#(I think they were doing it to try to mitigate the bullying I was going through)

[benevolenterrancy]

Ning Yingying: still in her airhead era Ming Fan: a young master who has never been expected to cook before Luo Binghe: really wishes he had been given this task to complete on his own...

[maxdibert]

James is not only the one who didn’t pay, he’s the only one who didn’t have any mitigating circumstances. Sirius is vicious, but he comes from a vicious family, and him deciding he was going to back James in everything makes perfect sense for a boy trying to break from his background and wishing he had parents more like James’. Remus is a coward, but him failing to stand up to his friends makes perfect sense from a boy whose condition meant he’d never been accepted before. Peter? Who cares, he’s a plot device.

But James? James had no excuse whatsoever. He was well loved, well cared for, well off financially. He wanted for nothing. He didn’t learn cruelty at the knees of his parents, they doted on him. Which means he’s just a sadist who enjoyed the rush of power he got from humiliating easy targets. And Lily is of questionable character for thinking him hot boyfriend material when he never displays any remorse.

It’s why I always say that, to me, James Potter is nothing more than a Draco Malfoy with “progresist” parents. He basically has the same abusive, classist, and violent attitude as Draco, except that, unlike Draco, James believes he is morally superior because he doesn’t share the typical pure-blood ideals. This makes him an absolute hypocrite, in addition to being a violent bully and a rich brat who takes advantage of his economic and social position to abuse those who are at a disadvantage.

It’s funny how people defend him with arguments like “he’s not a racist” because he accepts Muggle-borns. So, because he accepts Muggle-borns, are we going to ignore the fact that he’s a classist jerk who actively mocks people for having a lower socioeconomic status than him? Or that he uses his economic and social capital against those who don’t have it? Or that, knowing he has the upper hand, he torments those who don’t have the same resources? Like, why should I care that he boasts about a supposedly progressive ideology that’s entirely fake, and never really shows any understanding of, when his actions in the canon prove he’s just another member of the elite oppressing those below him, simply because he has the capital to do so?

He reminds me a lot of several guys I met during my time in political activism at university. I used to hang around leftist groups with Marxist tendencies, and there was always that typical rich kid raised in a bourgeois left-wing family, who was there because they were taught it was the right thing to do, but had no clue about the root of social problems or the reality of working-class life. In fact, their supposed political commitment stemmed from a sense of superiority, which manifested in incredibly patronising attitudes toward the working class. And yes, they’d date girls from humble families because it reinforced the persona they’d created, but in the end, they were the same rich jerks you’d find in right-wing groups. At least the rich jerks on the right didn’t have the audacity to give moralising speeches while still acting like pricks. They were just pricks, plain and simple.

That’s how I see James, but translated into the magical world. And god, how much I’ve hated, been disgusted by, and fought with guys like him. They’ve always made me sick. I’ve literally had better relationships with people whose politics are the polar opposite of mine than with guys like that, because I find them a cancer to any political group. But anyway, I digress. I don’t think there’s anything impressive about James joining the Order or dating a Muggle-born. It’s the bare minimum expected of someone who has had every single privilege, support, and education needed to choose the right path. I think it’s basic. Just like it would be basic to expect someone who’s had no problems in life and everything handed to them on a silver platter to be a decent person rather than a bully. But James Potter chooses to be a bully because his ego, as a rich heteropatriarchal man, can’t handle the fact that a poor kid with a non-normative appearance by masculine standards is friends with the girl he likes. And for that stupid reason, he decides to use all the power he has, and the other doesn’t, to bully him for 7 years. But hey, we should forgive him because, at the end of the day, he joined the Order. I mean, what? No, that’s not how it works.

I could say a lot about Lily too, but I’m just going to copy and paste something I said the other day because it basically sums up my opinion of her:

Honestly, I don’t know if Rowling didn’t think much about this, or if simply because she herself is a terrible person, she thought it was compatible to portray Lily as the epitome of goodness, a kind of perfect being like the Virgin Mary, while also having her marry her friend’s abuser—because, honestly, she’s not. To me, it seems like Lily was a person of questionable morals and ethics, which is ironic because her supposed moral superiority is what leads her to break off her relationship with Severus. What I find illogical is presenting a character who constantly talks about what’s morally right or wrong when her actions are quite contrary to her supposed value system.

I’ve had friendships throughout my life that have ended badly, for one reason or another, and that happens. But I would never, ever think of dating someone I’ve known for years as someone who abuses others, much less people who were my friends. Sometimes I think this is either a plot hole or that Lily was just your typical superficial “pick me” girl who wanted to “not be like other girls,” but deep down, she loved that a rich, popular guy like James was chasing after her. That’s the only explanation that gives her actions some sense—that deep down, her inferiority complex (being a Muggle-born and from a family that wasn’t even middle class) manifested in the need to be liked, be popular, and end up as the object of interest and admiration of rich and popular boys. That would actually be interesting because it would give her character some depth. The problem is that, in canon, all we see is a girl lecturing others on morality and then acting with ethical standards that leave much to be desired, with no explanation.

Because no, sorry, you don’t marry a bully. You might marry a bully if you meet them at 30 and you’re unaware of what they did as a teenager. But you don’t marry a bully you’ve seen harassing and abusing people for 7 years—like, what kind of sense does that make? And even less so do you do that and then give yourself the privilege of judging other people’s behavior and decisions. Lily Evans had no moral ground for that.

I could rant for hours about why she’s a terrible friend and a hypocrite, but I’ll settle for defining her as the typical basic girl who tries to act interesting. Unfortunately, many female characters in the series are like that: “pick me” girls. But then again, that’s nothing more than Rowling’s internalized misogyny coming to light, along with her insecurities projected into the need to be “one of the boys” and her unfounded hatred of women with traditionally feminine traits. And that’s another story.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #7282:

Writing this on July 16th 2023 a few days after the DDOS attack on ao3 because I know it may be some time before this is published.

Not that I expect the """Anonymous Sudan""" hackers to see this.

But what did you get out of this. If the leading theory ive heard of your motives is correct...

Pretending to be Sudanese and fighting for religious and politically motivated purposes, You attacked a non profit organization for fanfiction. "because of lgbtq+ and disgusting smut and NSFW".

But within hours all of the Fandom community knew you are actually Russian hackers. That you were trying to cause infighting between two minorities (a common Russian tactic) by making Muslims look worse by westerners and cause them to be angry with muslims, all so you can point at westerners as being racist and islamiphobic so muslims and middle eastern countries will side more with Russia. And even possibly so that yall can raise oil prices or whatever and crush Ukraine (I'm not entirely sure of the validity of that or how that works)

Not only did you fail to do that. Spectacularly. And very quickly.

You failed to keep a fucking volunteer run non profit website from being down consistently and failed all together after two days. So much for you "hacking and DDoS history"

And you failed the dumb 30k bitcoin "randsome" you were holding ao3 for. Which BTW again you couldn't keep down for more than an hour at a time by yourself. AND you tried bluffing and saying it's "practically impossible to mitigate our DDoS". So much for that huh?

So not only did you fail your main objective of causing tension between western countries and middle eastern ones. But you didn't get a single fucking cent out of us either.

Thank you to all of the volunteers at ao3 for fighting this shit for free and winning. For handling this case perfectly and making sure no racism arose from this issue. Or atleast no more than already existed, and for shutting down people who already were trying to racist from having the space to do so.

On a slightly unrelated note

I hope some of the "endotwracism" crowd have realized OTW isn't that fucking racist (I cannot speak as if I know all the workers personally) and that the existence of racism in fanfic shouldn't be censored. Because OTW and ao3 both do not condone racism. They don't condone attacking and harassing and bullying of /individuals/ for any reason whatsoever. Nor works that aren't fanfiction. Like advertisements in the fanwork format or whatever. Censoring "Abby the white racist from Ohio writing torture porn of poc" is not going to help poc in any way shape or form. Like anything that's censored "Abby" will just not properly tag her works.

Please ao3 is an archive. It was never meant to be a main hub for fanfic it's simply meant to archive it. All of it, so long as it is not illegal or attacking an actual identifiable person(s).

If you want a website for fanfic tailored specifically how you want it then use ao3 open source thingy (I forget what exactly it is or called) and make your own. This isn't anyone trying to exclude poc. But ao3 is meant for everything and that includes the "other side". if you don't want that then make a site to exclude them.

Like I'm sorry but ao3 is popular because it's an archive. Because it includes everything. And yall don't even stop to think about the resources needed to moderate something like that, who gets to decide what is racist and what isn't, or even the background of that supposed moderation team.

Poc aren't being driven away. They are just throwing a tantrum because they think the existence of something that offends them I'd a attack on them personally. When. In reality, and I know this depends on the Fandom, most fics I see that include racism in one for or another aren't made because the authors are racist. It's because they are comfortable exploring those concepts in fiction. Hell there are poc who for this too. Even outside of fanfic there are books that do this. And I'm gonna say it but alot of people don't believe that can be possible because of an author like J. K. Rowling. But even with her no one really says her books should be burned or that the Harry Potter Fandom shouldn't exist.

There are fandoms for media that is full of racist themes but that doesn't mean any of the fans are racist. While yes fandoms like that can tend to have more racist fans in comparison to others. But People being comfortable with exploring the concept does not inherently mean they are racist themselves.

Wish people understood that.

Anyway. Moral of the story is give the middle finger to russia not the middle east and to always be skeptical of who you hear or claim is doing what. Because of shit like this

I am so proud of the Fandom community for handling something like this better than anything else would or had. But honestly idk how people can just assume the work of a few particularly bad people means anyone "like" them are also bad and deserving of hate. And why anyone would believe or take seriously people doing something bad "for" a certain group. Like why would a group WANT to be seen as evil or whatever by others? And for no reason?

What did they think would happen? "hey " muslim" hackers hacked this gay porn site and now the users of gay porn site are mad at muslims. You should hate them back"

??? Like even IF the hackers were who they claimed to be, I highly doubt Muslim people are so stupid as to think it's unreasonable for users of gay porn site to be a lil peeved for being antagonized for NO REASON by Muslim hackers. Religious or not no one can be that stupid right? You can agree with the hackers all you want but you have got to recognize the fact that gay porn site and gay porn site users were provoked first.

Maybe it's just me and I can't understand stupidity like that.

I'm just glad they weren't able to achieve their goals in the first place.

Anyway as of today ao3 seems to be running normally. I'm still be a bit wary since they have not the declared the attacks over AFAIK. But honestly. It really seems like they've done nothing more than a lil two day prank and gained nothing from it.

If this gets posted earlier:

please be wary of ANY anti Muslim sentiments. Anything that would try and paint them or anyone in a bad light really. And do not go after Russian citizens. They have no control over what is happening either and just like you and me are not connected to whatever racist war bullshit the world leaders and governments are trying to pull these days. Please think critically and ask yourself who and why something is being said about some group or another. Even if you don't like a group for whatever reason, it is not worth it to try and beat anyone down. It serves no purpose other than to make the world worse for everyone and to put more power in the hands of people who should not have it.

Thank you.

[terresdebrume]

Thinking back on that anon that asked about being an openly trans teacher in Cambodia (shout-out if you're still here :P)

I think one factor that contributes a lot is that I've decided to try my best to present who I am as a matter of fact, fait accompli type of thing. I try my best not to offer any explanation or excuse or like... Mitigation of who I am, and I think it helps too?

I'm not confrontational about it, exactly it's more like, for the question of my name, an exchange I had more than once was:

Me: I'm Matt

Person: Oh, is that short for anything?

Me: No.

And obviously not everyone will be in the same position of safety to answer that way! I'm not saying it's going to work for everyone or, hell, it might even stop working for me eventually! But I genuinely do feel like just being like yeah that's who I am, no I won't volunteer an explanation, has been quite helpful in not giving people a sense that they were allowed to question me, of that makes sense

It's a little like Jordan Waller* said when he described growing with two moms in the 80s-90s in the UK, about how his family was bullied a lot until his moms stopped trying hide that they were both his parents, if that makes sense. The idea that if you don't give people a visible point of anchor, they mostly won't dig for one

*An actor who played Alfred Paget in ITV's Victoria series over 10 years ago, but this specific interview did the rounds a bit

[fablepaint]

Hey I hear you have chickens...

I would like some advice on them

So I have like 14 chickens and one of them is getting severely bullied by some of the others, I have tried separating them when we put them away at night and even tried putting the bullies away for a little bit during the day to try to have them calm down, but nothing seems to work... Do you have any suggestions?

I had this happening to a chicken of mine that turned out to be pretty poorly health-wise. You might want to double check if the hen herself is okay, in case that's what is triggering the other chickens. Chickens aren't very tolerant of sickly chickens around them.

If that's not the case, then it might just be a poor mix of personalities. Not all chickens get along and whoever is at the bottom of the pecking order is going to be the target for the other hens. If you have a lot of chickens with far more aggressive personalities, they're gonna have a go at hens that aren't.

I've tried to mitigate that possibility by focusing on docile breeds that even at their most aggressive, are still mellow birds. (this is why it became quickly apparently that the hen they were bullying was not well....also she was hyper sensitive in general to even a mean look and I think that irritated them).

There's a lot of suggested methods for handling the situation, but it sounds like you tried those out. I did too, it didn't work. Your options are to separate the bird more permanently. Congratulations on your new house-chicken, or rehome her for her benefit with a different flock. Alternatively, separate your flocks in two and see which birds get along with her and who doesn't. With 14 birds, I'm willing to bet you can find a new mix that could work. If there's two roosting spots, then she at least won't get bullied at night and gets a break from daytime interactions. But you basically gotta reshuffle the pecking order somehow to prevent her from being bullied to injury.

Any chicken Tumblr folks have suggestions? Or am I off-base? I'm not an expert, just sharing my thoughts and experiences.

[teaonastro]

So the last ask isn’t proof of anything…it’s a “he said, she said” conversation…still no evidence of anything…you keep saying that you’re gathering evidence but it’s just people talking about their feeling being hurt, it’s just a “he said, she said” conversation…give us something substantial. This is getting really stale…

just word of mouth. no actual substantial evidence. Just very angry people

Firstly,

If this situation is so “stale,” then why are you still talking about it? We said in our blog announcement we’d like to cover other issues, and yet people keep bringing this up. If you think it’s old news, then don’t engage. Go scroll somewhere else. No one’s forcing you to be here.

I’m gonna try to have good faith here, and assume that you aren’t stirring the pot on behalf of others.

If you really want to act like you didn’t witness the mass anon hate sent to a minor, telling her to kill herself over accusations of racism — accusations that were never proven, with like 8 different conflicting stories.. then I don’t know what to tell you? I saw those anons. They were nasty. Calling her racist, talking about her in disgusting ways. And this 17 year old literally had to delete her blog over it.

She even said that she didn’t even know if the event actually happened. She was confused. She admitted she was unsure. But that didn’t matter, because she clearly wanted to mitigate potential harm. Even though that group claimed it was okay and they’d forgiven her but people had already made up their minds — and they were hungry to crucify someone.

It’s the same story every time.

And this goes beyond the mismanagement of the Honeybitch situation. There have been endless inconsistencies. along with hate campaigns, gaslighting, and full-on manipulation across multiple blogs.

We were even accused of withholding certain anons when we didn’t!

All this Simply because we don’t have time to post on tumblr all day, and they were too impatient to wait.

This group and people involved with it have gone after smaller creators, they’ve attacked other POC who disagreed with them, and seemingly have doled out insane amounts of anon hate and bullying drove that even drove away one of our team members on this blog. If that doesn’t concern you, then ok I guess.

They referred to a Latino woman as Dora, they attacked another black creator as well trying to guilt trip her with her blackness. As if she owed them camaraderie.

If someone’s white, they’re racist, theyre policing black voices. But if someone’s not, and they don’t fit the group’s agenda? They get bullied too and the racism they face as a result of this bullying directed at them is just the cherry on top.

I also find it odd that astrotroll and spiritstalking literally went silent at like the same time. Both continually tagged us in posts that were intended to make us feel “othered.”

I find it funny how we get accused of having an agenda. Only posting one side, yet we have responded to messages of all kinds. Yet when we have asked for proof, evidence, statements, anything on behalf of the other side, nothing but hate and sarcasm and accusatory statements have been provided.

Do I believe aphrodicci has experienced racism on tumblr? Probably, because Ik I have. Yet it seems like the same group participates in acts of racism. Just because someone is a nonblack poc doesn’t mean we should speak to them with racial vitriol and being black doesn’t give us a pass to be racist to others with no consequence. We are not immune to being racist to nb poc. Even white people can experience prejudice, just not systemic racism. Extremist beliefs are never helpful in finding sociopolitical solutions, and neither is silencing others who have yet to be proven guilty for the sake of peacekeeping.

Power dynamics are the issue here. Plain and clear, and people are weaponizing social justice language to deflect from their own harm.

You want to say it’s just “he said, she said”? Okay. But why do so many people have the same story? Why do so many people say this person and this server have caused harm? Why are people being told to kill themselves, being bullied, gaslit, and pushed out of the community?

The literal only proof I’ve seen that is irrefutable was about a pedo. I hage seen actual proof of alleged harmful actions that exist aside from implications and out of context screenshots which quite frankly … I don’t really know how people read those and didn’t see what was truly going on. Or how people saw those and thought “yes this is going to make me look good” because they literally show the exact behavior that they accuse others of.

Cancelling people because you don’t like them? Accusing people of supporting a genocide when they literally stated in the post that was referenced to accuse them that the circumstances happening in Gaza are horrifying.

If we’re wrong — fine. Go read a blog you agree with. But I’m not going to live in an echo chamber, and I’m not going to stay silent while people are being manipulated and lied on.

Yours truly,

— Lady Venus

[soulcialdent]

Day 4: يقبرني Ya'aburnee (Arabic)

A way to declare your hope that your loved one will outlive you, as it would be unbearable to Live without them.

(Continuation from Day 1: Saudade Entry)

That night after sending the paper plane Neji dreamed about her. There was few different scenes that flashed behind his eyes but there was one he remembered vividly. Probably because it was something that really happened. 

It was the day of the infamous Konohagakure Middle School Brawl. Tenten was known around town for being a hardass. Well, not really a hard ass but she liked to fight. After being bullied for years for being an outsider. She got fed up and slapped the shit out of one of her bullies.  From about 4th grade and on, this made her target. She ended up fighting all the time.

Her parents enrolled her into martial arts classes to help mitigate some of her anger. That’s where she and Neji meet. The winter between junior and senior year of elementary school. They became fast friends eventually attending middle school together. 

Fast forward to the third year in middle school. She had calmed down a bit and it helped that Neji and Lee were there to reign her in and keep her out of trouble-most of the time. Which was a tall task because a lot of people just didn't like her. 

On this day in particular. It just so happened to be a school festival day.  It was packed and raining on and off the entire time. Neji was in the student council office retrieving some supplies.  The door bursts open. 

“Neji Ni-san, it's Tenten. Lee needs to come right now. There out back by the tennis courts “ 

Neji dropped what he was doing. He brushed passed hinata and started running down the hall to head outside as fast as his feet would carry him. When finally did make it out back. The crowd was so thick that he knew he was gonna have a hard time getting thru. But moved as swiftly as he could. 

That's when he saw them. Lee held on to both her hands trying to keep her attention. Naruto stood right next to body blocking her.  Neji ran over to them out of breath. 

“Tenten, are you okay? What's going on” he checked to see if she was injured. 

“I'm fine. I just need to go talk to someone for a second. Lee won't let me go”

Neji was confused. 

“I'm pretty sure she didn't mention it but we've been having some issues with some of Technical Middle School kids. We found them beating up and robbing some freshmen. Turned out they were low level Anbu gang members.  They’ve been taunting us all day”  said Naruto 

“Okay then, let me take you home”  she looked at Lee  “Lee, can you let Iruka Sensei know that i’m taking Tenten home. If he asks, she's not feeling well. 

“Here, take my bike. It’ll be faster” Naruto tossed, his keys into Neji. “It's blue and orange with a frog lock. “Yelled the blonde as he and Lee rushed off to go find Iruka Sensei.

“Come on Tenten” Neji grab her hand and begin pulling her through the crowd. “Were you planning on telling me any of this”

“No, I didn't want you worrying about me” 

“I'm always worry about you. Especially when I’m not around. You do reckless things” 

Tenten scuffed 

“I’m sorry to disappoint you then if that's the case. But what was I supposed to do? Let the those kids get stomped out”

She had a point

“You did the right thing. But what's been happening today?” 

“They been trying to lure me into fighting all day. I'm not sure, how many members are here. But their leader Temari is definitely here. Her second in command I think, his name is Kankuro. He rolled up on me earlier. But Lee scared him off. 

“So what’s your plan?  Did you plan to fight them all by yourself”

“Yeah, if that's how it's gotta be then that's how it's gotta be”

Neji remembers how much that reveal hurt him.

“This is a suicide mission. Are you trying to die?” 

Tenten halted, standing her ground. But I didn't answer him.  And when she didn't answer he continued.

“I don't want you to die”

Tenten flinched, and fear flashed through her eyes and Neji let go. She took a deep breath and stood really tall. 

“Of course not. I just don't want to be scared anymore” 

He hadn't expecting those words out of her mouth. Tenten always seemed so fearless. She was the swing and ask questions later type. That's why Neji had vowed to always protect her.  He really didn't know who he was without her. 

“How does putting your life in danger fix that? I am seriously trying to understand” 

She pondered his words while looking around. 

“I'm not sure it does. If I give them what they want. They'll go away.  I can take solace in knowing that I'm not a coward” 

Tenten was one of the bravest and kindness people he knew. She was a lot of things but a coward, never.

“I understand but I'm still taking you home. We’ll come up with a better solution. "Neji reaches out, to grab her hand again so they continue moving.

But a loud scream echoed behind them. They both swiftly turned around. Somebody had punched Naruto in the back of his head. Two other people started running at him.

Neji went to grab her but missed. Tenten ran across the school yard and kicked one of the attackers right in their back. 

Neji found himself running right behind her and grabbing the second attacker by his shirt and judo flipping him. 

Tenten helped Naruto up and a group of guys and girls with bats, chains and started running at them.  All hell broke was about the brakes loose. The rain started picking up, making visibility almost impossible. 

Neji was sure that were going to die that day.  Neji made peace with it because at the very least they were together. He wants it any other way. Through some what Neji couldn't only assume was divine intervention, they all survived. 

 Lee’s broke one of his legs. Naruto broke his hand and a few broken ribs. Tenten tore her.  A Achilles tendon and few broken ribs. Loving her had brought really hard lessons and Neji the scars to prove it.  But he wouldn't have had it any other way. 

Ya'aburnee

[ltleflrt]

can i ask - what are you thoughts on the current anti-shipping phenomenon in fandom? I've recently gotten into SPN fandom and fallen in love with your fics, but the state of the fandom puzzles me a bit.

Anti-shipping is not a SPN fandom phenomenon, and maybe it seems to be a bigger deal to you because it's a bigger fandom? Wincest and Destiel shippers have been at war since episode 04x01 aired lol...we even have derogatory names for each other: Wincels and Hellers.

(Jokes on the Wincels, because Heller is a fucking awesome name.)

(Wincestiel shippers are fandom unicorns, and they deserve love and respect.)

I've only been involved in fandom since 2011, so most of what I know about anti-shippers comes from piles and piles of posts talking about fandom history, but the gist of it is that this is not current, it is ongoing since the dawn of fandoms, we just have names for it now. Think about Spirk back in the 60s...there were lots of rabid fangirls who saw nothing romantic between them too. We just don't hear as much about them, because they lost their fandom war lol

It's just really loud right now with the rise of conservatism, fascism, and terfs. And social media amplifies all of the above.

Anyway, my thoughts on anti-shippers is that they need to grow up and mind their own business. I am a pro-shipper, which means I believe that anyone has the right to love any ship, no matter how problematic, no matter how much it squicks me out. I believe everyone should be allowed to read whatever vile smut they want, because thought crimes are not real.

Unless a real person is being hurt, have fun.

Antis claim that problematic ships and kinks hurt people, but I think it's important to understand that there's a big difference between accidental and deliberate harm. And harm mitigation is highly important in a world with 7+ billion people and 7+ billion different lived experiences.

If an anti-shipper is hurt by a ship they don't like, they need to learn how to block and filter content so they don't see it, and on the opposite side of that, the vile shippers/kinksters need to tag their nonsense so that they're not accidentally burning someone's eyes out. Which most people ARE kind enough to do. They sit around in their little ficcing circles and cackle over the evil things they're putting their blorbos through, and they put up warning signs, but the antis come barging in to bug them anyway.

In my opinion, many antis are big fucking bullies and do a lot more harm than they claim to try and prevent, and they can all go fuck themselves with something hard and sandpapery.

So uh... yeah, that's how I feel about it 😁

(okay actually I'm not done, there's a lot of anti-shipping discourse about age gaps and what counts as incest that are just... really fucking stupid, and I honestly believe that shit started out because people were grasping for straws to justify why their ship is better than the ship they don't like. unfortunately, the youngins have been soaking up that moral purity language as Objective Truth because they're little sponges. i hope they outgrow that bullshit eventually. i will forgive and forget if they leave behind their purity police badges.)

[vmures]

Thinking once again about takes from various character defense squads (the rabid ones that like to harass and bully people for daring to portray their favorite as anything less than perfect). The one thing that really stands out to me is that they so often point to the fact that their unicorn is a victim as if that alone means they cannot also be a shitty person.

But the reality is that almost all abusers were once abused. Not everyone who is abused becomes an abuser, but it's disingenuous to say that someone who has endured trauma cannot turn around and hurt others. It's also unrealistic. I generally try to live by live by tenants of kindness and compassion, but I am human and thus I know I have hurt others. We all have our moments of pettiness and our moments of rage where we lash out. It's how we act after that really speaks about our behavior, at least in my opinion. Did the person acknowledge their mistakes and try to do better? Or did they stand by their actions and continue showing the same pattern of behavior?

Characters, like the beings they portray, are all flawed. They all make mistakes. Yes, there are things that mitigate their actions and behaviors, but that doesn't mean they are immune to consequences of said behaviors.

I suspect that the crux of the issue is that these folks feel they have to justify their bullying of others, so they pick things like "but x is a victim, how dare you say they're a bad person" or "you are a [insert some accusation of an -ism here]" if you don't write their favorite as a shiny example of purity and light. But ultimately it's just an excuse to be mean to others on the internet and may not have anything to do with the character at all.

It's possible that they identify so strongly with a character that they feel like it is a personal attack, but that isn't an excuse to harass and bully others either. Just means that they probably need to get some help learning to distinguish fiction and reality again.

What's particularly interesting to me is that the only reason I even know about these takes is having seen the harassment the defense squads launch at those they disagree with (usually in ao3 comments), or because someone being harassed addresses it on their tumblr. Which means that they have to go looking for the things that they hate. And I do not get why people do that. Aren't there better ways to spend one's time? If I come across something that infuriates me, I might blog about it separately but without naming names or tagging anyone. Mostly I just vent to friends. But I try not to go and seek those takes out. I block people and filter tags and try not to let my curiosity get the better of me (meaning I try to avoid checking those things after I've put them in place) because it's not healthy and not worth my time.

[the-haunted-office]

I think I have an idea that I like that will allow for me to implement more Stanley Parable-esque responses to certain asks, and that will hopefully mitigate any possible offense that might be taken to them. Or, well, might cover any accusations of any nefariousness - and actually, if you guys will allow me to explain about that, please? Briefly.

There were some incidents from quite a while back, the finer details of which I won't go into, but basically my muses were much more Stanley Parable in that they would criticize elements in threads in the style and spirit of The Stanley Parable, and some of my writing partners took it to heart and took offense to it. Like, for instance their Narrator character would be narrating a story for one of my muses, and my muse would criticize something about the story their Narrator was saying. Or their muse would do something in-universe that my muse felt was a cliche, and so they would say as much. These partners of mine were into The Stanley Parable, and so I (wrongly) thought it was okay to do. I thought it would be a funny way to implement the spirit of the game into my characters and threads, and I didn't realize it would offend certain people. Well, it did. And I was accused of directly bullying people's muses or criticizing people's ideas, rather than my muses doing it, and needless to say, some people weren't as amused by the idea as I was.

I have since dropped that idea and don't do it in threads any longer. My muses no longer utilize this element of their Stanley Parable base, which is sad because that's part of their origin. But I also recognize now that this can be misinterpreted as actual criticism by others and it's never my intention to be hurtful, especially since this is a hobby where we're all supposed to have fun.

I do think one of the key elements of the Stanley Parable is the way the game pokes fun at tropes and elements of storytelling, though! I try to utilize this as much as I can in my own writing. I think it would be fun to utilize this in other ways, since the game itself directs a lot of this at the player, and it is a huge reason why the game is as fun as it is. Since you are playing as Stanley and the Narrator is trying his darndest to please you, he takes every bit of criticism to heart, and any time he gets any slightest bit of critique from Stanley (who is YOU, the player!), he goes WAYYYYYY over the top to overcompensate for it, even to the most sarcastic, smartass degree, even if it's to his own detriment, even to the GAME'S detriment. It just goes to show how much damage criticism can do if you focus too much on it rather than creating things for their own merits.

Anyway, what I'd like to do is implement some of that Stanley Parableness back into my blog, but do it in a way that doesn't directly criticize anybody's muses or works. What I'd like to do is open the door for Anons to receive these critiques from the Author or the Narrator or from other Haunted Office folks, 100% in the spirit of the Stanley Parable, and not at all meant in a hateful manner or meant to harm. It will all be meant in good fun. And not all Anons will be subject to this kind of interaction, but any who are will be clearly tagged with a special tag to indicate as much. I'll also put up a disclaimer in my rules and pinned post. I think this could be a lot of fun and a good way to for me to put more Stanley Parable back into my Stanley Parable blog!

This is my proposal, and if you've read down this far, you get an Achievement. 🌟 x)

[apoapsis]

@healingbrews // [x]

               He finds it funny– the way he can instigate such upset in others, whether it be due to the malaise of his ANOMALY’S influence, or due to his incorrigible demeanor. In some ways, SIEBREN quite enjoyed his ability to offset the atmosphere of a room with little more than a couple of choice words. 

He liked to see others squirm when pressure is applied, whether they become confrontational or not.

               The downside to this, is the emotional exhaustion that follows; a limited emotional spectrum offers very little emotional range– he doesn’t appreciate having them dumped onto him so ceremoniously. The argument in question is slightly one-sided in retrospect, Hinoka having not taken kindly to the notion that SIEBREN, despite either his or SIGMA’S attachments to her, still has zero intention of remaining on Earth for any longer than necessary. Her fault for insisting on asking what he, hypothetically, would want to do, should his research be completed. In a way, it was almost cute– the notion that any one would insist on him remaining behind. Then again, his fault for not considering the illogical nature of the inhabitants here– how much is there to blame upon naturalistic behavior when he should have circumvented the question altogether? Even hyperintelligence seemed to have oversights of its own, unfortunately!

He might have been more appreciative of the sentiment, or perhaps, slightly more receptive to it, were it not delivered so brashly. “-- You know, I will never understand you…. Emotional sorts,” SIEBREN conjectures flatly, rolling his eyes in muted annoyance as his arms cross over his broad chest. “-- The way you… feel the need to project it at the worst of times– SIGMA is just as awful about it. You’re both so… embarrassing– letting your emotions get the better of you.” However, rather than sounding frustrated by it, he remains neutral–  as if discussing the weather, rather than ethics. The feigned nonchalance of a childhood bully, awkwardly attempting to mitigate the consequences of an unintentionally razor-edged tongue. 

               “-- What if I were to insist that you leave the Earth as well? Or go anywhere, for that matter? Just because, say… SIGMA loves you? Obviously I likely would not, as I have no interest in further displacement of any other individuals in my mission, but doesn’t it sound a little dramatic…? Demanding things only because of your personal attachment– do you truly think SIGMA or I belong on this planet anymore?”

“-- Besides… how much can you really mean it if you only say it in response to our eventual departure?”

               “... It isn’t even that annoying– I suppose I am just… confused by the platitudes I keep encountering in regards to socializing with other life forms again.” SIEBREN pauses, looking thoughtful as an index finger traces the edge of his jawline. “... I guess I cannot blame you for it; it would be only logical for humans to crave the comfort of surface life planetside, but what, then, am I expected to do? The more I see take place upon this planet, the less I want to stay– it is nothing personal. Would it genuinely feel that much better to have the truth omitted...? I thought you wanted me to be honest with you-- I am trying to understand.”

[madelinenerdfighter]

Please can the Communists take away my bad air?

Today 54 pm2

At is worst 90pm2

I live in social housing in BC Canada. This has been going on since august. Now I'm taking them to the residential tenancy board who seem to be taking it seriously as they triaged the hearing much earlier than is normal. But who knows what that will actually mean.

And it turns out that nowhere in British Columbia do we have a residential air quality division even though we have Civic codes around it. That was quite the runaround is divisions kept sending me to other divisions and back again

It's making me so sick. Before they put me on mega doses of antihistamines this happened mid-august 2023

Ventilation ductwork has not been cleaned in the 27 years that I've lived here. Unless elves did it while we were sleeping LOL

I have to keep the heat off or it sucks up the bad air through the walls. I have to keep my window and balcony door open to try to mitigate the air and keep the temperature down because the downstairs neighbors like to cook bake for up to 19 hours and there's two of them so it's like someone is pooping and showering and using fragranced products and cooking and baking inside my apartment.

Temperature inside my apartment

There's more terrible to the story, but I think that sums up why I definitely want the Communists to take away my bad air!

Also please can the communists also take away my bullying property portfolio manager as well? Rather than deal with what was clearly a bad air issue before my air got bad, this is the notice he sent to the whole building populated by low income seniors and persons with disabilities under the guise of protecting people's right to enjoy their apartment rather than buying a vowel and realizing that the sudden increase in complaints means the there is something wrong with the valentilation system.

FYI marijuana is legal here and my building is designated is allowing smoking inside residents apartments. Also FYI I am very allergic to all these substances, but even so thought this was a ridiculous notice especially considering it was the middle of summer, beyond hot, and this is a population that can't afford air conditioners. So I have this crazy idea that maybe they should deal with the actual issues not threaten a vulnerable population

Notice reads on pale pink paper like that makes it okay:

*dear residents

(bold) RE unacceptable behavior marijuana tobacco smoke and other substances smoke

Recently our office received at several complaints regarding the strong smell of marijuana as well as tobacco smoke emanating from some of the suites into the common areas of the building and property. Another problem that was brought to our attention is the issue of some tenants smoking tobacco marijuana and other substances with open windows/doors

I would like to remind to all tenants that this behavior is clearly taking away from the other residents their right to have enjoyment of their homes and / or property as it creates public nuisance. Please note this unacceptable behavior may result in and steps being taken to end tenancy

If you wish to discuss this forever you can contact me at, redacted

Sincerely, redacted*

So yes, can the Communists please come take away this ppm who has confused property portfolio manager with feudal Lord.

And this is all on top of the fact that I can't get baseline supports to survive. Info in petition

And the bad air situation is making me extra extra sick and it's costing me so much money in HEPA filters and mega dose antihistamines, ER visit an extra Health supports that I was already out of pocket on etc which is taking away critical energy from focusing on this petition.

And All the while I've been living month to month on GoFundMe money after going 45,000 in medical debt on a disease that no province in Canada even has a medical service provider healthcare category of coverage so the feds have stats so they can start properly doing research and educating physicians.

I still haven't gotten a Canadian legacy Media to do a story and how the heck does anything change if the supreme Court and the human rights tribunal in Canada and British Columbia consider what's happening to me to be a political(yeah I spent years trying to push your rock up that hill). Although I'm extremely grateful for this UK article

And a small market piece that happened the year before

And there have been other small market pieces (pinned tweet of @iammadelinepod Twitter). And I have definitely appreciated that

But seriously, Canadian legacy Media said the only reason they weren't doing stories about my situation is that I wasn't fully public. They wouldn't protect my identity to protect my life. So I've thrown caution to the when, and I'm now fully public and crickets continue. And this for a disease, longviral myalgicE, that stats Canada says has been gaining additional sufferers at a rate of 37% at the third covid infection. Epstein-Barr got me 45 years ago, and I can say with 100% confidence that I am theur Canary in the coal mine

So when low income people especially low income people with disabilities, on top of all the other obstacles that we're dealing with, have to deal with unhealthy living situations, it can be a capsizing and deadly situation.

So yes, definitely, can the Communists come and take all this nonsense away too? I'd very much like to not be dead due only to lack of supports

The communists want to take away YOUR MOLD

[unproduciblesmackdown]

speaking of scapegoating lol. evergreen but like "seemingly more open & boundless misogyny from more men?? could this be women's fault" like prommy the message of "we should cater to how men feel & reassure them" is out there as well as "b/c this is the only way to stop the violence of patriarchy from being done to people" like this is also out there already, as well as in the broader form of like, a system where particular parties are "inferior" & vulnerable to "superior" parties? practical matters of how to disrupt & rupture this system entirely, don't know her, surely the priority is convincing the "superior" to cut it out only the people doing the convincing are seen as inferior & threats to their power already & the Not Wanting To be convinced is investment in that systemic power they have, & like what, Maybe some cases Some people decide they can be Some degree nicer about it after eons like, can't imagine aiming for anything else....entire kwame ture quote "if a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem. if he's got the power to lynch me, that's my problem. racism is not a question of attitude; it's a question of power. racism gets its power from capitalism. thus, if you're anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. the power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude." like Having to assuage someone's feelings so they doesn't start enacting & perpetuating violence against others classed as inferiors socially/materially positioned as vulnerable to their violence? obviously already that issue of power vs if a man is sexist that's his problem. not a personal feelings conversation to be like trying to Redeem or Reform or Convert someone in the position to leverage abuse & interested in / already doing so, it's a negotiation or a compromise or a very specific limited strategic effort to mitigate damage, not like the guiding light of like How To Thwart Bigotry being like, sexism? this is women's fault. feminists are too mean

like, men have power in a patriarchy & so a lot of people benefitting from that (like, many men) are invested in maintaining that power, such as: being violently misogynist. being pissed off about those who should be subject to that power having more autonomy, i.e. the reduction of their power. wanting to reinforce & increase that power. not really a mystery what's going on there or why apparent threat to / reduction of patriarchal power gets a backlash of all the more overt hostility? like what "oh damn this man totally thought of women as people until too many women were all 'men are sexist & don't think of women as people' & then he was like okay i hate women, they're not people" like well don't think he was really so Not Misogynist was he lol. "ohh i was owned by the libs online too many times so now i, up till now your best ally, am a fascist >:( you made me do this" like abuse logic lmao the Would Be / Already Victims being responsible for gently carefully strategically convincing the beneficiaries & perpetrators of what victimizes them to perhaps maybe not do that as much? & like, misogyny is the norm b/c this is already a patriarchy. white supremacy & ableism & abuse is all already the norm. toddlers absorb things like they've been absorbing Absolutely Everything & already know oh white is better black is worse without anyone having to spell that out for them, later Everyone's The Same, Don't Bully People Or Anything being as light on context / specifics as it is, like, how's that go for bullying not being so normal it's guaranteed to happen & Fine Actually & totally goes away once people grow out of it. the idea that Kids Are Innocent or certainly must be Neutral enough if nobody spelled out bigotry to them (cue everyone who Did have that happen & the universal reaction isn't actually to embrace & enact it anyway) & that ah look at everyone getting their Normal Socialization if they're just getting to interact willy nilly, like lol well that's true but racism sexism etc is normal, so. people out here just rephrasing ABA & ableist language to frame the treatment of disabled people as objective & inevitable while blaming the Deficiency & Wrongness of disabled ppl for bringing the treatment on themselves & focusing on how disabled people can stop being at fault for their own abuse by better catering to those who are Doing Just Fine, Thanks, so they Must be good at social(tm) things, just as the nepo hire has all the career advice you could want, ooh sorry autistic people uhh you just have the wrong / worse / lack of feelings & wrong / worse / lack of "skills" & wrong / worse / lack of "intelligence" & are just sooo bad at Social Things haha. & now you're being annoying complaining about that treatment >:/ of Course i must treat you even worse. if you even care

like what, i was gonna be antiracist but then someone said white people are racist in this world where whiteness is defined by antiblackness, the creation of these classes to enforce & perpetuate chattel slavery, being white is about not being black, which is inferior, so now it's like grr i hate black people then? don't think you Were or Were Just About To Be that antiracist lol. & like your feelings are a personal individual matter. if you feel unpleasant about the idea of being considered racist then the one inevitable reaction isn't "i will become even more racist then," if you do then yeah you're gonna be more ostracized also i.e. into cultier nicher us/them groups & that's not really a fault of the [them] who didn't pull you back by welcoming you & your shit. you already learned & internalized racism / white supremacy as normative shit b/c effectively Everyone Already Did; if you're white you already benefit from that norm / are afforded a position of power within it. & many people want to hold on to that power or want more of it & many people will respond to some awareness of a threat to that by only getting more invested in it. meanwhile how much actual like antiracist antisexist antiableist antibigotry education does anyone get at home or in school? certainly much less than Guaranteed this; how does like the framing of treating other people as people as only about having the correct Feelings (well-meaning, but also anything short of feeling Deviously Malicious is alright) go for, you know, everyone being so invested in equality in principle & in practice rather than all these violences being completely normative & even the supposedly frivolous Popularity Contest Try Not To Get Bullied that is like, normal(tm) school socializing (and work(tm) after that) being so far from Neutral & totally not abuse culture where the way people are treated hinges on whether they're deemed like personally Appealing & Likeable & Nonannoying enough for the supposed baseline respect for people

like when gender is all rn in the context of defining & being defined by a patriarchy, who knows if there's some redeemed actually Neutral category of Men / Masculinity like can't really imagine i think anything ever that would be prescriptive is good, but if anything it's like, the Being A Man / Masculine that is gonna be an improvement is gonna be that which is already happening with women / femininity. women who are also men & vice versa, women who are masculine, men who are feminine, of course everything queer. what is there that "reaffirms" men in their being Not Women / Not Associated With Women that isn't reaffirming patriarchy. "ah it's equally important to have gay narratives And to tell men it's okay for them to be friends with other men without anyone ever thinking they could possibly be gay :)" like that's just reaffirming homophobia lol. if there's nothing wrong with being gay then what's the problem. if there's nothing wrong with being a woman then what's the problem. just as embracing misogyny plays into / supports / is investment in patriarchy & the power it affords men, rejecting misogyny is rejecting patriarchy is rejecting being a "real" man, is embracing association with women without enough of, if any, boundary between oneself & women as inferior Other. abandoning & Betraying what being A Man is supposed to mean, b/c it's supposed to mean The Superior Class & certainly having the power to enact that, b/c patriarchy isn't just an attitude & sure doesn't want to be, probably nobody with the bigoted attitudes of being superior doesn't want to have the power that affords

& meanwhile people can reject that power they're supposedly granted, betray that class race gender [any other structures of supremacy], & be associated with the Other by betrayal of that theoretical boundary & oh you know Be Invested In & Practicing Living In A World where they & nobody else have the Power they're now supposedly entitled to, as white, man, abled, cishet, &c. or they can do the opposite & be holding on to white supremacy or their status in patriarchy or be billionaires all invested in reinforcing & exacerbating all the systems that make billionaires, What A Surprise, perhaps if people were nicer to them online? they wouldn't have gone "i didn't know you were richist >:( fine, Now i'm gonna be an asshole" & like i don't think The Answer is "how can we Convince billionaires to Really do the philanthropy & maybe stop with the exploitation & stuff" like their feelings are their personal problem & to hell with assuming a premise of "well, there'll be billionaires. how can we be nice & win them over to be less shitty to us" like why are there billionaires. why is there having to maybe, carefully, gently, strategically convince anyone to not embrace their Superior Power over you, b/c that's something they can just go ahead & do if they feel like it & you suffer the consequences even if you don't feel like it. what would interrupt / thwart the [i Can just seize this power i already have & am supposed to be all about it & More] what would interrupt / thwart the [people who just have to suffer the consequences of this] about the power not the attitude.

oh yeah & also free bingo space for anytime the idea of personal appeal to agents of systemic abuse to convince them to be nicer please / scapegoating victims of xyz for it happening to them or their failure to stop it already is framed as Just All That's Actually Realistic, oft with the bonus of being supposedly like groundbreakingly Too Edgy a concept. brave enough to say what everyone else is just too much of a pussy to face: e.g. needing to be nicer to misogynists :( like lmaooo as though catering to misogynists or the general concept of women needing to cater to men at all times / certainly not hurt their feelings or reject them is anything New that nobody's been exposed to & you're the only one brave enough to be like "ugh. the feminists are too mean to men" like i Think that concept has been floated lmaooo. as well as its logical extension that b/c of this men Must conclude women are not people & it Is the fault of bitches ruining their life lol like. it's not cutting edge Facing Facts. again, like. the US had its one foremost like representative of state power figurehead seat occupied by one black man & the response of white supremacist fascist being more open / prominent has sure been relevant ever since but like, what, that white supremacy wasn't there before? it's the fault of [the ostensible idea that a black president meant a "post racial" america lmaooo] like ooh even that obvious This Isn't Actually Game Over Racism was too far :( your fault :( like neither is that concomitantly all these other forms of bigotry shoring up this capitalist enterprise Which Were Already There & indeed already Normal, just more genteel, have become more open & elevated & yeah i'm sure people have More So become emotionally & materially invested in the systemic power they were already afforded but now feel is More Threatened. anyone & everyone being no less of a person than you threatens / denies / Betrays your power that would be supposedly guaranteed as a Superior. men who want to hold on to their superiority a) will get more invested in patriarchy & b) reward other men for doing so, always need that support & perpetuation, part of the whole point of it not really just being individual randos with that attitude problem.

anyway tl;dr not a mystery here & nobody has to turn the chair around to be like Real Talk, it's time for what nobody else is clearsighted enough to Understand & brave enough to argue: scapegoating. women being nice enough to men so men might treat them a bit more like people. trans people accepting they're being too demanding in this insistent "existing." uh oh The Left(tm) is being so antifascist that fascists hate it & are like "i'm about to fascism all over the place" so the lesson is don't say you or anyone ever are against fascism or you bring it upon yourself. & that's that on all of that always, gotta focus on personal attitudes, not the systems of power, in which case the personal attitudes of those in power matter as the only avenue to thwart that power, in which case all that those affected can do is try to make those in power feel as positively toward them as possible, in which case well let's all be as nonthreatening & compliant & nondisruptive as possible to that systemic power b/c otherwise they'll feel negatively toward us & we Must suffer whatever they choose to do with that (note also that indeed this edgy cleareyed bold & realistic strategy of attempting to comply & appeal & reassure will likely be viewed in retrospect as being a bad victim. supporting all protests except the current one)

like whoops that wasn't a tl;dr, can't make a short post. but i think if anyone's asking "damnn have we tried asking women to help men feel better :(" Yes. yeah. we have been doing that. "b/c they're responsible for how men feel & then act towards them, like [patriarchy-backed violence]" yep that has been posited i prommy

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 292, Replies Part 2

1) “The one thing standing between everyone here and absolute and certain death is one stubborn pair of denims”-Jeanest is single-handedly holding back a moving tide of destruction, all whilst the strain exacerbates his existing injuries from Kamino to the point of coughing blood. What a fashionable chad. (MHA ch 288) 2) “oh god now who the fuck- is it All Might? Who else was hurt before this fight broke out?”- Not this fight, but Jeanest is still recovering from losing a lung facing down AFO at Kamino, and even recuperating in the shadows hasn’t fully given him enough time to heal.

(MHA ch 288) 3) “No it can’t be All might, he would never be this rude to someone even when distressed. Oh god I can’t remember who else was left behind, I don’t remember a single person who was not in the best of health”- And at this point in time you’re complaining about his poor performance over on Vigilantes to boot. For shame.

4) “Yeah, I don’t think he cares anymore Shoto. He was trying to kill you as well so far, and sure, you were his least favorite, but even so, I don’t think “family” is something that bothers him anymore. I mean *gestures towards Twice’s body* you know?”- Yeah, stuff like this really hammers in Dabi’s two-faced nature for me. There are those out there who claim that he avoided getting close to the league because he didn’t see the point in getting chummy with people when he was going to die due to his own fires regardless, or that it was a self-defence mechanism after he got abandoned by Endeavour focusing on his other siblings to succeed him. But I just recall stuff like this and think he honestly never gave a crap at all, never saw them as anything but tools – after all, he was able to fake camaraderie well enough to get Twice to provide the moving final performance he wanted for his broadcast without so much as a twinge of regret, that’s not something you could casually do if you ever really cared about the other.

5) “…

I’m just… going to move on to the next panel, because Dabi is seriously pissing me off and I might end up shouting any second now.”- Oh good, glad to see we’re on the same page RE: how much of a jackass team player Dabi turned out to be. 6) “That we know Dabi. I mean, if the murders before joining the league and the thousands of civilian casualties after weren’t enough to point at that direction, well

*gestures towards Twice’s body again* 

you know?”- And yet there are still people who think he cared, or was secretly saddened by Twice’s death. It really does baffle me, because honestly, Dabi reads very much as a villain who’s embraced his cause over everything else that could possibly matter to him, even making new friends and allies. 7) “Shoto doesn’t have the same firepower, but his ice might be enough to mitigate your flames Dabi. You won’t kill him here, and neither will him allow you to die.”- Unfortunately, Dabi is superior to Shoto in one respect, and that’s the intensity by which he devoted himself to training his flames, regardless of his handicap. The sheer heat levels he can output far exceed what cold Shoto can, so there’s no cooling him down now. 8) “OH JESUS FUCK THEY ALREADY GOT HERE?

WHAT ABOUT BURNING?”- Probably catching Miro up on the current crisis. 9) “MIDORIYA IS DEFINITELY NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME RIGHT NOW, BUT NEITHER IS ANYONE HERE BESIDES DABI APPARENTLY.”- It’s important to note that, even with the ongoing chaos, the underlying theme of Midoira’s inner thoughts is not that he can’t do anything to help, but that he’s useless and pathetic for not doing more to help those in front of him, damaged limbs be dammed. The boy’s self-loathing and trauma from bullying in childhood still runs deep beneath the surface. 10) “WHAT THE FUCK IS MIRIO DOING HERE

AND WITH HIS QUIRK-

HOLY FUCK WAS THIS ERI’S DOING?

HOLY SHIT DUDE WHAT

WHAT”- And with that, Overhaul’s only lasting impact on the narrative past his debut arc (besides the Quirk-erasing bullets Tomura nicked for his own purposes) is undone. Dude’s grand ambitions and plans have officially gone down in smoke without any repercussions for the heroes, no matter what he thought he’d succeeded at.

(MHA ch 242)

11) “We also had the return of Eri, the slayer of sinners, now carrying her guts-like sword called only by the name of “The Nekoblade”, to honor the memory of her deceased uncle, the old Nekomancer of the clouds… She seems to be going alright, she’s adapting well to the happy life that she deserves, after Midoriya calmed her worries. But her horn is growing back, she’s gathering strength for her quirk, which means that Aizawa will need to keep a close eye to her… Oh boy, I hope this doesn’t become part of the oncoming shitstorm…”- Well, it did, but in a good way. This is what positively training a young girl in need of education can achieve, and now the untouchable man’s back on the scene, in so doing completely rendering all of Overhaul’s efforts for naught. Good thing too, as Miro’s the only guy would could probably safely attack Tomura right now without getting dusted, and the league’s proximity means that Tomura can’t unleash another AOE wave in hopes of killing ‘somebody’ that way.

(MHA ch 246)

12) “And continuing we have Todoroki’s sister, Phelps and Gran Torino together, Kurogiri in jail, Eri’s horn starting to spring back into action-“- It takes months to charge up, so it’s a good thing they used it to buff one of their strongest players in the war back into the hero business, but without Eri’s rewind as a fall-back, it’s not looking good for Izuku right now, given the state of his arms after smacking Tomura around like a paddleball at 100%

(MHA ch 256)

13) “Jesus that thing is ready to burst, we need to have her unleash it in a safe manner soon, otherwise we run the risk of having the incident that killed her parents repeating itself.”- Worry not, your prayers and hopes have been answered!...or rather, keep worrying, because this means that Eri’s rewind power is now off the time as a ‘heal this shit’ option until she’s had enough time to charge again, and now neither Aizawa nor Izuku can benefit from it, aka, the two most integral to holding Tomura back right now.

(MHA ch 256)

14) “Oh this is a bit worrisome, her power is about to get out of control again, but maybe this is also a good sign, now that we know that Shirakumo is still inside of Kurogiri, maybe her power could be able to revert him to a previous state.You know, not every piece of foreshadowing needs to be about a tragedy- shut up let me be hopeful here, okay?!”- Well, this foreshadowing was technically about a good thing, but right now, it’s arguable that it might have been a good idea to save the charge…. 15) "AND THAT’S THE END OF THE CHAPTER HOLY FUCK MIRIO IS BACK WHAT THE FUCK DUDE

WAIT, WAS HE THE ONE THAT SAVED BURNING BACK THERE? WAS THAT WHY WE ONLY SAW AN ARM?"- With all this downer vibes brought on by Dabi, we needed an upbeat hero to lighten the mood, and Izuku’s very much in no position or mind-set to achieve that. @thelreads

[shrapnelstars]

Ok, ok, it looks like Josh is going to finish Morrowind, then play New Vegas, and then Vampire the Masquerade is some time after that, if it isn't next on the docket.

I'm SO EXCITED for him to play VTM! Inb4 everyone agrees that Gary Golden is just Josh if he were a vampire. They are both absolute trolls, they both wear waistcoats, they're both suave, and they both have a background in theater.

And at some point, I hope we can bully him into playing Subnautica. He's terrified of the ocean, but I don't think he knows that the game, despite having having monsters that would completely scare him shitless, actually fosters genuine love for ocean life and can help him mitigate his fear.

Having said that, with how composed and debonair Josh always is, it's still hard for me to imagine him getting scared at anything, even when he admits that certain things do scare him. I think I've seen him shake from an accidental jumpscare once. Even when something is funny, he usually does his best to try to hold his composure and not laugh at it.

I guess that's part of why I want to see him play it so bad. It's usually pretty satisfying when a joke or a scare topples him.

[justatalkingface]

Can I vent one thing? I kind hate the hipocrisy of some (a big number here) fans on regards Izu and Endeavour.

Like it goes more or less like this:

Fans:😒look at Izu defending Endeavour even through Dabi told how abusive he is.

Me: what you want Izu to do punch Endeavour and praise Dabi? A fucking villain who killed and has no remorse?

The hipocrisy here is how they blame Izu for "siding with an abuser" but Shot befriend BK is cute.

Following that logic, they should hate Shoto too as he is Bk's friends...somehow. BK for all his many flaws, I say this, he is honest in his hate for Izu. Never tried to mask.

As for the other ask I sent and yoy answer. Look, Hori just hates Izu and at this point is just easier to say he is a bad writer (feels lazy but I swear this is the easiest and real explanation here) we dont know why Izu wants to be a hero or anything about his family. His complex of martyr makes no sense (does AM have the same thing? It also makes no sense ....bc we know 0 about AM)

There is so much cognitive dissonance baked into Bakugou and how much people love him, there really is; he hits Izuku and there are Bakugou fans that basiclly say Izuku should thank him for the privilege.

Relatedly, a lot of people apparently find him attractive which... I don't get. But hot people do get away with a lot more than unattractive people, so I could see some unconscious biases on the fact that they think he looks hot, and is therefore more tolerable than if he looked like Mineta but acted like he does in canon.

To be fair, a lot of it is ultimately on Hori himself and the writing; no matter how bad I find his character arc at times, Endeavour's abuse and behaviour was never treated like a joke. Brushed over, sure, but it was never funny. Meanwhile, we passed a point in the story, long before Endeavour's redemption kicked in, and suddenly every abusive thing that Bakugou had been doing, bad things which were Serious Problems he was supposed to deal with, was nothing but a joke, even while Endeavour was still on and off being given shit for being an abuser; it's annoying, but I don't find it surprising people don't take Bakugou's behavior seriously if the story itself doesn't.

Meanwhile, while people's interest in Izuku has died to some extent because of how bad his writing got, I've seen people saying (and I'm not completely disagreeing with them) that Dabi has been carrying a lot of Post War, with all the focus on him and his tragic backstory being something that's actually interesting, and how much character he's allowed to have compared to everyone else, which, ironically enough, is probably enough to make him a more sympathetic victim to a lot of people over Izuku, who isn't even allowed to think about his past abuse with how much his traumatic backstory is being suppressed by the writing.

Granted, it feels like a lot of that was altered to make Endeavour (and Dabi) more tolerable to the readers, and while Dabi is supposed to be a villain with sympathetic origins, some people forget he's very much an unsympathetic person at this point, by his own design, and that would probably be insulted by some of the nicer takes on him.

Ultimately, what Endeavour did was worse than Bakugou, yeah, and I see people say that for why Bakugou is more defensible, but it's not a matter of degree; Endeavour doing shitty things doesn't excuse Bakugou doing shitty things, though there's also the fact that abusive fathers are more universally loathed than bullies, especially with all the extra stuff going on with Bakugou to try and mitigate him.

On the other thing....

Izuku is easy. Izuku wants to be a hero because: societal brainwashing about the heroic system as a whole making the system popular to the people, wanting to help people, and wanting acceptance from others. Being a hero, for him, is wrapped up with all three of those causes.

On All Might... Well. It's been awhile, but back when All Might was allowed to be a character, it was pointed out multiple times that Izuku is, in fact, exactly like All Might (seriously, if we look at what we know about Young!All Might, and it sounds like he's basically taller, more muscular, and to some degree more confident Izuku from the start of the story. He's basiclly Izuku if Izuku never had Bakugou in his life, constantly knocking him down, and maybe had an extra foot or two in height), and while Izuku liked being like his idol, everyone else in the know was worried because All Might went exactly down this road Izuku's going down.

That is to say, All Might is now a lonely old man, scarred and broken, without a life of his own, and the fact he's still alive means this is the good ending for him, compared to him getting himself killed.

(looks at the newer manga chapters meaningfully)

The Izuku and All Might self-destruction parallels is something that came up within the first couple of chapters; it was a very deliberate choice, and it seemed clear, at some point, that All Might was supposed to help Izuku be better than him, temper his natural martyr tendencies, and not get himself killed or horribly maimed, a process that would help the both of them grow past these tendencies.

And yes, we know little about All Might, but after a certain point his development stopped and... in all honesty, as much as Hori seems to hate Izuku, he seems to hate All Might just as much, if not more (or at least All Might isn't mandated to be strong and victorious, anyways, in ways that give Izuku some protections). All Might took this scrawny little boy to the beach and over the course of a summer bulked him up to the point where he could host OFA; he's not this horribly incompetent person that the later parts of the story seem to want us to see him as.

And yet, the more he's developed the more Hori just adds flaw upon flaw to the poor man, starting with being completely incapable of helping Izuku in pretty much any way all of a sudden ('clench your butt' my ass) and turning more and more pathetic over time as his powers waned, and he never got to grow as a character to filled the void in his characterization.

Presumably, mixed with the part where he was meant to teach Izuku... literally anything, All Might's backstory (beyond being basiclly tall Izuku, anyways) was probably going to be organically expanded on over time as their mentor and mentee based relationship developed, but that never happened, and so we have a character whose defining traits are largely having super powers, who no longer has those super powers.