#not trying to place blame on people

[pjthedaft]

please please PLEASE self harmers/former self harmers who talk about it on the internet, i am BEGGING you to stop going into detail on how you do/did it and what you used in non-self harm spaces. if you need to go into detail, find a forum, find a place specifically for self harmers. stop posting that stuff on platforms like tiktok and instagram that randomly show content to people from accounts they don’t follow. especially if your account is not dedicated to SH.

“people who are going to do it, are gonna find ways to do it anyways” no. there are some people who, yes, are going to do it anyways. and those people are going to seek out spaces dedicated to SH. but there are also a lot of really young impressionable people who would not have started if someone on *insert social media site here* didn’t basically give them instructions unintentionally. or maybe would have given themselves minor scratches, but not had the materials to really seriously hurt themselves and would’ve moved on.

i say this because it may seem harmless to make a joke about “i used to take apart x object”, but outside of accounts and spaces dedicated to SH, it is absolutely not harmless. i would have never started cutting, and i probably wouldn’t still be struggling with SH now almost 10 years later. also, for those of us who are trying to get better, having an algorithm show us something like that out of nowhere with no TW because we interact with mental illness awareness, recovery, or even just alt music content, is extremely triggering and has triggered relapses into SH for me.

please if you need to talk about it in detail, find a dedicated space. i’m not asking you to cover up healed scars, i’m not asking you to never talk about your history with SH, but stop giving fucking tutorials in the form of jokes and memes on platforms that show it to people who don’t follow you. when you give a kid with no healthy coping mechanisms, no resources, and probably no support system, a goddamn tutorial, idk what y’all expect to happen.

#TW #SH #self harm #tw SH #tw self harm #cutting #tw cutting #mental illness #harm reduction #it just fucking hurts when i see that stuff being posted #usually in speaces for mental health awareness #some of y’all should know better #you are not a recovery page if you’re posting tips and tricks #not trying to place blame on people #but you do need to be responsible when you have a platform on those apps

[royalarchivist]

Pac: Take care of Ramon, take care of Richas, ok? See you on the other side, big boy.

Fit: [Laughs] Take it easy, big boy. Take it easy, big boy. Actually, nononono– You can't just say "big boy" and then just expect me to not drag you outta here. [Fit tries to lasso Pac] You're coming with me.

Pac: No, I need to leave!

Fit: You're coming with me. You are not dying today! You are not dying today!

Pac: I need to leave, Fit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Ironmouse: Are you guys like, having sexy time?

Fit: There's homosexual activity going on Mouse, don't worry about us, ok?

Ironmouse: You guys, we don't have time to be gay right now.

[ Full Transcript ↓ ]

-

Pac: I'm just here to say goodbye to you, Fit.

Fit: Goodbye? We're not– we're gonna be fine, we're going to get out of here, don't worry.

Aypierre: Yeah, don't worry!

Pac: I know, but like– I will sleep until the end, you know? I will pass through this moment sleeping, man. I won't be able to be awake for the moment.

Fit: [Laughs] You know, it's– I mean, if that's how you wanna go, but– I mean, that- I mean, isn't that bed kind of like.... I don't know, it's–

Pac: No no, I will be staying on the sofa, you know, I will be staying on the sofa.

Fit: Oh the sofa. Ok, that's a nice sofa! Yeah, that is a pretty nice sofa.

Pac: Yeah, it's a nice sofa right? No, yeah– I'm going to stay on the sofa, you know? So, since I will be going Fit... [Pac starts tossing Fit all his items]

Aypierre: [Not paying attention to their conversation] Is that bigger cell? I don't think it's a bigger- biggest one.

Fit: Oh... Thank you Pac, thank you.

Pac: Everything you need to survive, ok?

Fit: Wow.

Aypierre: Wow.

Pac: And if you need this one also, maybe, who knows? [Throws him more items]

Fit: Ohhh, well hey– just take this to remember me by, ok? [Tosses him a photo of himself – the same one Aypierre was carrying all day yesterday]

Pac: [Laughs] Ok, I will sleep holding the picture you know, like this. You know, I will dream about you, Fit. And I hope this is gonna be good dreams. I see you in the other side. Good luck, my friend.

Fit: The other side... Yeah, you know, yeah, we– we– you know? It's been an honor, Pac. It's been an honor, you know?

Pac: Yeah, for me too, you know? Take care of Ramon, take care of Richas, ok?

Fit: Ok.

Pac: See you on the other side, big boy.

Fit: I will sing your praise– Oh yeah, hey– [Laughs] Take it easy, big boy. Take it easy, big boy. Actually, nononono– You can't just say "big boy" and then just expect me to not drag you outta here. You're coming with me.

Pac: No, I need to leave!

Fit: You're coming with me. You are not dying today! You are not dying today!

Pac: I need to leave, Fit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Fit: Sorry, there's–

Pac: I'm sorry!

Ironmouse: Are you guys like, having sexy time?

Fit: There's homosexual activity going on Mouse, don't worry about us, ok?

Ironmouse: You guys, you guys– we don't have time to be gay right now, come on. There's no time.

Pac: No, there's no time! Oh, goodbye Fit...

Fit: Ok, c'mon, no no no, come on, we got this we got this!

Pac: Goodbye Fit, I'm sorry!

Fit: [Laughs] Oh no...

#Pactw #FitMC #Hideduo #FitPac #QSMP #QSMP Prison #January 22 2024 #So canonically how do you guys view this moment? #Did Pac just canonically conk out from stress? #Did he take sleeping pills on purpose to sleep through whatever awful thing was inevitably going to happen? #Curious to hear what other people think #I like to imagine the stress finally got to him #He spent the entire time trying to mirror things he saw Cell doing #and finally cried about it to Bagi #I can't blame him if he wants to sleep through the rest of it. Man's living in a place that's actively making him relive past trauma #Fit says he's carrying Pac in his backpack but I like to imagine that he just gave Pac a piggy back ride the entire way home :D #I imagined that for Purgatory too #it's cute #idk the whole idea of very traumatized characters being so comfortable around certain people #Idk the idea Pac feeling so safe around Fit #(despite being in a place that is actively stressing him out) #that he feels alright falling asleep and trusting him / Mike to protect him is sweet to me #Idk man I'm a big fan of the ''literal sleeping together'' trope #I love when characters take naps together it's so cute #esp when it's two traumatized characters with a lot of baggage / trust issues #It's nice #anyways I got way off topic with these tags LMAO sorry #I was gonna edit this down but I like the entire conversation so I'm leaving it as is #The YouTube editor living in my brain: Not great for viewer retension #Me: Shhhhhhhh I'm an Archivist. I can do whatever I want.

[uncanny-tranny]

This is purely speculation on my end, but I've noticed that it seems like people (specifically younger queer people, partially under forty) are so used to queerphobes indignantly saying, "you have the right to marry, what more can you want?! Why do you shove it down our throats?!" that they internalize the idea that gay marriage and other rights were only fought for for queer assimilation.

The push for things like gay marriage wasn't just "to assimilate," and especially after the AIDs crisis, you very well could watch your lover or friend or mentor die in front of you and have no recourse. No protections. No guarantee that you could even say goodbye. Learning that - as a young queer myself - hammered home how important these things can be. To get where we are now didn't happen because of the magical benevolence of the cishets. We fought for that shit. We died for that shit.

Again, this is speculation, but I don't think young queers (even me) will truly understand the scope of queer history. It takes effort to learn about this, but it is an effort worth pursuing every single time. At the least, we owe it to honour the people who came before us who have sacrificed so much. We owe our communities that much, at least.

#queer #lgbt #lgbtq #politics #it just irks me to see the 'why werent queers of the past trying to move to reprioritize marriage 🙄' #it gives off the same vibes as 'why transition? shouldn't you abolish gender altogether🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄. hashtag owned!' #it's just...please learn about history. even the aids crisis ALONE was harrowing to learn - but it's so important #i don't see assimilation as what you do per se but rather what you believe in #queer assimilation isn't getting married and having kids - it's (to me) an attitude of queerness #it's devaluing queerness and thinking of it as lesser - so you will distance yourself intrinsically from it #maybe that's the same to some people but i don't see it that way #and even then the conversion of this alone is nuanced and complicated #instead of blaming an individual i tend to blame the systems in place that lead people to devaluing themselves and who they are

[cowardlykrow]

After Cyn's done tryna kill him, she'll eventually relent and they can get to work... whatever that is. I didn't do the outfit any justice, but the second i saw the Cowboy!Curt mega @ricky-mortis made i was literally like, "yes, that is IT."

This is, in my heart, a cannon fit for this au

#And if you disagree... well i cant hear you #K but i really am bad at clothes lol! and this weird pose kinda threw me off pretty hard so i will also blame that... #but i will do better next time #I am again letting people know his horse is 100% named after Cynthia because of the occasional attempts on his life 👍 #I think i'll dub this a Try hard Doodle because thats what it is actually #and now for me talking way to much in that tags because i'm a terror: #I was going to pair this with another drawing that actually features curtwen btw #but my wrist said “No” #so maybe tomorrow? #(also... i have never actually drawn a person ON a horse before so this was really weird to do #this was actually a full body image... and then i halved it but then i couldn't do his foot? so i halved it again!) #Saf #spies are forever #cowboys are forever #<- WOULD watch the shit outta that [laughing at the idea of all the songs made really really country] #Cowboys your spies #Also some fun but also pretty dumb Au stuff: my vers of this au has always taken place in the wildwest in my head #so around 1865 to 1895 #Art #and finally... OTL when the horse is better then the human #is the fact i drew animals for a majority of my life really obvious yet

[imthursdaysyme]

Seeing Ghosts

#stranger things #drawing #art #digital art #nancy wheeler fanart #nancy wheeler #barb holland #nancy and barb #fanart #I this this entire arc with barb is the sadest thing #and people go and turn it into some horrible thing Nancy did or Steve did #to like chose a side but I love Nancy and Steve and it is cruel to try and place the blame of her fucking death in one or both of them #like I’m sorry hoW WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO KNOW SHED GET FUCKING TAKEN BY A DEMOGORGKN #JFC #anyway #let it be sad #let the be children who made mistakes without villinizing them #bc that’s you refusing to understand multidimensional characters as well as not understanding children and mistakes and morality #anyway I have such a rant on that but I’ll leave it there #I’m in my sad Nancy era

[erabu-san]

Hmm I apologize again for the rant !

It is not the first time I am doing it. I might forgot to put "please don't tag it as ship" under my drawing of tighnari cyno. Please, do not !

I love them as best friend, I love them as brother/found family, I don't mind the queerplatonic relationship at all

But their romantic side make me pretty uncomfortable. No hate ! It is my own taste.

Shippers are always welcomed and I am so glad you like my content 💕 but all my art concerning them (unless I tag the ship) are purely platonic. I just ask for some respect of my taste and not reblog my art with the ship tag.

I don't want to block, because I am genuinely glad you enjoy my work and as a young artist, it means a lot for me. Thank you so much 🙇 !! But as a human, I can't deny how uneasy it makes me feel.

Thank you for understanding !

#rant #I blame nobody #i am clearly not used to block ): I should tho but I know those who tag ship are not mean at all </3 #it is fine if you don't know. #but i saw people reblogging my art with shiptag even if i said “do not” #my art is like my only safe place please respect it #this ship is so popular and I clearly stop to interact with the fandom because of that #i clearly ignore when I saw one in my timeline /dashboard becausz I can't do nothinf against it except masking the account #but I beg you. not. under. my. post. #not in my DM #why i feel obligated to justify myself 😭 #but yeah !!! the ship is valid and full of greenflag !! wholesome !! #but I only enjoy them platonically !!! please respect 😭😭😭 I SWEAR I AM DESESPERATE WHY IT IS SO HARD FOR SOME TO RESPECT THAT OMG #gosh on twitter someone said me “ignore ??? what did you expect ??? it is the most popular ship” #I AM TRYING I AM LITERALLY NOT SEARCHING FOR FANART 😀 #feeding myself with my own food #that's why I am so grateful for people who support me. thank you. 😭 #and how could I ignore a comment under my post ??? interaction are so important for me I read everything #ANYWAY SORRY FOR RANTING !!! IT IS CLEARLY A /NOTMEAN POST !!! #next time I won't forgrt “do not tag it as ship” #but urgh if I do this I have to do in every post ???? 🤨 #and what if I draw tighnari cyno kaveh but I don't mind ship with kaveh ??? 🤨🤨🤨 (plz still don't) #tHERE IS PLENTY OF CYN0N4RI ACCOUNT IF YOU WISH TO SEE MORE CONTENT OF THEM !! Please support them <<3 mine are platonic ! #but clearly. imagine you are obsessive about two characters <<3 #but their popular ship is the one who make you the most uncomfy 😀 #so you decided to just stop looking at fanart and not bothering anyone 👍👍 #but it came under your post and your DM 😟 #AAA SORRY I AM SALTY I SWEAR I AM NOT USED TO FEEL LIKE THIS ):< #anyway plz take care ilove you mwah 🥺🥺🥺🥺���💕

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

“Jason should get over being upset about his death” - he has, he wasn’t angry at Bruce or the world because they failed him and he ended up dying, which he made clear plain as day and that’s about the most reasonable a person who went through what he went through could be

anyway I don’t think these people realize how gory being bludgeoned to near death is, and maybe it's because of the limitations of the medium that scene was presented in

#not to mention he had to process the added heartbreak of his birth mother’s rejection/betrayal at the same time #like yeah he was cocky and smiling in the uth movie go Jason go but that’s also the same movie that drastically changed the context #and tone of that scene by erasing Sheila #kelseethe #I remember the first time reading aditf I got flashbacks to a Korean horror movie that still puts me in a weird place #anyway it was about a serial killer who went around killing people by beating their skulls in with a hammer #one of the plots was centered around a victim who didn’t die after the first attack and even managed to escape at first #long story short she was running around trying to get help and the cops were useless + he ended up finding her again and finished the job #sfx brains skull blood and viscera everywhere #and that’s exactly what happened to Jason you just didn’t see any gore because it’s an American comic #nor did you hear his screams and the sounds from metal making contact with bone and guts #and like I said the uth movie was pretty sanitized too same for the titans show which also downplayed his death lol #anyway I think it’s really forgiving of Jason not to blame Bruce or anyone else for the fact that they let the circumstances lead to that #and to instead only criticize how nothing was done in the aftermath #Idk I always found it a bit fascinating how it doesn’t seem to have dawned on most people including his fans #exactly how violent that experience was

[spacedlexi]

so often i see people try to downplay violet and minervas relationship like it wasnt Real enough or was some Inferior Romance that her relationship with clementine could Never compare to, and i find it so annoying and boring

she LOVED minerva!! and its okay that she did!! she was her first love!! childhood best friends turned girlfriends!! seeing her being so heartbroken and miserable about what happened to minnie, how deeply and desperately she missed her, hugging that bed frame so pathetically. but clementine makes her CARE again. makes her LOVE again. slowly violet becomes comfortable with the idea of opening her heart up to people again, after trying so hard not to because the pain of losing people she cared about was too much to bear (especially when she blamed herself for them being gone)

then she learns minnie didnt die. shes falling in love with clem while grappling with the fact that minnie might still be out there??

then she meets minnie in the woods. but minnie has changed just like she has. theyre both different people now. and slowly violet is forced to come to terms with the fact that the person she loved so deeply isnt that person anymore??

violet at the beginning mourning minerva and blaming herself, to shooting her to save clems life. she LOVED minerva once, but she doesnt like the person she is now. and shes not gonna let her hurt anyone else she cares about. shes done mourning her by the time they get to the bridge, only crying out for tenn

like idk i just find their relationship evolution to be so interesting and sad as shit. the fact that they once loved each other so much and it has now come to this?? but violet makes her choice and she Chooses clementine, because she admires and loves clementine, probably similar to the way she used to admire and love minerva if the way she talked about her is any indication

i just think "i never thought i would ever feel this way again" is way more interesting than "wow minnie Never made me feel like This"

#violet makes minnie a stronger character literally Just by being there #the way vi and minnie and clem all bounce off each other is so fucking good #CLEM SLEEPING IN MINNIES BED IS NOT AN ACCIDENT #clem has essentially replaced her. and minnie is seething about it. because she wanted them all to follow her to the delta #but instead theyre following clementine. who she sees as a threat to their lives. when in reality the real threat is her and the delta #now its minnie who is sad and lost and doesnt know how to grapple with it #instead doing what she can to save herself. even if it means hurting the people she cares about #and violet HATES THAT!! and shes willing to fight to save the people she loves #even if it means hurting someone she used to care about more than anything #she places that shot so perfectly. she doesnt WANT to hurt minnie. but she wasnt gonna let her hurt clementine either #she may have loved minnie once. partially blames herself for what happened to her. but theyre both different now. and she loves clementine #LIKE IDK that evolution is just so good and makes the clemvi romance even more strong??? violet knows Exactly what and who she wants #so by downplaying the vinerva romance it inherently makes her choice to choose clem weaker?? #the more she loved minnie the harder that choice was. and she chose clementine #anyway this is why the clem vi minnie boat fight makes me bark like a wild beast #either i see people try to downplay her love for minerva OR they overhype it and act like she never got over her #when her getting over minnie is the whole point!! taken vi trusted her bc she LIED to her about sophie!! and clem broke her trust #god shes so heartbroken and confused in that cell get her out of there!!!!! vi i'll save you every time!!!!!! #thinking about clemviminnie instead of working what else is new #twdg #violentine #vinerva

[redysetdare]

every time i see a post that is like "ughh why cant we have aspec characters who aren't aroace for once" I have to do a double take like "is the aroace rep in the room with us right now?" because genuinely....where is all this aroace rep y'all are complaining about? Why cant i find it yet it's apparently the only aspec rep we get?? You admit that TV never says the word aromantic so where is the aroace rep. So far I've pretty much only seen canonically asexual characters and not much else buddy.

#text #half the time i think these ppl see other aspec ppl saying that x character feels aroace and then they take it as canon rep #instead of an interpretation of the character which likely was never meant to be written as aspec at all #because majority of people don't even know what that is #this isn't me saying that we shouldn't have aroallo or alloace rep btw #this is me complaining about people throwing aroace ppl under the bus because apparently we are 'hogging' all the representation in media #and it just reads as people being aphobic towards aroace people specifically and it drives me insane #you can ask for more aroallo and alloace characters without complaining and shitting on aroace characters???? #like bro we are all on the same fucking team. we are all trying to get seen and understood. we all want to see ourselves in media #stop fighting like one of us is somehow way more privileged than the other because 'you have x rep' #we all have crumbs my guy. just because someone else is getting crumbs doesn't mean that its your crumbs being taken. #idk i see so many posts like this and it makes me feel so unwelcome in the aro and ace communities #im tired of aroace people being used as a scapegoat that you can target to pretend like you're punching up #when in reality you're just committing friendly fire against people who are on your team #i miss when the aro and ace communities used to like... work together as a big aspec community #now ppl r way too focused on separating them and acting like they have nothing in common and don't have the same goals #and both communities now tend to put a lot of blame onto aroace people because of stereotypes we never had control over in the first place #it's exhausting #like the aphobia is coming from inside the house #i didn't go through the ace discourse on tumblr to deal with this shit.

[mobiused]

what are your opinions on the yeojin mcdonalds thing?

Umm I think it's really awkward and everyones handling it stupidly. Tell yeojin and ctd that she should stop eating mcdonalds if she cares about palestinian lives yes. Demand an apology if you want yes. Verbally abuse her no. Immature of her to close comments without addressing the controversy yes. Is her disordered eating relevant whatsoever? No. Pretend that Korea is some isolated land full of idiots who know nothing about global politics no. Pretend that Korea is on par with the US regarding info about boycotts and the palestinian genocide no. But at the end of the day Yeojin has access to the internet, she's undoubtedly seen the complaints, all it takes is a little sorry won't happen again. But everyone is being so weird about it. Like its always all about nuance really.

I'm just thinking of the time Yeojin reacted badly when she got called out for her disordered eating the first time, then took some time away and apologised sincerely. Hoping this will happen again because I have faith she's that type of person. Though understandable if people aren't wanting to forgive her over this.

#idk why people who don't live in korea are trying to say that everyone in korea knows about the conflict and boycotts because #well no! not really! #that being said it's not hard for a gen MZ korean person to make themselves aware especially with intl fans who are directly telling you #i don't blame yeojin for not knowing in the first place because nobody fucking discusses it here #but NOW? after closing the comments? thats too egregious. #also i know the fact that hannams are speaking about her ig comments section will be stressing her out too

[super-paper]

You know,, at first i didn't realize because the leaks are low quality and i couldnt really understand what happened with kurugiri and where bkg showed up from.. but after you pointed it out and the more i think about it, the more im mad how izuku and bakugo just fucking killed kurugiri. Like, what the fuck was that???? Even if one tries to defend it as 'oh he's on the villains side and maybe they though he was going to warp shigafo somewhere or protect him' it's still mind-boggling how izuku didn't hesitate at all. Like you said, that was one of the few characters that wanted to protect and save tomura, who was pleading for afo to give him back and they just........ignore that and punch him as well. No surprised look, no hesitation, no thinking on what to do. Then add izukus lack of reaction to tomura decaying and i question who is that, bc sure as fuck isn't the "i want to save that crying little boy" hero deku. Doing that in front of aizawa and yamada as well is so foul damn. I haven't been this disappointed in izuku since 327 (my beloathed) and his overall response in that "reunion" with toshinori.

It's implied Kurogiri was already dying (which is, it's own can of worms,, because there's really no way to spin that particular writing decision in a way that makes Hori look good considering how it was never once foreshadowed that Giri overusing his quirk would kill him). But yeah, Giri's treatment is definitely one of the most upsetting aspects of this chapter-- Izuku and Bkgo may not have killed him per se, but they also didn't hesitate to run him through just to finish off AFO. Izuku exhibits zero reaction to Giri begging for Tomura's life and makes no attempts to even speak with him. Like, Giri is honestly the only character in this chapter who actually felt heroic in what was supposed to be the grand finale of Izuku's journey to become one of the greatest heroes. It's an absolutely massive writing fumble.

Like, if we're looking at the arc as a whole, the intended read is like.... Tenko tells Izuku that he's a villain who is fighting to be a hero to the villains, and the unspoken implication is that Izuku immediately gives up on saving him because "Tenko can't be stopped/changed and made his choice to keep fighting for evil"-- even though we literally get a reveal in the very next chapter that he was manipulated into this position and forcibly given the power that helped shaped his entire life/worldview. Izuku does not react once to this reveal despite the manga making it clear that he is also seeing AFO's memories. Tenko isn't allowed to properly process this reveal and the implications behind it + how it skewed his perception of himself. The heroes arrive and yap about how "tragedy is bad and shouldn't happen :(" while making no attempt to actually engage with the fact that AFO is openly grieving, and then they proceed to annihilate the body of the biggest victim in the series without any hesitation (while also running through the crumbling body of another victim who is the only one on the battlefield that's attempting to save the first victim's life).

Like. Am I misunderstanding anything or.

#mha spoilers #mha leaks #spoilers #people on twt are getting mad that people are blaming Izuku but like #honestly his writing absolutely merits criticism & that ties back to HrKsh not following through w/ a lot of the set up/promises of his arc #like he's a kid who never should have been placed in this position in the first place and I'm not trying to dispute that fact #sophie.txt #thank you for the ask #sorry for the negativity I'm v much in the anger stage of grief rn lmao

[theprodigypenguin]

At this moment the dragon hating agenda comes around like clockwork. This isn't even the first time THIS YEAR that I have to constantly see people shitting on him for not being omnipotent

Oh dude, anon, I have to actively stay away from the Dragon tags on Tumblr cuz it's ALL people just shitting on him. Or it's posts not even pertinent to him, like stop tagging him this has nothing to do with him.

One time I saw a post where someone was arguing that the only reason Dragon approved of Luffy being a pirate is because it was useful to the Revolutionary cause. ?????? HOW? "He's using Luffy as a tool" MUHFUCKER, HOW?

I genuinely have no idea why people hate him so much. There are characters with less screentime than him who are more popular. There are genuinely EVIL characters who are more popular.

"He abandoned Luffy" MY GUY? IS THAT YOUR ONLY REASON? Show me an itemized list of canon events that justify disliking him TO THIS DEGREE it's ridiculous.

Cuz the more I learn about him, the more I fucking love him, and I was already on the Dragon Fan Band Wagon. I'm actually driving the bitch at this point.

No but on god I don't understand the hate, and I could vent for pages about how stupid it is. Like this is a fictional story, he doesn't exist, but the way some people HATE him is a bit much. Like you're really gonna spend your precious time bitching about a guy who sacrificed everything to help people while in the same breath get hot over characters who have committed actual war crimes and physically wounded or fucked Luffy up? Okay 👍

My header is "Monkey D Dragon Apologist" for a very good reason 🫰

#dragon hate makes me so sad #there is no place for it in my heart #one piece #revolutionary army #monkey d dragon #good dad dragon #added a read more cuz i kinda ended up ranting #and like i have more to say but ill chill #there is only room for dragon love in my house #watch people try to blame dragon over what happens in this next chapter hashtag spoiler

[uncanny-tranny]

People are allowed to dislike you - even hate you, and sometimes, it won't be because of things you can change. That's hard, I know, but you wanna know a secret? The inverse is also true. People are allowed to like you - love you, even, for just being here. And you wanna know something else? Even if somebody disliked you, that doesn't say anything about your worth. Your value isn't determined on how many people love you.

#positivity #encouragement #learning to accept you won't always be liked also comes with learning to accept you won't always be hated #you learn that people can (and will) love you for no reason #and when i say love i mean in the same way greeks thought of love: the whole 'eight types of love' stuff #i don't just mean romantically (though it can also apply at times) #it's hard to know you're disliked because so many of us believe that if *everybody* doesn't love us we are worthless... #...but this all-or-nothing approach to our worth is detrimental i think #and it's torture to try forcing everybody to love us... #...it is TORTURE to push yourself down in order to convince others we are worthy of their love believe me it is #i blame nobody for doing it though. many humans want love #but not receiving a person's love doesn't mean you aren't unworthy of love in the first place

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

#i assume my followers are cool enough to let me give a brief measured critique on fandom trends and DotO #thanks for the anon question!! what fun! #i love billie lurk <333 #jumped on the opportunity to rant n rave #what part of billie isn't my fav! (im a guy who likes the bad stuff too. mmm interesting meta) #trying to be not unfair or mean- i'm not targeting anyone but rather trends. and it's ok to be disappointed with something you love #fuck it. make it part of the appeal! her writing sucks! plenty of room for me & other creators! #its easier for me to indulge my billie brainworms when it sorta feels like she's not getting as much love as she deserves #you know? i want stories where her history is explored and her agency is important so i guess i'll roll up my sleeves #tumblr is a terrible place for this sort of critique IMO- lots of nuanceless empathy-free guilt-trip-ish rhetoric #so i hope i avoided that. but not so much that i seem forgiving. #that said i'm not tagging this one with fandom tags! no thank you. #i am blaming arkane yes. but that is also not without games industry context #i could complain about amateurish writing but that also never happens in a vacuum. industry problem(s) for sure. #people love to blame writers for things #and yeah a couple really fucking good writers can push a boulder uphill #but its usually a company problem #hire lots of diverse people in your company. give them authority and respect and reasonable workloads. and no crunch. #ah fuck this is a separate essay in tags. again #THIS WAS A SIMPLE QUESTION #*clutches head in hands* #uh if you're still reading at this point im SO sorry and thank you and i love you

[jacnaylor]

the tories, the people (i should say scumfucks) in power in the uk, released their manifesto today with which they hope to win the next election. in this they invoked the eldritch horror that is the howling ghost of Margaret thatcher, basically said fuck the north, fuck trans people and fuck migrants. they're quite literally trying to set this country back by 40 years. i mean i know they've always been complete monsters, but some of them, sometimes, used to pretend not to be. now they've gone fully mask off. i feel like i've banged my head and woken up in 1980.

#people saying 'they're giving the north 36bn!' no they're not #first of all we're just never getting it anyway. #second of all they said 'the north and the midlands and across the country' #also they're literally stealing the ideas of the northen mayors and trying to take credit for them #FUCK THE TORIES #it's so fucking emotionally exhausting trying to have any kind of hope for being given anything here #i know that a lot of places will feel the same but like i can't even explain it to you if you're not from here #it's like anything the north has they've had to take for themselves #and the worst part is they've perfected their rhetoric so well that people will vote them in. northen people will vote them in. and im not #but when you beat people down over and over again and then give them someone to blame other than the tories? people are going to fall for i #politics

[lucyvsky]

love hate relationship. with sociology. this quarter. on one hadn sociology. the subject. very cool very interesting. enjoying. on the other hand. my teacher is on some bullshit sometimes

#while she is generally well intentioned. with placing emphasis on corporate influence to our consumption of products. she then goes and puts #the pressure on individual people to reduce carbon footprints. which you can and should do but i feel like she does not address the scale #at which these actions are meaningless in the face of larger corporations. while we should all aspire to be better. about our consumption #it is not the individuals fault. unless you are a billionare. in my opinionnnnnn. #also shes lowkey fatphobic. ive been trying to figure out if this is a result of phd in sociology. or consuming fatphobic documentaries. or #personal bias. regardless it is weird and off putting and it makes me uncomfortable.......... and she also . not fully blames but does blam #people for being fat. which like. please youre literally a sociologist teaching about social problems. i feel like you have other prioritie #also the afformentioned. bothsidsing it of israel's genocide. most likely a result . of how proud she is that she does not consume american #news coverage. ONLY BRITISH. i feel as though this may be worse. that she only gets news from the bbc. famously. supporters of israel. #she has not explicitly talked about palestine in class but she did mention it basically exactly the same way as that question did. earlier #this quarter. which is such a bullshit cop out for talking about genocide. #sorry for conducting a profile of beliefs of my sociology teacher shes just been on my mind. need to explode her or something