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#rowling can absolutely suck my ass
animentality · 3 days
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I just wanna remind the class that Sirius Black was an awful character. He basically did nothing to help or protect Harry through all of the books where he was alive, and while I agree that Harry sucks, and I wouldn't want to protect him either, it's still a mark against his character and speaks to like, the total incompetence of JK Rowling as a writer.
In book 3 he endangered the trio by dragging Pettigrew under the Whomping Willow and getting them involved in his bullshit, when he could've just waited for a better opportunity instead of literally diving on Ron in front of his friends and dragging his ass away. Like really? Harry is in Gryffindor, idiot, he's not gonna let his best friend get eaten by a dog. Also Harry had to watch his parents die. You really wanted him to watch you murder a guy? You're stupid as hell.
You're also a fucking dog, and Pettigrew is a RAT. Neither of you have a wand. You can easily outpace a rat and then tackle him if he tries to change into a human. Also Crookshanks. Corner him when he tries to make a run for it. Don't dive on him when there are people around.
Also even if he runs, what the fuck is stopping you?
You have nothing going on. No 9 am meetings. Chase him away from Hogwarts so you can hunt his ass in peace. Don't bring Harry into it at all. You have nothing but time.
Then the only good thing he does is lose Pettigrew, vaguely save the kids from a werewolf, which is kind of his fucking fault, I might add.
And then passes out so that Harry can save HIM. Then he has to be saved again from returning to Azkaban.
Now you can at least excuse book 3 Sirius because the guy is absolutely nuts after 12 years in evil wizard prison. He's cracked and he's not thinking straight. And him being hunted by the government isn't really his fault. He's a red herring. The big plot twist is that he's not evil and that's "fine." It's acceptable.
But book 4?
Oh my god he's so useless.
He's there for Harry to send letters to, and then NOT help him at all.
The only thing he does is get interrupted by Ron before he can tell Harry to do something really stupid, which is hit the dragon in the fucking eye, something that could've easily gotten him burned or stomped on, or still hit with the Horntail's tail. Harry basically figured it out because of fake Moody, not Sirius.
Then Sirius' guidance is just a red herring of "oooh watch karkaroff" gee thanks buddy.
I'm so glad you're here just so JK Rowling can misdirect the audience. Again.
He also gives exposition about Barty Crouch.
Again, for the misdirect, of thinking Barty Crouch is bad.
But that's it.
There are far better ways to give exposition on Crouch. I'd argue the movie did it better and in a more dramatic way.
He then does nothing whatsoever to help Harry with the 2nd or 3rd tasks. His greatest utility is as a support animal at the end of book 4.
It's actually amazing how he does nothing for the entirety of Goblet of Fire.
He basically just comes back to Britain so he can die in the next book.
And then that's where he's at his worst before dying.
He encourages Harry to do dangerous and stupid things. He does stupid things himself and makes Harry, the 15 year old boy, worry about him, a grown ass man, because he hates being home.
I know that people have childhood trauma and all that, but for fucks sake.
He would not be a suitable guardian for a child ever because he puts himself first.
And before you fuckheads start insisting that's the "tragedy" of his character and it's so emotional and deep, yak yak, I don't want to hear it because he's a fucking plot device before a character.
His whole role in book 5 is to make you think he's gonna do something stupid.
And then he does.
And then he dies.
And it's crazy because he's a wildly popular character, despite the fact that he's terrible. But I can't even really criticize the popularity, because it's mostly carried by Gary Oldman being hot, and also doing a way better job of making us give a shit about him.
I can't express enough how absolutely stupid and awful it was for Sirius to brush Harry off when he was afraid he was becoming evil after seeing nagini attack Arthur!! this is the last fucking book Sirius is alive and this is like the last time they really get to talk one on one.
the scene with Gary Oldman telling him he's not evil... it literally outweighs every fucking Sirius Black scene in the goddamn books!! and it's an original scene.
the director realized that we have to remember we actually like Sirius because of how little he has to do in the main plots.
but it fucking worked.
the warmth that Gary Oldman exudes in that movie is genuinely charming.
but the book Sirius???
NOT. IT.
There's nothing wrong inherently with excusing some of this crap for drama or storytelling purposes, I just object to the fact that the character himself could've been far more interesting and sympathetic.
He could've actually been helpful or proactive or had something to do with the plot that wasn't just acting as a red herring, which I might add he did literally 3 times. First he's not a villain, second it's not Karkaroff or Crouch, and then third he's not actually in the ministry building, Harry's just an idiot.
The childhood best friend of a kids dead father has so much potential.
But he's shuffled and sidelined and treated like a prop before a person. His charming nature is just for fun, it doesn't actually bring anything out of Harry, aside from the protectiveness he feels for all of his friends.
He's vaguely funny sometimes and cracks a few jokes and tells the kids they're dumb every once and a while.
And that's it.
I really can't express enough how absolutely fumbled his character is. We don't get enough of him talking about James or his time at Hogwarts.
Ironically Snape gives Harry way more info on what his dad was like, in like, all of his flashback scenes.
We never got to see the warm side of James that wasn't associated with bullying Snape.
Sirius would've been a great way to balance that out... but we never get his perspective on it.
He's there to dump exposition and be saved.
And it's such a waste.
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pushovermediacritic · 10 months
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Happy Pride Month!
Did you used to like Harry Potter, but Rowling’s transphobia has driven you away? Do you still feel a longing for something similar to replace it in your heart?
Might I recommend Mashle: Magic and Muscles! It’s like if Saitama from One Punch Man went to Hogwarts, and it’s straight-up satire of Harry Potter, harshly criticizing its story and setting.
The main character, Mash Burnedead, is born without magic into an eugenicist society that genocides "lackmagics”. However, Mash is a himbo who got super-strong through working out, so he’s able to fake having magic and attend a magic school in order to change society so that he can live in peace with his adoptive father.
Mashle has all of the aesthetic elements of Harry Potter: wizards, wands, robes, castles, broomsticks, dorms, dungeons, monsters. One area where it’s far better than Harry Potter is that its magic system doesn’t suck ass, it’s actually explained in depth and has internal consistency.
It’s also really funny, with a nice 50:50 ratio of action to comedy. Every single character is absolutely unhinged but they think they’re the normal one, meaning everyone plays the Straight Man to everyone else’s Wise Guy.
Finally, Mashle contains this lovely character, Margarette Macaron:
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One of my personal favorite characters in the series. They are buff, tall, cultured, specialize in music magic, love fighting worthy opponents, and are canonically non-binary, fine with both male and female pronouns!
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kmclaude · 9 months
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How much do you want your own unique personality to come through in the art that you make? How much do you want people to separate your art from the artist?
Can anyone separate the art from the artist? And if so, when?
Take J. K. Rowling -- fucking cunt. Absolute shithead. Singlehandedly lit on fire all goodwill and went right to goose-stepping. Regardless of how intrinsically linked Harry Potter was to my childhood and adolescence (and to me creating online! Literally!) like...her as a human being actively championing destruction of trans rights not just sours the media for me, it makes it radioactive to me. It cannot be separated. She is shit and as such her art reeks of it.
...but then again she has literally stated that support of her art is support of her views (she's already made her money anyway) so is it her attitude? Would it be different if she was a shit human being who didn't actively link artistic support to moral support? Is attitude all that makes it separable? Would it be different if she didn't profit (and at this point again she's made her money -- it's about the same as if she were dead and not making money, you know? Drop in a bucket.) Would it be separable then? Would I be just as hard pressed to separate her the artist from her art if she were Joanne, just Joanne, self publishing and writing blog posts and making a wee side hustle?
(Would I be just as hard pressed to separate art and artist if her views and shitfuckery didn't directly impact me, a filthy little transsexual?)
Not to get all philosophical. I just tend to sometimes ask myself this. Hell, listening to Marilyn Manson's been kinda hard to do post the latest accusations -- yet I can listen to some of the earlier stuff that really just SLAPS -- and is it because besides Pale Emperor, most of the albums past Holywood bar some songs just don't do it for me? Is it because it's hard to reconcile the artist whose art meant a lot to a weirdo like me and who became the face of a witch hunt because of his art (which means a lot to an artist like me) WITH the person who allegedly was basically telling on himself with his art? Is it a sense of personal betrayal (its own bit of parasocial relationship) that causes the separation?
And of course this is all with the assumption of separating art from artist purely as a "this guy sucks ass but I like what they make, how do I cope" POV but obviously there is the general idea of Death of the Author which your question seems more geared on: how much of my corpse should influence, if at all, a reader's reading of my corpus?
So back to your question -- some of my art (think diary comics for example as they're autobiographical) you really could not separate from me the artist. You couldn't. It's impossible given the nature of autobiographical works. Who I am, who I was, what my intent is -- very much intertwined there. At the same time, there is the room and space to separate out the autobiographical art as a pinpoint in time for the artist from the artist as a living being, ever changing in spacetime.
Most of my work...you could, I think, separate art from the artist. I'd encourage it in the sense that like...it'd be foolish to read into many of my comics or illustrations and think they are 1:1 expressions of me, my feelings, my experiences, etc. I think of it like the speaker of a poem vs the poet -- this is like basic English Lit class concepts, right? The speaker is not the poet. The artist is not the character. It'd be actually dangerous (and stupid) to scour my works, my illustrations, my writing, and try to make assumptions on me; I also think it'd be rather punishing for all involved to desperately need a listing of my pedigree, my biography, the minutiae of my intent to be able to interpret my works. They can stand pretty OK on their own; their neck muscles are firm enough to hold their head upright.
But...at the same time... my person informs my work. My intent informs my work (whether I succeed or fail at what I intend is another matter.) The works did not form fully grown from the ether onto your computer screen. They came from a person, me, about whom you (general you -- you specifically Idal know a bit more about me by virtue of our friendship) know some tidbits of information I've given here and there. These things inform it all. Those bits of information may be relevant in your interpretation; they may not be.
That's all intent however. In terms of my personality coming through: I think all artists' personalities come through in a work. Something of it. Maybe it's the character they play -- but even that is telling. There are people who write my characters better than I, and with their writing they leave a part of their personality in the words; likewise, there are people who draw my characters better than I and leave part of themselves in the linework. Those works imbue a part of their creators in them, even if my work (with part of me in it) provided the dolls to play house.
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flatfootedfiend · 4 years
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gay bitches
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bcitisthelight · 2 years
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I’ve seen a lot of white/cis neurodivergent people try to justify their continued support of Harry Potter / JK Rowling with the excuse of “but it’s my special interest/hyperfixation”, and as a white neurodivergent woman with very severe ADHD myself, it’s been rubbing me the wrong way, and I think I finally figured out why.
For one thing, coping mechanisms aren’t inherently neutral things in of themselves. Meaning like, just because a harmful behavior or harmful interest is a hyperfixation or special interest, it doesn’t absolve the person of culpability. It’s not an end all be all “well that’s just how it is.” get out of jail free card. You lose the right to your coping mechanism when it becomes impossible to engage with it without harming other people. Full stop. Your special interest isn’t worth more than the safety of vulnerable populations. Full stop. And smarter people than me have explained time and time again that you simply can’t engage with Harry Potter without directly benefiting JK Rowling.
And then secondarily, I actually find this defense incredibly ableist in of itself? It’s wildly anti-recovery, like, we do have the capability to grow and be healthy. Neurodivergent people aren’t mindless drones with absolutely no control over their minds whatsoever. We’re not somehow incapable of change. Hyperfixations and special interests at the end of the day are just that. Fixations and interests. They aren’t immutable! There’s no structure in your brain that makes you a Harry Potter fan. You can end your participation. It may take work, but that hyperfixation can be changed and replaced. That’s just - boundaries, you know? When I mind small children, and say they get angry with me, sometimes their brains tell them to hit me. I don’t let them hit me, though, because just because what they’re experiencing is valid and actually happening in their brains, it doesn’t give them permission to act upon it.
And listen man, I get it. It sucks to have to do the work to unbind yourself from your hyperfixation/special interest! It’s disappointing! It’s sad! You loved it! Feel your feelings over it, that’s entirely acceptable. I loved Harry Potter as a kid, I thought it rocked. Then as I got older, people pointed out to me harmful narratives and consequences of support that I hadn’t recognized because of my privilege. It was sad! It sucks ass that people have to be bigoted. But I stopped interacting with that franchise, because my feelings don’t have precedence over other people’s safety and well being. If you’re so fixated on this that separating from it even in cases of need causes you such distress, then you owe it to yourself even more to practice these skills of being able to disconnect from harmful things, and you owe it to the people around you as well. Again, I’m white and cis and neurodivergent, I’m coming from my own lived experiences to say that if you are in a place of privilege and your coping mechanisms have become actively harmful in a way where it is impossible to engage in them without harming others, you can and SHOULD do the work. Passing off oppression of others through secondary participation as something that disabled people get a pass in is ableist, and it’s also contributing to oppression of vulnerable populations.
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alethiaii · 3 years
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I cringe whenever I remember some things Rowling said considering worldbuilding of Harry Potter universe. I have seen some HP fics with elaborate, thought through worldbuilds.
But then for canon you have things like 'deletus shit' before toilets were a thing apparently, wizarding population of Britain is estimated to 3000 and of that 1/3 is at Hogwarts (this makes my fairly well educated ass wince), teachers threatening to kill your pet in experiment to see if you got your school work right on first attempt and giving students detention in places headmaster has forbidden them from entering on first night at Hogwarts, absolutely no explanation of how economy of wizarding world works, no saying if wizardkind has something akin to elementary schools so children can learn to read and write since at Hogwarts they have to write essays right in year one.
The judicial system sucks, wizengamot is vague af about its powers and where it sits in governmental hierarchy, who employs wizardkind besides Ministry, Gringotts and Hogwarts (at least in Britain), Voldemort upon his body reassembling cannot even grow hair but can produce sperm cells 🤢.
Magic interferes with technology but never really elaborated how and to what degree, my personal opinion has always been that wizardkind simply don't give a fuck even though some aspects of modern technology and life of Muggles would be useful in magic world (and no, I don't mean internet).
Love potions are a thing to giggle about and sold over the counter like they're aspirin.
Child abuse, unless it results in some really bad things, is shruggable even though obscurus has been introduced as a result of child wizards and witches suppressing their magic due to abuse.
Anyway, write whatever AUs you want and worldbuild, it will have more continuity and sense than canon.
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borisbubbles · 4 years
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17. CZECH REPUBLIC
Benny Christo - “Kemama”
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So first off, thank you for the nice commens. 😇The past few months haven’t been the happiest time for me, so thank you for your patience as I scraped my bearings together for another post! 😁
So I will now extend that same sympathy to Benny Christo, whom I think I damn fucking underrated. Let’s jump in~
ENTRY ANALYSIS
As one may expect i INSTANTLY liked “Kemama” because you know, it’s a fun, laid-back, tropical afro-breeze, completely different from anything else we would see in NFs and the year. EXACTLY the type of song I was hoping the Czech NF would deliver (and deliver they did, see NF Corner). This level of mild like swung into strong unironic like upon realizing that the title is a contraction of “Okay Mother” 😍 and the song deals with the subject of overcoming racially-tinged discrimination and rising above the hate. That just feels very poetic and apt? “Kemama” felt like the entry that had to overcome the highest odds in order to earn the respect it so fully deserves, and still hasn’t fully reached it.
.In our Western European bubble, comprised mostly of gays and left-liberal straights, we have a very grateful and universal acceptance of many different kinds of [lizard] people that make up Eurovision casts. Yet with “Kemama” we may have reached  an unusually grimy undercurrent of coded racism. 
Of course nothing I read was outrageously rancid, than Cod for that. The worst statement I read was a double-whammy of “EWW THIS ISN’T CARIBBEANVISION” and “WHY WOULD SOMEONE FROM *KENYA* WANT TO REP CZECHIA IN EUROVISION?”, and yes they first got the continent wrong and then *also* got the country wrong in the follow-up post and then they were torn limb from limb by a pack of aformentioned left-liberals. I’m sorry but i can’t not have any other response than laughter in the face of yet another fucking MORON faceplanting themselves with words like a... racist JK Rowling if you will?
Still, while I never read something outright vile about Benny doesn’t mean I found his deniers really annoying and they were! Think “Ew Solovey is ‘Too Aggressive’ it will NEVER DO WELL IN ESC”, a statement that isn’t coded nor racist (and yet extremely false and misguided), functioned as a similar idea by the same minds. A statement borne from the same breed of narrow-minded stubbornness which has caused elitist morons to be all “there is **SOMETHING** about “Kemama” i do *NOT* like and I cannot lay my finger on it... but I **DO NOT** like it at ALL. It won’t ever qualify because everyone will think the same way I do” -- Eurovision snobs, tiptoeing around racial coda in January 2020.
 They would also insist that Benny was “arrogant” because he was seemingly impervious to their (de)constructive criticism. Like, if you were a biracial butterfly living in a slavic country who had to deal with statements such as the above on a regular basis, you WOULD block out the noise. And if you heard them often enough you will start to block them out pre-emptively. DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW COPING MECHANISMS WORK?? (oh wait you’re white-privileged. Nevermind 🙄)
 So naturally, when Benny decided that he would revamp “Okay Mother” by adding in MORE African elements it only made me love him even more lol. 😍 Was it a bull-headed, contrarian and possibly really stupid decision? Yes, yes and absolutely yes. Was it worth it? Well he managed to incite even more meltdowns in a group of people I feel nothing but contempt for, so hell yeah? Eurovision was cancelled anyway so who cares how much ‘worse’ “Kemama” actually got. 
Okay, so we’ve arrived at the revamp.
Granted, it wasn’t the best ‘vamp, I’d be a fool to deny it. The new elements threw a wrench in the melodic balance of the song. Out went tropical laid-back fun, IN went that fucking guitar oh my god this is some Hotel FM piano levels of overbearing I swear. (nb: this still didn’t stop me from ironically stanning Hotel FM’s lame asses anyway 😍). However, it made the personal backstory that I loved and savoured take a backseat to the now inferior composition. 😭
Regardless, New Kemama was fundamentally the same song, and I fundamentally liked Old Kemama, so whatevs, it made no different to me. In the eyes of many Eurovision diehards we were experiencing WORST PRESHOW SEASON EVER (after three songs... lol) and nothing clinches this brainworm more than a revamp announcement. “OH MY GOD HE WILL RUIN IT! I CAN GUARANTEE YOU I *WON’T* LIKE IT”. Self-fulfilling prophecies, ya know? It certainly didn’t help when the official channel accidentally uploaded a vid with broken soundmixing (‘OMG HORRIBLE LAST IN THE SEMI!!!!’ calm the ever-loving HELL down) and took another FULL WEEK to upload the correct vid. The damage had already been done. Typing "SEE I TOLD YOU THE REVAMP WOULD BE SHITE HA HA HA” in the Kemama comment box really just is the ESC equivalent of reponding with “Actually, *all* lives matter :smug:” to a BLM support pamphlet, isn’t it?
NF CORNER
While not my favourite NF of the bunch, I found the Czech NF to be lowkey epic. Not epic enough to remember its name but regardless Czechvision or whatever marked the end of an era because it was also the last selection spearheaded by Jan Bors :o
I think I’ve made it clear enough in the past that I’m somewhat mixed on Bors Era Czechia - Lake Malawi were a toetapping good, Ickolas was a pockmarked, skin-crawling evil and the other three inhibit a purgatory somewhere between “moderately nice” and “moderate timewaste.”
Still, I have great respect for the man who orchestrated Czech’s comeback after scoring NINE POINTS TOTAL across three years with the mindset of “So what? Why says we can’t win?” so ofc I was all into the idea of the “EIGHT INDIE ANGELS, HAND-PICKED BY BORS HIMSELF” NF that would serve as his swan song.
Naturally things went down the drain the second Bors left, with one of the eight peacing and his successor cancelling the live broadcast (does anyone remember what exactly happened? I vaguely recall one was the cause of the other but lol it’s July can’t be bothered to factscheck (Factsczeck?) anymore, bitches.
Anyway, ON TO THE GOOD STUFF, and yes, there was plenty.
We All Poop - “ All the Blood (Positive Song Actually)”
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Yes, as you can imagine I ofc IMMEDIATELY fell into like when I saw that chyron and invisioned the inevitability of the Czech Rep’s Rep immediately alienating every parent just based on their name alone <3 😍 w/e WAP quickly became that “Good but not great” song you find in every NF that everyone gushes over because it’s the whitest option available. Like, yes, “All the blood” is good, but musically it’s identical to Green Day and Twenty-One Pilots and god name ANY 90s-early00′s American Punk Rock band. For me the enjoyment came from the fact that WAP were openly crazy vegan fundamentalists and the VC clip actively condemns the use ANY animal protein by replacing the cattle and game with LITERAL HUMAN BEINGS. 😍 :fusedmarcintensifies: :kasiamosage:
Pam Rabbit - “Get up”
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Ohhhh YES a glorious experimental Synth-Trap song only I could love and ofc I did. God what is there even to say; the provocative darkness of the verses combined with the swirling amorphousness of the chorus gives me LIFE. LUFF THIS SHIT <3333 Ftr, this was also the fave of Slovene Juror duo / synth angels / Boris faves ZALAGASPER, further proving their pathetic naysayers that they own all things music and the haters can suck a series of-
Barbora Mochowa - “White and Black Holes“
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Lol, yes even with a “Get up” existing, there was a song I liked even more. Barbora proved a very competent Lana del Gay last year, but I was a YUGE fan of this year’s... Kate Bush-Björk blend of ethereal awesome. It is so soothingly beautiful and the rare example of a song that I find completely free of flaws. Were the competition not such a hard place, I’d be pissed she didnt win (at least she won the jury vote MASSIVE KUDOS to every alum on that) but w/e this selection had opions and I’m rather robbed of a “Kemama” than I am of a BRILLIANT IRREPLICABLE AETHERBALLAD. ~Danse balance sûr les white and black holes~
Elis Mraz & Cis T - “Wanna be like”
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I *VERY* strongly felt that if the Czech Republic wanted to win ESC, they should have picked Elis and even now I STILL believe she could have won. That isn’t to say I gushed over “Wanna be like” because I find it kind of annoying lol. Yes, I LOVE an annoying female voice (:Tones&Icackle:) but Elis’s reaches a Camilla Cabello sort of place for me (good lord get Senorita OFF the fucking radio) and the Scat + White Guy Rapping middle-eight. 😬. However, the second I opened up the video clip for this paragraph and was immediately BLASTED by Elis murdering a ukelele and wearing a  “schoolgirl” outfit straight from a Japanese tentacle porn movie and OH MY GOD THE AGGRESSIVE TWERKING made me reconsider that hey, this min-sized Meghan Traynor actually kinda highkey owns, yo!  Yet, I’m not at all bothered we lost her in the Czech NF because we got UNO DOS QUATRO CINCO SEIS :fatmansplit: fill up the megameme slot instead, so...
Eurovision 2020 vs Eurovision 2021
BENNY RUINED HIS SONG AND NEVER WOULD HAVE QUALIFIED. jk I’m not a moron. Sure, “Kemama” wasn’t an easy sell because you know AFROBEAT in a contest where half of the people watching are fash (ie: all of Eastern Europe, who watch out of ~Nationalistic Sentiment~ 😬), but there are Kemama live renditions out there and he owns them SO hard lol. A few soundmixing issues really would not have stopped Benny from qualifying in that RIDICULOUSLY WEAKSAUCE SEMIFINAL are you fucking kidding me. He probably would’ve bombed in the Grand Final, but I mean it’s Czech and it’s not Ickolas so ofc it would have.
And Czech renewed him for 2021 regardless of the sceptics, woohoo! I think part of it was due the Czech not wanting to re-organize an ENTIRE NF from scratch without Jan Bors, but probably also because Benny owns live when he isn’t engaged in psychological trench warfare with actual human detritus <3 and also because the Czech fucking CARE about their artists and don’t drop them like a sack of rotten potatoes wtfshitprus.
Can’t wait for the moment when he qualifies and Efendi does not, etc, etc. 
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FREAKY! FRIDAY! FACTOR!
I’d say that the core around which the Ben Drama spun was pretty standard fare: niche fave beats out the concensus fave, meltdowns ensue, people convince themselves it was the WRONG decision because it wasn the result they wanted, try to disown the song and make a fool of themselves because the song slaps, sorry. Even the revamp drama felt more of less generic for me, because yawn fantards melting down over a revamp of a song they don’t even like what else is new.  
However, what I do take away that the revamp was ENTIRELY Benny’s idea which he told no one about (cue to JAN BORS having a social media meltdown like he’s Caesar at the Ides of March 💔) added MORE afrobeat just to troll his haters even more <3  God, I’d say it was bad from a musical perspective but this level of in-your-face defiance is fucking iconic and hilarious, sorry. This entire this year is so batshit bonkers that the concept of a someone potentially shooting themselves in the foot and “torpedo’ing” their qualification chances  (not rly, he would’ve Q’d anyway lol) JUST to take the moral high ground in a racially coded argument only HE took seriously may not even be the craziest concept in the year! (lol it definitely isn’t. Look at the pics I haven’t greyed out yet)
This and more yield Benny some well-earned Senheads! Yay!! 
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Score: 3 Senhits out of 5.
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bondsmagii · 4 years
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hey do u have any more thoughts on the whole twitter "activism" thing, and/or dealing with bigoted authors, content creators, etc. in general? i've been having trouble articulating my stance on it and i thought you would probably have some intelligent points to make. it's cool if that's not something you want to delve into, though!
I try to have absolutely zero thoughts on Twitter activism and social media activism in general if I’m honest; it’s all mostly pointless, and with very few exceptions it seems to just be busy-work for people who won’t actually go out and do any real activism. I tend to listen to pretty much nothing I see people saying on Twitter or Tumblr, and I recommend everyone to do the same.
with the wider question of dealing with content creators, I’m very much for separating the author from the work. I have critical thinking skills and contrary to what people on this website believe, a book isn’t a carbon copy of the author’s intent, nor is any creative piece a carbon copy of the creator’s full views and personality and beliefs. if you have basic critical thinking skills you can identity and reject the nasty parts while still liking the work as a whole. just don’t support the creator with your money, etc. you’re allowed to take what you like from a piece while rejecting the things you don’t, and even the author or director or actor or whatever. to use a recent example: J. K. Rowling. she’s full of shit, but she can be as full of shit as she likes, because literally nobody is listening to her. her work, while now read critically (as all work should be) has become something larger than herself. it’s like a child growing up and moving away -- they’re going to bear marks of influence from the people that raised them, but if they’re a decent enough person you’re not going to reject them because their parent is a transphobe. hell, if we did have that attitude, none of us would speak to one another seems I’m sure all of us have at least one racist parent or relative running around out there.
this kind of attitude -- that if something has any problematic elements or was created by someone with problematic beliefs it should be cancelled and we should all act like it never happened -- is counter-productive and absolutely ridiculous, if I’m honest. if we truly committed to this attitude, we would have to cancel pretty much everything ever written. it’s totally possible to engage with creative content in a way that both acknowledges and disagrees with elements that are a product of the times or of current bigotry; just because you enjoy watching a show or reading a book that has an asshole on the team doesn’t mean you yourself are an issue. people need to learn to separate work from creator, and I vehemently disagree with the idea that the two are one and the same. I speak from experience. I am a writer. no, you do not know everything about me from reading my work. my characters have opinions and do things I do not agree with. if you think you can look at an author’s work, or any creative work, and thing you know everything, you’re wrong. likewise, if you think that someone with shitty-ass opinions is incapable of creating good work outside of these issues, you’re also wrong. nothing is black and white, and it sucks, but the answer isn’t to go around cancelling things like a literary censorship committee in Stalin’s USSR.
something to keep in mind in the present age, however, is that there are a lot of creators who are very accessible and have huge ranges of impressionable fans. I think in the case of like, certain video game streamers who have been proven to recruit people to the alt-right, we should definitely be boycotting. but with wider things -- books, films, TV shows, etc -- we need to understand that we can enjoy the work while still remaining critical. I’m not going to give up something I love because the creator turned out to be an asshole, and I’m especially not going to turn to Twitter for my moral code on what constitutes an asshole.
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glassprism · 4 years
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Since you're also in other fandoms, are there any ships/pairings you like? Who's your favourite pairing in POTO? Who are your favourite characters (from POTO to all your other fandoms) and why? Ooh, here's a rather unusual one: who's your favourite side character (name one for all your fandoms!) and why?
Yeah, definitely! Though whether some can be counted as actual “ships” is debatable, as you’ll see in a bit.
For Phantom, my favorite “ship” is the love triangle - E/C/R. Not in a polyamorous, threesome way, but one where I love the dynamics of the characters, the way they affect one another, the ways Erik and Raoul are similar and different. So it’s not quite a “ship” in a traditional sense where I want characters to end up with each other, but more in the sense that I like to explore and analyze them.
As for other “ships” or pairings, I’m just going to list, like, every fandom or random-ass thing I’ve ever loved in semi-chronological order (time to go back to my middle school fandoms!). Under the cut for length.
Harry Potter: Sirius Black and Harry Potter. I adored the godfather-godson bond between the two (absolutely no romance; I clicked on an mpreg fic of the two when I was but a wee lass of twelve and it scarred me): how Harry was the last living reminder of Sirius’s best friend, whose death he still feels responsible for; how Sirius is the parental figure Harry wanted, how they were never able to be happy god damn it Rowling. (You can imagine how much my eleven year old self cried when I read the fifth book. Oh boy, the tears.)
Star Wars: Vader and Luke. Again, totally familial, father-son relationship only. (Speaking of scarring experiences, I once stumbled on a romance fic between the two, where yes, both of them were still father and son, and I have that summary etched into my brain permanently.) The way Vader obsessively hunts down Luke, the first emotional connection he has had with a person in literal decades! The way Luke has just ached all his life for a father figure, to the point where he will take a homicidal Sith lord if that’s who he is! How he never gives up on trying to redeem him! How Luke is right. Loud screeching.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Will Turner and Bootstrap Bill and Will Turner and Henry Turner. More sad father-son dynamics (you may be noticing a pattern here). Repeat what I said with the Star Wars relationships, only with more pirates and less homicide. (And way more parental abandonment guilt.)
Halloween: Michael Myers and Laurie Strode,  remake universe. Yet again, no romance, just a severely messed-up brother-sister relationship. I can’t begin to tell you why I like the horrific relationship between a serial killer and the little sister he was so obsessed with he ruined her life, completely traumatized her, and ended up leading to her death, but I do. Maybe it’s the dark obsession aspect of it, that in the midst of all his murders, there’s still one person Michael Myers longs to have a connection with, the baby sister who represented total innocence in his mind. Maybe it’s the “what could have been” aspect too, as Laurie never recognizes him or realizes their connection until it’s far too late. Maybe I need to re-examine my life choices. I’ll figure it out someday.
Bat Boy The Musical: Bat Boy/Shelley. Yes, this is a romance; yes, they are half-brother and half-sister, yes, you can get on me about this, but in my defense how about you watch the musical and NOT come out of it shipping these two against all your better instincts.
POTO: E/C/R, as stated above and for all those reasons. Oh, and you know what - The Phantom and Gustave from Love Never Dies. Can’t get away from those father-son ships. I actually care about that relationship than E/C or R/C in LND (maybe because both E/C and R/C suck in the sequel so what else am I going to latch onto).
Batman: Listed here, but my heart really lies with three ships. Jaytim is the first: it’s the whole “angry woobie destroyer of worlds who hates everyone meets seemingly well-adjusted and cheerful individual who is secretly hiding their own issues” dynamic. Bane/Talia from The Dark Knight Rises is the second. Doesn’t matter if it’s familial, friendship, protector and protectee, or romantic, I eat it up, and to be fair, it’s never explicitly stated what the relationship is in the movie. All we know is that the two grew up together in a hellhole prison, probably dependent on and solely trusting only one another, and that bond continues even after they leave, and not even death will make them leave one another. Finally, we have Jason Todd/therapy from the Arkham games. Because the poor guy needs it.
MCU: STEVE/BUCKY (aka Stucky). This ship (again, could be friendship or romantic) dominated my thoughts for four years. Steve’s fish-out-of-water status! Bucky’s horrific imprisonment under Hydra. The way the two find each other after and the angst. The fact that Steve refuses to kill Bucky and, even after seventy years, succeeds in breakthing through to him because their connection runs that deep. The fact that Marvel just ruined this relationship so now I have to rely on fanfic. Oh yes, and I also slowly fell into the Kastle ship (Frank Castle aka The Punisher and Karen Page). Another “hardened killer with sad backstory who connects to idealistic young woman with hidden darkness” dynamic.
Terminator: T-800 aka “Uncle Bob” and John Connor. Returning to sad father-son dynamics, I have this from Terminator 2. A robot learning emotions! A boy learning to take his place as a leader and all-loving hero. The bond they form, partially because the T-800 will do nothing else but protect John and partially because John has no father-figure of his own, so his robot bodyguard will do. THE ENDING.
ASOIAF/GOT: I actually have very few ships from here other than Arya/Gendry (and only when they’re older) and, weirdly, Theon/Sansa from the show. The Gendrya ship is just cute, it may well be the most wholesome ship on here, while Theonsa has shades of Stucky in it, I suppose, given that Theon has been tortured so badly he can barely remember his own name, until Sansa turns up and reminds him enough that he breaks out of it to help her.
Favorite characters from each of those:
Harry Potter: My favorite characters from here are probably more side characters, so I’ll just say Hermione Granger. Her focus on academics, fear of failure, and conviction that the library holds all the answers, felt all too reminiscent of myself.
Star Wars: Darth Vader,  no contest whatsoever. Cool mask, cool cape, cool lightsaber, and the absolute worst life one can imagine.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Interestingly, Will Turner. Yeah, I guess Jack Sparrow is cool and Elizabeth is absolutely awesome to watch and has the greatest change in the series, but oh-so-serious Will, with his deep loyalties and slow slide into moral ambiguity because of those loyalties, fascinates me.
Halloween: Laurie Strode, all versions. My favorite final girl, my survivor of trauma (except in the remake, where, well, she doesn’t survive). Also, her daughter in the Thorn trilogy, Jamie Lloyd, the most tragic little girl to walk across a horror movie screen.
Bat Boy The Musical: Ah, wow, haven’t thought about this. I guess Bat Boy and Shelley, more by default than anything.
POTO: Christine Daae, no contest. Love her character, love her arc, love her songs, love her costumes.
Batman: Listed here.
MCU: Bucky Barnes (unless he counts as a side character), but I also love Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Karen Page, Elektra Natchios... and I’ll leave it at that.
Terminator: John Connor. (There’s a reason I haven’t watched Dark Fate yet... or ever.)
ASOIAF/GOT: Three of them! Daenerys Targaryen, who I love because she tries so hard to rule well, who is so observant and cognizant of the things going on around her. Then Sansa Stark, who makes such astounding growth, who retains her empathy and compassion throughout, who is capable of startling perception and insight which most others underestimate. And finally, Cersei Lannister. She’s terrible. I love her.
And favorite side characters from each of those:
Harry Potter: Sirius Black may well have been my first fictional crush. But Remus Lupin is the kind of person (and teacher) I aspire to be.
Batman: I swear, depending on the comic series or movie, everyone is a side character. I’ll just link to my old ask again.
Star Wars: Batman syndrome all over again; every character in Star Wars might be a side character elsewhere, and every side character gets to be the main character of their own comic, book, movie, etc. Erm... I really liked Rose from the sequel trilogy and Chirrut Imwe from Rogue One. I find Mara Jade from the Legends universe fun to read. WAIT I GOT IT - Queen Amidala’s handmaidens from Episode I (Sabe, Rabe, Eirtae, Yane, Sache). Highly trained in both politics, decorum, and weaponry, able to be utterly nondescript or the Queen’s decoy at the drop of a hat? I love.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Hmm... you know what, I thought Syrena the mermaid was pretty cute.
Halloween: Rachel Carruthers! Your typical girl-next-door but well done and with a touching relationship with her foster sister. I will die mad about her death in the fifth movie.
Bat Boy The Musical: Uh.... I’ll get back to you on this...
POTO: Carlotta is super fun.
MCU: Oh heck, Dottie Underwood. (My taste in female characters goes like this: a) intelligent and observant, 2) sweet and compassionate, 3) batsh*t insane. She’s the third.)
Terminator: Not sure how much of a side character she is, but Kate Connor. Wife and second-in-command to John Connor, able to heal wounds and kick butt depending on what the movie requires.
ASOIAF/GOT: I’ll probably think of someone else, but you know what? Queen Rhaenys Targaryen, younger sister and wife to Aegon the Conqueror, whom he wed out of desire. Playful, spirited, loved to fly, sponsored musicians, initiated reforms for the smallfolk, what’s not to love? (Apart from one possibility of her death... but we don’t talk about that.)
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shinrasfirst · 4 years
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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.
fill out & repost ♥
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My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /
Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO.
Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.
Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.
Are they underrated?  YES / NO.
Were they relevant to the main story?  YES / NO. (I mean? I’m not sure? I hope he will be more important, but as it is, he could have been cut out of Part 1 of the remake.)
Were they relevant to the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. (Except that he kinda saved him.. I can’t answer these questions, I am so biased.)
Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. (?)
How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. Depends on who you ask, I’d say!
How strictly do you follow canon?
There isn’t much canon to go on, first of all. I am taking what I can get and expand on it. There’s probably some stuff about him that I don’t know, because I am notoriously bad at researching things properly, and also I forget stuff. So.. he’s canon-based as much as possible, but then majorly fleshed out by my own ideas because otherwise he’d be a very two-dimensional character.
SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutual.
He’s wild and fun and crazy and could make for some interesting threads---
He is actually compatible with a lot of muses because he technically works for Shinra, but then doesn’t seem to give a lot of fucks about his employment status, meaning he can also work with the other side without me having to change his setting much.
He’s gorgeous. Look at him.
He is flirty and easy to smut with.
He has a completely unknown backstory that could be explored c;
Did you see that ass?
Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  
He’s a bit nuts. If you’re looking for a predictable, soft, sweet romance or friendship, he is not your guy.
He'll probably die young. And there shall be angst and pain.
I’ve seen some people really reduce him to a maniac to lives on the road to attack random people. If that’s your idea of Roche then I am sure you wouldn’t be looking for threads with him~
He is tough to write love/romance with. Like proper romance.
He has a completely unknown backstory.. so my version might differ greatly from what you have in mind.
What inspired you to rp your muse?  
I played the Remake and driving on those motorcycles was insane but kind of fun - and then shows up this guy who just drove right into my heart as soon as he popped up on the screen, laughing like a mediocre villain from YuGiOh. I thought that was all it was going to be, but I was thrilled to see that it wasn’t. I just love this character. I rewatched his fight scenes with Cloud a hundred times. He is so.. peculiar. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him, and then I saw a bit more of him on tumblr, fanarts and such, and I wanted to give it a shot :)
What keeps your inspiration going? 
New headcanons about him that pop into my head. Finding other people who love him and talking to them & rping with them! Like with all muses, I tend to love them even more the longer I play them, compared to when I start out, because new stories around them develop, I get a clearer image of their character and backstory in my head, and new plans for their future :) On a more to-the-point level: quotes, poems, music, images, all those things give me inspiration. Also similar characters in other media, or stories that fit Roche and that I can recycle and reform into part of his.
Some more personal questions for the mun.
Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.
Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. According to whom? I am alright with the way I write him, or I’d be doing it differently. Would Square Enix think I am doing a good job? Idk. Do other Roche rpers think I am? Idk. Does it matter? As long as there are people who enjoy writing with my version of him, I am doing my job, I think :) There are Roche portrayals I find “better” than mine in some ways, more developed, but I don’t really compare myself in that way. 
Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO.
Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO.  
Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.
Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO. Yes and now because while I stand to the way I write all my muses, Roche in particular is one I haven’t fully developed yet. There are things about his story I am still unsure about or have no clear ideas for yet. So, I’m not feeling insecure when I write him, but I am not overly confident in throwing him in any situation, because something might come up that’ll require me to think harder that I’d have to while playing.. e.g. Rufus.
Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. I’m no Rowling, I’m no Tolkien, I know that. But I think my writing is alright. I try to put some internal thoughts in my replies, describe the scene abit, offer some dialogue if applicable, and move the action forward. I am not writing a book here, I am writing something interactive, so my partner is my main concern aside from telling the story. I do feel like I’m doing an okay job at that, so in that sense I am confident in my writing.
Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. I’m not entirely sure what this is referring to, but generally I’d say no. I can deal with most topics, it’s pretty hard to offend me, I’m open to most things, and there are very few issues I feel like they can’t be solve with just talking about them.
Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?
It depends? I almost never get constructive criticism. What I absolutely accept is things like.. someone correcting mistakes I’ve made in terms of timelines or canon facts, because I am lazy by default and tend to not research something well and just wing it. So it might be that I’ll put some fake news into my threads that I have no problem with if someone corrects - actually, please do, I’ll gladly fix it. (Especially if they’re relevant to your muse.)
If someone dislikes a headcanon of mine or something that is particular to my portrayal of Roche, that’s really not something I aspire to change. I have my ideas of him and everyone else has their own. If a friend came to me and told me a certain headcanon of mine makes no sense because of the canon storyline or whatever, and it sounded valid to me, I’d consider that. That wouldn’t offend me. If someone just told me they dislike an idea I had, that is the kind of criticism I don’t really accept. That’s not criticism to me, that is a personal opinion that we disagree on. It’s not my problem if someone dislikes my portrayal, they don’t have to interact with it. I take no offense in that, unless it’s reported to me in a rude manner.
With regard to my writing? I don’t ask for criticism and I don’t really want it either. I know what areas I have to work on in order to improve, I don’t need anyone to give me pointers there. I have enough of that in my academic papers at university ;) This is a hobby, so I’m trying to have a good time and good plays with others, I’m not trying to win any awards. However, if I post a reply my partners aren’t sure how to work with (e.g. they need more dialogue, or more action) I am absolutely willing to edit it, no problem. Also, not just on tumblr/in the RPC but in general, people are really really REALLY bad at giving constructive criticism. It never ceases to amaze me how much people suck at that. Like I said, I don’t get offended easily, but it makes me laugh sometimes (e.g. after presentations at uni) how horrible the feedback comes across sometimes. And then everyone gets butthurt and I once again marvel at the fact that no lecturer ever gives advice on how to give good feeback. (I guess because a lot of lecturers can’t do it either.)
Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  
Absolutely! It helps a lot. Sometimes it’s a real challenge, but those are necessary and very welcome while developing a character. Other people often think of things I didn’t even consider, so I welcome it when they come into my askbox with these questions :)
If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? 
Maybe? If it was a friend or an rp partner, I’d hear them out for sure. If it was someone I don’t even write with.. maybe not. Like, what’s the point? Clearly I made up my mind about it, so why would you come to me to inform me that you see it differently? Go right ahead, neither one of us writes these games, so both our versions are equally right or wrong. If it’s about something that could lead to an interesting discussion, though? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?
I'd say some people like chocolate ice cream and some like vanilla. That’s okay. I’m not trying to please everyone on tumblr, I’m here to write what I want to write and if just one other person likes my portrayal, that can be enough for me :) If someone dislikes my portrayal, they’re free not to interact with me.
If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  
I’ve written more characters that were absolutely despised by a good chunk of the fandoms I was in, than characters who were loved, I think. I couldn’t care less. If someone hates Roche - or any of my muses - that’s their thing and has nothing to do with me. As long as they don’t feel the need to inform me about it or send me hate over it, what’s it to me? I don’t need people to like my favorite characters, it has no influence on how I feel.
But also.. why would you hate Roche? Look at him, he’s amazing :D
Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  
Sure. English isn’t my first language, I’m sure I make mistakes all the time. I’m not embarrassed by that, everyone makes mistakes, even people whose first language is English. That being said, don’t go weeding through my posts looking for mistakes, because I won’t go back and fix them in most cases, so it’s really a waste of time~
Do you think you are easy going as a mun?
I think so. I’m pretty relaxed most of the time, and I try to be polite and kind in any situation that comes up. I don’t get offended unless you’re accusing me of something I didn’t do, twist my words, insult my friends, or act like a total brat. Before I start a war with someone, I’ll usually withdraw myself from the situation. I am pro-unfollowing/blocking if I dislike someone. I would never send anon hate or write a call out. I’m not here for that. I think we should all try to be kinder than we feel, we should all show respect for others and tolerate differences, and we should try to treat people the way we want to be treated. Live and let live.
That’s about it, congrats for filling out!
Tagged by:  stole it. Tagging: anyone who’d like!
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vierschanzentournee · 4 years
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i was tagged by @pit-wall​ to!! do the thing!!!! thank you!!!!!!
nickname: my sister sometimes calls me evie, my parents usually call me buckethead/bucket/boo/boodog/bucketina/any other variant of the word bucket you can think of. i have no explanation for this because it’s been happening for as long as i can remember.
zodiac: aries!
height: 169/170cm which is like... 5′6?
hogwarts house: ravenclaw (and, as hayley so wisely said, jk rowling sucks!)
last thing i googled: "muse bassist” i... forgot his name
song stuck in my head: i believe in a thing called love by the darkness! it’s on my mum’s playlist for our shop and god it’s catchy
number of followers: 725, most of whom are probably bots
amount of sleep: 8-9 rn bc... lockdown’s good to me i guess
lucky numbers: 12
dream job: linguist! or classicist! or translator!
wearing: pyjamas!
favourite instrument: drums ig, i can’t really play them but i can play them more than anything else (???)
aesthetics: uh. yellow?
favourite song: currently muse’s cover of hungry like the wolf, which i’ve basically been listening to on repeat bc it slaps
favourite author: sebastien de castell!! that man owns my entire ass it’s absolutely ridiculous
favourite animal sound: that noise cats make when they jump from a high place
tagging @ronnow @fanfeline and @millenniumfalke :)
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eeemarvel · 4 years
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A rant for Hermione Granger
Alright. I know I’m a grown ass adult and the road I'm about to take you down has been travelled a thousand times over, but I have some things to say about Hermione Jean Granger and her lovely best friends. I’ll say that the passion I have for this subject was reignited when I reread the series (for the upteenth time) a few months ago. As I was reading, I began climbing a hill, and now that I’m on the top of this hill, I have decided that this is where I will die. 
Hill: It made absolutely zero sense that Harry and Ron were Hermione’s best friends and she deserved far better. 
I’m about to take you down a long, rambling, ranting, tea-induced journey, so buckle up. 
Now, I am by no means saying that it made no sense that the trio were friends, because I’m a firm believer that people can have, relate to, and cherish all kinds of friends. But best friends??? Best friends are a bit different than “just friends” in my opinion. Best friends don’t just love and cherish you. They support your passions and never belittle them. They have many common interests with you and love spending time alone with you. They speak up for you when someone is disrespecting you/crossing a boundary, even if the person disrespecting you is a mutual friend. Harry and Ron constantly fell short on all accounts. 
So obviously Harry and Ron care about Hermione. In the very first book, they risked their lives to make sure that a troll didn’t kill her in the bathrooms, which solidified their friendship. To me, the thing that kept them together through the years was pretty much plot armor. Besides that, I’d say it was their love of mysteries, figuring things out, getting to the bottom of things gone wrong at Hogwarts (more specifically, things gone wrong with Harry which is a friendship red flag, imo. If your friendship is held together by the events of one person’s life, that’s unhealthy. Yeah, he had a lot goin on and he was the boy who lived blah blah blah, but tell me about 3 times out of the whole series when Harry went out of his way to help Hermione with a problem that wasn’t related to him. We could make a flimsy case in which he does this for Ron, but the case is still flimsy.). Hermione usually fought against shenanigans but always ended up coming along for the adventure. She was just as much of a troublemaker as Ron and Harry. I don’t think she’d find too many people at Hogwarts besides Harry and Ron who were willing to illegally enter the restricted section with her to look at Tomes Moste Nasty (she did that alone, but I’m sure they’d be down to come with if she asked). So they do have a connection. I just think that it wasn’t a best friend connection. 
Best friends support your passions and never belittle them. Y’all. I don’t care how silly the S.P.E.W. name was. I don’t care that house elves loved servitude. S.P.E.W. was for a good cause. Hermione’s heart was in the right place. It was definitely weird that wizards talked down on house elves and casually treated them like slaves. Hermione wanted to change that. She was clearly extremely passionate about it. And Harry and Ron never. Once. Supported her. They only joined so that they didn’t have to listen to her anymore. That’s not real support. They never even tried to have a respectful and open minded discussion about it because I do actually think that Hermione didn’t fully understand the relationship between house elves and wizards. I think the elves liked service. But cruelty should not be something that they accept from the people they serve. If Ron, who knew more about the wizarding world than his other friends, explained the relationship in a respectful way to Hermione instead of trying to make her feel like an idiot, it’s possible that she could’ve changed her organization’s goal. It was also kind of upsetting that they couldn’t have enough empathy to understand why this issue might be so important to her. I think that it’s possible that as a muggle-born, she felt sympathy for the elves who were being treated the way some wizards would want to treat muggle-born witches and wizards.They couldn’t think outside of themselves for a minute to consider why she was so passionate about this cause. 
Side bar: It’s no secret that Hermione Granger is smart as a whip. Brightest witch of her age, she is. That’s why it baffled me that she took such an annoying and aggressive approach to recruiting S.P.E.W. members. From the way her efforts were written, it seemed as if she only shook a collection plate in people’s faces and shamed them for being ok with the treatment of house elves. She never explained how the money would be used. She never explained a plan of action. She didn’t explain the goals of her organization or how people could help. Nothing. That’s very un-Hermioneish if you ask me. This is the same girl who organized Dumbledore’s Army. She would’ve known exactly how to run that organization and exactly what their aims were. She would be able to explain it in a way that is appealing to people, in a way that makes people just as passionate about it as she is. Instead, she was written like an unholy hybrid of the one of the Salvation Army Santas and one of those “YOU’RE GOING TO HELL!” protestors that stand outside of universities. That’s not Granger. She was only written that way to make Ron and Harry look better, to give them an excuse for not being a good friend. And even then, it’s a piss poor excuse. You should be able to give your best friend constructive criticism. “You know, Hermione, you can catch more flies with honey. Why don’t you try…. Instead of….” Rational, fact minded Hermione would’ve welcomed this. Instead, Ron mocked her and the organization and Harry stayed quiet while he did it. They sucked for doing that. Fight me about it. 
It didn’t sit right with me how much they ignored her whenever she talked about S.P.E.W. How openly exasperated they got with her. She rarely asked them for much. On the other hand, she was always checking their homework (I have my suspicions that she sometimes did it for them???? Ron made it seem that way. I could be remembering it wrong), always helping them with schemes, always coming to their rescue, and they couldn’t just. Listen to her. Mind you, her concern is that the elves are being subjected to slavery. Slavery is a pretty big deal. Even if that wasn’t exactly the case with the house elves, it wasn’t far off, and it was a cause worth being upset about, worth fighting for, especially since in the muggle world, slavery is a huge ass YIKES. They made her feel like her feelings weren’t at all justified. If my best friend made me feel like I was stupid for taking up a social justice cause and was constantly upset whenever I brought it up in conversation, she wouldn’t be my best friend anymore. Because that would tell me I couldn’t trust her with things that are close to my heart. It would tell me that there’s a possibility that she would belittle me for something I feel passionate about which is a bad, bad feeling. She’d most likely still be my friend… but not my best friend. 
Best friends share common interests. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all like… magic???? Yep. That checks out. But Ron and Harry’s thing was quidditch. They related on another level too. They had the same sense of humor, they complained about the same things, and just got along pretty easily. They more or less had the same attitude towards school and reacted to things almost the same way. They don’t have much in common with Hermione though. They rarely joke about things together as a group without one person feeling weird/left out/exasperated. That aside, Hermione was passionate about knowledge. She loved school. She loved books. She loved intricate puzzles like arithmancy and runes. Those are very specific interests that I don’t doubt she would want to talk about. She was positively bursting at the seams in every class to answer a question because she loved the topic so much. And because, let’s face it, our girl’s competitive. She loved being smart. She loved being the smartest. That aside, her desire to be the smartest wasn’t the only reason why she always raised her hand in class. If that was the case, she could take literally any other class at Hogwarts, but she chose arithmancy and runes specifically. She likes the material. She could never talk about school with Harry and Ron without them complaining about how difficult and tedious their homework was. Again, that’s not their fault, because school isn’t fun for everyone. But school was a huge part of Hermione’s heart and she was written as a girl who’s best friends were two boys who didn’t really like working all that much. These are the people she hung out with the most yet the thing she loved the most was information and puzzles and knowledge and figuring things out and she COULD NEVER GEEK OUT ABOUT IT WITH THEM! 
There’s a whoooooooooooole house dedicated to clever, precocious minds, but J.K. Rowling wants me to believe that Hermione didn’t have a single close Ravenclaw friend. Not a single Ravenclaw classmate that shared her passions, someone she could run to the lawn to talk in depth about their morning lecture with, to have debates with, to compare notes with, to joke about the way the textbook was written. Not a single one????? For someone as bright and perceptive as her, that must’ve been suffocating. Bright people like to talk to other bright people. They like competing with them. They like hearing their ideas. Even though Hermione was the brightest witch of her age, she wasn’t the only bright witch at Hogwarts. I’m sure there were plenty of students who would love to hang out with her and vise versa, but instead she’s written to always be around Harry and Ron who rarely ever talk about their classes unless it was to complain about them. Even Harry, who’s favorite subject was DADA, rarely geeked out about the subject the way she obviously does about so many other things. It’s the same way the other way around. Imagine if Harry was just as bright as Hermione and they always had in depth discussions about their classes and related to each other on a pretty deep level because of that shared passion. And then there was Ron. Ron who wasn’t that good at school and didn’t really care. Ron who loved quidditch and food but rarely got to talk about it with those two. Don’t you think he’d find someone to talk to about quidditch with??? 
When Ron was mad at Harry, he started hanging out with Dean and Seamus. When Harry was feeling weird and alone after Voldemort came back, he had Luna Lovegood. When Hermione was feeling alienated by her two best friends she…….. Went to the library???? And even when it seemed like she was making a new friend, Krum, the book made that new relationship about Ron and Ron’s feelings. Ron attacked her for getting close to Krum, saying that she was betraying Harry, and he only did that because he was feeling insecure. How. Is. That. Fair. People? I’m sure she liked Krum well enough to continue to be friends with him, and even if she didn’t, she didn’t deserve to be shamed for simply talking to him. Christ. The boy wrote long, heart-felt letters to her, and even if he wasn’t as bright as her, I’m sure the academic in her loved the gesture of putting feelings to paper, of choosing his thoughts carefully to craft them into a message that was special for her. Even if their relationship didn’t turn into something romantic, they STILL COULD’VE BEEN GOOD GOOD FRIENDS. It’s possible Krum had a passion for literature, something I’m sure Hermione could appreciate. I may be reaching, but that’s still one thing they have in common that she doesn’t have with Harry and Ron. It’s also important to note that Krum, though a bit aloof and moody around other people, opened up to people he became close with, like Hermione. He talked very enthusiastically with Hermione, and Hermione even described him as being kind. Thing is, what is it that Krum would talk about enthusiastically with Hermione? Quidditch? Most certainly not. Hermione couldn’t care less about the sport. Harry’s problems? I doubt Hermione is the type of friend to talk about her friend’s sensitive information to other people. So it must be something that Hermione likes or is equally enthusiastic about. Liiiiiike books and learning!! She had something in common with Krum and Ron made her feel bad about that. I think she turned down Krum’s invitation to visit him during the summer partly because she didn’t feel the same way about him and didn’t want to lead him on, and partly because her “best” friends didn’t really support her. When Harry kissed Cho and was confused about Cho crying during the kiss, who did he tell? Ron and Hermione. Hermione even gave him sound insight into what Cho was feeling so Harry would feel less lost. Hermione would never be able to do that with Krum. If she felt confused about something Krum did, who would she be able to tell about that with Ron being King DickaZoid about her having a relationship and Harry being a weird mute? She could scarcely tell them about her relationship with Krum because those boys were so damn WEIRD about it. Ron immediately got pissy when he suspected that Krum and Hermione were dating, and that sucks. She can’t talk to her best friend about her first real relationship. And because Ron was pissy, Harry shut down and was suddenly unable to talk to Hermione because he felt he would be betraying Ron. It’s not Hermione’s fault that Ron never confessed his feelings to her. ALSO, how tf is she supposed to know that he has a crush on her when his default is to be confused by her very existence? He was constantly baffled by the priorities she had. Constantly baffled by her love for school. Constantly baffled by the expectations she had for Harry and Ron, and that was at his best. Because when he wasn’t just downright confused by the things she did, he was belittling her. That’s why whenever he paid her a genuine compliment, usually for things she did for his sake, it was a huge deal. We were supposed to think that they had a thing going on just because Ron complimented her but. No. You should just compliment your friends when they do good things. Hype your friends up. Respect them on the regular. Instead, the norm was that it was rare for Hermione to openly explore a part of her life without specifically Ron taking issue with it and Harry feebly cosigning Ron’s bullshit. I digress, but the point was that Krum shared more common interests with Hermione than Harry and Ron did and Krum was just a minor character. 
This is fine for normal friends. Normal friends don’t usually have a lot of common interests. But it’s rare for best friends. If Harry and Ron were just good friends that Hermione hung out with from time to time, things would be different. It would make sense that they didn’t like the same things. It would make sense if they only hung out because they just kind of got along and shared a traumatic experience that one time in their first year. It would make sense if she often got lunch with her “troll-in-the-dungeon” buddies in Hogsmeade to catch up and joke about their professors. It would make sense if after that lunch, Hermione went back to her best friend, probably some really smart Ravenclaw chick, and told her about her lunch with her troll buddies before diving into a long drawn out rant about a contradictory paragraph in her Ancient Runes textbook. Ravenclaw chick would be like “MERLIN’S BEARD, I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!” and she’d rant too, and then they’d laugh, and talk about some other stuff, like their families or maybe Ravenclaw chick’s equivalent of “troll-in-the-dungeon” buddies. That would be Hermione’s best friend. She wouldn’t feel the need to keep her relationship with Krum a secret from this Ravenclaw chick. She’d be able to talk openly about her insecurities or her troubles to her best friend. For example, in the seventh book, Hermione had a pretty nasty bout of jealousy when Harry started doing better than her in potions. She really wanted Harry to come clean and get rid of the Prince’s textbook. I imagined that she was struggling with jealousy and guilt for feeling jealous and lashing out at her friend like that. She would want to talk to someone about it. Just imagine her trying to open up to Ron about that. “You’ve been a right foul, git, I’ll tell you that.” That’s about the picture of it, I’d say. A true best friend would hear her out, and offer sound, non judgemental advice so that Hermione could not only improve herself but also feel good about coming to that friend about negative feelings in the future. That friend could’ve been hypothetical super smart Ravenclaw chick who totally thought S.P.E.W. was a great idea. 
And, I wouldn't be mad if over the course of the series, Hermione grew closer to Ron and Harry because she was concerned about them and wanted to help. But they still wouldn’t be her best friends. They would be friends that she cared about. And she would be helping them because they were fighting for a worthwhile cause, the defeat of Voldemort. It’s possible that this hypothetical Ravenclaw chick wouldn’t join them in the 7th book on their extended camping trip, but that’s to be expected. Hermione is a Gryffindor after all, and not many people would be willing to make the sacrifice that she made to be with Harry and Ron (she wiped  her parents’ memories and set them up in Australia for Merlin’s sake. That’s bold. And scary.)
Best friends love spending time with you. I think Ron and Harry enjoyed Hermione’s company. The reason why I think that is because they are written to enjoy her company. But it is never actually explained why they enjoy her company. It’s just plot armor that’s backing this up. I think they were impressed by her intellect and drive, but those traits aren’t things that they all had in common. If you ask me, if these 3 existed outside of the context of the books, I’d say that the boys tolerated Hermione’s company because it’s not like they all shared common interests, the same humor, etc. She was also pretty useful to them for school. So yikes. Nonetheless, within the context of the books, they enjoyed Hermione. But Hermione was never really enough for them alone. You never really got scenes where Ron and Hermione met up with Harry after just hanging out and they were smiling and laughing together. The same is true with Harry and Hermione. When Harry and Ron were fighting and not talking to each other, Harry was always in a visibly bad mood, and lamented the fact that he had to hang out in the library with Hermione. He was always more emotionally affected by Ron’s absence in his life than he was when Hermione was absent in his life the year before when Hermione reported his new broomstick to Professor McGonagall (again, a friend trying to keep her friend alive, but whatever. Harry and Ron were constantly gas lighting Hermione which makes me feel like Hermione needed to have someone in her life to vent to about it. Someone who would understand her intentions or give her some kind of advice.) Harry and Hermione, who I feel like were more similar than Hermione and Ron, rarely spent time together and thoroughly enjoyed it, content with each other’s company and not yearning for someone else to be there. That’s not what it feels like to hang out with a best friend. 
Later on in the series, we get the sense that Hermione and Ginny started to hang out, but it was implied that they only got close because Ginny had a crush on Harry and Hermione was giving her advice. I think this is kind of sad because Ginny is clearly bright. She’s fierce too. She’s not as book wormy as Hermione, and she’s kind of pranky like the twins, but she could’ve been best friend material for Hermione. But they were only just kind of friends because they spent summers together, they’re both girls, and Ginny has a crush on Hermione’s best friend. Hermione needs a healthy friendship that doesn’t revolve around the boys or her gender. 
A best friend speaks up for you if someone is mistreating you, even if that someone is a mutual friend. Now, we all remember how Ron immediately whipped out his wand to curse Malfoy into next week for calling Hermione a mudblood. That plan backfired, but I’m glad he did it, and I’m glad he stopped puking up slugs. But, friends shouldn’t just defend you when you’re subjected to extreme offenses like slurs. Friends should defend you when you’re being mistreated or belittled. Ron often mistreated Hermione by mocking her, and Harry never once corrected Ron. He never once sat Ron down and was like “Hey, mate… I think you should lay off Hermione. You’re being kind of mean…” From the fourth book onwards, it was like Harry took a sacred vow of silence whenever Ron and Hermione argued, whenever Ron took it too far. And you know what? I kind of get it. 
These are Harry’s first real friends and the only relationships he had in his life before Hogwarts were toxic and abusive. Even Ms. Figg made sure that he didn’t enjoy his visits with her because she thought that the Dursleys wouldn’t allow him to go back to her if they thought he enjoyed it. An ass excuse, if you ask me, but again. Whatever. Harry likely has zero idea how to handle conflict healthily. He definitely has 0 idea how to be a good friend. What bothered me is that he never tried to defend Hermione. Even if he blustered through it or felt awkward, he could’ve made it known that he didn’t approve of Ron’s treatment of Hermione. But he didn’t. And even though trauma likely made it difficult for Harry to resolve conflict, he handled it pretty gracefully in other situations. Snape, Malfoy, Dumbledore, Umbridge, literally anyone he had an issue with, he found a way to make his feelings known (See “There’s no need to call me sir, Professor,” and “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Lord Voldemort,” for more details). But when it came to speaking up on Hermione’s behalf? Crickets. If someone made fun of my best friend’s ideas, was constantly gaslighting them, or making them feel weird for their interests, I don’t care who they are, I would tell them to pump the brakes and apologize. 
I actually think the trio could’ve treated each other much better, but Hermione constantly got the short end of the friendship stick. I think this is because their “best” friend relationship was forced and was therefore constantly under strain. They had this idea that they were “best” friends so obviously, they had to be interested in the same things (the boys’ sheer disbelief and outrage at Hermione’s indifference to quidditch and Hermione occasionally outwardly expressing interest in a school thing only to be met with blank, unenthusiastic stares). But they just weren’t best friends. I think they’re arguments are a result of them trying to force each other back into an ideal, a picture of what they thought their friendship to be, when they probably should’ve just accepted the fact that they were way too different to trust each other with things that went beyond the superficial stuff. I think you can be the polar opposite of your best friend, but you still have to love spending time with them, respect them, defend them when they’re being mistreated, and support their interests. Harry and Ron didn’t really do that. 
They knew Hermione liked to stay in the library. They could’ve gone to find her to make sure she remembered to eat for the day because they know how easily she gets lost in books. I’m sure Hermione had a favorite book. Even if the boys couldn’t stomach reading the whole thing, they could’ve humored her and let her rant about it. They could’ve opened it to a random page, saw a person’s name, and say “This bloke. This bloke here. I don’t like him. Thoughts?” Even if they’re just being playful, they’re showing an interest in things she lovessssssss. They knew that Pansy Parkinson was constantly bullying her. Why didn’t we get scenes where they bashed Pansy and hyped Hermione up in turn? Hermione reassured Harry in the fourth year, telling him he was attractive and it was a no-brainer that girls fancied him. She also reassured Harry that it was likely his kissing skills were fine. She broke her own morals so that Ron could get on the quidditch team. What did Harry and Ron do to make sure that Hermione felt loved and validated????? I think that teenage boys often show affection and appreciation differently from teenage girls, but they still show affection and appreciation. They are still more than capable of it. Harry and Ron just didn’t do it unless Hermione had done something for them first. 
Hermione deserved better. She deserved a real best friend. Harry and Ron were best friends. They were the peanut to the other’s jelly, the Merlin to their beard, the dung to their bomb. I still think that their friendship could’ve been improved, but hey. They were still undeniably best friends. Those 2 didn’t have that same connection with Hermione. I just think that considering everything Hermione has been through in the course of the series, she deserves someone that she could relate to without fear of being attacked or belittled. 
Now please. Lay me to rest on this hill. I would like my tombstone to read, “Honestly, don’t you two read?”  
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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years
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Okay, actually, screw it. I am tagging this. People need to realize that that line doesn’t make Charlie canonically ace, they’re just pushing their own interpretation and then trying to act like it’s more “correct” than all other interpretations. Congrats, fandom. You all instantly “Did That.” Glad to see my lack of faith was well founded
Eughh I really hope the Hogwarts Mystery fandom doesn’t Do That again when the First Date quest drops. Drove me nuts the first time it happened and I’d rather people not get so pushy about their interpretation of that one line that, no, does not canonize anything
So here’s the thing:
“Dragons are all I care about. Who has time for dating when there are so many breeds of dragons to study?”
is not confirmation that Charlie is aromantic. Can it be interpreted that way? Yes, absolutely. And I’m not going to begrudge people who are a fan of that headcanon their right to interpret it that way. But it’s not confirmation of canon. The lines right before it are:
“We don’t care who your crush is.”
“Really? Why not? Our other friends seem to want to know.”
The “dragons are all I care about” isn’t necessarily “I don’t care about romance at all and never will.” In the context of who MC’s crush is, that line can be taken to mean “I’m not nosy enough to pry into who you’re in love with, because I have more important things such as my studies.” Yes, he expresses that he’s not interested in dating at the moment, but so does who I’m assuming is probably Tonks but might be Bill, both of whom we know end up in heterosexual marriages:
“Dating doesn’t interest me now, either. Perhaps someday. But I like doing my own thing.”
So, what, are they all aro now because they don’t want to date at the moment? People are allowed to have priorities and just because something is more important than dating or they’re not comfortable with being in a romantic situation at the moment doesn’t mean they don’t feel romantic attraction at all. Literally the only thing Charlie’s line proves is that he values his dragon studies more than romance. Not that he doesn’t care about romance at all. He doesn’t even say he doesn’t want to date, just that he doesn’t have enough time to do it and everything else he wants to do. It’s not a priority, but that doesn’t mean the desire doesn’t exist
He doesn’t even state he’s not attracted to anyone. Attraction ≠ dating. You can decide you don’t want to date anyone because you don’t feel like you could give the relationship the effort it deserves, even if you’re in love with someone. You can decide you don’t want to date because getting your dream job is more urgent than dating. You can decide you don’t want to date because of family issues. Heck, you might even do it for religious reasons. There’s a million reasons why you can decide you don’t want to date, despite the attraction. What is the assumption here? That people have to be in a relationship to prove their sexuality? That if you’re not in an active relationship then you must not be interested in sex at all? Life isn’t that black and white
I mean, they’re teens for crying out loud. They’re still figuring out where their boundaries are! They are literally in the age of experimenting. I didn’t give a shit about romance as a teen. It’s still not a priority for me! But just because it’s not The Most Important Thing to me doesn’t mean I’m not ever going to be interested in a romantic relationship with someone. Am I suddenly not allowed to see my own life experiences reflected in Charlie because it’s not “inclusive” enough?
Am I disappointed that none of the HP-canon characters are options? Yes. I think it’s silly that the writers feel the need to go out of their way to deny players the ability to date the three non-original canon characters, but hell. I don’t know what JC’s contract is like. Maybe they were forbidden from allowing it by Warner Brothers or JK Rowling or whoever they got the rights to use the franchise from. But you know what I’m more disappointed about?
The fact that there’s (seemingly) no option to have the MC just... not date someone. The only way it seems you can do that is to just not play the timed quest, which SUCKS for my completionist ass. I want the option to not date, like Charlie and Tonks, but also not have a giant “INCOMPLETE” in my events tab
And it’s not because I see my MC as aro/ace or that I’m aro/ace, though I’m certain that people who do or are would appreciate the option as well. Dating just feels out of character for the character I’m playing. Some people don’t care about Jacob, but I’ve made my character so obsessed with finding him and so unable to focus on anything else until that’s done that there’s no way she’d be dating anyone. She literally has something more important than romance at the moment and she won’t be able to focus on any romantic relationship until the Jacob situation’s resolved
Look, I’m not saying all of this to be like “you can’t headcanon Charlie as aro/ace/whatever!” That’s bullshit. You can headcanon whatever you want and the beauty of fiction is that we can have conflicting headcanons about things that make the experience richer for us. This isn’t a STOP HAVING FUN post
I’m only bringing this up because when Charlie was introduced and a bunch of people thought that he and MC were cute together, you couldn’t go two minutes without someone else going “HE’S CANONICALLY ACE AND THIS IS ACE ERASURE.” People were goddamned aggressive about their interpretation of JK’s intentionally vague interview answer from years ago. And already I see people in the tags declaring that these lines make Charlie canonically aro and I’m terrified that that shit’s going to start up again because people just can’t learn to respect someone else’s headcanon and move on. The people posting about it have been cordial so far, but I do not trust this fandom to stay that way for long
[EDIT] And it looks like I was right not to
If you do that - if you go on anyone’s post and say “um actually you can’t headcanon that” then you’re the asshole. That goes for both sides. If you go on an aro/ace Charlie post and go “But he’s so cute with MC!” then you’re just as much of an asshole as someone who goes onto a Charlie/MC post and says “Um, but Charlie’s aro/ace.” Both are awful and I don’t want that fighting to start up again because of one line
If you’re going around making posts in the tags like “It’s CANON” then you’re also being an ass. The line’s ambiguous at best. Stop trying to force your interpretation. It’s not canon, just a headcanon. So long as multiple, equally valid interpretations of that line exist, Charlie is not canonically aro or ace. Not to mention that the quest isn’t even out yet and none of the people I’ve seen posting that line/interpretation in the tags are tagging their spoilers. Seriously, have some online etiquette
[EDIT] Look, I’ve seen the arguments. It doesn’t make the interpretation of that line any more canonical. And the only actual arguments I’ve even seen are “well, if you consider this line AND JK’s interview then it’s obvious. Do you really need someone to spell it out that it’s canon?” And, look, if you have to go out of your way to state “okay, well they didn’t say it exactly, but come on!” then maybe consider that you’re the one who’s wrong and it’s an ambiguous line that doesn’t prove anything? My aunt is straight, barely dated, and never married. Her life experiences that happen to coincide with what we see of Charlie are not any less valid than the experiences of any ace/aro people who also see themselves in Charlie. And that’s not even getting into the fact that 90% of the people citing the interview are hypocrites because they admit that they don’t care what JK has to say... unless it’s convenient to them, I guess
“But he’s the only ace representation we have!” Look, I get it. I know. The asexual and aromantic communities are sorely underrepresented in media. The number is not “literally two, at all, ever” as I’ve seen people on this site claim, but it is very low. This is a problem. But Charlie is just not that. In a game that, as far as we can tell right now, won’t even let us make ourselves asexual and still participate in the events, do you really think they’re going to go out of their way to try and respectfully represent the ace community? Are you all so ready to pat these writers on the back over an implication? I know. I know you all want this representation so badly, and I’m so sorry that Charlie isn’t canonically what the community wants him to be. Had they said that he was canonically ace/aro, then I wouldn’t even be making this post; I’d be congratulating the community
But they haven’t. They’ve put one line that sort of implies it in a game that gives, like, twelve lines implying that he has a crush on someone. By going around making all of these baseless claims that it’s canon now, you’re only making the community look worse. You’re actively denying the life experiences of other people and asserting your own as the only “correct” way to view things, and that’s what I can’t stand
I’ve seen at least one person claim that Charlie/MC shippers are exclusionists, I’ve seen people try to guilt other people into the ace!Charlie headcanon by playing the “we’re underrepresented” card, I’ve seen people go around saying you can still ship Charlie/MC but just know it’s not canon like ace!Charlie is (which implies that it’s inherently lesser than the ace!Charlie interpretation because we all know what connotation “canon” has in fandom). Just stop. All of this behavior is childish. Instead of acting entitled about your headcanon, support media with well-written ace characters that are respectful to the community! Seek out the ace media that exists and support it instead of claiming that there is none and aggressively trying to enforce your headcanons on non-canonically ace characters. Use the headcanon as a way to showcase how to write these things well, or as a springboard to start creating your own characters and stories. Media doesn’t spring up out of nowhere. If you want tasteful ace representation, someone has to create it
I’ve made it abundantly clear on my blog that the “my interpretation is the only correct way to interpret this ambiguous line” thought process is one that I despise. I’m a firm believer that the beauty of fiction, the beauty of art, is everyone’s ability to put a little piece of themselves into the experience, and this line of thought goes completely against that. It shuts down discussion. It doesn’t allow for a middle ground. And it’s what you all sound like when you make the claim that your headcanon is now canon. You sound like children sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting “LALALALALALA I’M RIGHT YOU‘RE WRONG.” You aren’t converting anyone to your cause. The people who support your position already agreed with you, and anyone who didn’t will double down on hating it because, SURPRISE, people don’t like being accused of thinking wrong
I said it once. I’ll reiterate. I don’t want people giving up the aro/ace!Charlie headcanon. It’s your right to interpret that line however you wish. It’s your right to experience the story in the way that makes you happiest because that’s ultimately what it’s there for. But it’s my right and anyone else’s right to interpret that vague line in a way that makes each of us happy, too, and I won’t stand for people denying that right to others by asserting things that are just factually incorrect. There’s a difference between something actually being canon and something being implied or open to interpretation. Please stop insisting that the latter is the former just because you wish it was. And above all:
Just don’t be children and let people enjoy fiction their own way. Don’t be pushy in the comments or tags with your headcanons/interpretations. You’re not being an activist by yelling at people over sexuality headcanons. You’re just being a dick and I’d better not see everyone fighting again because they can’t respect a difference of interpretation (nope, that’s exactly what they all did)
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WHY does the android app gotta suck so much, when i click the faq link it just like refreshes the page,,,, this happens with all links in bios on the andoird app :[
NNNN lovin this broke ass app.
I’mma go ahead and paste the FAQ just under the cut, hopefully you should be able to read it now :’))
(FAQ is written by Mod Joker)
“Are requests open?”
We get this ask a lot. And while I don’t mind answering, it does get a lilll annoying sometimes since we’re essentially repeating ourselves constantly. Before you ask, please check our ask box! It will ALWAYS give our request status!
From now on if we receive requests when they’re closed, we’re going to delete the message entirely. You’re free to ask again when they’re open, but we need breaks!
“Can allistic/neurotypical people follow?”
Yes! So long as you’re respectful of stimming and understand it’s not an aesthetic or something to make fun of.
“It says there’s two mods, but I only really see Mod Joker post.”
There is! But Mod Boo is rather, well, shy. We both are, tbh. I’ve just gotten used to talking a lot on this blog. And to tell ya the truth I invited her to mod this with me because she considered making a blog but wasn’t sure how she’d do it, and was worried she’d be too awkward/quiet. But she actually tends to see your messages a lot! She just tends to let me handle things. But if you ever wanna talk to her, just say the message is specifically for her and I’m sure she’ll get back to you. She’s very friendly and tbh one of the best people to talk to!!
“How do you make gifs?”
I use the same method stimmybby uses! His tutorial’s right here!
“How do you make banners?”
I use photoshop and for backgrounds (depending on what type of background), I use paint tool SAI. I made a tutorial on how I do it here!
“Can we use your banners for posts that aren’t stim related?”
Absolutely! So long as credit is given and you’re not in our dni, then use it as you like! Discourse posts, art, vent posts, promo posts, whatever floats your boat!
“Can I use your gif/s?”
As long as there’s credit to us for the gif/s and you don’t apply to our dni, you’re free to!
“How can I credit you?”
There’s a few ways! Such as
- Including the credit in the post and/or under the cut (this is the best way people can access the original post and see the credit!
- Include the credit in the post’s captions
- Include the credit in the tags
- Include a link in the post to another post that has the credits in it
- Saying you got the gif/s from us in the post
“What are bad/wrong ways to ”“credit”“ you?”
- Saying “I don’t own these gifs”
- Saying “credit to the original owner(s)/gifmaker(s)
- Straight up not saying you took these gifs from people/including in no credits
- Claiming the gif/s are yours/you made them
If I see any of these I WILL publicly call you out on it and you WILL be blocked immediately thereafter. That block will not be lifted.
“What does REG mean?”
Reactionary Exclusionary Gatekeeper. Meaning people who try to exclude certain queer people from queer spaces. Such a biphobes, transphobes, aphobes, panphobes, and so on.
“What does TERF mean?”
Trans/Transgender Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Meaning radfems who are transphobic and are violent towards trans people (especially trans women).
“What does SWERF mean?”
Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminist. They’re radfems who try to exclude sex worker from their feminism and often treat women attracted to men as less worthy.
“What’s the ADT community?”
ADT stands for “Actually Dysphoric Trans/Transgender” and was created by transmedicalists/truscum to break off from the trans community. It’s an insult to the trans community, an insult to the creator of the transgender pride flag (it’s removed the white that was there for people who ID as non-binary/outside the gender binary), and is there purely to start drama and create rifts in a community that’s already got enough enemies for simply existing in a transphobic world
“He/Him lesbians don’t exist/they’re transphobic towards trans men”
As a trans man who doesn’t think the world revolves around me and who understands that what lesbians decide to do it literally none of my goddamn business: get the fuck over yourself you whiny pissbaby
“What do you mean by people in the true crime community?”
People who sexualize, romanticize, excuse, and/or support serial killers and their actions/crimes. This doesn’t include people who are INTERESTED in the topic of crimes, serial killers, etc but acknowledging how these people are disgusting and their actions are unforgivable.
“Why are you anti-cgl?”
Cause we hate pedophiles and are decent human beings.
“You’re bigoted to kinksters just like homophobes are bigoted to gay people!”
I hate to break it to ya bud but I’m proudly kinkphobic and you’re a giant homophobe!!
“I’m a SFW cgl(re)/littlespace blog so I’m following/interacting uwu”
No the fuck you aren’t!! You’re a kink blog, there’s no such thing as a “sfw kink” even if you’re remaining two braincells are too busy fighting over the last pacifier to tell you some fuckin common sense. Your ass is getting blocked and I’ll also be using your blog to take a look at the people you interact and block them too just for safe measure! Eat a cactus, fuck nugget
“You hate lesbians if you hate TERFs”
You owe every lesbian an apology for assuming they’re all mysogynistic, LGBT+phobic pieces of horseshit like you are. Eat a dick.
“aces/aros aren’t LGBT uwu”
Wow… that’s so wrong Alexa play Fuck You by Lily Allen
“Me/Someone I know/(insert user/s) has been blocked. Why?”
There can be a number of reasons why you’re blocked, and I’m not afraid to block people as I want this place comfortable and safe for the mods and followers. So there’s several reasons as to why.
- You apply to our DNI (see BYF)
- You’re a (insert harmless children’s cartoon) critical blog (I tend to block those due to them saying LGBT+phobic things)
- You get into kin drama
- You’re an ace discourse, pan discourse, bi discourse, and/or overall REG discourse blog (this does not mean I block inherently block discourse blogs! I block the shitty ones)
- You’re a spam/porn/etc bot (if I’ve gotten this wrong, lemme know! I tend to block shady and empty blogs for this reason unless their desc/url/etc says it’s empty/weird for a reason)
- You’re a blog that frequently posts/centers around one or more of my triggers
- You’re an aesthetic blog (though I tend to soft block for them. But this is NOT an aesthetic blog and stimmy is NOT an aesthetic)
- You’re an “anyone can interact” stim blog
- You’re a stim blog that steals/doesn’t credit the gifs they use
- I feel you and I are going to argue and I’m just saving us the trouble of future unpleasant encounter/s
- You’ve been shitty to my friends or just been shitty to people in general and I’ve noticed it
HOWEVER I’ve made slip ups in the past! If you feel you don’t apply to any of these, you can contact me through my main and ask why. Sometimes I don’t always remember why I blocked somebody (sadly there’s a lot of shitheads on this site I’ve needed to block) or I’ve confused one blog for another person’s blog. Or maybe the person was more chill than I thought. Please contact me yourself rather than ask somebody else to do it though so I can get all the details! Even if I don’t lift the block, I won’t report you for block evading or anything.
“You used to be kidheart friendly and now you’re not, why’s that?”
Sadly, Raven (the creator of Kidhearts) has proven to be a bully sympathizer and feels it’s okay to compare agere to kinks/cgl and sides with regressionuncensored. She condones bullying/harassment/the sexualization of minors and I am not nor will ever be okay with that.
“But Raven sai-”
I don’t care what she says. She made it abundantly clear that she supports regressionuncensored and I don’t care that it came back to bite her in the ass. Bullies deserve no support, no sympathy, no nothing. And if you side with her than don’t come near this blog. This is agere safe and I will not allow people who support sexualizing it to interact. Kidhearts WILL be blocked on the spot, no questions asked.
“I’ve left a community on the dni list, can I follow/interact?”
Yes!
“Why are you anti-(insert thing on blacklist here)?”
Camp Camp: It’s racist + antisemitic
Dragon Maid: It’s pedophilic
Killing Stalking: It’s homophobic, ableist, sexist, perpetuates rape culture, and fetishizes abuse
Your Lie in April: It romanticizes child abuse and it literally starts off with a gross pedo joke when we meet the love interest in episode one
Split: It’s ableist
Hetalia: It’s antisemitic
Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling’s works: Actually there’s nothing inherently bad about the story. I just don’t like it. HOWEVER: I can’t stand J.K. Rowling as she’s a TERF/overall LGBT+phobe, and racist. So none of her creations will be featured here.
Sonic Boom: Nothing inherently problematic. I just can’t stand the show because it just fuckin sucks
13 Reasons Why: It romanticizes suicide and the creators refused to listen to actual mental health experts and have made the show potentially dangerous to anyone who even slightly deals with suicidal thoughts/urges
Detroit Become Human: It’s racist + antisemitic
Voltron: Legendary Defender: It queerbaits/it’s LGBT+phobic
“REG is a transphobic term”
I, Mod Joker, am trans. Try again.
“A-specs aren’t LG-”
*buzzer sound* wrong. So sad for you
“You’re not LGBT+ because you DARED disagree with me because you actually acknowledged that tumblr didn’t credit the community sweaty uwu”
We get this shit because a lot of you assume I’m ace or at the very least a-spec. And… Ya couldn’t be far from it. I’m a pan, genderfluid trans man. Even with all your gatekeeper (sorry, BULLSHIT) logic; I’d still be attracted to multiple genders and not be cis. I’m p queer. So no matter which way you slice it, I’m part of LGBT+. Die mad about it.
“You’re comparing aphobes to TERFs and SWERFs you fucking transphobe!”
Wow I didn’t realize setting boundaries meant that I viewed y'all in the EXACT same light. I’m so glad I have the lovely aphobes that have told my friends that they should kill themselves to set me straight.
Asking people not to interact doesn’t inherently mean I think they’re the EXACT same thing.
“Mod Joker is a gif-thief and reposts people’s content without properly crediting them!”
I have made this entire post explaining that’s wrong. Idrc if the post is too lengthy for you. Don’t talk shit if you don’t even have all the details.
Additionally, if you send me somethin about this in a negative light I’m IP blocking you. One strike and you’re out. If you want to believe people with false info and false accusations then that’s your baggage. Not mine.
HOWEVER if I’ve accidentally mis-credited, forgot to/messed up on crediting a person for their gif/video, or so on let me know! I’ll make mistakes, but I never do it intentionally.
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emosnakeboy · 6 years
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Do all the ice cream questions!
oh sweet jesus ok yeah i suppose thats one way to cute boredom thanks 
chocolate: when was your first kiss? June 13th of 2016, huge ass regrets
french vanilla: how old are you? not old enough to make a difference, in the eyes of the government (but that’s just what i let them think)
cotton candy: three places you want to travel to? hmmm Cairo, Egypt; London, England; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
strawberry: a language you wish you could speak? probably german or finnish so i can go to college in one of those countries for free, either that or french or latin so i can pass my classes
coffee: favorite cosmetics brands? i dont use makeup
mint chocolate chip: indoors or outdoors? probably indoors, less sunburn more AC and wifi
cookie dough: do you play any instruments? yes several, i play baritone, clarinet, ukulele (badly), and probably some others that i should be working on. lately i’ve been inspired to learn how to play the trombone.
rocky road: favorite songs at the moment? ohhh boy... Nicotine by Panic! At The Disco, The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance, The Last of The Real Ones by Fall Out Boy, If These Sheets Were The States by All Time Low, and Ground Control by All Time Low (i hecking love atl fight me) (there are so many more songs i could say)
butter pecan: favorite songs for life? oh shit those above, plus both Boy Division and The Light Behind Your Eyes by My Chemical Romance
cheesecake: what’s your zodiac sign? capricorn
toasted coconut: the beach or the pool? pool, sorry, i don’t really like sand. i like being able to sit underwater and see through my goggles and i just cant do that at the beach
chocolate chip: what’s your most popular post? lemme check... the one that wasn’t even mine it’s about how the sanders sides reacted in virgil’s room portraying their fears and shit, my friend sent it via a group chat and i loved it so i posted it and now everyone else loves it
bubblegum: books or movies? can’t pick i love both reading and watching movies for different reasons
pistachio: manga or anime? anime, easier to focus on and takes less time to get through
salted caramel: favorite movies? Love, Simon; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, i can’t remember any others atm
birthday cake: favorite books? The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Claire, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (particularly the Prisoner of Azkaban), Secrets For The Mad by Dodie Clark
moose tracks: favorites for manga? Fairy Tail Zero and Death Note
orange sherbet: favorites for anime? Yuuri! On Ice and Death Note, but Hetalia is fuckin funny and Fairy Tail is amazing
peanut butter: favorite acedemic subject? honestly i really don’t have a favorite not because i hate them all but because i love them all. my last history and english teachers made the classes fun so i’ve really been loving those two, and science and math are just practical and fascinating and i can’t not love them. i’m a nerd, what else do you want from me?
black raspberry: do you have any pets? 4 cats 3 dogs and a shitload of guppy fish, not to mention my plants
mango: when and why did you start your blog? i think in like March or April of 2018 because it was about time, i wanted to follow fandom shit but then i realized people like my art and moodboards so that’s kinda become what i do now (requests still open btw)
mocha: ideal weather conditions? London weather. Not too hot, not too cold, not too sunny. i don’t like sunburn. plus the rain is relaxing, and thunderstorms are awesome.
black cherry: four words that describe you? what the fuck evenjk i know people want positive.. respectable, intelligent, talented, pretty
NOTE: it’s not being vain to say that ^^ i don’t dwell on them more than i have to, and honestly since i usually feel like a piece of rat shit it’s very good that im able to describe myself as anything other than that. 
neapolitan: things that stress you out? too much clutter when i’m working, assholes interrupting class, my friends hiding things from me, my anxiety and depression constantly telling me to yeet myself off the nearest cliff
raspberry truffle: favorite kind of music? pop-rock, pop-punk, rock, sometimes indie shit.. mostly alternative/pop
chocolate marshmellow: favorite brands of candy? TWIZZLERS and i particuarly love hershey stuff, and starburst but i forget who starburst is by
toffee: a card game that you’re good at? solitaire... but i do like Texas Hold ‘Em
lemon custard: do you eat breakfast? most days yeah
peach: how do you relax? drawing, writing, reading, listen to music, sometimes just lie down and do nothing, hug my friends if i can
praline: a popular book you haven’t read yet? oh god i read a lot.. Wings of Fire series, i’ve heard a lot about it and i really wanna read it
superman: do you like sweaters? absolutely i do, however not during the summer when it’s this hot
cherry: do you drink tea or coffee? both but not very frequently
dulce de leche: an instrument you wish you could play? ukulele, baritone, guitar, trombone
blackberry: have you ever laughed so hard you cried? yes several times at stuff that’s ridiculously stupid
ginger: a new feature you wish tumblr would have? do they let me block certain tags and i just haven’t figured out how yet? idk im still pretty new to this site
blueberry lemon: favorite blogs? oh god there’s a lot... im gonna leave it at three for now, and those would be mostly my art idols @elentori-art @the-pastel-peach and @voidsides but there are so many more i wish i could put aiehgsbngu
almond: favorite mean girls quote? i’ve never seen mean girls idk if any of the possible quotes im thinking of are even from mean girls and im not gonna embarrass myself by saying them
butterscotch: what color are your nails right now? unpainted, but last they were black with glitter over the top
cinnamon: have you ever been confessed to? yes a few times
blue moon: have you ever had a crush on someone? yeap and 9/10 times it sucks but then there’s the 1 time where everything goes right and it makes every point in your life up until then worth it
cappuccino crunch: do you ever take naps? not really
mint: the most embarrassing thing you’ve done? think i was straight until 2016 and humiliate myself by chasing these guys but never truly feeling like i liked them
brownie batter: do you like sushi? never had it but i don’t think so, im not a big fish person
key lime: where do you want to be right now? probably about 30 minutes away from where i am in my s.o.’s arms on their couch watching soul eater or avatar: the last airbender with them
red velvet: do you wear prescription glasses? yep im blind as fuck
green tea: favorite flavors of ice cream? sea salt caramel, banana peanut butter, pistachio almond, white house/cherry vanilla
ok wow that took a while.. thank u though that cured my boredom and now i have to do stuff so sbfguisng adios y gracias 
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park-loins · 6 years
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You say you ship slytherpuff because of Vmin, but who's the slytherin and who's the hufflepuff?
Oh baby it’s SlytherJim and HuffleTae all the way. Let me explain. 
Slytherins and Hufflepuffs share one very important common interest. People. With Hufflepuffs, it’s compassion for humans, loyalty above all. But Slytherins are loyal too, in their way, to their people. And only their people.
Kim Taehyung is Hufflepuff Extraordinaire. Remember how I said Hufflepuffs were my favorites? I think JK Rowling made clear that you have some degree of choice in your house selection, you choose what you prize. So Hufflepuffs can be the bravest, the smartest, the most ambitious people around, but they choose loyalty, fairness, and kindness above all, and I think that speaks volumes about them. I also think that’s Kim Taehyung to a T. Brilliant, brave, and ambitious, but kind and fair above all, loves every baby every grandma every puppy every human in this world and just wants everyone to be happy.
And Jimin? Kim Namjoon himself sorted Jimin into Slytherin. Why? Raw Ambition. That boy right there, he snatched the last spot in Bangtan. He didn’t have an In like Namjoon, he wasn’t scouted like Jin, he competed with lots of other people to make it. And you know what? He did. He busted his ASS he did what he had to do, he made it. Polite? Yes. Adorable? You betcha. Willing to cut a bitch? Probably. 
But he was new to the big city! He had no one. And who greeted him at the dorms with red panties and a big smile, and who introduced him to all his friends at school and said ‘Hey be nice to this guy’? That would be HuffleTae. Hufflepuffs tend to come into things with an open mind, without prejudice, they don’t necessarily judge Slytherins off the bat like a lot of others might. So they put in the effort with that Slytherin that others might not, and you know what? That Slytherin takes notice. And once they do, you’re one of theirs now. 
Kim Taehyung loves wildly and with abandon. And I think he gets hurt sometimes, loving as hard and free as he does. Tae is so positive, he sees the world as such a beautiful place, and so when it does get a little ugly and a little sad, I think it cuts really deep. But SlytherJim knows this, constantly has an eye on him, monitoring him, ready to mitigate and to do what needs to be done to make things right. With a smile and an impish laugh? Absolutely. But he’s there, and he’s not gonna let shit happen to his friend, if he has anything to say about it. We’ve seen this before, seen Tae get upset over that misunderstanding with one of their first music show wins, seen him hurting bad over various other personal things. And Jimin is always the one who’s right there, protectively an almost possessively, saying ‘hey I know this sucks now, but I’m right here beside you and we’re gonna get through it and we can cry together when we get home.’ I think maybe SlytherJim has seen a bit more of the ugliness in the world than Tae, is a little more willing to get his hands dirty and do what it takes to protect his friend.
And Tae is exactly what Jimin needs too! Unconditional love and acceptance, a partner in crime, a little ego stroking from time to time, a positive balance to his tendency to be hard on himself or others. Slytherins love deeply too, but selectively. Like Snape loved Lily and Narcissa loved Draco, that Slytherin will fight for you once you’re theirs. And Park Jimin? I think he would kill and die for Kim Taehyung. “But Park Jimin is an Angel,” you might say, “He’d do this for anyone.” But you know what? I don’t think that’s necessarily true. He’s the angel of Bangtan, because they’ve earned his trust and loyalty. He’s polite to everyone because that’s what the business demands and because hes a kind boy. ‘Kind’ and ‘Slytherin’ aren’t mutually exclusive. And so what we see, most of the time, is Angel Jimin. But just watch him with overseas interviewers and shit, and you’ll see what his face looks like when you haven’t earned it. Polite to everyone but loyal to his select few, loyal to Bangtan and loyal to Kim Taehyung. 
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