#writers weren't sexist

[shaxza]

#dahlia hawthorne #ace attorney #phoenix wright #dahlia x phoenix #alexa play dark red by steve lacy #my art #since i dont want to make a dedicated post let me use my notes to vent about how much i love dahlia conceptually and how much i wish AA + #writers weren't sexist #dahlia was given the shittiest set of cards when she was a kid and she was a victim of grooming by that terry loser #she is CONSTANTLY objectified and sexualised and i think her design as a skinny young looking individual makes it even more distasteful #but i think it works if the writers could have done something with that #what i love about dahlia and phoenix's relationship is the contrast - phoenix needs to see people as innocent before jumping to help them v #dahlia who has if you think about it is innocent to a degree given how fucked up her childhood was #dahlia could have been a great case study into compassion for phoenix as she has hurt him directly but in his role as a lawyer he has to se #past certain flaws so justice can be served #and it can PUSH his understanding of what is “guilty” #yes dahlia killed people but also i choose to believe her worldview was severely warped by her enviornment and she's a product of it #or if they wanted to make her a villain and stick with it i think as a rival ro phoenix she should have been a cautionary tale #of what happens when you never learn to move beyond the shitty hand youve been dealt with and live non judgementally #anyways ^_^

[light-koe-pinsky]

Another trans looney tune

#another trans looney tune #I love lola #I love everything she is as like a phenomena #I love that she started as a desperate attempt of marketing to drag more women into looney tunes AS IF looney tunes was ONLY a boyish thing #and instead it drag a WRONG public that they weren't supposedly aware of #and that it got called out as sexist and unecesary #love that for a long time they didnt know where to put her in regards of looney tunes projects #so they just sorta forget about her as if she never happened but kept using her in merchandise and valentine stuff lol #UNTIL the holy unexpected looney tunes show #where writers gave her a complete make over along with personality and everything #and people flip their SHIT over it #arguing that THAT was not HER and that she was very different to space jam lola cuz she wasnt sexy enough lmao #and she was cray..... a crazy looney tune goodness gracious god forbids #love that after the looney tunes show ended aknowledging she was one of the BEST things to happen to the show she got a protgonical movie #(rabbits run) #and in that movie she red one of the most iconic mascot of the last century as if it was nothing #I love that in the space jam movie 2 even tho she wasn't great character wise #she still caused controversy after revealing that she had removed her cartoon honkers #and once again people FLIP their SHITS #love that it seems like writers actually tried to give her her own light even tho is not been much is something #the looney tunes have always been about characters #character driven stories #big personalities #seeing in real time how a company desperately tries to find an identity for a female coded cartoon experimenting with her personality and #image cutting parts of her and adding others seeing what works and what doesn't and changing according to the reaction of the public #feels EXTREMELY personal to me and I don't think there are many things in media that can quite describe how being a girl #in a primarly male dominated space feels like as specific as this #I know is not intentional #god I love looney tunes #can you tell?

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 15 - Have You Ever Seen The Rain

📖I need to make two apologies. First, I am so sorry for the long delay. While work was beating my ass, I actually received a rude comment on my Wattpad account for the last chapter that triggered a horrible writer's block. It was taken care of, and it didn't bother me at the time, but I didn't realize how much it affected me until I started to write. Then I decided to use it for inspiration!

Secondly, I'm so sorry for what is about to unfold. This one was planned from the get-go (which is also probably why I struggled because this is the one chapter I dreaded having to write).

(I'll be running from the pitchforks as they come, Woot Woot!)

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, Mentions of an original child, Shitty family dynamics, Angst, verbal fights, sexist implications, one slap across the face, and Jake being Hangman.

#6k words

Part 14 | Masterlist | Part 16

The story behind how you started ego-checking some of the cocksure pilots at Hard Deck is less interesting than one might think.

It all started with a game. 

You weren't kidding when you told Jake you were a library, loving geek who'd rather spend her time deep in the stacks. That was the plot of your entire post-secondary experience. You didn't know how to flirt. You stayed clear of frat parties and cliquey groups. And if a guy tried to flirt with you, you ran for the freaking hills without a backward glance.

You only decided to take that bartending job in building H's damp, dark basement because you were dead-ass broke. But the thing about being a bartender on a University campus, there were moments when you had nothing but time on your hands.

You had to get creative.

Looking back, you would blame the writer-orientated part of your mind that decided to create that little game of making up stories for the people who regularly visited the miserable bar.

The quiet girl, always sitting in the back corner, cramming for a test or writing a paper. Did she like the ambience, or was she avoiding the library? Or was she trying to work up the nerve to ask out one of the bussers, waiting for the perfect meet cute?

Maybe the nerds who gathered every Friday at the arcade-style game consoles playing Pac-Man needed to leave their dorm because Friday nights tended to be the one night everyone liked to party.

Those popular girls sitting around a table with their $5 cocktails, lowcut tanktops, and jean shorts, always on their phones gossiping over the latest social media post from their favourite celebrities. Did they have Regina George in their ranks? Which one was sleeping with the other's boyfriend? How much blackmail did they have on each other?

Which one would murder the other first?

That little game you invented for yourself got you out of your shell. It also made it easier to deal with the persistent football jocks who'd try to flirt with you for a free shot.

Ridley would always get a kick out of it whenever you told her. You'd always imagined her curling up in a ball and kicking her feet back and forth while she squealed in laughter over the phone.

"Be a character in one of your freaking stories. Or better yet, act it out! You're a damn writer, Lizzie."

She was right. So you did. 

You'd never forget the laughter of that football jock when your rejection of his flirting attempts to weasel a free drink out of you resulted in his childish reply of, "Well, nobody's perfect, Sweetheart, least of all you."

"I never said I was," you had said with a smile.

You must have said something right because a few minutes later, Penny was introducing herself and chatting you up, asking if you wanted a better job bartending.

You were all too happy to leave. But nothing could have prepared you for the hotshot, ego-driven, and stupidly horny Top Gun pilots who frequented the Hard Deck. 

Between remembering their drink order or what side of the room they tended to gravitate towards, you needed more than your little guessing game to figure out their tells. You did pick up little things about them, though.

The WSOs were the kindest; ironically, they stood out in the crowds. Always a kind smile, never a bad thing to say about anyone.

The female pilots were always badass. At least, you thought so. Strong. Always commandeering the room the second they walked in. Always nice, no question about it. But mess with them; you got schooled hard.

They were the literal definition behind the saying, 'Do no harm, but take no shit.'

And with each new group that came in, the male pilots, the single flyers you had called them, paled compared to those jocks. They never changed. A pair constantly vied for first place with each new group that came through the Top Gun program.

Always a pair of males. Women always knew there was more at stake than a freaking trophy.

Those guys talked to you. Well... properly flirted at you.

That's where your little game came in handy. Picking out the little things about them, letting your mind do the creative parts next. It's how you turned Jake down so quickly that first time.

But the guy currently approaching the bar? He did not fit the bill of any regular customer you had seen in a while.

Tourists came and went without question. They stood out like a pack of flies, unsure where to go, with friendly faces and always asking what the best places were. They tipped great, and they never returned.

This guy? 

Not a tourist.

He was from out of town. The plaid shirt, jeans and cowboy boots were unusual for a California bar. It was also how he gaped at the walls and ceiling, taking in all the Navy memorabilia Penny had collected over the years. If you hadn't been paying attention, you could have sworn there was a look of distaste on his face with each new item he saw.

But what irked you was the sense of familiarity you couldn't place while looking at him. Blonde hair and a sharp face. Something in how he carried that toothpick between his teeth, not in the way god forbid fucking Tyler had, but as if it was a piece of grass. Also, in the way he walked.

Then he openly leered at a woman's ass as she walked by, and it all made sense.

Ah, a Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam.

He sat in the empty chair directly in front of you, still watching the women's retreating form. You didn't want to serve him, but a tiny part of you hoped your assumption had been wrong.

It had been a while since you had to rebuff flirty advances; the newer pilots going through the Top Gun Program hardly said anything to you except smile and relay their order.

You suspected Jake was behind it.

"What can I get you?" you smiled at the guy. He slowly pulled his eyes away with a sly grin. The second he caught sight of your face, his mouth stretched even wider as he leaned forward on the bar.

"Your number and the name of a good hotel."

You should have known better. 

If it looked like a duck, it quacked like a duck too.

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you straightened the line of shot glasses under the bar, not once looking up as you answered him. "Well, I can answer one out of two of those questions, but I'm afraid the only hotels around here are resorts. There is a bed and breakfast about ten minutes down the road that will give you a good deal."

"Will they give me a good deal if I mention your name?"

"Only my friends know my name, and you are simply a customer sitting at my bar wanting a drink?" you raised your eyebrow, tapping your finger against the bar.

He made a show of thinking about it, rocking his shoulders back and forth. He finally nodded, leaning forward to answer you.

"Whiskey. Straight."

You recognized his accent as you reached beneath the bar to grab the bottle. It was more pronounced and slightly more profound, but without a doubt, he sounded like Jake.

Good old southern Texas Charm.

Normally you'd engage in small talk, but you wanted nothing more than to leave this asshole alone. Thinking he'd leave it be after you poured him his drink, you slid the glass forward, then made your way over to the other side of the bar.

The words he called out after you made you stop in your tracks.

"You must get attention all the time. Having your pick of the litter each year."

You whipped around, offended. " Are you calling me easy?!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying a good-looking woman like yourself, in this place... you clearly aren't sticking around because of the pay."

Oh, you wanted this guy gone. That could have been one of the most double-standard comments you had ever received. Old Liz would have sputtered, maybe run into the back fridge and asked one of the other bartenders to handle it.

You now? No chance in hell. If he were going to give it, you would give it right back. You weren't going to play the boyfriend card. You could fight your own battles, and something told you even if you told him you had a boyfriend, he'd think you were lying. He seemed like the type that wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You've got some nerve." You crossed your arms, matching back to him from the other side of the bar. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not here because I'm looking for attention or have trouble finding a date. You've spent all of two minutes sitting at this bar, talking shit, while I've been fighting the urge to point out your confusion regarding basic anatomy." 

He raised his eyebrows at your reply. "My confusion?" 

You leaned forward, resting your arms upon the bar, eyeing him sourly. "Is your mouth your asshole, or are you just one?" 

It was one of the more cruder remarks you had ever responded with. But this guy was trying to go for gold. Unphased, he leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up. "Hey, no need to be aggressive. You should take it as a compliment. I never called you anything derogatory." 

You huffed, pushing yourself away from him, rolling your eyes. "Calling me good-looking, then proceeding to say I'm only working here because it's 'easy to access' is still calling a woman a slut. You don't need to say the word to imply the meaning." 

You ripped the dishrag from your shoulder, running it under the tap, muttering more to yourself, "There's no way that shit works on women."

"It does on the women back home," he answered you.

"Oh, so are you staying? Don't tell me you're a new pilot at Top Gun."

They'll beat that attitude right out of you.

"Oh, I'm just passing through. I figured I'd scout out the area. I heard this was a Navy bar. Don't understand what all the fuss is about." 

You didn't answer him. Opening your mouth only led to him replying, and the quicker he finished his drink, the faster he'd leave. He took your silence as a means to continue. 

"Still playing hard to get?" 

"You ask me a question. I might choose not to answer." 

"Wow. Subtle." 

You turned, a hand on your hip. "You can't honestly expect me to speak to you, a complete stranger, after the way you just undermined my job because I'm not giving to your attempts. There is nothing to get." 

He smiled, holding out his hand. "George Seresin. There, not a stranger."

Well, shit.

You wanted to hang your mouth open like a fish. You were staring down Jake's brother.

Now you understood Jake's reaction to Janet's warning. His anxious behaviour in the back of his truck. His lost-in-thought stares or the way he couldn't stop looking at you and Sadie when he came home from work this week.

George Seresin was a very unwelcome, uninvited and long-awaited guest.

Something snapped in your stomach, a twinge of weariness that Jake didn't confide in you. Then again, your slight disappointment was overshadowed by something greater.

Clearly, you were fated to ego-check both Seresin brothers while standing behind this bar. Because the idea came without warning, without doubt, or any sense of hesitancy. 

George Seresin was at the Hard Deck.

He was right in front of you, trying to flirt with you without any idea who you were. 

And he was sitting in the best spot in the entire place.

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

You stepped backwards, turning to lean up against the bar. As you did with Jake all those months ago, you took the rag and started to wipe.

"So let me get this straight," you said, dragging the damp cloth around his glass, not once looking up. "I tell you my name in some effort to prove we are not strangers. I'm supposed to forget about your 'comments,' so you can use that good old Texas charm to woo me into your bed with a promise of a good time?"

You finally looked up, George only staring back at you with a heated smoulder.

"Something tells me none of those loose cannons cannot even promise you a good time. A quick roll in the sheets before they let some brass monkey in a fancy suit tell them where to shoot. You look like you could let loose for once in your life."

You froze, losing your grip on the rag and fingers twitching. Scanning Jake’s brother, you leaned against the bar, resting your weight on your elbows, throwing the fabric over your shoulder as you got inside his bubble. You never once broke eye contact as you pinned him down.

George bought it, hook, line and sinker. He was so focused on you and your face that he was oblivious to everything and everyone around him, including how your hand slowly reached up toward the rope hanging from the top of the bar.

The second he looked at your lips, you tugged.

Cheers and music flooded the Hard Deck when everyone heard the distinct ring of the barbell. You guessed the song right away, old habits dying hard.  Slow Ride, its distinct beat letting you know Jake was here and he had seen the whole thing.

George reeled back, shocked as a few people came up and slapped him on the back, thanking him. You laughed softly at his reaction, pushing yourself away to help the few customers you knew who would take advantage of the free drink.

You had never rang the bell for someone like him. George Seresin would be the only exception.

"What the hell just happened?" he called after you. You didn't bother turning around, flinging your hand to gesture over your head, "Read the sign!"

George followed the direction of your hand, landing on the piece of wood dangling by the silver chain.

You disrespect a lady, the navy, or you put your cell phone on the bar, you buy a round.

You had already helped a few customers when he managed to tear his eyes away to glare at you heatedly. You turned to face him with a gleeful grin. Instead of asking him which one he thought you rang him out for, you started teasingly singing along to the chorus.

You hadn't done that in a while. It felt good.

"What did he do to warrant that?" 

You smiled up at Jake as he approached the bar. He never took his eyes off you as he leaned on his elbow against the top of the bar beside George. 

"What do you think?" you laughed at him.

Jake smirked. "I'd say he didn't take no for an answer."

"He did a little more than that. Tell him to put his cell phone on the bar, and he'd get three out of three."

"Ouch," Jake dramatically drawled. He finally turned his head, nodding once in his brother's direction. "Hi, Georgie." 

You stiffed a giggle. 

George huffed, jutting his chin out in your direction. "This one is trouble."

"Don't I know it," Jake said, looking back at you. "Pulled the same trick on me the first time I met her. Only she didn't ring the bell. Guess I did something right, considering she let me come back."

George glanced between you and Jake several times, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. 

"Hi," you beamed at him, walking over and holding out your hand. "Elizabeth Beck. Your brother's girlfriend. I guess we aren't strangers after all."

George stared down at your hand, then gritting his teeth, knocking back another gulp of whiskey. He spat out his following words with the glass still to his lips, "So you are real. Jake, there's no way you're dating her."

 You didn't try to hide the snark from your voice as you lowered your hand. "You thought I was imaginary? Sorry to disappoint."

George still chose to ignore you. "What's the matter, little brother? Need your girlfriend to speak for you?"

Jake stiffened, and it took everything in you not to ring the bell once more. Cause you knew if you did, Jake would be the one to help throw George out, and you didn't know what repercussions he could face.

"At least he has a girlfriend," you scoffed. "I can't imagine you've ever had a meaningful relationship with how you treat women."

You spied his empty whiskey glass, grabbing it firmly.

"Wham."

Sliding it across the bar's smooth surface, you caught it in the palm of your other hand.

"Bam."

Reaching into the pocket of your apron with your free hand, you slapped his bill down in front of him, rounds and all, attempting your best version of a Texan accent.

"Thank you, Mam."

Not wanting to waste more time on him, you turned to Jake, slightly worried. Some of you didn't know how to act around Jake when he was like this. When he was so... Hangman.

You gently touched his wrist, murmuring softly, "I'll see you in a half hour?"

He twisted his arm in your grasp, sliding his hand down so he could gently squeeze yours. But his eyes screamed a different, intense, unsettling story. As if he was assessing you for any threat.

"Sure."

You tried not to let it bother you, his non-chalent reply. Trying not to frown, you let go of his wrist to serve another customer, calling out as you walked away, "It was nice meeting you, Georgie!"

Jake watched you go with a slight turn of his head, proud you one-upped his brother but wishing you didn't leave him alone.

He knew why George was here. What he wanted him to do. No amount of smirk, cockiness, or even Hangman, could save Jake from this. George was the grave reminder that no matter where the Navy sent him, whether in California or on the other side of the world, there was no end to the metaphorical leash the 'hell bringer' had on both of his sons. 

George scraped his chair back to stand. "Come on, little brother," he gruffed out, tossing his credit card onto the bar. "We need to have a chat."

—-

With Ridley's Jean jacket in hand and your bag, you placed them on the bar as you greeted Jimmy after finishing your shift. "Can you watch these for a second, Jimmy? I'm just going to the bathroom before I find Jake. We're going to pick Sadie up from Penny's and take her out for dinner."

The older man smiled. "She's feeling better?"

You nodded. "Mild concussion. She was okay after a few days and back at school. Bummed about not being able to play in soccer playoffs, though. Hence the trip."

"That girl loves her soccer. What a shame."

"Jake's is making it easier on her. I don't know what I would do without him."

He tilted his head towards the bathroom hall with a knowing grin. "Go get ready for your date."

You blushed, walking away, calling over your shoulder, "It's not a date!"

After freshening yourself up, you took a few moments to stare at yourself in the bathroom mirror. You saw the famous callsign board hanging on the wall behind you. You scanned the names from the mirror, looking for Jake's, doing a double take when you couldn’t find it. You turned, properly facing the wall.  

Like the sign in the bar, it was a piece of wood with the words engraved into the top, “Ladies Beware: Navigate the Hard Deck with Care!” and underneath that, “Pilots who fly solo.” Several metal slots were glued to the surface, designed so she could easily slide plastic slate with a pilot’s callsign into place. 

You recognized a few, even Rooster's, though his was listed way further down, out of harm’s way. But Jake's was nowhere to be found. 

Then you realized - Penny had taken his name off.

She didn't do that for a lot of people. You could only recall one other instance when she removed a pilot's callsign from that board. She prided herself on it, so much so she never removed Maverick's at the top of the list, even after they got back together.

You needed to tell Jake. 

With a hint of a smile, you eagerly walked out of the bathroom to find him. He was standing with George at the pool table, the elder Seresin brother lining up a shot as he spoke. As you approached them, you honed in on Jake, realizing he looked uncomfortable. Stiff, shoulders square, and his fists were clenched tight.

The closer you got, the more you heard of their conversation, and when you heard Sadie's name fall from George's mouth, you froze. Hearing him utter her name, especially in that hardened tone, was a punch to the gut. The urge to hide behind one of the support pillars in the middle of the room at the last second was too great to ignore, and you made yourself as small as possible. 

You had stumbled upon a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. George’s voice accompanied the sound of the eight-ball scattering the balls across the table. 

"Come on, man," he said, his tone laced with arrogance. "Think about it. She threw her whole life away for her niece. She's tied down now, and you deserve someone who can give you more than that."

Jake remained silent. George continued, encouraged by his lack of protest. "You're a Navy pilot, for crying out loud. You could have anyone you want. Why settle for a girl with so much baggage?"

You weren’t stupid. You knew enough about George to realize he was the golden child, the favourite used to getting his way. George would only see you as Jake’s attempt to one-up him on something. 

“You know why I'm here,” you heard him say firmly. “Dad doesn’t approve. He wants you to know if you continue on with her, you will never be welcomed back home.”

You swallowed hard, a knot forming in your stomach. There would never be a time when you asked Jake to choose you over his family, even with what you knew. You wanted to go out there, but this was Jake’s battle. Storming out to threaten anything but a kick to the balls was out of the question. 

But when Jake finally spoke, his words were like shards of ice piercing your skin.

"Yeah, you're right."

A strangled noise escaped from you, a sound of raw pain and disbelief. You clapped your hands over your mouth, trying to muffle the sob threatening to escape. George’s reply triggered the blood rushing through your ears, the pain in your forearm from your nails biting hard into the skin. 

“You know I am,” he laughed, another clack of the pool balls sounding out. “

There was only one way you saw this - Jake played you like he played those other bartenders. 

You couldn’t hide any longer. You pushed yourself away from the pillar, swerving around to confront them. 

“So Sadie and I were just a game to you?” 

Jake turned sharply, shock in his eyes. “Liz,” he held his hands out in front of him. “It’s not what…” 

“Not what?” you said heatedly, tears streaming from your eyes. “I heard plenty!” 

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat, confronted with your beat red face and tears. You were not supposed to hear all that. 

The shock on his face was not enough to erase the sting of his words.

"Come on, Liz. You don't understand... it's..."

"What's there to understand, Jake?" you interjected, your voice seething with a volatile mix of pain and anger. "That I'm just another one of your bartenders?"

“Liz, don’t.” 

“Enlighten me, Jake.” You crossed your arms. “Tell me all the reasons why. That bringing me flowers wasn’t a game. That getting close to my niece wasn’t a game. Asking me to give you a chance, taking me out on a date.”

 You sobbed. “Taking me up in that damn plane.” 

The thought was erupt, tearing itself from the deepest part of your mind. You couldn’t help it, the words spilling out in blinded anger. “Was my grief an opportunity for you to get into my pants? Telling me it would be alright so you could leave me high and dry? Telling me it was going to be okay?” 

There was a sudden shift in his expression, his gaze hardening. As if a switch had been flipped, the warm, understanding man you knew disappeared, replaced by a stranger draped in defensiveness and sarcasm.

"Oh, excuse me," he declared. "I didn't realize I was your knight in shining armour, rushing to your rescue the second you need all your problems fixed. The girl who never had a relationship, thinking a man would solve all her issues."

The words hit you like a physical blow, your knees nearly buckling beneath you. Jake's harsh gaze didn't match his usual soft and protective demeanour. It was like looking at a stranger, someone you didn't recognize. The man before you was not the Jake you'd fallen for.

This man reminded you of your father. 

Was this his plan all along? You racked your mind, searching for any indication this had been coming. But what only stood out was Rooster's words echoing in your head where you found none. 

Did you really only add your name to the list of women Hangman had pursued?

Because here and now, those months of working through the trauma of losing Ridley didn't matter. 

Was anything about this past year even worth it? The moments you worked through when you would avoid anyone mentioning her because acknowledging her in the past tense was too much. Avoiding the things that reminded you of her. Till helped you through it.  

She would know what to say right now. She would be the one beating his ass with verbiage and scathing remarks. She would nail the moment and get it right. 

It hit you, the hidden weight of how desperately you missed her. 

Suddenly, you were that girl again, starting her first shift in that basement bar, wondering what to say to the students who saw you as a mere bookworm with no character or class - because you couldn't compare to the girl sitting in the corner writing her paper, actually having the courage to ask that busboy out. 

Or the geeks in the corner cheering as hard as they did when they beat their high score on the console, uncaring of strange looks. Or that girl, finally standing up to her 'so-called friends' when one had been spreading rumours and crude remarks about her to the others behind her back. 

He really did leave you out to dry. 

"Stay the fuck away from my niece," you managed to gasp through your tears. "And stay the fuck away from me."

You wanted to believe your assumption that Jake was merely putting on a front. Hangman, his alternate self, was his attempt at protecting himself. 

You had a hard time doing so.

There, plain as day, across his face was the most condensing grin you had ever seen as he dramatically drawled out slowly, "No fucking problem, sweetheart."

You didn't believe in thinking about everything you regretted throughout your life. Ridley was the only exception; if you had done more, moved back home after school, or gone to the police the day you kicked Tyler out, maybe she'd still be here. You couldn't change what had happened in your life, so spending time thinking about it in the present wouldn't do you much good. 

So it was no surprise to you when you followed through with your knee-deep reaction, your hand coming up out of nowhere, open and firm, slapping Jake hard enough across the side of his face, his head turning with the force of it.

You knew you shouldn't have. You weren't a violent person by any means. Next to Tyler, you never had raised a hand to anyone. You were too hurt to care you just slapped him.

That should have scared you shitless.

Rather than voice the obvious, you remained silent, allowing every repressed thought, every buried emotion to resurface.

Ridley - dead. 

Sadie - hurt. 

Tyler - lurking. 

Bradley - damaging.

It was all too much.

George's figure stood out from behind Jake amongst your blurry vision, tears creating a vignette in your line of sight. You tore past Jake, sticking your finger out only to push George square in his chest. He stepped back at the force, hand shooting out to balance himself against the pool table.

Jake wouldn't have done that had George not shown up. Had he not played with Jake's emotions.

"You need a fucking ego check and to grow the fuck up," you seethed at him. "I don't know whose got your balls on a very tight leash, but you have no right to go around and fucking up other people's relationships."

George didn't answer you, taking his hand off the table to stand properly. You pressed him again. "Does it give you some sick fucking pleasure to hurt your brother? Dad loves me best, so I'm going to remind everyone just cause I can?"

George was still avoiding your heated glare, fixating on his football ring, twisting the piece of metal back and forth. It only pissed you off further.

"My eyes are over here, Jackass! Have the decency to look me in the fucking eyes when I'm talking to you."

If nobody had been watching when you slapped Jake, you clearly had their attention now. Even with the music blasting from the speakers, every conversation in the Hard deck had gone quiet. You could feel everyone's eyes on you, but you couldn't care less.

You were too far gone.

George slowly cocked his head to face you. Your breath was harsh, your body jolting with each gasp as you gave in to the anger. "My sister died, and I took in my niece. What's so fucking wrong about that? That I threw my life away, that I have no future?" 

He shifted on his feet, about to transfer the pool stick into his other hand, when you reached out and snatched it out of his grasp, tossing it behind you with a clack. 

"You're damn right I did! That's what you do for people you love. I would sacrifice my entire life so she could have hers. And I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat. I will stay on the other side of that bar for the rest of my so-called miserable life, getting catcalled and dealing with assholes like you if it gives her the best shot with the shitty hand she's dealt. You, George Seresin, have no right to judge the choices I've made in my life." 

Your breathing was harsh, ribs aching with effort. Every vein, every pore, was consumed with pure white rage. And yet, you still found yourself growling out, "You have no right judging your brothers either." 

Even after breaking your heart, you still stood up for Jake. 

"He risks his life every single time he goes up in that jet just so the whole world can fucking survive. So you can go on day in and day out and let your father control what you want to do with your life. So you can gallant around letting someone who has lived their life decide what you do with the rest of yours? So Jake’s here for you to bully and control every time he comes home? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The burning sensation in your cheeks mirrored the fire in your eyes, unshed tears making them shine brighter. The salty sting of tears blurring your vision did little to diminish the searing gaze you levelled at George.

"My sister believed everyone deserved a chance. That people cared, regardless of what they did or who they were. I had forgotten that until my niece invited Jake to a barbeque, till she invited him on a hike because he was being treated differently. Despite what I heard and everyone telling me otherwise, listing off why I shouldn’t. That he will hurt me and my niece, and I still gave him a chance.”  

Squaring your shoulders and balling your hands to fists at your side, you take a step forward, a dangerous glint in your eyes. You lean towards him, your face close enough to feel his breath, your jaw clenched and muscles tight.  

"You are the first person ever to prove my sister wrong,” your voice is dangerously low, underlying anger accompanying each word. “You sure as hell don't deserve that sentiment." 

As you stepped away, George lifted his head to glance around the room, everyone's eyes pinning him down. The older Top Gun instructors had stood at their tables and chairs, arms crossed. Some of the current students in the program also stood, the others sending him the most scathing glares they could manage. Even some regulars who weren't aviators were casting him a scornful glance.

You spun, ready to leave him in embarrassment and escape this literal fucking mess, when you caught Jake's bewildered gaze, his mouth hanging open in slight shock.

You weren't sure whether it was that look or the dying embers of your outburst that made you spin back around to snarl, "So, leave your brother the fuck alone! Live your own goddamn life without judging others for the choices they make! Cause you sure as hell don't know what it means to sacrifice something for those you love. If you need an example, look around this goddamn room."

Jake reached for your wrist as you charged toward the front door. The second you felt his touch, you shook your hand loose, a wrenching sob tearing through your chest.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

You didn't bother seeing his reaction to your remark, rushing to grab your bag and Ridley's jean jacket off the bar.

The skin around your wrist burned from his touch, the rough callouses once a comfort but now felt like coarse sandpaper. You wanted to get under a shower or jump in the sea, hoping to remove the feeling of every memory, kiss, and word.

God, you let him touch you. Do things with you.

You were going to throw up.

God forbid you didn't want to walk home. But you needed to go, be anywhere but here, and you didn't have your car. Barely keeping it together as you took off toward the door, you had half a mind to look up to watch where you were going, deaf to Jake's shouts of your name.

There was Bradley, sitting in the first booth by the door. His brow furrowed as you made your way over to him, probably having witnessed the ordeal. You were too upset even to question why he wasn't marching across the bar, ready to knock Jake to next Sunday.

It had been weeks since the fight, with no communication in between. But it was a distant memory compared to this. 

It didn't matter what he implied. It didn't matter what happened in your hallway.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

You just needed your friend.

With each step you took toward him, your shame only grew greater. You couldn't even look him in the eye when you stopped, standing next to his side of the booth, hugging yourself tighter.

"Can you take me home, Bradley? I don't want to be here anymore."

Bradley's opportunity to act smug had finally arrived. But he didn't do anything other than frown. Standing up from his booth, he threw a few bills onto the table before blocking everyone's view of you. He placed a comforting hand on your back, gently pressing you forward as he uttered quietly, "Of course I can, Liz."

You kept your head down as you stepped towards the door, but Bradley, so willing to help you without so much of an 'I told you so,' made whatever resolve you had, crumble. Your knees wobbled, and your heart dropped into your stomach. You fell, and Bradley's arm whipped out, gripping your hip and pulling you tight to his side to support your weight.

Burying your head into Bradley's shoulder, you hid your face. You didn't want to see the looks of everyone in the Hard Deck, whether pity, concern, or applause, as another wave of tears wrecked your body.

Closing your eyes seemed better than reliving the truth.

And because you kept them shut, you didn't see George place a hand on Jake's shoulder, preventing him from going after you. Nor did you see the look of devastation wreck his face; the weight of every wrong decision he had ever made coming back to haunt him. 

Whether Jake turned on a dime to punch George square in the jaw, you heard none of it. You hadn't even bothered to turn back to look as Bradley carried you out the front door.

.... So... Who is going to pitchfork me first? 👀

Tag List:

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

@bubblegumbeautyqueen @sarahsmi13s @desert-fern @lynnestra44 @memoriesat30 @penwieldingdreamer @mxlanciia

@bradleybeachbabe @bobby-r2d2-floyd @lavenderbradshaw @roosters-girl @lovinglyeternal @kmc1989 @gigisimsonmars @dakotakazansky

@keyrani @craftytrashprincess @hisredheadedgoddess28 @abzidabzy @memeorydotcom @vicsnook

Part 16 - In the Blood coming soon

Wickett ;)

#Spotify #jake x reader #jake seresin fic #jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin x you #jake seresin fanfiction #hangman fic #hangman fanfiction #hangman #hangman seresin #hangman seresin x reader #hangman top gun #hangman x oc #hangman x reader #hangman x you #jake hangman fic #jake hangman seresin #jake hangman seresin imagine #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman x reader #top gun hangman #jake seresin x oc #jake hangman x you #top gun #top gun au #top gun fanfiction #top gun fic #top gun fanfic #top gun maverick fanfiction

[mageofthelibrary]

Be warned Fire Emblem: Awakening has some very homophobic, transphobic, sexist and racist writing, especially with its villains whom are often racial, homophobic, or transphobic stereotypes.

I appreciate the concern...? But I genuinely don't think it's that big a deal that I need a warning.

Video games don't need to be paragons in terms of representation, though people do have a tendency to flip out if the writers decide to cater to their own experiences and (maybe darker) tastes too much. (I'm mostly talking about games with a queer/lgbt cast, especially if they're dating sims. But that's a different rant.)

Especially considering that it's a 10~ year old game that was written by, and mostly for, a Japanese audience. One of my favorite games, Persona 4, has an absolutely amazing story but it does fumble hard with characters like Kanji, Naoto, and Yosuke.

Kanji, who's pretty much canonically bisexual, gets heavily stereotyped in his arc and outside of it. And that's mostly treated as a joke by the game!

With Naoto, I admittedly don't remember as much about what was going on with them to explain it right, but they certainly weren't handled the best at times either.

And Yosuke! I love him so much but he's very much the one doing most of the stereotyping when it comes to Kanji. I wish that they had addressed that with him, especially since he had a cut romance route with his social link, but the game does nothing but ignore it.

It's important to think about the time when something was created and the culture/audience it was originally made for. Because societal opinions change with time and things might not age well.

I believe I'm mature and well-read enough to recognize a story's faults and not be morally outraged when an older piece of media has negative stereotypes written into the villains.

So thanks for the concern and I'm sorry that this became a bit of a rant. I'm going to go have fun playing a video game now.

#fire emblem #fe awakening #fire emblem awakening #video games #persona 4 #persona 4 golden

[soleminisanction]

Y'know, this answer deserves its own post. @tardigradetheking

They story they're telling seems pretty obvious to me:

Mickey Mxyzptlk, an entitled manbaby comic book fan who hates modern continuity and wishes things would go back to the way they were when he was a kid, traps (what he considers to be) the "real" Young Justice (only the boys, no girls allowed) in his idea of what their original adventures were like. Cassie, being ignored by the sexist twat, winds up being his undoing as she works to free her friends from the outside with the help of the rest of the original team.

That's the elevator pitch, the logline. I say the rest of the old team because I suspect Greta would have also been involved, had the Stargirl Spring Break Special not already set her up as being slated for the Lost Children. The Devil, of course, is in the details:

Mickey's idea of the boys' adventures are heavily skewed by his own biases which he, like the comic book bros on Reddit and Twitter, insist were part of those stories even when they weren't. Hence the exaggerated sexism, racism and homophobia.

He's also trying to reset the YJ boys back to who they were specifically in the early issues of Young Justice, ignoring all the growth and change -- both positive and negative -- that's happened to them since. Again, reflecting attitudes from entitled fans on social media, including here on Tumblr -- look at how many people care more about Cassie's fucking hair than her personality or experiences.

Kon slips into this illusion more easily than the others because he's adrift in the current timeline, without a place for himself -- his whole upcoming miniseries is already set to be about him figuring that out, but for now he's lost, and the future he always expected to be waiting for him -- being Superman -- has been given to someone else. Of course he wants to stay in the time when he never had to grow up and the future was full of possibilities. The more he lets himself give in, the more his mind slips into that kinda asshole bro sentiment -- which, let's face it, he had more than a trace of in the 90s.

Bart, meanwhile, is naturally resistant to this sort of thing partially because of his particular power set and partially because, despite all he's gone through, he's ultimately still the guy who goes with the flow, rolls with the punches, and accepts things the way they are. Whereas Tim is somewhat susceptible to slipping back into when things were easier, when he could just be Robin and hang out with his friends and never had to bury any of them, but gets jarred out of it when the reality tries to forcibly reset the recent changes that have made him happiest.

These differing attitudes result in conflict and naturally dredge up a bunch of drama related to those past changes that they haven't talked about. Cassie's having similar encounters with Cissie because they're using the fact that Cissie is no longer a superhero as a reflection of Cassie and the boys all being on the wrong pages with one another. Which they are, because they're literally not on the same page anymore -- it's been ages since their canon selves have truly shared experiences, they've all been off doing their own things with their respective "families," and they no longer know where the others are coming from. But with each conflict, they're baring... well, conflict, things that have gone unspoken between them. Now that those things are spoken, they can be resolved.

It's not a perfect story. The art is definitely a little hit or miss (pro tip: blame the artist and the editor for not knowing which Bedlam to cameo, not the writer), the pacing feels a bit rushed and (speaking of Bedlam) the whole story would've been stronger if they used him as the villain instead of a new character no one's ever heard of. But that last part is kinda par for the course at DC right now.

Otherwise, the story's pretty straightforward. It's meta, it's criticism, and they're pretty bold to critique their fandom so blatantly, but there's nothing confusing about it.

#young justice dark crisis #young justice #dark crisis #meta #tim drake #kon-el #bart allen #mickey mxyzptlk

[jyndor]

atla fans can be pretty orientalist ngl like TEXTBOOK orientalist.

like okay I know I know the original show is so good but it isn't perfect and there is PLENTY of room for improvement. plenty. we all knew this at the time, back when it was airing and then there was that long break between books 2 and 3. like we all knew it was great but also had its problems. idk why fans from the original run act like this show is perfect.

one of the biggest problems has always been how white the writers room was. how the creators, especially bryke, were profiting by selling the aesthetics of various asian and indigenous peoples to a us american audience.

this is how you get the borderline weird anti-indigenous focus on sexism and misogyny in the water tribes without much exploration of how sexism and misogyny impacted other groups. like actually I'm GLAD that it's toned down but still present in the live action show because sokka was mostly around women and girls for a lot of his teen years. why would HE be so over the top sexist? like in comparison with anyone else, it makes no sense. unless of course you think about it through the lens of how white colonizers tend to think of indigenous peoples - backwards.

I think it's interesting that this show is mostly being worked on by Asian and indigenous people and so many fans never even wanted to give it a chance. I know, I know- I remember the film too. but from the jump, fans have been so quick to dismiss EVERY little detail* or leak without even seeing it first.

bryke are a big part of the story, I know. but they are not all of the people who were behind it. it seems to me that a lot of the fans of this show are weirdly protective of these two white guys who decided to part from the show. they weren't forced out, they left. and yes I'm biased because I saw just how shitty they treated fans of zutara (largely girls and VERY, VERY diverse) at literal conventions, how they egged on some toxic bullying from other parts of the fanbase to the point that frankly it's never really worth engaging in non-zutara fan spaces because people are so reactive and weird about even the mention of zutara. and then these same assholes will make comparisons to reylos as if zutara fans EVER harassed poc fans and especially actors. but whatever, that's my bias. but I can respect that they also created this amazing show that I've loved for half of my life.

I still see it as a good thing that the people working on this show come from the cultures bryke and nickelodeon profited off of without giving anything back.

so I guess my question to white fans is this: if you haven't watched yet because you are mad about bryke or some of the changes you've heard about or whatever, why do you not trust people from the cultures atla draws upon to adapt this story? are you just here to consume exotic aesthetics? why are bryke the only people who can sell those aesthetics to you?

*btw I'm not talking about the sokka casting shit, that's different and should be criticized. Also Albert Kim was the showrunner of Sleepy Hollow and was complicit in racist treatment of Nicole Beharie so he is not someone I trust very much. also there are definitely critiques I have of the show but it's not bad, not even remotely. it's worth watching.

#ive got fire for atla fans always #ALWAYS lol theyve been irking me for sixteen years #ive seen black and brown girlies run out of this fandom and into only small subfandoms like zutara fan spaces and #a lot of the general atla fanbase has to answer for that #but also just like... the racism from white fans in general #they want to consume the pretty exotic aesthetic but dont want to support a show done by asian and indigenous ppl #shocking /s #atla #fandom racism #atla fandom #atla live action

[oliveroctavius]

Ultimately most of my disappointments about The Rocketeer comics boil down to (1) disjointed empty plots running on vibes and (2) relentless sexist writing. It would be bizarre if the characters weren't at least a little sexist because of era, but that's not the same.

Even weirder is occasional smug jokey moments of look, this Modern (wink!) Woman hit someone over the head with a wrench, that'll sure show the menfolk. Which, okay. In actual real 1940 writers gave Lois Lane a tommy gun when they were feeling Feminist, so you're going to have to try a little harder than that. Does Betty have friends? Emotions outside of jealousy towards her man? Shhhh you're going to ruin the illusion that it's 1940. So, then, why am I reading this instead of an actual golden age comic? Those at least wouldn't chicken out from letting the really campy bits shine.

#the rocketeer #olivertxt #one answer is that it at least saves me from random background characters being racist caricatures #but the bar is on the FLOOR if that's the best thing it has going. And it always is background characters #Cliff doesn't actually strike me as golden age archetype all that much. He's a very post-Peter-Parker character #his wet-dogness and temper and tendency to shoot himself in the foot by running out on people #anyways I tried peeking at the current Rocketeer run again and saw Cliff wearing a polo shirt untucked in public in 1941 #So I can't do this.

[episodeoftv]

Round 1 of 6, Group 1 of 4

propaganda is under the cut (231 words) - may contain spoilers

summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)

propaganda

Mr. Robot - 4.13 Hello, Elliot

cw: light mentions of sexual assault and pedophilia (was covered in another episode), dissociation

Elliot gets to Coney Island, and the delusion begins to slip. Mr. Robot reveals the truth.

The writers had a poor understanding of DID and ended up saying a lot of things that were wrong and reiterating information and mindsets that are harmful to those who struggle with DID.

Star Trek: The Original Series - 3.26 Turnabout Intruder

Captain Kirk's insane ex-lover Dr. Janice Lester forcibly switches bodies with him in order to take command of the Enterprise.

1) Kirk switches bodies with a vengeful ex. It's implied that women can't be captains, which adds a layer of misogyny into the franchise. Nichelle Nichols isn't there.

2) Calling "Turnabout Intruder" a finale might be a bit of a fallacy, since TOS was a very episodic show with no real ongoing storylines or major character arcs, but it was certainly a sour note to end an iconic TV show on. The episode is sexist, stupid, and all-around bad as an episode, but as a finale it's even worse. The plot is that a woman is mad that "women can't be captains" in Star Fleet (a fact that was later retconned, so the problem boils down to *she* couldn't be a captain) because they're too silly and emotional, so she switches bodies with Kirk and proceeds to suck at being captain due to being...silly and emotional. It's a real letdown for a show that was trying to be progressive (even by 60s standards).

3) "How should we end our famously progressive sci-fi touchstone? With an aggressively misogynistic episode that establishes women are forbidden from being starship captains because Gene Roddenberry was angry about being divorced? Sure, why not."

+ The show was abruptly canceled rather than allowed to come to a natural conclusion, but finales weren't generally a big deal back then anyway.

#mr robot #star trek tos #st tos #wfround1 #wfpoll #polls #poll #wfr1g1

[hello-nichya-here]

If Iroh doesn't acknowledge Azula as a victim of abuse, that means he can't relate to her, therefore Iroh either wasn't abused by his family or he was abused in a different way from Azula. Or maybe the truth is he just doesn't want to understand her. I really don't get why he's more sympathetic toward his brother who mutilated his beloved nephew's life. Like, what is he thinking, exactly? Perhaps his reasoning isn't supposed to go side by side with logic, but rather with feelings or sth. Here are my only guesses why Iroh doesn't care about Azula

1) She reminds him of his younger self that he wants to forget (which I don't even think has a point in saying how much is unfair to Azula)

2) She's a "hindrance" to Zuko

Sexism??? Idk. Actually no I don't think Iroh is a sexist based on his interactions with other women we saw so I'm not counting it, but you're welcome to correct me.

Iroh is not dumb enough to not comprehend what kind of situation Azula is in, but he's selfish enough to do zero shit about it. And for the ppl yelling "he was protecting Zuko from her" bitch pls. Azula didn't harass Zuko from the day she was born yet even when she and Zuko were children and their relationship wasn't so fucked up (which Iroh totally could have interfered with after he came back from war and even prior to that) he didn't give a shit. This man never cared about his neice, even before they became enemies. (No, the doll was not him showing her love lmao) Tell me then, if Iroh genuinely wants to guide Zuko on the right path and shield him from misfortune, why has Iroh never tried to pit Zuko against his real abuser, Ozai? Or do you want to tell me that Azula has somehow abused Zuko more than him? Why, throughout Zuko's whole journey, has Iroh never told his nephew that the way he was treated by his father, was wrong? Honestly I wouldn’t bash Iroh sm if he set Zuko against both of them yet here we are. Like really, Iroh? You think if Zuko puts her in her place and murders her, he's not going to lose it and be relieved or vice versa? You think making kids nemeses is going to lead to any good? Wisest character", my ass.

Warning, this is gonna be LOOOOONG and I'm gonna answer to your questions along with this ask I got from @profoundkryptoniteblaze after I pointed out another flaw of Iroh's because there are some points you both brought up that can be combined.

***

"If there was ever any moment in which Iroh could be seen as endangering Zuko, it was that one - hell, Iroh realizing he almost got his "son" killed was probably why he was following him during "The Chase" and tried to reason with him in "Lake Laogai."

Y'know it really gets me thinking if Iroh never learned anything from indoctrinating and sending his own son to death and only realizing the wrong of his actions after having lost him. Iroh let his other son chase after false hope and waste his life, exhausting himself physically and mentally for three years and was never shown trying to pry him away from Ozai or the FN's toxic mentality. Later he helped Zuko chase and almost capture the avatar at the north pole, the latter would've been frozen to death as a result had it not been for Aang's sympathy (honestly not just Iroh and Zuko but the whole world is lucky that he's so patient and compassionate) And then Iroh calls Zuko out for his recklessness in "Lake Laogai". Like what, weren't you the one who-- ah nevermind. I've only scratched the surface about how Iroh failed to guide Zuko and yet neither he, nor Zuko, nor the fandom seem to realize it.

***

To really understand the issues with Iroh, we need to look at the context behind his actions BOTH in universe and in the sense of "He is a fictional character and can be whatever the fuck the writers say he is."

Iroh as a result of issues with the writting

When Bryan and Michael were still toying with ideas to figure out what story they wanted to tell, Iroh was NOT the character we saw in the show. He was originally meant to be a twist villain who was intentionally giving Zuko terrible advice, to make sure he would never capture the Avatar and be able to come home.

That idea was scrapped and replaced with Iroh being a grey character. He was likeable, nice, and even kind, but he was on the wrong side of this conflict. He could be wise, but he could also give Zuko bad advice, the difference being that he didn't mean any harm and genuinely wanted the best for his nephew. He is far from perfect, but there is more than enough evidence that he can redeem himself.

Then, the writers thought of ANOTHER Iroh. One that had already gone through his redemption and is as perfect as a human being can be. This was the Iroh they decided they wanted.

The problem is that they only realized that was what they wanted in book 2, once they had decided that Azula would be both Aang and Zuko's antagonist, meaning the audience had already seen the morally grey Iroh, and thus they couldn't just go back and rewrite the story with that new version of Iroh in mind.

So, they had three options:

1 - Throw their new idea in the garbage can and stick with the one they had already spent over a season developing.

2 - Give Iroh a deep, complicated, time consuming character arc to lead him from point A to point B. This woudly likely force them to have more than jus the three seasons they were planning, and was a bit of a high risk, high reward situation, since it'd be hard to make a grey character naturally become basically perfect, but it could pay off if they did it right.

3 - Retcon the past season, acting like Iroh was ALREADY perfect and thus didn't need that major character development, pretending he had always been working behind the scenes with the White Lotus to end the war and never acknowledging that he spent all of book 1 trying to help Zuko capture Aang.

Bryke chose option three, and when we combine that with the fact, to this day, they don't seem to realize that Azula is an abuse victim and child soldier, makes Iroh's flaws and antagonism towards her a bug instead of a feature, since he is now meant to be perfect instead of a deliberately flawed character, whose opinions should NOT be taken as absolute truth.

Iroh in universe

When it comes to the Fire Nation royals, we need to remember that, on top dealing with the cicle of abuse, they're also fighting two wars - one against the nations they're invading, and other amongst themselves, to see who will be Fire Lord - that made their already fucked up family even worse.

Ozai tried to steal his brother's throne, and to assure her son wouldn't die, Ursa had to help him commit treason by killing the Fire Lord and usurping the throne of the rightful heir (Iroh). And Zuko, even though he loved Iroh, didn't recognize the fact that his father had no right to throne until the series finale. He went so far as once referring to himself as rightful heir to the throne due to being OZAI and Ursa's son - and that was while he was banished and being hunted down by Azula, who is either the Fire Lord's heir or the usurper's heir depending on whose side you're on.

But why would anyone side with Ozai? Simple: the Fire Nation has a noticeable pattern of thinking ANYTHING is fair in the fight for power, which makes sense considering they're imperialists that think the whole world belongs to them just because they said so.

THAT is how Iroh was raised to see things. Sozin, his gradnfather and Fire Lord, decided that he could murder his best friend, kill 1/4 of the world's population, and take over territory that belong to the other nations just because that was what he wanted to do. Azulon followed in his footsteps, and had no problem sending his own son into the battlefield - something Iroh also did, and then paid the price.

Lu Ten's death shook him to his very core - but it did NOT make him change sides. Neither did Ozai stealing his throne, nor him disfiguring and banishing Zuko. He was so passive by that point that Ozai just allowed him to stay in the Fire Nation, and even be a part of war meetings.

In said meetings, no woman was ever present, because the only three female warriors we see are Azula, Mai and Ty Lee (a princess/prodigy and two noble girls who are best friends with said princess). The only other women in see in anything close to a position as part "Fire Nation army" was the female guard that Iroh befriend AND the guard at the boiling rock. We also know that Azula would have been the first female Fire Lord ever, which all but states that, even if Ozai had been the heir and Azula had been his eldest child, the throne would have still been Zuko's, because women don't get to be rulers in the Fire Nation. It is very likely that being married to a ruler and having his heirs is the highest position a woman could have in their society. Royal and important, sure, but always in a supporting role.

This, obviously, affected Iroh too. While he doesn't really seem to think anything of women being warriors (which makes sense considering he spent life attacking other nations, and thus probably fought women sometimes - we saw women fighting in the Southern Water tribe and let's not forget the Kyoshi Warriors), we cannnot forget he did things like take advantage of the fact that June was paralized to show that he CAN be a bit of a dirty old man, and that his idea of a perfect gift for AZULA of all people was a doll.

However, that doll also reveals something important: Iroh DID once view Azula as a child, and as someone he had some sort of obligation to - hence him being "fair" and getting her a gift too since he had gotten one for her brother.

But the main problem when it comes to Iroh and Azula's relationship (or lack there of) is also clearly already there: Iroh has no idea who his niece is as a person, and assumes he can figure that out by just using some concept of what she "should" be like, based on her position in their society.

At that point, she is just a little girl. Little girls like things like pretty clothes, playing with dolls, and talking with their friends. Not something he can relate to, but not something that gives him a reason to hate her. She is also a princess, and thus important, worthy of praise and respect, and to be protected by all - just not as much as she would be is she were a prince.

But as we know, Ozai sees things differently - but that doesn't exactly means he sees Azula for who she is either. She is the second child, like himself, meaning she is not meant to inherit anything, only support her older brother. She is also a prodigy and incredibly smart, which could make one wonder if maybe she wouldn't be a better Fire Lord than the actual heir. Ozai was projecting onto her from the moment she was born, hence him naming her after the Fire Lord - after his abusive father that never gave a damn about him.

And that leads to another thing that makes Iroh not as perfect as the fandom sees him: Ozai's dynamic with his own children mirrors how Azulon raised him and his brother. One was the good for nothing child, the scapegoat, the disgrace of the family. The other was the golden child, the one who was absolutely perfect - because they HAD to be. Let's not forget that Azulon's idea of defending the rights of his favorite son involved making him grief both for his son AND his nephew. He also didn't give a shit about the fact that Ursa, Azula and especially Zuko, the one whose death he was ordering, had nothing to do with this shit. Azulon believed EVERYONE had to pay because ONE person fucked up.

This suggest that, even being the favorite, Iroh likely got screwed over by his father many times, and his continued support of him until his death AND the fact that he NEVER said a single negative word about him suggests Iroh is looking at Ozai's treatment of Zuko and Azula, seeing their own dynamic with Azulon in it, and thinking there's nothing wrong with it. I've said it many times, but he is the classic case of "That's not abuse! My parents did that to me and I turned out fine!" when they're not, in fact, fine.

Either way, due to still being too broken after losing his son, he isn't interested in this proxy-rivalry with his brother. But he did develop a genuine bond with Zuko - the first-born. the "heir", the son his brother looks down on. Which means he is sort of having a "passive" role in this weird dynamic, while Ozai is holding all the cards, and likely believes that Iroh is only "choosing Zuko's side" because he is also a "useless" son who just happened to have the luck of being born first.

For many years, Iroh isn't acting, he is reacting. Ozai wants the throne? Fine, let him have it, it's not like Iroh is in any condition to actually deal with that kind of stress anyways.

Ozai is playing favorites? Not great, but hey, isn't that what ALL fathers/Fire Lords do anyway? Either way is not like he has the authority to tell his brother how to raise his kids. It's too late for him to fight for the throne now.

Zuko needs someone to help him on his doomed mission to capture the Avatar? Fine, Iroh will go with him. He likes the kid.

The Avatar IS alive after all and Zuko is actively hunting him down? Well, those were the Fire Lord's orders, guess they must capture him.

Zuko wants to go capture the Avatar alone, in enemy territory, at the risk of freezing to death if he doesn't find some decent shelter? Well, it is his mission, he calls the shots.

Zuko is upset that his father doesn't love him? Why not tell him that Ozai DOES love him, and that's why he banished him? There's no way this could backfi- WHY WON'T ZUKO LISTEN TO HIM? WHY IS HE BELIEVING AZULA'S OBVIOUS LIE THAT OZAI WANTS HIM HOME?

But then we have the chain of events that make Iroh snap out of it: Zhao tries to kill Zuko, then kills the moon, and, finally, Ozai sends Azula to capture them.

Nearly losing someone he loved again, having his nation do something ungodly dangerous and stupid just to win more power, and then being actively hunted down forces Iroh to wake up and be the Dragon Of The West again.

But he did not heal. He did not change his mentality. He never understood just how horrible of a situation he was put in by his father - and that he is essentially giving into Ozai's game, in which they use Zuko and Azula as a way to hurt each other.

And we have the final piece of this puzzle: Azula is now, officially, his and Zuko's enemy. She is Ozai's heir, is trying to capture them, and her goals are to help the Fire Nation win the war - something Iroh can no longer accept.

He changed sides, but in his mind it is still "Us VS Them", and Azula now happens to be on the side of "Them." She is a soldier of the enemy, and can rival Iroh's chosen heir.

She is in the way, and in a war, people like Iroh are expected to either capture or kill "obstacles" like her. So, he does that, and expects Zuko to do the same, for his own good, because this is war, and if they don't win, they'll be at Ozai's mercy - and we know he doesn't have much of it to offer.

She is also someone who is going against what is "right." She is rebelling against her uncle and true Fire Lord, as well as her older brother and future ruler. They are above her in the Fire Nation's laws and social hierarchy in every way (status, age, gender, etc), and yet she is supporting a traitor who stole the Fire Lord's throne. She needs to be reminded of her place, and she can either accept that or deal with the consequences.

It never occurs to Iroh that it doesn't have to be this way, because this is all he has ever known.

#asks #iroh meta #iroh critical #long post #azula deserved better #zuko deserved better #iroh deserved better #bryke critical

[stancyler]

thanks to some twt jancies i've recently discovered something else in favour for stancy.

so they brag about jonathan and nancy having similar/matching career goals and use it as endgame proof for their ship.

truth is, we've already seen them work together as journalists/photo journalist in season three. and that didn't end really well for them. let's dig this subject. nancy and jonathan both start working for the post office, one of the first things we see is how nancy's the lunch lady for the bosses (she prepares coffee, gives them food, etc.) and jonathan works his photography in a dark room. from the beginning it's shown to the audience nancy isn't happy working for those people, this doesn't have to do with jonathan yet except he could've said something against the sexist comments. she felt like not being good enough to be a reporter until she found out a new case (the old lady one with the rats).

nancy wants to investigate the case to demonstrate she's worthy of working there as a journalist, not to be preparing sandwiches or coffee for those men. jonathan's on board at first - that's until the men make fun of nancy for trying to investigate the story and tell her to drop it because they didn't believe her - and guess who else didn't really believe in nancy's story? correct! jonathan. he also told her to drop the story, to just do what the misogynistic men told her to do. what the hell? shouldn't you support your partner? being afraid of getting fired is not a good excuse. it was only a summer job, there were more future opportunities. he decided to go with her because he felt pressured to do so. he never believed in her story.

then (if i remember correctly) the police finds them at discroll's house and they separate paths. nancy goes to the hospital to visit the lady while jonathan goes home. he doesn't care. not until nancy calls him and asks to talk with his brother, will. his interest suddenly grows when will's name is mentioned. then they reunite with will, mike, etc., and will asks jonathan "you weren't there?" to which he responds with "well i'm here now, aren't i?" and nancy adds: hallelujah.

notice how this implies jonathan wasn't really there until will was involved in the story. we know jonathan is a family guy who cares about joyce and will the most. the writers spell it out for us in every season. nancy didn't feel the support she needed from his boyfriend.

they both get fired. jonathan blames nancy for getting him involved in the story. they fight and nancy says the famous line "we just don't understand each other anymore". that's how their working as journalists together ends.

does this sound like a perfect future for either of them? would nancy want a partner in the future who doesn't support the stories she believes in and investigates? nancy deserves a partner who trusts her, one who believes in the stories she investigates and doesn't hesitate to defend her if she's getting sexist comments or any other kind of bad comments.

jonathan can't do that. we've seen it on screen. them working together don't function correctly. jonathan didn't care about the misogynistic comments, nor nancy's story. never. he even told her to deal with it. he didn't help her until he discovered will could be in danger.

THEN, in season four we see jonathan acknowledging his future with nancy would be full of resentment and they would end up in a loveless marriage, their kids would even hate him.

what else do you need to understand jonathan is not endgame material for nancy. she doesn't need to go through all of that again.

#anti jancy #anti jonathan byers #stancy #steve and nancy #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #steve x nancy #nancy and steve #stancyendgame

[balanceoflightanddark]

Why ATLA should be critiqued

If you’ve been following this blog, you’re probably aware that I’ve had more than a few criticisms of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which seems absurd. This is a highly regarded, award winning show with memorable characters, moments, world building, music, action, animation, and voice acting. Anybody who’s watched it can agree with that. Why on earth would anybody want to pick holes in it?

And for the most part, I do agree. ATLA is a great show and I’m not trying to tear it down. Even with all my nitpicks it’s still pretty solid and for the most part holds up pretty well.

Which is why I’m criticizing it’s weak points.

See, I believe that no work should be immune to criticism. Otherwise when a highly regarded show is copied or inspires other works, there’s a chance that some of the…more questionable underlying themes go along for the ride. And there ARE a lot of stuff that is poorly handled that does keep this show from being perfect: the deification of Iroh, the brutality of the Fire Nation being downplayed, Azula being demonized by the narrative, some of the sexist undertones. They ARE there.

Thing is though...ATLA deserves it because it's that good.

Azula's character is still amazing despite her handling. There is criticism of sexism in Katara and Toph's arcs so when you do see them it stands out a lot more. The Fire Nation ultimately are the bad guys and it's flat out stated they need to reform. And Iroh...the seeds are planted there for him to be a stronger character that isn't coddled by the narrative.

ATLA laid out the tools for criticizing its own problems and shows how it can be better as a result. Unfortunately, the writers seem to forget these in subsequent installments (in particular the comics) where these problems become out of control cause they feel the source material is perfect.

If we want to know the franchise's issues and how it got cut off at the knees from being among the greats, we need to look at where the problems set in. Which in this case was the original series.

And criticism IS a sign of a healthy fanbase. We wouldn't dedicate this much time if we weren't fans of the show. Otherwise if everyone believed the same thing, the whole thing would be reduced to little more but an echo chamber with no room for critical thinking. Thus discussions become bland and the enthusiasm dies.

As good as ATLA is, it's begging to be critiqued like any other work. The tools are right there on the table, and it deserves more than to be worshipped as an icon.

#atla #atla meta #atla critical #atla comics critical #bryke critical

[lemonandpie]

New thought for the day: why are the characters who the narrative goes out of its way to prove are bad and needing to be taken down a peg always the ones popular with and related to by marginalized people? Characters like Loki, Charles Xavier, Jason Todd, who the audience need to be reminded are bad (even if being bad is part of their appeal, or they weren't bad at all and the writers have just decided they are suddenly). It feels very similar to that male writers having disdain for their female audience post, because lbr most cishet men aren't getting deeply invested in Noted Queer Icon Loki Laufeyson or Textually Feminine Charles Xavier. So instead when canon decides the audience aren't being Critical Enough, they decide to tell the audience that no, silly, this character is the reason everything's gone wrong. Don't you feel bad for liking him? Foolish girls*, we know you only care because he's hot.

So Loki throws around gendered insults to prove that he is a sexist cis male (c'mon, were you really expecting us to keep him genderfluid? Child, this is Disney!). Charles gets that weird ass speech about how "it's only the women who do the work around here". Daemon Targeryan chokes a woman explicitly because the audience liked him too much and the writers were pissed.

Silly girls, don't you know how much your favorite characters hate you? Don't worry, we'll remind you. Now promise you'll never like insufficiently masculine characters again.

#Just simmering in vinegar until I turn into a pickle don't mind me #hot take: the only reason Dick Grayson doesn't get this treatment is because there has always been a sizeable male fanbase that likes him t #otherwise you KNOW there'd be an entire subgenre of comics about how Dick is the real bad guy #worse still is there are fans who will always say yuh huh see canon says we were right to hate them unlike Those Other Girls #Or people will claim it's this when it's a character who has been awful from the start #you won't convince me that the reason the Loki show spent an entire first episode telling the audience just how much Loki sucks #isn't because they're pissed at how many people like Loki the wrong way #Jason doesn't get it as bad because he's still appealing to masculine sensibilities but he has his moments #idk this has just been driving me crazy lately #meta #i guess #meta incoherent ranting same thing

[angelsdean]

I'm not denying the misogyny in earlier seasons but I also just rewatched s1-5 and I can't recall a woman ever turning Dean down and him turning around and calling them a bitch. Yeah he uses that word too often but tbh does he actually call women it that often?? I seem to recall him just using it generally, which makes a huge difference. Still not great but still big difference.

Like yeah I was annoyed and uncomf with how often he hit on women but they usually weren't super drawn out scenes and his actions towards women who weren't written just to be eye candy by ACTUAL misogynistic writers, he treated as equally as everyone else.

There's absolutely no denying his behavior s1 (arguably up until he goes to hell) teeters that line, but I feel like those early seasons have been remembered as way more gross and extreme than they actually are... But tbh what's new about how people view Dean's character and how's he conflated into things he's not

Hi! I saw your ask earlier but then got caught up with work things and since then i've also posted this, which analyzes the instances of dean using the word "bitch" throughout s1 and the contexts in which its used, which like you said is mostly exclusively in general phrases, most commonly his "catch phrase" son of a bitch.

As for the flirting, like you said a lot of his behavior varies depending on the writer. And in a show like this where there's been so many different writers it's something to take into consideration when analyzing a character's actions. I tend to focus on which behaviors are most consistent throughout. There are some things here or there that just are completely ooc with past consistent behaviors and are indicative of like, the writer's own misogyny creeping in rather than consistent with Dean's own behaviors and I think that's something important to take note of when doing character analyses and "studies." Like the one that always jumps out to me that is just SO inconsistent with Dean's character is in 4x13 After School Special where Dean says three of the high school cheerleaders are "legal." All of Dean's interactions with young people / teenagers both before this and after shows him in clearly a mentor role or respectful and understanding toward them. I'm think especially of his interactions toward Claire and Krissy. Or in the fanficiton episode. He doesn't treat any of those girls as anything other than what they are: kids. So that instance in 4x13 just stands out as massively ooc and it's an episode written by Dabb who, imo, does not get Dean + Kids at all. But anyways, that's a whole other thing lmao.

But yeah, I really feel like a lot of people could do with a rewatch. Many just have this hazy memory of Dean flirting and checking women out in the early seasons and have exaggerated those moments into a whole other character. I think those early seasons where definitely a product of their time. Early 2000s television was often very sexist and had its problems. And some of that is reflected on how Dean's character was written and portrayed. But it's not nearly as bad as many make it out to be. And from a meta / analysis perspective I view a lot of those moments as reflecting the struggle and conflict between Dean's overcompensating masculine persona and his real self he's trying to hide.

#sorry for writing essays lmao all of this is just so fun and interesting to discuss for me #vics spn rewatch #replies #dean studies #mymeta

[randomcerealbrand]

Fast Forward sucks.

I know that's not original, but let me just dump this and run.

Sometimes, with TMNT shows, it's 7 seasons, with a "future" season that seems to be written by a fanfic writer. But even then, that would be disrespecting all the good writers.

Then the last season of that is straight shit, with a change of art style and demographic to keep the show running, but that in turn kicked out it's teen audience, which was more than 40% of the fandom at the time.

The 5 seasons we got for 2012 was perfect, but even then, the main story ended in season 4, with an extra season for fun side stories that help flesh out previous seasons. Again, the alternative future special for it came from a child's diaper. Frankly, it was very sexist, only including and having cameos for every male character and completely forgetting about April, Shinigami, Karai, and even IRMA.

HOW COULD YOU NOT INCLUDE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR IRMA?

Next, lemme talk about why the 5 seasons are the best amount and disprove another very hated series that is uhhhh live-action.

5 seasons is the perfect standard for TMNT shows, because you need to flesh out story and characters in the first season, add more plot to the second season, add in spice and some drama to the third season, and the fourth season is where the main story should end and leave everyone in a state of growth before continuing on to the fifth season, which fleshes out the story, like season one, except it answers more questions than it creates, since it's the final season.

A 6th season isn't needed unless the story begins to drag out, and a 7th season certainly isn't need if you're going to change art styles either right after it or during it.

Stick to an art style all the way through, or else it will be jarring for those who were watching and enjoying the previous seasons.

This all circles back to characters, plot, settings, and overall the best rating you can possibly get for a show.

This is why 2012 is the best TMNT show, hands down. It does have its flaws, but it's good enough to learn from its mistakes and create a nice environment for the characters. And while seasons 1-5 of 2003 are certainly better, the final two seasons diminished the reputation of the first 5. You can't judge a show by a certain few seasons and call it a day, or you won't get the full picture.

Now, on to TNM.

The Next Mutation does not help me prove my point, but that's because it's not a show. It's a marketing tool. The Next Mutation is simply there to run off the original fame of the '87 TMNT, have crossovers, and make money in the most sufficient way possible.

How do I know this, you may ask?

UHM

HAVE YOU SEEN VENUS'S DESIGN?

And the thing is that she is drastically different in terms of design. She is the main marketing tool for the show. But around 30% of TMNT fans were female, so they felt they needed to add another female character to be able to sell to these certain genders so that toy sales can go up, and the show can keep running.

Hence, the creation of Venus De Milo.

Now, don't get me wrong, she would've been a great addition to the franchise if she weren't so butchered and bland to the point of where she was never used in another show again, until Rise.

At least, almost, since they were supposed to have 2 secret siblings, one that was Big Mama's assistant, and the other was a battle Nexus champion (not including Leo.)

Then again, it's just speculation, I could only find proof for one claim by one of the writers, saying that Mama's assistant had more story to her, but I couldn't find any proof for the battle Nexus champion claim.

This stupid info dump is basically to say that Rise deserve 5 seasons, but not 7 seasons. Unless you have a show without much plot, like a slice-of-life story, then you shouldn't have more than 5 seasons, or else you'll most likely be dragging out the story so much that nobody wants to watch the show since it's so slow.

I mean, name one show that had more than 5 seasons and actually had a story.

Other than Adventure Time.

It's very hard to pull off, but not impossible.

But yeah. Season one was supposed to be filled with fun antics the characters could get into to introduce the world around them and the characters themselves. 2012 TMNT did that, and everyone loved it. People just needed to give it a chance and not judge a book by it's cover.

If you want an extra season of Rise, and we might not get it, I highly recommend looking for the Cass Apocalypse AU. It's very well made and very fun to read. (Bottom.)

And if you don't want a "future" season, be sure to look out for the fan project ROTTMNT: A New Age, which gives the fandom a great final season to hyperfixate on. (Also bottom.)

And, if you don't want a fan series to satisfy that itch you're craving, a comic is coming out for Rise soon, having all the comics, Sound Off, and an all new story that was never published, called "The Hidden City." Please go buy it, at least, once it restocks. (Again, bottom.)

Lastly, as of writing this, a Q&A between Ron Corcillo and The Cartoon Base will be happening on July 29th, 2023. Please, if you support Rise, join in on the Q&A, and ask some questions. Maybe we can get a season three if we fight hard enough, but that's only if we try. (Just go to the bottom, fool.)

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

Cass Apocalypse AU

ROTTMNT: A New Age

ROTTMNT: The Complete Adventures

Cartoon Base's Tweet

Oh, and don't get me started on the MOVI-

#2018 tmnt #tmnt #tmnt irma #irma is love #irma is life #irma tmnt #rottmnt #my post #venus tmnt #tmnt the next mutation #tmnt fast forward #tmnt 2003 #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt raphael #tmnt michelangelo #rottmnt michelangelo #rottmnt donatello #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #i got bored #tedtalk #cass apocalyptic series #cass apocalypse au #rottmnt season 3 #rottmnt fan season 3

[powderseas]

Ferncloud's death shouldn't be blamed on the fanbase to the degree that it is. Much of the fanbase consisted of children at the time who echoed the most popular, sexist opinion. The writers chose to kill her off and they weren't forced by fans.

agree u literally have control over the books why would u blame the fandom full of kids for a death of a character

#ask

[iamafanofcartoons]

Ah, c'mon. Female characters are only ever hated when they're poorly written. If they were male, they'd be just as hated. Calling anybody sexist is such a reach.

I mean, you really think that the likes of Team RWBY would be more liked if they were guys? Qrow? Ironwood? Got any solid examples? All I see from you lot is a bunch of accusations and hypotheticals.

C'mon. The FNDM's maddening but real bigots are few and far between.

Let me give you three examples of sexism from the RWBY Critics. And let me remind you that both men and women can be misogynists. The Republican Party of the USA is sure proof of that.

Now that we have the proof of RWBY Critics being nasty sexists out of the way. Let me go over Yang Xiao Long, since most straightshippers and rwby bashers love to hate on Yang.

Critics gnoring the fact that she losed a arm, got PTSD for like 3 volumes, saving the world from a immortal being. Edit: She's just not 24 hours all happy girl anymore like in the volumes 1-3….nobody is anymore after everything that happened. Because taking world ending stakes seriously, and not constantly being quippy doesn’t mean that someone is no longer fun. No, no, don't look at Yang pranking Nora during their arm wrestling match, making jokes about getting reward money for Weiss, or doing stunts on a hover bike. Giggling about Adrian? Pranking Penny with her arm? Joking about crashing the Schnee Party? RWBY Critics: Yang is no longer fun, she’s a Karen! Basically, critics have to ignore/forget/deny ANYTHING that disagrees with their negative views of women. If these people can't even understand a character after showing all his background, trauma and way of thinking, imagining understanding a real person you know nothing about. But seriously, things are less fun in general. Like, yeah V1-3 were school fun-times where the characters weren't even aware of the world ending threat working behind the scenes. Now they are, and they're trying to stop it, things are going to be less fun. Want an example of how Critics pretend to be blind and deaf? Adam Taurus: Introduced trying to blow up a train of passengers. Blake Belladonna: Introduced trying to stop him, and then joins Beacon, hoping to change the system from within. Volume 2: Adam literally tells Cinder that he finds his followers expendable. Blake is opening up to Yang and becomes more and more happy. RWBY Critics: Blake manipulated Adam, Blake is the reason Adam is evil, Blake should have saved Adam, Adam should have killed Blake. Yeah, I’d call that sexism. Let’s cover Robyn Hill

I’ve got some memes just for this But somehow Robyn is an evil terrorist? And Ironwood is somehow the savior? Ironwood, who constantly demands trust and talks about making difficult decisions while : A) repeatedly forbidding penny to have any friends and having her as a project done behind everyone’s back? B) Holding more government power than any other Council Member, and forbidding anyone not part of his military from being allowed to defend themselves or carry weapons (volume 7 chapter 2, clover ignoring Qrow’s license) C) Going behind Ozpin’s back to get the council to fire him for not giving James what he wants? D) Threatening Jacques and telling him to get on James’ good side while declaring closed borders WITHOUT the council’s permission? Threatening a civilian while declaring HIMSELF the council? E) That mech was put in Argus WITHOUT the people’s awareness or permission. Ironwood then installed a racist megalomaniac because she was fanatically loyal to him.  But any woman standing against is immediately considered a war criminal? So yeah, the hatedom? Is misogynistic.  I keep seeing men and women talking about how they want the female characters in RWBY to suffer. I keep seeing them throw slurs at fictional characters and towards the writers. If you don’t have anything respectful to say about the show unless it involves pushing cis white male OC/MC fanfics and talking about how your ideas are superior? Or you wanna talk about porn? Then you have nothing to contribute but Hatred, and you shouldn’t contribute at all.

#media criticism is dead #media literacy is dead #rwby is a good show #rwby is enjoyable #rwby #rwby fndm #rwby htdm #iamafanofcartoons #bad faith criticism #critical of critical #questions to ask yourself before criticizing