#(tbh i think this is one of the reasons i have like no sympathy for ''PROTECT THE CHILDREN'' arguments about literature)

[ardate]

Every Boromir hater makes my enormous love for him grow stronger. Sorry you couldn't understand him, I get him tho and we're holding hands and the whole of Gondor is laughing at you

[neverendingford]

.

[kenzan-kiwami]

i really love how much your perspective on... basically everything inoue says to ryoma in ishin! changes on the second playthrough

knowing that he grassed "saito" up to kondo immediately and fucking PLAYS DUMB whenever he says something immediately suspect, and yet, through all of this, covers for his sorry ass at every turn, even knowing there's a real possibility ryoma would cut him down on the spot if he found out who he was

both of them bullshit each other so much through the whole game, and it makes me sad they didn't ever get to speak as equals with no false names attached

[fellhellion]

90s run PAD has this rlly annoying trend where he very often write a female character being in love w miguel and suddenly her entire character shrinks down to the scope of what drama this provokes and it's near continually in service to the narratives of men (Gabriel and Miguel interpersonal drama for example). even when there are actually interesting things to be mined from this angle like w lyla its like. this is a pattern w you dude.

[ravenkings]

i have to say, i think the mid 2000s the da vinci code craze was much more formative for me than i’d probably like to admit

[dqrkdreams]

the radfem koolaid of every country’s men oppressing their women but also having their own problems while doing so.

idk if cis women are aware of this but u can actually talk abt how difficult it is to be a woman living under patriarchy without wildly misrepresenting the experiences of men living under the patriarchy. i’m watching a comedy special where a thin white woman just said that men aren’t affected by weight gain and i would like to know on what planet being a man protects you from the disgusting and deadly culture of fatphobia we’ve cultivated. i would like to know on what fucking planet a thin white woman is more affected by gaining an inch around her waist than a fat man having to deal with being dismissed by doctors, passed over for jobs, and treated horrendously by fellow human beings. like. trust me, i lived as a woman for almost three decades and still am seen as a woman, i understand the urge to vent about the patriarchy. but you can so easily do that without completely ignoring intersectionality or speaking on experiences you don’t understand or quite frankly don’t care about.

[wonton4rang]

What would bnd be like as fwb?? 🤔

oh my fucking god you are CRAZY but i think about fwb bnd EVERY SINGLE DAY, at least once, at least one member but EVERYDAY. so watch me rant about it below 😭

pairing: bnd legal line x reader.

warnings: +18, smut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sungho; i don't see him being the typical fwb tbh, idek how you got him like that but if he is, i see him being this type of loner that no one would ever think is being someone's fwb, he's the type to give married vibes so it's not something usual to see him being a fwb. he would be loyal asf, you guys are just fucking but he ain't even looking to anyone else cause he's just that respectful. he would be the type to say a simple "hi" to you when you meet in public with a soft smile, you automatically receiving a text after he went out fo your sight saying "you look so beautiful today, as always". but he wouldn't be confusing tho, you guys would have things clear which is good to avoid any hard feelings.

riwoo; everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, will know you guys have something going on, the only reason they wouldn't specifically go for fwb is because they think sanghyeok has never seen a pussy before. he looks like a lost puppy behind you all the time so they know that he either likes you or you are leading him on. funny how he fucks the shit out of you while he lets out little whines "you feel so good, so warm" he would have a thing for fucking from behind, your ass pressing against his pelvis and you just know he's gonna loose it when his hands hold your boobs and his lips just keep kissing your ear and softly moaning.

jaehyun; contrary to sanghyeok, no one knows y'all have a thing, not because he's good at hiding it but because he's just always joking around and flirting with everyone and everything. i see you getting into an argument with him because of this too, it gets to a point where you don't feel comfortable knowing he's fucking and kissing others as well, he would just excuse himself by saying you guys are not dating so there's no exclusivity involved. was he a bitch? yes, were you going to leave him because of that? no. you loved every moment you spent together and he was so loving when he wanted to that even if it crossed your mind leaving a thousand times, a thousand and one times you'll stay.

taesan; dongmin is not a very clingy person, not even during an stablished relationship, let alone when he's just fucking you sometimes. the lack of response, of affection, of sympathy would be driving you nuts, but when you finally meet in person he's such a sweetheart that you just forget you were mad at him and let him do whatever he wants to do with you. he is VERY misleading, he would say a few lies to keep you close, making promises he doesn't keep but he still has you wrapped around his finger. he would be a little bit rough during sex but even if he's a bitch, he would make you feel good and take care of you afterwards. one of the main reasons of your confusion was that he acted like your boyfriend in private, being jealous over stuff and telling you you're his, only to ignore you in person and don't even read your messages.

leehan; the most misleading one by far. he would act like your boyfriend fr, say cute things to you, wink at you if he ever sees you in public, takes pictures with you, asks you out for dinner at his place without actually fucking you afterwards. all this for him to break your heart when you see him flirting with another girl at the library, getting close to him to ask what's going on and only earning a bad look before he held the other girl's hand and got away from there. he would drop by your place that night and tell you how much he cares about you and how sorry he is, kissing your tears away and making love to you in such a sweet way that you forgot everything he did before. he would stay with you overnight and you would wake up in his arms, only to see him back to normal, barely looking at you before he picked up his things and left you alone. at least he doesn't run away in your sleep and kisses you goodnight.

[wickmitz]

i think you absolutely hit the nail on the head with a lot of this post! there is certainly a lot of deeply rooted misogyny inherent in the fandom, as well as an obvious double standard that is rather tiring to repeatedly see. people show overt sympathy towards characters like rocky, mordecai, freckle, and the likes -- meanwhile critcal eyes are constantly turned towards mitzi and ivy in particular, two women who are expected to act like mother figures or behave more maturely in comparison to their male friends and counterparts. you can’t discuss how rocky has agency without someone still implying that mitzi should be responsible for him anyway, simply because rocky is mentally ill and needs help. ivy is expected to innately understand freckle, a boy she barely knows and a boy who refuses to set any boundaries, and is also held to a standard of ‘maturity’ that freckle himself is exempt from. freckle, a character who has such severe anger issues to the point of going on scary, murderous rampages, is given more inherent grace than ivy, a misguided girl who’s worst crime is being forceful and pushy. and, like rocky with mitzi, freckle’s reserved nature is more than just a personality trait he has! when ivy implies rocky told her about their shared past, freckle looks nauseous and panicked -- he is not only shy, but purposefully guarded around ivy, perhaps due to fear she’ll discover things she won’t like. but is this discussed? is this a factor people consider in the frepper relationship? that freckle is just as responsible for setting boundaries as ivy is responsible for respecting them? from what i’ve seen, no. women in lackadaisy are treated as if they’re omniscient figures rather than human beings with a lot of their own issues on their plate ; where they should know everyone’s suffering intimately, and then take responsibility for said suffering, even if it’s not their fault. it is not up to the men in their lives to tell them how they feel or to ask for help, nor is it up to any of the men to perhaps care for the women in turn … it is wholly the women’s burden instead.

mitzi is insanely stressed out of her mind, going through intense grief, is suffering from multiple relationship losses and threats to her life and business, and is currently holding all of that pain inside of her that she can’t and won’t share. she’s in a bad state of mind ( and i point this out constantly in my wickmitzi analysis here and here ) and is, frankly, in no condition to care for herself -- much less multiple other people. but despite her own pain, she tries catering to the lives around her anyway. and not once do i see anyone claiming mitzi ‘needs someone to take care of her’ or ‘be nice to her’ or what have you. she is expected to burden this alone and to suck it up and care for the other characters, more importantly male characters like the band, rocky, and zib. she is expected to coo and be kind and soothe all their wounds and be agreeable, meanwhile fans view zib’s rather cruel words and behavior towards her in vestige as justified -- or, at least, they never bring it up, simply because it doesn’t matter to them. instead, i see mitzi’s actions in that section be constantly brought up, as proof that zib deserves better and is a poor little meow meow who mitzi is oh so cruel towards. people claim mitzi is undeserving of zib’s loyalty and is using it ruthlessly for her own gain when … again, zib is fully capable of making his own choices, and mitzi cannot force him to stay. she is still blamed for his misery regardless though, the same way she is blamed for anything rocky does, simply because he’s ‘doing it for her,’ despite her sometimes not asking for it. people say mitzi’s selfish for holding onto atlas the way that she does, and that she deserves to be justly punished for making others suffer with her … but mordecai, someone who has the exact same motivations and grief, someone who has actively done worse with said grief ( like shooting viktor in the knee and completely disabling him for life ), is offered sympathy. people want mordecai to move on but they want him to have a happy ending afterwards as well, to reconcile with everyone he’s hurt and to heal properly. but mitzi? she deserves to be alone and in jail or dead, apparently. for some reason, her actions are ‘unforgivable’, even if she hasn’t done anything to the severity as mordecai has just yet.

we’re so down for lacy and elsa because they stay in their lane and don’t bother the men lmao.

this part in particular was rather enlightening to me, because i’ve always known something was up with this but could never articulate why lacy and elsa were popular and seen as ‘better’ than the other women around them. elsa and lacy are traditional caretakers, with both of them having subservient positions and adhering to the orders of men without fuss. in lacy’s case, she even goes above and beyond, to the point where it’s implied and joked about that wick wouldn’t survive a day without her at his side. this dynamic is treated as cute and funny, and to be fair, i also find it cute and fun! but it is also rather unfair that lacy is burdened with all these extra tasks she’s not required to do. and this also says something about wick himself. he’s a thirty-something year old man who’s so utterly reckless with his drinking and choices that he has to have a young twenty-something woman handle him at all times. yet lacy is praised for this! for caring so deeply about wick and being protective of him! and wick’s part in all of this isn’t ever brought up, seen as questionable, or is considered to imply a multitude of flaws on his end. elsa, similarly, plays clean-up for her husband and brother often. they throw some random man on a table with his brain exposed and tell her to fix it, and she does. they decide by themselves to start rumrunning for the lackadaisy again, and when marigold comes to their door, she covers for them without faltering. elsa, on the surface, is the exact kind of woman most people can tolerate because she’s quiet, good at caretaking, soft and sad looking, and is out of the way. she is not invasive and her presence is never loud, and she leaves the men be for the most part, you know? serafine is also more well regarded by the fandom, but that’s simply because she’s ’unabashedly evil’, meaning her flaws can be turned into quirks and the likes. it’s a rather interesting phenomenon, in the sense that it all comes back to the black and white mindset fandoms have so rapidly developed nowadays.

there’s so much more i could say here honestly. and there are many points i could also repeat. like, yes, as much as i adore rocky, it is undeniable that he is an extremely difficult person to be around. and that, like it or not, mitzi is 100% within her right to be disappointed or frustrated with him when he messes up, especially since rocky messes up big time. this does not make her cold or uncaring or ignorant or evil, it makes her human. tracy said it the best herself here :

Yes. There are characters that care about Rocky, but it's complicated. It is possible to love someone, for instance, while not really being able to abide living with them. It's possible to care about someone without wishing to be inseparable buddies with them.

The core of Rocky's nature does make it difficult for him to find places where he easily fits in, and that much is not really his fault. However, he does have agency, and he has - with gusto - taken on a role that calls for him to lean into the destructive aspect of his nature. It's fine to feel a bit sympathetic about the first part, but that doesn't mean that he should get a pass on the rest, narratively speaking. Some of the lumps he's taken have been unearned, but many of them have been the results of his own (often violent) machinations.

so claiming that, on top of all of mitzi’s own issues and trauma and stressors, she has to take responsibility for rocky in his really messy entirety is rather cruel, and frankly not a good idea at all. and while he does deserve grace and care, so does mitzi … and everyone else in the cast. rocky is not particularly special because he’s suffering hard, because everyone else is suffering to a degree too, and i fail to understand how such kindness can’t be afforded to everyone else -- especially characters like mitzi and ivy. nobody talks about how ivy was forced to witness rocky get hurt like that, how she had to hold a gun at two men who were trying to kill them to try and save his life, and then had to take care of said friend afterwards because he’d otherwise just waste away in his car by his lonesome. she’s only eighteen! she was scared shitless! and yet prevailed for rocky’s sake and her own, despite having no help whatsoever. it’s shocking how quickly i can forget the pain mitzi and ivy have gone through simply because it’s never brought up by fans due to how much it pales in comparison to the men’s pain … i guess? even if their suffering is as simple as having money stolen from them or being too shy to … tell a girl no? i’ll see essays upon essays analyzing the men’s agony and their ‘very complicated!’ bonds with one another, but the women are reduced to being mentioned occasionally in those essays, and are mostly dehumanized in mitzi’s case. i feel like if you refuse to think about the girls in lackadaisy, then you are missing a rather large part of the story itself too. and it’s just … sad to see!

this post, nor my own additions to it, aren’t claiming that the lackadaisy women should be treated like angels or that they are flawless. these posts aren’t even hating on the men of lackadaisy either! i mean, both of our blogs have wick in the name, how could we actually hate that man in any capacity? this post is merely calling out some very odd takes that have been seen before, ones that keep circulating, and i think op is valid to bring it up. it’s okay to have biases and the likes, we all do, but if you’re trying to take lackadaisy more seriously, then perhaps make sure you’re viewing every character through a similar lense rather than vastly different ones. at the end of the day this is literally the ‘flawed, messy, and immature characters’ tragicomedy comic after all.

reading comprehension check! women do not ask men to be obsessed with them. women are not responsible for the things men do because they are obsessed with them. this goes double if a man repeatedly downplays the lengths he goes to and the horrific things he does due to his obsession with a woman! thanks for coming to my ted talk

[bunnwich]

Say Bunnwhich, I'm kind curious...

What got ya to love Lil Lion Leona in the 1st place? :3

WHY DO I LIKE LEONA???

Sorry for the long yap as usual but, I feel like every once in a while ppl ask me this very question and I feel like I have been in twst hell for so long it’s like ancient history now. VGBHNJMK

TBH I very strongly disliked Leona's character when he came on screen when I first started to play twst. I found Chapter 2 to be very flat compared to Chapter 1 and I had very little sympathy for him and his backstory. To me, it was clear he was just the "hot, brooding character" archetype and I had no interest in him whatsoever.

HOWEVER, when I became more active in the fandom, my friend @comingyourlugubriousness and others began to ship my Yuu with him as a joke bc of my said dislike. And, yeah I begin to write lil scenarios where they’d interact and challenged myself to make a logical way he would even be interested in my Yuu in the first place? 

THAT GOT ME THINKING and I saw how he used to be characterized in fics and stuff and I really just didn't agree??? Even to this day, I feel like some ppl go in two extremes with him. 1.) Where they wash down his personality in order for him to fit in into this “prince charming role" OR 2.) They make him the worst bastard ever, which can lead into certian problematic connotations.

When I went to write my own fics I had watched all of his vignettes and understood better what his true personality is. The main story does not do much to make him likable to a general audience sometimes IMO. And so I became interested in how and why so many ppl interpret his character so wrong?? (My opinion ofc)

And so my journey began as prob one of the biggest Leona apologists ever.

To answer the question better I guess. What do I LIKE about him?

I like him bc in order to enjoy him you really have to read between the lines and do your own work as a fan to find the intriguing parts of him! It's just fun!

I actually find him very relatable, his burnout and seemingly ultra competitive but still “work smarter” not harder attitude is something I gel with and feels very realistic for someone his age.

YES, I think his design is nice but honestly it's the least interesting thing about him to me. I will always enjoy long hair on men that's no secret. According to some friends I "have a type” but eh.

I like that he uses his sorta rude and grumpy ruse to scare ppl off. I  personally subscribe to the idea that underneath all that sass he's just a lil cantankerous grandpa stuck in a  20 year old’s body, who likes to yap about chess and dead languages. 

He’s a nerd and likes books.

He's a true hater. 💚

I feel like he'd never judge your appearance, for eating too much or being lazy.

I feel like he's a caretaker and would always look out for you.

I think he'd be a good teacher and big brother and a lot of his more amiable qualities remind me of my own S/O who is so, so smart and charismatic and who I love very much! 

I say "I think/feel" on a lot of this bc TBH the headcanons I have made for him over my time in the fandom are probably 80% the reason I like him, yk?

SO, if I had to sum it up that probably why! I could say more but I’ll spare ya’ll. 💚💚💚

[sarahreesbrennan]

I remain mad that Long Live Evil doesn’t have a movie because I want to edit the characters so bad. What do you mean I can’t make an edit of Eric with the intro of ‘The reason I walked in like I own the place is because I do.’ and the song is Brat by Charlie XCX??? This is ridiculous.

I thank you and I could see it!

Long Live Evil is the book I ‘see’ most of all my books in a cinematic way because I was thinking so much of adaptations as I wrote it. Not of getting an adaptation (though it would be nice, wouldn’t it!) but of how stories change in the telling, as they did with oral tradition and bards back in the day. But as they do now mainly from being transformed from one medium to another.

And that transformation necessitates change. Even a good and considered faithful adaptation should bring with it the change of needing to work in a different medium for a different audience, and the change of another person’s vision altering the telling.

I’m not just talking movies or TV shows in Long Live Evil but plays - we have a major playwright character, we start off with a Richard III epigraph and have innumerable Shakespeare references thereafter - plus references to Greek plays, the chorus, and catharsis - plus musicals and pantomimes (I tried to foreshadow in such a way that some would be surprised and some would spend much of the book yelling ‘behind you! The narrative doom is BEHIND YOU!’).

One major thing shouted out in the acknowledgements was Wicked, a musical that is very different from its book (I really enjoy both), which is getting a movie adaptation I’m interested to see, and which is full of villainous sympathy and joie de vivre. I believe Wicked foreshadowed the runaway success of Frozen.

Musicals are also a refuge for joy and camp in an increasingly self-conscious world of story. I was talking on… sigh… X about the change of Oswald Cobblepot’s name to Oz Cobb in ‘the Batman’ universe and I said ‘everyone is afraid of being cringe, and tbh I think being afraid of being cringe IS cringe. Let’s get a little silly sometimes. Let’s be wild and overblown and sincere.’

Musicals DO that. They have to, by their inherently artificial nature - we can’t pretend people burst into song and dance numbers - and that gives them a certain freedom. I love a musical. I went to see the Vampire Lestat the musical and The Lord of the Rings the musical. I can’t be kept away. The second-most-common note from my critique partners was to get rid of the musical in Long Live Evil and I just couldn’t, as the musical was one of the first seeds of the story, and it said what kind of story I wanted it to be: a joyful celebration of art that wasn’t afraid of anything. Including being cringe.

… I’ve wandered off the point I fear. I would also like to see an adaptation! Love an adaptation.

[beamtori]

the sink™ imagine

fwb!ji changmin x afab!reader

0.9k words, no plot, fwb!au but obvi he's fond of u, swearing, skirt things, unprotected sex (wrap it before u fckn tap it), piv sex, bathroom sex, he grabs your neck once, creampie, multiple orgasms, one clit slap, pet names, he's kinda possessive?, he's wearing glasses? *bites lip*, lmk if i forgot anything yo

a/n: okay,, you guys can have my precious 💔 i went delusional for three days because of the thought of getting railed against a sink tbh (i also just really wanted to post something on this acct after so long lol)

You desperately grabbed onto the sink in front of you as he drove his cock into you, hips slamming against your ass with enough force to send you careening forward. His fingers dug into your sides as he pulled himself out and shoved forward again.

“Think you can just get away with walking this pretty ass around in a skirt—” His teeth sank into his bottom lip as he watched his cock sink into you. “—after what I told you last night? Hm?”

You met his eyes in the mirror, trying to keep your head on straight before your eyes rolled all the way back from the pleasure. “Fuck—I’m—” you stammered as he rearranged your fucking organs with his cock, “—please, just wanted your attention—”

He lifted one hand off your body to nudge his glasses up when they began slipping down his nose. His lips pulled into a smirk, and that alone nearly sent you over the edge. He hissed, hands pinning you against the counter so he could properly fuck you. “Well, pretty girl, you got it. Shit—squeezing me so good, baby. You like this, don't you?”

“Feels so good,” you moaned, your hardened nipples rubbing against the cold stone beneath you.

“I should spank this ass.” He palmed the flesh there as it jiggled with every snap of his hips. “You'd like that, wouldn't you? So you're reminded of who fucks you this good every time you sit down.”

You whimpered at his words, walls clenching down on him.

He laughed sharply. “Oh god, you're so naughty—ugh, fuck, taking my cock so well, baby. Look at you.”

You were scrambling to get a grip on something in a desperate attempt at grounding yourself. The only reason you hadn't yet crumpled to the ground was because he had your hips pinned between his and the countertop. “Please, I'm so close,” you cried.

He grunted, reaching around to drill his fingers into your clit. You nearly screamed at the added stimulation, your teeth driving down into your lip hard enough to draw blood.

“How many times d'you think I can make you cum, hm?” He teased with a wild glint in his eyes. He leaned over to press a kiss to your spine. “You think if you walked outta here like a baby deer, they'd know who this pussy belongs to?”

He slapped your clit and it wrenched a choked out moan from your throat.

Your head made pitiful nodding motions. “Changmin, please,” you whimpered, pushing your hips back against him. It was addicting—the wanton sounds of wet squelching echoing in the bathroom, the sharp slaps of his balls hitting your ass.

“What about my cum dripping down your thighs? These gorgeous thighs—” He could feel himself drooling like your pussy. There was a milky ring around the base of his cock driving him insane. He could be here all fucking day.

You tightened around him as your orgasm hit you like a bus. Your entire body shuddered as you bit down onto your arm to muffle your screaming. All the while, he didn't even slow his pace down for a second. His strokes kept steady as he fucked you through it.

Goddamn, you wouldn't mind if the shape of his cock was outlined on the inside of you at this point.

You squirmed at the overstimulation as he continued drilling into you, his breathing heavy, muscle in his jaw feathering. “Oh my god, Changmin,” you babbled. Your brain was going foggy.

“Shit baby, you fucked out? But I'm not done yet,” he pouted in fake sympathy. He leaned forward again and grabbed the front of your throat with his hand, tilting your head back slightly. “Need you to cum for me again.”

He was still chasing his own climax, his strokes getting faster and messier. You could feel your next orgasm coming fast and your knees buckled. His fingers returned to your clit; you saw fucking white.

You braced your palms up against the mirror as you came crashing down. Changmin's hips slowed and his forehead hit your shoulder as he painted your insides with his cum. The sensation had you mewling again, your cunt clenching down on him.

“Fuck, there's no way I can go to class after this,” he murmured against you, pressing a tender kiss to the side of your head. “How you feeling, pretty? You did so well for me.”

You laughed as you held your face in your hands. “Oh god… I'm fine. I just need a second.”

His warm chuckle sent a pleasant shiver down your spine. “Take as long as you need.” The back of his knuckles danced down your back fondly from over your shirt. “Crap, my cum's drippin’ outta you.”

Changmin straightened slightly and carefully pulled out of you. A mixture of yours and his cum began seeping out of your cunt, and your lower lips fluttered at the sudden emptiness. He started looking around the bathroom for spare paper towels to help clean you up with.

When you were all wiped down, he held your panties for you to step into, and your knees wobbled an embarrassing amount of times. There was a smugness to his expression as you grappled onto his shoulders while he pulled your panties up to snap against your ass.

“What?” He grinned, nudging his glasses up.

You scowled lightly at him. “If I fall down in front of someone today, it's gonna be your fault.”

He patted your butt affectionately. “I'll take the blame,” he mused. Then he leaned over next to your ear to murmur, “And I'd do it all again.”

Your pussy clenched around nothing. “No more impromptu fucking sessions unless you're gonna buy me food after,” you said, wrinkling your nose at him.

Changmin beamed boyishly and flicked your nose. “Sure thing, pretty.”

tbz m.list

[foreignswaggersession]

there are definitely iwtv fans who love acting like they care about racism when it comes to fictional characters, but have no issue with being condescending towards actual black and south asian people in this fandom.

Btw making "brown man has mid dick" jokes to prop up lestat is also clownery and it's even more stupid how some people would choose to double down on it after hearing about why it's degrading and uncomfortable. like i couldn't believe the bullshit i was reading from some of these so called "fandom anti racists", but they're clearly not mature enough for this discussion.

sorry for taking so long to respond anon - i wanted to make the posts with screenshots first so i could show my work and not be accused of merely reaching to support my ship. i think most the condescension from these fans comes from their selective memory of the show as filtered through their long-held headcanons, and i wanted to respond by citing the show itself. the fans started claiming louis was never attracted to armand as plainly evident, when the show clearly says the exact opposite, repeatedly. i watched the "armand has mid dick" joke/theory develop in real time and snowball within the pro-louis section of the fandom. it got twisted up in the 'louis hates topping' + 'lestat's dick is uniquely amazing' + 'armand can't satisfy louis' takes, all of which i disagree with. i understand your discomfort anon, it's part of why i started posting in the fandom - 'louis only wants pink dick' also became a thing this season and it broke me (louis didn't get it up for jonah while eating rats for y'all to act like pink dick does anything for him but sure, believe what you want).

to give some credit, i think some of these fans you're talking about started making these 'jokes' in reaction to the overwhelming (and undeserved) sympathy towards armand that dominated the fandom at the time (probably still does tbh). it's fair to point out that armand is not just any brown man but is in fact an extremely manipulative abuser who threatened to kill louis, set him and his family up to get killed, killed his daughter/sister, lied to him about it for years, sadistically let him suffer after a suicide attempt he instigated, erased that memory and covered THAT up for years, and to also suggest that those acts negatively affected louis's attraction to him. and yeah, i too am tired of reading takes about how loving armand was (girl when?) and how louis wasn't nice enough to him 🙄. that said, armand is attractive as fuck in universe and in our reality, so it's weird to pretend louis would not be attracted to him, despite his off-putting nature (see season 1).

most importantly, louis's desire for armand is a key plot point essential to the breakdown of his and claudia's relationship. claudia didn't say "picked another one over me" and "you were lestat's, now you're armand's" out of ignorance - she understands louis better than anyone. it's wishful thinking to suggest that louis suffered in silence for claudia through eps 11 and 13 and only stayed with armand for 70+ years to protect claudia/punish lestat and no other reason. it would have been really great if louis kept his commitment to claudia, probably would have saved several lives...alas, tragedy.

like i keep saying, just say you don't see the chemistry in / can't support loumand, or prefer the chemistry / want to support loustat. but claiming that louis never fell in love with armand prior to claudia's murder - that just is not supported by the show's text.

just fyi, i think saintarmand has a great answer to a similar ask, so i will also refer you to her response here.

[alicesmindpalace]

I've decided that I'm gonna take the excuse of Anthony's birthday 🎂 as a chance to make a quick post to explain why I love and respect this guy so much.

For context, I have been a Smosh fan since 2013 and as you can imagine, it's been a real rollercoaster 😆, but I am glad I stuck around because in the end it was really worth it.

I think the main reason why I am still around and I'm still here in my late 20's (yeah, I'm old lol) is that Ian and Anthony as people more than as creators, always kinda hit a little different for me.

Ian and Anthony are so precious to me, and I will never shut up about how Anthony deserve a lot more praise and understanding.

Because sure, being good looking in our society is a big advantage but being known as "the hot one" in a comedy duo isn't that easy. Anthony's contributions get overlooked often because of this dumb old mindset and I think it's really unfair tbh.

Anthony has a great sense of humor, even if he doesn't make jokes 24/7 he can immediately recognize what makes something funny, hone in on it and use it to make the situation funnier. He built a media empire doing that if you really think about it! He really found a golden goose and immediately knew what to make of it. Anthony and Ian BOTH (that's right both) have a great sense of humor and it's very compatible, which is why Smosh became a thing imo.

Of course, the best part of this is that you can't have a sense of humor and be stupid, it's impossible, you can be funny and be an idiot yeah, but having a sense of humor needs quick thinking, an ability to recognize subtle patterns, the contradictions, making unexpected connections all of that good stuff, which means that these two guys are also really intelligent.

Which makes sense because Anthony was already building websites when most of the people his age were clicking around on Newgrounds. He created two successful buissness form scratch, boy is smart! 🙌

He came from nothing and got to where is now which is very impressive.

That's also why another thing that I respect about him, is that he almost never mentions how hard it's been for him during his childhood or uses it to gain sympathy even though it would be really easy to do it. He only mentioned the difficult situation at home and his mother's problems a few times in all these years on camera. He still is mentally struggling these days because he didn’t have an easy life but he doesn't use it to get pity or attention, like a lot of people on the internet do.

He really is one of the only remaining unproblematic internet creators that there are left and he managed to be one of them for decades.

There is no dirt on him. He is a nice person and that's probably the most important thing for me tbh and the reason why I could never just forget of Ian and Anthony or get over them or just swap them for some else. Finding Smosh to me felt as mind blowing as finding two four leaves clovers right next to each other.

Even when things went south and they separated, they were never spiteful or malicious, like (a lot of) other people are in these situations, and both handled it with so much respect. They could have made up stuff and thrown shade or dirt to make themselves appear in the right but they didn't. We maybe not know all the details but even just the way they still love and think of each other now after the worst went down tells you who they really were and are as people behind close doors.

I have so much more to say but it would get too long, so, yeah, this is (part lol) of the reason I love and respect Anthony Padilla so much.

These are only my thoughts of course, I'm talking for me, but I hope you enjoyed (will probably do one for Ian's birthday as well and talk about more of the reason Ianthony are my all time favorites 🤞).

[sukunasweetheart]

//just me venting about sukuna haters sorry

Not me seeing so much discourse about whether sukuna is a well written villain or not... he essentially has no backstory shown as of yet and we barely know anything about him but he is still one of the most naturally interesting and compelling characters in the whole damn series bro 💀 buckle up bc its about to get lengthy (im just glazing sukuna in this post ngl so 🧎‍♀️)

so many whiny ass mfs are weeping about how he "doesn't have any personal goals or a proper reason to be a villain" when that is the whole point???? He lives on his own desires and satisfactions and does whatever he wants to, because he is capable enough to do that. Mfs want "real villains" but cant even handle sukuna 💀 ive seen too many shit ass threads and poorly articulated "critiques" on his character that dont make any valid points. If you can't even separate your personal dislike of a character from your analysis of their writing, dont even bother posting that shit please 😭😭😭 the fact that we haven't even gotten any information about his background yet and people are jumping the gun about him being "poorly written" is already saying a lot 🤨

The fact that yall are so bitter and angry about him that you can write 500+ words about how oh-so-terrible of a villain he is kinda proves that he's doing his job well tbh 💁‍♀️

What also bothers me to no END is how people compare him with villains of other series, who had compelling sob stories that made people empathise with them. Thats nice and all but why should all villains have grand ideals and be subject to feelings of empathy/sympathy from their audience?

Part of what makes sukuna so interesting is how he's not tied down by morals, rules or long term goals in life. He doesn't limit himself, which is what makes him an unpredictable character. He's completely left behind what it means to be human in many ways, and he's clearly not a character written to be empathised with. He is very purposefully inhumane and distant from everyone else, and that feeling transcends from within the series to real life as well. There is a clear lack of understanding bc most of us can't comprehend what its like to just live without being goal-oriented.

Sukuna is a true anomaly in the sense that he doesnt really fit in any kind of box within the series. He's born from man, but its clear that he separates himself from humans (and nobody else considers him human, either). He's not a cursed spirit. He hovers between life and death. The narrator referred to him as the honoured one, whilst angel referred to him as the disgraced one.

These little contradictions in his character make him all the more complicated and interesting to think about. And even recently, he's been shown to waver a little bit momentarily in the manga, questioning his own irritation at yuuji. He's capable of self reflection, and though sukuna does whatever he wants for the most part, he doesn't blindly go into things without some thought first, he's a constant thinker and analyser, and an intelligent one at that.

And honestly, he is always such a joy to watch and read, his personality is so flavourful, and the way he carries himself is very attractive. He's not afraid to get messy or of getting hurt, theres so much chaos in the way he does things and yet he also has a huge element of gracefulness to him, which shines through the poetic way he speaks. Its undeniable that sukuna simply oozes charisma...

And this isnt talked about enough but this man is genuinely so effortlessly funny (in a kind of sinister way i guess?) Like yes he is an old ass man having real beef with one FIFTEEN YEAR OLD for very little reason, he accidentally healed yuujis arm and somehow expected him to be grateful for it despite how he literally ripped his heart out afterwards, then he proceeded to sit on him after kicking him down likeeee 😭 what kind of behaviour is this sir

His facial expressions at yorozus yapping 💀 THE WAY HE COMPARED YUUJIS FACE OF DESPAIR TO THE HARIMA STATUE 😭😭😭💀😭💀💀😭 omg that was so foul but i was fucking losing it ngl

How he randomly compared gojo to a fish and started talking abt his scales... thats a very unique and descriptive comparison, isnt it? Even in the recent leaks, he was 100% ready and squaring up to a literal child talking abt "youre starting to get annoying" LIKE HELPPP 😭 HE FR SAID "fuck them kids and fuck you too"

I saw someone saying that sukuna has no passion, like are we talking about the same character....? This man is a literal jujutsu NERD 💀💀 he truly recognises talented sorcerers and the only time hes seen to be having genuine fun is when hes fighting a mf... is that not passion? This is literally sukuna when it comes to jujutsu: 🤓

Anyway im done here now, im pretty sure i missed a lot of things i couldve talked about as well but ive done enough yapping

[somewhereincairparavel]

hii new follower here i love ur blog!!

heres my opinion

(if youve read toa) i kinda forgot how they were but do u think lester/apollo and jason wouldve bonded had they had more time to?? i think they definitely wouldve!!

i haven't read TOA! But I have read snippets and read the basic storyline of Jason's timeline in TOA. I actually have a whole analysis on this one on the top of my head rn even though I haven't read the books.

There were lots of moments of bonding between them like Lester coming into Jason's room in his boy's dorm, and yknow trying to talk him out of sacrificing himself for Piper. Jason also greeted him like they were old friends even though that was the first time they had seen eachother after BOO (correct me if I'm wrong)

And Jason is someone who is a little secretive (according to annabeth, which is true) and is VERY calculative about the information he shares to people. So him being vulnerable about his secret of sacrifice, and just spilling this to Apollo simply because he's his half brother is actually super sweet. He TRUSTED apollo with very dire information.

Apollo is someone who looks like he can't keep secrets (I'm sorry- he's just dramatic and he still had that his god complex, so he had no obligation to keep Jason's secret) and Jason was very well aware of that. But still did it anyway.

Lester was the only one Jason was involuntarily vulnerable with. He was also the only one to know the truth about Jason and piper's relationship. That Piper was the one who broke up with Jason and not the other way around.

He also expressed sympathy when he told Jason that mellie was mad at him (for thinking that jason broke her heart) and he had no reason to do that. Apollo had other stuff he could focus on, especially with his ego, but he took the time to feel bad for Jason over something slightly trivial (in lesters pov, atleast)

I also noticed the symbolism in Lester always being the one to give Jason good news. He was the one who told Jason that Leo was alive, he was the one who delivered a message from Thalia to Jason ("your sister says hello") which legitimately made Jason's eyes brighten.

Lester was also super intuitive (despite losing his powers) and was the only one who understood Jason's tragedy firsthand. His whole description of Jason while he was looking at his diorama after his death made me cry tbh.

He also made tiny observations of Jason, like "Jason's eyes were sad" (or something along the lines of that, idk it was something else but you get my point)

Lester was also able to interpret Jason's words just by looking at his expression. ("Jason's expression told me his plan with perfect clarity")

In the end, Jason is probably one of the most significant mortal who Apollo had immense respect for even after he became a god.

So yeah, could they have been closer? Sure. But in my opinion, they were as close as a demigod and a god could possibly be tbh. If they had more time, I'm very sure Jason and Lester would've been almost as close as meg and Lester.

[liquidorcard]

You know, while we're on this topic, to the people who dismiss the idea that media is important in a very tangible way that deeply effects people's lives, let me tell you about the song Saint Veronika by Billy Talent.

Tw again: Discussion of suicide and suicidal ideation.

I'm fully aware Billy Talent is considered one of those 3edgy5me bands to people today. Tbh, I think a lot of people who dismiss entire musicians' bodies of work/genres are often fucking wrong and just irony poisoned when you dig a little deeper but that's besides the point-- for the sake of this point I'll just say, I don't give a fuck.

If this isn't your taste in music, if you don't connect with this because of how aggressively 2010s it is, I got no bones to pick with you. This was the shit I grew up listening to though, and I still love it even if my music tastes have expanded.

Now, to the point:

Picture this, it's 2010. You are a 13 year old deeply closeted AFAB trans kid attracted to women. You're three years any of privately coming out as a lesbian, five years away from openly identifying as one, and a full 12ish years away from transitioning. You live in a conservative hick town and you have good reason to believe if your parents found out, you would be disowned so you do everything to suppress those feelings. You have had a very traumatizing childhood, you live in a very unstable home. You're beginning to develop a chronic illness that will go untreated for 10 years, which causes you a LOT of pain. You have been an insomniac since you can remember, and have had concerningly few good night sleeps your whole life. You have had limited medical and no mental health treatment, to the point where you know asking for any is already off the table. However, have been told all your life by your formerly poor parents because of your upper-middle-class upbringing, any negative feelings you have are invalid and a sign of your laziness, and how spoiled you are. You have been told so often you must be faking your chronic pain, your fatigue, vomiting and migraines you've begun to wonder if you're just a big baby. They haven't even clued in yet that the reason why you're struggling with the switch to English from French schooling is because you're dyslexic and need glasses. In about a year's time you're going to begin developing an eating disorder. You've been bullied at school by students AND teachers since you were in grade 1. It's a good week if you've only cried once. You are ALREADY a year and a half roughly into stealing your parent's booze as quite literally the only resource you have access to to cope-- no fear that you'll be caught since they have such an absurd amount of it.

Now like, I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party here. Honestly, people expressing sympathy when I talk about what my life is like makes me uncomfortable. I understand people mostly genuinely feel bad and don't know what else to say, but like, I'm not telling people about this so they feel bad, lol. No offense, but like, it happened to me not you, and I'm spent plenty of my own time feeling bad for me-- I'm kinda over it, mostly.

No, I'm saying all this to make a point: I feel wanting to die is a pretty reasonable response for a 13 year old to have in those circumstances. Like, what else am I going to do? I had be told all my life the issues I was having were me problems, I couldn't figure out how to overcome them. If I'm the problem, like. You know, that's the obvious solution, right? Obviously as an adult I recognize that's not the case, but. I was barely a teenager.

To give context to the time period, I went to Catholic school. They had JUST stopped teachers from casually saying that people who commit suicide go to hell-- to fucking children. Stay classy, Alberta Catholic School Board. Oh, while we're here by the way, not too long ago they forced all the teachers to take any pride or LGBTQ+ related iconography down and started implementing policies like teachers being forced to out kids to their parents or risk being fired. Policies that would have put MY well-being in danger if they were implemented when I was a kid.

Here's their publically available email and phone number. No reason, just, if you're looking for a place to express your feelings on adults using their positions of authority to endanger children, or for a place to spam your dankest memes. I'm sure they'd love that:

E: http://acsta.ab.ca

T: (780) 484-6209

But, anyway, the new """progressive""" approach was to basically say just, "killing yourself is never the answer. Think of everything you have to live for." Literally, "Aha, don't kill yourself, your so sexy," before it was cool. 10/10 counciling. We had two suicides when I was in high-school, and countless other attempts.

What we have now isn't even that much better. What the fuck IS a teenager supposed to do with, "mental health is important, let's talk about it" but find out a lot of people are just as miserable as them? Which, finally, brings us back to this song . . .

"She was sick and tired of being invisible, Hard to see in color when you’re miserable,"

What is this I see!? Actual validation of negative emotions, articulated shockingly efficiently in a fucking song lyric?

"Veronika, Saint Veronika, You can't leave this world behind, So be strong enough to hold onto us, We're still right here by your side,

I know people kind of reflexively cringe when people say this or that piece of media saved their life. And, if it must be said, it's kind of fucked up that ANYONE has to get therapy from something like an emo-agacent rock band-- that's not supposed to be their fucking job. However, I can't articulate how much this meant to me when this song came out. "This IS as shit as it feels, but find the strength to hold on," managed to be just enough for me to survive until adulthood and get real mental health help. For me to tell my parents and be taken to the hospital after my first attempt at 16. Reframing it from "your life is precious" even though all perceived evidence was to the contrary for me and many other kids especially, to "find the resolve to keep going, you aren't as alone as you think."

"Always said her life was never meant to be, Stuck here living someone else's dream, Well beyond your window there is so much more, Even every prison has a open door,"

Though I'm a little jaded to some extent to the "it gets better" narrative, that was a more fresh idea at the time, and it is good to try and inspire hope in people going through suicidal ideation. It just can't be the be all, end all of the discussion.

Regardless, this verse articulates the emotional displacement of suicidal ideation really well. Especially for a kid stuck in a bad environment like I was.

"And while the angels sleep, All of the devils are awake, Waiting to steal your love, Right outside of Heaven's gate, And all the sacred hearts, Can't numb the feeling from the pain, Cause when the drugs don't work, You're gonna curse his holy name,"

To this day, nothing has captured my personal experience with suffering with suicidal ideation more than this bridge. Especially as someone raised Catholic. The metaphor of devils stealing your fundamental ability to love and be loved, to have meaningful bonds, just agapnizingly out of reach of safety and comfort. Because the systems supposedly there to protect your very "soul" aren't paying attention.

The Sacred Heart is the concept of God's divine love for humanity in the Catholic faith. The thing that is supposed to make you feel whole, complete and fulfilled. But, it's nothing. It's a sugar pill. It's symbolic of all the non-solutions presented to you to hand-wave away the problem without dealing with it. So you curse life itself, you reject the divinity of your own existence.

The music video is notably, pretty impressively tasteful too. Especially for the time. Yes it's visuals are also a little 2010s, but compared to trash fires like 13 Reasons Why that came out five or six years later. It threads the needle of using visual metaphor to communicate the pain, validate it, without glorifying suicide-- in my opinion.

Simple but effective: Doll girl unravels the more isolated she becomes, until it takes her life. It accurately depicts the act of suicide as a desperate attempt at ESCAPING from agony, not the solution. It manages to get the idea across while not showing any real life method itself. Genuinely, an extremely thoughtful exploration of the topic.

I don't know for sure if I'd be here today to write this post without this song but . . . There's 100% a chance. Real, accessible mental health care is what we really need, but in the mean time this is all some of us have. Especially minors.

Media matters.