#people generally suffer

[the-magpie-archives]

People will really say "Jonathan Sims is a good guy!" or "Jonathan Sims is a bad person!" as if a prominent message of his character arc wasn't that no matter who you are, what you do, or how you behave your actions can cause harm or good without intention, and baselessly assigning morals to people who aren't deliberately causing harm is pointless because our view of them is more about how they affect us than how they actually are.

For better or worse, everyone is just a person. We're all both not at fault and entirely to blame.

#I just think about this a lot.... The messages of morality in tma are really interesting and everyone suffers for it!! #Lots of stories focus too much in having a moral but tma is contradictory in a fascinating way and it's one of the reasons I love it so #I guess this is kinda a post about just morality in general but it was through tma that it came to me so enjoy #Also this was directed at one specific person‚ if you're reading this it's not you #I'm also paranoid about upsetting people so this is your reminder that this is a random opinion and if you disagree that's fine 😌 #tma #the magnus archives #the magnus institute #jonathan sims

[sas-afras]

i kinda don’t get people who characterize maccready as like… secretly generous, or having a heart of gold or anything. like don’t get me wrong i don’t think he’s downright malicious or anything, but the dude is absolutely a selfish jerk once you get past the charming facade. that’s the part that’s compelling!

like, he’s nice enough and open enough with the player once you get high enough affinity with him, but his reactions to player actions still point to him being a jerk overall. the sosu just happens to be in His Circle of people he can be vulnerable with. that includes you, his son, and maybe daisy. everyone else can kick rocks, the same way it was in little lamplight

he HAD to grow up with that kind of “us vs the world, every man for himself” mentality in the capitol wasteland. doing so otherwise gets you killed or taken advantage of, which is just protracted death anyways. having grown up in a place where slavers run rampant, people are all pushing each other further down just to boost themselves up and live one more day, and it’s literally impossible to make renewable food sources because the ground is so poisoned i genuinely don’t blame him for ending up a little tight fisted. the fact that he was the mayor of little lamplight just meant that he ended up being able to accept a few people as His To Protect instead of being a total lone wolf.

the way he reacts to the players open generosity isn’t just for show, he Actually Dislikes when you give stuff away without expecting anything in return. you might need that thing and now its just gone!! that person might see you as a sucker! you give an inch and they’ll take a mile! and it makes sense for his character to be like that considering everything. i don’t get why people want to change that into him just being kind of tsundere.

i understand that having your babygirl blorbo comfort character be a canonical asshole in ways that aren’t just kinda charming can be offputting, but like…. the way he treats the sosu is a very notable exception to the rest of his life & it’s a much more interesting dynamic imo. especially if you’re playing a goody two shoes martyr. but that’s just me

#robert joseph maccready #i also have come to the realization that him disliking when you give austin the cure in v88 is in character #he doesn’t know shit about how medicine works #he just sees some magical cure being used on a random sheltered vault kid who got himself into this mess anyways #meanwhile *his son* is suffering #i also think his disdain towards being generous is because of the ‘if i can’t have it no one can’ mentality #similar to how astarion acts in bg3 #maccready didn’t have any help as a kid. he went through it all by himself. he had to suffer alone #seeing someone get treated with kindness after spending his whole life getting beat down #to the point where he just convinced himself that good people were made up entirely #it’s like a slap to the face #‘you mean this existed the whole time? people like YOU have been out here the whole time? and i was just unlucky?’ etc #idk i took two benadryls and now im cooking #not art

[l832]

[hymnsofheresy]

Do you pray for the hostages too?

Yes. I pray for the 110 or so israeli and immgrant hostages assumed to still be alive. And I also pray for the hundreds of Palestianian hostages arrested without charge in Israeli prisons assumed to be alive.

I pray for a ceasefire so that the Israeli hostages are released. I also pray for the end of Israeli apartheid government, so that Palestianians are liberated.

#i recommend reading some articles on the israeli hostages that were released #they each have individual perspectives but i notice online that people are refusing to hear many of their critiques of the israeli state #oftentimes dismissing the hostages of being ''irrationally traumatized'' or ''coerced'' into saying things #now i don't agree with all of them. especially since a lot are reformers. but i think it is important to hear their perspectives #also in general #the sheer number of palestians suffering compared to the israeli hostages is the reason why i think this ''whataboutism'' is ridiculous #you have 2 million people suffering and i am supposed to direct my primary attention to what like 100 of them specifically? #especially considering that there is one side that can end this whole thing: israel #hamas has already offered to release the hostages #in exchange for a ceasefire #and any attempt that the israeli military tried to ''liberate'' the hostages ended up in their deaths #what so far at least 3 israeli hostages were killed by israel (and there was probably more unconfirmed)

[trans-fushiguro]

#some people are just put on this world to suffer ig #sonic x shadow generations #sth #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog

[parlerenfleurs]

Starting to think, going by the MXTX fandoms, that a lot of people are comfortable with being a bit terrible and not thriving for an ideal whatsoever, because they really really reeaaally want to believe Xue Yang and Jiang Cheng are poor cuties who weren't lucky and the heroes are a bunch of holier-than-thou arrogant bitches who need to be taken down a peg when the text says the opposite, because then it justifies their own faults and hatred of genuinely awesome people who seem to have it better in life and isn't that sooo unfair and isn't it fair that they should suffer to learn what it's like to suffer like them, poor tortured, petty, flawed humans who see themselves in the villains rather than the heroes.

#Bloom talks #I'm out of patience with people who have decided not to be better and won't take any responsibility for it #oh but I suffer so~ #newsflash asshole most people struggle horribly at some point or another and yet some of us decide to be good #and also some of us are indeed gifted and impressive and it is something to be celebrated and yes admired on occasion #I love a good gifted person #who shines bright and leads an amazing life #the Wei Wuxians of the world are a treasure #you want to love Jiang Cheng because you feel you are like him and want to be loved? #I don't know man have you TRIED not being an asshole? people have an easier time loving you if you try you know? #you don't have to adopt it as your whole identity and make it everyone else's problem #so fucking tired of seeing people not even try #IT'S FINE TO BE CLEAR to relate to Jiang Cheng and be an asshole inside #we all are a little bit of an asshole inside!! #just stoop pretending he's actually good and Wei WuXian is bad! #yes I'm talking about a general thing with this very specific thing yes #mxtx #mdzs

[wyfy-meltdown]

Shortly after Madoka Magica released (to great success), everyone started trying to make the next big "magical girl misery" anime. I think the reason those ones didn't really take off is because they missed the point of Madoka: the love of others and self-sacrifice is center stage, and we only really feel bad for the characters of Madoka Magica because we see them happy.

Madoka Magica isn't just a misery fest; Mami's death matters because we understand Mami's dreams and struggles, Sayaka becoming Oktavia is impactful because we see her downfall that isn't her fault (or anyone's for that matter). Madoka (and to a secondary extent, Homura) never give up hope or trying.

Madoka isn't constantly victimised and abused (unlike some over-the-top edgy magical girl animes I know) she's in tragic circumstances and still tries her best; still WANTS the best for the world around her.

Making something sad isn't about how much we see a character suffer and struggle; it's about making the struggles and suffering they go through impactful through their story. Wants, relationships, traits, and flaws... That's what makes a character's pain painful for an audience.

#mahou shoujo madoka magica #madoka magica #puella magi madoka magica #magical girl #madoka kaname #pmmm homura #pmmm madoka #homura akemi #pmmm sayaka #sayaka miki #mami tomoe #mami pmmm #I like “edgy” media in the sense I like media that makes me truly feel for the pains of the characters #a non-stop torture fest feels so cheap and disengenuine to me #it's hard to find good media that balances “misery” and “lightness” #filler and downtime is necessary to making an audience connect with characters #I don't (just) mean “beach episodes” but general moments of calm between painful circumstances #this applies everything that tries to be “dark” #watching a character suffers only really feels bad when they get time to be a character and have joy in their life #this is kinda a rant but I'm sick of mindless edgefests and people (producers + consumers) entirely missing the point of effective misery #I made a typo in one of the tags but it's far to late to fix #wyfy's meltdowns #I have a lot of thoughts about writing dark subject matter and misery but I'll post about that another time (maybe) #pmmm

[akkivee]

kuukou with that sour ramen

#this is vee speaking #we got an external generator running that gave me enough time to doodle something real quick lol #it doesn’t power everything tragically lol but we can plug in power strips and charge devices and get the internet working too #i like that kuukou uses food to bond with people it’s a shame he also likes to test people and torture them thru it lol #like nagoya’s rep was on the line and that’s the only reason sasara didn’t suffer in that one track lol #(tho i also like to think sasara and kuukou bonded plenty in their forest escapade lol) #jyushi and hitoya tho lol they’re his team so they get subjected to food used as training lol 😭😭😭 #i’m so curious if kuukou ever subjected ichiro to food as training lol like on one hand i can see him doing so bc that’s his thing lol #but then my gut says probably not since ichiro doesn’t have much of an appetite in the first place from making sure his bros are fed #and if kuukou ever felt the need train with ichiro it’d be thru other means like their amusement complex date #ik some of that is that ichiro is the strongest man in kuukou’s eyes lol but maybe in current era #kuukou can still bond with ichiro over food and reassert ichiro’s strength with extreme food lmao #vee is arting

[shrikeseams]

Circling back, as ever, the the idea that Celegorm's treatment of Luthien was (at least in part) revenge for Aredhel.

Because often I see people responding with something along the lines of "Oh, Aredhel would be so mad at him about that!", and I am here to say: I don't necessarily buy that.

Aredhel's murder and (presumed) previous victimization do not make her some saintly bastion of virtue and Female Solidarity. It is perfectly normal and common for someone who has been wronged in some way to want revenge for that wrong, and not not care that others also become victims in the process. I don't think that's terribly uncommon among, for example, women who have been subject to domestic abuse.

Like many silm characters, I don't think we know terribly much about Aredhel as a fleshed out character/personality, but what we do know is:

She's one of the Exiled Noldor, and therefore at least superficially has a pro-revenge bias

She's actively friends with Celegorm and actively sought out his company, which suggests that to at least some degree they share values

At least by the end, her relationship with Eol had gone catastrophically, murderously bad

It is entirely possible for Aredhel to be cheering Celegorm on the whole time from Mandos. It's perfectly plausible for her to be angry, not because he wanted to rape Luthien, but because he failed to do so and thereby avenge her on Eol's kin.

It's ugly! But people so often are. And I personally think that realistic ugliness makes for more complex, chewy characters.

An Aredhel sainted and white-washed by her victimhood is so fucking boring to me.

#tolkien #san shoots the breeze #people are hypocrites #like. as a general rule. most people are hypocrites to some degree or another #many if not most people take a certain ugly gratification in seeing their own suffering visited on others #especially of those 'others' are in some way associated with the person who hurt *them* #if this weren't true global politics would be in a different state! #it's not *ideal*. It's not *desirable*. It does not improve the state of the world as a whole! But nonetheless it is true.

[deus-ex-mona]

real talk: lxl should continue to explore romance fantasy concepts in their songs. it’s clearly working for them~

#typical prince aesthetics in romeo/julieta and nonfan… and now historical rofan in meoto… #(and there’s also whatever’s going on in tsuki no hime but that has no mv :( sadge) #sorry guys i still have meoto on the brain pls suffer with me~~~~~~~~~ #but mannnnn. i was struck by sudden inspiration for a meoto au a n d #well. ig now i understand why they skipped over the falling in love phase. romance is hardddd #i want to subscribe to the meoto expansion pack p l s i need to know what their deal is~~~~ #bc man. how in the world did they go from complete indifference to promising to stay together forever hello #what happened???????? excuse??????????? #man. m a n. ok i think im done for the night. i hope #LXL MEOTO CRISIS 2K24 #(but if anyone here wants to get into the otome isekai genre in general… i recommend starting off with ✨s u r v i v i n g r o m a n c e✨ #(it’s a great story and it’s still modernised enough to ease into the genre. and after that…) #(you can just go for the series with the most interesting premise/prettiest art/both tbh) #(though i personally recommend ✨the perks of being an s class heroine✨ ✨the villainess’s stationery shop✨ for milder content) #(and there’s also some series with both isekai and regression.) #(like they isekai after their 1st life in 20xx-> live out their 2nd life in the fantasy world -> regress to a point in their 2nd life) #(for that type i kinda like ✨i shall master this family✨ though ngl i’m mostly reading it bc i think the aunt is very pretty) #(a nd there’s the occasional modern regression story but that’s pretty soap drama-esque and the one i read got ridiculous at times lmao) #(but ofc the ones with less romance focus are fun too~~~~ like stories with multiple isekai-ed people for one) #(b u t i digress i think i’ll stop here before i lose the plot any longer ahaha~~~~)

[astrarche-x]

today's episode of being obsessed with The Radiant Emperor: this conversation (even before the ''you don't kneel" moment) is insane for the parallels it shares with Ouyang's internal struggles. Aside from the obvious ''Why can’t you make it easier for me to hate you?/Would that I could only hate, It would be easier", it makes me want to chew on glass that Ouyang seems to never have considered forgiving Esen for (essentially) being Chaghan's son and is so taken aback by the fact that Esen considers forgiving Baoxiang simply because he loves him. Ouyang could never conceive of such notion even if what he subconsiously wants the most is to live happily ever after with Esen!

Another thing is the parallel between Ouyang being like ''oh no, Esen, why can't you see reality for what it is" several times (even if he admires that) and Esen here going ''oh no, Ouyang, why can't you imagine a different reality"... For all the poetic Ouyang waxes about Esen's naivete he doesn't share I find it sooo interesting this instance of Esen dragging Ouyang for his lack of imagination because this is ultimately what doomed him...

#if there's one word Ouyang's vocabulary lacks it's forgiveness #i get that huge trauma and a lifetime of suffering its effects makes one stingy with forgiveness #but if he could just grant it to two people: himself and Esen... life would have been better for him #anyway. brb i'm going to walk into the ocean #also this is one of their conversations when Ouyang is seemingly talking about a given topic but really he's talking about himself #and Esen absolutely misses it #(more instances to come) #she who became the sun #the radiant emperor #esen temur #general ouyang

[vinnfeyntheinsane]

Behold, Gerard Keay, a man with a dye job so bad that his own mother could not love him.

[Image ID: A grayscale drawing of Gerard Keay from the Magnus Archives standing with his arms in the air. He is rolling his eyes and saying, "Yeah, obviously, except for the vampires-". He is tall and thin, with long black hair and a hooked nose. He is wearing a plain black shirt with a leather jacket over the top. He is also wearing tattered black pants, and bulky converse boots. There are small eye tattoos visible on his Adam's apple and knees. End ID.]

#jk i love him #even with his shit dye job #and general lack of haircare knowledge #bros locks are long and greasy fs #tma #the magnus archives #gerry keay #gerard keay #also lmk if i did the image id right! i want to start doing those because #as a person who suffers with chronic nearsightedness #wink wink #i can understand the suffering of not seeing #and want to help people see my drawings!

[aceredshirt13]

extremely funny to me seeing people say that Bertie has a heart of gold when his immediate solution to getting Freddie back together with his fiancée was to kidnap a child

#red randomness #jeeves and wooster #bertie wooster #100 and up neat #don’t get me wrong I love him dearly #but I think he like Watson and Bunny suffer from ‘he isn’t actually as nice as people think he is’ syndrome #because Bertie can be a judgy bitch! he’s resentful of several children! he makes unflattering judgments about appearances! #he told Sippy to steal a cop’s hat! he ripped a tag off his uncle’s gift and claimed it was his! #he told Jeeves to send Bingo a telegram telling him to KILL HIMSELF- #like #he is very dedicated to his insane friends even when they aren’t great to him #and he will go to great lengths for the people he cares about #and he will talk about how great Jeeves is to everyone who will listen and is better to him certainly than previous employers #and he’s a generally cheerful and amiable and friendly person #but heart of gold?? Perhaps Not #very few people in these stories are objectively entirely good and a lot of the humor and characterization comes from that #because you like Bertie despite it all. you love him and want him to be happy

[littlemsterious]

I forgot to post this like a month ago when i actually saw spiderverse, so whoops. (ID under the break)

[image ID: the doofesmirtz nickel meme and it says “if i had a nickel for every time i saw a movie that used the multiverse to explore how the younger generation copes with suffering differently from the previous generation and specifically looks at how that affects POC and people who are othered from those closest to them, while using the complexity of parent-kid relationships to emphasise the otherness and has a character with a motif surrounding black holes and bagels and was also one of the most phenomenal pieces of media i’ve ever witnessed, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.” end image ID]

#spider man: across the spider verse #spider man #spiderverse #i saw a guy on instagram talk about how he resonated a lot with miles in regards to his expierence as a black autistic person #my fellow trans friend and i were also talking about how much the movie respnated with us as trans people #so ‘othered’ is technically referring to queer or ND but really it works for anything #where’s that clip about spiderman inherently being about otherness #miles morales #gwen stacy #everything everywhere all at once #evelyn wang #waymond wang #waymond eeaao #transgender #actually autistic #i could talk abouy the themes of suffering and trauma between generations and how these movies show that forever #it’s so good

[anxiously-sidequesting]

**slips and slides into the room with socks on and breaks the wooden table as i fall down on the floor in a haste** so anyways i actually just scared myself because i thought of exactly how deep Malorn's and Malistaire's parallels went. like in post-updated tutorial malistaire was said to have been kind and caring towards his students right. just like malorn right. just like malorn, right? isn't that just like malorn? hey everyone doesn't that sound just like malorn? kind and cares for his students? 'kind' and 'caring' are certainly two adjectives that describe malorn arent they huh? (is slowly sinking in quicksand as i desperately reach out to you as i say this) so if we are to say that malorn and malistaire are two sides of the same coin then what is truly stopping malorn from having one traumatic event from shaping the rest of his life into a descent of madness, grief, and isolation? Guys tell me what the difference is between this reality and an Evil Malorn AU guys? guys hello? hello guys? **(the quicksand has actually transported me to the Backrooms now, no one can hear me call out in distress)**

#not to say that malorn is the exact same as malistaire and would have the ecact same visceral reactions malistaire once did btw #like this isnt me expecting him to become The Joker one day but like can yoy guya think about. can you guys think about- #just how easy it is. for a well adjusted sane person to become the opposite of that. didnt the vampire guy from bdg3 say smth like this #im literally trying to find a serious way to say joker's incredibly memeable “one bad day” speech IEJSHSSJ #what's malorn's switch. what's his very last thread that he's hanging on #what THE FUCK MAKES MALORN SNAP?????? (grabbing at your shirt in a panic) #thinking about malorn of all people suffering malistaire's same fate much less trauma in general hurts my heart dearly. he is fictional #i should not be upset over fictionals. (<- she said insincerely. very much being upset over fictional characters) #malorn has certainly CHANGED from his experiences (in my fantasy la la land) but at most he's resentful and angry. jaded. but not in crisis #evil malorn au....... #wizard101 #wiz101 #w101 #text posts #malorn ashthorn #malistaire drake

[orowyrm]

Is keeping sea slugs difficult? I love them and probably won't get them anytime soon because cats but if I ever do...

i’d say it’s pretty difficult, yeah. depends on what species you’re looking at, but all nudibranchs (and ‘things-that-get-labeled-as-nudibranchs-even-though-they-technically-aren’t, like the blue velvet slugs i just got) are very picky eaters and will often Exclusively eat one type of food down to species. the ‘easiest’ are probably lettuce slugs, as they’re algae grazers, but even then some say they’ll only eat certain species of macroalgae.

i have two species of slugs in my nano reef right now— berghia nudibranchs and the blue velvet slugs. i bought them because i have an excess of pest animals that they both prey on exclusively (aiptasia anemones for the berghia and flatworms for the velvets) and can’t control these pests via chemical means (for the safety of the other animals in my tank) or mechanical (they’re very hard to fully remove and i have hand tremors anyway), but it’s often accepted that if you don’t have a good supply of what these guys eat, they’ll starve to death pretty fast.

of the two, i’d honestly say the berghia nudis are generally easier to keep - lot of people will breed them and just keep a separate tank full of aiptasia to feed them with, since they’re very fast growing anemones. blue velvets are a bit harder because they’ve got short lifespans as-is and flatworms are hard to get ahold of except for by accident, while some people purposefully culture and sell aiptasia as feeders.

i’m taking a STRONG gamble with my slugs, and honestly i’m only doing it because i have a fair amount of confidence in my ability to maintain good water conditions, but even then it’s not bulletproof. they’re one of those things where even if you do everything “right”, they still might not thrive because we don’t really know them as well as we know, say, shrimp or corals just yet. for me this is really my only option for handling my flatworm problem, so i’m taking that risk, but it may not work out and i’m prepared for that outcome.

i’m hoping the will continue to improve when it comes to getting better at keeping and breeding these animals, though, because they’re very cool! while i can’t say i’d want to see them wild-caught in the pet trade, the ability to aquaculture them would be a huge step. and it would be wonderful to see them in aquariums more often :)

#i tend to have mixed feelings on the aquarium hobby when it comes to marine livestock #while it’s still not uncommon for people to keep unsustainable wild caught animals #i feel as though the general opinion among more experienced aquarists reefkeepers especially is a lot more mindful #but exotic pet ownership in general is suffering from the social media effect so (shrug) ethics are wobbly #however! #i wholly understand your love of sea slugs hehe ^_^ me too!!! #if there was some way to keep dorids healthy and happy that would be my dream