#*shrugs* I'm applying logic to fiction

[genshinconfessions]

"Actually, Nahida only takes a smaller form because she's the youngest archon--"

So you're telling me she identifies most with a child body.

"Well, no, see she's just short-"

But you just related her form to her age and how she percieves her age

"Yeah, but she's so mature-"

Because of the trauma. Literally as a result of her trauma. Maybe she could've aged differently and chosen her form as such should she have been given a proper upbringing, but that doesn't change the fact that as of now she Views herself as a Child and Projects The Body Of One.

---- I'm sorry, I can't - with Sigewinne being revealed, I've been seeing more shit sexualizing children and I'm Tired. Lets just put it to rest, okay? Tall body models? Typically adults, no exceptions come to mind. Medium body models? Some young adults and some teenagers.

But characters with the Smallest Model? It's not just short. Look at their proportions. If they were just short, they'd still have similar proportions to the previous models, but they don't. Their heads are largened with softened features and their body shape matches other child models in the game. An argument for body type also doesn't work given Genshin isn't exactly inclusive and such logic would only apply to one of the three model categories. They are children. Stop fucking around with your "AcTUaLly" - It doesn't matter. You are attracted to CHILDREN and need HELP. If not help, then to be on a list. Either check yourself and improve, or at least quit making excuses so the rest of us can ignore you as we so please whilst also redirecting younger members of the community.

Not to mention, those that plea and cry that their "waifus" aren't actually children and are just short adults, typically don't have that reflect in their content created and consumed. Maybe I'd take y'all a little more at face value if y'all actually y'know, drew and wrote what you supposedly believe. Hell, it'd still be a problem if it were Jean or Lisa being sexualized, but drawn and written blatantly as children.

Also, anyone that may want to say "oh, you don't believe in short people" - I DO. I AM a short person. A short asian person who has been infantalized and not treated as an adult. But I have also been a child who was sexualized. And now both intermingle in my life. I am sick and tired of it all. It's all just shitty excuses. Thirst after literally anything else. Work out whatever you have going on with consenting adults instead of projecting it onto public media that has an audience of varying ages Including Minors. Additionally; Venting, coping, and exploring darker topics via fiction is NOT the same as GLORIFYING and INDULGING. That line should be Very Distinct.

(one last point: some people say characters like Dori and Sigewinne are a salesperson and nurse respectively, adult professions, yeah? Well friendly reminder, Barbara is ALSO a nurse. Fischl is an adventurer, and she's no older than 16. We are going by FANTASY LOGIC in which children can wield weapons and explore nations with little to no supervision! The given profession of any character as well as their attire means nothing in that kind of world.)

i'm sorry you've had to go through such things, anon :///

but i agree with you; it's a problem that definitely extends outside of genshin but for some reason, ppl seem so desensitized to it and shrug it off as 'oh waifu go brrrr' which is quite irresponsible imo

i'm a big proponent of 'fiction is fiction and you can think whatever you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone', but in this case, these things DO harm ppl; they harm all the very young children who play genshin and partake in fandom discussions

it's very important for everyone to realize that even if a piece of media is fictional and thinking/saying/doing certain things won't hurt the characters, your actions will absolutely set an example in real life, very possibly harming the younger members of the fandom

the line is quite gray sometimes, in fandom circles, and it might be hard to tell what's 'okay' and what's 'not okay', but i think most ppl have a good sense of what's simply enjoying a character vs sexualizing them

and hence, it becomes our responsibility to call out the things that are disturbing and potentially harmful. even if the original person who did those things won't change, you've at least spread awareness to others and let them know that [whatever the thing was] is unacceptable

katheryne from liyue

[galaxythixf]

There's something unsurprising about the confession Dylan gives him, which is the cause for such a muted reaction he doesn't really think twice about. There's a silence he uses as an answer, not filled with judgment but rather anticipating some sort of follow-up that gives more weight to it and it comes without him having to probe. What Ryan didn't expect was the flurry of information that Dylan apparently had to counter his rather intentional joke, but it's kind of amusing to think a story had that complex of a plot that only loosely models their very specific predicament and Dylan knows it.

"Did I crack a dam?" A dam of overflowing knowledge, apparently, that Dylan was clearly somewhat passionate about. "Everything you've listed so far sounds like it'd be infinitely better than whatever we're dealing with now. Now instead of being misinformed and regretful I'm just jealous. I guess that's better." Might as well keep the banter going while they entertained the thought. It's better than dwelling on the events that would likely haunt them for the reason of their lives. Monsters aside, he's now covered in his friends blood from having to sever his hand with a chainsaw he really had no use wielding in the first place. Not that he's ever pictured himself wielding a chainsaw in the first place but he didn't anticipate the first time chopping off someone's hand to prevent a potential virus from spreading. Virus? Curse? He's still hung up on the details of how this works, he's baffled any of this could be real in the first place.

Ryan's occult knowledge was typically bathed in the very real idea that this was all for entertainment and this his fictional knowledge, while scattered, felt useless now that he was faced with something very real and unusual. Werewolves had a few stories outside of the oversaturated favorites like Twilight, but Teen Wolf wasn't a every good guide for this either considering how little these monsters actually responded to the same—actually, maybe it wouldn't be too bad of a reference ignoring the major plot holes and dodgy character developments. The arbitrary ranking system didn't seem to apply though, as far as he knew, unless there was some sort of high ranking Alpha that they needed to consider.

He can't believe he's logically working this out in his head using Teen Wolf as his reference.

Guess there's a first for everything. "Yeah I'm still trying to piece that together." A part of him wants to believe it can still be explained by other means, but he's in way over his head here. "Not to say that Nick getting bit was a good thing but at least it taught us a few things? Like that it can be transferred via bite and it could potentially alter our personality? I dunno, the details are still kind of all over the place for me, but it's a start. Normally with stories like this there's some sort of ritual or item that cures it? Silver's the only thing I can think of for werewolves but I'm pretty sure Nick would prefer a rescue that involves not being dead so, I'm outta ideas." He shrugs, not so much fed up as he is trying to process all of this at once. "The best I have is waiting this out 'til morning but the more we run into the more that feels impossible."

his laugh is dry, far too normal for the circumstances — though, in his defense, he's fairly sure he's still in shock. the brutal stump at his wrist doesn't hurt at all, takes him freshly by surprise every time he catches a glimpse of the bandage, and he knows he'll feel it later, but he can't help but be grateful for the almost - pleasant numbness currently in its place.

his muscles are tense, limbs jittery and fidgeting with adrenaline, yet his mind is awash with a peculiar, disconnected clarity as he listens to ryan monologue, focuses on putting one foot in front of the other and keeping an eye on their surroundings.

⠀ ⠀❛ i ... might've read it.     ❜

the confession comes with an edge of embarrassment, though he's clear - headed enough to follow it with a grin, because if ryan's opinion on his preteen guilty pleasures is still registering on his list of concerns, he really must be out of it.

⠀ ⠀❛ first of all, not tolerable at all, team carlisle's where it's at, man. also, for what it's worth — would've been a terrible survival guide for this. the wolves in that one aren't even werewolves, really, they're, like, ancient shapeshifty warriors who could talk to animals that just happened to take the form of wolves way back and — y'know what, not important.     ❜

his unharmed hand flexes at his side as he sweeps his gaze over the shotgun slung over ryan's shoulder, and he finds himself once more mourning the loss of his own to kaitlyn. okay, sure, he'd be more likely to shoot another of his limbs off than manage anything badass against these things, but it would make him feel better.

⠀ ⠀❛ never heard of any werewolf like this, though. i mean, what the hell was all that with nick ? the guy exploded on us.     ❜

there's no coming back from that, right ? it feels dangerous to mention it, ask whether ryan thinks they'll be seeing him again. he tries not to think about the fact that only half of the blood staining his clothes is his own.

[malkuvoitenoldoran]

artaresto

But when Gil-galad is Orodreth's son, Orodreth is the son of Angrod and so not older than Turgon. Just wanted to point that out.

Okay I appreciate you commenting on that. Still the difference is very large. Gil-Galad would be the great-grandson of Arafinwe, and by that point the crown would go to Earendil as Turgon’s grandson not Gil-Galad, potentially the son of Orodeth. Yet the texts clearly state that Gil-Galad was the High King.

Basically what I’m saying is that this doesn’t make any logical sense to me. By all rights it would go to Maedhros or Maglor as the two eldest surviving of the House of Finwe or to someone of the House of Nolofinwe, probably Earendil as the eldest male if Gil-Galad is Orodeth’s son.

[theangrypokemaniac]

@its-whitetomorrow

Hello again. Sit down for this one.

...........................................................

But it's not real life. The cast are burnt, blown up, electrocuted or fall off cliffs and survive without a scratch.

If something as vital as standard rules of mortality don't count, why should any sort of deadening nihilism?

Pokémon is a fantasy series about catching magical animals in space-age capsule technology. It's entertainment and escapist adventure.

So for its characters to abide by a 'nothing is good, nothing is bad, everything just IS' defeatism, and then, since this is the most 'realistic' view, it must be the correct one, is not only a bizarre idea, it's a good sign of what's wrong with Pokémon anyway.

First, there's a difference between being believable and realistic.

We accept this is a world where living things can be stored as data, because we understand such feats are possible by the laws of this universe.

We believe it. We watch and never question the mechanics of the process.

But is it realistic? No.

By the same logic, if I take in the somewhat gloomy 'life is messy/shades of grey/shit happens' verdict of our existence, that doesn't mean it applies to Pokémon also, or that it ever should.

Life being awful and withering is precisely why far-removed fantasies are popular.

People need things to cope, so any moralistic shrug is quite out of place.

However 'nuanced and complex' this reading is, or makes Team Rocket, something that just drags Pokémon into the same pit we're all in has no business there.

Why can't we hope?

Why can't we believe in redemption?

Why can't we wish someone might be saved?

Why can't a fictional universe be idealized?

Why can't those we admire be better than us?

Why must it always be so exhausting in relentless negativity?

I don't mind flaws, but I don't want anyone as flawed as reality. I'm trying to like these characters.

The leap from Lugia isn't intended to be a one-off, miraculous cure, where they were evil up til that very second, then TING! and suddenly we've upstanding members of society.

It's the culmination of dozens of little incidents and experiences building up from the moment they first met Ash.

So not the start, or the single event, but the pinnacle of the goal, their revelation, as in the original title.

That's not to say there had to be any clear indications of alteration beforehand.

Children don't notice themselves growing physically as it's so gradual. It's only when pointed out that it becomes obvious.

Spiritual changes are as incremental. In the meantime, Team Rocket carry on doing as they always do as the path of the least resistance.

As in romances where the main pair think of themselves as friends or bickering enemies, until one is injured or set to leave, whereupon the other realises almost too late what they're about to lose.

So it takes a crucial turning point, such as the end of the world, for the trio to realize how far they'd come.

In the conversation with Slowking, Jessie is surprised they're not bad, as if resigned to society's view of her, only now opening up to another way.

Point is, she and the boys accept they have good in them, and are worried about the Boss's reaction to this change.

It's interesting this film is set during the Orange League, after Jessie and James are mistreated exceptionally badly by Cassidy and Butch.

Now they know what it is to be the victims of Team Rocket, that Giovanni cares nothing for them and even 'the family' are disloyal and violent to their own.

About the only people prepared to offer help and sympathy are the Twerps, who have every reason not to care, but do.

As to the matters to which you referred me:

With the first, I'm guessing if this isn't your work, you agree with its argument.

Might this 'they were always evil' stance be provoked in part by a protective instinct towards Unova, thus trying to neutralise the most common and prevalent criticism of it, i.e that it ruined Team Rocket's character and stripped them of all their best qualities?

In the second, I was relying on a decade-old memory of a scene I'd watched only once, but it came back fairly accurately.

Sub:

Yeah, we work for an evil power. But that's not why we do it. There is no reason.

Not that we would define it as evil. We just do what we feel like.

Dub:

We don't need a reason to do what we do. It's just in our nature. We were made like this. It's not our fault.

Not that we are evil anyway. We do what we want because we can.

The only 'philosophy' here is my existential despair.

I bet Jean Paul Sartre was declaring 'Hell is other people 'cause he'd seen this first.

So they have no intrinsic sense of good and evil. No line not to be crossed.

Everything is simply an amoral mush of dog-eat-dog selfishness.

They'll take whatever they want, do whatever they want, act however they want, just as they feel like it, obeying each barbaric instinct that briefly flits across their warped brains.

There is no greater purpose, or even desperation to survive.

Not because they desire power or riches.

Not because they love the Boss and crave his favour.

Not because they're loyal to the team that welcomed, fed and trained two lost waifs who showed up one day.

Not because they're stuck in a situation they can't escape and fear the consequences of failure.

Nah. They feel like it.

They rob, prey upon and upset children just as no one stops them.

It's a twisted form of fun.

Team Rocket is merely a flag of convenience to fund their wretched, meaningless lifestyle.

And I'm supposed to love THIS?

Original Team Rocket:

MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!! OOOOOOH I LOVE BEING EVIL!!!

Nu Team Rocket:

But what is evil really? These are just labels.

We only do what we want, and it's not for you to judge. This is merely your opinion. We don't care about it.

That is the difference I see.

No more hope, no more making the best of things, no signs of something better buried beneath.

All gone, eaten up by a coldness that burns to the touch.

Whenever I have seen rocks or mountains used in analogies, it's as a ruse to teach a sense of perspective to rookies.

The newcomer selects to be the rock, thinking it an immovable tower of strength.

The master then shows how, given enough time, even the mightiest crumble under the constant flow of wind and water.

Team Rocket are now rocks: hard, unfeeling lumps, drowned by the waves of darkness.

Redemption was the best outcome. They won't be good for anything soon enough.

Evil will wear your soul away as sure as the river erodes the rock, all washed to nothing in the end.

That Jessie and James choose to be there now, because they can, and don't care about anyone else, is no comfort.

If as you think, despite the overpowering and irreversible bent towards evil, they can nevertheless express emotion...

Not because they have an innate sense of right and wrong...

Not as it awakens a buried idealism...

Not as the stone carapace closed around their heart is starting to crack...

But simply as they 'feel like it', in a whim, a fancy, a shallow slip of amusement that wasn't here yesterday, won't be here tomorrow, and exists just at this very moment, then it's not endearing.

It's grotesque.

It's a flippant pretence of tenderness masquerading as genuine warmth.

It's evil playing up to normal courtesy for its own entertainment and probable benefit.

Having vague bouts of 'goodness' just as a passing mood, indicative of nothing beneath the surface, lacking any lasting sincerity, isn't good at all.

It means no one can trust their appearances or feel secure in that company. They never know when any of them could switch from menace to mawkish self-indulgence and back again.

It suggests a certain unnerving instability, like a split personality, and given it's so empty, comes off as a conscious sadism, offering everyone false hope the trio are respectable at heart, hence a relax in defences, as was intended.

I'm weary of evil people always being congratulated as 'nuanced and complex'.

It happens with other fandoms I'm in, just because the person couldn't help but do a non-evil act, such as go to sleep or eat a meal.

The amount of fans I've seen desperately clutch at irrelevant stuff like that, even for actual human beings whose deeds had real consequences, preaching this proves Not Everything He Did Was Bad, and so obviously he wasn't bad at all, is tiring.

I get the impression evil is viewed as somehow superior, the connoisseur's choice, the really sophisticated option.

I am so, so, sick of their endless excuses.

When we have a paragon of virtue, someone we all recognise as morally superior to the rest of us, no one praises them as inspiring or admirable. We say she's boring.

Well the opposite also applies. Complete, irredeemable evil isn't inspiring or admirable either. It's tedious.

Worse, criticism of the living saint is mainly spite and resentment, but everyone's entirely justified in condemning wickedness as lesser and despicable.

If this whiter-than-white example should then indulge in brief, inexplicable acts of cruelty, not for any real reason, just as she 'felt like it', we don't praise her as so 'nuanced' and 'complex'.

We brand her a hypocrite, that it's all been a sham and she was never good in the first place.

So goes the reverse: someone 'evil' who's capable of great compassion and kindness isn't evil.

That ability to feel concern for others can't exist, since its absence is the very aspect that renders them evil in the first place.

To have a generous, warm-hearted evil-doer is a complete self-contradiction.

It's not a matter of 'shades of grey' or 'defying expectations', once you pass a certain point, emotional consequences are irrelevant.

That's how you can be evil.

What else is evil but a dearth of goodness, as in love and generosity?

I brought up the East and West traditions as a theory as to why Pokémon became so popular.

For it to enjoy universal success suggests it must've contained themes with a broad appeal.

Ash was clearly travelling for enlightenment, and as Team Rocket were villains, and yet sympathetic, this heralded a better future.

If not, then their presence amounts to what they call a Shaggy Dog Story: big build-up, great potential, and then it... ends, and nothing comes of that early promise.

If they weren't supposed to have redemption, that means the journey is a waste of time.

They stay the same the whole way through, never learning from their mistakes, or that crime doesn't pay.

And no character development, merely a constant plod of the same failings, unable to rise above to deserve a happy ending.

For if the last of their light is extinguished, then it's too dark to see, and too bleak to care.

So why are they here? And why are we? Who benefits?

And how was it intended to finish when it was only one series?

Ash wins the League, and what? The credits come on, with no explanation of what became of Team Rocket?

Do they stay put, wait for him to make a move, or chase after someone else?

And we leave them still serving an evil, ungrateful master, with no actual resolution to their time with us?

And how will it end now?

Providing it ever does come to a close, and doesn't carry on and on until cancelled, what's the outcome?

A. Ash is shown preparing for a land we won't see, and Team Rocket follow, and it's left open.

B. One final battle: Giovanni falls and is arrested. Our trio, being so integral to him now, are imprisoned too.

C. One final battle: Giovanni falls and is arrested. Our trio, somehow overlooked, are left to their own devices.

Then what?

I. Join another gang?

II. Just walk off together to an unknown fate?

III. It's The Team Rocket Episode, so on comes the emotional incontinence from nowhere, and we're supposed to accept a declaration of love in the last five minutes, and that's all?

Where are we meant to go under these 'always evil' limitations?

Do Team Rocket defy every held notion?

Is that the core of their fascination?

I'm not sure it's possible. They sound like a pretentious modern art installation advertised as 'incomprehensible'.

Considering how detailed their TV Tropes entry is, and how often they're mentioned on the main pages, they must fulfill some established themes.

To me, their role aligns closely to the outlaw archetype, representing the 'honour amongst thieves' style, that of free spirits skirting the law, a bit sneaky but not to the point of serious criminality.

In youth, I understood that whilst Ash's life was markedly better than Team Rocket's, rationally it still wasn't that pleasant.

Walking hundreds of miles, day after day, in blistered feet and exhaustion, homeless and living a hand-to-mouth existence, cadging a free meal and bed once in a while, but always moving on, vulnerable in the wilderness, with no one to take care of you, isn't a childhood I could've managed.

Nevertheless the lack of school was all I cared about.

As with Jessie, James and Meowth, I can see a wild romanticism to it, ignoring the obvious.

The outlaw ideal seems attractive: no ties, no responsibility, no boring urban confinement, but travelling ever onwards, living to the rhythm of nature.

We know none of us could survive it, that's why we admire those that can.

Even if it were possible to subvert and upend every previously set goal of storytelling, doing so would be self-defeating, since the most successful stories resonate with an audience.

I don't mean they 'relate', as in reading their own personal circumstances in a character. This is in a bone-deep, primal sense.

TV Tropes has a list of 'Older Than' tropes (Older Than Steam, Older Than Dirt etc.), the idea being the further back a plot can be traced, the bigger impact it makes.

As events in childhood leave a greater impression, since our development is shaped by them, so we are more affected by themes created when Man was once young.

There's little conscious awareness, but we can't help soaking up our surroundings and imbibe the folk memories of ancestors.

Therefore, abiding by the Eastern and Western traditions is not only the logical thing to do if anyone wants a hit, it's such an instinctive aim it's probably unavoidable.

Ash has the East covered, whereas the trio's tale fits the West so well.

Jessie, James and Meowth entered our world trapped in Hell, at the feet of Giovanni's throne.

Redemption isn't for everyone. Certain acts are beyond forgiveness.

The Boss is gone, maybe all of Team Rocket are too.

But if three can be saved, if the door can only be opened, and it takes little Ash Ketchum waving Pikachu in the air to lure them into the light, then so be it.

And when it comes to the Western canon, as symbolism goes:

Ash died, and rose again.

Team Rocket: arms outstretched, like a cross.

No imagery will ever hit harder.

In that moment, all the flaws fall away, and finally they understand.

If nothing's worth dying for, where's the use in living?

...........................................................

I wish I knew what others thought, and whether they agreed with you, or me, or otherwise, and why.