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pollenallergie · 2 years

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18+ only!!

do not interact if you’re under 18 years old!

I personally disagree with the headcanon that Eddie can’t cook. In fact, I think that man passed Home Ec. with flying colors in high school. Most of the Hellfire guys took shop class because they thought it was more manly or badass or whatever the fuck, but not Eddie. Eddie needed to learn to sew because Wayne sucked at it and the old lady two lots over was getting real sick of him asking her to use her frail, arthritic fingers to sew yet another goddamn patch on his vest or his backpack or whatever else he wanted to decorate with the logos of his favorite metal bands. Glenda was a sweet lady, of course, and she loved Eddie like he was her own grandson, but even her kindness had its limits. So, he took Home Ec. Plus, he kind of underestimated it and thought it would be like way easier than shop class.

Turns out it was actually insanely more difficult because while Jeff and Gareth got to spend forty-five minutes a day working on bird houses and toolboxes, Eddie had to learn how to operate a sewing machine, create a household budget, change a dirty diaper, and, oh yeah, make like three different kinds of sauce from fucking scratch. Labor intensity aside, Eddie oddly thrived in that class. I mean, he took to the sewing machine like a champ and he made a mean roux for mac and cheese. Not to mention, Miss Bowman absolutely adored him.

That was her first year teaching at Hawkins High, having just graduated college, so she was already plenty nervous. However, it got much, much worse when the, at the time, 16-year-old metalhead, who smelled like a well-used ashtray, sauntered into her class fifteen minutes late and very clearly stoned out of his mind. Imagine her surprise when that same kid expressed a genuine interest in learning how to keep track of household purchases and sharpen a kitchen knife. Unbeknownst to her, his fascination stemmed from the fact that 1) being able to keep track of financial transactions would be super beneficial for him as a rookie pot dealer and 2) the kid liked sharp, shiny things. So, in her blissful ignorance, Miss Bowman actually kind of developed a soft spot for the misfit, much like a little kid might for a scrappy alleycat.

Not to mention, due to him genuinely wanting to learn how to do some of this shit, Eddie rarely showed up to class late or less-than-sober after that first day. He even began to enjoy that class a little bit; the teacher was nice, she didn’t hate him (which was rare), and most of the kids in the class were pretty accepting of him once they realized that he was pulling a stable A-. In fact, the future head-cheerleader, Chrissy Cunningham, even directly asked him for help with her sourdough starter once; which he thought was pretty cool (and also terrifying).

A couple years down the line, his impeccable home-making skills would come in handy when he finally managed to snag the person of his dreams, you. In fact, your first date with Eddie involved him making an elaborate feast of spaghetti in doused in a delightful, homemade bolognese sauce with a side of homemade garlic bread (Eddie made the bread from scratch and everything) and some wine (that he definitely did not steal from a liquor store two towns over because Eddie would never do that), lighting some candles, turning on some soft music (one of Wayne’s old country records; the only one that Eddie figured wasn’t too twangy), and setting tiny kitchen table like it was a fancy table-for-two at some pricey restaurant in the city. It was perfect and, honestly more than you’d ever expected. When he asked you out, you expected a simple movie date or maybe going to watch some band who was not nearly as good as Corroded Coffin play at local bar together, not an amazing home-cooked meal and a night alone with a shaggy-haired, doe eyed aidoneus. It’s safe to say that the pasta wasn’t the only thing that got saucy that night, if you catch my drift. Eddie gave you a taste of his other homemade sauce, if you know what I mean.

So yeah, Eddie Munson can cook. The man is a fucking wiz in the kitchen.

#why must my brain plague me with random headcanons for edward francis munson instead of letting me sleep???#that being said…#put some respect on his name #the man is a god #can he remember to shower regularly? no #but can he cook a fucking deliciousioso meal for the one he loves? fuck yeah he can #eddie my beloved #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson thoughts #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson fic #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things vol 4 #eddie munson #eddie munson ficlet #pol’s greatest hits

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fincalinde · 1 year

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asking you about... wen qing

I will admit that WQ is actually one of the characters I've thought about the least, because she has minimal impact on the characters I'm personally invested in. That said, of course I've done some close reading because I am a super mega nerd and I do have thoughts.

I actually feel bad for WQ as a character, not just within the narrative but in the context of how she appears to be treated by fandom. The yassification of female characters is so depressing to me and she's probably one of the characters who suffers most under fandom's misguided and yet utterly relentless commitment to its own brand of frustratingly regressive progressivism.

Normally all my meta is grounded firmly in MDZS, but I do have to mention CQL here to underline my point. There's an abortive romance arc introduced between WQ and JC in CQL, and while (reasons behind that particular decision aside) I have no issue with that change in theory, it's directly responsible for one of the two main fandom-sanctioned WQ takes.

Take One (thanks CQL)

WQ is a badass awesome lady yeah! She pegs JC all night long because penetration is empowering!

Take Two (actually I'd blame CQL for this too except fandom loves doing this to all female characters regardless)

WQ is a badass awesome lesbian yeah! She's in a lesbian relationship with [insert female character du jour here] because she is a lesbian and that's empowering!

In case you can't tell, I have minimal patience for this sort of thing. Everyone has the right to write and enjoy whatever they like, but in my own space I have the right to highlight fandom trends and interpretations that I feel are unsupported. A lot of my frustration stems from the very fact that they are trends. Individual fics and meta posts are rarely the issue. The issue is that it's so difficult to find anything that is actually textually-grounded.

Anyway, the WQ and JC relationship in CQL is actually quite a mature depiction of two people who have an interest in each other and ultimately recognise that a relationship would not only be impractical, but that neither of them are the type to forgo their other loyalties and responsibilities for each other. Quite a neat parallel to Xiyao and contrast to Wangxian, actually. Overlooking these challenges in favour of centring the question of who is penetrating whom doesn't do either character justice. Pegging is all good fun, but its prevalence with this particular pairing is something that raises my eyebrow. I am deeply wary of analysis that looks at the power dynamic of a relationship, concludes that the woman has the stronger personality, and equates that with the man being the receiving partner.

As for WQ being a lesbian, from what I can tell this originates in theory from WQ being alone with JYL one time in CQL (gasp) coupled with fandom's insatiable need to make every single female character a lesbian regardless of whether the text supports it or not. And I'd be truly interested in a resistant read or a speculative fic that is canon consistent and depicts WQ as a lesbian; in MDZS especially we know nothing about her orientation. And yet what I see is not thoughtful explorations of gaps in the text. It's muddy hobnail boots all over the text and the result is rarely nuanced or convincing. WQ and her partner du jour are reduced to a superficial collection of traits only tenuously connected to the source at best, and more often than not they are also supporting characters, existing within a fic merely to cheerlead the m/m couple and nominally tick a box on the representation checklist.

This post is quite harsh so I'll reiterate: I'm not speaking about any particular person or fic here. I'm speaking about trends. The problem is one of quantity as much as it is quality. If I could find a reasonable percentage of content with a solid grounding in the source material I would be very happy, but the ratio is just absolutely horrendous.

Getting back to what is actually present in the text, WQ is an incredibly resilient character. She's trying to balance her loyalty to her clan with her own ethics and the wellbeing of her brother and she does as well as anyone can in the circumstances. I like that she isn't necessarily the Actually Good Wen and that she isn't secretly working against WRH. She doesn't really like what he's doing but she understands the reality of her position and she's trying to work with that. I always respect that in a character because I find it much less interesting when someone wearing protagonist armour comes smashing through the plot (WWX, we'll get to you later).

#ask #exoscopy #roquen meta #i hope i've properly contextualised why i have gripes #and made it clear i'm not targeting (or frankly even thinking of)#anyone in particular #but here goes!

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mediaevalmusereads · 23 days

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The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. By Theodora Goss. Saga Press, 2017.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: (YA?) historical sci fi/fantasy/mystery

Series: The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #1

Summary: Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: madness, mention of suicide, blood, self-inflicted wounds, animal death, violence

OVERVIEW: This is another book that sat on my TBR for ages. I remember picking it up at a used bookstore solely because I liked the vibes; I'm not usually a fan of books that use characters in the public domain (it feels too close to fanfiction for me), but I thought I'd give it a chance. Overall, my opinion of this book is not glowing. I can see how some readers may like it; it's kind of fun, and a girl group that goes around investigating secret societies has appeal. However, I wasn't very impressed by the writing, and the way the narrarive progressed just wasn't great. So this book gets 2 stars.

WRITING: While I think Goss's prose is fairly clear and easy to read, there were a few features that I personally disliked.

For one, this book is heavy on the expositional dialogue. Characters will speak for whole paragraphs at a time, explaining things so that the story has context.

For two, Goss uses a lot of filter words so that I always felt a little at arm's length. Phrases like "Mary wondered" or "Mary thought" were common, and while they didn't bother me all the time, they did add up.

For three, Goss uses a lot of exclamations and prompts "suspense" with a bunch of questions, which make the book seem aimed at a younger audience. Phrases like "He had swallowed the fly!" and "how tired she was!" felt like they were inserted to spell things out, as well as questions like "but why was she killed?" - as if Goss didn't trust the reader to infer things. I guess maybe this would be ok if the audience is in fact YA (though it's hard to tell - there's nothing definitive that I can find).

And lastly, I just wanted something more out of this book regarding female monstrosity. This may seem like an unfair criticism, but Goss's author's note claims that the idea for this book stemmed from an observation that a lot of 19th century mad scientists in literature were hung up on female monsters. That observation is a good one, but ultimately, I didn't feel like this book really dwelled on the theme of female monstrosity or did anything interesting with it. The book was mostly about all these lady monsters going around and being badass, and even then, they're not really all that monsterous.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Mary Jekyll - daughter of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Henry Jekyll - who is left penniless following the death of her mother. When Mary discovers that her mother had secretly been paying for the care of someone named Hyde - the same name as her father's associate and criminal-at-large - she figures she can turn him in and claim the reward money. However, Mary discovers that Hyde is in fact Diana Hyde - Mr. Hyde's daughter. The two find themselves tangled up in a murder mystery (being investigated by Sherlock Holmes) which leads them to the daughters of other famous scientists: Beatrice Rappiccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein. Together, they seek to uncover a secret society that united their fathers while also exploring what it means to be the progeny of monsters.

There was a lot about this plot that felt fairly whimsical and joyful. I could tell that Goss was enjoying the writing process and those who have read the 19th century stories this book references will surely get a chuckle out of some things.

However, I couldn't help but feel like this book was aimed at a young audience, in part because there wasn't much about the plot itself that was clever. It often felt like Goss was hand-holding a bit too much, and though the characters tell us the girls are smart, they never really do anything exceptional. All of their insights feel obvious if you're familiar with the stories the book is referencing. As a result, this book felt like a Ready Player One but for 19th century Gothic novels - it's mainly enjoyable for the references rather than the story itself. If the audience is a YA one and truly meant to be just a fun 19th century monstrous girl gang, then I guess I can see the appeal. But since I struggled to determine the audience, I'll just have to call it like I see it.

Lastly, this book felt stuffed with unnecessary details. There were quite a few paragraphs about characters eating meals or descriptions of where they were sitting in the room. There were also a lot of explanatory phrases that let the reader know why characters were making decisions or why things were in the world, and dialogue would get long and meandering. I think a lot of these details could have been cut or inferred and the pacing of the plot as a whole would have felt much better.

CHARACTERS: This book primarily focuses on 5 girls, their housekeeper, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

There were moments when the characters were charming. Diana Hyde, for example, was feisty and obstinate, and Justine Frankenstein was sweet-natured and timid despite being so strong.

However, I do think the writing style tends to flatten them out, and though I didn't mind their chiding in the "interruptions," I also don't feel like I fully got to know them as people. I think the characterization would have been better if each of the girls grappled with their own identities and with their own concept of monstrosity. While there's a little of that, it's quickly brushed aside and the characters don't so much grow as they have adventurous romps together.

TL;DR: The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter tries to have fun with female monstrosities from the 19th century, but the lackluster mystery and the prose style make this book tedious to read.

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softlyspector · 5 months

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Hi hi hi hi hi it is rant anon here to gush about your latest fic. Before that though: LOVE that your best friend doesn't know what femme fatale means but assumed you must be one bc it sounds badass. Idk if this description actually fits him but this story has such himbo vibes and I love that. Also every time you mention him I picture him as the sidekick in a movie in which you are the protagonist. Lastly before we get to Grsys, as a poc I appreciated that post you reblogged about writing inclusively!

OKAY SO NOW WE GET TO YOUR LATEST MASTERPIECE. Looove how grumpy Joel is right off the bat. I too would be struggling to hold in my laughter. Also love that his "acts of service is my main love language" ass mentioned getting help and then immediately, upon actually receiving it, said NOPE 😂 the little shoulder yank detail was so cute and I adore the way you describe the sunset. The scene setting in this fic is just *chef's kiss*. "Joel does this sometimes. Works himself like a dog, gets grouchy and sharp, forgets to eat." MY HEAD IS ABOUT TO FALL OFF FROM HOW FEROCIOUSLY I NODDED AT THIS. I have said it before and I will say it again: you just GET IT. "You aren’t sure what he’s seen on your face that makes him fold inward, shut the door closed on you." I have had like... this EXACT thought about several people throughout my life. Once again: you just GET IT. "You’d both gone months, once, without ever taking your shoes off, aside to tape them and switch socks, too afraid you might not have a moment to put them back on." Every time you provide backstory it hits exactly right... this detail in particular... LOVE love love love love looove it. "Joel still ate like he expected rations to run out. It’s unconscious, but it still worries you." I could CRY listen I started reading this when I was eating pizza while sitting on my bedroom floor but once I read this I had to migrate over to my bed I was just so AFFECTED.

All the details about their nightly routines (alternating btwn words and music has my whole heart!!) were so wonderfully described and everything about Joel's internal struggles with being taken care of was top notch. Understand why this is a Joel character study bc it feels like you dissected his thoughts and labelled them with laboratory efficiency (I'm in STEM so let me assure you that's a compliment, feel like it might have sounded a little weird without the explanation 😂). "Joel has, frankly, smelled much worse." Becca you got me chuckling out here!! Also!!! Joel being described as a dog and thinking of his partner as a wet cat when angry??? TOP TIER I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT. Joel is indeed a guard dog and would totally latch onto someone with wet cat vibes. The details about Appalachian food and reader having a stronger accent when sleepy? *Beautiful show-stopping spectacular never been done before totally unique Lady Gaga meme*. Joel not knowing what his partner is thinking??? Being so sure he needs a haircut when they were hoping he wouldn't get one??? STOP I'm gonna CRY. "Not since he was a kid, at the very least. He’s never been the one that got held, just the one doing the holding, and he hates that he likes it." Oh... oh my heart... I want to hold him in my hands like a little bird. Damn you, Pixel Texan. "He’d have to find something new when you’re done with it. Something seasonally appropriate, if he can help it. Some kind of Hallmark holiday romance ordeal. He’d like to hear you giggle through reading something like that out loud" BECCA. HOW HAVE YOU ENCAPSULATED EVERYTHING I WANT IN 4 SENTENCES HOW THE FUCK DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS??! The softness, the sweetness, the tenderness, the affection, the care, the consideration, FUCK.

"He loves you, too, even though he’s cranky about the whole goddamn world." Well first of all this is the perfect closing line to this beautiful fic and second it reminds me of the post you reblogged that was about the typical stoic man who is only soft for his s/o. You said let's be quiet about it together in the tags and after having read this fic I am gonna close my eyes and appreciate how well you've mastered that trope with a moment of grateful silence.

Have a lovely day!!

Hiiiiii lovely rant anon! My bestie does have himbo vibes but only sometimes. And we're that duo that each thinks of each other as the sidekick so, it's hard to tell who's who for me lmao. And on your last point before we get to Grays, I always try to write as inclusively as I can in terms of the reader's appearance, and I think I do an okay job and trust that y'all you let me know if something wasn't right.

Okay! Now, to Grays!

Loooooooove to write grumpy, grumpy Joel. He's definitely so cranky when he's tired and hasn't eaten, but yes of course, he's still not going to let you help him.

I have said it before and I will say it again: you just GET IT.

Stop it this is the thing that makes me go crazy. I'm always happy when y'all think I got his characterization right.

All the details about their nightly routines (alternating btwn words and music has my whole heart!!)

He he, I imagine him being kind of cranky about this too, when they first started doing it, but then he got invested in the first book and they never looked back.

Joel not knowing what his partner is thinking??? Being so sure he needs a haircut when they were hoping he wouldn't get one??? STOP I'm gonna CRY.

He truly is just thinking the worse of himself at all times. I love when couples who know each other so well know exactly what the other is thinking, but have these little moment of self doubt, not because of their partner but because of their own thoughts. It's such a delicious little snack to me so I can never resist writing it.

Oh... oh my heart... I want to hold him in my hands like a little bird.

This is the exact feeling I get when I look at Joel.

The softness, the sweetness, the tenderness, the affection, the care, the consideration, FUCK

Listen I just really think Joel would be a secret romance lover. Like he loves those cheesy Hallmark movies, of course he wants them to read a little holiday romance book next.

As always, thank you for sharing your lovely thoughts with me and being so very kind. ALSO mastered a trope?? Stop it. I love you, rant anon. Anyway, I hope you had/have the most lovely day <33333

#bec talks #rant anon #grays replies

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highsviolets · 3 years

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hey 😚🖤

#it’s not letting me add to the post?? weird #but wow!! my dear I am so PROUD of you for persisting in both writing and posting your original work #that takes so much courage #I am in awe of how well you are able to execute your vision for CA #everything falls together in just the right way with just the right amount of spookiness #your MIND!!#and I know you don’t write for fandom anymore but I still think about the stuff you wrote #when you did #and how kind you were when you wrote that oneshot 🥺#you are a very genuine person with a kind heart and I love #how you are yourself and chase your goals #not to mention a badass lady in STEM #you deserve all the good things #ask #ladytrashbird!#submission

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grokebaby · 2 years

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OC ASKS ATTACK!!

1.- Imagine all of our ocs had to fight eachother. Who'd win and why?

2.- Favourite and least-favourite oc? Why?

3.- Oldest oc? Newest oc? Could you explain a bit of their story?

Yo nice attack bro

1. (I assume you meant to type "Your" and not "our" bc unfortunately I don't know your ocs sorrey) Ooojjj my god. Disastrous multiverse crossover. Even imagining all the characters of one story in a big tournament would be.. Well badass tbh but messy lol. For me personally it'd be a whole entire discussion in itself to just list who would win in a fight against who (new ask game anyone?)

If I had to list like the one character I know would survive everything, regardless of if they technically "lose" or "win" any battle, I'd probably say that's Della/Dave the Illusionist. Bc she's a resilient little fuck who won't die despite everything (being a paradox does that to you)

2. GOSH I'm bad at picking just one of anything but that's a juicy question. I do have some favorites I'd say but who I'm most interested in at any time fluctuates. I like to keep it fresh. I'd call my least favorites those who I have very little interest in 😅 but it's not always even that personal. I think I automatically have some fondness for older characters who've stuck around through the years. Will expand on this under a read more bc it'll be rambly

3. I've answered this oldest question before a few ways. Newest tho? Uhhhhh. Torpor? I whipped her up on a whim some few nights ago. Concept and design at once, although the design is still pretty wip. I do also have the case of having 'new' ocs but they've been in progress (like having a design but lacking everything else or stuff like that) for some time, so I have yet to really introduce them

Here's a peek of Torpor for you btw. She's one of Unjust's family along with Hysteria. I'm working on an introductory post for her so I won't get into it in detail rn, but basically big living meat cocoon and embodiment of how executive dysfunction feels

Expansion on Q#2 below

Out of all my antagonists so far Ngah has to be among my favorites tbh. She stems from my own experiences and getting to grapple with her kinda helps formulate some things. Also I'm just glad to have a lady villain who isn't motivated by love or romance. Familial love maybe, but you get my point. She isn't oppressive and small-minded bc of her love for her children (although that affects her motivations), but bc she has oppressive and small-minded views on the world. Also, I like that she's arrogant and a fucking powerhouse. She deserves to get nerfed though lol. I'm also fond of Lamera and the relationship between him and his mother.

Grandefel has always been a fave. I haven't given her enough spotlight admittedly but I just like her alot regardless.

Unfortunately I'd have to put ZZZ in my least favorites, which is concerning bc I should give them more development and appreciation in the story. Unfortunately I can't make myself extremely invested in their story and character. It just doesn't hit me all that much, but I wish it did. ZZZ deserves so much better

Outside of lack of interest I'm not sure if I'm entirely comfortable discussing my least favorites bc I'd say those are related to actual irl bad memories and I don't wanna get into that w my current mental health.

Outside of the damn angels tho:

Ebony! I'm a big fan of hers! I love!!! Ebony!!!

Jetter/Peaches gets an honourable mention, she's still with me after all these years and has shared pain with me. And grown and developed into something better on top of it. Diane also gets an honourable mention, props to her for being the only reasonable and tolerable person in her family lmao

Kern. I like her. I just like her and think about her and Hael fairly frequently. Nothing too special I just like

Unjust funny and awful :)

Syöjätär. Nobody knows this one and I won't elaborate

Alby will always be so fun to draw but I'm not sentimental over him. Call him a mascot maybe.

Twig, I think they should get to beat people up <3 although I'm a little halfway on Twig, on one hand meh but on the other hand, such a compelling character. It's complicated

Theo, who's a pretty miserable wet rag guy but I grapple with my compulsions through him. He has those too, although they're different it's still at the core of the issue

Dave/Della the Illusionist probably, I can't get anywhere w/o mentioning er

#Ask #My ocs #Theo #Twig #Torpor #Ebony #Alby #Jetter #Eh I can't tag all of them #Thanks for the ask!! Genuinely

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shelobussy · 3 years

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Ohmygod YES Susan Pevensie is awesome please talk to me about Susan i want to know everything you have to say

Literally THANK YOU for asking me this bc Susan Pevensie is a character I never get asked about and I have So Many Opinions.

I'm going to start by saying that Susan used to be my least favorite character in the series. This goes for the books and the movies. Some of it was for personal reasons--she reminds me of a couple of annoying ppl I know irl--but it was also bc I watched Prince Caspian which shoehorned her into a relationship with Caspian which I hated.

HOWEVER. I ended up rethinking this position after interacting with Susan fans and realizing that there are so many wonderful things to love about her!

(putting under the cut bc this got long)

Things Ash Loves About Susan Pevensie

Aight I'm not going to do a formal analysis yet on her, but instead rant about some of the unrelated things I adore about Susan Pevensie.

Susan the Archer

Look we all love archery here. I don't have anything more to say.

Okay, I actually do have more to say. I love the fact that Susan is a complete badass with the bow. You get the general impression that she's one of the royals in charge of public relations, traditions, foreign policy, etc. and yet she's the most competent archer in the series. One of the few things I liked about the movies is how they didn't downplay this. They actually let her be a badass and show off her skills.

Also the part where she kicks Trumpkin's ass was awesome.

Susan the Gentle

Susan being the most passive Pevensie was something I definitely underappreciated as a teenager. I think my non-ability to see past "I'm not like other girls" narrative and the combination of Susan being described as the most traditionally feminine woman in the Narnia series is what initially turned me off from her.

HOWEVER, now it's one of my favorite attributes! I love that Susan is a badass and the most beautiful woman in Narnia. She has hair down to her feet, every man and woman in the kingdom want to fuck her, and she's still a fucking badass who will not hesitate to kick your ass.

Susan the Sister

Most of my thoughts of Susan as an older sister mostly stem from my own personal headcanons, but she is an awesome sister to her siblings. She's Peter's voice of reason, Edmund's sass partner, and Lucy's big sister.

Susan the Mom-Friend

She is a literal mother-figure for Corin.

"[...] the most beautiful lady he had ever seen rose from her place and threw her arms round him and kissed him, saying: "Oh Corin, Corin, how could you? And thou and I such close friends ever since thy mother died. [...]"

-The Horse and His Boy, 33-34

Most everything I have to say about this ventures into headcanon territory, but I love the idea of Susan basically adopting Corin after his mom dies. The way she trusts Cor--who she thinks is Corin in this chapter--is really sweet and I wish we could've seen more of that relationship.

Susan the Flawed

Something I notice from the fandom is a lot of people who hate Susan tend to because of her flaws. On the other hand, most Susan stans like to wave away these flaws and blame C.S. Lewis for being misogynistic or Aslan for being a "cruel god" and ignore the fact that she is a deeply flawed person.

Susan gets something of a "reverse redemption arc" in The Chronicles of Narnia. This makes her not only a fascinating foil to Edmund--as both are analytical, logical people--but an interesting character by herself.

She starts out in TWW as very skeptical of Narnia and it's whole deal and also very condescending to Lucy throughout. She ultimately does admit that Lucy was right and does get on board with the whole prophecy at the same time Peter does, and ends the book being crowned "the Gentle Queen."

In The Horse and His Boy, she has a very interesting dynamic with Edmund and in even more interesting relationship with Rabadash. They don't even interact on-page with each other, but it's highly implied that she was interested in him when he was a guest in Narnia. His behavior obviously changed when she visited him in Tashbaan, but you have to wonder what their dynamic was like before for her to travel all the way to his home when relations between the countries were strained at best.

Prince Caspian is where the cracks start showing through. Susan has lived an entire life as an adult in Narnia, gets thrown back to England with her siblings, and is yet again in Narnia as a child. This book is what really emphasizes her one fatal flaw: convenience.

(Put a pin in that thought, I'll get back to it.)

Susan denies once again that Lucy saw something that the rest of them can't seen. She continues this narrative until every other sibling finally acknowledges Lucy in the right and only then does she apologize.

The last mention of Susan is in The Last Battle, where all of her flaws rise up against her in the worst way possible. I have a lot of controversial opinions on this that I'm going to address later, but I just want to say that Susan's reverse-redemption arc is something I actually like about her.

(There is also evidence that Susan does get a full redemption arc, just as Edmund and Eustace did, but C.S. Lewis was pretty much done with The Chronicles of Narnia at the point and instead encouraged fans to write their own version of how that went down.)

Okay, back to convenience being Susan's fatal flaw. So the one thing that comes up time and time again in the series is that Susan is very focused on material comforts. I believe it's implied that she's vain, and it's canonical that her own personal comfort spurs her to make decisions.

"[...] I really believed it was him — he, I mean — yesterday. When he warned us not to go down to the fir wood. And I really believed it was him tonight, when you woke us up. I mean, deep down inside. Or I could have, if I'd let myself. But I just wanted to get out of the woods and — and — oh, I don't know [...]"

Prince Caspian, 81

Prince Caspian has the strongest examples of Susan doing this, but certainly there's evidence elsewhere. There are a lot of fans who are distressed by this, claiming that Aslan and the others are too hard on her and shouldn't judge.

Honestly, I like that she's written with this flaw. Not only is it very relatable--(my own personal comfort and convenience is something I highly prioritize too)--but it humanizes a character who otherwise is ridiculously op and basically the Helen of Troy of the series. It may sound like I'm using this as an excuse to rant, but I really wouldn't have her any other way.

Susan As Portrayed by Anna Popplewell

Movie!Susan is a fucking delight.

She's sarcastic and badass and awesome and I could spend hours heaping praise on Anna's acting and her portrayal of Susan, but I can already tell that this post is going to be long so, I'll just stop here.

(10/10 want to be stabbed by her tho.)

Personal Headcanons

Let's talk about my fanon thoughts. I have many.

Susan is Aro

There's canonical evidence for this! Susan is a character who is heavily pursued by suitors everywhere, and even lets herself be courted by many of them, but chooses not to settle down. Even when she gets back to England and is described as only having interest in parties and material things, boys aren't mentioned.

I like to think that in The Horse in His Boy Susan was interested in Rabadash at first because he was a brilliant conversationalist. Nothing she says about him implies romantic interest, before and after she realizes the truth of his intentions.

Susan and Edmund Were Best Friends

This might be my love for The Horse and His Boy showing itself, but I think Susan and Edmund were thrown into circumstances where they interacted the most with each other.

Edmund is the ruler in charge of politics. Susan is the ruler in charge of Cair Paravel's public image. I imagine they spent time as ambassadors to other countries and planning royal functions.

They're also the most level-headed and logical out of their siblings, so they probably found a lot in common.

Susan Fancast

I literally just said I loved Anna's potrayal of Susan's (and I love what they gave us of older Susan too in LWW!), but I read the books in 2008 and my parents didn't let me see the movies bc I was like...nine years old and they thought it would be too scary.

So I had to headcanon my own interpretations.

Queen Susan the Gentle:

For some reason Merlin wasn't too scary for me to watch and I fell in love with Katie McGrath in like. Two episodes so. (On an unrelated note, I also fancast Bradley James as Peter at the time.)

Anyway, fanon Susan is basically Morgana Pendragon pre-evil arc. Sassy as hell, hot as fuck, and can kick your ass.

Unpopular Opinions

Yeah, feel free to skip this part if having controversial fandom opinions is a deal breaker for you.

The Problem With Susan Isn't Actually A Problem

I'm about to start so much discourse in the Narnia fandom, but C.S. Lewis's choices with her in The Last Battle weren't misogynistic. Bear in mind, I'm not saying that all of his writing choices in the series were A++ or excusing away certain racist/sexiest bits, but it's honestly baffling to me that people are so up in arms over Susan's exclusion in the final book.

So the part that everyone loses their shit over is as follows:

"My sister Susan," answered Peter shortly and gravely, "is no longer a friend of Narnia."

"Yes," said Eustace, "and whenever you've tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says 'What wonderful memories you have! Fancy your still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.'"

"Oh Susan!" said Jill, "she's interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up."

"Grown-up, indeed," said the Lady Polly. "I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can."

The Last Battle, 83-84

There's a lot to unpack here and I first want to say that everyone's opinion on this part, no matter how different than mine, is valid. I'm going to be quoting some other ppl's opinions on here and by no means am I bashing them. I just want to address my feelings on the matter and the best way to do that is to cite the thoughts of ppl who have opposing ideas.

Here are some arguments on Tumblr I've heard regarding "The Problem of Susan":

"How about we talk about what might have happened if Narnia hadn't deserted Susan? [...] What if we didn't tell Susan she had to go grow up in her own world and then shame and punish her for doing just that? She was told to walk away and she went. She did not try to stay a child all her life, wishing for something she had been told she couldn't have again."

"Narnia is filled with metaphors (often not very subtle ones) that are supposed to teach us how to be, and the most glaring one for any young girl to absorb is that it's okay to be a girl like Lucy, unthreatening and cheerful and valiant and faithful, but to be a girl like Susan gets you punished - in fact, you aren't just punished, you're destroyed."

"why do we call it ‘the problem’ where’s the problem about a young woman dealing with her trauma and choosing her own path, actively making the choice to keep living and to stay and to carve a life out in England when her siblings couldn’t? what is the problem about susan forgetting to somehow cope with what she’s experienced? why is it ‘the problem of susan’ that she recontextualised her faith?"

And then there's JK Rowling who said this:

There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She's become irreligious basically because she found sex. I have a big problem with that.

It's weird how I'm still finding new ways to hate JKR in the year 2021. Again, there is absolutely zero implication that Susan had sex when she came back to England. ZERO. Did she actually read the books? IDK. If someone shares this opinion pls reply with actual canonical evidence.

Back on topic, I'm a firm believer of death of the author and interpreting art via your own experiences. Which is why I'm also going to share my own interpretation by saying y'all are wrong.

Susan Pevensie was not abandoned by Narnia. She was not barred from Narnia because she is traditionally feminine or because she "owned her sexuality" (another opinion I didn't have time to condense down for this post) or because she recontextualized her faith or even because she deserved to be punished.

I also fail to see how Susan recontexualized her faith, as the entire point of it all is that she has none. Bringing this back to Susan's fatal flaw (personal convenience/material comforts), her prioritizing herself over her own faith is the reason she is "no longer a friend of Narnia." Not...whatever fanon y'all are imposing on her character.

Susan is not being punished for liking lipstick and looking pretty. Susan's not even being punished. Y'all read Neil Gaiman's The Problem of Susan and forgot it wasn't canon.

There are many reasons Susan is not in Aslan's Country (one of them being that she's not actually dead yet), but the main one has to do with this:

"[...] But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

Voyage of the Dawn Treader, 215-216

Yeah, okay that's why Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia. The implication when the Pevensies are told that they can no longer enter Narnia is that they are to find Aslan in other places. Susan doesn't do this, instead choosing to focus her life on material things. It isn't the lipstick, it's that she only wants the lipstick.

Susan Had Sex In The Books

Oh and not in the context y'all are thinking. (Again, there are no implications that Susan was barred from Narnia for having sex or that she had sex when she came back to England.)

So there's actual canonical evidence that Susan and Rabadash had a sexual relationship. Sort of.

"What think you? We have been in this city fully three weeks. Have you yet settled in your mind whether you will marry this dark-faced lover of yours, this Prince Rabadash, or no?"

-The Horse and His Boy, 35

Edmund calls Rabadash her lover. Not her suitor. I don't know if the word had a different meaning in 1954, but it feels like C.S. Lewis is saying that they're fucking. I'm not really happy with the idea of Susan sleeping with an abuser, but really proud of her for Getting Some as a woman born in a time period where having premarital sex was a big no-no.

This also invalidates the weird opinion going on that Susan was barred from Narnia because she had sex.

Suspian Is The Worst

I haven't really talked about Movie!Susan much, but as long as we're talking unpopular opinions, it's worth noting that I hate Suspian. Some of it is the "Susan is Aro" headcanon screaming inside of me, but it's also the fact that it's written poorly, does nothing interesting for either character and generally comes across as awkward.

I feel like they were trying to make Prince Caspian sexy and relevant to teens. It came across as super heteronormative and unnecessary.

It also gets really really weird bc the next movie then gives Caspian and Edmund mad chemistry and we're all just like........ok.

Final Thoughts

Susan may not be my favorite character in the series, but she's grown on me over the years. I have many issues with fanon interpretations of her--which definately fueled some of my disdain for her initally--and I don't identify as a Susan Apologist.

I do however adore Susan and have many headcanons for her not mentioned here. I love reading fanfic, writing fanfic and meta, and generally having conversations about her and would love to talk more about it.

I welcome criticism (CONSTRUCTIVE) and conversation on all of my opinions and observations. Please drop into my inbox. <3

#susan pevensie #the chronicles of narnia #the problem of susan #narnia #meta #narnia meta #susan meta #ash does fandom #ash does meta

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wunderlass · 4 years

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Liz Ortecho, Science, and Ethics

This post is brought to you by season two of Roswell, New Mexico, and the inconsistent handling of scientific ethics wherein.

In episode 2x07, Maria says the following:

“Henrietta Lacks, Tuskogee, Holmsberg – the Delucas aren’t the first black people to be secretly experimented on.”

What she’s referring to here are 20th century scientific experiments which involved human subjects (specifically, black people) without them providing informed consent for their involvement in these experiments. In fact, for the most part, they had no knowledge of their involvement at all.

These are and other experiments generated enough controversy (as they should) that science and academic research have long since changed their approach to the point that ethics and consent are now at the heart of all research design. Universities have ethics boards that all research must be approved by, and the core principles of academic ethics is that 1) human subjects should not be harmed by research 2) there has to be a risk/benefit analysis (so for the aliens there are no benefits to being involved in the research vs the risk of exposure) and 3) they must provide informed consent to participate (which means they must understand what the research relates to and what their involvement will entail, and have the capacity to agree with the ability to withdraw consent after research has commenced).

For context – I am currently writing my master’s dissertation. It involves social media research, so is far and away from the kind of biological research Liz does, but because social media data is created by people, it is considered research involving human subjects. For that reason, I had to get ethics approval, and I have to ensure I discuss ethics within my dissertation or I. Will. Fail.

There is no chance that at any time during her schooling for the three degrees she has that Liz Ortecho has not been taught about ethics and their importance. I would be surprised if she hasn’t had mandatory ethics classes. Every paper she has written, all the research she has done in the past, must have gone through ethics boards and discussed the subjects of ethics.

Which is why the words “those were just cells—I wasn’t hurting anyone!” in the finale were so galling.

What Liz is saying puts her in direct contradiction to Maria. She is saying that she feels entitled to take the biological material of other people without their informed consent in order to do her work. This is a direct parallel with what happened with Henrietta Lacks. And the sad part is that I don’t think the show understands that by having Liz take the stance that she has, they are framing her as a bad person and a terrible scientist.

There is no justification of “it’s for the greater good” when it comes to research. That ship has sailed. For Liz to ignore the moral lines and repeatedly cross them for her own interests does not make her a hero, or relatable. It does not make her a badass. It just makes her bad.

We already saw that before Liz returned to Roswell, she lost a grant because she couldn’t get ethical approval for human research. Sometimes this is because the people doing the approvals are overly conservative and dislike the usage of things like stem cells (mentioned in s1), though it doesn’t sound like that was the case here.

Genoryx are offering her work that circumvents that, and yet, that isn’t a good thing! Liz wants her legacy to be as a brilliant Latina woman who paved the way for others to follow her. She wants to be the poster girl for Latinx people in medicine and help improve their overall image within society. Unfortunately, if she is doing work without a solid ethical foundation, sooner or later, that is going to get snatched away from her. No matter how much good any breakthrough she makes does, if somebody digs into it and asks questions about how it was achieved, her legacy would end up (rightly) tarnished in exactly the same way as the scientists who worked on the experiments named here.

Liz should know better—she should know the pitfalls of skirting ethical boundaries as much as she understands the benefits her work can bring. It doesn’t seem that she does.

The most egregious example of this came in the finale, when Liz slipped into Steph’s hospital room while she was sleeping and gave her a cure to her ailment.

This drug is untested. Liz has no idea what side effects it might cause. And Steph was unconscious, so unable to agree to trialling this experimental drug.

We saw what Liz’s serum did to Isobel in season one! Steph feels fine now but what if she does have side effects later on? What if her slow death had become a horrifically painful death? Liz had no way of knowing!

Liz crossed a line, and Kyle should understand that line more than anybody. He should be furious at Liz and remain furious at her, even if she saved Steph’s life. Steph is not a lab rat that Liz can unilaterally decide to experiment on.

(the other side of this is that Steph’s “miracle cure” is going to invite a ton of questions and testing. Steph is now going to be at the centre of all of this, and if she has developed alien mutations or proteins she’s at risk. Maybe we’re going to see this picked up in season three but I’m not holding my breath).

Throughout the back half of season two, Liz has been positioned as justified in her stance with regards to the work she’s doing. Which is nonsense, because otherwise she wouldn’t have kept it secret from Max. But she just isn’t in any way, shape or form.

Does she deserve the right to be a scientist? Of course! She can take that job with Genoryx or any of the grants she turned down while lying to Max. The trouble is Liz’s fascination with unethical research, and the bigger problem is how I don’t think Carina understands that at all. The show has turned our leading lady into an inadvertent villain and rather than treating this as a character flaw, it’s championing it, without understanding how dangerous the message they’re sending really is.

#roswell new mexico #rnm spoilers

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chillyravenart · 4 years

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Since your opinions are gold, I was wondering about your take on Daemon's relationships with the different women in his life. I always got the impression that he marries Laena out of love. Rhaenyra was for ambition, lust and I think fondness as well. Lady Misery would be like his booty call/partner-in-crime, and finally Nettle would be like a sort of fondness/protege/mentor thing. But I was curious on what your thoughts were because your opinions are always so cool and fun to read!

Ahh loool I'm so flattered you think so😂😂😂 I think you have the right of it btw, Daemon's relationships with his lady loves were all varied and very exciting to me, because that's just the kind of fictional scoundrel I give my heart and soul to. My opinions on Daemon and his lady loves seem to change a little based on how much I'm thirsting for him at the time. I think he's such a complex and roguish character, there is not exact or correct interpretation of what his relationships were like, paired with the testimony we get from the short stories/Fire & Blood etc. I feel like talking about someone so controversial and spicy is always bound to get people worked up, but since you asked MY OPINION, I shall briefly give it.

I think Daemon loved power first and foremost. His main mistress was ambition (& Dark Sister😂). I think his fondness for the women in his life stemmed from what he could gain from them, but it doesn't mean he didn't love them. Anyone who is expecting or holding Daemon as a paragon of husbandly virtue is wasting their time. Daemon is just such an eclectic, grey character, he's deadly and charming and a total w*t dream to me. And I've come to realise that romance aside, Daemon did things his way because thats who he is.

I think he loved Mysaria because she shared his cunning and ambition, like you said, she was his partner-in-crime. But then he also loved her enough to get her pregnant and present her with a dragon's egg (which Viserys had to confiscate lmaooo). He also maintained a working and romantic relationship with her until much later on, and it arguably soured with the whole incident with Rhaenyra and Nettles ("a queen's words, a whore's work").

I think the accounts may be somewhat correct in insinuating that Daemon married Laena to further his position in court: but I also think that being exiled with her and having his true born twins with her also cemented their relationship. I've always firmly believed that Laena grounded and matured Daemon, because he seemed to change as a man at that point as did his motives. Laena wasn't any shrinking wallflower, she was the beautiful, spirited daughter of two absolute badasses, Corlys and Rhaenys. So none of that UWU PoOr LaEnA bullshit please, the woman defied her family to elope with Daemon and tried to mount her dragon VHAGAR when she was dying ok, give her some credit. (I have a sneaking suspicion Laena may have had something to do with Daemon killing off her betrothed at the time too but that's just my own crack-theory lol). I also think Laena may have been one of his true loves, being a strong personality and the mother of his children had to have had a part to play.

Moving onto Rhaenyra, I think Daemon initially wanted to win her affections as she was heir to the throne and he had his own designs for power at the time. As the accounts tell us, he lavished her with gifts and tales, & the more sordid accounts mention him giving her a sexual education too. At this stage King Viserys had children with Alicent and Daemon's succession became more and more unlikely, even moreso when Rhaenyra had her own children an Viserys already acknowledged Jacaerys as Rhaenyra's successor. Rhaenyra was Daemon's niece after all, they had spent time together both in KL and Dragonstone with each other (alongside their spouses ahem potential ménage à trois ahem) so it stands to reason they grew closer after Laena's death when Rhaenyra "comforted him in his grief". Daemon must have realised at this point that being Prince Consort was the closest he'd get to the Iron Throne, so he married her and had his much awaited sons with her too. Then the Dance began and Daemon exercised his power by fighting for Rhaenyra's claim with vengeance and blood. And that fact that he CROWNED HER??? That was very sexy of him.

You know what else was very sexy of him??? "Lucerys shall be avenged" just gives me goosebumps ALL THE TIME 😂🥵 I have mentioned my thoughts on Daemon x Rhaenyra my OTP, my loves, my favourite beguiling pairing EVER here if you want to have a look. I think Daemon used every power available to him to fight for Rhaenyra, he was loyal to her cause and died for her too. Him sleeping around doesn't bother me lmao, if you're looking for morality in Daemon "City Boy" Targaryen, you need your heads checked 😂

I also think Daemon's relationship with Nettles was also very complex. There are instances when its described as romantic and instances where its described as paternal. At this stage the Dance had wreaked a lot of havoc and Rhaenyra's hold in KL was also growing timorous. Dragons were dying, Targaryens were dying, people were dying. Rhaenyra had suffered loss, betrayal, death - she was fractured and paranoid and rightfully so. Maybe Daemon was growing soft in his "old age" and connected with the fearless Nettles because she reminded him of himself, and his roguish youth. I think there is more to their relationship judging by how he defied Rhaenyra to let her escape and his (& Caraxes) reactions to Nettles departure. Nettles herself had tears streaming down her face. I know there are theories that he may have been her father and they're definitely not far-fetched so make of that what you will. Daemon decided to take Aemond/Vhagar down as his swan song and he did 🔥❤

I just love Daemon as a character SO much, he's equal parts hero and equal parts villain and I think his complexity allows for a greater understanding and interpretation of his motives and romantic relationships. I've always found his various trysts and relationships so interesting and he genuinely made The Dance super sexy for me too. I'll keep my incredibly thirsty thoughts to myself though lmaooo. Hope this answered your question and thank you so much for thinking my opinions are anything but a rambling hot mess😂❤

#daemon targaryen #daemon x women #daemon x laena #daemon x rhaenyra #mysaria #nettles #the dance of the dragons #asks #chillyravenart answers

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fymagnificentwomcn · 4 years

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Women of Ottoman make me so sad especially when people hate on them. Those women lived horrible lives. Most of them were kidnapped, sold, thrown under a psycho Padisah. How can you wait for them to care for your kingdom? Of course they were going to survive for themselves and for their children. None of them deserves the hate they get. I hope God put all of them in peace. No human should go through such terrible things.

Totally agree Anon.

Women from Ottoman Empire cannot be for example compared with women from the West – first and foremost, they were slaves that at the very beginning lost their families, homes and even had to change their name and religion to have any chance at making a new life. Some lost their families very early, and often it also affected them emotionally when they grew up without having familial bonds. Even as consorts, they were one of many, and they had no legal status outside their children, Even mothers of princes other than hasekis were referred to as “Mother of Prince X” in records, and mothers of daughters were even more invisible. They had a very limited access to outside world, there was no way a woman could ascend the throne as a ruler in her own reign, other than as regent. Not to mention all matters connected with fratricide and kafes, it was living in constant fear. It’s hard to compare them to European queens, who had more stable and safe position even if they also had to face misogyny and oppression .

It was no fairytale, even in the show that didn’t show a lot of atrocities involved in slave trade and focused on those women who still somewhat “succeeded”.

I will use this opportunity to discuss some double standards about those who succeeded vs. those who didn’t pertaining to the TV show, but will later come to the crux, I promise.

The faux feminism in this fandom is astounding to me,including the glaring obvious double standards depending on who fan favourite is - and fan favourite is often who is simply “the coolest”, “most victorious”, “most stylish”, “most lucky”, generally young, beautiful, badass, and successful, not sad or depressed. We all know reactions to Hürrem and Mahidevran doing the same things back in original MY - when Mahidevran did awful things to Hürrem, she was just pathetic jealous woman, but when Hürrem did multiple times the same or worse things to other women it was “yass queen” and she ‘fights for her love, so touching, so strong, so great, self defence”. Suddenly Hürrem is allowed to do so because she”s “not like other girls, so not like these pathetic dumb losers”. Hürrem was strong, cunning, and smart, but she also had one clear advantage over all her “enemies” - the love of the most powerful man in Ottoman history. She made multiple mistakes too, but could always count on Suleiman turning a blind eye or forgiving her - something that Mahidevran or others could never count on.

Frankly, even Hürrem vs. Mustafa was often treated more as Hürrem vs. all this “pathetic” women that fought for Mustafa’s case aka Mahidevran or Suleiman’s sisters in fandom. Suddenly Mustafa cannot even defend his own mother because he immediately had it coming for “choosing the wrong side”. Even if you disapprove of him defending/not abandoning his mother, e.g. choosing to poison him sounds a little disproportionate, don’t you think? I said it and I will repeat it again – Hürrem is a character very similar to Cersei – yes, she suffered a lot because of a system devaluing women and yes she’s a survivor and a strong woman who managed to make life for herself in that system – but she’s not a feminist character because she actually only uses the system to her own advantage (and often perpetuates it), and actually displays a lot of traits of internalised misogyny, voicing multiple times how she is different from other girls and this is why she must be the only one by Suleiman’s side, while other women aren’t even entitled to dream about such things. She condemns Mahidevran for wanting to be the only one and being jealous, but then when Suleiman is with other woman she’s all “I’m not like pathetic Mahidevran, I must be the only one”. Same with multiple comments that she often makes… Hürrem was sassy &sarcastic, and had many good comebacks, but it makes me sad how people often cheered on and applauded those worst ones that again display internalised misogyny, like her mocking Mahidevran why she cares about her appearance so much when she doesn’t have a man to share a bed with? Or her again being all “I will give birth to many boys, and you won’t even give birth to a girl”. Again, that whole society was misogynistic and other women also were influenced by it, like they all wanted to give birth to a boy mostly…but often it is about status and wanting to raise/maintain rank, while Hürrem boasts the fact that she gives birth to many boys as again a trait to show how special&strong she is, even part of her reaction to Mihrimah’s birth is her unable to accept the fact that she could give birth to a girl and being disgusted by the fact.. yes, she accepts her later on and her reaction does also stem from being aware of how misogynist the system is, but it shows precisely that – yes, she is influenced by the system and suffered because of it, but at the same time she begins to display same behaviour that she suffered from, tries to cut herself from others in disadvantaged position. And yes, not all characters had similar reactions to giving births to daughters, and mind you Hürrem already had a son&became sultana, plus was Suleiman’s clear fave that could hope for more children. She wasn’t in the worst situation, even Hafsa and Suleiman were very happy at birth of a girl and nobody criticised her for it. Conversely, in MYK Kösem states multiple times that she wants to give Ahmed both sons and daughters, and when she’s pregnant with her second child, she says she wants a girl now for a change. Even when Ayşe hopes for a boy so that Murad’s anger may be melted, she’s happy about Kaya’s birth&clearly loves the baby from the start & is distraught when she is taken from her. Hürrem was never intended to be viewed as feminist, always justified heroine.. this is why instead of making her first bad deed be a revenge on Mahidevran, who had treated her horribly and unfairly, she attacked the person who was most kind to her of them all and who recently went through the same exact shit. Some people hate Gülnihal, but then say Hürrem wasn’t a homewrecker because she had the right to make life for herself in harem.. true, but so did Gülnihal, and it’s not like she could refuse to go to Suleiman’s chambers pls. It wasn’t to be seen as right, it was clearly shown that Hürrem can be both the oppressed and oppressor at the same time from the start. If they had wanted to make her character only all about revenge, they would have again made her gone after Mahi, not innocent Gülnihal, her “best friend”. And people going how Mahi is irredeemable, but with Hürrem it’s so okay because she’s cool while she slays..eh. I admit I never liked Hürrem because personally she never appealed to me, but I totally get why people stan her because she’s an interesting, three-dimensional character (and yes she does have a softer side too), I’m just bothered by some making her some empowered heroine who is excused for everything by the fact that she was a slave and suffered a lot because of it – because you know she is not the only one who went through the same shit – the harem is full of such women, for start. Even statesmen like Ibrahim or Rüstem are slaves (of course as men they have more opportunities for a career etc.), eunuchs attending ladies are slaves… This whole system is based on slavery, yet she often behaves & talks like she’s the only one who lost her family, was kidnapped & mistreated.

And even Nurbanu becoming her successor was accidental because she actually wanted her dead later, though of course Nurbanu was still clearly inspired by her. She never intended for anyone to follow her example and to make her elevation become a permanent element of Ottoman system, and it’s symbolised by her decision to bury the “ring of power” (lol) with her (though of course what Nurbanu did with taking it anyway was plain disgusting).

I think that trying to examine why this character behaves like that is more interesting than simply go YASSS QUEEN.

Thus said, I hate these reductive“takes” calling these women “bitches” because yes there are complex reasons why some of them have become pretty cruel, so while there are no excuses for some of the behaviour, the simple word “bitch” does not cut it at all.

/Yes, I discussed Hürrem here because out of all MY/K characters she seems to be the least hated among major female characters & biggest fan favourite,/

Anyway, the point is that neither Hürrem nor Mahidevran are the villains of the story. The show makes it clear in its last episodes that Suleiman is the true villain – he was the most powerful man at that time, when the padisah’s position was truly strong, as Gülfem put it in the finale “even leaf cannot fall without your approval”. He’s not as dumb or passive as it may seem at first glance -of course he needs to pretend to be objective and just, but he has his own agenda just as everyone else. Moreover, he pretended to be the one trying to ease conflicts… yet he was often the one enhancing them. Even from the start when he gave the ring he had promised Mahidevran to Hürrem&and in many ways humiliated her… then he did the same with giving Isabella necklace he had promised Hürrem. Bah, it was clear he often enjoyed making Hürrem jealous because it flattered his ego. He ultimately even enhanced the conflict between Selim and Bayezid to get rid of the latter, who was “the more dangerous son”. He was always pulling the strings.. he allowed Selim to buy Bayezid from Tahmasp by the way he conducted negotiations because he knew Bayezid would get rid of his brother on the road. It’s practically what Gülfem says to him in last episode again. He knew what backlash was directed at him following Mustafa’s death and he didn’t want another son killed in front of him. As Mahidevran said in the final episode to Mihrimah “It was your father who chose the lives we lived for all of us”. He was the one that determined the fate for everyone. And even if Mihrimah did not want to admit it in any way in front of her mother’s enemy, she pretty much understood then that Selim was also her father’s puppet in a way and it’s my guess why she ultimately decides to leave the palace instead of plotting revenge for Bayezid (and we know she would eventually be back). It was Suleiman who was pulling strings all along throughout the whole show, even sometimes by choosing to refrain from acting.

In MYK, the situation is different that we deal with incompetent, weak or even tyrannical sultans, who are also sometimes danger to ordinary people or break the Imperial law. Kösem acts here like the protector of sultanate and again we see different standards. Can you imagine how criticised Kösem would be if she had used similar methods to Murad’s or even once had gone to on “night spree” and executed people for banning all these dumb prohibitions? Yet for many Murad is the “cool guy” and “poor misunderstood Murad”. Calling Kösem a tyrant.. please you have an actual tyrant here. Look how much criticism she gets for saying “I’m the state”, while Murad calls himself “shadow of God on Earth” , “sole owner of the Ottoman Empire”, “I’m the justice” , “true death” etc. all the time and he’s “badass”. Or how she’s criticised because she dared to try to influence the Divan to convince Murad to change punishment for his prohibitions. She’s an “usurper”, not the guy who enacts unjust law and oppresses his subjects.

And here we come to crux – look at how Suleiman is treated in MY, everyone is flattering him, he’s the one who for most time isn’t blamed for what is happening, everyone strives to be in his good graces, his sons step on their toes around him and idealise him even when he behaves like a total asshat. Even when he dies people try to remember him for his “magnificence”

Now look at Kösem, a female ruler, who was turned by scapegoat by people when something went bad and she had far less freedom to make choices and yet far more criticism, blame shifting and insults thrown her way. Suleiman is credited “for making sacrifices for the Empire”… but he really didn’t have to execute all the people he decided to kill, and his decisions truly affected everyone badly and led to further mess, starting from Ibrahim’s.. It was especially visible in case of Mustafa – he was obviously innocent and didn’t intend to rebel, but after what happened rebellions did begin.Conversely, each difficult decision that Kösem made led to stabilisation in Empire and prevented unrest, yet what she does is interpreted by some as “wanting power for sake of power” because woman cannot act in favour of state nation or dynasty – there’s only personal interest or power hunger. Her life is clearly framed as tragedy both by the “curse” of her witnessing the death of everyone she loved and her death being a parallel scene to her capture - because she was never truly free.

Interestingly, IMO Suleiman for all his talent and his achievements, fucked up the succession issue – succession by combat truly began to run its course during that period & no longer even fulfilled functions for which it was practiced – to put on the throne “the strongest” contender, one with the biggest support, also most successful military commander – while it’s true that era of conquest was naturally over and Empire had to become more sedentary, it still doesn’t make Selim the strongest or best suited candidate for the throne after Suleiman – his not going on campaigns etc. and being more of palace sultan had nothing to do with him recognising the transformation, but simply lack of interest in state matters and preferring to have fun than to rule. He wasn’t some demon, but he was terribly passive & lazy. And him not being a warrior was the least of his problems. Suleiman had extreme power and authority, he introduced first law reform after Mehmed the Conqueror – the fact that he allowed such contest (and well his sons didn’t even wait for his death to start a civil war) was a bad decision when it came to long-term planning. Some may say maybe he would have done something concerning move to seniority if one of Hürrem’s sons had been the eldest… maybe, but we will never know. Contrary, while all Ahmed’s sons died during Kösem’s lifetime, we know her legacy connected with anti-fratricide law lived on – after her death fratricide was a rare occurrence with only a few special exceptions in specific circumstances.

Of course there’s also the matter that Suleiman’s era and Kösem’s era were totally different – here it was even a success to manage to stabilise Empire. And here we need to stress how important context is – I always stress how important it is to assess historical figures in context – for me it’s hard to even compare, let’s say Kösem and Hürrem, because they lived in different ages and fulfilled different roles, let alone comparisons between historical figures from other parts of the world, perhaps even from different age. I can’t understand e.g. why Peirce compared Kösem and Turhan to Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart in Empress of the East – both situations were completely different, the only thing they had in common was that there was a power struggle between two powerful women, which ended with one of them executing the other (and we don’t even have 100% confirmation of Turhan ordering Kosem’s execution because such thing wasn’t officially in her power). I appreciate Peirce a lot, but TBH this comparison was just dumb for a professional historian.

Kösem’s case really shows how loss of innocence may be used as weapon against you – very early on, she gets the lesson even with Ahmed – the moment she first became involved with scheming following the death of her father, he got mad at her for the duration of her whole pregnancy – he didn’t ask why she had done it or any other details – she wasn’t his “ideal fantasy” from the portrait anymore and this was what mattered – and only then changed his mind when after so many futile attempts made by Kösem to talk to him, she finally forced him to listen to her explanations & motivations, and subsequently he became all “I will make everyone pay for every tear of yours & for making us endure pain of separation”. Ah okay, but don’t forget about yourself ;) And once Kösem stopped being “şehzade’s dream” with death of Ahmed and was truly her own political leader, she became to be more and more exposed to this with the passing of time and once she acquainted more and more power.

And don’t forget some male historians praising Turhan for “giving the power back to the rightful hands aka men”… it tells you all, and it’s false anyway, since it didn’t mean Turhan losing interest in state affairs and only caring about the harem (and honestly, “Köprülü was “her man”, she didn’t choose someone she had no influence upon). That was what she decided the Empire needed at that particular moment, not because she realised that politically involved women sucked lmao.

- Joanna

#ottoman history #magnificent century #magnificent century kosem #muhteşem yüzyıl #muhteşem yüzyıl kösem #answered #you know guys all these answeres were written during all these months the blog was on semi-hiatus #and as I did a lot of rewatch #I put a lot of my thoughts during rewatch to these answers #I doubt they will be as long when I open the askbox again tbh #mods opinions

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like-twilight · 4 years

Text

The Last of Us 2 thoughts eyyy longgg and spoilers

This is my opinion before hearing anybody else’s opinion about it.

I only want to discuss the story as it is the only thing I can really speak of since I didn’t play it for myself. All I can say is I wish I could’ve and I’ll always regret not being able to because I really wish that could’ve been my experience as it was with the first game that I could play myself. It’s also probably noteworthy that the first game was the first video game I’ve played in my life so I’m probably biased.

So I’ll go all over the place because why not.

The false advertisement is extremely scummy and I don’t really know what to do with it, I blame it all on the No Spoilers Culture we currently have going. I don’t think anybody would’ve watched any of the promotional stuff a better marketing team could’ve put together and said “ah you can’t see old Joel in action, I bet he dies early in the game, I won’t fucking play this”. There was plenty of buzz around the game and there was no reason whatsoever to falsely market it. That part’s bullshit and I condemn the company for this.

From the story side though, Joel dying was honestly not that huge of a surprise or shock to me. TLOU is a game that has you watch a kid die in the first section of it then does more than enough to establish itself as a game without taboos. Now whether that’s something you like or not is not important, what cannot be said about the game is that it didn’t establish itself as a game that would do this.

I also think arguments like “Joel wouldn’t go out like a bitch” are silly. The beginning told me Joel, the badass and smart survivor he is, was very quick to adjust back to a small town life with a now pretty much surrogate daughter. I’m not saying that excuses the unceremonious death but to me Joel is not a gun-blazing badass hero, not even an anti-hero. He’s just a dude. He got overpowered and then he died.

See this is where the game could never win. If you leave Joel alive and he’s in the story then it’s just a repetition of the first game. If you leave him alive but he’s not in the game much then you underutilise him and people miss him. Also if you leave him alive then people will just say you’re a little bitch because it’s fanservice that Joel is technically invincible because he’s the face of the game. But if he dies, people riot. The creators couldn’t win either way and so I’m glad they made up their mind and stuck to it. It’s also very useful to get people talking.

Before I tie that into the rest of the story, I also have to mention that one of the few things I heard about the game was the expression “torture porn” and maybe I’m just desansitised but I didn’t feel like it was that overwhelming or unjustified. I didn’t watch too much of the promotional material but I saw what I think was the gameplay reveal where the devs said in this game enemies would call each other by name when you kill someone or they find someone dead. And I think that’s a neat detail but I think it also has a lot to do with what the game is... about.

That the hundreds of faceless people you slaughter during the game all have a video game or more worth of story behind them. They are people with their own twenty plus years of survival in a world gone to hell whose story ends the way Joel’s did. By meeting a person who just... wins the fight over them.

So that the deaths are really personal and intimate in that way feels justified. You also have this crazy technology that allows them to animate people very realistically. This is the last big game for the PS4 and they really just brought the technology to its limits, I feel. For them to then say “oh a sledgehammer to the face doesn’t look that bad” or “we just won’t add more types of weapons and have one type of death animation just cause we don’t want to overdo it” is just. It’s not gonna happen.

I never felt like those were glorified, I think they all added to that feeling that bubbled to the surface towards the end of Ellie’s first stretch of the story where I just couldn’t stop shaking my head, going Ellie... Ellie, what are you doing, look at yourself... look at what you’re doing. So to me that wasn’t really an issue.

I can imagine some people, maybe even most people would play the first stretch of the game in revenge mode. You know, let’s get this bitch. But in the same time, I also couldn’t really deny that Abby was like... kinda right to want revenge. I’m not saying I’m glad she killed Joel I’m just saying she had a reason to. (On that sidenote, Abby being that surgeon’s daughter did nothing to enhance this feeling. I could’ve imagined Abby in a settlement much like Jacksonville where they’re all hopeful because they found a surgeon who’s leading research about the cordyceps, maybe he’s a super good leader, inspires the Fireflies to keep up their spirits, all that. Maybe Abby’s group could’ve been his super close-knit group of soldiers taking care of him and running errands for him, even then the rage would’ve been justified.

I get they wanted to draw the parallel between Joel-Ellie, surgeon-Abby, dad-daughter relationships but that added nothing to the story for me. It didn’t take anything away either, I just kinda rolled my eyes like okay, whatever.)

So when Ellie was on her revenge quest, I liked that she and Dina were in Tommy’s footsteps, I thought that was a nice touch and kinda foreshadowed another section of the story where we would meet up with Tommy eventually.

Now, Dina and Jesse, I found nothing wrong with Dina or her being pregnant (except that it reminded me of Aniara and I hate that movie with my whole being). I thought it was a good enough source of conflict and I really liked Jesse being around. When he shows up and they’re just saying they’ll get Tommy and then get the fuck outta there you can already tell Ellie is obsessed but you’re still holding out hope that Dina will be enough to get her mind off of it but she’s just too far gone.

So the shift to Abby and the scars.

Jacksepticeye said it while he was playing that Abby’s part should’ve been like a DLC or something but I honestly don’t agree. I mean I don’t disagree but I think it worked the way it was. I definitely think most problems people have with this switch that doesn’t stem from the fact that people disliked Abby or that they can’t admit to themselves that they were caught off guard by the changed narrative style, could’ve been solved with different pacing. Now I don’t know if they would’ve had to constantly switch between Ellie and Abby for it to work or figure some other way out because I’m no expert but still.

I liked the beginning when it switched to Abby, the whole atmosphere was so eerie like you could tell they were on a collision course and it was going to get ugly. Maybe something like that could’ve worked but it could’ve just been either too suspenseful and tense the whole way through that it draws the attention from the gameplay or it would’ve been even more on the nose than it already was with the parallels between Abby’s group and Ellie’s group.

Now I honestly really liked that Abby’s story was so different because when she returns to the stadium, the part of her story that involved Joel is over. She got her revenge then she goes on with her life. She had a life before Joel entered it, she has one after she killed him. And it just so happens to be a good opportunity for the game to showcase some of the shit that goes on outside of what we’ve known so far and what Ellie knows.

I didn’t mind the religious aspect, I think it makes sense, like enough time passed since the apocalypse that the then grown up generation is distant enough from their old lives, and the generations after them are growing up in the ruins of the old society, that a messiah figure like that lady could emerge. That it just had to be transphobic and shit sucks of course and I do understand the frustration with it. I can imagine better writers coming up with a way to make the Scars despicable without them having our current society’s problems. They could still have the trans and the Asian characters still of course, but without them having to face the struggles trans characters do in our current world.

So that Abby only realises Ellie’s just one step behind her when she still has the climax of her individual story to get through was just. To me it worked so well. Like here we play as Ellie for half the game, this girl is consumed with rage and then Abby’s just fucking off and doing something entirely different because that’s... how little... it affected her. Or at least she personally got her closure and is ready to move on.

I personally liked the conflicts she had in her group, it was believable, it felt reasonable for the kind of life they lived. Of course we already spent one full game with Ellie so Abby was never going to catch up, but if you’re thinking like me then by less than half of Abby’s story you already don’t want Ellie to kill her.

The confrontation in the theatre was messy but since it’s not the end of the story I sort of don’t mind. I know some people don’t like how Jesse died or how little time we have to process certain deaths and story beats and of course it can just be bad pacing but that was again something that to me just brought the player’s world on the same level as an NPC’s world. That for one enhanced the experience for me.

Okay. Let’s talk about the last part that starts with Dina almost dying at Abby’s hands, especially after she says “good” when Ellie tells her she’s pregnant. Of course there’s the callback to dead Mel. But I liked that Lev was there and his presence sort of switched Abby’s role. Up to that point Abby had been Ellie. But then when she has Lev, and she acknowledges him as “her people”, she becomes Joel. And then she becomes a better version of him. Or at least a version of Joel that has mercy.

And you’d think being this close to losing Dina is where Ellie would snap back to it. And she does, for a while.

Here’s when I admit the pacing definitely needed some work regardless of anything. Up until that point we go through three days, albeit twice, but three days. Then suddenly we’re nine plus months later and the setting is different and we don’t get enough time here before Tommy shows up with the end of the story...rope... we got cut in half in the theatre.

I’ll take some time here to genuinely express my what the fuck at Tommy here.

My memory is a little fuzzy here but wasn’t Tommy on board with returning to Jacksonville when they return to the theatre? I actually just checked, Tommy says “they got what they deserved” to which Ellie says “but she (Abby) gets to live” and Tommy says “yeah”. And then when he visits Ellie and Dina suddenly he’s a dick about it saying Ellie made a promise? Is that something that was supposed to happen off-screen or a plot hole? Did that conversation in the theatre have more versions they went through and the wrong reaction got included? Maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention but it felt out of the blue for me and I can safely say that’s the character moment I’m disappointed in the most, especially because we never see Tommy again.

One could argue that the choppiness of time is supposed to symbolise the dissociation and out-of-body experience you can have when you’re living with trauma but I truly just have it down to bad pacing here. I get that they wanted to show the baby but I truly believe with enough polishing they could’ve come up with a scenario that works better and flows better.

I truly could’ve had Ellie maybe leave with Dina and Tommy and then have her turn back before they leave Seattle and then they have the conversation with Dina and then Ellie starts tracking Abby. Here we could’ve had more of what was in the beginning of the story, sort of switching between the two, maybe slightly altered gameplay, etc. Even though the last level as Ellie was really cool and once again I liked how we just barely got a glimpse of how other people live, you know. Those prisoners in those cells have a hell of a 25 years behind them and being freed by this stranger might be the best thing that will have ever happened to them, but to Ellie they’re just a background noise to her mission.

I truly liked those parts.

I could imagine Ellie being kidnapped similarly to Abby but they are treated differently and somehow still end up escaping together, maybe even helping each other the way Ellie almost did with cutting Abby down and letting her get Lev to the boat. And then you’d have Ellie still be consumed by her rage.

The whole time I wanted her so much to just scream everything at Abby. Because look, life for these people is a whole ass trauma. Some people like Dina might handle it differently, or it’s easier with a community around you, but Ellie’s life has been very strange, with her immunity, with the realisation that Joel killed and lied for her, all that. She would need a fucking good therapist. I wanted that catharsis, for her to scream at Abby, to sob until she can’t even breathe, for Abby to do the same, except she realises she got her closure while Ellie never did, and then maybe for Abby to give some sort of... forgiveness to Ellie. For her life not having meant anything in the end.

I don’t know, I wanted that for her.

If there never is a last fight, if Ellie never so much as punches Abby, that would’ve been fine for me.

Two more things that I liked were that Ellie actually started down a path of forgiveness before Joel died. You know, when we see the scene where Ellie tells Joel off you’re like “oh that’s the last thing she said to him, no wonder she feels so guilty” and then you realise, oh no wait, they were actually eventually going to be alright. They just never got the time. To me that hit so much, that was a good scene.

The other thing I liked is Dina leaving. Once again this could’ve been something like, Ellie goes back to Jacksonville and there they tell her Dina left or sum shit idk how that could’ve worked, I’m just saying that losing that farm life didn’t really make me feel anything because we didn’t get the time to grow attached to it.

So Dina leaves, and suddenly you’re back in the room with Sam in the first game when this bitten boy asks Ellie what she’s most afraid of, and she says she’s scared of ending up alone. And this immune girl Joel killed and lied and died for, eventually ends up alone.

So I understand that a lot of TLOU’s fanbase that belongs to a marginalised group, especially those part of the LGBT+ community would be hurt by this ending. By this interpretation. The LGBT+ community, as far as I know, at least a huge part of it, seeks to heal. We use fiction as escapism in a way people who don’t know, who can’t know our struggles will never be able to sympathise with. And as such, we as a community in a large part, have moved on from stories of pain. Not necessarily in that we turn a blind eye on it or anything, but I think it’s a mostly universally agreed thing that after so much suffering we’re ready to see ourselves, and people like us end up happy. And as such the demand from this community towards creators have shifted to not necessarily fully happy endings, but some sort of relief. And as such, this ending is cruel.

It is heartbreaking. My heart breaks for Ellie because I can practically feel the weight in my chest that she carries around when she walks away. She lost everything and she never got the closure. She never got that relief and neither did we.

Once again, if you personally have a problem with this ending and it ruined the game for you, I understand it completely. That’s your own experience with the story, and even though I feel much of the same things, I’m once again left here thinking this is the way the creators wanted to do this and that they did it like this makes sense. It makes sense for the story, the characters, it just does. If it had happened differently in a way that also makes sense, I would not think “oh this should’ve had a heartbreaking ending, this is bullshit” but I do think the ending makes sense.

Overall, I’m pretty much pleased with most everything, except fuck false advertising, fuck Tommy, and fuck uhhh, I’m pretty sure I mentioned something else too. Oh yeah, pacing. Jack actually offered a really great alternative to the beginning, where the museum scene of Ellie’s birthday should’ve been the first scene, and then you could’ve had Ellie wake up four years later at the end of the countdown. That Joel told Tommy about the hospital could’ve been implied through dialogue and interactions.

I also don’t think Joseph Anderson’s theory is hurt by this, he said personal decisions and morality aside, the Fireflies were fucking idiots and they couldn’t have come up with a cure even if they had given Ellie the chance to say yes, because of how unprofessional they’d been and how much they rushed into the surgery. Just because Abby’s dad was a good dude and a good surgeon doesn’t mean shit when you’re dealing with something you’ve not seen before, such as Ellie’s immunity. And I think knowing that wouldn’t have mattered to Ellie either to change her mind about forgiving Joel. And this is what I’ve always said. Like the Fireflies or not, believe in them or not, taking a choice like this away from Ellie because you can’t stand losing your daughter again (and that is why Joel kills the Fireflies, not because he shares Joseph’s opinion) is objectively wrong and borders on the same obsession we see consume Ellie. Joel is just as unhinged by that point as Ellie is, he’s just more... mature about it, I guess.

That could’ve been even more painful, sort of, to not have Abby be the surgeon’s daughter but just for her and her group believe in this doctor that might just be talking out of his ass so much that them avenging his death sets off this terrible cycle of vengeance. I think that could’Ve been very “gritty” and shit, that would’ve hurt because it’s even more pointless. People killing over lost hope.

So, pacing, Tommy, false advertising, bad points, everything else, yeah alright. 7/10 sounds good to me. I will play this one day >)

#the last of us spoilers #tlou2 #tlou 2 #tlou 2 spoilers #the last of us 2

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fantasydaydreamers · 4 years

Note

what kind of music do you the bakusquad + hawks listen to?

Thank you so much for requesting this I had so much fun answering you had no idea! All the songs are fantasy approved btw. They are linked below for you to check out if you want!

I've seen this done before, but I did something a little different~ and I hope you see what I mean~ ENJOY!!!!!!

Words: 2,173

Warnings: VIBE CHECKS.

Bakugou

I see Bakugou as someone who likes a lot of bass with a strong and deep rhythm. A beat that goes off like his explosions. When he's listening to music while training or working out, the beats hype him up, pushing himself to go harder.

→ "I'm O.G. - ya'll new to the game."

TroyBoi - O.G.

He's not someone whose fully invested in EDM, he just likes the ones with a good bass drop and sounds good, even when beats tend to switch up into something more intense. However, there are times he might listen to something not as intense and in your ears, but it still hypes him up.

→ "Heaven if you sent us down, so we could build a playground,

For the sinners, to play as saints,

You’d be so proud of what we made.

I hope you got some beds around, 'cause you’re the only refuge now,

For every mother, every child, every brother,

That’s caught in the crossfire."

Stephen - Crossfire

Kaminari had stumbled across him listening to trap EDM music one time and asked Bakugou if he could listen too.

→ Bakugou: *scowls and mutes his speakers* "Don't you know how to fucking knock, Dunce Face?!"

→ Kaminari: *ignores him* "Whoa...that sounded pretty good. Can I listen?"

Bakugou tried to kick him out, but Kaminari was determined and finally, Bakguou gave in reluctantly, knowing Kaminari wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted. Much to Bakugou's surprise, for once Kaminari was silent. He sat on Bakguou's bed taking in the sound, listening to the bass coming from the speakers, feeling it in his bones.

→ Kaminari: *is thinking thoughtfully after the song ends* "You know...this might sound weird but it's like I feel it deep in my body. It's the same feeling I get before I use my quirk. How it feels when I build my electricity up and release it."

Bakugou wouldn't admit he felt the same, but he understood exactly what Kaminari meant. That's why he loved this type of music so much. From that day on, Kaminari would sometimes ask Bakugou for song recommendations and even though Bakugou would 'tsk,' he'd still send them, secretly enjoying that someone understood him musically.

BONUS: I've joked about this before, but I also see him liking Nicki Minaj. I'm sorry ya'll I can't let it go. He genuinely thinks she's one badass woman. He heard ONE verse before and was taken back. Then he did research and stumbled across the Anaconda music video and sat there with a flushed face for five minutes.

Kirishima

His taste in music definitely stemmed from his phase in middle school. Nothing too hardcore but nothing mellow either. He especially liked hearing the guitars and drums that are prevalent in songs. He started out listening to Alternative Rock and the band 'All Time Low' became one of his favorites.

→ "Looking out at a town called Suburbia

Everybody's just fighting to fit in, little rats running mazes, having babies

It's a vicious little world that we live in.

Looking back at a life on the other side

I realize that I didn't fit in, didn't hate it,

But I didn't quite relate it to my precious little world..."

All Time Low - The Reckless and the Brave

When Kirishima entered UA, his taste in music changed into...well anything he thought sounded good. A pop singer just released a new song? Cool! Let him listen to it! Rap? Sounds manly! Meeting new people and hearing their suggestions while tieing them to their personalities made Kirishima open his eyes to new artists. Just some simple feel-good music.

→ "On the best coast, on the best coast

Sad days we don't get those, we don't get those

Do you wanna come zone in the sunshine?"

KYLE - Sunshine

He found himself humming along to more upbeat songs, but there are times he'll go revisit the music from his younger days, smiling to himself while the familiar strings of guitars echo in his ears. Of course, Mina knew all about his phase in middle school often sends him fond looks when he's listening to new music. Kirishima is also most comfortable with Mina listening with him.

→ Mina: *was sprawled out on Kirishima's bedroom floor, absently flipping through a magazine while listening to the rock music come out lowly through his speakers* "Hey Kiri?"

→ Kirishima: *was leaning back in his chair and had his eyes closed, his head bopping along to the lyrics while drumming his fingers on his desk* "Mm?"

→ Mina: *smiles at the sight of Kirishima enjoying himself* "Nothing."

That made Kirishima perk his head up as he tried to get her to say what she wanted to say. Truthfully, Mina was just happy that Kirishima seemed more at ease with himself and could look back with fondness, the genre holding a special place in his heart.

Kaminari

I see Kaminari as someone who has always genuinely preferred whatever he thinks sounds good, always open to finding new artists to listen too. However, he also is the kind of guy who will randomly blurt out a song that's been used as a meme. Photograph by Nickleback? He sings it with his soul. Mad World by Gary Jules? He'll walk up to his friends and sing it to them with emotion. On his own, he calms down and might listen to something more upbeat and fun.

→ "Do you remember that letter I sent you

That winter when we were seventeen?

Sayin' that I wish we'd get married

And we could pack our bags

And run away from all our problems

I think of that often."

Abhi//Dijon - Often (hi I want to write a fic based off this song...who should the character be? I thought of Kaminari first but then Bakugou bc of course. But lmk~)

I see the Bakusquad being surprised by Kaminari's taste in music, considering how he's always messing around. He also is a big fan of love songs or about women in general because he thinks it'll impress the ladies. It all goes back to feel-good music though.

→ "'But girl I'm not your savior'

Wrestle to the ground

God help me now because

They're just girls breaking hearts

Eyes bright, uptight, just girls."

The 1975 - Girls

When he stumbled across Bakugou listening to music one day, he was impressed and secretly happy they bonded on something similar, feeling as if they had gotten closer as friends. Overall, if he discovers a new song and artist, he's excited. His Spotify playlist is very detailed and extensive. Give him music recommendations!

→ Kaminari: *bursts through Kirihsima's door* "Dude you gotta listen to- is that The All American Rejects?"

→ Kirishima: *hurriedly shuts off his music* "Kaminari! You need to start learning how to knock-wait. You know them?"

→ Kaminari: *flings himself on Kirishima' bed* "Yes! Dirty Little Secret is my favorite! Put it on!"

→ Kirishima & Kaminari: *has an air guitar concert in Kirishima's room while screaming the lyrics at each other*

→ Sero: *is standing in the doorway and slowly nods as he backs out*

Sero

Being the laid back dude he is, I think he would prefer music he can just vibe out too. Especially laying in his hammock and resting after a long day of hero training. It could have a psychedelic feeling to it.

→ "Feel like a brand new person

So, how will I know that it's right?

In a new direction

So, how will I know I've gone too far?

(Stop thinking that the only option)

Feel like a brand new person."

Tame Impala - New Person, Same Old Mistakes

He also tends to like music that sounds smooth. Simple lyrics and rhythm that puts him at ease. Sero is pretty straight forward when he's chilling out, so why complicate things with music that's too intense? He wants to relax.

→ "I had a different impression of you.

Thought I would mention that I thought the tension was mutual,

Ain't no bedrooms in our future though.

I'm at the end of my rope.

Kick me to the curb, yeah, kick me to the side of the road.

Tension."

Borns - Tension (Interlude)

Whenever Kaminari hears Sero playing his music he screams: "Vibe check!" and Sero snorts. He thinks he listens to music anybody could vibe too. Anybody.

→ Bakugou: *scrunches his face up* "What kind of retro shit is that?"

→ Sero: *furrows his eyebrows* "What do you mean? It's not that far off from yours."

→ Bakugou: *small explosions come from his hands* "The fuck did you just say, Tape Face?"

Sero told him to calm down and tried to find something in his playlist that Bakugou could enjoy. He ended up playing HOME - Resonance for him.

→ Sero: *rolls his eyes* "Here. Listen to this."

→ Bakugou: *sat there with a bored expression on his face* "Is the beat going to drop or is supposed to make me feel nostalgic?"

→ Sero: *widen eyes* "Oh my god. You feel that too?"

→ Bakugou: *widens his eyes too* "What the fuck?"

They both sat quietly staring at each other having to revaluate their thoughts. Sero was impressed that Bakugou was even capable of sensing something like that from a song while Bakugou sat confused wishing the song would go harder instead of making him feel sentimental. It's a weird crossover when it comes to music with these two.

Mina

She is such a supportive fangirl. Women in the music industry doing great things? Mina is a stan. I see her falling in love with Lizzo. Her music makes Mina feel like a boss woman and confident, something she loves belting the lyrics out too. Whenever her friends are feeling down, she'll send them uplifting music so they can feel good about themselves too.

→ "I do my hair toss

Check my nails

Baby how you feelin'?

Feeling good as hell"

Lizzo - Good as Hell

I also think women with powerful vocals have an effect on her. She can get emotional when it comes to music because she just loves artists so much! Mina saw the music video for Thank U, Next and cried at the movie references. Not only were the lyrics iconic, but the films?! She danced around her room singing into her hairbrush.

→ "Thank you, next!"

Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next

She said that phrase for weeks straight in response to EVERYTHING. It was so contagious, she managed to drag Kaminari into her antics, annoying the Bakusquad to hell. It got so bad that she accidentally said it to Aizawa during class.

→ Aizawa: *handed some papers to Aoyama to pass back*

→ Mina: *grabs the stack of papers from Aoyama* "Thank you...NEXT!" *throws the papers behind her to Tsu*

→ Kaminari: *snickering next to her*

→ Aizawa: *his eye twiches* "Mina."

→ Mina: "Sorry~"

Later they tested their quirk strength by throwing that ball again and Mina took a deep breath before winding her arm up and throwing it as hard as she can.

→ Mina: *channeled her inner Kris Jenner* "Thank you, next....BITCH!"

→ Aizawa: "MINA!"

500 meters. The Bakusquad looks absolutely fed up with her while Kaminari is stiffing his laughter.

Takami

Now Hawks is your 100% punk rock type of guy. Give him the hard guitars and the build-up and he's content. Dare I say he doesn't mind screamo? Raw emotions while expressing lyrics tend to hype him up and it makes him feel invincible. Also, if he is flying around and listening to music, he needs something he can still understand with the wind whipping past his ears.

→ "Where to go from here? What road to travel on?

I spent my whole life choosing, and it always chose wrong

Will I try to have the will to be alive?

Will I try because I've never seen the light?

...Can you hear me now?"

Hollywood Undead - Hear Me Now

Back to what I said about punk rock, he entered this stage and never really left. Send him in a mosh pit and watch him dance to his heart's content. He gets a thrill out of this genre of music and how it gets his blood pumping. May or may not headbang, depends on the song or how he's feeling.

→ "I walk this empty street

On the boulevard of broken dreams

Where the city sleeps

And I'm the only one, and I walk alone."

Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

→ Takami: *eyes glittering with excitement* "Endeavor! You have to listen to this so-"

→ Endeavor "No."

→ Takami: "But-"

→ Endeavor: "No."

→ Takami: *ignoring him while fumbling between the seats* "Give me the aux."

→ Endeavor: *a heavy sigh but secretly doesn't exactly hate the music*

Bonus from the dekusquad:

Midoriya

→ "Would I ever really be enough?

I wanna be a hero."

Said The Sky x Dabin x Olivver The Kid - Hero

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royaltealovingkookiness · 5 years

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It's been a while, but I remember you mentioning the lack of/underutilization of female mentors in ATLA. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, so I'm curious - do you have an ideas on how the show could have used female mentors better? Any existing characters you wanted to see more of or any new female mentors you feel would have worked well?

Yes, it was a post I made about how ATLA prides itself on its “badass” female characters, but how little attention was put on female relationships in general, especially positive ones. The only important female-centered story is Team Azula, with an interesting, but ultimately unhealthy dynamic. Katara and Toph’s friendship is the only female friendship with real content (but less important than either girl’s relationship with the guys).

Older female characters are rare (Yudoda, Hama, Gran-Gran), and their role is extremely limited. The two mothers, Ursa and Kya are at most powerful absences.

I think in terms of the canon story, with very small tweaks they could have put more focus on the relationship between Suki and Katara. Suki could have been an important older sister model for Katara.

Staying with Katara’s story, they could have put a bit more emphasis on showing how Gran-Gran (who was apparently not impressed with the North’s patriarchy) influenced Katara’s thinking of female roles, and in general her unwillingness to accept limits society is trying to place on her. We could have gotten also a bit more of Kya’s influence on her personality (the same way we saw how Ursa defined Zuko’s self-perception, re-framing his failures as perseverance).

Katara defines herself as a fighter, and looks down quite a bit on healing at the end of Book 1, but in her contribution to ending the war, she not only fights, she heals both Aang and Zuko. Yet, Pakku is presented as the more influential teacher in her life, while Yugoda feels less prominent. I would have liked a few scenes contrasting the things she learns from each, and maybe how they come back in crucial moments (e.g. the way the lightning redirect move was set up between Iroh and Zuko). Also, it should have been Yugoda giving her the spirit water, not Pakku.

Hama also could have been much better used. She is the last Southern Waterbender, and the bloodbending she teaches Katara is presented in a very sinister light. The only form of bending ever that gets outlawed. I would have loved to see her teach Katara also some positive things that become later important in the final fight.

With Hakoda being such an important father-figure, I would have liked to see Toph have a strong mother-figure. Maybe they could have even set up the conflict a bit better of Toph’s self-image and the way her mother sees her or the things she wants for her. You can create an intelligent parent-child conflict without the parents having to be abusive or neglectful (e.g. as was done between Merida and her mother in Brave).

The show could have dug into Azula’s and Ursa’s relationship more (the flashbacks were all from Zuko’s perspective), and I would have liked to learn something about Li and Lo.

As Sokka’s arc had a theme about overcoming his prejudices against women, I would have loved to see him work more with female mentors. Imagine if The Mechanist was a female character instead! It would have changed nothing in terms of the story, but we could have gotten more girls in STEM representation.

As for Aang, they could have had more focus on him learning from Avatar Yangchen and Avatar Kyoshi.

In Zuko’s arc, they could have introduced a female member of the crew (we saw most Fire Nation military was both men and women) in Book 1, who teaches him something - either a fighting or preferably some life-skill that serves him well as Fire Lord (e.g. how to stretch a budget). Post-coronation, in the comics, I definitely would have introduced an older lady minister / advisor / assistant, who he can really trust and rely on and who gives him good advice on politics and keeps him collapsing from exhaustion.

I would have introduced more female characters in decision-making, government or influential merchant positions in both the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, and show competent benders who were females outside Katara, Toph and Azula, among the more rank and file people.

Finally, some of the White Lotus members could have been / should have been women. I can’t believe that a society focusing on balance, philosophy and beauty is made up of only some old dudes.

#atla #female representation #katara #toph #Azula #kya #ursa #hama #yugoda #zuko #sokka #aang

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scartetqueens2 · 4 years

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Chapters: 31/31 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Under the Red Hood, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days, Batgirl (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Talia al Ghul, Joker, Red Hood, Batman, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Original Female Character(s), Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Jade Nguyen, Ra’s al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Misty Copeland, Alfred Pennyworth, Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, Dinah Lance, Diana (Wonder Woman), J'onn J'onzz, kal el, Clark Kent, Shayera Hol, Oliver Queen, Selina Kyle, Thomas Wayne Jr., Thomas Wayne, Martha Wayne, Harley Quinn, Dr Jonathan Crane, Pamela Isley, Harvey Dent, Edward Nygma, Ubu (DCU) Additional Tags: under the red hood alternate ending, Talia is a good mum, Batman is a poor dad, joker needs to die, like seriously DC, Violence, Suicide Attempt, Character Death, Assassins, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Panic Attack, Mental Health Issues, anger issues, Abandonment, damian is a good brother, The Red Hood Gang is badass, female ninjas, dick grayson is a dick, I love my female OC’s, they’re so about the family, it ain’t even funny, also Eshe and Sada will kick your arse if you’re mean to their Jason, drunken fun, Dancing, Drunk Dancing, Jason has a few beers and they go to his head, Roy is there, they remember the fun they used to have, mentions of underage fun in a club, Nothing Explicit Happens, Angst, Fluff, Eshe and Sada are there for Jason, they want to protect him, while also filming his drunk ass, family holiday, Damian and Lian become quick friends, Roy Harper is a good parent, Holiday, family trips, Ballet, Misty Copeland - Freeform, American Ballet Theatre, Child Abuse, forced drugging, Truth Serum, Bruce Wayne Being an Asshole, Medical Procedures, past child trafficking, Forced Labour, Poison, Don’t mess with the Terror Twins, or the Three Musketeers, Jason is so gay, Murder, Gun Violence, Mind Meld, Memories, Childhood, Rehabilitation, pet injury, dog injury, science is amazing, STEM needs more women, Forced Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Human Experimentation, Science Experiments Series: Part 6 of Reputation, Part 1 of Look What You Made Me Do Summary:

Red Hood watched as the Batmobile pulled into Crime Alley and Batman jumped out. He threw one of his throwing stars at the Bat and took off; he knew his ex-guardian would give chase. The condemned building he was aiming for was only five rooftops over and with all his training it was easy enough to get to without Batman catching up to him.

How everything going wrong on that night can actually result in everything going right for Jason.

#Bad Parent BruceWayne #Evil BruceWayne #Sociopath BruceWayne #Good Mom Talia al Ghul

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marvellous-fangirl · 5 years

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The Next Iron Man

There’s a lot of debate around who will fill the shoes of Iron Man and I have a feeling that this is just going to turn into an essay, but this is how I feel about each of the individual candidates for being the next Iron Man.

So I’m going to start with my favourite MCU character, Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman. In the trailers for Spiderman: Far From Home (it’s being released tomorrow so this might be premature), we have been seeing Peter being treated as the world’s next ‘genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’. Except he’s not? Peter has always been the friendly-neighbourhood Spiderman. I saw a thread where he would be the only Avenger that you would ask to walk you home if you didn’t feel safe - not because the other’s aren’t trustworthy, but because Spiderman is the most relatable and it would be easier to ask him than the others. He’s not the suit of armour around the world, but the guardian angel that you see every week. I feel like I don’t want that being taken away from him or taken out of the MCU since it’s so important for his dynamic as a superhero. Peter Parker is too shy to become the face of Stark Industries, or attend conferences or Stark Expo. He’s smart, but in a lowkey way. He doesn’t flaunt his engineering prowess or hook up with all the hot ladies, he goes to Maths Decathlons, is too shy to ask out that one girl he likes in his class and he’s still in high school.

Next, we have Riri Williams AKA Iron Heart. I love Riri with a passion. She made her superhero armour when she was 10, applied to be an astronaut at 11 and won a scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 15. If that’s not Tony Stark, I don’t know what is. She even became one of Tony’s protégées. Riri would be a perfect in the role. She would have the exact confidence that Tony’s successor requires. I can already picture her slow motion walking away from an explosion and putting on her sunglasses. I understand that there is a lot of controversy around Riri, as she would be an unknown character who would just appear out of nowhere and take up the Iron Man mantle, which is why I think Marvel has instantly dived towards Peter, but if Riri were introduced in the correct way, then I think that a lot of the issues with her concept would evaporate. One of the reasons that her character made more sense in the comics was that she had physical interactions with Tony and, like I said, was one of his protégées, but now that Tony has died within the MCU, the possibility of that being how she is introduced has now been rendered impossible. There’s always the choice that there could be a movie set in the past which involves their relationship, but it would feel to forced and artificial as Riri hasn’t been mentioned in the rest of the films. There is also no circle of characters which Riri could stem from. For example, I talk about Lila Barton in the Children of the MCU post, as she could be the replacement of Kate Bishop. Riri’s creation in the comics made her seem like a temporary substitute for Tony when he was out of the action for a small period of time, and when he returns she would just fade into the background as a minor character. I love her character and I feel like she has so much potential, but it would be really hard to slot her into the MCU and it would probably end up being way too forced and lead to her being even more disliked than she already is. If it were handled in the correct way, then I think that she could become a really funny member of the MCU. (also please don’t attack me, these are just my opinions.)

Now, of course, we come to Morgan Stark. My precious little baby sister (don’t @ me it’s just how I view her). I’m looking forward to seeing her grow and develop in the MCU (not yet though, and I’d rather not have Katherine Langford play her but that’s another story). But as she grows to be older I think that she could be a great successor to her dad. I can see her as a perfect mixture of Pepper and Tony. Business like, professional, able to handle issues like her mother. Confident, cool, collected like her father (alliteration unintended lmao). A lot of people want to see her as Iron Heart not Iron Man, which could solve the issue of Iron Heart being a random character that we haven’t met yet, but she wouldn’t be Riri Williams who brings more diversity to the Marvel Universe as one of the reasons she was created. But I’d enjoy seeing Morgan become Iron Man. She also has her issues however. Hmm let me think about it... Oh yeah she’s five. Maybe she could become the next Iron Man, but not nearly yet.

I haven’t really mentioned Pepper taking over the role, but I don’t feel that she would be right as it. She was great as a supporting badass in Endgame and I think she suits being the CEO (my feminist self isn’t really standing out in this paragraph is it). She would be the mother of Morgan and teach her all of her dad’s moves and be her mentor, along with her big brother Spiderman.

So I know that this might have come across as I’M A FEMINIST SO EVERY SINGLE MARVEL CHARACTER MUST BE REPLACED WITH A WOMAN BECAUSE MEN ARE SHIT. I’m not saying that at all. I’m also not saying that the front runner of the MCU has to be a woman. I don’t have a problem with them being a man, if I did, I wouldn’t have this blog or own every single DVD of every marvel movie ever. (I’ll address my opinions of feminism in marvel in another post at some point.)

There is a part of me that would enjoy seeing Harley becoming the next Iron Man as he is a character that we’ve already been introduced to him so it would be acceptable as a successor, but I don’t think it would be something that Marvel considers. I have a feeling that Marvel might go for the Peter being a temporary Iron Man while Morgan grows up but I don’t know. I just don’t want to see Peter become a large flashy superhero, instead of the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman. But yeah...

So these are my opinions of the whole Iron Man situation, don’t hate me for them, but I hope you can relate to a few of them and feel free to share your own. Just don’t start a war please thank you.

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