstory that Sauce had for Simoun, led us to determine that Simoun would be adverse to submissive roles in intimate situations. Simoun isn't the type to want to be penetrated either due to previous trauma surrounding his gender. Bear in mind that this isn't meant to imply or suggest that there is only one "acceptable" sexual preference for trans masculine folks, nor is Simoun meant to represent all of trans masculinity; he may be our first trans masculine character but certainly isn't the last, as we hope to feature more types of characters at SnaccPop Studios.

As an aside, it should be noted that the trend of erotic trans feminine content being more readily available doesn't necessarily mean that trans women have more positive representation per se; for every kinky piece of art created by trans feminine folks out there, there could be ten more works that fetishize and objectify their bodies. We probably don't need to tell you about the common derogatory slurs that have been used to refer to them; trans feminine and trans masculine people deal with varying levels and types of transphobia as well as situations that oversexualize (or even undersexualize) them, and it's important to focus on content that doesn't strip them of their autonomy.

There actually was a period of time between the release of his concept art after Soren was onboarded where the team observed comments both on Patreon and in the Discord regarding Simoun, and we discussed how we could avoid having people try to ship Bo and Simoun together; because Simoun hasn't had bottom surgery of any kind, we wanted to ensure that tokophobia (fear of pregnancy) or dysphoria wouldn't become a thing for any of us involved in the team or for our trans masculine Patrons. It was a bit of a chicken or the egg situation, trying to keep up with the evolving comments about Simoun to try and anticipate what people might accidentally say.

Debut Day Thoughts, & Moving Forward

We were quite happy with the general reception everyone had with Simoun, and we're excited to see so many people taking a liking to Simoun after his reveal. SnaccPop Studios has always strived to provide inclusive and diverse stories for those who don't often get represented in media, much less NSFW media, and the team was quite elated to see folks who were just as happy to see Simoun.

We hope that the love and care we put into building Simoun has shone through in this post and will continue to shine as we write more of him for DachaBo, because we're just getting started.

#dachabo #character design #trans masc #transmasculine #transgender #minors dni #gamedev

[hylialeia]

thoughts on the Daevabad Trilogy, short version: holy shit that was good

longer version:

holy shit that was good.

I adored the writing style, the imagery, the worldbuilding, the characters, the character dynamics, and the pacing all the way through. I first picked up this series because of how Global Medievalism talked about it as a stepping stone away from Eurocentric medieval fantasy and it definitely delivered. this is tied with Spinning Silver for my favorite recent reads--which is even more impressive since SS was a standalone, meanwhile this series kept up a consistently high quality across three separate books.

after Fourth Wing masquerading as a rich, complex adult fantasy and then being What It Actually Was, this was an immensely satisfying series to pick up. it skirts the fantasy staple of the Inherently Evil Race/Species that so many works fall into (even asoiaf with the Others) and instead opts to explore in-depth religious and racial prejudices, revolutions, bigotry, power, and privilege in ways that can be frightening for a lot of authors (and readers). I can see why this series would frustrated a large swath of fantasy fans and not just because it steps completely away from the Europe-but-slightly-to-the-left settings that they're so familiar with; people looking for escapism and a palatable black-and-white conflict definitely wouldn't find it here.

that said, I also think the narrative did a fantastic job of showcasing the brutality of oppression, as well as cycles of revenge and violence, without turning into a sermon about how anyone who fights back is Just As Bad as the oppressor. you can sympathize with any faction within the trilogy while still seeing that there's a clear hierarchy. this is a series that asks the reader to be open minded and to sympathize with a variety of people's suffering while still condemning heinous actions, crimes, and ways of thinking. portrayals of violence, swearing, and sex aside, this is where I believe the adult label is earned. the Daevabad Trilogy outshines Fourth Wing in its entirety, actually following through on promises of depth, complexity, and exploration.

I don't think the series reaches into absolutely flawless territory; on reflection, there are a lot of scenes I wish we'd seen happening in the moment rather than summarized or briefly flashed back to. this goes especially for the end of the last book, Empire of Gold, which would have enhanced the pacing quite a bit. there's a bit of rushing through the final battle, and though it's still quite fantastic and follows through on a deal of foreshadowing and character build-up, it definitely feels over too soon. there are also a few loose ends and potential conflicts when it comes to the characters themselves that the series felt too tired to actually flesh out by the end. I can forgive that chiefly because of just how well-rounded and consistent the characters themselves are, even despite those instances.

and holy shit did I adore these characters. I've only seen the barest tip of the iceberg of discourse this series caused (which I'm sure was insane when it first came out), but thankfully the 10 million+ Way More Problematic Characters (that I also love) in asoiaf has made me immune to whatever the hell was going on over there. I also couldn't get involved in a ship war if you paid me.

I think the first book made a good call only having Nahri and Ali's POVs not just from a technical standpoint (Dara's POV wouldn't have added much, and may have even spoiled some meaningful twists) but also in priming the reader for what is the heart of the entire trilogy: their dynamic. Nahri and Ali carry the series whether they're young, platonic best friends who should be enemies, awkward ex-friends who still get a long way too well, or best friends who are deeply in love which each other but too traumatized to admit it. they both stand incredibly well as individuals (evidenced by the fact that they don't even meet until over the halfway mark in the first book), with Ali being a particular favorite of mine from the very beginning. their opposite upbringings yet similar interests made them a fantastic duo, one where it made sense the impact each one would have on the other's journey. there's something so incredibly endearing about their inability to legitimately dislike each other despite their circumstances, one that makes sense based on their already established personalities; they propel the series' most meaningful moments.

for the elephant in the room: as frustrating as Dara's POV could be I found it a worthy and fascinating addition in the later books, one that I think a lot of people missed the weight of if they were too busy excusing him/hating him. his perspective, biased and misguided as it often was, provided so much rich exploration of the trilogy's overall themes: militarism, religious fanaticism, prejudice, free will, just war, revolution, cycles of violence, conditioning and abuse, etc. that so much of this seemed to fall to the wayside in a strive to decide if he was excusable or not (and thus a viable love interest or not) is a huge shame. his ending was, to me, profoundly satisfying; not redeemed but finally allowed to act of his own free will, no longer bound by outside magic or internalized religious obligation. I never violently disliked Dara and Nahri's romantic entanglement so much as I knew it was doomed from the moment Ali had a POV chapter.

the secondary characters were no less engaging for me, especially as their prominence grew throughout the books, antagonists or otherwise. it was refreshing to see Muntadhir and Jamshid's individual characters (and thus their relationship) become a more prominent aspect of the story--again, especially after the tokenism in Fourth Wing. side characters always seemed to have deeper personalities and roles to play, with even early character deaths like Anas having lasting impacts for our main POVs. their presence was as vital to the immersion and depth of the world as much as the setting and imagery--which are also aspects that completely blew me away. from character, technical, to thematic standpoints, the Daevabad Trilogy absolutely amazed me.

final thoughts and rating: if you give me a book where two married characters are in love with the other's brother and expect me not to give it a high rating you're insane. 8/10. maybe even 9/10. go read these books.

#spoiler warning for people who want to read this series (which you should) #thank you chakraborty for Thee character dynamic of all time #ali love of my life. apple of my eye. <3 #the daevabad trilogy

[crucipuzzled]

About Psychiatry stuff in SPYxFAMILY. Part 1

Part 2 here / Part 3 here / Part 4 here

I'm a dumb and I just realized that ch. 29 of the manga will be animated, since Fiona appears for the 1st time in that chapter and she's in the key visual for the 2nd cour.

I'm aware this isn't the first analysis made on this chapter but so far I haven't seen anyone from the Psy world speaking about this. I'm a Clinical Psychologist grounded on Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalitic theory and I think I can share some knowledge over several aspects of Psychiatry that are depicted in the manga. I've worked with Psychiatrists in the past, albeit for a short amount of time, in a public healthcare institution, so I have a notion of what Psychiatrists do in a public setting like a Hospital.

If there's a Psychiatrist out there who wants to refute this analysis, PLEASE DO SO. I'm more than pleased to learn and have a nice debate.

This is one of the most hilarious chapters in the whole SxF series, so if you don't want the fun to be spoiled, please skip this post!

Let's begin. 1. Working in a Hospital

I'm not sure if this is universal, as healthcare systems around the world differ in several aspects, but the consensus is that a Hospital, which is a public healthcare institution, is specialized in the treatment of the most complex diseases.

In Psychiatry, this usually means dealing with psychosis, drug intoxication, major depressive episodes with suicide attempts and serious personality disorders. Most of these conditions require hospitalization, as the risk of giving just ambulatory care is not enough to guarantee the patient's safety or that of the others's.

There are Hospitals that provide ambulatory care though. Again, it varies from where in the world you are. In my country (Chile) you usually go to the Hospital when your life is at risk, but if you are suffering from a less serious condition (for example, dealing with panic attacks), you'll be transferred to a primary healthcare institution. Unless you live in a rural area.

Indeed, working in a healthcare institution means gaining access to any patient's clinical record. But for the objective of Operation Strix, and Loid being a Psychiatrist, I don't think that's of much use, for reasons that I'll cover in Point 3.

2. Specialty in Psychiatry

Psychiatry has several subspecialties, like any other healthcare career. You have Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Adult Psychiatry (I believe these two are mandatory to become a Psychiatrist but I can't say it for sure), Addictions, Forensics, Emergencies... Loid said that he wants to help people affected by the war, veterans specially, so it's a polite guess to say that he's an Adult Psychiatrist. Then again, we have this panel:

The sand box is a diagnostic tool used for children. It's mostly used by Psychologists, as they have more time per session to analyze it. I'll cover the sand box in more detail in Part 4 of this series of analysis, but for now let's say that analyzing it consumes a lot of time that Psychiatrists, in a Hospital, usually don't have.

This panel suggests that Loid has worked with children before as a Psychiatrist, and we see him later in chapter 67 with a child (although it's not clear if the child is his patient), so here are another 2 polite guesses:

-Loid's a General Psychiatrist -Berlint General Hospital's Psychiatric Ward is understaffed and they put their Psychiatrists to do whatever is needed at the moment, regardless of their specialties. It sure doesn't look that poor of a Hospital to me, but who knows... My bet is option 1. Poor guy.

3. Donovan Desmond as a potential psychiatric patient

In the first chapter of the manga, Donovan is described as a hikikomori, meaning someone who withdraws from social interaction. This word also describes a psychopathological condition of japanese young lads that spend months, even years, holled up in their homes without interacting with anybody aside from their families (if they have). The word itself doesn't have a pathological connotation tough. In English, the closest concept to "hikikomori" as a psychpathological meaning would be Autism, which isn't equivalent at all. And, when a person is so reclused, we tend to pair it with paranoia, as it often leads to social withdrawal as well. The important thing here is, as you probably are thinking right now, the reason fo such decision. And this reason is always given by the symptoms. Paranoia is a type of psychosis in which a person suffers from delirium and hallucinations related to being endangered or threatened by something. Of course, a proof of reality is useless for these patients, as their perception of reality itself is disturbed. An UFO is watching over you at all times? I can't precisely prove that it's false, as I lack proof of the very existence of UFO, and even if I have it, the delirium would probably shift to attack me as I turn into a conspirator against the patient's truth.

Not that we clinicians waste time trying to do so, though. In these cases, the Psychiatrist kicks in and administers a dose of antipsychotic drugs. Psychotic paranoia often needs hospitalization and a strong compromise from the patient's family to constantly supervise him/her. After that, comes a long process of social rehab. A very characteristic feat of paranoid people is that THEY NEVER SEEK FOR PROFESSIONAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE HELP BY THEMSELVES. Paranoids often arrive to a Psychiatric Emergency Room dragged by a third party due to bizarre behaviour, self-aggression and/or attempts to hurt others.

There are people that is not psychotic and suffer from this kind of fear of pretty much everything as well, but it's hard to determine if they really aren't psychotics, as their reasons to recluse themselves strongly resemble a delirium. The key that helps to discern if it's a psychotic paranoia or not is finding the hole in which a patient allows himself to doubt. In paranoid psychosis there's absolute certainty, while in neurosis there is room for doubt.

These "neurotic paranoids", as we'll call them for now (it doesn't exist as a nosograhical entity anywhere; please don't waste your time looking it up in the DSM xD), tend to abandon therapy pretty soon, as they fight for sticking with their motives to recluse themselves. They don't want to realize what drive them to behave like that. Patients suffering from obsessions will probably act this way, as well as some hypochondriac and anorexic patients. Bear in mind that this is not a norm; everything depends on the symptoms.

All of this begs the question: Would Donovan Desmond ever need Psychiatric help from Dr. Loid Forger?

His interaction with Loid in chapter 38 suggests that he's not reclusive for a mental condition, but he does have a certain level of "neurotic paranoia", as he can't bring himself to really trust any other person much. If nobody is truly sympathetic to each other, they could pose a threat at any moment, right? Since he's clearly not psychotic, because he can hold an interaction with Loid in the same shared reality (not a dellirium, I mean), one can safely assume that he does trust someone, at least one single person. When a psychotic person suffers from paranoia, there's not a single hole in their life that is not filled with suspicions of others being dangerous. This isn't the case for Donovan.

We see him walking with a lot of guards, so he must trusts them. And he seems to be closer to Demetrius as he goes with him to the Imperial Scholar get-togethers, so that also counts. He even takes a detour to meet Damian. Seems like he can trust his family members, and that alone could be a measure of love, albeit in a really weird scale.

Tsundere? That aside, given the social status of the Desmonds, if they ever need psychiatric help, they probably would consult a private clinic instead of going to a public hospital. Unless they find themselves in a reeeeaaaally desperate situation. So, the answer is no... for the most part. Good try, though, Twilight.

I'll cover more stuff in the next part. This one turned out unexpectedly long. It's been fun ruining the fun for those who don't know about mental health though.

#spy x family #spy x family manga #psychiatry #analysis #This is what happens when I don't have a job

[johannestevans]

On the one hand the Grey's Anatomy musical episode is so far probs the best musical episode I've ever seen of anything, they obviously got a great musical director for this, they gave everyone songs that were in their range, it's very well mixed and edited

Unfortunately I'm distracted by the fact that Arizona Robbins was so distracted on her desire to control and coerce every moment of callie's life that she proposed marriage (to give her LEGAL control over her as well as emotional and psychological) and crashed her fucking car

've never been so viscerally disgusted by a depiction of abuse in television BC like. It's obvious that while the Grey's writers at this time got a great musical director, they were going through some very pro-abuse and pro- coercive control times for these episodes

This woman literally wants Callie dead so that she can either fob off or fully control her baby rather than Callie being alive and having her baby delivered prematurely

Because she's so threatened by Callie having ANY relationship that's not about obeying arizona

And I understand psychologically where this instinct for abuse and control comes from - it's no surprise given that she's a self-described army brat, many people from LE and army backgrounds don't even realise how normalised their abusive upbringings and worldviews are

Arizona is also a deeply insecure woman, she's terrified of her own interiority - it's part of why she's so threatened and angry when criticised even mildly, but also why she becomes so irrationally full of rage at mark's LACK of jealousy and own lack of desire to abude callie

After all, mark doesn't really love her if, unlike Arizona, he doesn't feel compelled to scream at her and control her and order her what to do and take away her choices.

Because that's what love is, right?

And she wants his lack of abuse to be because he's a man

And yet conversely, in her rage about her lack of control in the baby shower, the fact that Callie was enjoying something that Arizona doesn't (and therefore doesn't want to acknowledge people enjoy), she has to insult mark's masculinity

Arizona struggles hugely to empathise with others because to empathise with others you have to be able to think about how they're feeling and why, and she can't even do that process about her own feelings

I'm sure that's part of why she's so good with children

Children's emotions are much more simple, because they're often quite uncontrolled and, like her, they are suddenly overwhelming because they don't have the literacy to understand their own feelings and where they come from

It's why I maintain that Arizona, presented w the sort of child I was - or many autistic child trauma and rape victims, children who seem too complex and too "adult" - would probably be disgusted and, again, irrationally angry

She has to to some extent fetishise the "innocence" of the tiny humans that she specialises in helping, because if she focuses on their innocence as special and unique, to some extent that carries to the "purity" of her own eternally unexamined internal state

I'm not saying shes not well written because like. She is. I understand completely every facet of why she acts like this

But she needs to be like… Not in any relationships. Just because she doesn't hit Callie (although I wouldn't be surprised) doesn't mean it's not abuse

I think one reason it works so well as a musical episode is because it understands that many of its cast aren't strong singers and either doesn't make them sing, or includes them only in ensemble and group parts

Like that was such a good decision that many TV writers wouldn't make - giving Owen such a big role in this episode is smth a lot of ppl wouldn't do because he's bland as fuck and no one cares about him

But he IS an actual singer, so it makes sense

He's not a very interesting performer, but he is actually trained - frankly it's a shame Eli wasn't shoehorned in more given that he's so strong in comparison lmao

But yeah god. After so many bad musical episodes in so many shows, what a refreshing take

Anyway they shouldn't get married and it's horrifying lol

But mark apologising to Arizona for the "you're nothing" comment is wild BC you can see that she just. Isn't computing it. Why is he apologising? He's right, she thinks! He must have a motive!

I know that mark sloan doesn't fix her, and I know that being in a polyamorous relationship and seeing much healthier meta partnerships doesn't FORCE abusers to realise how cruel or controlling they are and actually make them stop

But like. It is a start?

Like. Mark for all his flaws genuinely is a very caring and self-sacrificing partner, and he doesn't do that by just being a pushover, he's surprisingly compassionate and he obviously cares a lot about filling others' needs

It's interesting to compare his focus on baby Sloan and now this baby, as well as his intimate partnerships with Callie and Little Grey but even with Arizona, and his care about maintaining them and serving others versus his early intro "id be a shit dad" thing

It's really interesting when you hear him complain with the other cis men in the show about being controlled by women BC like. He makes the same complaints as Owen and Derek do

But unlike them he's not like. Doing schemes to control anybody, or not listening when they talk?

Like I'm not saying that in defence of him

I'm saying it's a fascinating cognitive dissonance that he's actually invested in his partners and doesn't dehumanise them on the same misogynistic level

Whilst also being more misogynistic re: sexual objectification than most

I think BC he's just so cool about sex that it doesn't make him dehumanise the women around him in the same way, especially given his like. Blatant unaddressed bisexuality

Whereas Owen and Derek, like many cis men of their variety, basically don't see women as the same species of human as they are, and see them as inherently lesser and therefore worthy of control and coercion, on some subconscious level

#musings #grey's anatomy #arizona robbins #callie torres #mark sloan #long post for ts

[dopepoisonivyoncrack]

Got quite bugged by the lack of a more nuanced take on Astarion intelligence. This ended up quite long so I'm putting it under line

Won't get medical into the "less wrinkled brain" narrative comment, which can be offensive, I've seen some complain about it, I don’t have the medical expertise and it's not necessary because, while maybe not an excuse, it was used figuratively. Astarion is not the smartest person in the room but also not the dumbest, which makes sense and I'll get to that in a moment. I've seen the jokes though, and there is a big difference between being less wrinkled and having the brain as smooth as a chicken breast. I have not laughed.

About the stats, I think it reflects his current state but not the limits of his intellectual capacities. If anyone more knowledgeable in dnd inner workings can correct me in this, feel free to do so.

What I can say is that intelligence is the ability to solve complex problems, to learn and adapt and make better decisions, and there is nothing to suggest Astarion doesn't possess this ability, quite the contrary, he learns and adapts relatively fast when allowed to do so. The brain is like a muscle that needs to be trained, and unfortunately, he couldn't do that much in the last 200 years. Trauma also messes with the brain and many of its abilities. It can physically change the brain and the mechanisms used for learning and survival [x]. Not to dig into details as it's beside the point here but "trauma significantly impacts our ability to learn, to form memories, to regulate emotions, it can affect our ability to be calm, to learn, to think, to reflect and to respond flexibly and in a planned way" [x]. It should be no surprise that Astarion has difficulties in doing a number of these, if not all.

Before jumping at me like I'm trying to use the trauma in defense of his intelligence, I am not saying he was some brilliant mind before. He was probably a bit above average, with a privileged access to higher education. We can't know anything for sure because we were never given anything on the magistrate elf (not to assess intelligence anyway), but whatever his starting point was, it got affected under Cazador. We only have the current Astarion and some observations during our game travels.

So, while I don't think he was ever the brightest, he is far from being dumb. The lower intelligence stats in the game make perfect sense for someone like him, as he is now. He was killed as a young adult, he was controlled body and mind for 2 centuries, stuck following orders, and in survival mode. He didn't get, and wasn't allowed to think for himself, to grow, to learn, to develop his skills to their potential! Including thinking skills! Moreover, he was told and made to feel incapable, worthless. Cazador likes to remind that quite often. Of course he isn't adept at thinking things through, making complex plans, figure out things that would be more obvious to others, and so on... like when it comes to relationship experience, because he didn't had to think or do anything more complex than seduce someone for a night and carry them to Cazador, for a very very long time. The routine and ingrained mindset, the "chains" so strong, he kept doing them out of inertia for a while even after the tadpole-gained-freedom. It took him a while to even realize he can just stop doing it now, like slowly waking up and regaining senses, and control over his body. It's great writing there, sensitive, thoughtful, realistic writing. It would be quite weird if he knew any better, and that would have to reflect into higher stats. And I would like to point out that he learns and adjusts himself from now on with increasing pace, going hand in hand with recovery. (Going into how this affects Ascended Astarion who, I argue, rejects recovery, would be interesting but maybe another time).

On the other hand, the skills that helped him do what Cazador asked for, are very very honed. I still remember his lines, not being able to even put a name on another type of relationship "You are not a victim, not a target, not another night it's better to forget. But then...what in the world could you be?" (Might be paraphrasing a bit but the point stands). It's not for lack of intelligence that he fails to do that, and it's not for lack of intelligence that he fails to do many other things.

Basically, I am saying is that he was never the smartest, but he is not dumb, he was made a bit dumber/ kept for a long time, by trauma and circumstance, from getting smarter, kept from reaching whatever his potential was, and that if allowed to regain his freedom and recover, he still has the ability to reach whatever his potential is. Things we can witness him doing, gradually. And that his stats or the comments on his intelligence in the game reflect his current situation and not his limits.

#ivy shitpost #astarion #the game: he was not the smartests. #people online: omg he is the dumbest guy ever

[writing-in-verse]

So I Finally Read Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

There will be some level of spoilers so do be aware all who enter here.

I was apprehensive at first when i heard Cassie was writing a book in an entirely new setting, a new adult book no less, after writing YA for as long as I can remember. I've seen authors attempt to pivot to a different age bracket before and it is a challenge if you're not fully prepared for it.

Sword Catcher is entering the space where Game of Thrones and Gentleman Bastards have long ago carved out their right to be there and became titans of their own. It was surprising then to see both authors of the above had read Sword Catcher and had given a review for the back of the book - George R.R. Martin's quote and name was displayed proudly on the front of my edition for added flair.

It was a bold statement of intent, to sit among giants and share the space meant Cassie was putting her best foot forward. I don't want to suggest Lynch or Martin 'allowed' or 'gave permission' for Cassie to be in this space but they did vouch for her, showing a creative respect which carries weight and expectation.

I'm so happy to say Cassie pulled it off.

I'll admit I was cautiously optimistic about Sword Catcher, about Kel and Connor and Lin, a slightly worry that perhaps Cassie's years as a YA author could hold back the potential of this new work. If in being really honest, Shadowhunters is very important to me and I think part of me was unsure about leaving it behind.

Cassie's ability to build a world here is striking in it's ability to never overwhelm the reader with context and exposition without losing any of the depth and complexity you'd expect from a novel concerning kings and kingdoms. You come to learn of Castellane's long and muddled history over time, never giving away more than is needed to make the world feel complete but without throwing nonsense terms around which would simply not be remembered.

The class divides that permeate the work, held up by proto-capitalist greed and the politics of nations happening atop a towering hillside is fed in lockstep with the rest of the plot, holding enough information in front of the reader without giving the whole mystery away. Woven throughout is the Ashkari people, very clearly a Jewish analogue, a nation with no homeland other than the one their communities reside in. Locked inside the Sault after nightfall and looked upon with distrust, othered because of their ability to use even limited magic. I'm certainly not selling the tact and nuance Cassie brings to the world and the people who live in it but it's beautifully presented and should be applauded.

I don't have much to say about the characters, mostly because I can see their journey has just begun and I'm excited to see them all grow and change as the narrative unfolds. What I will say is Lin can do no wrong, Kel is just a fella, and Connor is one of the best written protagonists for how deeply flawed and naive he is and yet I simply cannot wish him ill.

I summary, Sword Catcher is an almost flawless first entry into a series I could see becoming a favourite of mine and I cannot see where it goes next. What a dazzling and captivating read.

#sword catcher #lin caster #the chronicles of castellane #kel saren #cassandra clare

[hemingway-papers]

even for a disney movie tangled takes a pretty random but enjoyable departure from the original fairytale and i do think that's because another prince character just wasn't cutting it and they decided to incorporate the gentleman thief storytelling tradition instead. the art design and miyazaki loving team behind it pretty overtly tells me the idea for that change came from the castle of cagliostro and a deep appreciation for it.

and me? personally? I WOULD rank cagliostro one of the most sincerely moving and aesthetically enchanting but also actiony fun movies about a princess ever animated and somehow it's not trying too hard to be ironic or hip or something. I feel like it's an obvious choice for study when trying to make a tricky script adaptation work when it is calling for the upbeat fight sequences and genre aware clever subversions but still needing to sincerely remain a pretty princess story in a magical land that does actually celebrate the spirit of fairytales and trying not to skimp too hard on any aspect

the original script for the rapunzel adaptation before lasseter took it over btw was a sort of fish out of water body swap modern day disney princess parody situation banking off the success of shrek. that was imo directly reworked as Enchanted. and much better utilized that way too

tbh in seeking a good solution to the new but not too new direction for disney, post-potf critical acclaim for returning to roots of sincerity but pre-frozen box office sensation, still seeking that dreamworks and pixar level of market domination. there was a very happy tonal medium to be found in cagliostro and it's success does suggest what something like that could do in a market looking for more modern, self aware and action packed takes on princess movies. a market that was already responding well to the dubs of other miyazaki directed movies disney was distributing.

castle of cagliostro does deconstruct fairytale stories and notions and princess movies, but does so much more lovingingly earnestly and whimsically, with a lot of affection for the source material compared to the cynicism of shrek. which as heart felt and genius as it is , wasn't something the disney company could pull off and maintain their brand.

there is nothing but sympathy for the kind of idyllic childhood notions of heroes and fairytale castles present in older disney movies, because clarisse herself holds onto those notions to help her maintain hope when escaping her situation. lupin plays into it too with some irony but not in a way that mocks her, just lightly mocks himself. it's a movie about how the real world can be really hard and at times you WILL face things that are insurmountable alone because that's normal and part of being a real person with normal limits. and asking for help from kind people isn't a weakness but part of life, a beautiful part of life even.

i've actually never seen a damsel in distress storyline portrayed as so human and understandable and not shameful. nor as a mark of being incapable but a role we all play at some point. it directly signals those who are most capable at the time to heed those around you. for what the hell else are all those skills and power youve got good for in the first place. DO be aware of those who are currently drowning in a situation no one should be expected to magically just surmount or suffer on their own and DO take action. it's your job

i love the castle of cagliostro down to my very core because I think it manages to express innocence wonderment as a strength of the soul even when juxtaposed against the complexities and realities of the often harsh present day adult world. and does so even more gently and optimistically than other similar hits like shrek and princess bride. in that sense it's too perfect for any modern disney filmmaker to NOT find inspiration in. anyone would be happy to look to it as one of the examples of how to make a fairytale adventure feel updated, cool and self aware but still maintain its palpable respect for those who love innocence and wonder.

#lol funny horse post becomes 7 paragraph essay sorry #castle of cagliostro #lupin iii #miyazaki #animation history #disney history #anime history #the castle of cagliostro #tangled #disney analysis

[drdemonprince]

Since I've seen you wrote about childism before I'd love to know your take on how to balance the fight for autonomy and consent for people of all ages with keeping some things off-limits in relationships with younger people (both children and legal adults who are way younger). Asking in good faith as I'm wondering if I'm going too far in a friendship with a 18-year-old as someone in their late twenties, especially since I don't get the limit between friendship and "more"

 I believe that using state-enacted benchmarks of age and maturity as a shorthand for what we owe to other people is only a losing game. The reality's far more dynamic and complex. Not to mention that I am also both an anarchist and an abolitionist, and so I don't think the state's dictates of what an adult is, and what being an adult must mean, makes any sense.

You mention the need for certain things to be off limits in this relationship. What do you think should be "off limits" in your relationship to this person, and why? Do you really think that, or are you afraid of people accusing you of being predatory or looking at you a certain way? What is your relationship with this person actually like? Do you hold any authority over them, are they deferential to you, do you respect them as a full human with agency, how do they feel about you, etc?

It's hard for me to provide any concrete responses because what you've asked about here is pretty oblique, but like, I certain don't believe it's immoral for a late 20 something to have a sexual or romantic relationship with an 18 year old, if that's what you're asking. Or to talk with a younger friend about such subjects.

With my younger friends I am guarded about certain things, because I remember much older adults treating me like a baby therapist when I wasn't prepared for it. That messed me up a lot more than an older person having consensual sex with me ever did. That stuff was all fine. I tend to approach younger adults as if I was their former professor, so there are certain boundaries that come with that, but I still regard them as full human adults. But if instead I were working let's say in retail and I had an 18 year old coworker I'd just treat them as an equal and a peer.

[hchollym]

I imagine Percy and Charlie having the most contentious rivalry among the siblings before he left and I imagine it’s because they represent two different reactions to being in the shadow of their “perfect eldest brother” Bill. Charlie was likely the one who was never as academically bright or as well-behaved as Bill but was also the closest to him among the siblings. Percy was arguably as bright and strived to be even more “proper” but was often overlooked by Bill. Both were likely made to feel inferior by the gold standard Bill represents in the Weasley household but since Bill was that golden standard, the resentment probably formed between the brother who was often seen as Bill’s “improper” opposite and the brother seen as his inferior clone.

I imagine young Percy feeling superior to Charlie because he was praised by their mother more often for being smart and neat while also being jealous of him for being Bill’s closest friend and the two hanging out more as equals.

Given his relationship with Bill (who likely does have a deeply internalized superiority complex kept in check as long as his self-esteem is never threatened in any way) is more equal ostensibly equal, Charlie probably latched onto the idea that Percy was simply being an annoying echo of Bill. He likely tells himself that while he’ll never be like Bill, he’s at least not trying and failing as badly as Percy. All the while, of course, subconsciously resenting how his younger brother really was more like smart, organized, put-together Bill than he ever will.) I actually imagine Percy outgrowing teen Charlie in height was especially triggering for him symbolically: Charlie was never going to reach Bill’s statue but Percy might. Neither likely understood what was going on internally but I imagine the two bickering harshly before Charlie left home.

I also imagine the twins got a lot of their actively negative views on Percy from Charlie while Ron was more passively dismissive like Bill.

After the war though, especially with Percy unraveling after Fred’s death, I think it may have been Charlie who helps him out the most. I want to believe a lot of that superiority/inferiority thinking was so shaken by the war as to dislodge it in favor of actually seeing each other for who they are. Besides, given how being in their adult careers has pretty much made Bill’s example irrelevant, I’d like to imagine they got wrangled into each other’s lives the way Ron joined the shop with George (I head-canon Percy took a lengthy, life-changing sabbatical in Romania after the war tribunals before working for Kingsley.)

Ouch. This one hurt. 😭

I've always had the headcanon that Charlie was the one sibling that Percy always had a decent relationship with, based on what little we see of him in the books.

Your scenario makes sense though, and it is certainly plausible.

Honestly though, that just makes me sad, because if it is true, then Percy really didn't have anyone. 😢

Thanks for the comment though! 😊

#anon made me sad #ask me #anon ask #percy weasley #percy weasley defense squad #charlie weasley #weasley family dynamic #weasley family critical #hp #my thoughts #my opinion

[ladyhindsight]

I want to say it really ticks me off when this fandom (and Cassandra Clare to some extent) acts like TMI isn't for children. I've seen posts comparing Cassandra Clare's work to Colleen Hoover. As far as I know Colleen Hoover is an adult novelist who basically makes abuse fetish smut so like great comparison to a YA author guys in the fandom!

Clare's choosing to include things like normalizing abuse (Maia and Jordan) and incest are really terrible. Clare always hides behind the fact that the reason the incest existed in her story was "symbolic" for like how love can make us do evil things. But children can't understand something that complex and Clare does NOT do a good job at making this theme clear in the story and SHE DOES romanticize their incestuous relationship as so bad it's good (Clare fans go reread the scene in book 2 where clary has to kiss Jace in front of everyone and then go reread book 3 where they're constantly kissing and cuddling and sleeping in the same bed in a romantic way) and it's just really upsets me because I've witnessed first hand (I've been in this Fandom since 2013) child fans normalizing and becoming attracted to incest fetish because of these books. I've seen so many children normalizing incest because of Clare's continual refusal to JUST APOLOGIZE! She literally writes these LGBT books with incest fetish and rape fetish tied into it and eventually a conservative is gonna find these books and it's gonna be all over for Miss Clare and the LGBT community will probably be blamed for her bullshit because we're always blamed for gross books like these.

I also wanted to say (and you don't have to post this ask if it's divulging too much I don't want to offend anyone) but I'm an incest survivor. I read these books when I was thirteen years old (they were in my schools library listed for my age and up) and they really really hurt my recovery because at the time I thought what had happened to me was normal and when I read these books I thought it was totally okay and normal what happened to me. I won't go into any more detail than that but these books made it so hard to seperate the "love" from the "abuse". I've talked to others in this fandom and many other girls have said that these books normalized abuse to them because Jace is so controlling and abusive to Clary and she does nothing to stop him. The abuse is also normalized by the Fandom too I see posts all the time joking about how "Jace isn't a hero who helps people he's a hero who helps his girlfriend!!!" And "haha Jace doesn't let clary have her own tooth brush or space or any friends! Sooo kawaaaaiiii!!!!!" Or "if clary died Jace would be worse than sebastian lol so smexyyy!" Like as if that isn't disturbing and disgusting to normalize to MINORS!

I just wanted to take a moment to talk about the people who suffer the most from Cassandra Clare's continuous deflection of any wrong doing. You wrote these books about incest Clare, and children read these books and cannot understand your "complex" symbolism for how incest is bad but it's oh so good. It makes me want to burst into tears sometimes but instead I'll just send this ask and forget about it.

Oh,

P.S.

Fuck you Cassandra Clare for writing a Trump supporter female character who is against incest to try and say all the people who hate incest are Trump supporters or conservatives. I am a victim of a serious fucking trauma and I am not a fucking conservative because I want you to be held accountable for your fucked up books. You have spit in the face of rape victims time and time again and I genuinely hope some day you get torn to shreds by the public for everything you've perpetuated to CHILDREN.

Every once in a while I think about this interview Clare once gave that I saw on YouTube. She said that her readers often told her (at the time of the interview) that they are older than they consider the target audience of her books to be, and Clare commented something along the lines of, if you read her books, no matter the age, you are the target audience. Which is a nice thought, but the tonality is still very juvenile—even in her later works that are supposedly new adult genre. They differ in no way in style or tone from those works that are categorized in young adult fiction.

Colleen Hoover? Yuck. Perhaps it tells something about the mentality of those readers who liken Clare to Hoover.

Clare’s writing, tone, and capacity to handle serious and complex matters have always sucked. Each topic is handled with surface-level attention or used as a vehicle to ruminate and moan over the main couple and their obstacles in love. The writing has never went into any great length to realistically include themes such as incest (societal or personal level approach and attitudes) or abuse because the characters’ need to be liked and loved and be above the characters that are only used as a fodder for ridicule and betterment of the main characters in comparison. All while Clare tries to create a guise of them being “complex” because of the fact. It’s one of the reasons I have found comparing G.R.R. Martin’s style of implementation of different themes to Clare’s meaningful (as there have been convos about this some time back on the blog) because they are not nearly the same even though it is an easy comparison her readers like to make.

When it comes to idealizing abusive behavior, similar attitude within the readership can be seen in Isabelle’s character when she thinks Valentine is hot for being a villain. Young adult literature is littered with characters exactly like Jace who do not face responsibility for their abusive behavior because that is what the author chooses to prioritize and coddle, simultaneously failing to realize the impact that kind of behavior realistically has on others around them. Jace’s behavior isn’t acknowledged because others are meant to serve him and conform around his needs. Even Clary, who is the protagonist and heroine of the story. It’s never really about her—even her pain—it’s about Jace.

When I read TMI for the first time, I was incredibly conflicted with feeling the way I did (hateful and uncomfortable with many decisions and characters) because authors know better, right? This is how it is supposed to be, right? This isn’t supposed to be about anyone else than Clary and Jace, right? So why anything would be done different or better or given more attention to?

Fuck that. And also fuck Zara Dearborn because we know what Clare’s doing. And it’s embarrassing.

I am incredibly sorry that you had to live through such a horrible thing. I can’t even imagine the pain and confusion you’ve had to endure and work through. There isn’t much I can say but I hope you are faring better today and had good and trustworthy people around you to support you during the recovery (and still do). How could you offend anyone with your thoughts when you’ve survived it and know the destruction it causes? Never apologize for that. I wish you happiness and all the best in life.

#Reply #Anti Cassandra Clare #Anti CC

[pikablob]

Which would you say is worse, The Mountain King or The Fifty Year Night?

I went into this fully expecting to say The Fifty-Year Night. It's kind-of the poster child for the parts of Hilda I don't like; it's a microcosm of all the things Season 2 did wrong, it's the episode that's probably inspired more of my fics than any other (and that's not a good thing), and the one time I made a tier list of episodes, it earned its own tier below the normal 'worst'. On the other hand, The Mountain King does have some major bits I like. But I don't just want to say that without some actual thought, so I've decided on a criteria.

Basically, the worse storyline is the one I'd have to change the most in order to fix.

I've talked extensively about The Fifty-Year Night before, and I've also talked about fixing it before. I went into this in my post about fixing Season 2, but I'll go over it here, too, for people who haven't or don't want to read that post (which is completely okay). Fundamentally, I have 3 problems with this episode:

Johanna is unfair to Hilda, and the narrative blames Hilda for it.

The content of this episode is darker and more distressing than a Hilda episode should be.

The complexities of the time travel aren't really explained, and ultimately some things don't make sense.

I won't labour point 1, because I think it's self-explanatory and I've been over it before. Point 2 is really about all the genuinely awful death scenes in this episode, which are just too far for Hilda as a show. And point 3 is something I've seen brought up a few times - it's never actually explained how time worms or changing the past actually work, which leads to weird questions like "is the old future deleted, or does everyone get duplicated and a time worm eats the wrong future people?" - Tildy still being around implies it's the latter, but then the original Johanna is still around and the time worm ignores her - or "why does the enchantment apply to every copy of the magazine, but destroying only one of them stops it?"

For the first point, my solution is simply to gut this episode of any mother-daughter conflict. I actually did this in my Season 2 fix, even when keeping the Stone Forest; the core of this episode is the genuinely beautiful might-have-been of Mr. Ostenfeld and Tildy, and that doesn't rely on anything surrounding Johanna. For the other issues, there is a fix already written hiding in a very unusual place:

Normally, I don't recommend the tie-in novels. They have a lot of issues, and this one is no exception. But weirdly, the version of Fifty-Year Night in this book does actually fix the issues I have with the time travel stuff.

There's no child death, and the Ostenfelds all sort of 'glitch out' in a tonally-good creepy way before they get eaten, so they're not screaming etc. So that's already dealt with. But this version also does away with having the original Tildy show up at the end, and instead gives his role to the original Mr. Ostenfeld, who survives and has a geniune arc instead of being unceremoniously dumped halfway through; this gives him a much more meaningful ending, but also confirms that nobody from the original timeline is still around in the future, which clears up the time-travel confusion. He's actually pretty much the only adult Hilda forms a genuine connection with in the tie-ins (besides a minor character in The Great Parade.)

So, to fix The Fifty Year Night, I'd take that. I'd combine the genuine heartfelt emotion of the show version (which the novel does miss), with the softer and more sensible mechanics of the tie-in novel, and then just bypass the Hilda & Johanna stuff entirely. Honestly, it's not a huge script change to make it into something that would work with the tone and feeling of S1.

The Mountain King, on the other hand, is actually a tougher nut to crack. It does have a lot of stuff I like, and on the surface, it doesn't seem like its problems are much worse:

Trylla is genuinely unlikeable and her 'redemption' doesn't work.

Erik gets off too lightly (TBF this one is less important).

Again, some scenes are just too distressing for this series.

Frida and David's storyline is functionally irrelevant.

The problem is that fixing these to my standards would require substantial changes to the story. Point 1 (and really point 3) are central to the story; the whole thing is about a kidnapping, a genuinely unforgiveable act that only gets compounded (twice) later on, and yet we have to sympathise with the kidnapper. Likewise, point 4 exists because David and Frida aren't main characters in the graphic novels, so they weren't in the original version of this storyline at all (barring a brief appearance by Frida in The Stone Forest that provides Johanna with the motivation to be awful).

There is, I think, a way to fix The Mountain King, and turn it into the finale that the first two seasons deserved. But that way involves ripping out the entire main thrust of the plot. Because what I would do to fix it is remove the changeling stuff entirely, and turn David and Frida's story into the central one.

The Hilda movie should have been about Hilda and her friends actually working to stop Erik and the Safety Patrol from going to war with the trolls. It should have been about them starting a movement amongst the students; about them reaching out to all of the creatures they've met and befriended so far, to prove that they're not bad and to protect their homes; about them standing up for something, from the start, and showing the people of Trolberg that they don't need to be afraid of what's outside the walls.

I'd keep the climax the same - I'd probably have Hilda still tricked into freeing Trundle (he promises her he'll lead the trolls to peace or something similar) - but I'd only keep the David & Frida stuff beyond that. I'd rework Trylla entirely, into Hilda venturing into the Stone Forest to find that troll mum who helped her before in order to learn the truth and stop Trundle. And I'm sure the result would be amazing, but it would be pretty much unrecogniseable compared to the movie we actually got.

And that's why, honestly, as much as The Mountain King has more stuff I like in it, I'd say it's worse. Because to fix The Fifty-Year Night, I only need to tweak some things; to fix Mountain King, I need a sledgehammer.

#hilda the series #hilda netflix #ask pika #the fifty year night #the mountain king #hilda and the mountain king #hilda n4 #pikas detailed thoughts

[captain-hen]

holy shit, your post about non-canon queer ships is so real!! and i think the reason why so many of us get attached to fanon ships is because it tends to have the buildup that most canon queer ships now lack for one reason or another -- maybe the writers don't want to be accused of queerbaiting, or they did have plans but their show got cancelled thanks to the streaming model, or maybe these showrunners and writers are just more interested in marketing 'diverse' characters than doing any of the work required to make these stories feel authentic and real.

these days, the characters meet, and you immediately know they're going to get together in about eight episodes. the characters rarely have individual identities or story arcs outside of each other, and the fact that most new shows are only a step away from getting canceled means that the writing rushes through all of the buildup in order to get to the supposed payoff that doesn't make you feel anything.

which is why a ship like buck and eddie, for example, is so much more compelling to me than anything i've seen in the past five years bc we got to actually see these characters grow as individuals and go through so many important relationship-cementing experiences way before they would (presumably) get together. from the many lighthearted fun, moments of friendship to all of the hardships they've endured together to taking the steps they need in order to actually be ready for a relationship -- we got to go on that journey with them every step of the way.

eddie didn't just come in during season two, PTSD-free, mentally healthy, and divorced, and announce that he's queer to the firehouse 0.2 seconds after meeting buck. no, he had to navigate the messiness of his wife coming back and dying, buck had to deal with the fallout of the ladder truck incident, they had to work through the lawsuit and the shooting and the repercussions of said shooting and had to make their way out of relationships that didn't work for them. but they got to do it all together, and we as an audience got to see that relationship play out over six whole seasons.

so now, buck and eddie getting together wouldn't feel manufactured, it would feel real, and rewarding, and it'd feel like the only natural, satisfying conclusion to both of their story arcs. i just...i don't see that in new queer media because we don't get enough about either partner or their dynamic before their relationship turns romantic for me to get invested.

(sorry for dumping in your inbox bjskdjdk, u just did a really great job articulating the exact point about queer rep that i've been trying to put into words for a long time 😅)

no, you're so right! i think this is a combination of showrunners trying have a checklist of 'diverse' characters, and the 8-10 episode model where shows are in constant danger of being canceled. these characters meet, 5 seconds later they're kissing, and they're declaring their undying love for each other at the end of the season...if they even wait that long. it's literally so rare to see shows that actually bother to give queer relationships some time to breathe and develop, the only examples i can think of are casey and izzie from atypical and ava and beatrice from warrior nun. and if what we do end up having most of the time with canon queer couples is fine with the people who like them, then all the power to them! but having a weird superiority complex or decrying others for liking non-canon queer ships is...not it.

i mean, everything you've said about buck and eddie is exactly why i'm so obsessed with them—they meet every single requirement i have for a well-written dynamic! both the characters are fleshed out, rather than being plot devices for each other; their relationship is incredibly well-developed; it's a slow burn; they have interesting conflicts and arcs; and there's actually a reason as to why these two make sense as a couple, rather than them just being two attractive adults in the vicinity of each other. i can't count the number of times i've seen LS fans say that people should just watch lone star because 'the gay couple is actually canon' which is not only infuriating, but also speaks so much as to how people have seemingly ceased to care about good and interesting writing in favour of the canonization of queer ships. (i'm sorry, but t/arlos sucks and i would rather buck and eddie get married to different people rather than ever end up like them)

at the end of the day, good writing matters. interesting and intricate storytelling and development matters. you can't just handwave all of that and pretend it's fine just because the characters are ~~diverse~~. i'm being so serious when i say that i'd rather a show had a handful of characters who are minorities who are written well and manage to drive the plot forward; rather than an entire cast full of them who ultimately don't do anything, and are only there so that the creators can pat themselves on the back and not do any work to actually write them well.

#neethu answers #cityscreams

[mwolf0epsilon]

requesting all your bitter thoughts on popular ships if you’re comfortable 👀

Well I'm probably already gonna get crucified by a lot of people in this fandom for pointing out what ships I find uncomfortable, so why not?

I'll talk about my beef about the fandom depiction of those four ships specifically, because they're the ones riling me up the most whenever I go into the tags.

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Dinluke

I usually don't go anywhere near Mandalorian content (mostly because I haven't watched the show and would like to one day do so at my own pace instead of being pressured into doing so), so finding this ship in tags it doesn't belong to irks me to no end.

I've seen a few bits and pieces that aren't bad, but 90% of the content I've stumbled upon is written or drawn very out of character to the point I'm not sure I'm seeing the characters that are supposedly being depicted.

Trope-heavy fics where Din is aggressive or possessive over Luke are in bad taste, and I hate that a majority of people seems to like this unhealthy and somewhat racist dynamic.

They just honestly don't have any chemistry from what I can tell and the only commonality between them is that they were trying to be there for Grogu in their own way. And then Luke shrugged his shoulders and sent the kid off on his own into an active turf war. That's it.

Bobadin

The fetishisation is strong in this one. Anyone with a twitter account can see what I mean.

It started out as a fairly respectable ship and then it descended into 'fic writing for clout' territory.

You can tell when the author or artist doesn't care much for the characters themselves or their history, and are just putting them in situations where they can be nasty for no reason other than 'this will get me views'.

I have seen some skin crawling content online that really shouldn't have ever spilled out of anyone's brain to ever see the light of day, and no I will not put myself through explaining someone else's weird S&M fetish.

Foxiyo

Gateway ship. It's like Rexsoka, but with a vague cover of legality behind it, because supposedly Riyo Chuchi is a consenting adult.

The most prevalent dynamics depicting this ship are often disrespectful towards Fox and other clones (sometimes infantilising, other times hypersexualising), plus Riyo is written in a way that makes her seem less like an adult and more like a naive child.

Major red flags on this one.

Codywan

A ship that works if written well and respectfully, which is tragically not the case for 99% of times.

Writing Obi-wan as the perfect man with a savior complex that can do no wrong, while Cody is just his basic trophy husband with no personality or skills is... Yikes...

Lets not even talk about all the fetish stuff that goes unchecked half the time. I have seen too much that honest to god rubs me the wrong way.

They say sparsity of actual good content should make it worth more, but in this case I feel like the less good Codywan stuff there is, the more badly written content crops up to fill the void...

#Eps Talks About: #Fan Favourite Ship Opinions #The issues with fetishisation and other such ship content problems #mentions of rexsoka #mentions of foxiyo #It's not just on tumblr either I've seen stuff that I find appalling in other platforms and it's becoming a problem #patchmates

[iliadette]

What are some reasons to actually like Spirk + Star Trek?

I'm an ORV fan but I used to watch Voyager as a kid and I've seen a one or two of the newer movies a few years back (dark something something?) I stayed away from the Star Trek fandom as an adult because I mainly associated it with racism and misogynistic nerd guys.

Hi, anon. Sorry if this ask will take a long time to appear, English is not my first language an I am bad with words on a good day.

You're probably thinking of Into Darkness. It's the second reboot movie. There's a lot of different opinions about those lmao. Personally, I love them even though they do have bad bad points, but then again, I love everything about Star Trek, even at its worst.

There's no denying that there was a bit of period-typical misogyny in the original Star Trek, and it got worse in the long run after Rick Berman was selected for production. Latent misogyny, hetero and amatonormativity, as any 60-to-90s show does. To deny that would be stupid. But.

Star Trek was one of, if not the first, tv programs to depict people of different races working together, as equal as they could get in a military-like setting, in a time when segregation and Cold War were still a thing. A Black woman, an Asian man, a Russian one, a Scottish one, all holding a major position in a government vessel, all iconic characters to this day. Censorship never let him, but Gene Roddenberry, the original creator, always intended to include queer people in ST, as I will explain better later. ‌The original series had episodes which very clearly condemned nazism, racism, the Vietnam war, genocide. The Ferengi race of the Next Generation were created to be a satire of western capitalists but were wrongly pegged as an antisemitic stereotype. If a major character is disabled, they have accomodations made for them, they don't have their disability erased, though I hear that Strange New World kind of fucked that up. An episode of TNG was in protest of conversion therapy though people didn't like how it ended. A major theme of Deep Space Nine revolves around colonialism. It had the first black protagonist (commander and later captain); the first female first officer in the franchise to have a major role, who formerly fought in a resistance movement against a the occupation of her planet by a fascist imperialist race; the first trans woman in all but designation, who btw very much kissed another woman in an absolutely iconic scene; a canonically very neurodivergent doctor. Voyager had the first female captain to star in a series. Seven of Nine's character is particularly dear to me because while it's obvious that she was added mainly to boost and entice the male audience with her sex appeal (and well, I am sapphic and far from immune), it's also obvious how much the writers and Jeri Ryan cared for her storyline and growth. She's such a complex character, I really love her. Seven-centric episodes are always a treat for me. I can't remember anything else off the top of my head, sorry abt that (I also haven't watched Enterprise and the newest series yet so I can't talk about that).

Does ST have bad moments? Misogynistic, racist, homophobic, ableist, amatonormative moments? Hell yes. Some episodes are really cringy and have very bad writing. But there are more good ones than not, and those are the ones I live for, the ones that can give you a message that stays with you, where there was somebody in the crew/cast who read the script, saw something terrible, and went "this will not pass on my watch" and worked together to fix whatever they could. I'm sorry if your experience with Star Trek was with dudebros who think "the woke of the latest series ruined the franchise".

Now, about K/S. I believe with all my heart that nobody needs a reason to ship any two or more characters together. That said, I think Spirk is one of those ships where you have to wear anti-ship goggles not to see the potential (but no big deal if you don't). They touch each other all the time, they risk their life and career multiple times to save the other. This is not inherently a sign of non platonic feelings, and they sure aren't canon as we usually mean it, but.

Writers sure had a field day sprinkling suggestive bits (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) all throughout the franchise, especially queer writers (Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Amok Time and Shore Leave, may his soul be blessed for all eternity).

Bonus for how they look at each other. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Roddenberry himself described their relationship as one of love. It's not mentioned in the series, but in the books it's revealed that they share a telepathic bond that connects their souls, which in Vulcan culture is called t'hy'la which can mean "friend, brother, lover". This definition was created specifically for the two of them, so this is a very obvious wink/nudge, if not an outright acknowledgement that "yes they're in love, but homophobia exists so this is all we can do."

In The Motion Picture when Kirk looks at Spock like a lovesick puppy after a long separation, and the simple feeling not much later.

And can anyone dare to say that those death scenes from The Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness are supposed to be platonic, or what Kirk says about Spock at the beginning of The Search for Spock, that his death feels like he lost "the noblest part of his soul"? And what about "Not in front of the Klingons"??

The books, too, have some very interesting nuance.

Sooooo yeah I absolutely think that Spirk is and will always be the one ship that best comes to mind when it comes to ST. In my eyes and in those of a lot of people they're canon in every way that matters, and if either of them had been female there would have 100% been a marriage in one of the movies, à la Riker/Troi. They'll forever be my ST otp, though I'll occasionally indulge a little bit of Spones and McSpirk. I could even like and reblog other ships like McKirk or Spuhura but only in fanart and only in moderation. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading fanfiction about those. But every ship is valid and equal in fandom, and none is superior just because it's canon and/or had a major role in the birth of shipping culture. Which is the very point all this behemoth of a post originated from, I guess.

This.... Has turned into way more than I thought. Sorry about thay. I hope my answer was satisfactory, anon. Also that I didn't bore you. Hope you have a great day, and thank you for reaching out. ❤️🖖

#star trek #k/s #spirk #anon ask #long post #personal #meta #ish #i think this was coherent

[imakemywings]

Been contemplating for a while but I've observed how the male characters in LOTR/Silmarillion don't get as much vicious hate as the female characters do. Indis, Elwing and Galadriel are some of the characters I've observed to be on the receiving end of this massive hate. Not even Feanor receive this much despite being an asshole.

Unfortunately anon, this is a cross-fandom problem.

In every fandom I've ever been in, the female characters are judged more harshly, by more exacting standards, and treated far worse for failing those standards. It's not even really a joke that people love male character for the same things they would castigate a female character for (for instance, the way Maedhros' suicide is treated as something complex and sympathetic, while Elwing's suicide is characterized as "abandoning her children"). Male characters like Feanor can be lauded and loved for being a Magnificent Bastard, while a female character who's even impolite on an occasion gets treated like the devil.

A female character has to be above reproach, and then you'll just get the Mary Sue label thrown around. Anything that can be perceived as a fault will be used to villainize her, along with some that people just invented. She can only be cool and likeable if she has no character flaws (See: Aredhel wasn't really abused by Eol because only weak women end up in abusive marriages).

This seems to go doubly for any mother characters. Fans will bend over backwards to explain why their male favs' problems are actually the fault of their shitty mothers (See: abusive Nerdanel is why the Feanorians took the oath). People love to find reasons why a mother character is actually a piece of shit (See: Calling Morwen a bad mom for sending Turin away from an occupied town where, as the son and heir of the presumed-fallen lord, he has a massive fucking target on his back), usually for, um, [checks notes] being a person with her own needs and desires outside of being a mother (See: Idril actually forced Earendil and Elwing to get married even though they didn't want to do it). If you are a mother character who has ambitions or dreams outside of raising your child, you are fucked as far as fandom goes, because everyone knows a woman is supposed to be wholly and totally fulfilled by motherhood and dedicate every remaining moment of her life to servicing her child (See: Nerdanel, Anaire, and Earwen should be hated by their adult children for not joining the rebellion of the Noldor). (Not to even mention if you are a mother character who turns out to not enjoy motherhood that much.)

But even where the character isn't a mom, the willingness to blame the lone female character in a situation for the shitty outcome is truly astounding (See: It's actually Idril's fault Gondolin fell). It doesn't matter if she canonically worked to avoid that outcome--some fans while find a reason to blame her for it (See: Elwing secretly wanted her kids to get killed by the Feanorians).

Some of this is obviously just straight-up misogyny from male fans who hate female characters having a place in popular stories or God forbid being stronger/smarter/more competent than their male favs (See: the hate towards Luthien for succeeding in obtaining a Silmaril where Maedhros failed), but some of it is also internalized misogyny from female fans who love to shred a female character who they feel wasn't adoring enough to their male blorbo (See: Idril was cruel to Maeglin for not returning his deeply unwelcome advances or "giving him a chance").

(Side note: I fee like Indis is the least culpable for the outcome of the Indis-Finwe-Miriel situation so it's always baffling to me how she gets the most hate for it. See: how it used to be (still is?) acceptable in some Tolkien fandom circles to call Indis a "breeder.")

All of these takes are ones I have seen genuinely argued by fans in the brief two years I have spent in this fandom. I don't know what it will take for fandom to grant female characters the same leash male characters get, but I think it will be a much broader, society-wide reckoning with how women are judged for their actions respective to men.

However, I do also want to say there are a lot of fans who make a real effort to delve into the lives of the female characters, both named and unnamed, and explore their side of the story and their feelings on it. If you're feeling disheartened by the hate, check out some of these authors and artists who have clearly put a lot of love into looking at the female characters! Recs below the cut.

Dis and her sister-in-law discuss the upcoming battle of Azanulbizar (fanfic; 1.3k)

Tauriel x OFC (fanart)

Earwen in the aftermath of Alqualonde (fanfic)

Feanorian wives (fanart)

Luthien, Aredhel, and Galadriel go hunting (fanfic; 12k)

Indis/Miriel (fanfiction; 2.5k)

The Lay of the Three Wives of the Sons of Feanor (fan poem; 810) Heather writes a LOT about female Tolkien characters if you're looking for more content!

Galadriel and Luthien in Doriath (fanfic; 17k)

Indis and Finwe (fanart)

Morwen and Aerin during Dor-Lomin's occupation (fanfic) Nelyo writes a lot about Morwen and her experiences if you're looking for more!

Queerplatonic partners Anaire and Earwen (edit)

Nerdanel over the years (fanfic; 5k)

Elwing in Valinor, on forgiveness (fanfic; 46k)

So while there definitely is a lot of hate for female characters, there is also a lot of love, and many fans who pour their hearts into connecting, exploring, and expanding these characters, and that should be celebrated (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

#asks #anonymous #mine

[xan-from-space]

Hey episode 5 of Ahsoka is actually, like...really good (yes I'm making my way through those show so so slowly). Like up to this point the show has been fine but this episode I actually loved. [Warning for giant nonsense ramble of my Ahsoka feelings under the cut]

I think I still need time to process what it means for my girl's wider character arc but I do think it's going in a direction I like. Ariana Greenblatt did a great job as young Ahsoka, and even though Rosario Dawson's portrayal of Ahsoka is not always my favourite I actually thought it was pretty good in this episode.

We finally see Ahsoka grapple with the trauma of being a child soldier and watching all these clones die (and I've always headcanoned Ahsoka as being much closer to the clones than other jedi, both because Anakin was as well, and because she was a 14 year old with almost no other friends). I like how how it mentioned Ahsoka not wanting to fight a war anymore (and she's felt that way for a while now; she chose to be an informant rather than a warrior in the rebellion, and yet she keeps getting pulled back into fighting) I also got some mortis arc feelings with Ahsoka's 'death' and the visions, in sort of a bookend way where this time we're looking at the same events in a retrospective sense. There were some interesting insights into Anakins character, and I think it sort of helped reconcile some of the more jarring differences between his character in the movies and in the clone wars, and showed him to be a flawed and complex character. I think it's really interesting how reframed through Ahsoka's adult eyes Clone Wars Anakin comes across to us much differently. It's always fascinating to me how clone wars era Anakin cared about people so much but also so little, and how him teaching Ahsoka that emotions weren't evil helped her a lot but at the same time his emotions certainly did lead him to become evil. (I've always thought of the difference between Anakin and Ahsoka as Anakin being passionate vs Ahsoka being compassionate; thanks to Anakin, Ahsoka has a much more healthy relationship to her emotions than a lot of other jedi did, but she was always much more open to other viewpoints than Anakin was. Anyway. I didn't want this to turn into a full on character study but too late.)

Occasionally I'll see a criticism of Ahsoka that goes like "Ahsoka is just Dave Filoni's special little oc who has to be the most important, enlightened character who's the most connected to the light side of the force", which like, I get it, but I really don't think Ahsoka being Important To The Narrative of Star Wars as a whole is a bad thing. I do see her as being more connected to the light side than most of the other force users in the series (personally I really enjoy all the light side/daughter symbolism around Ahsoka, and her place as something other than a jedi). She IS a special and important character, and her story has been leading up to this for a long time. (Not to bring it back to Anakin all the time but he was even more of a special boy prophecy important character (he was more of a prodigy than Ahsoka was), and I think it works for their stories) (in a way I think Anakin was born into a big destiny whereas Ahsoka grew into one due to both choices she made and circumstances outside of her control) (I just think comparing and contrasting the two of them is really interesting)

Anyway this is to say that after being pulled out of the water Ahsoka did a bunch of crazy light wizard shit and I enjoyed every bit of it. She honestly felt more like her old self at the end of this episode than she has any other time we've seen her in live action, so I'm really happy for her. My girl is healing.

If you read that whole thing (thanks for listening to me lol) take it with a grain of salt because like I said I'm still behind on this show 😅. I just like writing about Ahsoka.

#I was not expecting to actually like this show but I'm happy to be proven wrong #I think because I disliked ahsokas portrayal in the mandalorian #I thought it would be the same in this show #ahsoka show #ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #up to episode 5 at least #ahsoka tano #anakin skywalker #star wars #star wars the clone wars #long post