#{ everything that i say i believe || convo. }

[wilchur]

When I tell you I have been thinking about this for three days straight...

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

I’ll be writing a critique of the way Blitzø and Stolas’ relationship was handled more at length, but I wanted to stop and take a moment to look at this scene from the new episode, “Full Moon”:

This is the sort of power and control that Stolas has always had over Blitzø.

It does not matter that Stolas has never threatened to take away the Grimoire before, or that they were “friends” as kids, or that he offered Blitzø a few months off, or that he’s been nice to Blitzø in the past, or that Blitzø actually does have feelings for Stolas.

When you are in a situation where you cannot say no at the risk of losing your livelihood, you cannot give true consent.

This is the very BASIS of their relationship. It has always been the basis of their relationship—a quid pro quo relationship where Stolas holds all of the power.

I have seen countless people go over and explain in great detail why the full moon deal was not truly coercive, or a quid pro quo situation, or how it was completely consensual.

And it’s just not. It is sexual coercion where Blitzø cannot give meaningful consent. Because if he refuses Stolas, he’s at risk of losing everything.

I want to clarify that my criticism here isn’t with this writing decision. I’m not trying to say anything along those the lines of “because this fictional character did a bad thing the story is bad and people who like the character support sexual coercion!!” That’s not what I’m saying at all.

I am bringing all of this up because my criticism is not of this writing decision, but because of the framing of the Full Moon deal and of Stolas and Blitzø’s relationship.

The narrative often frames Blitzo as if he is the one who has wronged Stolas by not prioritizing Stolas’ feelings and needs above all else. Or, it frames both Stolas and Blitzo as being equally in the wrong for the conflicts in their “relationship”.

This framing, and the extent to which fans try to justify it as being ANYTHING other than what it actually is—Stolas coercing Blitzø into a relationship where he has no power and is at the risk of losing his livelihood—is baffling to me.

This framing, coupled with the writer’s absolute refusal to ever have Stolas held accountable for his actions (including Stolas still not actually apologizing for the situation he put Blitzø into—he acknowledges that the relationship being transactional is wrong, but does not acknowledge that he was wrong to coerce Blitzø into that relationship. He says “…it isn’t right…it never was”, not “What I did wasn’t right, and never was”) is why I can’t consider St0litz to be just a “complex” or “messy” relationship.

It don’t think it can be, because it’s not a relationship. Not a real one. It’s a transaction, where Stolas treats Blitzø like a sex object. And whether that was the intent or not, Blitzø’s reaction above and saying that he would do anything to keep the grimoire makes it really hard for me to see St0litz in any other light.

As a final note, I’m not saying that you can’t write dark relationships, or have complex and unsympathetic protagonists. You can ship whatever you want! You can have characters that sexually coerce and abuse others, you can write every dark and twisted thing your mind can come up with.

But it’s very clear that Helluva Boss’s writers want to frame Stolas as being the wronged party, and the one who we are supposed to sympathize with—and you just can’t have it both ways.

You can’t act like you’re writing a complex love story between two very complicated and real people, when the relationship that you’re describing is so utterly one-sided and unbalanced.

[ahalliance]

my roman empire is that one moment smth smth qsmp lore happened and étoiles responded to a chat message by saying smth along the lines of “bah baghera me fait pas confiance” and laughed tersely but i can’t remember when that fucking happened and maybe i hallucinated it . but i need to try and find it again . to satiate my qetoiles qbagz relationship and larger qfrench messy family dynamic illness

[kaiawaverly]

Location: Aquatic Conservatory

Status: OPEN

Kaia was making her way through the aquarium. For someone whose been here only a couple of weeks, to say she's been at the conservatory five times has to warrant some sort of record or trophy in this place. The blonde was jogging up the steps with pep, the stairs already burned into her muscle memory. Her body was tingling with excitement, seeing that her favorite exhibit was up next - only a few steps away at this point in time. As she rounded the corner, the array of jellyfish emitting a orange light within the blacklight of blue and purple hues was enough to almost leave her breathless. She skipped over to the huge tube in the middle, observing the jellyfish at any possible angle. It was an off day for the aquarium, so Kaia wasn't expecting much of anyone else in any of the exhibits. So, when she felt the presence of someone nearby she couldn't help herself. "Did you know that jellyfish are over 600 million years old? It's all thanks to the fact they're 98% water - so they are able to blend into any aspect of the ocean and survive. Pretty neat for a species that has no heart, brain, blood or lungs - huh?"

[widowshill]

65 / 62 / 71

[kouvrmurphy]

Location: Louisiana Aquarium

Status: CLOSED ( @anabelleashburn )

Kouvr was making her way through the aquarium. For someone whose been here only a couple of weeks, to say she's been at the aquarium five times has to warrant some sort of record or trophy in this place. The blonde was jogging up the steps with pep, the stairs already burned into her muscle memory. Her body was tingling with excitement, seeing that her favorite exhibit was up next - only a few steps away at this point in time. As she rounded the corner, the array of jellyfish emitting a orange light within the blacklight of blue and purple hues was enough to almost leave her breathless. She skipped over to the huge tube in the middle, observing the jellyfish at any possible angle. It was an off day for the aquarium, so Kouvr wasn't expecting much of anyone else in any of the exhibits. So, when she felt the presence of someone nearby she couldn't help herself. "Did you know that jellyfish are over 600 million years old? It's all thanks to the fact they're 98% water - so they are able to blend into any aspect of the ocean and survive. Pretty neat for a species that has no heart, brain, blood or lungs - huh?"

[bunnihearted]

🍄‍🟫

[kalopsiawasteland]

Location: Chill Zone Status: OPEN ( @capemaystarters )

Upon getting her usual vanilla fro-yo with Oreo crumbles (extra, extra) and hot fudge, Kiera turned towards the tables to find that they were all occupied. Sighing, an eye roll appeared as she realized she had to actually socialize.

Walking over to an empty seat, she plopped down. "Please tell me you have a zombie apocalypse plan..."

[unproduciblesmackdown]

speaking of the horrors brian goosebumpsphantomoftheauditorium is still So funny for being like yeah i'm a ghost i know i'm a ghost. & he's befriended the horror fan menace duo who are giggling clutching each other like omg omg okay. we're fine. we're breaking into the school at night to investigate the horrors aaaa what if there's a ghost eek ok ok!!! & brian ghost who knows he's a ghost is like omg guys aaaa stopppp ;;m;; suffering thee Most but he's not putting on an act to conceal his phantomly destiny. he's just like that

[3416]

I think people being like “it’s a soap opera what do you expect” are being a little obtuse. Like yes the show gets a little ridiculous or silly but it’s not usually this bad lol. The writers actually built up a lot of trust and good faith especially after s3.

i agree, lol. the surprise kid for judd last season was almost a questionable decision, but i felt the follow through actually wasn't melodramatic, so it worked for me. and s3 did a good job of taking storylines i didn't think i would like and actually making it work reasonably. but i can tell from this single episode and the rushed explanations they had carlos giving, it's absolutely a plot shoehorned in just bc tim maybe considered a connection between iris and carlos in s1 and was, for some reason, convinced this was the funniest way to do it right at this very moment. and i've given him a lot of credit in the past for making smart decisions with what he has in front of him (literally his own doing though), but i do think shows like this reach a point sometimes where it just feels like they're upping the level of ridiculousness almost unnecessarily, just for entertainment/to try catch you off guard. i've felt that way about the og, and this is the first time i've felt it about lone star. it makes me feel less invested when they're willing to give up some of their own prior characterization and literal plot for the sake of dramatic twists (that aren't really twists when you tease the way they do lol).

[timoswerner]

these new people that have moved in 2 doors down have not endeared themselves to anyone i want moose the cats owners back

[starlooove]

If I had a nickel for everytime someone I was arguing with refused to read a response they didn’t like but then turned around and said I was against intellectualism or stupid I’d have two nickles, and that’s not a lot but it’s crazy that it happened twice 💀

[delicatetaysversion]

it should be studied the way i immediately start crying after masturbating like girl where is the serotonin i was promised

[tokyoteddywolf]

It sucks so much once you realize how entwined someone is in your life, then it just sucks more when you have to scrub away the traces it existed. That it was there, and it was good, until it wasn't anymore.

(Ignore my angry venting it's 3am I'm cranky and want chocolate.)

[petrells]

🫠

[cryptidm0ths]

Well the anxiety sure is disordering