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#this applies to so many damn fandoms
madnessandentropy · 4 months
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If you say a healthy relationship where the characters respect each other and are an equal level is "boring" you are an instant red flag to me, because every person who says this turns out to be a piece of shit that glorifies abuse and, if they are a creator, generally suck at storytelling as well
EDIT: Just to clarify I don't mean you can't enjoy toxic ships. I didn't get it across well, but what I'm talking about is fans who ignore blatant abuse and try paint it as a "spicy romance" and dismissing healthier ships/couples as "boring and vanilla". If you refuse to acknowledge a relationship is toxic and instead glorify/romanticise it while saying actually healthy ships are too boring then you are in fact a red flag
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nartml · 2 months
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Nah, you know what makes my blood boil?
Seeing characters degraded, vilified, and desecrated in the name of ship wars.
No, Aang did not strip Katara of her agency nor did he only accept the "digestible" parts of her, leave my baby alone.
No, Zuko isn't just a selfish colonizer, bro did not have one of the greatest arcs of all time for you to reduce him to that.
No, Katara wasn't just a mother to everyone, for fuck's sake, did we watch the same show?
I can go on and on and fucking on, but all I'm gonna say is I'm fucking tired of y'all's shipping discourse.
It was never that serious, it will never be that serious.
I think that both Zutara and Kataang are great ships in their own right, with their respective pros and cons. I also think it comes down to personal taste.
Of course, people can have differing opinions on characters, regardless of the inclusion of ships or not. But at the very least, stick to your own.
Ship and let ship. Remember when this was fun?
Don't invade spaces that aren't yours to start trouble, and stay appropriate with the tags. Fandom etiquette, it's pretty neat.
Y'all suck the joy out of everything.
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twirlquest · 5 months
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what if
hear me out
what IF Sun Halo got animated
listen. listen. liSTEN i know that a lot of people were exasperated by the slam dunk straight back into the status quo. i know. i feel you. i get it. ("gosho stop trying to write a slow burn when you're allergic to allowing actual character and relationship development + only release chapters every 5~10 years" challenge?)
but damn. if it got animated? if they did a good job of it? i would ascend. a whole arc with aoko center stage, actually getting to contribute in some way? getting to interact with Kid? that whole bit where she RECOGNISED HIM BY HIS SCENT AND THE WAY HE BREATHES
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atarial · 6 months
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i am reminded that some people don't interact with the real world much
or stop and breathe before reacting to things
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orionsangel86 · 1 year
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There is a phenomenon happening on Tumblr right now which may be a product of the Twitter exodus or maybe its just modern fandom mentality vehemently rejecting the old, but you guys have GOT to stop being so damn MEAN about fandom.
There are posts circulating on Tumblr right now hating on so many aspects of fandom. Yeah we all know the incorrect quotes format can be cringe and most of the time its the same quotes used for every fandom ever reducing the characters to stereotypes. Yes we know most fandoms scramble to ship the two basic white guys over all the other characters. Yes we know your blorbo probably Does Not Fucking Say That. Yes we know A/B/O is weird AF (especially now its breached containment and found its way into mainstream hetero erotica). Yes we know SuperWhoLock was ridiculous and attempts to make modern shows into a new SuperWhoLock have got old fast.
But do you have to constantly drag these things all the time? Why is it suddenly cool and popular to ridicule and criticise and hate on peoples fun?
Let people be cringe
Let people play in the fandom sandbox
Let people have their fun
Not everything has to be an intellectual critique and it doesn't make you a better person to constantly shit on fandom ON THE FANDOM WEBSITE
Fandoms can be problematic, toxic, and infuriating at times. But all the negativity isn't making things better. Yeah okay some aspects of fandom can be annoying, but must we have so many call out posts go viral on here specifically for hating on parts of fandom culture? Yet people wonder why fandom creators are quitting and there isnt as much art and interaction on here as there used to be.
If you see another negative post shitting on aspects of fandom cross your dash, maybe think before you reblog it. Maybe ask yourself if that post may be hurtful to a mutual? Perhaps youve got a mutual who writers A/B/O or CharacterxReader fanfiction who doesnt wanna see your reblog of the callout post stating reader×character fanfic is gross, or perhaps your mutual creates fun text posts applying quotes to their fave characters and youve just reblogged a 90k+ note post calling them cringy and overdone.
Just THINK please. Its not necessary. We've got to be KINDER to each other. Please don't let this place become like Twitter. Twitter was a toxic cesspool where no one had anything worthwhile to add to the discussion, no one created, everyone was just screaming angry rants into the void. Dont let tumblr become like that, because it will be the death of this place. And where will you go to find fanart and gifsets of your blorbos then?
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drak3n · 4 months
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TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE: PROLOGUE
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ꨄ. SYNOPSIS: the launching of a new platform magically re-connecting seperated people has shaken the entirety of social media. after many months of contemplation and denial, you give in to your urges.
ꨄ. SENA’S NOTE: this merely serves as a way to introduce all eight parts of the mini-series! as they’re all characters from different fandoms, there clearly won’t be names or any specific action in this! so this is a little short :)
TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE MASTERLIST
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
everywhere.
it was everywhere you went. following you around like it was your shadow, cornering you at any given possibility.
you knew the drill. once something went viral anywhere, it would stick around for some time and then be forgotten.
that wasn’t the case with this damn live show. not at all. the first time it had been announced on international tv must have been ages ago, like around the beginning of the year. yet, the hype never seemed to die down, with more and more people freaking out online and in real life about how it changed their lives.
you were convinced it was a scam. like come on, who even believed in a fairy tale like that? being reunited with a lost lover, or any kind of lover who it didn’t work out with?
there was a reason it hadn’t worked out. because if there wasn’t, you’d still surely be with that person.
it started with trailers being shown on every channel you zipped through, announcing free slots for their newest season and putting emphasis on their confidentiality. how people had the choice to stay anonymous while spilling their private and embarrassing matters to so-called love experts.
such bullshit.
now, it went way past that. you ended up avoiding watching tv, just to literally be haunted by that cursed show in other ways. through flyers and stickers flying around, through posters hung up on subway stations and even inside of said subways, hell, a couple of days ago, there was even an airship promoting it.
TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE. a silly name for a concept just as silly as that.
what did you have to do again to apply?
right, as if there was any way of forgetting with how much your coworkers were babbling about it. they made sure to remind you of that every day.
“i’m still thinking if i should just call them the next time and try my luck,” you heard one of many tell another while you were waiting in the line for your lunch. “i really, really want to make up with my ex. they’re my only hope.”
their conversation went on for many more minutes, and you were glad when you finally were next in line to greet the lunch lady with a tired smile. as she filled your tray in a halfhearted manner, your smile quickly faded away upon hearing her talk to a fellow worker behind the counters.
“my son and his teenage love reconciled after he applied there. they are awaiting their first child soon!” the elderly woman gushed while placing a cup of pudding onto your tray, waiting for you to scan your employee id before you shuffled away from the line to plop down on an empty space in the crowded lunch hall.
it was all the same. love, love, love. always those same old problems. getting dumped, being abandoned, or doing the dumping and abandoning.
regret, sadness, frustration, desperation.
you came home that sane evening with thoughts plaguing your mind; with the big question if those were all signs for you to see. if everything you’d been hearing and seeing for these past couple of months were meant to open your eyes, somehow. to get the hint.
making a beeline to your bedroom, your eyes darted to the package placed on your bed. still untouched and waiting to be sent. the pastel pink stamp had been placed on the corner of the box yesterday by you. those fuckers made so much money with their hit show that they distributed stamps, to force them to send more drama their way for them to indulge in.
it was stupid that you had even put in the effort to package what was meant to have been tossed away long ago. it might or might not have been long yet, but why did you keep that?
as a writer, you couldn’t contain yourself. even back then, you had always known you’d end up becoming anything connected to writing, journaling, whatever. it was almost annoying how you used to document all those feelings you couldn’t put into words.
specifically writing letters had always been your passion. writing down your heartbreaks and grief into words and making them come to life on paper.
words you failed to tell him.
the recipients were all written on the envelopes inside the box, some years ago, and some recently, and you didn’t even know if they were still the same addresses.
for some, you knew for sure they weren’t.
even if the cast of TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE — if they picked you, that is — wouldn’t find their current addresses, you were for sure going to be relieved. those letters had been a significant burden on your heart ever since you had written them.
for the first time in your life, you didn’t feel any kind of satisfaction from writing. these letters existed to be sent. and you were realizing it just now.
they were meant to be read aloud, understood. they had to be read by others for you to be at peace with your unresolved feelings.
the very next morning, you handed the package to the post office, bidding farewell to years of bottled-up and hidden feelings.
it wasn’t until a week later that you received a letter, with the same pink stamp and sender the same you had sent your letters to. you found yourself reading it in front of the door to your apartment:
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
dear contestant,
we thank you for your package and were enthralled to read about your experiences. upon short discussions within our team of experts, we soon decided to choose your case to present in our next live airing, which is going to be this saturday!
the letters have already been sent out to their respective addresses — some of which we had to adjust as there have been changes.
it is up to you if you want to join us for our next airing — it be via call or even by showing up at our studio! we will welcome you in any case and make sure you will reunite with one of your lost loves.
please do not worry, as we will handle all of your data with the utmost care and make sure that none of it is leaked for other purposes.
up until then, stay lovely and trust the process!
ꨄ. your TO ALL THE MEN YOU’VE LOVED BEFORE cast
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
PROCEED TO OPEN LETTER
THE LOST LOVE ꨄ TOJI FUSHIGURO
THE ONE NIGHT STAND ꨄ HIROMI HIGURUMA
THE NEMESIS ꨄ ATSUMU MIYA
THE BEST FRIEND ꨄ KEN RYUGYJI
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS GONE WRONG ꨄ SHUJI HANMA
THE FORBIDDEN LOVE ꨄ LEVI ACKERMAN
RIGHT PERSON, WRONG TIMING ꨄ TOUYA TODOROKI
THE BOY NEXT DOOR ꨄ SHOUEI BAROU
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ♡•°`.
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penncilkid · 8 months
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Alright, I'll bite. (Sparked by this post) I'm gonna preface this with some context: 
First off: I'm Black in case you're unaware
Huxley is my favorite speaker. Full stop. You ask me to choose, it’ll always be him. 
Likewise, you ask for my favorite listeners, I will say Starlight and Darlin'. (I'll save my Starlight rant for another day)
My designs for both Huxley and Darlin are Black.
With this in mind, I want to be clear from the jump: I don’t have an inherent problem with these headcanons. If I did, I wouldn’t have chosen then myself. That said, I have noticed that Hux and Darlin are, more often than not, the characters that get headcanoned as POC (specifically Black) in design rosters. In some cases, they are the only POC designs present. Why is that?
Furthermore, the more often I notice this pattern so to speak, the more I sit and think about why those headcanons are so popular. I find my answer when I think about the characters I see headcanoned as white most often. Tell me why it’s "practically canon" for Lasko to be pale with light/white hair. Tell me why white Sam "just makes sense". Why? Because Lasko's a nerdy ball of nerves that stumbles over his words? Because Sam’s a sweet Southern man at heart? Those are not inherently white attributes.
Except they're treated as such. They go virtually unchallenged because they're so widely accepted by fandom. People see these personalities and character details and come up with their vision. So, let's apply that to Huxley and Darlin, shall we?
Huxley: Athlete. Canonically implied to be big, as indicated by statements made by him and other members of the DAMN crew. Classified as a himbo with parallels in Imperium highlighting how some will view him as stupid. Overall chill vibe.
Darlin: Reckless with their safety. Known to lash out/lose control of their emotions when they’re not actively hiding them. Gets injured often because they’re too stubborn to run from trouble. An overall intense demeanor that makes them difficult to approach (at least at first). 
Explain to me why this screams Black to so many people. Is it because Huxley's a dumb jock who you imagine gets stoned all the time? Oh, is it perhaps because Darlin is just so aggressive compared to your Golden Retriever-coded Asher, needing to be calmed down by everyone around them? And here's the thing: I can already imagine people saying, "That's not why I made them Black". Then explain why it "just makes sense" for them to Black. Why them out of a sea of characters? Make it make sense.
Now let me make this clear as well: I'm not expecting every headcanon to have elaborate thought behind it. For one, I get that some people take a more casual approach with designs and such. Not every choice has to have a reason or justification behind it. But when literally 95% of the Huxley designs I see are Black and half of y'all don't even know what a fucking durag is? Saying it leaves a bad taste in my mouth is putting it lightly.
You know what I wish I saw more of? Black Huxleys and Darlins with attached nuance.
Give me a Black Darlin who struggles to articulate how they feel with the people in their lives because they haven't been readily given the language to do so. You want to pair a Black Darlin with a White Sam? Why not talk about how POC have an insanely difficult time getting support from the medical system so not only does it explain why Darlin is so resistant to go to healers, but also gives an extra weight to the fact that Sam was their absolute last resort when injured? Give me a Black Darlin who has been taught their entire life that no one will have their back, that they need to learn how to depend on themself alone, and that's the reason why they struggle to feel like the pack would've cared when the Quinn shit went on.
You wanna talk Black Huxleys? Let's touch on how he's learned to control his emotions/anger because he knows how people will take it if it comes from someone who looks like him. Talk about how his moms teaching him not to use violence speaks to a deeper desire for him not to be viewed as a threat because they fear for his life otherwise. In one of his BAs, he mentions how a lot of people used to sleep with him/flirt with him solely because of his body and he could tell. Do you know how often black men are sexualized and fetishized? Why not talk about it through him? I see people explore that concept through Gavin constantly, where's the energy for Huxley? You wanna make him Black so bad, why not actually put some thought behind it? Because right now, it seems like he gets the "luxury" of being the token Black guy in the DAMN friend group at best.
I know a lot of people are probably going to dismiss this post. I am already anticipating that as I write this. But I'm so tired of pretending like this shit doesn't get to me. Because it does. I've got no intentions of leaving this fandom because I have met so many amazing people and adore Erik's content immensely. But what I am going to do is talk about the widespread normalization of attributing certain personality traits to certain racial groups. Because the non-white people in this fandom deserve better than that.
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scarlet-empresss · 3 months
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Simon Riley x reader relationship headcanons Sooo after nearly seven years of being a mostly inactive member of the fandom, writing countless fics that nobody ever got to see - I can say I’ve developed a fairly clear picture of how I envision some of these characters. Therefore, here are some of the things I think would characterize Simon as a partner (and a few of just him as a person). English is not my first language so please bear with me :)
Friends first. I feel like he's not one to rush into a serious relationship without having strong foundations laid out first. You're a trustworthy, longtime teammate he's been working with for years, who has seen his darkest side and inner demons resurface, and still be accepting of him as a person? Or perhaps you're a civilian working at the coffee shop he frequents; the same civilian who spilled his usual at him one time, leading to an unexpected, but most certainly intruguing friendship? Let's fucking roll with either.
Following the first point—he's not a 'love at first glance' type of guy. He needs a connection, a spark; that spark that comes from knowledge and insight, both gained through meaningful interactions and a genuine bond. This is what Simon seeks. (Bonus points if you're a medic/nurse, because, you know, I fucking love medic x soldier trope)
Now let's get to the love language—definitely acts of service. You're tired after a long day at work? Boom, you've got a nice and hot bath waiting for you, together with your favorite snacks and a glass of wine/book to read (could be both). Running low on essentials, be it your favorite type of coffee, a preferred perfume, tampons, the likes? Well, expect it to be restocked as soon as possible. He'll change the oil in your car, scrape the frost from the windows, anything you as much as mention. If you're sick, he'll do whatever makes you feel better, whether that's a warm compress or something as simple as a bowl of soup and a couple of ice packs. He wants to take care of you. He might not be an expert at expressin his feelings through words, but he'll damn sure cook you a three-course meal and a dessert to show you how much he appreciates you.
That being said, he's an exceptional cook. He doesn't have many opportunities to experiment in the kitchen during deployments or safe houses, but you can be sure that Simon is behind the pots and pans preparing mouthwatering meals whenever he's back home. It's relaxing, and he simply enjoys spending time cooking for you and himself.
Not into excessive PDA - hand holding is okay, but when you two are in a crowd (which he hates), there's a hand on the small of your back or lingering on the back of your neck. Behind closed doors, he's more openly affectionate. Whether you're simply making a sandwich in the kitchen or he breezes past you, he's likely to stand behind you and simply rest his chin on the top of your head, rough hands on your hips, or when you two are sitting on the couch, his arm is either around you or resting on your thigh.
Non sexual intimacy is a big yes; head scratches, hand holding, shoulder rubs, baths together, or anything of the sort. But there's one thing that melts him completely and that's when you kiss his eyelids. If you're his teammate and you're in a relationship, he will appreciate you helping him out of his gear, washing the dirt and grime off his hands or helping him apply the camouflage paint on his face.
He may call you "love" or "sweetheart," but he attempts to restrict these terms of endearment primarily behind closed doors. He's not exactly fond of overtly cutesy pet names either, so he appreciates the occasional "Love" or "Si," but he draws the line at anything more ostentatiously affectionate. "Don't ya ever call me pookie again, got it, sweetheart?"
Wanna wake up before that man? Yeah, good luck with that. He's a proper, bona fide early riser, an early bird, prepared for the day well before the rays reach the horizon. It's like clockwork, a routine that's been ingrained into his circadian rhythm, something that governs his inner system. If he's not out on a morning jog, he'll lie on his side of the bed, staring at you, silently admiring. Oh, and he'll know if you wake up and pretend to be still asleep.
Simon values the power of silence. Quiet as he may be at certain times, this man is not indifferent; he's an observer. He considers observation as a means of learning and appreciates the sheer volume of knowledge that can be gleaned from the study of behaviors, facial expressions, and other body language cues. Furthermore, a comfortable silence may be the strongest indicator of the powerful connection between two people. That's how he knew there was truly something special between you and him.
HOWEVER. The previous point doesn't right away mean that he despises talking. Sure, he's not one for an idle chit-chat, but I feel like it’s a very frequent idea that he’s the brooding and sullen type who prefers grunting over speaking, kinda like Daryl Dixon (that's a huge compliment to Simon). I’d say, Simon is somewhere in between—more of a ‘I speak only when I want to/have something really meaningful to say’. If he's got something on his mind, he'll let you know. And, surprisingly, he has a way with words like the smoothest motherfucker ever.
Not surprisingly, he's a bit of a softie when it comes to animals, especially dogs. Not one to baby-talk when he sees a dog, he merely offers gentle pats on its head or side (if he's more familiar with the dog, I see him petting it like dads do lol). He’s also very careful about the animals and makes sure not to touch one without asking the owner first. As for service dogs, he's especially careful, keeping a safe distance and showing due respect for their role.
You know you're gonna have a K9 at your home when you get with this man.
He's not a fan of surprises or gifts, because he wasn't raised in a family full of hugs and "I love you's" or selfless acts of affection. He struggles to convey his gratitude in the conventional manner, so it's often expressed, albeit indirectly, through acts of service. No matter what it is that you've gifted him, he's grateful for the thought and consideration all the same.
But you better believe he will surprise you in turn. He goes out of his way to procure anything and everything you so much as mention wanting, be it a trivial trinket or something more significant. He's always listening, always paying attention.
Not very into verbal compliments, but his eyes speak an entire novel about how he feels about you. Gentle glances, lingering stares, and silent admiration. He might not be overtly forthcoming with his praise, but one look is worth more than a thousand words.
Big spoon. He's a tad bit paranoid about having his back vulnerable—much like a cat and its exposed belly. It has nothing to do with trust—as he does trust you. It's merely a product of his inner paranoia, though there's a touch of protectiveness in there, too. Beacuse he'd much rather have you enveloped in his arms, ensuring him the sensation of protecting you with his whole body. Perhaps with time he would let you spoon him, but I wouldn't count on it early on in the relationship.
He's territorial, not in a jealous, envious, or controlling sense but rather in a protective and defensive manner. He doesn't like men or women making advances on you, especially unsolicited physical contact or overt flirting. While he won't try to be overbearing or overly assertive, he will make it abundantly clear that such behavior is uncalled for and unacceptable.
civilian!reader - get ready for some self-defense lessons. He'll ensure that you know basic moves that can give you the time to escape a dangerous situation. Simon is well-versed in the brutality of the world, and he won't sugarcoat anything. If you're in danger, you run; if you feel something's wrong, you run. He can't always be there to protect you. So he's drilled this mantra into your brain: no matter how strong, tough, skilled you think you are, you simply can't trust that your enemy won't wield a knife or gun.
But one of the very first things he's given you even before you two became a couple was a can of pepper spray.
He's a direct, straight to the point man, which is why he has no time for beating around the bush. There's no awkward tip-toeing with hints that may go unexplored, no subtle suggestions that may fall flat—he's all in. Whether it's on a mission, in bed, or an argument, Simon lays it all on the line because you're worth it. He will commit to you wholeheartedly, leaving nothing on the table, giving you everything he has to offer because you deserve nothing less.
You fell first, but he fell harder—this man adores you. Although he's not mushy, he won't shower you with affection and cute nicknames all the time, he loves you. And when Simon Riley loves someone, you can be damn sure he means it. His loyalty knows no limits and once he's attached to you, he'll never let go. He'll go through and beyond any lengths to make sure you're happy and safe.
Though he might not openly admit it, he likes it when you take the initiative, whether it's in bed, in your relationship, or just life in general. He values your opinions and respects and acknowledges your boundaries, and makes sure to let his own boundaries and needs be known as well. So, step up and make yourself heard, cause he will listen.
He values honesty highly and has a razor-sharp bullshit detector. Can smell bullshit from miles away, actually. Therefore, never, ever lie to him. Because he will uncover the truth, one way or another. Lies are the one thing that can shatter his trust beyond repair, making it a cardinal sin in his eyes. So, don't shy away from telling him the truth—no matter how difficult or inconvenient or painful it may be.
Now it gets a bit complicated here, because while he expects honesty from his s/o, Simon himself holds back some things. These are largely related to his past or the missions he has been on, the things he has seen. He doesn't want to lie to you, but he does it to protect himself and you. You just have to accept the fact that there are certain things he won't ever tell you.
Is capable of being absolutely terrifying without even trying, let alone when he wants to be. His height, muscles, and scars are a force to be reckoned with. So you don't have to be worried about going on a walk with him in the middle of the night or wearing something a bit more revealing, cause he will beat the living shit out of anyone who dares to touch you.
Absolutely no one can defeat him in arm wrestling or even come close to his grip strength.
Very awkward around babies, and I mean extremely awkward. Like Jane Smith holding a baby in Mr&Mrs Smith. He doesn't know a flying shit about caring for children, especially since he didn't have a positive parental influence growing up or any good role models. The subject of starting a family is still a bit sore; though he would likely grow more open to discussing it as time goes on. Still, a major aspect of his psyche seems terrified of becoming like his father.
Would die a thousand deaths for you.
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punkeropercyjackson · 2 months
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Hot take but Percy Jackson actually isn't anything like Harry Potter and the reason they're popularly compared is due to the mass mischaracterization and misenterpretation that leads to sanatization of Percy to turn him into a more standard protagonist despite the whole point his character being that he's NOT normal while Harry's is that he IS and that made him into a very bland and lowkey passive aggressive bigot that's an awful example for kids while Percy is the perfect role model.Like let's look them over.Percy:
Was born poor and never becomes rich
Is a child abuse victim with consistent trauma responses and unhealthy coping mechanisms all the way starting at The Lightning Thief
Beat up bullies as a kid,was targeted by them to begin with because he's neurodivergent and his teachers picked on him too
Has nothing but love and respect for his fellow minorities,women especially thanks to being a mama's boy with no positive older male figures in his life except Beckendorf
Is pessimistic,sardonic,anger issued,bad at socializing and gets embarrased to be overly open with his emotions but none of this turns him into a bad person but instead makes him realistic and relatable
And he's also kind,gentle,nurturing to the point of basically adopting younger demigods as his found siblings and pseudo-kids if they don't have positive adult figures in their lives already,encouraging,loyal to a literal fatal fault and has a distinctive and iconic sense of humor that never dosen't land
Didn't like Annabeth or Rachel for shallow reasons and instead for their personalities and only wasn't into Reyna because he was taken at the time and treats all three of them very nicely
Is an instigator who's driving point as our hero is taking down corrupted figures but also does activism for the lesser treated people in his world by helping out every time he gets a chance to,has one of his core trait's being that he's COMPLETELY devoid in power hunger and pretty arguably counts as an anarchist because of this
Relating to the sense of humor thing again,his whole PERSONALITY is distinctive-He's not just some fantasy protagonist,he's PERCY JACKSON.The name alone gives everybody who's read the books flashbacks to all his crazy ass shit(affectionate)and that's how you know you've got a well-written protagonist
And Percy is legitimately transfem-coded,because i've met so many trans women in the Pjo fandom and every single one of them without exception have said that she's a femme trans woman egg.This also applies to black/afrolatino folks and autistics in the fandom like me to a less near universal extent
While Harry:
Grew up middle class and then got riches out the ass when the series started
Is a very poor attempt at positive abuse survivor rep because he uses his mental health as an excuse to a huge dick with no consequences given to him afterward
Had no tormenters other than the Dursleys
A 'dosen't know better and refuses to learn' typa bigot with tons of passive aggressive remarks about girls and ableism and fatphobia thrown in too,not to mention racist moments like hating Dean for dating Ginny
Is the quintessential young male fantasy protagonist and this is exactly his problem because it makes him boring asf and we're dealing with so much fucking damage in the kids fantasy genre thanks to his musty ass
All his crushes were shallow(Only liked Cho for a pretty girljock and only noticed Ginny when she became one too and prioritizes looks and society's idea of 'coolness' on the other girls his age too like damn i wonder why he only ever saw Hermione as a sister,surely it can't be connected /s)
Never does actual justice fighting unless he's required to and don't tell me he shouldn't have needed to because this wasn't real life,it was a magics series so he should've fought evil on purpose like Percy did and so did Katniss Everdeen and the Pevensie Siblings and all the other actual good kids books protags.This genre is supposed to be a power fantasy for kids that they can be heroes too and Harry failed big time at his job just like he did at everything else
Again,he is VERY mediocre as a character but mediocrity sells and now we have a million clones of him instead of real mcs
Is part of exactly zero minorities,neither intentionally or accidentally,and that made him grow up to be a cop.Douchebag ass white straight boy Harry vs Autistic afrolatina transfemme slay Percy.No competition,Percy's punk so she'd kill Harry to earn her blue laces
And before Maraturds and Luke/gods stans get bold,you're literally him irl but worse besties♡
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scarefox · 1 month
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Pisses me off and doesn't let me go that I learned a few days ago that the actors of "City of Stars" got called queerbaiter for kissing on the mouth in a tiktok meme / trend for fun (a trend so many did, just usually they kiss on the cheek or do whatever, these two are the first actually kissing on the mouth... 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ who cares??). BUT Porsche was made to APOLOGISE about it (tho he doesn't fully understand what it means because duh.... there is nothing to understand here, he didn't do anything wrong...)!! Can you fucking believe this backwards shit happening with 2024s social media police?!?!? (and pretty sure lead on by people who aren't even queer themselves because all the queers I know are fine or indifferent with this stuff)
Congratulations @ the moral police / haters who literally told two real life men to not be allowed to kiss each other on the mouth just because they are not dating for real and they assume they are hetero.
This damn queerbaiting discourse going through the fandom on social media right now, where people being so hell bent over it that it MUST apply to real people too.... WHICH IT DOES NOT! Queerbaiting is literally about fictional content marketed towards queer people but then not delivering anything queer related in the fiction. It is literally a term made because of Supernatural and Teen Wolf baity marketing back then! BL is the exact opposite of that!! And even if you argue that the actors are doing fanservice, which isn't as fishy anymore as it was a few years ago, THEN they are still marketing their series with it WHICH IS QUEER and therefore still doesn't qualify as queerbaiting! If fans still doesn't understand that fanservice is mainly just fun and games and not real dating actors, then that too is not queerbaiting. And I am talking about nowadays fanservice, not TharnType era fanservice where they actually pretended to be more than just coworkers.
Real people can not queerbait, because you don't know their true sexuality. Even if they say they are straight, they could still keep private (or not even know themselves) that they are open to experiment or are questioning! And even IF they are 100% straight: Newsflash even 100% heterocis & people who are not dating are totally allowed to kiss each other on the mouth if they want to for funsies! Body autonomy, free will, consent and all that~
Also wouldn't it be great if even hetero guys kiss each other without fear and judgement?
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obey-me-disaster · 1 year
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Can you do the nsfw alphabet with mammon pls!
This is the last nsfw alphabet ask in my inbox! Sorry for the long wait! I got my phone's display all fucked up and couldn't write.
Warnings:NSFW
Mammon x gn!MC
A=After care
Fortunately for you, his tsundure attitude disappears completely. He is too focused on getting you cleaned and cuddling you in order to start denying his feelings. His sole focus is on making sure you are comfortable.
Same applies when he is on the receiving end of the after care, he can't afford to be both a tsundure and to whine about the fact that you're not cuddling him. He will start complaining the moment you're not next to him even when you're trying to get him cleaned.
B=Body part
He is a sought after model that takes good care of his body. He will be damned if he doesn't like all of his body. If he really had to choose, then he would have to pick his chest.
I feel like he really likes the crook of your neck/lower part of your jaw. Basically the main part of your body where he leaves bites and can burry his face into when he gets embarrassed.
C=Cum
He loves the sight of covered in his cum, it makes him feel like has some sort of claim on you, even if you'll wash off the cum after the two of you are done.
On the same note, he loves it when you come on his face for the same reasons. He can never decide if he wants to be the one to own you or vice versa.
D=Dirty secret
This happened before the two of you got together but he basically jacked off in your room when you weren't there. It was not his intention at first but he started to think about you while he was waiting for you and one thing led to another and he got horny. Doesn't help that you nearly caught him too. He couldn't look you in the eyes for nearly a week.
E=Experience
He often goes with Asmo to different parties and he also arranged what was basically an orgy for Satan to take part in during the body swap incident....it's safe to say he has slept around before and has plenty of experience.
Where he doesn't have that much experience is the intimacy that comes with sex during relationships. It always feels like he has to take things from 0 no matter how many parteners he had in the past.
F=Favorite position
As much as he loves positions where he could admire you or positions where you can take easier control of him he has a huge preference toward doggy style. It just feels better for him to take you from behind/have you fuck him from behind.
G=Goofy
He tries to be really romantic for you but sometimes that fails so he resorts to make a joke or two to lighten up the atmosphere.
He is still trying to keep a more or less serious attitude since he appreciates the intimacy between the two of you.
H=Hair
He is a model so he always has to make sure he is well taken care off in case he gets a modeling gig out of nowhere. While he doesn't outright shave his makes sure to always keep himself well trimmed.
I=Intimacy
He tried to light up 500 candles for MC in order to be romantic and caused a fire in his room in canon. When it comes to being in a committed relationship intimacy is something really important for him.
He has a hard time expressing himself due to being a tsundure so he really values the times where he can be more vulnerable and romantic with you.
J=Jack off
If he thought he used to do it a lot in the past, once he got a crush on you it got so much worse and it always made him feel extremely guilty afterwards.
Once the two of you got together he calmed down considering he could just go to you and no longer had to feel guilty. Shit hit the fan when you had to go back to the human world and he started to do it a lot more often even compared to the time he had a crush on you.
K=Kink
It's pretty much canon and it's nearly in all of the kink lists for him in the fandom. He is a huge masochist. Hair pulling, bitting, scratching and so much more. He loves the feeling of pain mixing up with pleasure. As much as he likes the feeling of it he doesn't enjoy causing you pain. It will be a slow process but he will gradually become more comfortable with some of the pain related kinks you have.
Another one of his main kinks is praise. He strives off it and needs to hear that he is doing a good job, that he is making you feel good. He already puts up with a lot of shit from his brothers, so being praised is something he really cherishes. Of course, that also means that he loves praising you too, from the way you look, sound and how good you make him feel, he will praise you too.
There was a chat where he said he got shocked by a power socket and said that it felt good. So it's canon that be would be into electrostimulation.
He is also into getting overstimulated by you to the point he feels like he can't cum anymore and gets extremely sensitive.
L=Location
Anywhere with a bit of privacy will do the job for him. He already made out with MC in the middle of a fucking exam in front of everyone. He doesn't really care all that much.
He does want a bit more privacy cause he doesn't want just anyone to see you like that after all. It's for his eyes only.
M=Motivation
This man got turned on cause MC had their arms around him in a dark room...it doesn't take a lot of effort to turn him on when it comes to you. If you wanna go the extra mile and tease him he will just drag you to the nearest place where the two of you can go at it.
N=No
Degradation of any kind. He is already getting insulted by his brothers enough as it is. He can handle it when it comes to teasing and so on. He also can't degrade you. He physically can't. He tried to do it once and ended up getting sad and couldn't go on.
Sensory deprivation combined with tying him up. He loves them separately but together it makes him feel claustrophobic.
O=Oral
He loves giving despite being sloppy because he is eager to please you and hear you praise him. He likes it especially when you full his hair.
He also lives for when you give him oral because he loves when all of your attention is on him and making him feel good. Just be aware that he has the habit of holding your head in place when he is about to cum without a warning. He always apologies after.
P=Pace
He 100% prefers a faster pace. Despite that he is never rough since he doesn't like the thought of hurting you. He prefers a faster pace because he feels like he can never get enough of you and gets impatient.
Going from that idea, if you want to torture him make sure to go at a slow pace since he considers it torture in the best way possible.
Q=Quicky
As much as be adores and prefers to have actually intimate sex with you he can't deny the fact that he loves quickies too. He is greed, he literally can't get enough of you and between RAD, his schemes and his brothers he doesn't get to spend as much time as he wants to with you.
R=Risk
He is way more open to trying new things on him rather on you. Especially that if it contains pain. So if you're a masochist good luck, it will be a slow road into discovering both of your limits.
S=Stamina
He is a demon in a pretty good shape with more than a decent amount of experience. It's safe to say that he can go on for longer than you can.
T=Toys
He probably had a few of his own that he used and a joke gift from Asmodeus that remained unopen. He is really excited at the idea of you using toys on him.
On the other hand, he may hesitate to use them on you out of some sense of pride/possesiveness. One or two talks with him will make him realize he is silly about trying to compete with sex toys out of all things. He still prefers to your main source of pleasure but he won't be against the idea of using toys on you.
U=Unfair
He tries so hard to tease you but he fails miserably at it most of the time. He can't resist giving in when it comes to you, especially if you start begging, it's literally game over for him.
On the few times he does succeed he gets so cocky about it to the point it makes you want to punch him, in an affectionate way
V=Volume
For the love of everything that is good, learn a spell that makes the room soundproof or gag him. He is so loud that nearly all of the house of lamentation can hear him. Especially when he is the bottom. He is so loud and whines a lot and in the moment he doesn't care who will hear him. He does have his moments of regret once he comes down from his high but he can't really be bothered to care when you're right next to him.
The first few times you two started to have sex he would try to hide his moans but when you would literally stop him from doing so he gradually stopped caring about how loud he is.
W=Wild card
He used to be a stripper for a short while in the far off past. This was before his modeling carrier really took off and he became more popular. He needed money fast and being a stripper seemed like fun. He had to stop because Lucifer made him too but he still went behind his back a few times.
X=X-ray
In his human form his dick is above average by human standards. While it is not too thick it's still enough to offer a nice stretch and it's curved downwards, just perfect to suck him off. Of course he also has a piercing.
In his demon form it grows more in thickness than anything. By demon standards it's around average. It's also a lot more veiny and has some slight oval shaped bumps towards the head of his dick.
Y=Yearning
Would never admit it ok maybe he does if he is extremely needy but he has a pretty high libido and if you would let him you two would do it pretty much daily. If you tease him even more than that.
Z=Zzz
No matter how tired he gets, he can't fall asleep unless he is cuddling with you. He doesn't care who is holding who as along as you're next to him as he falls asleep.
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firelxdykatara · 2 months
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lol you just know all those "well zutara is bad cause colonization or something" arguments are all bad faith cause like 50% of the time u take a look at the blog that is saying that and they wholeheartely shipping zukka, like i guess the colonization argument doesnt apply if its sokka then.
There's so much 'it's ok if it it's gay' hypocrisy going on in that side of the fandom and it's just so funny to me. Especially when it's coupled with trying to give z/s all the zutara moments and dynamics rather than leaning into Zuko and Sokka's canon dynamic, cause at that point what it tells me is that they really do wanna just ship zutara but they're allergic to m/f ships and don't wanna admit it
So they make up reasons why zutara is bad and problematic, ignore the fact that all of those reasons apply just as much to z/ukka because 'it's ok if it's gay' and then pretend they 'solved' the ship war (by removing the girl the war centered around from the equation). But it's really just hypocrisy all the way down and also probably more than a little jealousy, so at this point I just have to laugh.
And even the people who ostensibly apply the same argument to z/ukka won't say boo about ships like jetko or jinko and I think that's ultimately because neither of those ships are very popular so they aren't a 'threat' to the canon ships the way zutara is for some reason. (I will never understand why k/ataang shippers are so damn insecure. Like even if on the remotest chance the endgame ships in the netflix adaptation are different, it won't affect canon in any way, so WHY do so many of them have such a bug up their ass about zutara being so popular?)
Anyway, I maintain that jetko is the m/m ship that actually deserved to have the massive surge in popularity during the renaissance that z/s got and I'm still bitter about it cause jetko actually has the sauce. (And allows for my favorite atla ot3 without a whole lot of contortion hehe)
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cynthiav06 · 2 months
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Percy is a strategical genius, and this hasn't been said enough. I don't get why the Fandom collectively thinks Percy is dumb or not smart. Even Annabeth sometimes treats him as such.
Reyna, Piper, Annabeth, and everyone needs to hear this:
The truth is Percy is a far better strategist than Annabeth because Annabeth can't think quickly on her feet at all. She can weave the most ingenious of plans but only when given time and enough information, only when she is looking at the bigger picture.
She does, however, have an almost encompassing knowledge of most things, but information is just information unless you apply it.
No one and I mean no one is better than Percy at thinking on his feet.
Mostly almost always Percy seems to be unaware of who his enemies are and yet still manages to go up against them and eventually win while Annabeth is at times left reeling.
Who figured out Ares's scheme? Percy
Who figured out Luke's motives? Percy
Who tricked Crusty? Percy
Who figured out the use for Hermes's gift? Percy
Who came up with a way to show Luke's betrayal to the camp? Percy
Who helps trick Atlas? Percy
Who makes up the entire battle plan in the Battle of Manhattan? Percy
Percy tricks Phineas by goading Gaea. He could only do that if he himself understood how Gaea's mind worked.
He singlehandedly subdued Chrysaur (Yes, Frank helped, but only because Percy came up with it)
There's so many instances of Percy being far more strategic than Annabeth herself.
Not only this but Percy is extremely and terrifyingly perceptive and just a damn genius at getting people to give up secrets.
Athena is the personification of cold hard logic and facts hence Annabeth follows and so she isn't nearly good enough at reading people's intentions or body language.
Yes, Annabeth can be quick on her feet, but it's not very natural to her as it is to Percy because Annabeth believes in pre-planning, but Percy understands and embodies adaptation.
It's a flaw of many of Athena's children. The problem is Athena is a God with the mind of one, nothing stumps her so at any given moment she can and will always have the best plan because her mind is much more rapid than the surrounding circumstances.
Her children, however, are mortal and hence always vulnerable to surprises.
It's the reason why Athena favors Odysseus the most, over everyone. He was quick on his feet, along with being a great planner. He was a strategic genius, and my headcanon is that part of the reason Athena hates Percy is because her greatest enemy's son reminds her of her most favored person.
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transgamerthoughts · 16 days
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a night at poe's masquerade
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Last night I made a quick tweet about how I think Persona games (particular from Persona 3 onwards) tend to be fundamentally conservative games. In worlds filled with magic powers, shadow selves, and literal gods there's an understanding that many of the most villainous people you can know are folks in positions of social/political power who weaponize their status in order to prey on those beneath them. This is a particular focus of Persona 5 but it extends even back to back to a game like Persona 2 and characters like Tatsuzou Sudou. Although these games acknowledge the social structures that lead to particularly vicious kinds of abuse, there is tendency for our protagonist to then fold themselves into those power structures. In games that focus less on real-life political allegory, there's still pattern of protagonists eventually accepting the societal roles that they're initial chafing against. It's a very common occurrence in the series. clockwork!
Persona 4 is the chief culprit here. Yukiko struggles with the idea that her presumed inheritance of the Amagi Inn is an imposition on her life but makes peace with that fact and eventually prepares herself for that role. Chie confronts Adachi, shocked that anyone who chose to be a police officer would do so for selfish reasons or betray the ideal image she holds of that job. Though confronted with the ways in which the system enabled Adachi's murders, she ultimately decided that she wants to become a police officer. Just as some examples. there's more. it's a fraught game in many ways
(I'm not gonna talk about Naoto. That's a minefield. as a trans critic people ask what I think about Naoto quite often. my answer is I like Naoto quite a bit and while I appreciate the queer read I don't need her story to be actually about transness. my tongue in cheek deep position here is that I think she's the damn coolest thing in the Dancing All Night opening movie. absolute fire!)
Persona fans are totally reasonable human beings. by which I mean that they might be the most electric and fuckin' absurd fandom I've ever encountered. While some people agreed with my read of the series, many others swarmed in. Which is fine enough. That's just what happens when you're visible on Twitter. I don't really have an interest in outlining the series in gross detail although, contrary to many accusations, I have played all the mainline games. One thing that can never be hurled my way is a suggestion that I don't play videos games. This criticism doesn't arise out of nowhere though I admit I didn't exactly expect it to become a trending topic floating in the "For You" tab. I was tweeting before bed.
Lesson learned! this fandom is wild! So it goes!
I've been thinking about people's responses and I want to venture into fraught territory to talk about a particularly bad habit I see from many fans. Which I think can be extended to things like ongoing debates about localization as much as they can apply to this little tempest in a teapot. Which is that I've grown somewhat concerned with he ways in which RPG fans (intentionally or not) exoticize Japan as a means to defend their favorite games from critique. It's kinda bad!
and I'm gonna risk a ramble exploring the topic… and I wonder how tumblr in 2024 will compare in reaction to hellscape of twitter
Something you often encounter in these discussions is an implication (sometimes a direct suggestion) that it is impossible to really engage with Japanese media as a westerner. That there's too many layers of nuance and too many centuries of ingrained tradition for anyone who has not engaged in lengthy study on the topic to penetrate. Often, this is framed as a desire to simply put things in cultural contexts. respect it and give due seriousness! Which is fine. I absolutely think if you wanna talk about something like the portrayal of the Japanese justice system in Judgement, it probably helps to… y'know… know details about the Japanese justice system. If you want to talk about how a game approaches gender, an understanding of certain social mores is important. No one debates this; it's important to understand art as arising from specific material conditions and places.
This is not really the approach people take however. Instead there is an insistence that the cultural difference between Japan and western nations is essentially insurmountable. Which has some bad implications. I think people are well meaning when they're like "hey, you gotta watch this YouTuber talk about Shintoism and JRPG boss fights for over an hour" but it comes at the cost of painting the culture as something of a puzzle to solve. and make no mistake: I'm glad anyone is doing the work but there's a bit of strangeness at play when folks are like "well you're American" and then tell me to watch criticism also made by Americans. especially since I do have a educational background that includes the study of world religions. i've studied plenty of this! and it's not impossible for me to have grasped.
the world is beautiful and nuanced and specific and full of vibrancies. but these things are not so singular that we can't connect with them or come to know them. and those nuances and specifics and vibrances don't create a protective ward around works. if anything, they're invitations to explore something new. if I walk away from Persona with a position that you don't agree with I promise that it's not something that's happened in haste. It used to be my job to think about games. and I've thought about Persona a lot! it's not inaccesible.
When we start to paint a culture as being particularly foreign we inherently exoticize it. We drape a degree of mystery over it which implies there is no universal connections found in art. Of course the concept of "police" is different in Japan to some extent as is the expectations that go into inheriting a family business. yes, the social nuances of a classroom differ. But Japan is not so alien to the western critic that we can't look at popular fiction and spot patterns. I certain don't need a 17 anime consumer to write me an essay on honne and tatemae or whatever in order to understand what's going on in the Midnight Channel. It's an easily observable truth that Persona often identifies issues within Japan society while also (particularly in Persona 5's case) concluding that these problems are not a consequence of specific power structures but rather moral failings of certain bad individuals. That's the text. Even when it wants to suggest otherwise.
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Here's a little snippet from Persona 5. On face value, it seems to contradict what I'm saying. "Harper, how can you say that it only cares about individuals when it outright says that society itself needs to be addressed!?" DO YOU EVEN PLAY THESE GAMES YOU BITCH?! The answer is that the game does not have a model or idea of what it means to change society except vaguely to inspire people to more individual action. be nicer. stand up for yourself, speak your truth, do things for your own reasons. which has a radical element to it in the context to be sure but we've spent a huge portion of the game seeing how the abuse of power, particularly power placed in certain positions and social strata
a change of mindset is good but… is that sufficient? I'm not entirely convinced. not if this game want to truly deliver on everything it has explored. (side note, a lot of folks were like "why are you focusing on p5 so much here?" and the answer is that it's recent, representative of the series' values from the last decade or so, and because I'm a tired adult in their 30s who has stuff to do and isn't obligated to make a 300 tweet long thread breaking down multiple scripts. if you want me to do that labor, you better pay me for my time. otherwise I don't care to appease fan who have no plans of truly entertaining what I'd do anyway. no breakdown I do could please them)
but you fight Yaldabaoth Harper! You kill the collective gestalt representative of the status quo!. okay sure but the metaphorical battle falters as the game ultimately imagines many of our heroes (for instance Makoto, who also decides to become a cop even after her sister leaves the profession to become a defense attorney) are content to slide into the power structures as they exist. they've simply become "good apples" in the same basket that held the bad ones What does it matter if you kill the metaphor when you don't carry through elsewhere? It's not simply some vague human desire to be exploited that created the various monstrous villains we face throughout the game. There's real material circumstances, systems and long-held powers that gave them the carte blanche that enabled their abuses! Be they financial, political, or even sexual.
We might layer nuances on top of this of course. Notions of reticence to change or valuing of tradition, attitudes towards elders. But when we do so it's important be careful. When fans imply impenetrabilities in the works by virtue of cultural difference, there's a risk of veering into a kind of Orientalism. One which mystifies the culture and turns it into a kind of "other." Distant, strange. This sometimes comes paired with a kind of infantilization of creators but that's a different though similarly fraught topic that I think is particularly best left in the hands of the creators themselves. I'm not the person to talk about that!
Nevertheless, a frustrating part of the response to my tweet today has been a rush to say "This work functions that makes it necessarily elide your ability to critique it."
I'll be an ass and generalize. It's mostly people with Persona avatars making this suggest. That Persona, as a Japanese work, is imbued with an ineffable quality that magically allows it to side-step what's ultimately a pretty timid conclusion. Many of these folks are younger players, self-identified as such in profiles, who clearly have a deep connection to the series. It means something to them. But I'd rather they simply say "hey, I found this thing particularly moving at an important moment in my life" rather than conjure an impassable ocean between myself (or really anyone) and the work in the event they find flaws.
Otherwise, you just get this:
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Stories are not merely about what happens on the journey. The destination does matter. It means something when the king grabs his shining sword and fights off the orc invaders or whatever. A value system is suggested Similarly, it does means something when Chie becomes a cop. (This is just a shorthand example mind you! But you hopefully get the idea!)
I don't think games or any work of art need us to defend them. The trap of fandom is that you often turn to any possible means to justify what you love. For Persona, a series which does have the decency to explore cultural issues, that same cultural specificity is often weaponize by fans (largely western fans even!) to deflect certain problems. This process inadvertently portrays that culture as a mystery, a shrouded thing that we cannot ever criticize. It's one thing to dig into some of those contextual specifics but it's another all-together to imply these specifics provide a mean to abrogate certain analyses. and I think navigating the line between due deference and something deeper and stranger seems to be something many of the fans reacting to me... have not managed. I had a peer talk to me about this situation and their feeling was that the animated members of the fandom that were coming at me, many of whom are self-identified as young and western, were kinda treating Japan like it was a land of elves. which it's not! it is a place on Earth and yes we need to take strides to understand and respect certain specificities... but we can't mystify an entire people. especially if the purpose is to turn those people and their culture into a shield. a means to justify and validate the specialness you see in a franchise.
I call Persona conservative because it cannot imagine a world in any other shape that what we have right now. God dies but nothing actually changes. I don't think it's enough to say "well, they defeated the god! and they needed the collective strength of society to do it! people did change because without that change of heart, the heroes wouldn't have the magical juice to fight the Kabbalah monster!" to toss Makoto's words back at the series: victory against a single god is meaningless if the true enemy is society.
If you can't show me what that grand spiritual change means for society, then I think you've kinda failed. you've certainly failed if the conclusion is that the world after that change is functionally the same and it doesn't really matter to me if "they talk about this in Strikers or whatever" because you can't offload your thematic snarls to side games. if the main stories you tell can't resolve this tension, that's a problem. these are often very beautiful games. they certainly have amazing structure and systems. but I don't think it's controversial to say they often hedge their bets at the end. and there's no impenetrable cultural wall surrounding the games that leaves the criticism off the table.
that's just What Happens. and it's fine for us to acknowledge flaws in even in things that contain beauty or meant something to us
really. it's fine.
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xerith-42 · 3 months
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Stop blaming characters for bad writers
Seriously, stop fucking doing this. While this is a post that could certainly be applicable to MANY fandoms, I'm mainly directing this whole rant at my target audience which is mentally ill minecraft obsessed freaks.
If a character is written badly, gets badly fumbled by the creator, or has the ball dropped in regards to their arc in some way, a lot of people will blame the character, as if they're a real conscious person making these decisions. When they aren't. They're a block man literally being controlled by two people who just aren't very good writers and one or both of them are incredibly sexist, kind of racist, ableist, and just bad writers in general.
Yeah, Laurance does some pretty shitty things through out Season 2 of MCD, actively crossing lines he wouldn't have previously crossed. We as fans can cope by saying something something calling, or just saying Laurance is a bad abusive person, but the reality is that the writers wanted to force the series to fit a specific vision and as a result were willing to do anything to get the series to that point. In order to make Aaron the most favorable suitor for Aphmau, her previous suitors need to be out of the picture, or clearly inferior options.
Garroth suffered the out of the picture, being mostly absent outside of a few cutscenes here and there until episode 81 of season 2, but episode 81 is the culmination of the writers goals to make Aarmau happen. By the time Garroth has returned to the series, the damage has already been done. He's not getting the life he wants. And Laurance is written out of the picture as well, but only after being shown to be inferior because Jesson were pushing an agenda.
Laurance didn't deteriorate as a person due to neglect of his physical and mental well being after a severely traumatic experience. He deteriorated as a character because the writers stopped giving as much of a shit about him and instead were using the series as self indulgent fanfiction of alternate versions of themselves. That's not Laurance's fault.
And this applies to any character who was completely fumbled in MyStreet due to this similar focus on wish fulfillment from the writers. Jess has stated that the relationship between Aphmau and Aaron in Phoenix Drop High is reflective of her relationship with Jason, we all know this. This means that any characters who come off as total fucking creeps in that series (namely Gene), are not actually acting on the whims of their own autonomy or desires as characters. They are acting in service of telling a predetermined story that they are retroactively being added into for author fulfillment.
In this regard I fully support fandom cope and say that you should rewrite your little guys to your hearts content. But if you're going to criticize these characters for their actions, don't criticize them. They didn't do anything wrong. All characters are just puppets in service of the story or themes a writer is trying to push. If a character acts in an objectively terrible way, especially a way that isn't in line with their previous characterizations, that is a failing of the writers, not the character.
And I feel like largely a lot of us can and frequently do this. We're actively criticizing Jesson for being terrible low-key bigoted writers all the god damn time, it's like half of the content here. But when we get into character discourse I feel like some people cling onto bad actions of the canon too closely and I've seen more than a few posts presume some pretty terrible interpretations of characters based on these actions. Obviously Laurance is a character I and a lot of others are fixated on so a lot of discourse revolves around him, and it was seeing some... interesting takes on him that prompted me to start writing this post.
But this happens to everyone. Quite personally based on the character I was shown in MyStreet, it feels really weird that Garroth would make an insensitive comment about his brother's weight. Yeah siblings poke fun at each other and often cross lines, but if that was something Zane was seriously insecure about (which it seems like he might be) then it does make Garroth come off as a really insensitive brother, which just doesn't gel with how hard he tries to bond with Zane despite their tense relationship. And I don't think Garroth should be criticized for making those comments.
Whoever wrote those lines (Jess and/or Jason) should be criticized for writing a scene where a character is mocked by their older sibling over a physical insecurity even if said sibling would not normally do that. It's not Travis' fault that Jesson never decided to give him more of a character beyond "funny pervy guy" that's not funny in every anime they've watched until Season 5 of MyStreet. It's unfair to try and say Travis should be scrutinized for his borderline sexual harassment of some characters when it's not his fault that happened, he was written by writers who don't think this sort of behavior isn't all that bad if they make it out for comedy and punch him in the face.
And god dammit it's not Laurance's fault that his jealousy became the most prevalent emotion he felt. Laurance has always been a character to give into his vices and yet fight against them at the same time, it's what makes him compelling. If they were going to pull on those vices in order to make him a less appealing love interest, he never had a chance to really be his own character after a certain point. Because at a certain point in Season 2, Jesson stopped caring about the character they had been writing for over a hundred episodes at that point. They just wanted to canonize their self insert ship and were willing to do anything to get it.
Laurance isn't an abusive angry person who would have killed Aphmau if they got together. He's a flawed character being handled by incredibly flawed writers who are prone to making some of the worst decisions you have ever seen a creator make in regards to their character writing. He was caught in the crossfire of the adoration he received from a very dedicated fanbase, and the creator who would rather pretend he and his previous arc didn't exist for the sake of her fun. It's not Laurance's fault his arc was stilted, jerked around, and ultimately ended with him completely face planting. And yet still reliably dragging his bloodied body up at just the slightest glimmer of hope (Void Paradox).
It's deeply poetic and tragic that I can describe his character in universe and in the meta-textual sense that way, but we should never blame Laurance, or Aaron, or any other characters for things being like this.
They didn't write the show. Jess and Jason did.
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abrthephantomq · 2 months
Text
Soooo....
Turnabout Storyteller.
I had already vaguely known about Uendo having DID due to me not necessarily avoiding spoilers when reading fanfic, but...
I have so many thoughts on this as someone who HAS the disorder they're representing here.
Like, one, I definitely appreciated the way they revealed it -- during a Mood Matrix session. Having multiple sets of feelings and having them switch on and off like that is def a thing. I've/we've experienced that before.
But also -- before that, when Uendo was switching between his "characters" and everyone thought he was just putting on a performance? Yeah, see. They did that really well considering that like -- yes, the way alters hold the body/the face can be really different. They certainly felt like different people, which was really cool to see. I liked the different poses they had because as I played I was like, "Huh... is he the character with DID...? He is, right?"
The thing is, I'm like 80% certain that Uendo is the murderer, and THAT annoys me -- but I'm not done playing through the case, yet. I just started the second half of the trial, so.... I'll comment as I go.
But if I'm right and Uendo IS the murderer, I'm gonna have to roll my eyes because soooo many pieces of media use my disorder to show HEY SOMEONE WITH THIS COULD BE A KILLER AND NOT KNOWWWWW and I hate that. Because like.... no.
OH THANK GOD. Like 3 seconds into the send half of the trial and it's NOT Uendo. Yay. Yayyyyy. I'm actually really glad they did that subversion of the person-with-DID-is-the-killer trope. Thank fucking GOD.
SIMON GRABBING ATHENA when she starts to doubt she can prove Bucky's innocence is just -- fuck. Okay. Yeah, I see why the fandom loves that particular moment. (I love Simon so much omfg).
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I am honestly loving this case and I actually really like the way they've presented Uendo -- it's simplified a bit for the sake of the audience, but at the same time, switching DO be like that. And you can certainly be co-conscious and share memory.
Like.... that's legitimately how our System works -- there's usually 2-3 of us up front at any given time, with someone generally more forward, while the other(s) listens / watches. Sometimes others push to the front. And there are 4 of us who more or less have access to the continual life happenings even if we don't always recollect specific details (or what we were feeling) later.
Also Owen being a LITTLE makes so much damn sense? Fuck, idk man, I love it. I kinda adore them.
I really really really got weary when Uendo's diagnosis was revealed because, y'know, the whole oh God pls tell me you're not the murderer even if it was kinda looking like you were.
That fucking balloon girl did it, didn't she? Jesus fucking Christ. I love that, but I also hate that. Also it's so unfair they made this chick so goddamned pretty.
Also man can I also say just how like.... they legitimately refer to Owen as a child, and Kisegawa with Ms., and -- that's actually a nice little piece of the writing here. Like... is it absolutely perfect? No. It's not. But let me tell you -- as someone with this disorder? Writing it and showing it for an audience is hard.
That whole, "everyone is unique" thing applies here -- every System is different. They all develop ways of functioning in order to blend in and protect themselves. Uendo may not have the denial bit that comes with this disorder (do you know how many times I find myself asking if I'm sure I'm not faking this thing? do you??? because like, it's a "rare" disorder, right? and was my trauma REALLY bad enough for me to have alters???? etc) -- but considering the confident way he, Patches, and Kisegawa speak about their experience with the disorder, I would imagine they've been in therapy for it for a while, now.
But also -- the three of them not being aware of Owen? Or denying his existence, at least? Well, they were either protecting him because he's so young, or they legitimately did not know since apparently he may only come forward when the body is drunk.
idk I love that Uendo et al was not the killer. Like so much. Thank FUCK.
Also that was a really fun case even if it was like, not entirely relevant to the overall story happening here in SOJ. I definitely enjoyed it.
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