#which is just a whole blatant manipulation

[storyweaverofgondor]

I can't pay you, but I would listen very intently if you wanted to rant about the MCU!

Well, since you asked! TBH I actually have several main issues.

First, do you know the queen song Another one bite the dust? That is basically the theme for these movie now. They have gotten downright murder happy because (Second issue) the plots of every movie after endgame are exactly the same. They can’t elicit an emotional reaction from the story anymore so they murder a beloved character for emotion points. The plots of recent marvel movies is nothing more than a cinematic hallucination. Once you realize there isn’t anything of substance there you can’t unsee it. I mean, half the characters and all the sets are CGI, so even they aren’t real! If the characters didn’t work themselves to the bone to look ‘hot’ (Which i personally consider debatable. But this isn’t a rant about societal bs beauty standards) then wore tight clothes with an occasional teasing bit of nudity no one would be interested. i suspect you’d get better plots from a bad prono. (and i say that as a sex-replused aroace. So you know how little the recent films have been impressing me if I’m going “I bet a porno would be better.”)

Third, character development. There isn’t any. They have an interesting character? they either reduce them to a flat one note painfully obvious ‘archetype’ or repeat the original character arc or take the easy route of making them evil. Look at the himbo-fication of Thor. If that character had been handled well he’d have realized that he’d been borderline abusive/extremely emotionally neglectful of Loki for years, realized his mistakes, learned to value people different from him and have grown into a character that taught people how to move on from their mistakes. Instead he’s been turned into a blameless human shaped golden retriever who has everyone he cares about graphically murdered in front of him and gets mocked for having a full on mental breakdown.  Look at Loki and Scarlet Witch. Instead of addressing their trauma (Loki found out he was the thing his entire race was violently racist towards and had a mental breakdown, attempted suicide and was tortured by Thanos before being made to lead an invasion. Wanda lost everyone she knew and loved in violently devastating ways) Do they get a natural progression to their characters? NO! Their original arc is in increasingly obvious disguises and they are reduced to one note cartoonish villains.

Four, the interconnectiveness of everything. Like . . . look this thing has been going on for so long some of the people watching it now weren’t even born when the first movies came out! and if you haven’t watched every single movie, show and one off toon ever made since Disney bought Marvel you have no idea what’s going on. You can’t just skip the movies you know you won’t like and just watch the ones you are actually interested in. YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND A SINGLE BLOODY THING IF YOU DON’T WATCH OVER A DECADE OF CONTENT! Now, this has been a raising theme when it comes to tv shows recently, where you have to start at the beginning otherwise you don’t understand it. It annoys me there too. But even Supernatural eventually had an end after fifteen years. The ‘Marval Cinematic Universe’ is going to keep going until doomsday and beyond without stopping. At this point i want someone to pay Disney to just let it stop. Like let it end. Have people talk about and make videos on youtube about ‘the Marvel Generation’ and how insane it was, spoken in past tense. I am a huge fan of the Neverending Story but this story needs to end. It is like a faniction that should have ended on chapter three but is on chapter 178 with no end in sight. The author doesn’t even know what’s going on anymore. Please just let it die while i still care about it enough to say “Aww, man! That’s a bummer.” Please god just make it stop already.

#marvel cinematic universe #rant post #ask #personal opinion #is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer #marvel #I personally love Loki. he's one of my favorite characters in general #and the original avengers movie is loads of fun #but it has gone so far past 'Look at how they butchered my boy' it's not even really memeible #also there's the whole force you to get disney+ in order to watch the shows that are only available through that one streaming survice #which is just a whole blatant manipulation #which i can't abide #I don't respond favorably to peer pressure #i will sooner cut off contact than play into any sort of guilt tripping #if i can't get it on DVD I'm not watching marvel tv shows #sorry not sorry #You did ask for a rant #I could go on #but then i'd get as repetitive as a marvel movie #and i at least know when to stop

[risaonda]

I still think it's very funny the complete change in direction my opinion of quote ramón unquote took when I was playing the game myself vs when I watched a video of someone else play the game

#venus ambassador give us a post #my playthrough i felt underwhelmed bc i was waiting for the flourish the pizazz the absolute im only 20 years old little shithead of the og #then i experience the boss fight through me not being the one trying not to die and being able to actually see the dialogue play out #and im like Oh. Oh I See. Oh My God. #which is FASCINATING bc hes actually still very similar to the og version its just. much more blatant i think #wherein the og one u really only learn if u read that hes like. trying to atone for his family and was pretty easily manipulated by saddler #like bc of that. like thats not something u really see in the actual gameplay i think #in my mind salazars always been on a similar if not The Same level as saddler himself in terms of their importance in the game #like hes one of the big bitches!! i didnt get that in the remake. but also hes literally not supposed to be #and hes still insecure and self hating and was easily manipulated and now u See That #he spends the whole boss fight projecting all of his issues onto u #literally heard him say the line st like demon child! u never should have been born!! i was like HELLO? #astonished. anyway ya thats the post. that boss theme fucks severely

[hatchetno1]

hey hatchet!! hope youre doing okay, could i request some angsty romantic headcanons between ticci toby and a gn!reader? maybe like if they argue about toby's behavior and whatnot

hey there darling! i’m actually doing great, and i hope you are too! i absolutely love the sound of this request, so here we fucking go (disclaimer i am not an expert on his MULTITUDE of conditions, which practically make up his whole person atp)

arguments about Toby’s behavior are not uncommon.

Toby was born with multiple diseases and disorders; though he doesn’t know his own past, you figure that if his parents did even a little less for him, he would be way worse off than he is now. in fact, you’re pretty sure this is as good as it could get.

but oh, there are so many things you simply do not love about this man.

his CIPA (congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis) prevents him from feeling pain, and as such he has not felt pain since he was born. as such, completely lacking the concept of pain and never remembering that others are susceptible to it, he is often a little too rough with you, not just in bed. sometimes, he grabs you just a little too hard, and it gets to you.

you know he is as dense as he seems, but just in case, you hope hard that he never realizes you’re slowly becoming distant from him. you simply can’t do it, not with his roughness and lack of reverence on your body.

and oh, this is just scratching the surface of his behavioral issues.

Toby is also diagnosed with BPD (borderline personality disorder). this is what you consider to be the worst part of his behavioral issues.

you had the misfortune of ending up as his favorite person (though in his defense there are not many others around him so his poor mentally ill brain pretty much has no choice).

you talk to the cashier at 7-11 for a millisecond too long? suddenly as you walk out, Toby is gone from where he was waiting for you and when you look back, the cashier’s gone too. but you know somewhere behind the store, the poor cashier’s blood is being spilled.

and even if you need just a small something from his fellow proxies, they’re not immune either.

though, you have to say, you prefer asking a random person instead.

because even though tim and brian may be punished by Toby, you feel like you are the one being punished the hardest.

he’ll give you the cold shoulder and guilt trip you and manipulate you.

it’s to the point you don’t think you know what a normal relationship feels like anymore. are boyfriends supposed to be loving? or are they supposed to scowl at you, go silent and cold the moment they notice you talking to someone else, even if it’s absolutely necessary?

and so you do the only thing you can do to rebel: argue.

you first start out gently, chiding him when he does something he’s not supposed to do. you correct him and explain to him why it’s wrong.

but you’re not sure if it goes through to him at all. you genuinely cannot tell, between his desperate apologies right after and the blatant repetition of his behavior.

for a while, it’d just been the apologies and repetition. though you disliked it, you soon came to realize that it was better than apologies, repetition and THEN arguments, guilt tripping and manipulation.

“why can’t you just love me for who i am? do you not love me after all? i was right all along. you’re desperate to get rid of me.”

and the truth is, you are.

#ticci toby #ticci toby x reader #tobias erin rogers #toby rogers #ticci toby headcanons #creepypasta fanfic #creepypasta headcanons #crp #crp fanfic #ticci toby x you #ticci toby angst #hatchet writes

[fairuzfan]

Your post about how many people are unknowingly falling for & spreading propaganda... yeah. I typed up a whole spiel of a comment on one of your posts the other day that I ended up deciding not to not actually post because it felt like detailing, but seriously. The amount of well meaning, genuinely anti-zionist people ignorantly sharing zionists' posts because they just don't pick up on the leading undertones is honestly more terrifying than than the amount of actual zionists in some ways.

I'm someone who was born into a doomsday cult, and seeing all these people falling for the exact same blatant (or so i thought lol) recruitment/manipulation tactics I've seen used by them my entire life has absolutely fucking terrifying. These are people who are actively trying to combat zionism, but I guess the general public is so uneducated about propaganda/cult tactics that what immediately reads as blatantly manipulative, misleading bullshit to me just doesn't even register as strange to most people. Not to be repetitive, but seriously: fucking terrifying.

There's so much focus on the way people/groups who want to manipulate you will use language of fear, but in this case especially, people need to realize they will almost always appeal to your compassion before they appeal to your fear.

It's all peace and love and happiness because that's what gets people in the door. You preach (or post) the mushy, happy, fun stuff that makes people feel good to draw them in, and you slowly start peppering in the ideas you actually want to lead them to believe later on once you've got them wanting to believe you.

This also has this added effect of helping the group or person's image. Even the people who you don't manage to draw in will have the impression of you as someone who runs their mouth 24/7 about how you're full of love and want the best for everyone, which is especially useful for when you inevitably want to frame yourself as the victim to demonize the people who will inevitably oppose you. If your first and only exposure to a person is seeing them calling for world peace and universal love, you are much more likely to be inclined to believe they (and by extension their cause) are the sympathetic, loving, peaceful good guys being unjustly targeted.

Sorry for rambling, but like... really. It won't always be something nefarious, of course--the vast majority of the the time, it won't be--but I think we would all be in a much better situation if people took it as a general rule of thumb that you should always be a little suspicious of overly vague talk about peace and love.

You're EXACTLY right. I really appreciate this message, because you put to words a lot of my inherent analysis of arguments and ideas. I like grew up with this rhetoric so it's easy to spot for me, but the way that people speak about "peace" as the overall goal when they're zionist is so blatant to me because there is no material change in the scenario they propose but rather a calmness where Palestinians are ignored.

And picking up on subtext of a lot of messages is something you have to have a muscle for kinda because of how subtle it is. The frightening part is, you're right, that the indoctrination part of zionism is the most harmful part because you appeal to their pathos — their fear, their sense of safety, etc — and you go on down the rabbit hole and slowly start being radicalized and pro-zionism or you might not even be pro-zionism 100% but enjoy... soft zionism as a mutual of mine put it once (if you read this and want to be tagged, lmk). Which soft zionism is the MAIN opinion in many liberal circles btw, its not an uncommon opinion.

I even remember once sharing a post by a zionist because i saw them talk about esims but when i went on their blog a few days later because something rubbed me the wrong way, I noticed their pinned and I was like "oh dam I gotta delete that other post" like that's how often this happens.

Idk, I try to combat this by putting sources or approaching from a standpoint of logical arguments rather than identity-based politics (although, sometimes i think there are some things that people who are a certain identity can be the only true experts on) so that I try to encourage actual engagement with ideas and walking them through thought processes rather than "I'm palestinian so just trust me."

Like even with my one fact checking list, idk if I succeeded but I wanted to emphasize that there are multiple factors you should consider when confronting ANY sort of information and should not blindly trust things. News sources have regularly burned or ignored Palestinians so I know a lot of us are really sensitive to these things, but I don't know! I hope people can engage with ideas more than just surface level thinking in general because it helps everyone when you actually interact with the point of view the other person is providing rather than just blindly trusting/distrusting people.

#thanks for this ask btw i really appreciate it

[the-fat-raccoon]

🌌 astro-gnomey Follow

Some of you don't want to hear it but at some point we're going to HAVE to acknowledge the effects of storm sorcerers (and keiromancy as a whole) on the environment. The wizard council has been pushing for regulations on these practices for years due to its large ecological effect on the realm, and yet it still stays unregulated because of misinformed petitioners who insist on preserve this harmful practice.

x x x

🌬 420haz3it Follow

hey ops ex here. they literally went through my family's tome of spells and destroyed every page that contained keiromancy. spells that were in my family since the Wizardry Renaissance, that saved towns from floods and droughts alike, are now lost to time and space

also as people in the notes pointed out all of those links are blatant misinformation that ignores what storm sorcerers have done to protect not only their local communities but the environment as a whole for centuries, and the people who spread this information are the exact same people who advocated to repeal the wishing star protection act.

hating keiromancy has always been a distraction so astrological mages can push for more unsafe practices in their own field. don't let them lie about their intent, and don't let the wizard council rush the process to earn an astromage liscense.

🪄 tradmage12 Follow

Being from a family of storm sorcerers puts a direct line from you to the Great Calamity that wiped out our magic for a millenia. You deserve to lose that tome and every last spark of magic in you.

🌬 420haz3it Follow

what

🌬 420haz3it Follow

theres no way youre serious. you dont actually believe that.

🪄 tradmage12 Follow

We all know it, the Great Calamity would have never happened if the sorcerer faction had listened to the wizard councils orders and steered clear of dragon hunting. But they didn't listen, and everyone suffered because of it. Don't act like there's no reason to not trust your kind with their own practices. You just can't help yourselves.

🌌 astro-gnomey Follow

I leave for the Berry Harvest and come back to this mess, really funny how you'll mention me taking action against your family's evil dark spells but don't mention that you only dated me for your weird gnomeplay fantasies. Also pay attention to the language used, very Anti Mage rhetoric being spread. What else would you expect of a storm sorcerer, of course they want to keep their powers, I'm going to shut off reblogs if people in the notes cant see how they're being manipulated by keiromancers. Quit trying to be 'progressive' when you just want to keep ruining the course of nature and keep down the mage class.

🌬 420haz3it Follow

get me off this fucking lichsite. there is no 'anti mage rhetoric', that's not a fucking thing. mages aren't some repressed class no matter how much you want to pretend that, they haven't had to deal with magical restrictions since before the great calamity even happened, meanwhile sorcerers to this day are still fighting to be seen as magical equals.

and while im at it 'keiromancers' is a made up term to put all weather magic users under one umbrella, as if forms of keiromancy arent so diverse amongst the realms that you cant even begin to compare them. it is not the same as saying necromancers. dont even start that bs.

also, gnomeplay is perfectly normal and acceptable between consenting partners, which we were, so idek why you bring that up. if i as a half elf want to have gnome partners theres literally no issue with that, youre mad because gneillielle has a more bountiful gourd harvest and far more whimsical tunes than you ever brought to our relationship.

storm sorcerers have done nothing wrong, you're the problem.

perhaps some shadow work could unlodge the staff youve got stuck up your cap and you could see the filthy fuckign system youre supporting as an astromage, im sick and tired of this.

🎱 claire-vances-fourth-eye Follow

op starts posting untagged wizard council x reader failed abjuration content in a year btw

5,482 notes

#fake post #unreality #tw unreality #ask to tag #wizardposting #wizardblr #inspired by my good friend pig and their occeanblr posts :3

[sunderwight]

I keep seeing people argue that Aziraphale is "intelligent" or "not a fool" and that this means he can't possibly have fallen for the Metatron's blatant manipulation tactics or still genuinely believe in Heaven's righteousness.

Setting aside the validity of various theories (most of which I at least find interesting, if not outright compelling!) I think there's an issue here, which is that intelligence doesn't protect you from cult-like thinking. Especially not when you've been more or less born and raised in the environment.

In fact, what intelligence tends to do to people who have been indoctrinated into cults (and a cult is exactly what GO Heaven operates like) is give you even more tools for justifying or thinking your way around the contradictions of the cults actions vs message.

We even see Aziraphale do this, several times!

In fact, at the end of S1 doing this is part of what helps save the day. When he points out that Heaven can't know that they aren't defying God's ineffable plan while trying to follow the Great Plan, he's not just talking them into standing down, he's giving them an out. Because the whole Armageddon thing has already gone to shit and cannot proceed without Adam's cooperation, what they're really dealing with at that point is getting Heaven and Hell to accept that without retaliating. Even when Satan shows up it's because he's pissed, not because doomsday is still on.

Aziraphale uses the cult's own logic to give Heaven (and Hell) a plausible reason to back down without completely losing face. They don't have to admit that they were wrong, they can just file everything under "ineffability". Aziraphale pulls this off so well in part because he's been doing this to himself for millennia.

When he doesn't understand or really approve of the Flood, he files it under "ineffability". God has a plan but it's too complex and beyond even angelic comprehension to understand, so there must be a good reason for the Flood, it's just that Aziraphale can't see it. When he sees Heaven being complicit in Job's suffering and the potential murder of his children, he reconciles it by deciding that what God really wants is for him and Bildad to secretly stop it. But he flounders on that later, because to some extent I think he knows that this reasoning is self-serving.

(Knowing it's self-serving doesn't refute it, though, it just means that he worries about that until he talks himself into a bunch of reasons why it's still probably true.)

In S1, when Crowley broaches the subject of the apocalypse, Aziraphale's initial response is to recite the propaganda. It's all going to go according to plan, and it will all be great! When that doesn't work (because of course it won't be great, he's going to end up losing his true home and the person he loves most if this all goes down no matter who wins), he lets Crowley help talk him into how he could thwart the plan without "really" betraying his concept of God.

Basically, if Aziraphale's values come into conflict with Heaven, he decides that God secretly agrees with him. It's very like people who find their values coming into conflict with the institution of their church or temple, and so decide that there's nothing wrong with their actual religion, it's all just normal human corruption (or in GO's case, angelic corruption) muddying the waters of an otherwise purely good thing.

Now in real life of course this gets to be a thorny issue, but keeping it simple there isn't really a total separation between a faith and its institutions. You can't claim that there's nothing in the religion that lends itself to bad takes, just like you also can't claim that any ideology or belief system is invulnerable to corruption. Likewise, even if every bad thing in GO were to turn out to be the fault of Heaven and Hell and not God, God would still be accountable for a lot of the situation because God still set the stage.

But what matters for Good Omens and Aziraphale and this post is that, Aziraphale has put considerable mental energy into justifying how God and Heaven can still be Good and Right even as both of them do things he finds intolerable. Whether it's "God secretly wants me to do what I think is right instead of what I'm being told" or "Heaven has earnestly misinterpreted the will of God due to not knowing as much as I do", he puts his intelligence to use in protecting himself from the kind of revelation that would uproot his worldview.

The only kind of knowledge that actually protects people from cults is the knowledge of how they operate, and awareness that you're dealing with a cult. Aziraphale has a terrible disadvantage on both fronts because even though he's spent years watching humanity get into hot water with this stuff, he does so with the firm perspective that things are different for angels. He can't necessarily apply what works for humans to himself, because he knows he's a different kind of being (and unlike with IRL cults, it's actually true in his case, though I think demons and angels are both less different from humans than they believe).

Though, interestingly, he's closer to a accepting the truth when it comes to the differences between angels and demons. In S1 he is fully confident that he could possess someone, because even though angels don't do that, demons can. Whether he admits it or not, Aziraphale really does believe that Crowley is not meaningfully different from himself in terms of personhood or ability. If he can make the leap to the idea that angels and demons are not exempt from human-oriented concepts of self-determination and free will and unfair treatment by authority, and reconcile it with his own intense distress at challenging a core belief, then the fact that he's quick on the uptake will really start to work in his favor.

#good omens #i mean yes aziraphale is smart #yes it's also still entirely possible he's being manipulated and is making a terrible decision here #being smart on its own doesn't protect anyone from high control groups #you have to be willing to entertain the idea that the group is a bad thing at bare minimum #and aziraphale was basically born into it which makes it even harder for him

[bangtangalicious]

bts smut recs | needy!jungkook

there is something about when our lovely jeon jungkook is portrayed to be a hormone crazy, super needy, greedy, whiny character that is so fucking hot. tmw readers. i know you’ll love these. the hyper-horniness and blatant hunger for sex is so sexy. these are all jungkook x reader 18+ SMUT recs based on this theme. more to be added as i find them!!! 

🔺 = yandere/taboo themes *ALL ARE SMUT

MILF (series) by @koosbabygrl | 🔺 ive read this so many times. like. SO MANY TIMES. this is PEAK needy!koo energy. its so fucking hot i cant even put it into words. theres this mommy kink moment and i CANT get over it holy shittttttttt. also the sequels are GREAT, in part 2 when he has her riding his cock while she does her makeup oh my fucking godDDDDDDD. amazing.

this specific needy!koo drabble by @voidswan | 🔺 i know its not a full fic but its literally so hot i cry. bunny!koo just wants to fuck so bad poor thing I DONT KNOW WHY IM JUST OBSESSED OK the stuttering gets me every fucking time. screams. 

clean up by @lonelyhobi & @scribblemetae | he’s drunk and he feels so guilty abt it but he cant help himself!! god its FEVERISHLY good. he’s all whiny and crying and he needs u so bad and the way its described is so fucking hot. the dirty talk is inSANE. dry humping. fuck. amazing amazing.

thunderstorms are scary by @lonelyhobi & @scribblemetae | same couple, but this innocent needy kook is just scared and comes to sleep w noona and then ends up groping you and poor kookie just cat stop bc you feel so good. he ruts into ur ass and whines and ugh. brilliantttttt. honestly recommend this whole masterlist of step-bro fics from them its amazing. theres also a fun loss-of-innocent taehyung one :))))

training wheels by @fithehunnybee | theres a twinge of like sneaky manipulation in this one which i love. y/n kinda a bitch but she drives poor lil koo up the mf WALL. we have some cumming in pants action which i know you all LOVE hehehehe. also i love that it builds the tension so well with koo getting so desperate and y/n teasing..poor lil bunny

the dark prince (series) by @jkeuphoriadreamland | 🔺 LISTEN. first of all, read all their works bc, chefs kiss, but focusing on the needy koo in this, he DEVELOPS mmkay, he starts off all innocent but once he has a taste oh boy does he know what he wants (its you, btw *wink). poor boy cant see at first but he cant fucking help himself your touch drives him insane. how can you resist? the slow burn. the build up. the teasing. IMMACULATE. 

thank you, baby (series) by @scribblemetae | 🔺 im gonna clickbait you ALL into reading this. its twisted in the best way. a few personal highlights for me are when y/n is wearing the VR goggles and jungkook is like yeah imma just slide my cock in real quick lmfaooo its really hot though. the sort of unraveling of the reader adds to the desperation and neediness of both of their sexual actions. its fanfuckingtastic. each part has a good dose of things we all crave: begging, whining goodness

born sinner (series) by @1kook | OUR GOOD LIL CATHOLIC BOY IS UP TO NO GOOD and its got so much of his POV and the GUILT is so well portrayed and makes the whole thing seem more taboo/intense and its just fantastic mmm. 

forbidden by @googikoo | 🔺 again, i read this more times than i can admit. its not so much loss of innocence and more like straight up NEEDY but essentially sneaky devious lil koo is dating your daughter but, obvi, he wants you ;) 

teeth by @sweetbunnykook | ITS LIGHT SMUT BUT ITS JUST REALLY HOT LIKE I CANT EXPLAIN IT JUST READ IT ITS HOT

and not to be entirely self-serving but in case you want more..i too have dabbled in this genre ;)

touch me wherever

tickle me there 

touch yourself here 

wanna touch you 

soaked n’ slippery

ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE!! if you know of any other fics that fit this niche please feel free to lmk!! im always looking for new reads :) this one is for my TMW readers. i know what you like hehehehe ;)

#bts smut #bts smut recs #jungkook recs #needy!jungkook #jungkook fic recs #bangtangalicious recs #yandere bts recs #jungkook smut recs #bts smut rec #jungkook smut #bts jungkook #bts yandere #yandere jungkook #bts fics #jeon jungkook smut

[lilyveselka]

On Jack Bright (An Exhaustive Perspective) [Edited 2/19/2024 w/ additional evidence!]

A couple disclaimers before I start: First, this isn't an "official stance." It's an explanation of my personal views; I speak for myself alone. Second, I'm not setting out to change people's minds or moralize to them; I just want to explain & respond to some common arguments in the fan space.

Third & finally, massive content warning for explicit discussions of grooming & sexual abuse. This includes screenshots. (I assume everyone is aware of this going in, but better safe than sorry!!)

Q: Why do you care so much, anyway?

A: Not your business, but I was groomed as a teenager in a very similar manner to the whole AB situation. Ok, on to the actual questions.

Q: First things first: Was AB/Duckman a groomer?

A: Yes, pretty definitively. First of all, DMs from one of their victims (who was underage while they were in contact; AB was aware of this fact).

[ID in alt text]

Maybe anonymous allegations aren't solid proof -- of course, there are public victims, but there are also screenshots of AB themself "joking" about being a sexual predator.

Straight up saying they want nudes from 14 year olds.

With the context of the first message -- the punchline is molesting/"corrupting" people who are underage (which they've publicly stated is a fetish of theirs)

This one just kind of... speaks for itself, I think?

[And again, ID in alt text for all these.]

These aren't the only examples, by the way -- just the most blatant. AB also explicitly wrote their interest in underage girls into tales on the actual wiki. Examples include the famed list, which implied Bright shouldn't be around people underage because he would come onto them (and that's without mentioning the blatant racism on there), as well as a now-deleted tale called 'Money, Money, Money' that involved in-depth description of a 13-year-old's breasts.

[Correction: my mistake, the tale was called 'Doctor, Doctor, Doctor.' You can find it here without the overtly sexual description of a child's body — it took 8 years (!!) for AB to remove these passages. Here's the original:

Highlighted in blue is the original edit history showing the article's content. Additionally, here's AB defending this on the talk page:

In addition to this, there's also AB requesting an artist draw incestuous rape porn — personally I find this far less heinous than a lot of the other stuff they've done, but I figure it deserves a place here too.

(iamnotadamnedmonkey is AB's old Tumblr handle, sorry for the poor quality screenshot!)

All new images also have alt text.]

Q: But AB is just the author. Why is the character bad?

A: A couple reasons. First of all, the character reflects a lot of AB's sexual proclivities, including towards underage characters, as I already mentioned in the previous point.

Second, Bright's popularity gave AB their social standing within the community. There are a few chat logs where they brag about people wanting to have sexual relations with them because of their work on the SCP wiki; also, it's pretty clear that creating something popular gives you access to a lot more people who are interested in talking to you.

When you manipulate fans wanting to talk to you into sexual relationships, it's pretty clear that you have the ability to access victims because your name is out there.

Thirdly, AB used Bright's amulet as a possession kink thing and would ask for nudes that had it visible. (And, you know, they solicited a lot of regular nudes too. What a great guy, who would totally never use their platform for their own sexual pleasure...)

Q: Right, but AB's not on the wiki anymore...

A: AB's publicly-spoken victims have politely requested that the character not be used anymore. Bright was used as a tool to access, manipulate, and engage in sexual contact with fans who were young and in some cases under the age of majority. Therefore, continuing to use Bright is disrespectful to their victims. Personally speaking, I also consider it to be disrespectful towards victims of grooming and/or sexual abuse as a whole.

Q: So you think people who still use Bright are bad people?

A: No, I don't.

Like I said, I think they're being pretty blatantly disrespectful. But I'm not the arbiter of morality or the censorship bureau. People can do what they want as long as it is appropriately tagged for.

However, the fact is this: if someone is publicly continuing to use Jack Bright, then they are doing something that goes against my values -- because my values involve supporting and respecting victims of sexual abuse.

I, personally, will not be comfortable speaking to them or seeing them in my internet space, and I'll probably lose a lot of respect for them if I had any in the first place. And since I consider my community to be a group of people who reflect my personal values and beliefs, I also do not and will never consider people who use Bright to be "part of my community."

You don't have to be a bad person to be doing something wrong, and I'll level with you: yes, I think promoting a known sexual offender & ignoring the requests of their victims is, in fact, doing something wrong. That's fine! You're allowed to do stuff that's 'wrong,' I'm not your mommy and I'm not going to call the thought police on you. But you should be comfortable with the fact that you're doing something that is going to upset other people. Using Bright will and does hurt other people, and that is not something that you can ignore.

I don't think anyone should be harassed. Obviously. I've received plenty of harassment for heading the rewrite project, and it sucks no matter who you are.

But I think people should get a little more comfortable with owning their decisions, instead of trying to argue that those decisions don't actually have any weight or consequences.

Q: But I can't control using Bright! [I have an introject of Bright/I have a DA to Bright] and it's not fair to act like I'm doing something wrong!

A: Sorry. Mental illness doesn't make you exempt from your actions having an impact on the people around you. I'll probably be more understanding if it's related to a mental health issue, but, y'know.

You don't have to do it in public. If you genuinely don't want to be hurting or upsetting other people, then you should keep your discussion of the Jack Bright character to private spaces, because otherwise you're still doing the thing you were respectfully asked not to do.

(I'm a system, just for reference. I understand. It doesn't absolve you of consequences.)

Q: I don't actually care about [your feelings/the victims' feelings], so this doesn't apply to me.

A: Cool. You can very easily block me, AB's victims, and anyone else who is vocally against using Bright. That's, uh, the point of the block button.

Q: I have something else to say that you didn't put in this post.

A: If you feel like being respectful or you have a genuine question, please direct yourself to the replies/reblogs/my inbox. If you don't, then please refer to my previous response. If you're blocked so you can't contact me, then, uh... don't contact me?

Ok, that's all my points made. Have the day you deserve, and hopefully it's a good one ❤️

#scp 963 #jack bright #talkin #cw grooming

[abattre]

It's actually so disappointing that Naruto's narrative took the route that it did. Kishimoto created an incredibly interesting world and premise, and ruined it by having everything amount to a shallow message of forgiveness that undermines almost every meaningful element in the story. And it's like,, I want to appreciate the world outside of the plot, but the moral framing of the story makes it virtually impossible because of how disingenuous it is. It completely undermines the audience's understanding of the tragedy and horror of the world so that Naruto becoming Hokage and being the most powerful person in the world by the end doesn't come across as distasteful as it actually is.

Like it's made abundantly clear throughout the story that the village system, and Shinobi society as a whole, is incredibly flawed. Kishimoto goes out of his way to show us that Konoha's council is made up of objectively horrible people. We see first hand how the council's short-sighted ideas of what 'protecting the village' means results in devastating tragedy for people both in Konoha and outside of it. It's clear in how Danzo and the rest of the council act that their atrocious behaviour is them just blatantly abusing their power to maintain their authority. The council has no remorse in anything they do; human experimentation, genocide, slavery, and blatant exploitation is all fair game to them if it preserves their status quo. And instead of maybe, like, addressing Konoha's skewed morality in a sensible way and setting the village up for reform, the narrative just tries forcing the audience to perceive Konoha's genuinely heinous actions as necessities. Which, you know, will work when you're like 8, but once you've grown up and developed some reading comprehension and critical thinking,,, it just feels annoyingly manipulative.

At its core, Naruto is a story that attempts to deconstruct morality. Like this is abundantly clear in how Kishimoto is constantly paralleling the dichotomy of good and evil literally every chance he gets. In the end though, this dichotomy just doesn't work in the context of the Naruto story because the narrative framing of the village being the good guys is just hysterically ridiculous. Konoha is an awful place, that does awful things, and is run by awful people that refuse to change anything because it benefits them for the village to remain awful forever. To anyone with a developed sense of media literacy the village cannot in any way be framed as morally good, so when the story resolves itself with Naruto becoming next in line to govern Konoha under the same unchanging authoritarian regime, with the same council supporting him because of his sheer physical prowess and complete dedication to their twisted ideology,,, it's honestly just an incredibly underwhelming conclusion to a story that made itself out to be more profound than it actually is.

If I had to guess, I imagine Kishimoto just didn't think through how negatively the world he created would reflect on the plot. Ultimately though, you can't write a moral story that's so deeply entrenched in real world social inequity and decide halfway through that because you don't know how to fix these things your story's going to have to be about how they're actually okay to be doing and perpetuating,,, like that is awful and also a terrible lesson to impart on an audience of children. With how serious the issues are in Shinobi society, trying to resolve things with the power of friendship was always going to fall flat. These broad scale injustices can't be brushed aside in that way without undermining their severity and diminishing the understandable impact they had on the characters that experienced such extreme oppression. That's essentially the trap that Naruto's conclusion falls into though, and so the story just ends up feeling incomplete and unfulfilling because none of the issues brought up are actually addressed or discussed with the gravity they deserve.

#i guess kishimoto was hoping the aliens would distract us or something #i love the naruto world but i can't stand the pro-konoha rhetoric like it's just so bad #anti konoha #anti naruto ending #anti shinobi system #pro uchiha #pro sasuke uchiha #pro neji hyuuga

[fandoms-and-salt]

My thoughts on Hazbin Hotel's villains, because I think they have a problem

Valentino

Val is just. where do i even start.

His introductory scene is largely comedic and makes his freak-out over Angel just living somewhere else the butt of the joke. The same scene conveys that he is already losing control over Angel and can’t do anything about it, since Angel is ignoring his calls, and Vox convinces him that ignoring this blatant misstep is the better option. This is an okay scene (i even found it funny), but it’s a bad villain introduction. Especially a villain that we are meant to take seriously and, from the perspective of the main characters, fear.

(There’s also an inconsistency with Angel in ep1-2 feeling free to ignore Val’s calls and messages, but in ep4 he is stumbling all over himself to please Val)

His introduction had to be made from the point of view of one of his victims to set up a proper tone of menace to him, instead of making it from the point of view of his fellow overlords, who view him as a whiny dumb piss baby. This scene would be okay a lot later down the line, in my opinion, when we are already familiar with what a despicable dangerous asshole he is, and the characters (Angel Dust) begin to step up to him more. We see his facade crumble alongside the main characters to reveal who he truly is without all his power and control - a whiny sex-obsessed loser.

There's also an issue of us not really getting a scale of his power. This guy is portrayed as an extremely forward hot-tempered dumbass, who has to be verbally guided to make a better strategic move than a “just kill and rape everybody”. He freaking licks the princess of Hell, talks down to her like she is one of his porn actresses, and physically assaults a person under her care right in front of her, and she is supposed to be someone more powerful than him, and he should know that.

This guy can’t manipulate and strategize for his life, so to compensate for this (and make his rise to power more believable), he needs to have some truly impressive physical power. And tearing apart some character offscreen and wielding some guns doesn’t cut, bc basically everyone can do that in hell, what makes him special? Show off how his vaping powers can really fuck people up, poison dozens, hypnotize them, make them addicted to him! Make him so uniquely dangerous that he doesn’t even need to be smart and cordial to rise to power!! Otherwise, how the hell we should believe that he owns the whole porn industry of the Pride Ring, including legally owning his workers, if the show puts more focus on his stupidity and lack of tact than on whatever power he has?

Like he is meant to be our main antagonist and threat, alongside with his TV boyfriend, until the angels come back in the finale, don’t just waste them away on lame jokes.

Speaking of which.

Vox

I like Vox. I like his voice actor’s performance and the voice effects and filters that they give him to reflect his mood. I feel like he had a better introduction than Val (which is not a high bar to clear): it showed that he is pretty smart, strategic, and image-conscious. With this and his heavily implied power to hypnotize and stalk people through his tech, the fact that he is in power and the threat that he poses are much more believable.

Anyway, this gets completely wasted 10 minutes into the first episode he appears in, when he gets verbally floored by Alastor. And he cried about it right after. And later in the same episode we see him fail again at another one of his schemes, bc he chose the most incompetent spy ever. Once again, silly comedy shatters any kind of illusion of threat that the villains might pose. Which also leads me to..

Alastor

Who is not really a villain, and this is kind of a problem. He really could have been a great threat and an antagonist, but i really don’t believe they are going to go in that direction.

Alastor is a very OP character and is the one holding power and control in basically any interaction he is in, including the villains. And since he is an ally of Hazbin Hotel, whose goals (the details of which we are not aware of) partially align with theirs, he completely fucks over any kind of tension regarding anything that might threaten the Hotel or it’s residents. Because you can just throw Alastor at it and make it go away. Because the writers just can’t have him lose.

And we don’t have any reason to believe that he would just refuse to help, because so far? He does whatever Charlie or Vaggie ask him to do. He might be a smug dick about it, but he still does that. He even agrees to film a TV commercial (twice!) despite his vocal hate of such technology. Furthermore, he has to make a deal with Vaggie so they don’t have him do something like this again (granted, this scene might hold some additional implications in the future, but so far this is all the context we got). Why can’t he just refuse to do things that he doesn’t want to do?

Which they could have fixed if they made his power more limited. Either by reducing the scale of his power so he is at most on the same level as the villains,

OR have his presence and help be limited. Make that the characters often can’t access him for help or he just. refuses to help them. He even says that he is here to have fun and watch them suffer, so wouldn’t them struggling to, idk, get rid of Sir Pentious, for example, be entertaining for him? Or balance out his help with instances where he causes conflicts and problems on purpose. Beyond just him annoying Vaggie for comedy’s sake.

And if any of this is what they are actually going for, then you need to make it a point to the audience that yes, this guy is powerful, but don’t expect him to productively help with any of the narrative threats and problems.

And lastly,

Adam and the angels

I don’t like Adam. He is annoying as hell and his jokes are drawn out and not funny at all. The logistics of him being an angel when he is Adam and when he acts like this, give me a massive headache that is related to a whole other topic i’ll need to make a separate post about.

Despite all this, Alex Brightman is doing a great job selling how utterly insufferable he is. His song is also pretty good, one of the more memorable ones in the show. And he (and the angels by extension) is also the most menacing and competent villain on the show so far. ...Do you see my predicament here?

Granted, this is not a very high bar to clear, as established with. the other ones. For example, in contrast to the pilot, we are only told about how dangerous and deadly the exterminator-angels are. “[Sinners] never managed to kill one of us [angels]” “In the latest extermination, [angels] killed the highest 18% percent of our [sinner] population” etc etc. We don’t see the angels killing anybody on screen, we barely see the aftermath of the extermination.

What we do see is the panic and helplessness with which most of the hell population treat the exterminations, including Charlie. We see Charlie struggling to convince Adam of her plan, barely able to talk back to him, which sells Adam as the more powerful in the interaction. We see Adam not showing all his cards to Charlie, like the fact they are planning to completely wipe out the whole Hell/Pride Ring, showing that he is not completely stupid despite his whole deal (well, there’s implied to be some kind of plan here, but i’ll talk about my problem with the logic in another post).

Otherwise, we don’t have anyone else to compare with him, since Charlie is the only one who interacts with angels on-screen. But all of this so far gives a suitable illusion of how dangerous and powerful the angels are. But what will happen if angels are faced with our all powerful Tumblr Sexyman Mary Sue? Will the universe let Alastor lose and then collapse in on itself? Or the other obvious option?

Anyway, in conclusion, Hazbin’s villains are not very good so far. Their main problems are the fact that the writers can't properly establish their threat and lever of power, or they undercut this with unsuitable comedy. Also, they don't know how to use their OP main character, so they won't ruin the stakes of the story.

#lovin rambles #hazbin critical #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin hotel criticism #hh valentino #hh vox #alastor #hh adam #damn that's a long one #im tired #next post will be a lot later cuz i have more to say obv

[delusinaldreamer19]

Sebaciel vs. Dadbastian, an analytical essay (not really)

Oh boy am I excited and terrified to start this discussion.

I’m just going to say right off the bat that I am absolutely biased towards one interpretation of Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship over the other, that being Dadbastian. However, my goal is not to criticize, but to analyze and point out the differences and, yes, correlations between the two versions of their relationship.

I’m going to start off by making a disgustingly blatant assumption about the reason why I believe both of these pairings exist in the form of a theory...Both the idea of Sebaciel and Dadbastian are coping mechanisms taken on by fans of the series to grapple with how dark the character’s canonical relationship truly is.

Now, I can’t speak for how much this really applies to Sebaciel shippers, as I am not one. But it certainly applies to me as someone who enjoys the idea of Dadbastian.

Let's start with the correlations that support this theory. Both of these concepts are versions of Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship that is more positive than it actually is. The plot of black Butler revolves around the fact that Ciel sold his soul to the demon he named Sebastian, and that upon their contract's completion Sebastian will kill Ciel and consume his soul as compensation. It’s a relationship that is predatory, manipulative, and just simply toxic for a plethora of reasons. While the manga is still ongoing so we have no definitive way of knowing exactly how their story will end, I don’t think it's controversial to say that it's very unlikely to have a happy ending.

Even so, black butler is a comfort series for many, including myself. But how is that possible?

By looking at the series as a whole and the characters through different lenses. A pro and con of black butler is that it’s very easy to interpret in many different ways, and the same applies to the relationship between Sebastian and Ciel.

I’d say there's 2 to 3 main ways that people have interpreted their relationship. In no particular order… - As it is in the series, where it’s strictly based on business and mutual benefit. They work together so that Ciel can get his revenge and Sebastian gets his soul. - Them being friends / frenemies - A ship, where they have romantic feelings for each other. (I’m not going to be discussing how people ship them for sexual reasons, as that's a topic for a different day.) - And Parental, where Sebastian serves as a father/mother (no I'm not specifying which) figure towards Ciel. I'm focusing on the latter two, obviously.

There’s one commonality between these two interpretations; Sebastian caring about Ciel (and vice-versa, but you'll see in a moment why that's not as relevant). There is loving nature to both, but romantic and parental love are not the same thing. So why, baseline, do both these versions exist?

My thought is that they both remove the main cause of distress in their canon relationship. Which is, you guessed it, Sebastian. More specifically his feelings/intentions towards Ciel. By creating scenarios where something changes his intentions of ultimately killing Ciel, it creates the illusion that there's a possibility that the series could have a happier outcome in the end, and a happy ending for Ciel.

Which brings in a new idea. Ciel, being the main character that we follow, despite having his own complex character, serves as the…how should I put this…automatic ‘self-insert’ for people. He goes through/has gone through trauma & struggles that people can relate to and see themselves in. That's why there is a strong desire to see him have a positive outcome through these two different relationships with Sebastian, because as a reader/viewer it will feel like we ourselves are experiencing that positive outcome.

See? Coping mechanism : )

Now here's where things get tricky…Discussing the differences between these two types of relationships. Ok, I could probably find a way to say this that's long and fancy, but I’m just going to be super straight forward. This is as an absolute read, I apologize :’) People ship Sebaciel because they want someone to love them, where they picture themselves as Ciel with Sebastian as the one loving him romantically. People like the idea of Dadbastian because they long for a parent's affection, where they picture themselves as Ciel being cared for by Sebastian.

Now, this is definitely just a theory, and absolutely not the only reasons why people come up with and enjoy each of these interpretations. But the Dadbastian one most definitely applies to me.

Here’s where my own opinion comes into play. Only one of these relationships is really ‘positive’ in nature. Both of these relationships when applied to the canon would be problematic in their own ways, but when looking at it outside of the context of the series and its plot, a parental relationship between Sebastian and Ciel, a thirteen year old boy and an adult figure, is more healthy than a romantic relationship between a thirteen year old boy and an adult figure. Please don’t make me explain why :’)

I’m really hoping this reaches the right audience. I’m not trying to start a war or offend anyone, just share my thoughts and an outlook that I haven’t really seen from the black butler fanbase before.

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #I don't really want to tag this as Sebaciel or antiSebaciel #I'm trying to pretend I'm neutral on the topic #but I'm not so #antisebaciel #please don't tear me to shred's #I have enough anxiety #analyses #“essays”

[genericpuff]

I wanna add to the whole “hades keeping persephone’s things in a drawer” controversy. I watched all her videos the she uploaded patreon and I specifically remember Rachel herself saying that she was VERY aware it was creepy and she would not be okay with this behavior irl. She laughed it off saying that lots of romantic tropes like this would not be okay in real life—but in movies and media they get a pass because they frame it as something endearing. So she IS self aware about the whole thing at least🤷🏻‍♀️

Ugh, that just makes it kinda worse tho tbh LOL Like being self-aware of something being toxic doesn't make that toxic behavior 'okay', especially if you're intentionally romanticizing it or never making the FL in your comic aware of what her now-husband has been doing since day 1, especially in a comic that's trying to be "feminist".

Like I know it's something sold to teenage girls a LOT that it's "romantic" if the guy they "finally" ended up with was holding onto "keepsakes" from them before they dated ("omg, they were in love with me the whole time!") But a lot of people in their 20's and upwards can tell you that it's not so "romantic" when you realize that much of your relationship may have been manufactured or that the guy you're with was essentially stalking you prior to getting with you. It can make the relationship feel far more disingenuous and targeted rather than something that grew organically. Especially when it's really intimate shit that the other party should not have access to like personal letters you wrote in confidence to a friend.

Shit, I know it's not something that's "real life" because it's fantasy, but even Hades going so far as to ask the Fates for a tape of his memories that involved Persephone is a HUGE red flag - they make it VERY clear that you can't just do that, you need consent from the other parties who are involved in that memory, WHICH MAKES TOTAL SENSE, but they give it to him anyways because "aww he's in love and it's his future qween :>"

The irony that LO tries to be progressive with the notion of consent but then stomps on it every time it involves anything that isn't blatant assault. Consent applies to more than just sex. Persephone did not give consent to Hades taking the letter she had sent Hecate, she did not give consent to Hades taking the tape of memories that involved her, and she was never made aware of Hades keeping intimate objects that either belonged to her or were affiliated with her (ex. the mug with her lipstick print).

Like... is this romantic? Really? Because it seems more manipulative than anything else. I know being above the gods and even their own destinies is the nature of the Fates but that's why they typically don't directly involve themselves in the lives of mortals and gods (and in a lot of media that references them, they typically speak in riddles or don't fork over the information plainly) otherwise what would be the point of "fate" to begin with if anyone could walk up to the Fates and be like "hey, tell me something I'm not supposed to know so I can change the path I'm on."

God of War does this better than LO with the Norse equivalent of the Fates, the Norns:

Being self-aware of Hades shitty behavior does not make it okay to romanticize, it doesn't absolve Rachel of writing a toxic romance and selling it as "couple goals". Especially in a comic that claims to be feminist and aware of the importance of consent. If that's the case, Persephone needs to learn the meaning of the word 'no' and Hades needs to learn that he can't have whatever he wants just because he's a King.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #antiloreolympus #ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything

[beanghostprincess]

Transfem auntie buggy ideas again bc AAAA BRANROT I LOVE WOMEN-

Ya know,,,,, how Oda said,,,,,, Buggy COULD be really fucking powerful if there was effort put in? What if in transfem Buggy world, the effort was due to dysphoria-fueled depression and anxiety. Coming out ((and having such blatant and unrepentant support, from her lovers AND the Guild in its entirety)) leads to her actually... feel okay-ish. It's not a sudden in-all-fix-it ((she needs a PLETHORA of therapies)), but it starts her on a good path. Thay first step was difficult, but it was made... so much easier. Which leads to the second step. The third. The fourth.

And now that Buggy isn't having seventy four panic attacks every three minutes, she can devote some Brain Space to other things - her weapon making has become a sort of fidget toy type of situation, and she's.. actually really gotten a knack for this, over the years. She'd never call herself prodigal ((lowkey even if she is, with chemistry, physics and spatial awareness, she's so deep in the I'm A Liar hole that she doesn't clock that just.... Getting It isn't normal)).

Croc and Hawk are very supportive, even if they bully her (consensually).

And eventually, they even deign to try teaching her Haki - just to realize she's... been using it constantly almost her whole life. Her Observation is innate, acute, and one of the reasons she's so charismatic and able to reign in a crowd. It's both a talent for manipulation and also a form of reactive observation haki - by shifting her own energy among her followers, prospective or otherwise, she can encourage a specific reaction. It's a mix of Skill, Natural Talent and smoke and mirrors.

Learning that makes her wonder - if Haki can be so dynamic and THEN SOME, what other places has she not considered such an approach? Her weapons? Training? Her... her devil fruit...?

It's a paramecia. It affects her body, and she's gotten some rather decent control of it. Do paramecias awaken like zoans? Do logias? New Fixation Hours. She goes a little feral with the possibilities.

Suddenly, it seems like all of these little walls she never noticed before have fallen away, leaving a vast horizon of possibility.

Shanks will take a bit to arrive at Karai Bari, and he's expecting a specific version of his former best friend (or former love or former sibling, depending on Preferred Shuggy Flavor). He is anticipating the Buggy he saw a few years ago, but this time Woman Mode.

Crocodile and Mihawk's protective hovering is not exactly smth he anticipated, but he's willing to roll with that! His lovely Bug is just so pretty, he HAS to tell her, see her for himself, it's not even a want, it's not a desire, he needs it the way hee needs sea salt in his hair and a hilt in his hand and air in his lungs.

Buggy, meanwhile has skipped right tf over many emotions, instead Fueled By Hyperfixation, and while part of her is absolutely REELING at Shanks showing up unannounced on HER island, another part is cackling in mad scientist and saying "convince him to guinea pig, 'for old time's sake'." Shanks is WEAK to Buggy Begging Eyes, and Croc and Hawk ((while also weak but not exactly as weak as Shanks, they can pretend)) are watching and honestly laughing internally bc....

Well. Buggy's on a ROLL. And Shanks is her newest toy.

Poor Redhair has NO IDEA what he's in for...

SHE'S A QUEEN SHE'S A PRINCESS SHE'S LITERALLY LIVING IN MY HEAD RENT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is actually canon to me. Okay. Okay? She was just insecure and dealing with dysphoria and now she's the queen of the world. She owns it. Shanks is such a simp he's gonna let her do anything lmfao. And Mihawk and Crocodile absolutely love her and it's even funnier to bully her this way. And she's,,, She's so powerful. Queen. Absolutely amazing. Sexy but also really cute. Prettiest clown you've ever seen. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HER CLOTHES??? Because I have so many outfits in mind I am going INSANE. And I can't stop thinking about Luffy and her getting along and Luffy being extremely happy (not to mention Sanji, Don't- Don't let Sanji see her because maybe he dies. Me too).

#I LOVE WOMEN TOO ANON #<- a very normal lesbian obsessed a normal amount with fem buggy #one piece #buggy the clown #fem buggy #transfem buggy #cross guild #red haired shanks

[that-ari-blogger]

The Truth Of Appearances

One of the many secondary themes in She-Ra is appearances. Specifically, how false they are. People repeatedly put up facades that fool even themselves, and one of the villains of the entire story's whole gimmick is illusions and masks.

Enter episode five, The Sea Gate, and all the shenaniganry that accompanies that. This episode focuses almost entirely on that subtheme through the characters featured.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Let's start with three of the characters who are introduced here. Sea Hawk, Mermista, and Scorpia.

Sea Hawk is introduced ego first. He is immediately preceded by feats and skills, he wins an arm wrestling match, then you hear his voice, then you finally see him. This is someone with a loud personality and a reputation that preceeds him. He's a somehow more annoying Han Solo, complete with a reference to the Kessel Run. Immediately, you are put in the mind of Star Wars and how over competent the character he's emulating is.

However, when you get to know this character, he's an idiot. He's all facade, with very little actual self-confidence, or actual skill. And he relies on force of personality to get him anywhere in life.

Mermista needs to be understood in relation to her kingdom, Salineas. Empty. Her people have abandoned her, and she is left with one guy helping her out, that being her guard/butler/harbourmaster. Salineas, like its ruler, is holding up this extremely strong facade. There's a literal wall there, but there's nothing actually there. It's empty, it has given up hope.

"It figures I would inherit a kingdom that's crumbling. But it's totally fine. I'm handling it."

This is the most blatant lie in the episode, and it is accompanied by a shot of someone staring out at a beautiful kingdom, with nothing in it. The gate that she needs to keep working is failing. This is someone who knows their foundation is crumbling.

Accompanying this with the small detail that her shoulders are flanked by statues, almost like the devil and angel on her shoulders. Tradition is keeping her stuck, tradition that she verbally mocks.

"Sure, because that went so great the first time."

And that's the key here. People are keeping up tradition for the sake of it, and that isn't working. Laura Greenwood is attributed the quote:

"Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people"

This very clearly fits with Mermista's whole deal. She's stuck trying to appease people who have long since faded.

Glimmer is in a similar situation, she's trying to impress her mother, an while Angella isn't dead, yet, there's still that attempt to appease and impress people.

The biggest symbol of this is the gate itself, created by the first ones, it has been handed down all the way to Mermista, but the first ones technology is failing, and so is the tradition that it symbolizes.

Scorpia is objectively the best character in this entire series. This isn't up for debate. I'm right. But, for the sake of discussion, let me delve into why.

Scorpia is the antithesis to every theme in the series. She is untraumatized, uncomplicated in terms of moral fiber, and when it comes to appearances and illusions, she is one of the few characters who doesn't engage with that. This is made extremely clear by her introduction. Take this shot for example:

Scorpia is designed to contrast Shadow Weaver here. Design wise, Shadow Weaver is covered from head to toe, and Scorpia doesn't believe in sleeves. Shadow Weaver uses her hair to make herself look bigger, Scorpia is genuinely that tall. Shadow Weaver is diminutive, and emotionally imposing, with a glare to fit, Scorpia is built like a brick privy and has an open smile. These two are opposites, and their influence on Catra is similar. Where Shadow Weaver is manipulative, Scorpia is entirely comfortable being a support character. And which way does Catra lean? We shall see as the series goes on.

The point I am getting at here is that Shadow Weaver embodies the themes of the series, Scorpia is a vital counterbalance to all of that malevolence.

Ok lets talk about Adora and She-Ra, because there is something fascinating here. She-Ra is uncomfortably close to Mr Hyde, the alter ego of Dr Jekyll in The Mysterious Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

For context, Jekyll and Hyde are the archetypal split personality disorder in literature. But they aren't that in the actual book. In the original text, it is made clear that nothing changes in the transformation except the appearance.

I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.

Jekyll just uses the formula to transform and as a cover up for his base desires. Hyde kills a guy, and that's not an alter ego doing its own thing, that's Jekyll getting all murdery because he is free from consequences. This is a story about addiction.

And what is She-Ra? She's a physical transformation, not a mental one, that Adora refers to as a different person, who is free to do things Adora can't. She's not villainous, but on a technical level, She-Ra and Mr Hyde fill the same function in their respective lives. They are an outlet for their desires. For Jekyll, this is crime, apparently, and for Adora, this is usefulness.

Just take a look at this big empty grin that she gives when Mermista points out her importance.

But who is Mermista thanking here?

"Your friend over there can turn into a, like, eight ft. tall lady with a sword, and I want her on my side."

Even subconsciously, this is attributing the usefulness to She-Ra, not Adora. And to someone who isn't quite sure if the two are the same, that's confusing.

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#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...? #she ra adora #she ra sea hawk #she ra season 1 #she ra mermista #she ra scorpia #she ra spop #she ra and the princesses of power #she ra #spop #adora #scorpia

[wbswag]

Pretty sure this is one of my most Hardcore Delusional takes yet, but it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind ever since chapter 312 where it was shown that All For One was in direct proximity to a defenseless Chisaki… and didn’t steal his quirk. I remember when the chapter was more recent, there was a bunch of people theorizing that AFO stole the Overhaul quirk, but over the last 100+ chapters, it’s become apparent that he probably didn’t.

And I thought to myself, “Why not steal that quirk? It would help you and your whole plan greatly. Why on earth would you pass up that opportunity?” And these feelings were thrown back in my face by chapter 419, where it got confirmed Chisaki was in one of AFO’s facilities as a kid (He had a previous, even better opportunity to steal the quirk, which challenged my original idea that AFO let Chisaki keep the quirk to maintain his manipulation of Shigaraki).

So the question is: Why, for the sake of everything holy and unholy, did AFO not steal Chisaki’s quirk despite having every chance, reason, and more to?

But I was reading quirkwizard’s post about their opinion on the 419 Overhaul-Decay reveal, and it came to me, kinda baselessly but still—what if he literally can’t? What if there’s something about the quirk or Chisaki that makes it so that AFO literally can’t take the quirk somehow?

Because like quirkwizard said, it makes no sense for AFO to have just not stolen the quirk? Like, I can semi-see what he was going for with stripping the reconstruction part when he gave it to Shigaraki to promote pure destruction or whatever, but why not make the copy and then take the original for himself or Garaki? Especially back then, before anyone but AFO knew about Chisaki?? And also, yeah, how DID Chisaki get out of the orphanage? Did he just breakout and run away like Touya did? Or was it something deeper? I’ll probably brainstorm it and make another post, BUT if anyone has any personal theories about it, PLEASE tell me, I love reading Chisaki theories!!

But anyway, yeah. Is it that maybe he actually can’t? Is that why he had to resort to merely making a, in his own words, subpar copy? Because why was stealing Chisaki’s quirk never even on the table, for anyone, in either of the blatant two different situations it could’ve easily been stolen??

I feel like the Overhaul being the origins of the Decay quirk thing is to deepen the parallels between Chisaki and Shigaraki (obviously), but the real question is why. Why deepen the parallels between them to that extent, in that context? Unless there’s still more to be revealed about Chisaki and his past (like @ikamigami ‘s theory that Chisaki is AFO’s kid, which is a theory I cannot stop thinking about btw) that’ll further connect him and Shigaraki.

#bnha #kai chisaki #overhaul #chisaki kai #mha 419 #bnha 419 #chapter 419 #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #all for one #mha all for one #overhaul bnha #shigaraki tomura #tomura shigaraki #shimura tenko #tenko shimura #overhaul mha #bnha all for one #mha theory #bnha theory #i’m going insane #can you tell I have nothing better to do #yet another yap session from me #either Chisaki’s quirk not being stolen holds relevance #or Horikoshi just didnt think about it lol

[byoldervine]

Writing Tips - The Dos And Don’ts Of Writing Foils (with examples from Miraculous Ladybug)

TL;DR at the bottom for those who don’t wanna listen to my rambles first

A writing foil is when two characters are compared and contrasted in order to highlight the qualities of one of them, usually done to highlight the positive traits of the protagonist against the negative traits of the antagonist. But there are times when foils can miss their mark, and I can’t think of more blatant examples than in the show Miraculous Ladybug to show the difference between good and bad use of foils with protagonist Marinette and antagonist Chloé

I’m a firm believer in analysing bad examples of writing as well as good ones, and as much as I can enjoy watching MLB it’s good to acknowledge its weaker points when they come up

Comparison 1 - Evillustrator

Episode Summary:

The titular villain-of-the-week, aka Nathaniel, wants to get revenge on Chloé after she outed and mocked his crush on Marinette - and at the same time, Chloé’s undervalued friend/lackey Sabrina latches onto Marinette as a new friend now that she realises how toxic and manipulative Chloé is

Foil 1 - What Chloé Did:

At the start of the episode, Chloé, Sabrina and Marinette are made partners for a class project, much to Marinette’s dismay. Chloé starts insisting that Sabrina and Marinette do all the work, and when Marinette says this isn’t fair, she’s assured by both girls that this is the way it’s always been since they started school and that if Chloé presents the work that Sabrina and Marinette produce then it’ll all be fair. Marinette again refutes this and says Sabrina is being used by Chloé, not treated like a real friend, especially when Chloé tries to bribe Sabrina with a hat. Sabrina is incredibly touched and inspired when Marinette stands up for her and quickly rejects Chloé, instead latching on to Marinette

Foil 1 - What Marinette Did:

A couple of hours later at most, Sabrina shows up at Marinette’s house to work on their project. Sabrina also did Marinette’s geography homework for her since that’s what was expected of her during her friendship with Chloé, which Marinette initially tries to politely refuse, but reluctantly accepts just this once when she sees how upset the refusal makes Sabrina. She then apologises to Sabrina but says she won’t be able to work on the project as something important just came up (a supervillain had just broken into her house) but offers to meet up with her later to get the work done. Sabrina responds by yelling at her that she’s making excuses to get out of doing work ‘just like Chloé’ always does. She takes back the homework and storms off to do the project on her own, fully done with Marinette, and later goes back to Chloé, who she believes was her real friend all along

Foil 1 - Assessment:

Chloé’s unapologetic history of dumping all the work on Sabrina, which has gone back years, is not the same as Marinette cancelling last-minute one single time. It’s frustrating, absolutely, but even if Chloé had genuinely good excuses and Marinette was just blowing her off, Marinette still didn’t have a habit of it and even offered to reschedule, which Chloé didn’t do. If memory serves Chloé didn’t even apologise, just said she wouldn’t do it and expected Sabrina to work it out. And not only does the comparison not work, it also drags Marinette down rather than building either character up; it makes out that our protagonist is manipulative without rectifying it or presenting it as a skewed perspective by Sabrina as she struggles to fully break away from Chloé. With this being all the foil achieves, I’m gonna say it’s a bad use of foil

Foil 2 - What Chloé Did:

At the start of the episode, Chloé discovers Nathaniel’s crush on Marinette and starts showing the whole class his art that depicts his crush, loudly mocking both his artwork and his taste in women. This is what leads Nathaniel to be turned into the titular villain Evillustrator, with the power to make anything he draws come to life, by our main superpower-dispensing supervillain

Foil 2 - What Marinette Did:

While working with one of the superheroes to try and defeat Evillustrator, which would turn him back into Nathaniel, Marinette agrees to go on a date with Evillustrator in order to steal the cursed object that gives him his superpowers. The plan is briefly successful, and when Evillustrator catches on, he laments that Marinette is just like Chloé because she was ‘teasing him, mocking him and leading him on’. Marinette even follows this up by complaining about the fact that people keep comparing her to Chloé tonight

Foil 2 - Assessment:

At no point did Marinette tease or mock Evillustrator, these were all things Chloé did but it’s shown multiple times that Marinette is genuinely impressed by Evillustrator and enjoying his company despite the situation. Moreover, at no point did Chloé lead Nathaniel on; she was purely insulting towards him, and only Marinette lead him on. The comparison falls very flat when all the reasons the two girls are apparently ‘just like one another’ weren’t mutually inclusive at any point. It’s like saying that Batman and Superman are just the same because they both live in ice fortresses and wear masks to fight crime

Comparison Summary:

Both attempts at foils drag Marinette down rather than building her or Chloé up, so why are we supposed to root for her over Chloé? I didn’t gloss over any narrative contrast where these comparisons are framed as wrong, these are supposed to be lessons that Marinette learns from, which supports the idea that these views are correct. Not to mention that both foils ignore the difference in intentions; Chloé is very blatantly bullying and using people, whereas Marinette was only trying to do what was right, even if someone felt hurt in the process there was always an intention to do good. These differences are never brought up, the foils are purely to make Marinette look bad with no nuance attached, and that alone is the mark of a failed foil in my opinion

Comparison 2 - Despair Bear

Episode Summary:

Chloé calls the fire department to the school in order to interrupt a special class, coincidentally taught by Marinette’s dad, and Marinette spots her in the act. Chloé blackmails the principal into letting her out of the school-wide punishment for this action, but this is the last straw for her childhood friend and crush, which results in Chloé hosting an extravagant party for the whole school in order to prove that she can be a good person and win her friend’s approval back

Foil 1 - What Chloé Did:

Chloé isn’t interested in the peasant work of a one-off baking class, and after complaining about it to all her classmates, she steps outside to call the fire department, informing them that there’s a fire at the school. Once the FD arrive, the whole school is gathered while the principal demands to know who called them. After nobody fesses up, the principal calls for the entire school to clean the premesis for the rest of the day as punishment - but Chloé threatens to call her father, the mayor, to complain about being punished for ‘someone else’s’ actions, and so she’s the only one who doesn’t have to clean

Foil 1 - What Marinette Did:

Marinette knew Chloé had been complaining about the class and wanting to get out of it, and she saw Chloé making a phone call a few minutes before the FD arrived. She was going to say this when the principal asked who had called the FD, but her friends told her to ‘not stoop to Chloé’s level’ and that it would make them just as bad as each other. At very least the class were all confident that Chloé did it, and she didn’t deny this afterwards, but the whole school was still punished regardless because Marinette didn’t speak up

Foil 1 - Assessment:

How is providing evidence that someone may have done something equivalent to abusing emergency services and blackmailing people? Genuinely don’t understand this. I have no idea what the comparison is supposed to be and that’s a pretty good sign of a bad use of foil

Foil 2 - What Chloé Did

Chloé and Marinette share a friend/crush, Adrien, who threatens to no longer be friends with Chloé if she can’t prove to him that she can be nice to people. This friendship means a huge deal to Chloé, so she throws an over-the-top, extravagant party and invites the entire school so that Adrien can see how nice she really is. She frequently starts to be mean to people again, but her butler helps encourage her to be nice by basically saying “Your teddy bear wouldn’t approve” and it actually works for a bit until this tactic is exposed and she fires the butler. She later helps the heroes defeat a supervillain and is deemed a good enough person for Adrien to forgive her and remain friends with her - which leads her to instantly start being mean to all her guests again, to which Adrien chuckles fondly about how she’ll never change

Foil 2 - What Marinette Did:

Marinette, like literally everyone else in the whole school, attended Chloé’s party, with Marinette only going after finding out that Adrien was going so that she could spend time with him. Despite also attending, Marinette’s friend remarks multiple times that Marinette attending the party makes her no better than Chloé because both are using this party as an excuse to improve their relationships with Adrien. She does make unkind remarks about Chloé during the episode, such as calling her a bratty snob and a faker for the ‘BFF act’ she’s putting on with her guests, but she never insults Chloé to her face or makes any baseless accusations all things considered, and she’s hardly the only one making these comments. She’s no more or less guilty in that regard than the majority of Chloé’s guests

Foil 2 - Assessment:

This one really frustrates me because they definitely could’ve gone somewhere with the whole ‘they’re only hosting/attending the party to improve their relationship with Adrien’ thing, but once again they failed to provide any nuance or divergence of intent/results. Marinette only going to the party because a guy she liked would be there is framed as a bad thing because it makes her ‘just like Chloé’ and drags Marinette down to Chloé’s level, but then Chloé is later rewarded for her efforts and praised as ‘a nice person deep down’ despite her frequently insulting her guests. Not to mention the context to this; Chloé is only throwing this party so she looks good, and admits as much, but of course Marinette wouldn’t want to attend the party of the biggest bully in the school who ruined her dad’s class and got her and all her friends in trouble for it just that same morning. Is it such a morally questionable thing to say “I won’t attend this party unless I’ll be in good company”?

Comparison Summary:

The comparisons are mostly fabricated and baseless, with circumstances once again being ignored. Like many aspects of this show, there’s some interesting setup and potential that is sadly either not followed through on or poorly executed, and it hurts the writing. And once more, the foils focus more on dragging our protagonist down and not building either character up, yet Marinette is still the hero while Chloé is still the villain

✨ TL;DR: ✨

So what can we learn from two of Miraculous Ladybug’s most prominent foil episodes when it comes to writing foils?

Remember the surrounding context. Looking into why your characters think and act the way they do is often key for comparing them

Consider intentions, executions and outcomes individually. Just because characters had the same intentions or performed the same actions doesn’t mean that they’re ’just the same’; similar intentions may be executed differently and similar executions may have been inspired through different intentions, and of course the outcomes should reflect both of these

Recognise the purpose of your foil. Do you want to build someone up? Drag someone down? Both at once? It helps to know what you’re aiming to achieve to ensure that the foil has the desired impact on your reader

Assess the validity of your comparison. If a character in-universe is making the comparison, it has to be understandable why they would see things that way, even if it’s not wholly accurate. The narrative should generally try to take a truthful perspective on it as well, rather than agreeing with the unreliable narrator that two actions or intentions are just the same regardless of context. Especially avoid making a comparison where your examples don’t apply to both characters unless to highlight them as different

#foils #miraculous ladybug #writing #writers #writeblr #bookblr #book #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writers of tumblr #writer #how to write #on writing #creative writing #write #writing tips #writblr #female writers #queer writers #writer things #writer stuff #writerscreed #writing is hard #writing advice #writing life #writerblr #writers and poets #writersnetwork #writersociety #writerslife