#/ but i really want unbiased responses

[mechsbrackets]

Time for the (it's going to be) nightly update! I have realized it's a loooot easier to just... put the full list of nominees under a cut, so I'm gonna do keep doing that.

Also, Tumblr is being really weird. Based on my notifications, I may have received asks that I can not look at. If I'm ignoring your ask: I'm sorry, it's not on purpose. At the time of posting, my inbox is empty. Tumblr is hiding it.

Now for the 62 nominees for the Most Gender Mechanisms Character Bracket!

Gunpowder Tim 34 Ashes O'Reilly 32 The Toy Soldier 24 Mordred 23 Loki 20 Lyfrassir Edda 18 Ulysses 18 Jonny D'ville 17 Marius von Raum 14 Nastya Rasputina 14 Drumbot Brian 13 The Aurora 12 Raphaella la Cognizi 10 Dr. Carmilla 8 Frankenstein's AI 8 Orpheus 8 Majors Hatter & Hare 7 Iphis 6 Ivy Alexandria 6 Lancelot 6 Arthur Pendragon 5 Galahad 5 Narcissus 5 Sigyn 5 Alice 4 Blogbot 4 Guinevere 4 Odin 4 Rose Red 4 Briar Rose 3 Comsat Cheshire 3 Scuzz Nishimura 3 Yog-Sothoth 3 Bertie 2 Captain Joseph Robert Mathea 2 Caterpillar 2 Cinders 2 Gawain 2 Hereward the Wake 2 Oedipus 2 Pellinore 2 The Octokittens 2 The Stranger 2 A drunk space pirate 1 Arachne 1 Ariadne 1 Dorian Grey 1 Frankenstein 1 General Snow White 1 Gunther the Octokitten 1 Heracles 1 Icarus 1 Jack Spratt 1 Prometheus 1 Stowaway 1 The beast Pellinore was tracking 1 The Moon Kaiser 1 The Pendragons as a unit 1 The phoenix planet (Redeath) 1 The Rose Reds 1 The scorpion from HNOC 1 The spiders operating Aurora 1

[missallanea]

Learning I'd been mispronouncing her name for literally like two years was mortifying but now I wanna run a little experiment :

[sanjisboyfie]

golden retriever boyfriend ! itadori yuji

yuji x male reader

-> very short but i wanted to show smoe love to this cutie wootie patootie.

- oh my fucking god. the absolute sweetest boyfriend i fear. this guy literally praises the ground that you walk on and is at your beck and call as if you were a deity and he is your servant. your day is just him constantly asking if he can do anything for you to make you happier, usually the response is just his company, which he blushes and playfully smacks you for.

"honey, do you wanna go to the store to buy some more snacks before we binge watch?" yuji asked, a wide grin on his face, "gojo-sensei forgot to take back his wallet he leant me from my last mission, so we can splurge and he won't even notice!"

you laughed at his eagerness, but shook your head. instead, you opened your arms up for him to cuddle himself into and said, "i just want to spend some time with you, i missed you,"

without wasting another second, yuji jumped into your arms and peppered kisses all over your neck, jaw, and face, "i missed you even moreee!! let's turn on your show already, then," yuji contentedly closed his eyes, breathing in your scent as his cheek was pressed against your chest.

he was in heaven.

- constantly thinking of you. he's always seeing things on the street that remind him of you, always wondering if you'd like something he picked out for you from a street vendor, will constantly be talking nobara and megumi's ear off about, "oh, [name] really likes that restaurant! should i buy him something to go?" "haha, me and [name] watched that movie last night and he really liked the main character's best friend, even though i liked the main character more!" "nobara, do you think [name] is more handsome wearing a bracelet or necklace? huh? well, i think he lookes handsome either way, but i don't have money for both so i need someone unbiased to choose."

they think they've heard enough, but they very clearly haven't since yuji always goes above and beyond in talking about you.

you're there to hear the praises he sings for you 50% of the time, but the other 50%...poor nobara and megumi because they gotta deal with his yappin ass. he never shuts up in general (he's just a bby) but when he gets on a tangent talking about you ... it's like this guy doesn't need to breathe.

he's just so happy and content with the relationship you guys have he can't help but make it known to everyone around!!! another thing is he could care less if it annoys the fuck out of everyone around him, he just nods his head at their annoyance and then goes, "well, anyway, haha, as i was saying before i was interuppted!"

literally inumaki probably has had to restraint himself from telling yuji to "shut the fuck up" because he just wouldn't shut up.

- yuji likes to make it obvious to you how loyal of a boyfriend he is. he barely glances at other people on the street if he's with you. he has actual hearts in his eyes when he even sees you in his periphereals, if you are right in front of him, dear lord save him.

the two of you were walking down the street to the conveince store. your pinkies were linked together as yuji listened to you talk about your day and the training you had to do. at one point you were complaining about gojo's antics as an irresponsible teacher and yuji couldn't help but think how adorable that annoyed look on your face was.

the pout on your lips, even you rolling your eyes was so attractive to him. he was enthralled by your story and, of course, you, he didn't even realize that he walked right into the clear glass door of the store.

as he face planted staight into the wall, you immediately are fussing over if he is alright. he turns to you with a grin, nodding his head to show he was fine. but the smallest drop of blood coming from his nose said otherwise.

and as you fretted over his very minor injury, he couldn't help but sigh in content as he thought you tending to him was the most heartwarming thing he has ever experienced.

"you'd be a great nurse, [name]," he says, not minding the subtle glare you threw at him, "your hands are so soft and gentle-"

"they're about to smack you if you don't shut up," you gruffly replied, but yuji wasn't deterred at all in singing your praises even more.

"you're so kind to me," he says with a dreamy look in his eyes.

once again, you sighed heavily at your boyfriend's attitude, pinching his ear, "quit it, yuji! what if you actually got hurt, you're lucky it was just a rush of blood. you need to be more focused, especially if we're gonna be out there fighting curses,"

yuji, unfortunately, doesn't take any of your warnings seriously. as he presses his cheek to the palm of his hand, he just stares at you lovingly, "what do you think? should we buy you a cute little nurse outfit and i can be your sick patient? you'd look so handsome in scrubs!"

another pinch to his ear, "yuji! are you even listening?!"

- has this really adorable habit of just getting lost in whatever you're saying and blinking owlishly at you with a very cute smile on his face. it's a really adorable sight, but when you're actually trying to tell him something, he's just looking at you like ":3" and not at all listening to what you're saying.

"gojo-sensei said to be extra careful because the blades were just sharpened, alright?" you advised, looking at the myriad of cursed tools that you were going to be training with. "hm, what do you think suits your fighting style more, babe?"

yuji only tightened his grip around your waist, burying his face into your neck as he was just too focused on your body against his to even begin formulating an answer to your question. even though it was a fairly easy question to answer.

"itadori yuji," you warn, sensing that he was spacing out once again.

"noooo," he whines, squeezing you tight, "'m your baby, not itadori yuji," he complains, exaggerating his name as if it were the worst sound in the world.

"well, you're going to stay itadori yuji until you answer my question," you say, wondering why you had to disclipline your boyfriend as if he were your child. you soften up though when you hear him whine once again, burying his head deeper into your neck.

ruffling his hair as a way of comforting him, ultimately caving in to his whines and attitude, you softly say, "baby, can you just help me out really quick?"

"kisses after i do?"

"of course,"

yuji is grinning like a fool and is suddenly very intrigued in the conversation on what curse tool works best with his fighting style.

GIVE ME ITADORI YUJI AS MY BOYFRIEND and id treat him like a king, thats all im saying. he deserves so much love, please.

[shepscapades]

looking through your docsuma tag.....love them. wish they had one more combined braincell so they could realize their feelings

HERE'S THE THING THOUGH OKAY the problem is actually that they're both too smart about their feelings. you've got me down a horrible rabbit hole okay let me do my best to explain without being a freak(reading this back over, i failed <3).

Xisuma takes longer to realize, first of all. He's got so much to deal with coming out of s8 and through the beginning of s9 that quite frankly he's really just grateful to have another friend he can count on and trust, and he's so consumed by getting the androids back in working order on top of his actual season 9 plans (on top of Cleo shoving self care down his throat and demanding that he make a better habit of taking breaks and taking care of himself, which takes a LONG time to adjust to, if it can be argued that he ever does) that he doesn't really realize he's developed feelings for Doc until his heart beats him over the head with it randomly one day. Probably sometime in S10. Even then, because of said busy-ness, I think Xisuma has a very hard time getting over the meta-ness of a creator developing feelings for his creation and the selfishness of that reality amidst all of his other responsibilities, and he is likely too scared/overwhelmed to entertain the thought of the feelings themselves, much less the likelihood of reciprocation or the fantasy of a relationship.

Doc, on the other hand, realizes he is developing feelings for Xisuma kind of steadily throughout the course of s9, since that's when they start spending so much more time together in the lab working on androids and improving android tech. As a general statement, Doc is very aware of himself, all of the time. His awareness of the self is very important to his sense of normalcy and control, so any time he experiences a new emotion, he notes it, logs it.

So, while he's very aware of the feelings he's developing as they happen, he doesn't quite put a name to it/realize what it actually is until he talks to Tango and Etho, funnily enough--It's definitely one of those moments where Tango or Etho or whomever are explaining their struggles with the physical manifestations of their... idk, lovesickness-- ie, thirium pump rate irregularities, temperature fluctuations, influxes of feelings they've described as a combination of longing, affection, want, happiness, yearning... and Doc, as the unbiased third party to put 2 and 2 together, explains to them that those are obvious signs of romantic attraction, only very belatedly realizing several hours later that those are the exact symptoms he hasn't quite been able to put a name to. Naturally he's exceptional about being quiet about this realization until he slips up during a maintenance check-in with Tango sometime after, who is not doing well in s9, and Tango (mid romance-ranting) catches the passing of a wistful expression on Doc's face and calls him out for "totally thinking about someone right now" (Teasing aside, tango promises to keep Doc's secret).

So, despite knowing well his feelings before X ever develops his own, Doc is actually very, very careful about them-- He knows more than anyone else how busy Xisuma is. He knows how stressed X is. He also knows Xisuma seems to be more knowledgeable when it comes to emotions and feelings, and despite the clear signs that Xisuma shows interest(?) in him as well, Doc can only assume there is a good reason nothing romantic has happened between them-- he trusts Xisuma more than anything, and he--firmly-- will not breach this trust by acting on something Xisuma does not seem to be ready for (or does not seem to want yet(yet?)). Therefore, Doc is patient, and even though as Season 10 develops and Doc becomes aware of the likelihood that Xisuma could return the feelings, he trusts Xisuma's emotional intuition more than anything. He, painfully, recognizes Xisuma's discomfort (or hesitation), concludes that there must be a missing variable in this equation he cannot grasp, and decides to let Xisuma lead because of it. He will not push farther than he feels Xisuma has.

It's definitely one of those "fell first" "fell harder" type situations I think. I'm normal about them. can you tell

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for snapping at a friend?

Posting for an unbiased opinion. I have this friend (both M, both minors, same age) that I've known since we were babies. We've always been pretty close, and we've always been somewhat competitive, but not in a toxic way, really.

One thing we share is that we both LOVE animals. Neither of us had a pet when we were younger, but we've spent a lot of time talking about what we want and trying to convince our parents for pets, but they wanted us to grow and prove responsibility first.

Knowing this, you could see how exciting it was when a few months ago my Grandpa (who is a zoologist) took us both to get our first pets. It seems unrelated, but it's relevant to know that we both now have the experience and bond with them.

Early last week, I lost my rat. Vet says there was nothing I could have done different, it was an injury he couldn't heal from, but it's taken a toll on me. He wasn't even very old, and I've been feeling awful!

My little guy was buried in a little cemetery for pets, and I took him there on my own to bury (it was safe for me to go alone, don't worry!) and just kinda... sit. I needed to process this, I've never dealt with the death of a pet before. He wasn't my first to get, but my first to lose. While I was there, my friend showed up, and I snapped at him. All of his pets are fine, and I didn't even tell him I was going since I wanted some alone time, so it felt like he was there just to brag!

Over the last few weeks our competitiveness has gotten a bit more like a rivalry, I guess, and he's been able to "beat" me in everything! He's doing better at things I even started on first! Before we were about even, so this change had really gotten on my nerves.

Now, I honestly don't think I'm the asshole here, since I'm still dealing with the loss of my rat, but my Gramps says I need to apologize. Whatever. Smell ya later!

[st4rtar0t]

What will your future spouse love about you?

I'm offering paid readings if you're interested please dm me.

let me know your thoughts in the comments and I hope you enjoy this reading.

PICTURE 1

hello there! the first thing I want you to know is that your future spouse will love you just the way you are. I mean they'll literally be so in love with you. they'll see perfection in your flaws, I see that you are some who loves learning and your fs will love this, they'll love the way you'll share information about your latest interests. they will love how ambitious you are about the things you love. they'll love the way your sense of responsibility however I also see that they'll want you to chill out sometimes. I see that they'll lobe your voice especially your morning voice and for some of you I also see that you may make cute or strange voices sometimes and they'll love that, they'll love the voices you'll make when you see a cute animal. I sense that you guys have a really expressive face and your future spouse will love that. they'll love how you can spice up any situation, they'll love your fun personality. I also see that you can finally be yourself around them because whenever you tired to be yourself, you felt judged because you guys have a naturally bubbly personality. honestly you guys are cinnamon rolls wrapped up as black pepper. you try to put up a tough front in front of others but on the inside you just want to be held in someone's arms like you're their whole world. rest assured because your wish will be fulfilled because they love you so much.

PICTURE 2

I hope you are doing well! the message I got while channelling for you was that they love the way you style your hair, I sense that you guys may like to experiment with your hair to find the style that suits you the best. I am also getting the message that they love your moles, you may have a really noticeable mole on your face, arms and neck. I also see that some of you may have really pretty hands and your future spouse will love them. they'll love massaging them too. they'll love how you are always ready to try something new, how you are not afraid of what's about to come and how you are always open to new possibilities. they'll love your adventurous soul. I am also picking up on the message that you guys have really big eyes, you may have soft features that make you look cute. they will love the way you are able to adapt to new situations really easily because I see that you will have to travel a lot with your future spouse, so you'll need to adapt to new places. they will also love your down to earth personality, they'll love how humble you are. they'll love the way you always treat others with kindness. In their eyes you are literally a blessing from god himself. they will love how protective you are of your loved ones because I see that your future spouse may have had a harsh childhood growing up, so your protectiveness makes them feel loved and cherished.

PICTURE 3

Hello! I sense that your future spouse is someone who has been through a lot of difficult situations and as a coping mechanism they use a cold exterior to save themselves from the outer world and they love the way they can be themselves around you. They love the way you can understand them without even saying anything at all. i also see that they love your independence. They love the way you both know what the other wants without saying anything. They love how unbiased you are, they love the way you can understand a situation from different perspectives. I see that your future spouse feels protected and understood in your presence. This message may be a bit strange but they love your family, they love your culture and the customs you follow, for some of you your future souse may be from different culture. your future spouse will love your straightforwardness, they love the way you always speak your mind. I see that they hate people pleasers because at some point they have been that way. I also see that they love your hospitality, they love how you are always ready to welcome people. I see that they love being babied by you but at the same time they loving they way you love them. to be honest I see that a lot of people have used them for their money, but they never have to worry about you using them for money because they are capable and independent.

I hope you enjoyed this reading!! and please leave suggestions for the readings you will like to see in future.

[zutarasbuff]

I watched the Netflix adaptation of ATLA today and being a hardcore fan of the OG series who knows every nook and cranny of the ATLA world, here’s my unbiased and truly honest review (It contains both the negatives and positives of the series, so dear reader please enter to read at your own risk).

Firstly, let’s talk about the wonderful additions to the already magical world of ATLA.

1. The depth of the genocide

Well, I always wanted to know how the air nomads were suddenly wiped out and how it would have been for them? Why didn’t they resist? I got my answers in the first episode where we explore how the unhinged power of the comet was “actually” used to create a genocide on a massive level. Before that, I had only heard about it in the OG series. Those few scenes were so powerful that they had left me sobbing uncontrollably and Gyatso’s concern regarding Aang had me bawling.

2. Suki’s Characterization

In the OG series, we do find our Suki the fiercest warrior, but here in the live action, she’s an absolute goddess. She is perfect in every sense. She understands the responsibilities she has being a non-bender and is fearless. Her character is what I believe to be was the strongest one of all.

3. Graphics & Music

We never talk about a film by M.Night (that didn’t happen), but this one is really a visual treat for you can readily set yourself up for some mind-blowing bending scenes, plus the fight scenes are quite impressive. It seems that the VFX team had really done their homework this time. Plus, both Momo and Appa are so freaking cute. I loved the fluffy Appa. Good work over there. The revival of the OG theme is also a highlight plus the sun warriors’ chanting in the end is given a new but intriguing twist. The background music especially in scenes where Aang unravels his Avatar powers is mystical in every aspect.

4. Life in motion

I don’t know about others, but I have always been a sucker for animation as well as live-action where characters are operating even in the direst of the circumstances. Life is there and even after they know what happened a hundred years ago, they are still trying to believe and regain their past confidence. This is beautifully portrayed and I was very much impressed by the way people are continuing their day-to-day activities even in the middle of a crisis.

Overall, the series serves the purpose of an adaptation carrying its unique colors (at least better than the previous live-action disaster that didn’t happen).

Now let’s move to the bad side, and when I say it’s honestly what I felt, you need to take my word on it being a hardcore Atla fan.

1. Weak writing & lots of exposition

ATLA remains at a 9.2 IMDB rating even after years because of its writing, strong plot, and very few plot holes. This time, the writers are the real amateur ones. Despite adding more to the already flourishing universe of ATLA, sadly, they killed the quest of the viewer to find answers. There is too much exposition. It seems that every character just wants to see the end of the war and keeps on revealing things after things. Plus, some of the OG moments that were the soul of the series are not even included. The way Aang finds Momo and then decides to keep it with him as a last remnant of their bygone air nomad civilization is nowhere to be found. In fact, the replacement of Roku with Kyoshi is the biggest disappointment. I love Kyoshi like no one else but that was unnecessary as per the cycle.

2. Bland acting

Even the worst writing shots can be digested only if the acting appears real good. Sadly, this is another issue that I found with the NETFLIXED version. No doubt the characters must have done a lot of hard work for this, yet, they lack the expressive power. Gordon as Aang is super cute but the goofiness is not even there. Katara seems a nerd who doesn’t like to talk much even when it’s necessary and Sokka’s jokes are forced. Meanwhile, Dallas seems to save the day at one point, but again his over-the-top angry young man attitude ruins it for me. Maybe the actors will learn from the criticism in the upcoming season (if Netflix plans to go with it).

3. Major changes

Yes, it’s okay to change the narrative while you are working on an adaptation, but targeting the loyal viewers who are OG fans of ATLA means that you have to be very careful when you are trying to implement your changes in scenes that are the real soul of the OG. You can’t change the Omashu myth as if it’s nothing when we actually see even the cute animated version of the folklore. You cannot portray Roku more as a perpetrator of the genocide and Bumi as the evil king when in truth he’s the mad king who’s known for his genius ways of teaching. I hated that. Plus, reducing Zhao’s authority and taking Uncle Iroh’s sarcastic attitude is just meh. Mai again doesn’t even seem perfect as a cast. Jet is good as far as the aesthetics are concerned but Jet being in Omashu doesn’t even sit right with me. The amalgamation of multiple storylines creates so much confusion and this persists till the end.

4. Bending at convenience

We all know how Katara’s bending progressed throughout the first season and it’s little effort each day. However, in series, one day she’s unable to bend even a droplet of water and the next day she is capable of producing ice crystals. This was unacceptable for me because I was anticipating her learning strategies. Besides, Aang doesn’t learn much water bending throughout this season and in the end, it’s him being the savior in Avatar state. Thoughtless bending sucks despite the great VFX and that’s one thing at which you can’t convince me otherwise.

5. Forced friendships

We all know how it took some time for Sokka to embrace Aang as a chum. However, here Sokka keeps on calling him “the kid” and remains mostly alienated from Aang. Talking to Katara, then she also seems more interested in helping Avatar fulfill his goal than being with a friend. I hated the scene where Aang comes into the Avatar state and instead of hugging him just like in the OG series, Katara runs along Sokka and keeps on calling his name. How is that going to build any organic friendship? I think the first mistake began right from the very moment when Aang was taken back to Wolf Cove on a boat in his unconscious state. Upon opening his eyes, the first person he finds near him is neither Katara nor Sokka but a tribesman who’s playing guessing games. Writers were really high when they wrote that.

6. Lack of the four nations’ biodiversity

Maybe in live action, it’s difficult to create all the marvels of the four nations when we talk about their natural biodiversity. In the OG series, it is indicated by Aang that even after 112 years, he has still not forgotten the animals that define different regions in the four kingdoms and that’s exactly why he wants to finish those “important tasks” alongside saving the world. His important tasks included keeping a check on the natural biodiversity of the lands and exploring whether the Hundred Years’ War had not damaged the majestic animals. Actually, his first dialogue right after regaining consciousness is to go for an otter penguin’s ride with Katara. When I thought about that I felt that somewhere in Aang’s mind he was always connected to nature and that’s why he wanted to regain that connection by being an avatar. Sadly we never see much of the biodiversity but I hoped that maybe they will.

Also, how come Aang had that silent whistle for one hundred years when in the series he only discovers that accidentally? I missed the OG Yip Yip for our Appa. There are lots and lots of problems with the Netflix version, and no I am not being a nitpicker. I appreciate how the current creators credited the original ones, but now I know why Bryan and Michael bade farewell to this project. On a scale of 10, it’s a 4 for me or 4.5 if I am being too generous.

If I am asked to review the live action in a single line, I would only say this:

“The Netflixed ATLA makes you go back to the OG series and you end up watching the animation to give your mind a much-needed respite from a carefully crafted artistic disaster aimed at the sensationalized generation.”

[traincat]

You know something I just noticed? I don't... actually like Peter Parker.

No, seriously, I like the CONCEPT of Spider-Man and yeah, he's funny at times, but... I can't actually get invested in his canon self. It's ridiculous, it feels less like he's an interesting character and more being a superhero is the ONLY way to make him interesting (I know that's the charm), but...

Like, his phrase, "With great power comes great responsability", it feels... I don't know, childish? I like that nobody's FORCING him to be a hero, but he ALWAYS finds a way to make himself feel guilty over something and his assholeness is funny, but... not necessarily healthy?

The only thing going for him is Spider-Man, which ALSO destroys his life and I know that's somewhat unintentional, but I'm kinda tired of him angsting all the time. For instance: him not killing is Noble, him comiting to his City is admirable. It also makes it so he doesn't really prioritize people unless they had a HUGE impact in him and him not killing, makes the WORST consequences imaginable at times.

Or his "I know better" catastrophic. He's a good character for sure, but... I wouldn't want to be him. Like at all, his powers are cool, yet... that's it. I like his concept more than his canonical self (hell, I prefer his FANON self), the only somewhat exception is his Lego version, but that's cause everyone's sillier.

It's that weird or something? 😶

Anon I sincerely mean no offense but there's two explanations for this ask and one is that you're trolling me and the other is that you haven't really read much Spider-Man. I'm going to assume it's the second to be nice and because you've kind of hit two points that bother me in this fandom and thrown them together in the wash: the first is people forcing themselves to like Spider-Man because they feel like they should and in the process forcing him into this little box of bland and inoffensive likability (fanon Peter) and the second is just. being wrong about basic facts about Spider-Man but assuming they're right because Spider-Man being one of the most popular IPs in the world means everyone thinks they know everything about Spider-Man based on one catchphrase and half a Raimi movie.

And it makes me feel like this.

Like this is not your fault! These assumptions you've brought into my inbox are not your fault. Spider-Man marketing is set up around making people feel like they know Spider-Man and it's a fucking problem because it means people come into a six decade long soap opera with hardline beliefs already stamped on them and it is really hard to get people to change their opinions. I know! I was there! I was one of those people! Every day I'm thankful I didn't post fanfiction when I was in my early Spider-Man days because it would make me look like such a hypocrite but also I didn't know Spider-Man until I committed to reading eight thousand comics.

"Him being a superhero is the only way to make him interesting" potentially yes because one thing about Peter Parker that canon makes abundantly clear is that without Spider-Man he is a miserable fucking bastard. Like he sucks so bad. Spider-Man unleashes a deep well of empathy and kindness in him that might have existed but would not have surfaced without his experiences as Spider-Man because it was locked behind a concrete wall of bitterness twelve feet thick.

(Amazing Fantasy #15/Sensational Spider-Man #41)

"Him not killing is noble but" you're thinking about Batman. You are thinking about Batman. Spider-Man "doesn't kill" the way I'm "not writing this post right now." Peter aims not to kill. Peter talks a whole big game about not killing. His track record on that goal is not great. I have a whole post about that here. (cw for discussions of suicide related to Spider-Man vs Wolverine.)

Like, the thing about Peter and I think this is actually one of the biggest things about Peter is that you can't take what he says about himself 90% of the time too seriously. He is NOT an unbiased narrator of his own life. He will say one thing in his own internal narration and then you will be shown something completely different and you need to trust what you see and not what he tells you.

"Gee whillickers I've never done any crime" says man who literally only does crime. (Web of Spider-Man #43)

Two things can be true simultaneously: Peter can have a no kill rule and Peter can be spectacularly bad at enforcing himself on this rule, because he is a giant hypocrite who believes in double standards for himself first and not for anyone else ever after. This is part of what makes him an interesting character -- it is not hard to push Peter over that no kill line. The character will go there. It's up to the writer, then, to keep Spider-Man's I would say unearned squeaky clean no murder image by throwing a wrench into his plans.

(ASM #595/ASM #637/ASM #542)

This is not the place for my unhinged powerpoint presentation about how Marvel has backed themselves into a corner on reversing One More Day because to do so with the appropriate narrative weight calls for Peter to kill the Kingpin. He SAID he was going to kill him. And he IS. (He just didn't say he would do it right now.)

"I wouldn't want to be like him" neither would I!! But I am going to argue that this is where Spider-Man marketing has failed everybody because, while there are certainly traits about Peter you're supposed to admire (for all I have been and will keep ragging on him he is without a doubt a bottomless well of goodness and he is one of the most deeply kind, if not nice, characters in the American pop culture landscape), whether or not you want to be a character is not a good litmus test for what makes a good character.

"With great power comes great responsibility is corny" is like. Did you know that the phrase doesn't originate with either Peter or Uncle Ben. The origin of the phrase is in the ending narration of Amazing Fantasy #15, after Peter stops himself from killing the burglar who killed Uncle Ben. It is literally Stan Lee and Steve Ditko making a point to the audience, and that point was later put in Uncle Ben's mouth. Is it corny because it's actually corny? Or is it corny because it has been so endlessly parodied by bad faith actors that its meaning has been diminished? Because all the phrase is doing is pointing out that people with more power (be it physical, economic, or societal) have a greater responsibility to those with less power than them. Because Peter has these gifts, he owes it to other people to act responsibility. You can sum up Spider-Man as a story about power and abuse: the villains abuse their power. Spider-Man is different than the villains because, though he has great power, he chooses not to abuse it. Spider-Man as a character is a distillation of Tikkun Olam, a Jewish principle that means "healing the world." "You do not have to finish the work, but you cannot abandon it." This is why Spider-Man is street level. He doesn't have to finish the work. He doesn't have to save the whole world. He just has to do what is in his power to do, every single day, and that's where the conflict comes in, because it would be easier for him to walk away, but because he has the power, and because he is an ethical man, he can't. And this concept was distilled down very, very well in "with great power comes great responsibility" because it's a very simple phrase that takes a complex ethical issue and makes it easy to understand.

"Ordinary. Saddest face I ever saw. He tries to smile, but I know it hurts. This is all for my benefit. He wants me to be okay, and he's giving me this." (Spectacular Spider-Man v2 #14)

Spider-Man is not a faceless cardboard cutout you're supposed to endlessly project on and the Disneyified marketing's insistence on that is what ends up with people insisting that a character who has remained popular in the culture for six decades has zero actual personality traits and is instead just some mirror to hold up against the viewer, letting them reflect whatever they want back on him. And it sucks.

And then I, as a person who loves canon 616 Peter and think he's one of the most complex and realistic characters ever written specifically because he is so flawed, end up writing these screeds even though I told myself I wasn't doing Spider-Man discourse any longer.

me @ myself.

But like here's the thing about the second point: you are not obligated to like any character. This has been bothering me about greater Spider-Man fandom (and adaptations) for years because I think there's this incredible push for people to like Peter Parker. There's this feeling like, yeah, you have to like this guy, because he's so popular, and because so much of the marketing is based upon everyone liking him. The truth of the matter is not every character is going to resonate with every fan and that's totally normal. But there's this idea that you have to like Peter Parker especially, because he's the relatable superhero, but no one character is going to be relatable to everyone, and in order to make him more relatable to the widest audience possible (the most desirable to advertisers audience possible) (white cis goyishe straight men ages 8-40) (who might buy a sportscar) his actual personality has to be watered down as much as possible so he can be used, essentially, as a mirror to reflect the audience, instead of as a fully developed character that the audience can empathize with if not relate to. This is why the MCU movies look like that. It's why the last few comic runs have looked like that. You are not obligated to like Peter Parker if he doesn't work for you. There is literally nothing wrong with that. But so much of Spider-Man fandom is built on people who don't like canon Peter and instead erode his personality in various ways to fit him into neat little boxes which is how we end up with fanon Peter, who resembles, in practice, what you're describing a lot more than canon Peter does. And if you like fanon Peter, that's fine. Lots of people like fanon Peter! That's why he's so widespread, because he's much easier for fans to project whatever they want to on him. That's not an insult, but an observation, because I think he serves a purpose. It's not canon Peter's purpose, and it's not a purpose I personally am interested in, which is also fine, because not everything works for every person.

Canon Peter is complicated, and he doesn't always do the most likable thing, and he has a lot of flaws, but that's what makes him interesting and so fully developed. And a fully developed character is one not everyone is going to like. There's literally nothing wrong with that.

(ASM #129)

[schildpadkneus]

Since there is a lot of misinformation when it comes to the "incident" that got Joost Klein disqualified I figured I'd put a post out with information from actual news outlets and not speculations from social media users.

If you are too lazy to read everything, here's a summary of everything I've been able to find:

After his performance in the semi finale, Joost was filmed despite agreements he wouldn't be.

The camera woman did not listen when he asked her to stop several times.

Joost got angry and made the camera woman in question feel so threatened the police was called on Joost.

Despite what fans think, it was confirmed by Dutch commentator Cornald Maas that the Israeli act and their delegation were not involved. I understand the frustration with their participation and I ranted about their disgusting behaviour at Eurovision here, but they were not involved with this incident.

He did not hit or even touch the woman involved.

Nor did she make any remarks about his parents.

STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION.

Continue to read for more details.

Edited only for later addition (as indicated) and slightly changed the wording because I was rambling in the initial post.

According to Avrotros (the Dutch broadcaster of Eurovision), Joost had made a threatening motion towards the woman.

According to the Swedish Aftonbladet, multiple witnesses say he behaved very aggressively and damaged/broke(?) the camera.

The rest of this will be speculating. Hopefully as unbiased as possible.

Based on other interviews and discussions about the incident in Dutch media, it sounds like Joost was probably just very overwhelmed. It is reasonable to think the artists are under a lot of pressure to perform well, and it's fair to conclude the controversy of Israel's participation has only added to artists' frustration and the pressure. Add the whole aspect of this being Joost's childhood dream and the passing of his parents and the fact he had already complained about the many many rules of eurovision and you get this explosion of emotions and frustrations. Apparently he also gets very emotional during the outro, and I imagine such a performance does come with loads of adrenaline.

Considering that nice little cocktail of stress, frustrations, emotions and adrenaline, it is likely he just snapped. He was already on the edge, and then the employee filmed him when he didn't want to be filmed and didn't back off when he asked her to, so he did something stupid and irrational.

That is a human response, I don't think he's a bad person for that, I just think he did something stupid in the heat of the moment. If it was something really bad he would've been arrested and locked up, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. That does not mean he should go unpunished, however.

Whatever he did, he made this photographer/camera woman (sources alternate between which one it was) feel so threatened the police got involved. I trust this judgement.

Don't get me wrong, I do think she should have stopped filming when she was asked, but we don't know the full story here. She could have misunderstood the situation, maybe she was unaware of the agreement she should not have been filming him, maybe it was just a stupid mistake.

Regardless of what truly happened, I hope we can all agree both were in the wrong but both have also been punished enough now.

The employee in question should not have been filming in the first place and stopped when asked.

Joost should not have done whatever it was he did.

For the love of god, please stop meddling in situations we know virtually nothing about and definitely stop taking sides. It is never ok to wish horrible things upon anyone.

We don't know what happened and chances are we will never fully know. We don't even know any of these people, we don't know what they are like, we only have little bits and pieces.

I also really want to know but it's not that difficult to just shut up and not say anything in favour of or against anyone until we have more details. You can condemn people for their actions but not when we don't even know what those actions were.

They both should have been punished and they both were.

A bunch of you should have been punished for the vile things I've seen you spout about Joost or this poor woman.

Basic fucking decency and common sense is not that difficult.

Later addition: (I've calmed down a bit)

I posted this about an hour ago but I want to add I do support Joost and feel bad for him but if it is true he punched and broke a camera it disqualification was not an unreasonable punishment. The awful rumours were just an unnecessary kick in the stomach.

If it turns out he did not damage the camera I will happily eat my words.

It is a pity he did not perform in the grand finale considering the huge potential it had but we can't excuse that behaviour. I hope he learns from this situation enough to prevent himself from getting in more trouble.

This does not mean I support the ebu btw <3 fuck the ebu

[rmorde]

To add another layer of tragedy to Geto's "Fall" is just how poorly SaShiSu communicated with each other post-Toji.

Before everything fell apart for them, SaShiSu are in harmony with one another:

Satoru is the impulsive loudmouth assuming anything and everything.

Suguru is the responsible caretaker silently analyzing everything.

Shoko is the unbiased, unflappable, and supportive observer.

They play each other off really well as seen in EP 1* Basketball Scene.

Satoru instigates trouble.

Suguru was ready to rein him in.

Shoko leaves them to hash it out themselves (and presumably heal their beaten asses later).

Their trio just works. They understand each other and react accordingly.

However, Suguru changed post-Toji. He went out of sync and neither Satoru nor Shoko noticed. Their dynamics here backfired.

Satoru is assumptious. As far as he was concerned, Suguru was okay because his image of him as his "equal" never shattered. Satoru assumed that Suguru is still keeping up with him - that they are still the Strongest together. He never noticed that Suguru is faltering because he was blind to it.

Shoko is reactive. She never really takes the initiative with Satoru and Suguru. She always leaves others to their own businesses and only comes in to help during the aftermath or when asked to without judgement. She may have noticed Suguru is struggling but waited for him do or say something about it first.

Suguru is a martyr. Being the "responsible one" meant he cannot be a bother to Satoru and Shoko. He would rather wrestle his own demons alone than show weakness to them because if he did, then what else is he? What would be his role in their relationship? So, he suffered in silence.

Suguru changed but he tried to maintain his old dynamic with his friends. Meanwhile, Satoru was too comfortable to notice the change and Shoko was too patient to adapt to it.

SaShiSu were rendered unable to communicate properly their needs and care for each other until they broke apart.

This is a problem which, frankly, I think still plagues Shoko and Satoru in the current time.

Shoko remains a steadfast and stalwart friend. She always has Satoru's back even if it was against the higher ups.

But she still waits for Satoru to reach out and ask for her first. She is still unable to take the initiative in their interactions. Hence, she felt like Satoru is not truly seeing her support.

Satoru is still an assumptious friend who respects and relies on Shoko's strength - as their resident doctor and his "rock". He likely never thought that Shoko needed his overt appreciation and reassurance of their relationship.

Shoko also trusts him. Satoru draws confidence from that. So he'd most assuredly wouldn't show any vulnerability to worry her even if he wants to. He didn't want to break her trust.

In short, SaShi are two emotionally constipated fools that are still communicating poorly with each other. What a pair of painfully mutually pining friends. They should be locked up somewhere together so they can hash things out between them.

I mean, look at these two. They walk so far apart from each other.

And yet, they are keeping up with each other's pace.

Just talk with each each other for real. Please 😭

[perfectsunlight]

(𝟔𝟏) - ✰ 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 ✰

𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌: im on the verge of tears

𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮

all i want is nothing more

to hear you knocking at my door

the rain poured down on the city streets, creating a water way on the sidewalk and walkways. ning was thankful she didn’t have to walk home like she did during pre-debut days.

her manager opened the door for her, making her sit down inside the all black vehicle before the door shut behind her. 

ningning always thought of you whenever it rained. it was raining the night she met you, all those years ago.

the ambience of the car lulled ningning into deep thought. soft sounds of the midnight rain added to the sounds of the evening. with her head leaning on the window and the scenery passing by, she found herself remembering you once again.

“hi, roomie.”

ningning screamed so loud and nearly dropped her water bottle onto her foot when she walked into her dorm drenched from the rain, only to see a complete stranger standing there. 

the chinese girl’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared wide-eyed at the unfamiliar face standing in the center of her dorm room. her mind raced to comprehend what was happening. 

how did some stranger enter her dorm? and why did she refer to her as her "roomie"?

"um. excuse me?" ningning managed to stutter, her voice filled with a mix of confusion and caution. she clutched her water bottle tightly, unsure of how to react to this unexpected intrusion. the sounds of water from her soaking jacket dripping onto the floor filled the room.

you had the most beautiful face she had ever seen in her life. you slowly blinked in surprise and quickly realized your mistake. 

"oh, i'm so sorry! i apologize for scaring you," you explained apologetically, voice laced with embarrassment. nevertheless, you still smiled at her. “i’m y/n. your new roommate.”

confusion laced ning’s features. roommate? since when did anyone want to room with her? everyone in the company held some sort of unbiased resentment towards her for simply being chinese.

“are you new here?” the other girl asked slowly. 

you nodded, understanding ningning's confusion and the underlying tension she felt. "yes, i'm new. i just arrived at the company today." your voice held a hint of nervousness, as you were unsure of how ningning would react to your presence.

ningning's gaze softened as she took in your words, realizing that you were in a similar situation as she once was. the empathy she possessed kicked in, urging her to offer a warm welcome and make you feel at ease.

"well, y/n, welcome to the dorm," ningning said, a genuine smile gracing her lips. "i'm ningning."

you visibly relaxed at ningning's kind response. the weight of uncertainty lifted from your shoulders, replaced by a sense of relief.

"thank you, ningning." you replied sincerely before motioning towards her. “you can leave your jacket on the chair, i’ll dry it for you.”

the other girl’s heart swelled with gratitude at your offer, appreciating the small act of kindness. she removed her soaked jacket and handed it to you, watching as you carefully draped it over the back of the chair.

"thank you, y/n," ningning said, her soft voice filled with genuine appreciation. "i really appreciate it. it's been a long day, and your kindness means a lot."

you smiled warmly at her, a glimmer of understanding in your eyes. "i'm glad i can help. we're roommates now, so it's important that we look out for each other."

and as she looked into your eyes and mirrored your radiant smile, ningning suddenly didn’t feel alone anymore.

'cause if i could see your face once more

i could die as a happy man i'm sure

“hey ning?”  

the mentioned girl hummed in response to your call as she scrolled through her phone aimlessly.

“can you teach me some chinese?”

ningning nearly dropped her phone on her face because she shot up into a sitting position so fast. she had been in korea for over 4 years, and she never once got asked by anyone to learn even a little bit about her native language.

“what did you just say?” she asked in utter disbelief, still not believing you actually had asked her that.

you couldn't help but chuckle at ningning's surprised reaction. it seemed you had caught her off guard with your request. 

"i said, can you teach me some chinese?" you repeated, a smile playing on your lips. "you’re my roommate, so i thought it would be a great opportunity to learn some basics from you."

ning’s eyes widened with a mix of astonishment and delight. it was a refreshing change to have someone genuinely interested in her culture and language.

a warm smile spread across her face as she realized the significance of your request. "of course," she replied eagerly. "where would you like to start? greetings? basic phrases?"

you spent the evening engrossed in a lively language exchange. ningning patiently guided you through the intricacies of pronunciation and vocabulary, sharing stories and cultural tidbits along the way.

as the weeks passed, your chinese skills gradually improved, and ningning couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in your progress. 

she was grateful for the opportunity to share her language and culture with you.

this small action meant more to ningning than anything else in the world. now she understood why minjeong loved you so much. you were truly a genuine person.

and as you continued to learn chinese, you not only gained knowledge of a new language but also gained a deeper understanding of ningning's heritage and the experiences that had shaped her.

your eagerness to learn and embrace her culture touched ningning's heart, reinforcing the importance of open-mindedness and acceptance in building lasting connections.

in the end, it wasn't just about language; it was about the willingness to understand her better. and ningning couldn’t help but feel like she was being seen for once in her life.

not as an sm rookie or a child star, but simply just as ning yizhuo.

when you said your last goodbye

i died a little bit inside

“no, y/n come on. you know i’m your best friend.” minjeong pleaded, on her knees as she looked at you.

ningning mirrored minjeong’s actions, looking up at you in the same manner. “come on, we’re roomies. you have to give it to me.”

you couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sight in front of you. this situation started because you asked if either of them wanted any of your leftover soup. however, you didn’t anticipate that both of them would want it.

“i’ve known you longer.” “i have pictures of you sleeping on the floor.”

“hey woah!” you interrupted them and started laughing louder. “okay, what if i split the soup in half? that way you both get some.”the two girls looked at each other, silently communicating. however, a certain raven-haired trainee walked over to you. jimin folded her arms over her chest and looked down at minjeong and ning with a confused face.

“am i interrupting something?” she said with a chuckle, glancing between you and your two best friends.

“these two are fighting over some soup.” you smiled up at the taller girl before jimin answered. “maybe i should take it, that way neither of them get it. i think that’s fair.”

minjeong immediately stood to her feet as ning gasped in shock. “absolutely not. there are no third parties allowed to interfere with this soup dealing.” minjeong said as she pointed a finger at jimin.

jimin raised an eyebrow at your best friend’s defiant stance, amused by her determination. she unfolded her arms and placed her hands on her hips, adopting a playful expression.

"well, if i can't have the soup, maybe i should be the judge in this case," jimin suggested, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "after all, i have the authority to make fair and unbiased decisions."

ningning and minjeong exchanged curious glances, intrigued by the taller girl’s proposal. the thought of having their dispute settled seemed exciting.

you couldn't help but chuckle at the unfolding drama. "alright, if you're up for the challenge, be our impartial judge. but remember, the fate of the soup lies in your hands," you declared dramatically, feigning seriousness.

jimin nodded, accepting her newfound responsibility with gusto. "very well, i shall hear both sides of the argument and render a fair verdict," she announced, adopting a mock judge's tone.

minjeong and ningning took turns presenting their cases, each passionately arguing why they deserved the soup. they provided compelling evidence, ranging from their friendship history to their shared living arrangements.

after considering their arguments (not really), jimin finally spoke up, a playful smirk playing on her lips. "i have reached my decision," she declared, eliciting anticipation from both parties.

with a dramatic pause, jimin pointed at the pot of soup. 

"the soup shall be divided equally between minjeong and ningning. case closed."

without another word, the two girls lunged for the bowl. minjeong and ning shoved each other out of the way playfully, trying to get the first taste over the other.

a familiar pair of hands rested on your waist from behind. “we should go before they start fighting again.” jimin whispered against the shell of your ear.

with a small nod, you turned around and rested your hand on your girlfriend’s bicep. “sounds good, babe.” you said aloud with a smile.

“babe?” minjeong shouted in shock, momentarily pausing her food fight with ningning. ning only looked between min and you before she added onto minjeong’s shocked words. “did you just call jimin babe?!”

“we’ll see you two later!” you called out over your shoulder while jimin laughed out loud, still having you on her arm.

i lay in tears in bed all night

alone without you by my side

“ning?” you called out softly, rubbing the back of your neck. “um. do you have a strong concealer?” 

the chinese girl looked confused for a second before turning to glance at you before resuming her skincare routine. “yeah, but i don’t think it’s your shade.”

“it’s not for my face.”

ningning paused her skincare routine, her eyebrows furrowing in curiosity as she turned to face you fully. "not for your face? then what do you…"

she couldn’t even finish her sentence because she could see the bright shade of pink on your cheeks. that was enough of a giveaway for her.

“oh.” ning laughed out loud at your current embarrassment. “wait, let me see the hickey. did jimin not listen to you or what?”

you let out a groan, feeling even more embarrassed now that ningning had figured it out. "yeah, jimin got a bit carried away last night," you admitted, trying to hide your blushing face with your hands.

ningning laughed even harder, finding the situation amusing. "well, it happens," she said with a shrug, still chuckling. "don't worry about it. let's see if this concealer can do the trick."

you reluctantly removed your hands from your face, allowing ningning to take a closer look at the hickey on your neck. she leaned in, examining it carefully, and then pulled back with a grin.

"okay, i think the concealer should be able to cover it up," she said, sounding more serious now. "let me work my magic."

you watched with curiosity as ningning applied the concealer expertly, blending it with precision. after a few moments, she stepped back to inspect her handiwork.

"well, what do you think?" she asked, a playful glint in her eyes.

you looked in the mirror and were amazed to see that the concealer had indeed done its job. the hickey was now hidden from view, and you let out a sigh of relief.

"wow, you're a pro at this," you complimented ningning, feeling grateful for her help.

she chuckled. "roommate perks, i guess." you thanked your friend profusely for her assistance and gave her a grateful hug. she patted your back with a smile, happy to have been of help.

"remember to be more careful next time," ningning teased, "or else you'll be wearing turtlenecks to practice all week."

“enough.”

'cause you brought out the best of me

a part of me i'd never seen

“unnie?” ningning whispered softly as she laid on the floor of the practice room with jimin. the two had been running through their choreo together for this month’s evaluation, leaving them both exhausted.

the older girl hummed in response, laying her arm over her eyes. she could feel her muscles aching all over, but being partners with your roommate made the hours of work feel like fun.

“do you love her?”

jimin’s heartbeat quickened at the sudden mention of you. she slowly removed her arm and turned her head to look at the younger girl. 

she had never heard such a serious question from the chinese girl before. “i do. why?” jimin answered softly.

ningning's gaze softened as she looked at jimin, her eyes filled with genuine curiosity and concern. she propped herself up on her elbows, mirroring jimin's serious demeanor.

"i can see it, you know," ningning replied quietly, her voice gentle. "the way you look at her, the way you talk about her. it's different. it's like there's a light in your eyes whenever she's around."

jimin's lips curved into a soft smile, touched by ningning's observation. she appreciated how perceptive your roommate was and felt comfortable opening up.

"she is the light," jimin confessed, her voice carrying a mixture of warmth and vulnerability. "i’ve never met someone who just radiates like she does. she’s the love of my life, the sun in my sky."

ningning nodded, a knowing look in her eyes. "i'm glad to hear that, unnie. you two deserve all the happiness in the world."

jimin reached out and placed a hand on ningning's arm, conveying her gratitude. "thank you, ning. it means a lot."

“but unnie?” ningning poked the inside of her cheek, a clear habit she had adopted from you. her eyes met jimin’s in a serious gaze.

“don’t hurt her. ever.”

jimin's expression turned serious as she locked eyes with ningning, fully understanding the weight of her words. ningning was rarely serious like this, so she knew that sentence held an underlying threat as well. 

she nodded, her voice filled with determination. "i promise you, ning, i will never intentionally hurt her," jimin vowed, her tone unwavering. "she means everything to me, and i will always strive to protect and cherish her."

ningning's gaze softened, her concern dissipating as she saw the sincerity in jimin's eyes. she reached out and placed a comforting hand on jimin's shoulder.

“good. because if not,” she paused to take a deep breath. “i don’t think i could ever forgive you. i don’t think minjeong would either.”

jimin's heart sank at the seriousness of ningning's words. she understood the depth of their friendship and the trust they placed in her. the weight of that responsibility settled upon her shoulders, and she nodded solemnly.

"i understand, ning. i would never want to jeopardize our friendship or hurt y/n in any way," jimin responded, her voice laced with sincerity and determination. "i will do everything in my power to be the person she deserves, to love and protect her with all my heart."

ningning's grip on jimin's shoulder tightened briefly before she released it, her expression softening. "i believe you, unnie. and i'm here for both of you, always."

jimin smiled gratefully, feeling the support of her roommate and friend. "thank you, ning.”

ningning knew at that moment that there was only one person on the face of this earth who could diminish your light, and she would give anything to make sure that didn’t happen.

but no one could have prepared her for the reality that was pending for your relationship with jimin.

you took my soul wiped it clean

our love was made for movie screens

“have you seen jimin?” you said in a frustrated tone, sitting down on the edge of ningning’s bed.

your roommate woke from her almost-nap and looked at you confused. “no. i thought she was with you?” she said slowly.

she watched your jaw clench before you scoffed and shook your head. “she’s been ignoring me. her and minjeong.”

ningning's eyebrows furrowed in concern as she observed your frustration. she sat up, giving you her full attention. "ignoring you? that doesn't sound like jimin. what happened?"

you sighed, running a hand through your hair. "i don't know. we had plans to meet up yesterday, but she canceled at the last minute, saying something came up. and since then, she hasn't been responding to my messages or calls. even minjeong has been distant."

her expression turned serious as she listened to your words. "that's strange. i've never seen unnie act like this before. maybe something's going on with her. have you tried talking to her directly?"

you nodded, a mixture of frustration and concern evident on your face. "i've tried, but she's been avoiding me. it's like she's intentionally keeping her distance. i don't understand what could have happened."

ningning's eyes narrowed slightly, her protective instincts kicking in. "i'll talk to her. maybe she just needs some space or there's a misunderstanding. don't worry, y/n, i'll figure it out."

you looked at ningning with gratitude, appreciating her willingness to help. "thank you, ning. i don't know what i'd do without you. please let me know if you find anything."

ningning nodded, determination in her gaze. "i promise, i'll get to the bottom of this. you deserve answers."

whatever was happening with jimin and minjeong, ning knew she would uncover the truth. 

the memory of the promise jimin made to her in that practice room rang in her mind. jimin would never hurt you. she swore on it. 

she spent the whole day looking around for the taller girl and your other best friend, however whenever she saw a glimpse of one or the other, they seemed to immediately make a beeline for the nearest exit out of the room.

ning didn’t like this. she didn’t like how jimin was acting. minjeong never promised anything to her, but jimin did.

jimin promised that she would love you always. this definitely didn’t look like that to her.

ningning's concern for both you and jimin grew with each passing moment. she couldn't shake off the unease that settled in her chest. she knew she had to confront jimin and find out what was really going on.

after a long day of searching, she finally managed to catch jimin alone in the practice room. the moment she walked in, jimin tensed, her eyes widening in surprise.

"ningning? what are you doing here?" jimin's voice held a hint of nervousness, but she quickly tried to compose herself.

ningning crossed her arms, her gaze piercing as she looked at jimin. "we need to talk, unnie. something's not right, and i want answers."

jimin's eyes darted around, avoiding direct eye contact. she knew that you must have told her what was going on. "look, it's not what you think. i just need some time to sort things out."

the younger girl’s voice remained firm as she pressed on, her concern evident. "and what about y/n? she's been worried sick, wondering why you and minjeong have been avoiding her. she deserves an explanation."

jimin's shoulders slumped, and she let out a defeated sigh. "i never meant to hurt her. there’s so much going on right now, ning and i don’t even know what to do."

ningning took a step closer, her voice gentle yet firm. "but jimin, you made a promise to y/n. you promised that you would never hurt her. remember?"

tears welled up in jimin's eyes as she met ningning's gaze, her voice barely above a whisper. "i remember, ning. and i meant every word. i just don’t know what to do anymore."

ningning softened her expression, “what’s going on?”

the taller girl took a deep breath before she answered. “management found out about our relationship. minjeong accidentally told them, and i thought this would blow over but they pulled me in there today and told me i had by the end of the week to decide if i want to stay in the lineup or not.”

“unnie,” ningning's eyes widened in shock as she absorbed jimin's revelation. the weight of the situation became clear to her, understanding the difficult choice jimin was facing. she reached out and gently placed a hand on jimin's arm. “does y/n not know this?”

jimin shook her head, her voice filled with regret. "i haven't been able to bring myself to tell her yet. i wanted to protect her from all of this, but it seems like i've only been hurting her more by keeping her in the dark."

the younger girl squeezed jimin's arm gently, conveying her support. "i understand that you were trying to shield y/n, but she deserves to know the truth. she's worried sick about you, about why you've been avoiding her. keeping her in the dark will only cause more pain."

jimin's gaze dropped, a mixture of guilt and sadness washing over her. "i know, ning. i need to talk to her, to explain everything. but i'm scared of what it might mean for us. i don't want to lose her."

ningning's voice softened as she spoke, her concern evident. "i can't guarantee what the future holds, unnie, but i believe that honesty and communication are key. y/n loves you, and she deserves to know what is going on."

jimin looked up at ningning, her eyes filled with gratitude and determination. she was right. the idol-to-be needed to face the music, regardless of how deafening it was.

but if you loved me

why did you leave me

ningning remembered the way you came back into the dorm silently sobbing. tears down your face and practically gasping for air.

“woah, what’s going on? what happened?” she said as she sprung to her feet, watching as you went straight into the closet and started taking clothes off of the hangers.

“it’s over, ning.”

at that moment time seemed to still, and ningning knew the worst case scenario had come true. jimin had broken her promise, to both her and you.

take my body

take my body

her heart sank as she watched you in your state of anguish. she quickly moved closer, placing a gentle hand on your arm as you continued to remove clothes from the closet.

"what happened, y/n? tell me," she urged softly, her voice filled with concern and a tinge of sadness.

you let out a shaky breath, tears streaming down your face as you spoke. "she broke up with me. she said it's because of the pressure from debut."

her grip on your arm tightened, her own eyes welling up with tears. she couldn't believe what she was hearing. those words didn’t even sound like the same jimin who talked about you like you were the sun in the sky.

 she pulled you into a comforting embrace, holding you tightly. "i'm so sorry, y/n." ningning whispered, her voice filled with genuine sympathy. "you don't deserve this.”

you clung to ningning, seeking solace in her presence. the betrayal and heartbreak felt overwhelming, but having your roommate and friend by your side provided a small sense of comfort.

after a few moments, you pulled away and wiped your eyes with the back of your hand. slowly, the feeling was seeping into ningning’s heart. the realization of what you were about to do was hitting her like a ton of bricks.

“y/n, what are you doing?” the chinese girl asked slowly, tears still on her waterline.

with shaking breath and a heartbroken stare, you could only muster up the smallest of voices. the sheer sound of it, and the weight of your words, made your roommate’s heart shatter.

“there’s nothing left for me here, ning.”

no. no. no. you were going to leave. after everything, you were going to just leave. 

she was going to be alone again. 

all i want is

all i need is

ningning's heart constricted with a mix of fear and desperation as she listened to your words. the thought of losing you, of being alone again, was unbearable. she couldn't let you go through this pain alone, couldn't bear the thought of you leaving.

"you still have me," she pleaded, her voice trembling with emotion. "we'll find a way through this. i'll support you, no matter what. please, don't leave."

tears streamed down ningning's face as she desperately clung to the hope that you would reconsider. she couldn't bear the thought of losing you.

“you are all going to debut, ning. i’m not.” you answered with a sad smile. “you’ve made it, ning. go live your dream.”the chinese girl shook her head rapidly. “no. i’ll remove myself from the group then. i refuse to do this without you.”

“yizhuo.” 

ningning felt this feeling before. she felt it when her father left her at the airport in harbin and told her he couldn’t leave with her. and now here she was, reliving that same sinking feeling with you.

to find somebody

i'll find somebody

tears streamed down ningning's face as she fought to keep her voice steady. "i don’t want to be an idol without you."

you looked at ningning, your heart torn between the pain of leaving and staying here. the thought of continuing without your friend felt impossible, but so did giving up on your own dreams.

"you and the others will be the best idols this generation has ever seen," you said, your voice filled with a mix of love and anguish. "you have worked so hard for this, and i can't ask you to give it up for me."

ningning shook her head, her voice filled with determination. "no." she reached out and gently held your hands, her teary eyes pleading with you to understand. "you don’t understand.” 

“listen,” your voice wavered at the end as your own tears continued to fall. “i love you more than anything, and just meeting you has made all this time worth it.”

“you’re all i have left, y/n!” ningning sobbed out, hands shaking as she gripped yours. “i have no one else if you go.” she said the last part in a desperate whisper.

ooh, if you loved me

why did you leave me

as ningning's words echoed in your ears, the weight of her desperation and love sank deep into your heart. you saw the fear and vulnerability in her eyes, and how she looked like a scared child.

it broke you.

in that moment, you realized that your decision affected not only your own life but also the life of the person who had become your confidante and your best friend. the thought of leaving ningning behind, and leaving her alone again, felt unbearable.

with tears streaming down your face, you held onto ningning's hands tightly, your voice filled with a mix of sadness and determination. "i can't bear the thought of losing you either. but i have to do this for myself."

ningning's grip tightened on your hands, her voice choked with emotion. "promise me, y/n. promise me that you’ll call me every day, and that you won’t just disappear and turn into a stranger."

take my body

take my body

a sad and small smile appeared on your lips. “oh ning,” you reached out and gave her a tight hug. “you could never be a stranger to me. i’d recognize your laugh anywhere.” you whispered, feeling your roommate’s body racking with sobs.

ningning clung to you, her body shaking with grief. she held onto the memory of your laughter, the sound that brought her comfort and joy. it pained her to imagine a future without your presence, without your friendship.

with every fiber of your being, you wanted to stay and be there for her. but deep down, you knew that you had to follow your own path, to pursue your dreams and find your own happiness. 

and even if she couldn’t admit it out loud at the time, ning knew it too.

"i promise, ning," you whispered softly, your voice filled with sincerity. "i'll call you every day. you'll always be a part of my life, no matter where i am."

ningning held onto you, tears soaking your shoulder as she sobbed. "i don't want to lose you, y/n. i don't want to be alone again."

you held her even tighter, trying to provide even an ounce of comfort that she desperately needed. "you won't be alone, ning. you have the girls, and they have you.”

“when do you leave?” she whispered, sniffling against your shoulder. you felt your heart squeeze before you answered her. 

“in the morning.”

all i want is

all i need is

her grip tightened, as if she could physically hold onto the remaining moments you had together. she buried her face in your shoulder, her voice muffled by the fabric of your clothes. "i don't want you to go. it's too soon."

you closed your eyes, your own heart heavy with the weight of impending separation. every fiber of your being wanted to stay, to comfort ningning and find a way to make everything okay. but deep down, you knew that you had to follow the path laid out before you.

“you're not losing me. we're just taking different paths for now."

ningning pulled away slightly, her teary eyes searching yours for any sign of doubt or hesitation. she wanted you to change your mind, to stay by her side, but she knew it was futile.

"i'll miss you," she said, her voice filled with a mixture of sadness and longing.

the ache in your chest intensified, the pain of leaving ningning behind becoming almost unbearable. "i'll miss you too."

when the morning came, the moment of departure arrived. the weight of your luggage felt heavier as you stood at the doorway, ready to step into a new chapter of your life.

ningning stood by your side, her face a mosaic of emotions. she reached out and took your hand, her grip strong and reassuring. "remember, no matter where you go or what you do, you'll always have a home here."

a bittersweet smile graced your lips as tears welled up in your eyes. "thank you for being my home, ning."

to find somebody

i'll find somebody

as the car moved through the quiet night, ningning's mind drifted back to memories of you. she closed her eyes and let herself be transported to the moments you had shared, the laughter, the tears, and the deep conversations that had woven your lives together.

she remembered the late-night talks when you would both pour out your hopes and dreams, supporting each other through every twist and turn. she recalled the times you would stay up all night practicing dance routines, pushing each other to be the best versions of yourselves.

the memories flooded her mind like a montage of cherished moments. your smile, your laughter, and the unspoken understanding between you brought a mixture of warmth and sorrow to her heart.

she could still hear the sound of your voice, the way you would whisper secrets and share your deepest fears. you were the person she could turn to for comfort and the one who could make her laugh until her stomach hurt.

ningning's fingers traced the outline of the necklace you had given her for her birthday before you left. 

the pendant, a delicate symbol of a butterfly, now rested against her chest, a constant reminder of you.

a single tear escaped ningning's eye, sliding down her cheek. it held the weight of both joy and sadness, the joy of having experienced such a profound friendship and the sadness of the physical distance that now separated you.

but despite the ache in her heart, ningning knew that you were happier now. 

with a deep breath, ningning wiped away the tears as the car stopped at a red light. looking over, she almost started sobbing when she saw you and your new group members on a banner. 

she remembered how excited you were when you got the call from hybe, and ning couldn't have been happier for you. but she missed you so dearly.

she wished it was sm who had called you instead, and offered to take you back into the group. but she knew that would never happen. 

the rain continued to fall, gently tapping against the windows as the light turned green. in the quiet moments of the car ride, she found herself pulling her phone out and finding your contact.

to: y/n/n

congrats on your debut :)

after she pressed sent, she found herself wiping more tears from her eyes, and cleaning off the few that had fallen onto her phone screen during the process.

and as she looked out into the dark, rain-soaked night, a glimmer of hope sparked within ningning. perhaps, someday, your paths would physically cross again, and you would once again be able to share the laughter, the tears, and the unbreakable bond that had defined your friendship.

it was all she wanted then, and it was all she wanted now.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ✫ ˚♡ ⋆｡ ❀ ┊ ☪︎⋆ ⊹ ┊ . ˚ ✧

you and jimin met as trainees before she debuted, and you two never felt more in love. however, once she breaks up with you before her debut, you completely leave SM entertainment under the notion of needing a fresh start. you eventually debuted a few years later in le sserafim, where you met huh yunjin and have slowly started developing feelings for the idol. much to karina's dismay, she hates to see you have moved on, but deep in your own heart, you still can't help but feel as if maybe she has forgotten about you.

𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @captivq , @wonyoluvr , @yunalvrrr , @spritin , @babycubchae , @vnschldd , @sserafimez , @chaersly , @rosiehrs , @baldd , @bwljules , @jenaissantesworld , @jennasluma , @dream-chasers-things , @lcv3lies , @elyds , @archerheejin , @vnschldd , @skisk1 , @cfvgbhndun-new-blog , @silantryoo , @phamminji , @bzeus28 , @writingficsblog , @strangegirlcode , @uzumakioden , @noiacha , @sserabey , @archerheejin , @pindoris , @yourstrulytrissmerigold , @jisooftme , @yacii , @ddrummie , @justalittledissociation

[ 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ]

[lady-shadow-and-darkness]

Why not leave?

I find it interesting how almost all the higher ups in the mafia don't really wish to be there, but despite having more than enough power and resources to leave, they don't.

Kouyou has been an executive since 15 (at least), and throughout those seven years I find it impossible to believe that she never thought about leaving. In fact, this is even addressed in this manga by Mori himself, to which she just responds with something lighthearted. Her earlier escape attempt was a fail, yes, but surely she understands that things are much different this time?

It is not her capability which is preventing her, but rather her mindset. And while this also ties into her responsibility, it is also important to note that she may very well believe that she can never truly be rid of the mafia and its teachings. It took an immense amount of reassurance for her to trust Kyouka in the hands of the agency, and even then, very reluctantly.

To Kouyou, I don't think that's a demonstration to her that she can leave, but rather a reminder of what she couldn't achieve in the past. And now, she most likely thinks that the mafia's influence on her is too deep to be shed off. She says as much herself to Kyouka, who has barely been in the mafia for 2 years at that point. Imagine what she thinks of herself. I do think that her duty to the mafia also makes her stay, she acknowledges that she's an important piece in their operations and jokes that it would fall apart without her. She has accepted her role in the mafia, and knows thinks it's too late to get out.

Mori, the leader himself, despite being...well, the leader, simply views his role in the mafia as necessary. He doesn't want to be the PM boss, his life in BEAST is clearly indicative of what he actually wants (you can't tell me an 'inherently evil person' ends up taking care of an orphanage in some universe), but he knows that he is the person best equipped to handle this role. His strategy of the "optimal solution", speaks to his neutrality and general capability of remaining apathetic towards necessary events which would most likely break someone else emotionally and mentally.

This isn't to say that he doesn't have any emotions, the man has a lot of them, it's just that he's incredibly adept at putting them aside and dealing with a situation completely unbiased. Fukuzawa acknowledges in canon that despite their great differences, a common motive that they share is the well-being of their city. In fact, Mori's making a HUGE sacrifice in his life just to maintain the workings of Yokohama. That's something you have to respect.

Chuuya is more of a complicated case. A lot of people in the fandom seem to disagree over whether he wants to stay or leave, but the answer is a bit more complex than the black and white ones we've been looking at. I'll be addressing this separately later, but for now, about Chuuya : I personally think that it is both, and he has conflicting feelings on this situation.

To start with, unlike Kouyou, we actually know when Chuuya came to be affiliated with the mafia. And that in itself isn't the most ideal set of circumstances, he had just been betrayed by his friends (who essentially raised him) because of a situation clearly orchestrated by the mafia (specifically Dazai, the one person he was coming to trust and resonate with), and more or less forced to be a new recruit. From stormbringer, we know that Chuuya's incentive for not leaving came from his need to protect his friends (who had already betrayed and backstabbed him at this point) from the mafia.

Any sane person would assume that Chuuya absolutely abhors the mafia at this point, but this isn't the case. Despite having his friends' lives hung over his head, he was still able to respect Mori and what he was working for (especially since he considered his own period of 'leadership' to be a failure). He was still able to care about the lives of his comrades and underlings who were also a part of the mafia (depicted in the dragon head incident). And he was still able to remain loyal to the mafia despite the several hardships and burns he faced for it.

Aside from his respect (and possible admiration) for Mori and the mafia itself, Chuuya's a person who's really attached to his relationships with people. He doesn't just respect the mafia, he also views it as his family. He has formed bonds with Kouyou, Mori, Dazai (shhh I don't want to hear anything), Akutagawa, Hirotsu...and even Gin, Tachihara and Higuchi. I mean, is there any known character in the mafia who this man doesn't know? He probably even knew Kyouka before she left. The only exception to this is Kyuusaku, and even that is because of his attachment to people (he's mad because Q, directly or indirectly, caused the death of his subordinates). He talks about burying his subordinates personally and contacting their families, if that isn't care, I don't know what is.

I think his arc with the mafia supporting him unanimously in stormbringer helped strengthen his attachment to it, which is why we've got the epilogue of him seeing his biological parents and declaring that the mafia is his true family in that LN. It's safe to say that he appreciates what he has right now a lot. But does that really mean he doesn't want to leave? In the very same light novel, it is ALSO implied that Chuuya longs for a life outside of the mafia. Hell, we literally have a character who was dedicated to bringing him to the light. And now, there is no risk associated with it either. But he chooses to stay. Or maybe the choice was never his.

With all of that said, I think it's incredible how BSD manages to portray what it's like for someone to lead a life of crime in the dark somewhat realistically in terms of feelings. It isn't some "badass mafia person" aesthetic (even though some people interpret it that way), it actually depicts the complexities that come with being associated with a criminal organisation in a fictional setting (to the best of its ability). Literally nobody in the mafia wants to be there, they just have to be. Sure, it offers them resources and opportunities which is why they choose to stay, but as an ability user, if they don't have the choice of living a normal life with the opportunities offered to an average person, do they really have a choice about being in the mafia at all?

[popponn]

things about sae.

it's sae's turn in my brain microwave. i want to understand you, underlashes senior. headcanons +observation+ rambling. spoilers, will be updated as time goes on.

scathing, mean af vocabs. pretty rude even as a child. but compared to rin, his cursing seems to be much tamer.

is REALLY focused on soccer. but also said in the character interview to not "only be able to/focus on soccer like him".

but in his introduction to u20 shows that he seems to value someone who goes all in to soccer. and it's kind of in line with the things he "admits" and chided. example a: shidou and isagi being individuals who are undeniably soccer obsessed (though on isagi's case as they haven't even talk, if i remember correctly, this might be more because of isagi's way of winning through "making use of luck"). example b: things he said in the u20 introduction in response to sendou.

headcanonish but this guy is giving me "burnout gifted child" vibe with all the prodigal status, expectations, and being hit in the face by the world. like what are you. are you satisfied by marina??????

there are few moments where he displays something that is pretty close to 'praise', but say it not to the related person/group himself. (i.e. his thoughts of blue lock in locker room, his comment about "dont switch out any of the u20 member".)

like is he being not nice on purpose????? honestly probably. headcanonish, but if seeing his way of giving comments to rin pre-spain, it's been like that since he was little. (i will check rin's ln again later)

in contrast to rin having "natural luck", this guy seems to more " making/seeking luck". but idk yet, with only ice cream sticks as clues. sae backstory and ln spin off when.

his eyes during the confrontation with rin in that snowy night are pretty expressive. but since visual cues leave a really wide room for interpretation + bllk tendency to subvert things, i will not comment. but honestly i really agree with the sentiment that sae was hurt by rin's words, but in the end the discouragement seems to come more from a place of "i don't want you to get hurt so just go home and don't play soccer anymore" (very very hc and more of an interpretation, as sae's pov is still non existent)

aka yeah, this guy is shit at displaying concern and any sort of care. headcanon but. do you see the vibe??? with rin???? like it's similar. what is this genetic.

simple fashion, but pretty trendy and chic(?).

this guy seems like a family guy who misses his family a lot. (please make up soon with your lil bro)

watches chibi maruko chan. has habits that genuinely reminds me of old people (drinking tea, looking at sea, thinking of family).

people at blue lock think of him as someone who seems to be good at study, but looking at the pattern of hyperfocused people in blue lock it either goes two way: a) his skill at everything else is questionable at best, abysmall at worst ; b) he is an all-rounder indeed.

but then again there is also the third type aka "good at football, still functional at everything except communication and emotional management skill".

his way of talking in jp is, to put it simply, pretty casual like guys his age. the thing that are the rudest part of it was his choice of words and the fact that he seems to talk like this to everyone. even his elder. and also the way he is very blunt in expressing his opinion.

but somehow that bluntness is gone when it came to showing vulnerable emotions. talk about emotional constipation.

if his character interview is reliable and unbiased, as it is from sae's own pov, his relationship with his parents seems okay.

genuinely wondering about his parents' canon response to his and rin's cold war.

does he even have friends. no like seriously.

his brother and him are really similar in many ways. rin is probably copying him in some ways tho—that, or rin's own issues. or sae's own issues.

please just make up with your brother. (2)

after spain his bang is gone. as in he just pushed them up. in u20 it still went down sometimes in a few panels.

he likes numbers. maybe he really is smart.

genuinely looking at him like "please get a hobby" not even as an insult but out of genuine concern. this dude has so many issues and the burnout child prodigy vibe is real strong with this one.

but not fully his fault. pretty much live alone overseas, probably with no friends his age and just a manager as his support system, went through a crisis, is a (probable) family loving guy with his family far away from him, then came home to his beloved lil bro he spoiled and dotted on and shared a dream with saying hurtful things to him on his lowest point. and not supporting his new decision and dream. from sae's pov, it's brutal.

i can defend rin on this too tho. honestly please talk to each other, itoshi bros. or acknowledge that maybe neither of you were in not in the best state of mind during that confrontation.

seems logical and he does likes numbers. but honestly, he just acts as he wants—look at how he talks to journalist, how he has 0 hesitation to leave an ongoing match.

went to spain at 13 according to rin's spin off novel. also mentioned to "hate to lose" and seems to be a strict perfectionist.

must be noted however that how rin sees him seems to be very biased. a bit of rin analysis/hc, but there seems to be "putting nii chan on a pedestal" going on there. how their childhood truly is from sae's perspective is still unknown. on rin's part tho, seems to be a very nice period.

is rich. so the snobby rich condescending guy aura is probably not that far from the truth. his sense of money seems to be a mess, as a few hundred millions is a small amount for him.

this guy seems to be picky with who he respects and he really doesn't hold back in disrespecting someone he doesn't. even higher ups and older people.

does skincare canonly.

doesn't seem to have friends so far...? (nel arc, before pxg match) but if we look at how rin is now, unsurprising.

in rin's novel, rin's physique is mentioned to be "better" than sae's actually. with how "rin wins in luck" while sae "loses" motive exist through the ice cream sticks, probably this motive will come up again when sae appears again.

[reddbuster]

I have a lot of thoughts about the ways I see the characters and themes of ace attorney discussed within the fanbase so I wanted to try to articulate some things that I notice in the ways the fandom analyzes and tries to apply literary criticism to these games.

Remember that a text can be viewed from multiple literary lenses. The most important to understand as a basis for everything if you're going to analyze a text is formalism, which is based strictly on what is directly shown IN the text. This means the more obvious plot, themes, settings, characters etc. For example, in terms of AA, this means the setting is either Japan or America (I love Japanifornia as much as the next guy and you could argue it's pseudo-canon, but it's not established in either version of the original text itself so it doesn't really work from the view of a formalist). And the theme of Ace Attorney, from the view of a formalist, would be something like "justice is in the pursuit of truth" and maybe a secondary, underlying theme of revenge. So formalism isn't analyzing the text through knowledge of outside factors like cultural elements, audience response, or even the creator(s) of the text itself. Formalism isn't really psychoanalyzing the characters beyond what's necessary to discuss the larger themes of the text. Formalism on its own is pretty much bound to what is directly referenced within the piece of media.

Now, formalism has it's uses, but it also has its limits. It makes an attempt to be objective and unbiased and can give us a good basis from which to make further inquiry, but ultimately, even if it was possible to be completely unbiased (it isn't) art isn't MEANT to be viewed in a vacuum. Often, the creator intends for you to keep these outside facts or cultural biases in mind when viewing media. But even aside from whatever the original intent behind it was, it's also very valid and even important & necessary in many cases to break away from the restraints of the original tone of the narrative and analyze a text from a different point of view.

What I notice a lot in fandom but especially around AA for some reason is that a lot of people will only consider a formalist reading of the text and will be completely unwilling to even consider let alone criticize anything from outside of that context. OR, quite often what people in fandom will do is they'll be willing to apply other literary lenses like psychoanalysis or even queer theory but ONLY to the characters THEY personally deem worthy (hint hint its usually men) and then get upset when people apply this theory to the characters they don't want to think about (usually mostly women)

Anyway the point of this post is there are multiple valid and legitimate readings of a text and female characters are more than just "girlboss" and "the only braincell" ok thank you bye

[howlsofbloodhounds]

i need to know who is killer's defense lawyer in the court lmaooo does he just get assigned a public defense lawyer? no way he has money to hire one.

I don’t know much about court and legal trials and the like (which is to say I know nothing), but im assuming so. Not only because killer doesn’t have that kind of money, but because regardless of if he did or didn’t, who’d be willing to take it?

Not only may they have their own issues with Nightmare and therefore Killer (or maybe even just Killer personally), they run the risk of being socially rejected.

I’m sure Core and the Stars would look into finding Killer a good, reasonable, unbiased lawyer. Especially since Killer is a rather special case; it’s not as simple as “arrest/jail him” or “death penalty.”

Killer didn’t have a choice, not really. Nightmare held the power over his SOUL, which is directly connected to his codes and programming. Just how much is responsible for everything? Should he just be jailed, put in a rehab place, a mental hospital? Should he be put on house arrest and watched over someone trustworthy and powerful enough to even be able to contain Killer or ward of Nightmare?

Not to mention. Are they willing to risk bringing in a conditioned murderer who be triggered into killing or hurting someone, or will simply because he wants to? Are they willing to put in the years and billions worth of money that would take to rehab Killer? He’s going to need extensive support and help, he may not even ever be able to live on his own. Who’s going to take care of him? Who can be trusted to?

(I’m sure there are many who think Color is too biased or “gullible” to be able to keep Killer “in line.” And for many, “in line” means “kill.”)

Are they going to risk drawing in Nightmare’s wrath specifically on them because they dared to take in his favorite? And what about the rest of the timeline, the community that Killer directly traumatized and slaughtered?

I’m sure there will be a whole lot that will go into Killer’s trial. Especially if he has to go into details into what happened both with Nightmare, and what happened in his timeline. It’s going to be worse if anyone attempts to sabotage things or keep Killer and Color separated. Color’s really Killer’s only available support network.

Maybe things will be a little easier if there’s a Murder/Dust, Cross, and/or Horror who was in the Bad Sanses with Killer and can testify on some things. Or maybe it’ll be worse.

..You know id read entire fic about Killer’s case if anyone ever ended up writing it. Anyway, id like to say that Killer’s lawyer ends up either being a Toriel or a Frisk because they would be funny. (Or a Chara lmao.)

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

Let's Talk Peter B

@iwasbored777 (Since you ask to be tagged)

Okay! I was on the fence about writing this post, but after doing this response and some encouragement, I decided that fuck it, let’s do this.

While I had seen multiple things about Gwen being a bad friend, a bad person, and other things I don’t want to say because I will start ranting- Peter B for the most part, has come out scotch free.

Don’t get me wrong, I had seen some people address his issues, but it has been a few posts in a sea of him with Mayday and people shipping with Miguel. Which hey, is okay with me, but when you see you a character you love be given the short end of the stick despite the circumstances yet another character that has much less to lose has their mistakes largely been ignored and basically be woobify.

Is not just Gwen, I had also seen people take beef with Jess as a mentor yet somehow leave Peter out of that conversation. Don’t get me wrong Jess is far from perfect (which is something I discussed before,) but again, Peter is far from perfect too.

Does this has to do with Peter being a beloved main character in the first movie? Yes. Does it also has to do with misogynoir and misogyny? Oh I don’t doubt it.

I don’t hate Peter B, far from it, I think he is a great adaptation of our spidey, and while I am not the biggest spiderman fan out there, I did grew up with Peter Parker in movies and cartoons so I do have love for this characters as well as his incarnation in Sony movies.

I will do my best to remain as unbiased and neutral as possible, but not gonna lie this entire thing is annoying me enough that I will say when I am aware of my own biases, as I always try to do.

But if you think liking a character stops me from calling them on their bullshit you are wrong.

I know this post is more about how Peter is with Miles and his role as a mentor, but I decided to address some other things I had seen people talk about because there is a reason I choose "Let's talk Peter B Parker" as a title.

Believe it or not, I am fine with this. Seriously.

Peter wasn’t here when Miles arrived, and considering they did a small tour and got an empanada on the way, I think wouldn’t be odd to say he wasn’t around when Miles arrived. My theory is that he was taking care of his own stuff, and once he knew that Miles was around, went to get Mayday to present her to Miles.

I think that’s pretty normal all things consider, he loves Miles and wouldn’t had fixed things with MJ and had his daughter without her, of course he would want the two of to met.

The enthusiasm is all things consider pretty sweet, and while I don’t approve of some things he does (like giving her a web shooter while being just a few months old?) Is one of those things that are part of superhero writing that has the children technically doing things that they shouldn’t be doing for their age, so I just let it slide because if I get hung up every time I see something like this, it would not end.

I’m the only one who is actually mad about this comment?

Yes, is a joke, I get that, and Peter is trying to take as much as steam off Miles by trying to frame him on the light that he messes up, but is just who he is.

It doesn’t make me any less annoyed.

For starters, I feel like I am rereading Percy Jackson again (No I will not explain that reference.) Because despite everyone more or less knowing what’s going on (Hobie said before he didn’t know what Miguel was hiding so how much he knows is unsure,) no one has attempted to explain the situation to Miles.

This is a trope I had seen enough (including WAY too many times in the books I mentioned,) and I really resent when characters act as if the protagonist or someone else is stupid just because they are unaware of something. ESPECIALLY if the characters saying so are aware they don’t know.

They are also letting him believe is a good thing he is in HQ, but that is actually not Peter’s fault. I am mad with Gwen on this one, but also Jessica, and Hobie well, he should have known enough to be able to tell him seeing Miguel is not good news. At least Hobie tries to warn him as subtly as possible.

Sure, Peter just got here, but the fact that he is already accusing Miles of just messing up with the universe carelessly is not something that doesn’t sit well with me. Either he knows that Miles doesn’t know and is making an insulting comment, or thinks Miles is aware of the situation and just acted recklessly. The second one is the best scenario, but I feel Peter is presuming way too much for someone that just came around and should have known better than believe Miles knew all of these details while Miguel basically has a giant banner of “Not Earth-1610 Anomalies allowed.”

Also, sidetrack but what exactly does Miles do that isn’t just your typical spidey behaviour? Yes he doesn’t always have full-formed plans before acting but you can say that about EVERYONE in the room at that moment.

“He wasn’t thinking, is not like he works!” My ass.

Want my two cents about this moment? Peter has zero business telling this to Miles.

When Miles asks Gwen about her dad, she is crestfallen, she doesn’t like to believe this more than he does; but unlike anyone else in this room, Gwen cannot return to her home dimension. The best case scenario is if she isn’t there, her dad may not die; but that’s the best case scenario, and that involves again, not stepping again in her home dimension ever again. Her best bet is never to see her home, or anyone she knows including her dad, because not only she may end up in prison, her presence may lead to the death of her dad.

And who knows, it may happen regardless; he may be dead already because he is a police officer and she couldn’t be there to give a hand or save him (As she said she did in Into the Spider-verse, by the way.)

Yet at least, she is coming to this with the idea that her life is going to have to SUCK for a few years, things happening or not happening depending on where she is but none of this is pretty or fair.

Peter? As far as we know, he is done.

Considering the age range of the Spidey-characters, chances are Peter already lived the canon events he needed to live, at best they don’t know what’s next, which means he can operate as he feels is the best course of action.

Miles asked him if he would have let his uncle die, but Peter lost his uncle over twenty years ago, he had enough time to grieve, to accept the outcome, and find happiness after it. And to top it all off, HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT MORAL DILEMMA PLACED IN FRONT OF HIM BEFORE IT HAPPENED.

I find Peter’s words hollow because unlike Miles, he was never asked to not intervene in a canon event, he hasn’t needed to deal with someone from his universe dying while he let it play out.

I am not saying he didn't suffer, he did, and a lot; yet he was unaware that this would happen, is way different having someone tell you “Oh those tragedies you lived? It’s the destiny that keeps everything together, it’s rough but it is what it is,” than someone telling you “Oh you are going to live a bunch of different personal tragedies, and you need to suffer with the burden of this knowledge because is this or everyone in every universe dies.”

(How much do you guys bet someone will use this as an example of the trolley problem in a philosophy class.)

Since we are going in kind of a chronological order, let’s go to something a tad lighter both because it deserves mention, and so I can cool down before I start ranting in Spanish (which is not going to be saying pretty things about B precisely.)

Yes, Peter recognizes this is bad parenting, which is good because it certainly isn’t good; I also have trouble believing he didn’t know AT LEAST ONE spider that could stay behind and watch Mayday while he went to the chase.

However, I do think the chase was never going to be dangerous, nor Peter thought it would be. He has been Spider-man for a quarter of a century, he has been swinging around for so long is second nature to him, I bet he has taken Mayday on “strolls” which is him swinging around.

There is also another screenshot that really encapsulates that Peter didn’t realize how dire the situation is, but that’s for later.

There is also the possibility that he asked Miguel to do this as a way to distract him, but considering this is the only time he does this and is going around him being obsessed with Mayday (Which I think is a bit too much, but I blame more the writers than Peter for that.) I am inclined to believe this is not the case.

(Sigh) I promise to try to be neutral, so I need to bring this up.

What they were talking about earlier can be lumped to a bit later on, and I decided to bring this instead of talking about it when Miles and Peter saw each other (which is I didn’t bring because what I could say would be the same as this.) Because this is something really beautiful that I didn’t want to leave out.

I think that’s what angers me the most about this, because in a vacuum? I love this.

I am a sucker for found family tropes, I love the idea that Miles would grow to see people like Peter B, Noir, and so forth as a family. I love how Peter says how much Miles means to him and meeting him changed his life for the better.

Peter B loves Miles, he said that in the last movie; I can’t just erase that.

However, is exactly because of this scene, that what happens next makes me so sad.

Oh, Miles.

I didn’t mention it in the previous image nor did I took detailed screenshots for the sake of my sanity and to not turn this way too long. (Though I may do it in another moment- Ok I need to focus.)

Miles was obviously affected by what Peter said to him, it obviously means a lot because Miles also loves Peter; of all the spiders in the gang he was the one who he spent the most time initially; he wouldn’t be the Spider-man he is today without him.

And it breaks my heart how Miles says this.

Look at the angle, at his posture; Miles can’t even turn to say this to Peter’s face because it hurts so much. He looks so small in that shot, trying to emphasize how he is just a teen, how he really loves them so much, and it breaks his heart to know that they could visit him, and they didn’t.

Let’s remember what he was doing at the beginning of the movie; he was trying to study physics. He is great at it, and he was since the first movie, however, this is clearly not his passion; he loves his art and even if he didn’t know what he wanted to do yet in the first movie, you can see how much he loves what he does.

And he was willing to leave all of that aside, just to see Gwen, Peter and the others again; because as far as he knew there wasn’t any other way. Remember, he was aiming at Princeton; he would need to bleed and work hard to get there, and even after, being in this field it was not going to be a walk in the park; getting to make the dimensional travel work (At least without seeing Miguel’s technology like Hobie seemed to do;) was also going to be hard.

Miles wanted to do all of that for them, and them? They didn’t.

Now; I don’t blame Gwen in this scenario.

I had said this much in this post before, and a bunch of others too. Gwen was stuck with the Spider Society; and yet she risked losing everything, from homelessness to prison, to spend an afternoon with Miles the second she had an excuse.

What is Peter’s excuse?

He couldn't, he couldn't.

That's what he had to say for himself.

Here is the thing: I am not sure I buy it.

Gwen makes sense to me, Miguel didn't want Gwen to be involved since the beginning and obviously doesn't trust her when is about Miles; Gwen wasn't exactly wrong to fear she would get kicked out if she acted out of line.

Peter? I have my doubts.

We don't know Miguel's and Peter B's relationship (I know some shippers have some ideas, not my cup of tea but I have no problem if people like it.) However, we know that Peter B was there when Miguel's dimension collapsed, later in the movie we saw what Miguel did to Gwen for what happened (believe me, we will get there.)

Even if that was the case; Peter’s situation is much less dire than Gwen’s. Even if Peter could be kicked out of the organization for disobeying Miguel; he would still have his wife, his house, his daughter. He would had been in the same spot he was at the end of the first movie, if not better because now he would had a chance to know both him and Miles would be okay.

I am getting ahead of the post here, but I honestly don’t know how much of Canon BS Peter believes; he clearly doesn’t think Miles is bad for being an anomaly, nor his daughter (technically because Peter wasn’t supposed to meet Miles, he wouldn’t have his daughter. Is certainly a NO in the comics.) Miguel is convinced that Miles’ presence is enough to create more holes in the multiverse; Gwen obviously doesn’t share that view. Peter? I don’t know if he thinks there is actually something to lose for visiting him.

One way or another, he doesn’t really give me a reason here; who knows, maybe when Beyond comes there would be enough information for me to admit Peter did the right thing. For now? No.

Here, we have Miles telling Peter he wanted to meet them so badly, and even if Peter doesn't have a clue of how literal Miles is; you can hear it in his voice, in his posture, how he still cannot look at Peter because to that point it hurts.

And what's Peter's response to this?

(Deep breath,) Boy at moments like this I really wish I didn't think so hard about media.

It hurts me, and it angers me, because it is a pretty sweet moment, but when you think hard about it, it just becomes messy.

I could make an entire discussion about how Peter literally ignored Miles’ feelings about not being there, about how he and others (Gwen not really, the others eehhh hard to say;) didn’t try too reach him, which obviously makes him feel like they don’t care about him as he does. And Peter decide to ignored it.

But! I will try to give him the benefit that this is a tense situation, there is hundreds of spiders looking for them, and there only have so much time. I am going to believe, Peter couldn’t address that at the moment because they had other issues.

Yet even if we omit that point, do you guys realize this is literally no different that his entire spiel about Uncle Ben, right?

Because that’s what he is trying to say, “Spider-man has to suffer, but hey sometimes good things can happen anyways.” This entire conversation is about trying to make Miles follow him, do whatever Miguel is trying to do to avoid having Miles go to his dimension (or at least stop him from saving his dad,) and basically let her dad die.

Look, there is nuance to this situation; Peter isn’t saying this to manipulate Miles, he believes this. He truly believes bad things had to happen to keep the universe from falling apart; I am convinced Miguel’s second universe didn’t fall for his Canon theory, yet Peter B was there, I can’t blame the guy for drinking the kool-aid a bit more than the others.

This doesn’t change the fact that this scene has Peter ignoring Miles’ pain, and try to tell him he needs to suffer some more because “is just how the universe works!”

(Sidenote but anyone can’t help to see this and think of a random Christian telling someone after they lived a personal tragedy “Is just G-d’s plan”? Because I saw that a lot.)

Now, I guess the next question someone may be wondering is, do I believe Peter was being honest with Miles here?

...I don’t know, I really, don’t know.

I had seen this scene multiple times, and I lost count how many times when I was in the theatre, seeing this scene, and thinking “he knew” just for the next moment thinking “he didn’t know.”

If you want my two cents, the part that keeps tripping me over is how he looks at his watch, then Miles, then the watch, it makes me wonder if he is screaming that he doesn’t have his location to Miguel, or to Miles.

I don’t want to believe Peter purposefully drive Miles away so he could get trapped, when he says to Miles “I didn’t know, I promise;” I want to believe him.

The thing is, the outcome he hoped wasn’t that much different, now was it?

He wanted it to be Miles decision, yet again, he was trying to get Miles to not just abandon his morals (as well as the ones every Spider-person should have,) but also try to tell him he needs to suffer for the good of the world.

(I am having SO many flashbacks to things I read about cults, I need to continue working on that post about the Spider Society ffs.)

This is a small detail, but I gotta say; Peter do you really have nothing on your defense?

Look, feel free to believe I am playing favourites, but unlike many people who had a problem with Gwen, I don't blame her for hiding this.

No, I don't think what she did was right. Let’s not get things twisted. I definitely think Gwen shouldn’t had hide this stuff, yet she in general NEVER, had a good idea of how much to say and how much to keep with anyone she talks to; from her dad to Jess to Miles. Once again this is an aspect I can’t get mad at her because she is sixteen and traumatized with a minimal support network and irresponsible guardians.

Now Peter, what’s YOUR excuse?

Not just for not telling something to Miles earlier, I could believe he would have done it if the situation has calmed down. No, Miles asked them about it, and even a bit later says “That’s why you guys never came to see me;” (Which I think is kind of BS but let’s not get ahead of myself on this one.) The thing is that when he has the teen he mentored being manhandled by his ‘friend,’ and said thing asks them to answer him; Peter just ducks.

Like he cannot even see Miles and admit he shouldn’t have done that.

Gwen’s excuse isn’t much better but at least she is answering and you can see in her face how much she knows she fucked up.

I am going to be honest, this little detail wouldn’t bother me as much if what has happened before and what’s yet to happened didn’t exist, yet it does.

There is a difference in “Well you did a little mistake but I can let slide” vs “There are so many things wrong here that I will call you out even for the tiny ones.” Granted Peter isn’t that bad, but is a nuance I think a lot of people don’t think of.

Could Peter haven't said anything because the scene is trying to focus on Miles and Gwen for this part? Yes; it doesn't stop me from getting annoying.

Okay, Miles says this, do I believe it? Ehh not sure.

Gwen definitely not the case, if she truly thought him being an anomaly was a problem, she wouldn't have gone to see him directly.

Peter? Again, I have no idea how much of the kool-aid he has been drinking, the fact that he speaks highly of him and his daughter as good things that has happened makes me inclined to believe he doesn't.

We don't have an answer either way, right?

Not that Peter does much to help him feel better here. Yes yes trying to keep focus on certain characters I know.

(Looks at the camera like is the office.) And now THIS is the time where I wish I wasn’t aware of how writing works.

Okay, I know what the purpose of Peter is, aside of being here as a mentor, he is here kind of as a comic relief. He doesn’t have the same narrative weight as he had in the last movie, and he is here to be cute with his baby for the most part. That’s his purpose at this moment.

It-doesn’t-change-anything.

He has this recurring joke on the third act about if he is or not a good mentor, and it kind of has to do with the last movie, specially this joke, since at the end he was also talking how he taught him something he definitely didn’t do. Last movie I found it cute, here? Not so much.

I am trying not to be hard here and why I would not address the “son of a mother” moment (which I honestly really hate,) because this is not even Peter B’s fault at this point; the writers were trying very hard to have a way to make the situation a tad lighter while also having an important character be in character. I can’t say is truly out of character, but I’m not appreciating it.

Especially having him insist on being a good mentor after letting down his protege MULTIPLE TIMES.

Don't you guys love when you see a grown-ass adult go apeshit on a teen, and his friends aren't doing anything to stop him?

Sorry, yeah I understand that for narrative purposes, they have to be stuck to the ground, but after someone pointed this out a few weeks ago, I can't stop thinking of this shot so I needed to bring it out.

(BIG sidenote but, Margo is the biggest MVP here; girl met Miles once and probably has little to no context, yet she is helping him out. Queen behavior.)

Now let's talk about some bullshit.

I know this is technically not about Peter, considering this is Miguel talking to Gwen, yet I find LAUGHABLE this response.

I will give this to the spider//dad shippers, I would also be inclined to believe Miguel has a thing for Peter B if between the guy who had the "fugitive" in close quarters for a few minutes yet did not attempt to trap him, vs the teen girl who tries to help out her mentor to catch the dude (even if she didn't try too hard,) you decide the teen girl is the problem.

Is funny because really all this scene needs is Miguel saying "If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have come here, he wouldn't had know and the Spot wouldn't have escaped," at least that much couldn't have been said for Peter B.

I think the writers were trying to make Miguel just look less and less reasonable the more we saw on screen; which is why he would go with route.

It doesn't change the fact that Mighel accusing Gwen of not capturing him is laughable.

YOU 👏 ARE 👏 A 👏 TERRIBLE 👏 MENTOR.

(This moment could be addressed individually, but they are basically the same thing and this post is DEFINITELY too long; seriously I had written fics shorter than this wtf.)

Here is my problem with this: He just decides that oh well, what can he do.

SERIOUSLY?!

Forget the "Oh but he doesn't do this the story-" for a moment; are you seriously telling me that not only this guy knows Miles is in a PRETTY fucked up situation, but also that Gwen is in her home universe where she will be homeless (because there is no way in hell Peter B doesn't know what happened to her,) and you decide to just, go brooding in your dimension?

You know is absolutely amazing how I had heard people grill Miguel and Jess for their behavior with Gwen (which I agree with for the most part,) yet I haven't seen anyone say "Isn't it a bit fucked up that Peter B should have known what would happen to Gwen if she went home and didn't decide to help her?"

Miguel is on Earth 1610 and hellbent on finding Miles, you cannot tell me if Peter B left his daughter with his wife, and then went to fetch Gwen, Miguel would have noticed. At the very least Peter could had try to check on her.

Peter B has known Gwen for longer than Jess and Miguel, even if he couldn't be a proper guardian for her because he was busy with his life, he could have been more present. He definitely could have attempted to defend her better when Miguel was screaming at her, or to look after her when she was kicked to her universe.

Jess is determined to act as if Gwen is more of an employee than a teen, but Peter B should be known better.

But is not his idea to help Miles, is Gwen's; because right now he is too focused on his life and his duty as spiderman to think of the younger generations that are hurting. Just like Miguel and Jess.

Yet not the narrative, nor the fandom, truly recognizes that.

Let’s wrap this up, you guys have no idea the amount of hours I had spend on this and I would be surprised if someone got this far.

As a small detail, Peter is seen with Mayday, and this time I DO have a problem with it.

I honestly hope Peter isn’t with Mayday in Beyond, I will pretend Peter doesn’t have Mayday during the events on Beyond in my fics for as long as I can; because this is the moment where I feel the joke is being pushed too far.

They don’t know what would happen next, they don’t know in what type of situation they are in, they know whatever universe ended was one with no spiderman so it has to be dangerous; yet he brings the baby because that’s his recurring theme for this movie.

And truly, that’s really the problem with his character here: He was given a small role to do with very limited things to do.

I am not saying this is bad writing; I may not like Peter’s decisions in this movie, and I am really hoping beyond gives a big ass cup of “Adults need to start protecting the younger generations instead of insist they need to toughen up” to all of them. Because more than his role, I am annoyed that neither the movie nor the fandom is addressing the failings of Peter B.

He is not a bad character, I don’t even think he is a bad character in this movie. I like him, and even if writing all of this down made realize I am more bitter about it than I would had liked; I just don’t think is fair.

I want Peter to be better, as a mentor, as a father; and I am really hoping the next movie shows him grow that way too. I do believe the writers can pull it off.

Now, the fandom addressing that?...That I have MUCH less confidence. But not gonna lie this post was made mostly to get this out of my chest rather than expect a reaction out of it.

If anyone made this far, first of, wow; I know some people were interesting in reading this, but even I think I went for a while I put a lot of things that are small details but you guys now me, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do that.

Be thankful I don’t talk about micro-expressions in frames or this would truly would had ended up as a novelette.

Second, thank you for reading! Give a like and your opinion if you want; because I am pretty sure this post is doing to have fewer notes.