#-about it everyone assumes youre the same as the people who genuinely see no issues because theyre the loudest.

[co27]

i guess my question is why DOES nuance immediately become looked down upon when it comes to that one webcomic

[cupcakeslushie]

I’ve been debating on saying something because I have a lot of thoughts about this, but I just want to say a quick (maybe not so quick) thought…

“Comfort Character” is not a declaration of ownership. Just because you relate to a character deeply, and see yourself in them, does not mean you get to go around policing the stories that get told regarding them, or the how they’re depicted in said stories.

I wanna be clear. Im not saying you can’t pose genuine questions and have perfectly reasonable discussions about the intricacies of hard topics. In fact, fiction can even help make those discussions easier to digest by lowering the stakes, because there are not any actual stakes when none of it is real.

Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing the entire opposite. People taking stories that may make them “uncomfy”, and declaring that they’ve now decided they are taking it personally, to near obsessive levels. You are not the only one allowed to play with these characters. It is a huge sandbox, and these toys are mass produced enough for everyone to have their own doll to do with whatever they’d like.

I get you might see yourself in a character, but that doesn’t give you the right to go around sending death threats just because someone wrote, or drew your current blorbo in an unfavorable light. Prioritizing some cluster of lines and colors over the mental health and safety of actual real human beings, is worse than whatever fictional, moral “atrocity” that you think you’re championing against. You only end up sounding just like the people calling for book banning in schools.

You are not the character. You are not being hurt. The character is not even being hurt, because they do not in fact, exist to actually experience any of the pain creators are putting them through. And most importantly, you have no claim on how other people entertain themselves with said character. Because that is what these characters are. Entertainment. They can be used in good or bad stories. If you don’t like how a creator is using them. Move on. Don’t send death threats or attacks.

Block and filter your tags.

I have triggers, but that is my issue to control and maintain. It is appreciated when steps are taken by creators to help me avoid the things that trigger me, but I don’t wish death and pain on anyone who doesn’t view the world through the same lens as myself, and might not have considered my own personal feelings on the matter. My feelings of unease or anxiety from coming into contact with my own triggers, might be valid, but initiating an attack on a creator, because I took a personal offense to their story, is not. I do not outright assume that something was created with me and my tastes in mind.

Also, this is not aimed at any one person. This is a rampant issue that I have seen first hand, going back all the way to more than a year ago. I’ve seen it happen in multiple fandoms, but as I spend most of my time in the Rise fandom, that’s where I see the worst of it. I’ve received attacks, I know other creators have received attacks, and if this keeps up, creators will just stop wanting to share anything at all.

I also need to emphasize, I’m not mad. This is not a lashing out. This is just a frustrating and hurtful trend to constantly witness, when creators are putting their own heart, time, and energy into creating intriguing and complex works of all kinds in order to broaden the beauty of this fandom, and they’re getting anonymous messages to kill themselves.

Please think about the real life person behind the art and stories you are consuming, instead of prioritizing the fictional comfort of made up characters inside the story, that will in actuality, never have any opinions on what’s being done to them. Because they do not exist.

[mixingandmelting]

Winter Series: Day 3 - 2D vs 3D

Summary: He finds out you have a list of 2D characters you love and would stay committed for life

Dick: has an issue with it

Has the famous Dick Grayson’s frown on his face when he finds it

Doesn’t appreciate it and despite trying to pretend it doesn’t affect him, he throws a fuss going how they’re not even real

Went to the point of his voice cracking and  high pitched when he got to the part about their shippings with yourself and to other characters you also are in love with

Grumbles when he watches and reads the series your favorites are from with you and on his own, constantly going “I can do better than them” 

If you ever were to jab him by asking if he can do something only they can do and he obviously can’t, that will genuinely tip him off and get extremely sulky where he’ll be venting to everyone both in the chatroom, joint missions, etc., while to you he pulls the pettiest of all pettiness he’s ever done

Eventually let’s up when you confront and tell him that he was obviously the only one you love and ever be with along you choosing him over any 2D character as you couldn’t imagine life without him

Also gives in and starts adding notes of his own on to your list because he does admit some of them are cool

Tim: isn’t bothered and actually cool with it

Does any eyebrow raise when he finds it

Sort of figured it was those character pairing lists but with how thorough your notes are, also entertained the thought that it was a hit list

More open minded and tries to understand why you were to enamored by un-real, fictional characters

Ends up joining you in adding notes to your list as he also gets into the same characters you like, especially seeing why with context

Literally, he’s going through the whole character-analysis meme where he discusses socioeconomic factors and symbolism to psychological influence of the character’s past during his talk with you, which is a sign that he is fangirling just as much in his own way 

He’s so engrossed he does the forbidden and starts reading/watching ahead of you for more scenes of the characters

When asked by the others about it, he’s the one getting defensive as if the list was originally his and he liked them before you

Jason: has his own list

bold of you to assume that you were the only one to have a list 

Right on spot critics how you have your lists organized and your ranking of characters

Gives you 10 points for color coordination but what were those notes in graphite? Excuse you but you are not a true stan if you write in pencil. If anything you are a coward

Doesn’t get why you’re surprised that he has his own list considering he’s into literature so of course he’d know more and up-to-date for any series that were adaptations having read the original source first

Causes an argument to break out over him gloating he’s the OG fan since day 1 to who you have ranked higher, lower, or not on your list

First off, you’re wrong. Ichigo should’ve been with Rukia and Toji is more badass than Gojo. He does agrees Drarry had potential and Stoik is a badass viking

The two of you end up staying up all night trying to prove each other who’s right and logical regarding each other’s lists and end at 5:00 AM with deciding to treat other's list with "respect"

Duke: doesn’t get it

Can’t wrap his mind around you simping over a character, in general

There’s genuinely no jealousy, he just feels confuse how you could this passionate with people who aren’t even real 

He gets it if your characters were just your favorite, he can get that. He has favorite characters from the shows he watches too but to your extent?

Passes the list off with the awkward “sure” and nod of head when you get passionate and pull up your slide shows as to why he should also stan and simp over them with you

Reminds you that the characters you’re head-over-heels for are fictional, not people in real-life 

Starts to understand why you like the characters you like so much when he joins in watching/reading whatever series you were into currently 

He does end up creating a “just-like” character list where he writes the characters’ name and from what series. No notes like you though, he still stays realistic

Damian: obliterates it on spot

Your list is gone the second he finds it. Ripped. Crumpled. Burned. Gone

Will not acknowledge that he was in the wrong seeing how you weren’t as excited with him as you are with those fake people that exists only in books and TV shows

Makes excuses how teens shouldn’t be that invested in things kids like and doesn’t seem like a mature hobby at all when he’s burning with jealousy

Pettily wages a silent war against you when you give him the silent treatment until a week passes, making him realize he probably crossed the line

During the time he figures out a way to get in your good grace again, he does try watching and reading whatever was on the list

He hasn’t and will never tell you this but you do have good taste. Just that your favorite characters shouldn’t be your favorite when one, he’s better than them and two, there were far more superior characters

Gets you to forgive him when he hands you your list he re-wrote and tolerates you having one. He still sneers at the characters on it and argues how the ones he likes are better than them

Just make sure to hide your shrine, `cause those are going to be permanently removed and never restored

[pseudophan]

PHANNIE COOKBOOK SIGN-UPS!!

Do you have a really good recipe you think Dan and Phil would enjoy? Consider submitting it to this collaborative phannie cookbook that will be given to DnP at a meet & greet! It will also be available to everyone to download as a PDF.

Family recipes or your favourite dish from your country/culture is a bonus, but it doesn’t have to be that personal. All I ask is that you don’t go rip something random off the Internet right now just to be in the book, I want food you genuinely enjoy!

I’ve decided the most efficient way of doing this is to let you submit up to 3 different options, that way if there are any repeats (and I’m certain there will be) I won’t have to message everyone it concerns to ask if you have any alternatives. Besides, that way I can choose which version gets in based on your other options rather than which one “sounds better” to me, cause I think that would be a little unfair. I also have no idea how many people will actually participate in this yet, which is currently the biggest hurdle in terms of planning. If only a few sign up there is a chance we’ll end up using multiple recipes by some, and if somehow we get too many I’ll have to pick and choose. I do really want to include as many people as possible, but until I actually see the recipes it’s hard to tell what will end up happening.

The main focus of this will be actual food, but we obviously need to include a few desserts, so feel free to submit those as well just be aware the chances of those getting picked might be lower. The same goes for soups, I assume a lot of people have soup recipes and we might include a couple, but for obvious reasons it's a low priority.

Some key things to keep in mind:

Phil is a bit picky and has some dietary restrictions! He shouldn’t have dairy or chocolate and he doesn’t like cheese or mushrooms, among other things. That doesn’t mean you have to avoid these things entirely, but maybe your grandma’s mac and cheese recipe isn’t the best choice

While neither of them is vegan they do eat a lot of vegan food, so we definitely need some vegan dishes. I also think it would be really great if you suggested vegetarian and/or vegan substitutions you know work well with your recipe! That isn’t a must for every dish, but it’s a nice addition where possible

Tragically, Dan and Phil are British, meaning they won’t necessarily have access to all the same ingredients as you. Luckily they are also rich and live in a major city with a lot of options so they aren’t limited to what they can find at their local Tesco, but since the aim of this book is to encourage them to cook we probably shouldn’t be sending them on a scavenger hunt either. I don’t think this will be a huge issue, but if your recipe calls for something you think might be very niche or local to you it might be worth googling it or asking around

The final book will be using UK measurements, but if your recipe doesn’t then don’t even worry about it for now. We’ll get to that later. You also don’t have to worry about typing out the whole step-by-step in detail in the sign-up form, I just need a list of the ingredients and roughly how to prepare it to gauge whether it’s a good fit.

I promise I’m almost done yapping but lastly, about some of the questions on the form - you don’t need to know exactly how long the dish takes to prepare, that will depend on the person or people making it anyway, but we do need a rough estimate. The difficulty level is obviously quite subjective, but I just want to hear how you personally would rank it, and if there is a specific part of the process you think someone who doesn’t cook a lot might struggle with. As for the last question about photos, I’m asking both if you have the time and opportunity to make the food and if you are able to take a good photo of it. Obviously it doesn’t have to be anything professional, a phone camera is fine, it just needs to be well lit and decent quality.

Okay, I think that’s everything-

Here's the sign-up form

The deadline is in a week, at midnight Thursday to Friday CET :)

(I also made a blog for this @phookbook for information and updates! A lot of it will probably still be on this blog, but I'll try to post/reblog the most important things on there for those who want to keep up with everything but who may not want to deal with all the chaos of pseudophan)

[showtoonzfan]

I am really getting tired of fans responding with “everyone responds to trauma differently” to dismiss criticism Viv gets for how she portrays abuse and SA in her shows. Yes, everyone does respond to trauma differently, that doesn’t mean there’s not a right and wrong way to portray it in media. As a writer you can always improve your stuff and make it better than what it is now, there’s nothing stopping Viv from looking to improve. Feedback from others (especially from people who have been abused and/or SA’d) is important.

If Vivziepop was a normal person who didn’t see critique as a personal attack on her, she could actually use what people over the internet are telling her as a larger scope so she gets a better perspective of how other people feel, that way she can emotionally reach to multiple audiences in her work, instead of picking sides, dismissing and demonizing anyone who disagrees with her and assuming what she’s crafted is perfect with zero flaws.

Her major problem with how she portrays abuse as a whole is that she can’t make up her mind on what’s bad and what isn’t. In Helluva Boss, Blitz verbally abusing his employees is funny, but Stella verbally abusing Stolas is bad. Sexual harassment from Blitz, Stolas and Angel Dust are funny, but from Val it’s bad. Loona abusing Blitz is funny, but Stella abusing Stolas, Valentino abusing Angel, and Crimson abusing Moxxie is bad.

Then you watch livestreams of her talking about Stolitz and Huskerdust, and it really feels like she can’t tell the difference between genuine love and blatant sexual harassment, cause she talks as if the couples are lovey dovey when in reality they’re not. Then she has the issue of not reading the room, at times she can’t let a serious scene happen without cracking a joke or just letting the scene breathe. Moxxie’s abuse isn’t taken with the full respect it deserves, after he’s hit we cut to a dildo joke, then go from that to a sexual harassment song we’re supposed to find funny. Then the writers can’t even let him cry without a joke about Blitz and Chaz being loud during sex. This is the same woman who prides herself in how she wrote Angel Dust, an SA victim.

She comes off as an excruciatingly insensitive writer who can’t make up her mind wether she finds SA hot, or abuse funny or not. People genuinely look up to her, but she’d rather argue with people on Instagram/twitter who find her work dense/uncomfortable. She’s not even trying to make an effort in her writing cause she’s convinced it’s perfect, and it’s just wrong, especially to silence those who want to speak up about how she dealt with a serious topic, topics that deserve care and respect, not just “haha sex”.

[verysium]

bllk characters and what you think would be their type or what they find attractive in a girl?🙈💗💌

i mean... 🤔 do u want the truthful answer or do u want the ideal answer? cus i don't think any of the bllk boys (maybe with the exception of otoya and aiku) would have a type, much less let it be limited to a girl. but assuming they actually have a life outside of football, here are some traits they would find attractive in a person:

isagi would like someone he can see as a role model. throughout his life, he often finds figures that inspire him (eg. noel noa, ego, even rin if you squint hard enough). he doesn't idolize them, but he does find a way to incorporate their strengths into his playing style and actions. if you have a character trait he highly values, he will like you, and it's generally pretty easy to get him to like you. (unless of course, you're a massive dick like kaiser.)

i find that he gets along best with kurona and hiori. this is because (1) they can read his intentions well, and (2) they are quiet and level-headed. obviously, this would also apply to the romantic side of his life. isagi admires people who are similar to him but still have their own quirks and idiosyncrasies. for example, you subtly support him from behind the scenes and bring him snacks after practice and pack his bento every morning. he appreciates small gestures of kindness.

isagi is also someone very hot-headed as evidenced by his potty mouth. he likes someone who can match his energy and passion but is still calm enough to prevent him from doing anything rash. i picture him running up to you after a game, and the adrenaline causes him to pick you up from out of the stands and twirl you around in his arms.

canonically, isagi is unpopular with girls. he literally returned from valentine's day empty-handed. he tries to be nice most times, but truthfully, nothing except football really interests him. so if you can skip the small talk and start drafting football plays with him, i think he would be attracted to you. like very attracted.

unrelated but he likes someone with a pretty laugh.

bachira needs someone motherly. i feel like he never really got to be a child because everyone around him was constantly putting him down for being the "weird" kid. that's why his current personality is undeniably childish at times. it's the only way he can express the inner child he had before he grew up too fast. i think he'd like people who take care of him in a parental manner, whether that's scolding him for doing something stupid, wiping his chin cus he's a messy eater, or teaching him english every day.

i feel bachira is one of the most extroverted characters in blue lock. he genuinely thrives off his interactions with others. and for that reason, i think he'd be attracted to introverts because they differ so greatly from him. (he'd probably adopt them too.)

bachira has the most creative insults, and that's partially why he gets along so well with isagi. he's not afraid to get out of his comfort zone, nor is he afraid of pushing others to do the same. if this boy can hallucinate whole monsters, he can sure as hell rip his opponents into pieces. i feel like he'd have such a stark duality around you. he'd be beating the crap out of the other team, but the moment he sees you, he's all sunshine and rainbows and bounding over to ask you about your day and overshare about his.

ADHD. that's it. that's the quote. if you're hyperactive, then he's hyperactive, and you'll both be rocking the same boat. most people would assume he needs a grounding presence in his life, but i think post u-20 arc bachira is actually mature enough to process his own issues. now he just needs someone to let loose and have a little fun with.

rin needs a therapist. end of story. this boy is a whole case study. i don't think he's even mentally stable enough to have a romantic relationship. but if he were to date someone, i'd imagine that person is somewhat similar to isagi (and no, this is not a ship.)

isagi has something rin definitively lacks, and that is his strong, dynamic sense of self. when rin fails, he takes it heart. all solutions are linear and logical to him. if he missed a goal, it was because he didn't train hard enough. if he couldn't beat sae, it was because he just wasn't good enough.

but isagi completely changes his mindset every time he loses. (there's a reason why he's surrounded by puzzle pieces all the time.) analyzing is second nature to him. every failure is a catalyst for self-improvement, and he constantly breaks himself down in order to adapt and rebuild. rin needs someone like that in his life, someone who can teach him to be unafraid of change and embrace it instead.

rin also isn't immune to external influences. obviously, he is still learning to play football for himself. looking at the pxg version of him, he has had a significant change in mindset, but he still hasn't completely separated himself from this idea of "beating" someone in order to get to the top. according to his logic, if he surpasses both sae and isagi, he will finally be content. but the truth is, he won't be anywhere near content because his ego still isn't entirely his own. i think he would admire someone who refuses to let themselves be defined by others.

rin would also like someone who is patient because he clearly isn't. (boy was about to have a whole brain aneurysm when bachira threw that paper airplane at him.) honestly, you need to be both gentle and persistent with him. he hates it when people come on too strong, but he also finds his walls slowly crumbling when someone repeatedly goes out of their way to show that they care.

rin has a high level of emotional intelligence, as evidenced by sae's comments about his intuition. however, he can only work out a person's thought process about halfway before he starts to feel lost himself. for example, he can understand that sae dislikes losing, but he doesn't understand that it's innately tied to sae's self-worth and expectations as the eldest child/genius prodigy/role model. if he's going to romantically date anyone, then they need to be extremely skilled in the art of communication. otherwise, rin is going to easily misinterpret things.

finally, i think he'd like someone who knows how to comfort him. rin overthinks. like a lot. the cogs in his brain are constantly whirring. you need to lay him down on your lap and run your fingers through his hair and tell him that everything's going to be alright. (and it is going to be alright, because you're about to move both heaven and earth for him to make it stay that way.)

kaiser has no set type, but if he did, it would also be isagi (i'm sorry but yoichi is our harem princess for a reason.) kaiser oscillates between this superiority and inferiority complex. he even admits he was weak-hearted once.

any and all attraction is heightened for him because he gets obsessed easily. (like did you see his massive desktop displays of isagi? tell me that does not scream high-key yandere shit to you.)

however, more so than people, kaiser is fixated on ideals. he literally got a cheesy blue rose tattoo to remind himself that nothing is impossible, and he stands naked in front of his mirror every morning repeating the motto: "this is me." the self-esteem issues are glaringly obvious.

now, rather than completely shatter his entire worldview like isagi did, you need to be the one to gently (and i stress, gently) remind him that sometimes ideals aren't everything. kaiser is unpredictable, but the one thing that stays constant about him is the many masks he hides behind. everything is a role to him, and he takes center stage. but you need to convince him that none of this really matters. he doesn't need to bedazzle himself in tattoos and dye his hair and sport a mullet-rattail hybrid to be worthy of attention. sometimes his ugly bed head and dark circles are precisely the reason you love him.

second of all, you need to set firm boundaries (otherwise you'll end up like ness.) kaiser wants someone with a backbone, and he does not turn a blind eye to raw potential. victory is his end goal, and if you can bring him one step closer to that, he will stick to you. the only issue here is that you need to make sure he does not use you. and believe me, he will try. but if you draw a strong line between you two and stand your ground, he will start to see you in a new light. it can go both ways (love or hate), but either way you are someone important in his eyes.

lastly, i think he wants someone with a sense of humor. he's naturally cocky, and he needs someone to match his wit. ness already does that, but he doesn't give kaiser enough challenge. in my mind, i imagine kaiser trying to impress you with his german, but you give him a good run for his money when you already know how to speak it. things like that. he thinks it's hot when you can stand up to his level. but at the end of the day, your loyalty still lies with him, and you're not above/below him but rather the one standing beside him.

barou doesn't have a type. he is the type. you're lucky to have him.

otoya likes cute girls, even better when they have the standard fringe/bob cut look. he also lives for the height difference. teasing short girls by patting their heads is his signature move. he also likes it when girls wear lipgloss, like a sparkly candy pink shade, maybe even a spritz of perfume. he's also type to make fun of the little chubby pooch you get when you eat too much. he thinks it's adorable. personality-wise, it doesn't matter. he's going to cheat anyways. jk but on a more serious note, the person he's likely going to stay with forever is someone who can forgive his weaknesses and actually make the effort to understand him. instead of writing him off as an immature two-timer, he'd appreciate people who can actually hear him out. obviously, it doesn't excuse any of his actions, but it lets him know that you do indeed care.

aiku says he likes anyone who looks easy to break up with, but it's actually the opposite. he tends to go for older women who end up slapping him in the face. he's a womanizer, but he actually has a significant amount of character depth. generally, he's someone who goes with the flow, and nothing really upsets him. but to actually get to know him and his insecurities, you'd have to be someone really important to him. i think aiku is the type to be a serial dater before he finds someone he'll actually stick to. he's afraid of commitment, and it's for good reason. the authority figures in his life have failed him enough times to be considered unreliable. please be kind to him because the childhood trauma was not. i smell lots of emotional baggage here.

nagi likes the flame type because it has few weaknesses and helped him clear three levels in digimon. oh wait, you mean his ideal type? yeah, he does not know what that is, and he's too lazy to think of one. currently he's in the middle of fighting a custody battle for choki, and he's losing to a certain purple-haired freak. please come back later.

reo likes wine aunties lol. it's canon that he prefers older women, but i think it's just because they tend to know what they want. he likes people who have a set goal and are constantly working towards it. he himself diverts all his time and resources into football once he discovers that it is his calling.

i think he's the type to be extremely popular but not actually have any deep, long-lasting connections with any of his friends. he knows a lot of people, but he doesn't know them well. that's also why he gets so attached to nagi because nagi is the first person to really know him. in a way, i think that'd translate over to the people he loves as well. he likes people who don't beat around the bush. if they like him for who he is, they'll say it outright. he doesn't need to do any digging or engage in any form of the pretentious formalities he despises.

reo is rich, which is both a blessing and a curse. on one hand, he's all set for life, but on the other hand, it unfortunately makes many of his relationships conditional. he said it himself that people are often drawn to him because of his money. so i think he'd also like someone who isn't materialistic. he values honesty and genuine connection above all, so if you're ready to give him love regardless of his status, he'd sincerely love you too.

chigiri likes tomboys or any person with masculine characteristics. he's constantly getting mistaken for a girl at blue lock, so i think it'd just be funny to pair him up with someone who also shares the same androgynous plight. you two would bond over breaking gender norms.

he's a capricorn, and even if astrology is a pseudoscience, i still feel like the archetype fits him well. he refuses to let other people see him cry. he values his family a lot. he tends to be moody and intense at times. not to mention he is very goal-driven (excuse the pun.) based on that, i think he'd want someone calm and understanding. it's not that he needs someone else to work out his own problems for him. it's more so that he needs someone to remind him that he's still human sometimes. i feel like after his injury, he was sort of in this survival mode, constantly trying to prove himself and get back to the level he used to be at. but you need to remind him that he can relax once in a while. it's perfectly alright if he isn't as good as he used to be right now. progress comes at a different pace for everyone.

furthermore, chigiri tends to project a serious image most of the time, so i think it'd be nice if someone reminds him that he does have indeed an odd sense humor and his fair share of stupid moments, and that's totally okay too.

shidou likes anyone who doesn't like him, but this has to be done the right way. within blue lock, he's already sort of this outcast because no one understands his playing style (except maybe sae.) you need to show him that you value his eccentricities while also keeping him at an arm's length. he loves a challenge.

since he's someone unafraid to express himself, he likes to see that in another person. whether it's in your fashion sense, way of talking, body language, etc., he loves it when you act unapologetically yourself.

shidou is quite literally a dog kept on a leash, so you need to tug on that leash from time to time. he loves it when people attempt to tell him off and call him out for his bullshit. inhibition is a foreign concept to him, so he feels entertained when others try to teach it to him. he also thinks it's immensely sexy when you're angry at him. lord knows he is definitely going to slip that in mid-argument just so you can yell at him some more.

sae wouldn't even believe in the concept of a "type" in general because he thinks it's stupid to categorize people based on an ideal and fixed set of characteristics. (that's pretty rich coming from a guy who calls people who don't meet his standards lukewarm but we're just gonna ignore his hypocrisy.) either way, he has a non-traditional view of love and attraction.

i do think he likes people who are solid and reliable, and they can continuously yield quality results. he would also want someone who is as ambitious as him because i don't think he can realistically get along with someone who has no dreams or aspirations. it just doesn't fit well with his driven personality.

people who are empathetic and emotionally intuitive intrigue him since that's something he lacks. personally, i think he'd like someone who is mature (doesn't matter if they're older or younger.) if you can teach him something useful, he find you worthy of his time. and if you can read his feelings without him even telling you, he would consider you someone special.

sae needs someone who holds similar ideals to him but doesn't follow him blindly. (notice how he hated it when rin blindly relied on his assists when they were children.) he want someone who is independent because he is also highly independent. however, the difference is that they also actively make room in their life for other people, and that is something sae doesn't know how to do.

there's a point of growth somewhere in your relationship where you call out his mistakes and set him on the right path. sae struggles a lot with his definition of victory, and he finds it difficult to curb his greed. his ego is what sets him apart from everyone else, so failure is not an option in his books. unfortunately, this is also why he loses some of his original spark/motivation. you need to be someone who can tell him that failure is not a weakness, and sometimes the journey matters more than the ending.

also this poor boy needs someone to teach him social cues because i don’t really think he knows how to read the room. he’d probably unintentionally insult a chairman or investor, and you’ll be trailing after him with a sheepish smile as you bow and apologize for him. (i feel bad for his manager.)

[loemius]

here’s my hot take of the night:

the e-temples that have been cropping up lately are cool, and im glad to see people making specific spaces to come together to worship. that’s awesome! i’m very here for that as a concept. i love nothing more than to see the theoi get the praise they deserve.

that being said, i am very wary about the amount of people i have seen calling themselves priests/priestesses lately. not even just in the e-temples! ive seen multiple people in the tags who have in their bio “priest(ess) of [deity].” i realize most people probably don’t mean harm by it, but it gets under my skin. to call yourself clergy implies a specific level of knowledge and experience with a religion (which isn’t my business to get involved in your praxis like that, that’s personal unless you wanna share it), but more importantly, official recognition by an established institution. there are not that many of these (that i am aware of) for hellenic polytheism. calling yourself clergy is simply that — calling yourself that. there’s no backing for it, and it genuinely concerns me.

we as the polytheist community talk a lot about harmful practices in spirituality, things like spiritual psychosis or cultural appropriation, which are important topics to discuss. it’s been said before and i’ll say again — people claiming to be spiritual authorities of some kind without any kind of proof can be very dangerous. i don’t assume anyone has bad intentions. i give people the benefit of the doubt and assume that everyone is just trying to help other people worship. but it doesn’t change the fact that calling yourself a priest(ess) will make impressionable or unsure people look up to you, and that is a hell of a lot of responsibility. i am concerned that there are minors running these kinds of blogs. that’s a lot of pressure on someone’s shoulders, especially to put on someone who is still growing up and developing their research and critical thinking skills. i don’t want to gatekeep or anything like that. im very glad to see minors having really good experiences with their faith, that they’re excited to share it with others. but it just concerns me.

im certainly not as experienced as other practitioners on this site, having had about two years of experience at this point, but i am very wary of anyone who claims to be any kind of authority on anything unless you can back it up. regardless of if your blog says that you’re not an authority, calling yourself clergy of any kind implies that. people will take it that way. it inherently implies a level of authority, knowledge, and experience on a particular subject, which is usually backed up by having an official institution that recognizes you.

perhaps this is a little callous of me, but in the same way that when someone makes a claim about the theoi academically, i expect them to have sources to prove it, i expect clergy to have some kind of proof of their authority. otherwise, what are you doing that’s different than any other tumblr blog?

to be clear, i don’t have an issue with these devotional spaces. i simply take an issue with people referring to themselves as clergy when that is a particular term with a particular context and a particular implication. words have power. i earnestly think if people just called themselves something like ‘stewards’ of a particular temple, i wouldn’t be so bothered by it. or just call yourself a devotee of a particular god. ultimately, at the end of the day, the words we use have power and implications, and that has to be acknowledged and respected. send tweet

[thetepes]

Not to play devils advocate, but I feel like lilys opinion on the usage of the n word is valid. Regardless of someone’s race, I think it’s a little backwards to dictate what someone has to say about another races cultures just because they’re white (or not of that culture), differing opinions aren’t the end of the world and hers wasn’t inherently racist I fear the same goes for the anime thing too, I’m sorry but Japan DOES have of a loli problem, even if her wording was extreme

I’m not white myself (to be fair, not black/japanese either), not that I think it matters to what I can and can’t say about this but I don’t want you to assume I am white because I somewhat defended lily, which is someone I did NOT want to run defense to but maybe I’m too conservative for this space but I mean this in the most respectful way possible, it feels like some of you are reaching on some things just to paint her in a worse light, as if she wasn’t already famously bad 😭

(Feel free to correct me, I’m not trying to be intentionally ignorant for the sake of it I’m just tired of hearing of a lot of echo chambers about the issue without getting to WHY what she says is racist when I think like pretty reasonable??)

Anon, my friend, I do not know how to break this to you, but that is racist. I know you do not mean to be. I know you're trying your best to be as inoffensive as possible. I'm going to do my very best to answer you genuinely because you seem genuine.

Saying Japan has a Loli problem is like saying America has a child pageant problem. It's there. It's a problem, but it's not something floating on the surface everyone in Japan is aware of the magnitude of. It's a niche genre of ero fiction that comes up about as much to your every day Japanese person as child pageants in America.

In the 80's there was this loli boom that took place where it split off from your more typical bishōjo into lolicon. You would find stuff like Future Boy under that genre long before you'd find any ero.

It wasn't until an otaku named Tsutomu Miyazaki was arrested in the late 80s that the darker side of loli came to the awareness of your every day Japanese person. It was a popular genre so there was a LOT of hentai of it. He killed and murdered several little girls between the ages of I think 3 to 6 and it started a panic very similar to the Satanic Panic that happened in USAmerica. He had a massive collection of anime and hentai. I mean massive. From normal things you'd see in Walmart to stuff you could only buy from very specific websites online no normal person would even know about. It wasn't just Loli that was effected though it was all anime.

It's why Otaku culture was so repressed and shameful for a long time and it even killed the Loli boom because the style was associated with the killings. It wasn't until very recently that Otaku culture made a come back, but still Loli isn't making that come back because of the online opinion on Lolicon. It's gone from an art style to something a lot darker and I think that's where the communication sort of faulters? Because if you say to a Japanese person "you have a loli problem" they're going to think you're having a Satanic Panic moment at them.

At least that's been my experience.

This whole thing is why there was the Moe boom in the 2000's, it was an over correction on the part of artists. Trying desperately to get away from that label and people taking advantage of that as well to make slop.

The rise of the Lolita in Harajuku also muddied the water on this because there's an entire beautiful subculture there that branches into a thousand different expressions. "You have a loli problem!" What's the problem with girls in frilly dresses?

You as someone online, who is adept at being online, in critical spaces and animation/anime spaces have so much more exposure to this stuff than anyone on the daily in Japan.

The entire world has a porn problem. The entire world has a sexualizing little girls problem. To point at Japan and specifically repeatedly deem the entire country as having an issue with pedophilia is racist. To go out of your way to bring it up when you're not even discussing anime or Japan is racist. When your hate and ignorance for a place and it's people bleeds into everything you do

That is racism.

[yamujiburo]

1. You are INCREDIBLY patient when replying to asks. You always politely link them to your FAQ or to your master post. For the bad faith asks, you always are kind in your responses. I wanted to give you kudos. Even though you are well within your right to ignore/skip these asks, you still put thought into your responses. I'm giving you some kind words because I just KNOW it would be draining getting the same messages all the time.

2. I'm a fat person, and I've got a whole host of body issues, but your Jessie really helps with my self confidence. She still sees herself as sexy, and Delia still sees her as sexy (probably sexier lol). I also loved your logic behind the character design: sometimes healing and stability bring weight gain. That in itself has made me feel a bit better about myself. Not trying to treat you as a therapist. I just want you to know the impact your Jessie can have. It's so rare that we see fat characters in a positive light! I do hate how many people have a problem with your design though. :(

3. Aroace James also makes me feel seen. I am coming to terms with the fact I may be aroace myself, and it's been hard. I've always loved James, and I'm grateful you've spun him into a character I can relate to. I'm always all over your blog looking for more James crumbs lol.

I appreciate it! I like to assume the best in people and always answer in good faith. While I wasn’t super vocal at the time, I’ve had my fair share of bad takes on the internet and I feel like those who responded to me with patience and understanding had a longer lasting impression on me and led me to change my mind later. Gave me much to think about. Not everyone’s entitled to that patience but I think there is merit to handling things with kindness sometimes. You never know who’s on the other side of the screen and what they’re saying could just be out of genuine ignorance. Sometimes someone putting it in a gentle way is just the push you need. A lot of the time, I think people just want to be heard and are also willing to listen if they don’t feel immediately shut down.

I’m glad you think so! I love seeing fat characters and I love seeing fat characters who love themselves. Fat is beautiful, fat is cute, fat is hot

Hahaha I should do more with him! Aroace James makes a lot of sense to me given his background. I try not to write ABOUT the experiences of identities outside of my own but I think it’s important to at least show it!

[valorantmenheadcanons]

Innocent and shy masc reader has an incredibly dirty search history and an even worse taste in porn, has a large collection of order receipts from bad dragon. Cypher goes snooping and finds this all out? They have a little "chat" about network security -🐩

this is like my biggest fear except with my parents accidentally opening one of my packages. its either shampoo or a toy gnmsfgns

cw: suggestive, mentions of Corn, technically kind of cyberstalking? it's cypher what do u expect

wc: 718

It's late when you hear a soft knock at your door. You put your phone down on the bed, wondering who's on the other side of the door, especially at this hour. You hope it isn't a call for a last minute mission- the last thing you want right now is to be in a plane in a matter of minutes, geared up to fight.

When you open the door, you're greeted to the sight of a familiar beige figure, standing just a little too close. Cypher never seemed to mind getting in other people's space as long as he was the one doing it; invade his and he'd scamper off in seconds. His blue mechanical eyes scan over you quickly, though in a way that reminds you of someone checking for weapons rather than looking appreciatively.

"I need to talk to you about something," the man chirps, inviting himself inside your room before you can say anything. He slides by you with a careful hand on your shoulder, the leathery material of his gloves cool against your skin. You flush a little at the contact, fleeting but strangely electrifying. You shut your door behind him, folding your arms over your chest as you turn around to face him. You assume he's going to ask for a favour of some kind, or he wants to steal a piece of machinery from you, again, but you're really not in the mood to humour his requests, tired, and a little cranky because of it. Cypher pauses for a moment, hand half-raised in the air like he's trying to figure out exactly what he wants to say. "You know that I am very technology proficient, yes?"

You nod, frowning at the opening. He's usually pretty straightforward when he's asking for something.

"Come on, everyone knows to delete it afterwards. Are you trying to tease me?" Cypher's voice is smooth, peppy and cheerful but calculated, any hint of hesitancy gone. He's talking to you the same way he chides his opponents in a fight he's already won. The realisation sends a shiver up your spine- he knows something that either you don't know or don't want him to know. But you have an inkling, a gut feeling, that it's something you didn't want him to know. Not yet, anyways.

"What are you talking about?" You try, a little too quick to appear genuinely confused. Cypher's head only tilts minutely.

"You're too smart to be playing dumb. I mean, really?" Cypher scoffs, taking a few steps forwards, forcing you to take one back to maintain a semblance of distance between you two. "Looking up Moroccan models?" Another step forward, and your back brushes against the wall next to the door. "Picturing me as any one of them, hm?" Another step, and there's barely any space between you, and you want to die.

You hadn't intended for him to see any of that- although that meant he was snooping around your private search history, a whole other issue to tackle- but you also hadn't not intended for him to see any of that. It was a blurred line, your attraction to Cypher.

"'dirty talk in arabic'?" He has the decency to stifle a laugh, which only makes your face flush deeper, embarrassment, shame, and something else washing over you. "Mm, not to mention your purchasing history. Dirty, dirty, dirty boy," he clicks his tongue. "I thought you were all sweet, not so perverted."

You finally find your voice, the tips of your ears burning at this point. "I'm not the one snooping around in other people's stuff!" You tout back, a weak deflection.

"I'm not the one imagining their coworker is fucking them."

"Shut up!" You groan, really wishing with all your heart that you could be anywhere but here.

Cypher's beady blue eyes lift with a mirth you can sense through his mask. "Ohhh... but you like it. You're so red," and this time he does chuckle, mean and condescending, and damn if it doesn't send a little jolt of warmth through you, the idea that that little laugh is just for you to hear. "How about this: You show me which videos you like, and I'll give you a... personal lesson in how to delete your search history. How does that sound?"

[wouldasprenhelp]

Welcome to Would A Spren Help!

The ancient oaths must be spoken again, but it's not just inhabitants of the Cosmere that can bond with a Spren this time! No, in this timeline, the floodgates have been opened! Anyone and everyone is eligible. Tony Stark/Iron Man, Mario "Jumpman" Mario, Izuku Midoriya, Frodo Baggins, even Darth Vader, any character from any piece of media has the opportunity to become a member of the Knights Radiant!

However, the Spren aren't entirely sure about some of these. After all, they barely know these people. So they've come to you all, the fair people of Tumblr, to give them advice on who should be allowed to join!

On this blog, you will see a series of polls! Each will have a character's name and franchise. The four options that you will have available will be as follows!

The Nahel Bond Would Help Them

These are the people whose lives would be genuinely improved by bonding with a Spren of some Order. Your reasons for saying this can be as varied as you want. Would the person be able to work through things they have a hard or impossible time working through in canon? Great! Would they just like the company? Awesome! Do you just want to see them fly? Heck yeah! If the character ends with this, the Spren Will Bond with the character! More on that in a moment!

The Nahel Bond Wouldn't Affect Them

These characters would be fundamentally unchanged if they had a Spren. Whether this is because they don't really have a need for a therapy fairy, or they're able to work through their issues just fine without them, you're the judge. If the character ends with this, the Spren Will Not Bond With The Character. No need to bond with someone who doesn't need you.

The Nahel Bond Would Make Them Worse (Positive)

These characters are the ones that, for some reason or another, you think would be chaos incarnate as a Radiant, but it would be funny. Maybe they'd be an absolute menace with Surges, maybe they'd corrupt their Spren irreversibly by being an absolute gremlin, who knows? This one was very divisive among the Spren, the Highspren, Honorspren, and Peakspren were very against accepting these people, but the Cryptics managed to convince the entire council that they should accept these. The Spren Will Bond With These Characters! Even if it's reluctantly on some of them!

The Nahel Bond Would Make Them Worse (Negative)

These characters should not be given a Spren under any circumstances. Whether this is because they would use the power for malevolent means, would only be broken by any attempt to help them through their traumas, or some other reason, The Spren Will Not Bond With These Characters.

For the sake of this poll, we are assuming that every character would be able to speak the Words and at least become a Radiant of roughly 2nd or 3rd Ideal. If they're the kind who would excel as that Order, that's up to you to decide in whatever means you have (No but seriously if you do fanart or write a fic about the resulting character as a Radiant you have my full permission to @ this blog and I'll reblog it).

If A Character Manages To Be Accepted

If a character is accepted, a follow up poll will be held for the same amount of time as the original poll. This will have all orders available, listed in order of Stormlight Archive book. That means the order will be as follows. If you're new to the Cosmere, these have their main Ideals listed as well.

Windrunner - I Will Protect Lightweaver - I Will Speak My Truth Bondsmith - I Will Unite Willshaper - I Will Seek Freedom Skybreaker - I Will Seek Justice Edgedancer - I Will Remember Truthwatcher - I Will Seek Truth Dustbringer - I Will Seek Self-Mastery Stoneward - I Will Be There When I'm Needed Elsecaller - I Will Reach My Potential

This will be recorded on the spreadsheet for this blog, if you want to search for a specific character later.

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions will be entered through THIS GOOGLE FORM

There are a few rules, though!

NO RADIANTS These guys already have a Spren. They aren't getting another. Submissions for characters with Spren will be discarded.

NO REAL LIFE PEOPLE We are not here to analyze the mental state of Benedict Cumberbatch. If you want to submit BBC Sherlock, that's fine, but real people are off the table.

ONE SUBMISSION PER RESPONSE You're allowed to make multiple responses, but if your response has more than one character, even if they're characters from a group, it will be deleted. If you want to find out if the Wiggles could be Radiants, you need to submit each individual Wiggle.

BE CIVIL Or at the very least be rowdy in a positive way. I don't want to see anyone yelling at other people for voting a certain way.

Outside of that, it's fair game! This blog will post two polls a week, one on Mondays and one on Thursdays, both at Noon EST (5 PM GMT)! Life Before Death, people of Tumblr!

[verdantlights]

hello

i decided to respond to you instead of vant due to you tackling the issue directly. i stated in my response you guys were required to be direct if you want to hold a conversation with me. it isnt an age thing.

i am a minor, not an adult. this is why i am so uncomfortable with how you guys approach these topics. its disrespectful for you to make such big accusations and assumptions about me. stop it.

i have a school and not to mention a completely different timezone from most of you, so it would have been nice to be told directly what to censor rather than being so vague repeatedly. this could have been done with a lot sooner.

i still feel as if you guys cant comprehend the weight of your actions. this best reflects when one of your friends decided to reblog a suggestive post. i see no issue with that, seeing as it was tagged accordingly too, but the tag " #just in case anyone gets their panties in a twist" is beyond immature and is very disrespectful to others around him, especially after everything. it seems as if you guys just will not take concerns serious.

stop harassing a minor. you are older than me, its weird.

ok so youre brave for sending your response in MY askbox bc im not afraid to answer it unlike you with my original ask. im also not afraid to call you out on your bullshit directly and speak my mind.

im so sorry to say this but i genuinely cannot take you seriously after this. i will say, i apologize for assuming you were an adult, but you really made it seem like you were with the way you behaved towards others.

the reason why we were so adamant about getting you to sensor personal information is because it shouldve been your first instinct to censor private info. im pretty sure ive said this, but posting private information of a minor is illegal. it doesnt matter if you yourself are also a minor.

another thing, you started this. youre the one who made a callout post over us. sorry no, its "not a callout post in any regards," my bad. but my point still stands that if youre going to throw shit out there, be prepared to expect it in return.

also "the weight of our actions" what actions? being a fucking teenager? majority of the people in that server are minors, some possibly the same age as you. im gonna be so fucking fr, this sounds like a personal problem to me. this sounds like you personally just had an issue with us and wanted to make it everyone elses problem. and that is immature.

the same thing can be said for "just in case anyone gets their panties in a twist" its a lighthearted joke. poorly timed, yeah probably, a lame joke, also yeah. the only person whod believe its immature and disrespectful is you, though. everyone else gave a half hearted laugh and moved the fuck on.

"the severity of our actions" i have explained this story, shown the doc of screenshots, and majority of the responses and posts on tumblr, including the one from syd, all to my therapist and my mother. both of them agree that this is actually fucking stupid. none of us are in the wrong, you were simply uncomfortable in our server and were bitter that you couldnt be included because of it. we strive to accommodate to peoples boundaries and needs, but we will not destroy the core foundation of our friend group to accommodate to one single person.

there never has, and never will be, explicit nsfw in that server and i have said that over and over and over again. we were trying to argue that originally and that anon ignored us. its even in the fucking screenshots you posted, which by the way, do absollutely nothing to prove your point anyway. numerous people who had nothing to do with the server, the people, or even alien stage itself were shown the og callout post and the screenshots and went "whats the issue here."

you showed screenshots of us literally saying "hey yeah thats a valid issue here lets resolve it immediately and be more careful and mindful of this persons boundaries in the future." and we have continued to uphold those boundaries since.

im gonna say it again, you started this. the block button exists for a reason. you said that you didnt want a back and forth, and yet what did you think was going to happen when you decided to put private information on the internet in the form of a callout post? did you think youd get praise? did you think youd be a crowned hero?

newsflash, since you want to say i, an adult of i kid you the fuck not TWO MONTHS, was harassing you... thats now how it works. you get what you give and if you cant handle that then dont make a giant fucking callout post on people who are doing just fine living their best fucking lives. all of the people who originally responded to your post were minors. the people you claim to be harassing you are also minors. i hope you realise the mistake that you made and that none of us in the group take you seriously anymore because the sheer audacity you have to say shit like this in my inbox is astounding. saying were harassing you is a bit melodramatic dontcha think?

so instead of telling you to go touch grass (which you still need to do) because youre an adult so you should act like one, im gonna tell you to grow the fuck up because youre not an adult.

if you want to think of me as immature for being so brash-! i do not care. i am an older sibling and this is the exact same way i have talked to my younger brother when he did stupid shit. which, funnily enough, if you think what were doing is bad, the things that my brother has done would put you in an early grave.

if i had to make a list of things, this is purely to take the piss out of the situation btw because i could not give less of a fuck about this situation atp, but you would NOT have survived the dsmp fandom, 2021 and 2015 wattpad, 2015-16 tumblr, and any year of twitter. you also would not survive working at taco bell or any fast food chain.

also, "i have a school" i sure hope you do! please pay better attention in your english class because you clearly do not have enough media literacy.

poor attempt at cancel culture 0/10 do better.

@alien-til-i-stage "if i die like this, i wouldnt mind" while they choke from drinking dr pepper.

[unsiredtribrid]

I feel like so much of the theme of TBOSAS for Coriolanus and even Lucy Gray is choice. Like do you choose to humanize and have empathy for the people suffering on the other side, or do you become fearful and choose yourself always?

I think the burden of interpreting Lucy Gray that’s left on the shoulders of the reader is partly a test in and of itself. Like do you believe Billy Taupe’s accusations about her character, who was as fearful as Coryo and wanted Lucy Gray to die along with him (just the same as Coryo did in the end when he shot at her after he thought he was poisoned by the snake)? Or do you take Tigris’s interpretation where she thinks Lucy Gray is someone trying her best and doing what she has to in traumatic circumstances that are trying to get her killed?

Coryo also favored Tigris’s interpretation closer to the beginning of the book— he even joined Tigris and stood up for Lucy Gray’s character in the face of the Grandma’am’s bigotry. And he really did believe it, too. But then as the book goes on and he’s groomed and then put into situations where he has to choose between his own fear and being more empathetic, he lets fear win. He starts questioning if Lucy Gray is just using everyone (in that case, men) around her, which also mirrors how Billy Taupe spoke of her.

In the end, both men did choose that they would rather have her dead than not have her at all. Which, to me, when you compare that with the things Lucy Gray has actually actively done so far, is a pretty strong indicator that Tigris’s views are the ones that are more ‘correct’.

No, we can’t see into her head. Yes, she probably started out flirting and using her charm to try and get a shot at surving the games (which is one of the most appealing things about her character). But how do you as the reader interpret that? Do you think it’s someone doing what they have to to survive, or do you think of it more negatively and see her as a liar or someone you just can’t trust? In good faith and conscience, you would look at it and say that using one’s charms on the people of the Capitol to try to escape being killed by the Capitol is absolutely 100% fair game and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, it’s what people should be doing. In some respects, like with all performing, it becomes genuine connection and it moves people to understand you even if it started out ‘fake’. No one criticized or took issue with it when Peeta did it. And in the exact same way, it didn’t make Peeta less empathetic and kind to people of the Capitol who weren’t directly involved in what was happening to him. You as the reader can choose to believe that of Lucy Gray, just like you did with Peeta (even if, in Peeta’s case, you saw actual evidence of it since you weren’t reading from an unreliable narrator with limited perspective).

Whether Tigris is ‘right’ about Lucy Gray is almost irrelevant. What is relevant is the decision, as the reader, to assume the best in her and treat your opinion of her with empathy and the benefit of the doubt. That’s what Coryo should have done at the end of the book, but he didn’t. That’s part of the over arching theme about treating other people better and not dehumanizing them or assuming the worst in fear and paranoia.

Regardless of the fact we don’t get much time with her and we can’t see her inner monologue, what we do see Lucy Gray do isn’t anywhere in the ball park of what Snow ends up doing at the end and then after. Lucy Gray puts a snake down Mayfair’s dress to freak her out, but even that wasn’t something fatal. Mayfair was fine and she lived up until she was killed by Coryo. Lucy Gray stood up for herself against Billy Taupe (not to say there aren’t nuances to how their relationship probably became rocky off the page, before we’ve met either of them. I’m sure there are, even if we’ll never know them), but there’s no indication his claims are true. All we have is Lucy Gray’s word. She claims that she flirted a little as part of the job, but that’s all it was. She says she didn’t do sex work to survive, but openly admits she would if it meant keeping Maude Ivory alive. And that’s without including the other nuances of that conversation, which would be that she was 16 (and younger) and ‘sex work’ here would really be rape because it would likely involve men. So? Assuming anything less than savory because of Billy Taupe’s implications there just seems pretty dark/fucked up.

But back on track, my point: as the reader, do you choose to believe her, or are you paranoid? Do you choose to look at all of the situations she’s in and think she’s a survivalist using her charms and wit, or do you think she’s malicious in some way? How you think of her with little information is important and just kind of feels like its own test and thought exercise.

Even if she set the snake on Coryo, it wasn’t a poisonous one so it was little more than a distraction and maybe a way to get him to worry about that instead of chasing her. Even when she had suspicions he could kill her, she chose to use her smarts to flee and (maybe) survive. But in contrast, Coryo chose to try and finish her off because he didn’t like how his heart broke at the thought of her not ‘caring enough’ about what they have to even have a goodbye before he left. He hated the loss of control of the situation. It was part of the reason why he ended up involved in the rebel plot and killing Mayfair— he was obsessive over Sejanus and needed to feel like he was in control of him in some way. He needed to know what he was doing. And in some ways that was out of genuine love and care, but in some it was fear. And the fear is what made him choose betrayal when he got himself in that situation where he was surrounded by jabberjays and Sejanus was openly talking about a rebel plot that could get them both executed. He chose betrayal to save his own skin because he was scared. He wanted control and then he didn’t have the guts to go as far as he needed to, so he chose his own life. Same thing with Lucy Gray when he fired that gun. He was scared of the unknown factors. Started worrying about her killing him or telling on him and all sorts of things because he was scared and he chose not to believe in her.

Will we ever know if Lucy Gray actually cheated on Billy Taupe? No. Will we ever have more than her word? No. Will we ever know if she was truly attracted to Coryo at the start of their flirtation or if that was 100% a tactic until she caught feelings later? No. Will we ever know if she set the snake on purpose or even if she knew it was venomless? No, not really. But that’s not the point. The point is, do you look at her actions laid out in front of us and choose to believe the best in her? Do you choose to be empathetic and see the situation from her perspective despite being directly in the head of the main character who was groomed (and scared) until he descended into madness?

Someone once said that the difference between everlark and snowbaird’s dynamic is Katniss and Peeta were willing to die for each other before they even knew if the other had definitive feelings for them that they could control. They loved each other even when they didn’t know the other’s exact feelings or their perspective. They were even directly posed to kill each other in the games because originally only one could survive, so they actually had every reason to choose paranoia and didn’t.

This ability to choose good faith seemed to persist even after Peeta was hijacked. But with snowbaird, Coryo had to ask Lucy Gray if it was real before he saved her life (in the movie, at least. In the book it was less cut and dry and he wondered if it was one sided in the midst of his feelings unfolding and far before he cheated to save her). Coryo even says himself to Lucy Gray that he knows his jealousy and the way he wanted her to be thinking about him (and be into him), is stupid. Because it is— she’s in a life or death situation fearing for her life and it would be a miracle for her to have time to figure out or even have a crush on someone when she’s about to die and every ounce of energy is put into both that and the fact she’s locked in an actual cage. It is actually stupid for him to be jealous over that.

But again, as the reader, (to flip the script for a second and talk about Coryo’s side) do you interpret this as Coryo being a complete piece of shit who doesn’t care about her at all and is ‘sociopathic’ for worrying about how she feels about him in this situation? Do you think them having feelings at all is just completely trivial in the face of a life and death situation where she has more to worry about? Or do you choose to believe that Coryo is a teenager here who has grown up living in situations where his life hasn’t been safe and he’s been starving, so that’s just the norm for him at this point, and it’s actually beautiful that he was able to feel something like a crush or love in the midst of something actually traumatic? Even though the tributes have it much worse, the Academy kids have been groomed into this worldview and have been dying (and just generally being hurt and traumatized) during this program that the adults devised in order to test/‘perfect’ their own war crimes and fascism.

But to circle back to the snowbaird and everlark point, there’s a huge difference in perspective that the ships had here and the outcomes/results were completely different. Snow didn’t find peace. He was paranoid and bitter and awful. Katniss and Peeta had to work at it but they could find moments of peace because they chose to believe.

I’m a snowbaird shipper and not an everlark shipper (soz, they just don’t give me buzz 😔) because I personally find alllll of these things about Coryo and Lucy Gray to be really fascinating and I think they have insane chemistry. I also think it’s sort of like a Greek tragedy, in a way. It feels like they had a lot stacked against them, even their very personalities, but despite that they did feel real love. And I think that’s beautiful.

But I wanted to talk about all of this because people discuss Lucy Gray a lot in terms of if she was ‘manipulative’ and sometimes people even just flat out put blame on her, which… I don’t even know how to address that because it’s very hard for me to understand how they could read the book and come to that conclusion in any way. But yeah, these are my thoughts on it and just generally the technique Suzanne used for Lucy Gray’s character and how readers engage with that.

[janmisali]

every single topic i see you talking about, it sounds so much like you genuinely believe anyone who has any opinions not identical to yours is objectively wrong and can't possibly know as much as you or more about what they're talking about

in case that is anywhere close to what's going on: disliking things does not make you smarter than everyone who likes those things

and if it's not, maybe stop acting like it is??

okay so you're wrong about me in a couple different important ways,

one: I have literally no idea what it is that you think I "dislike". contextually, it sounds like you're referring to Pluto, which I love! I love all the dwarf planets. I think they're really neat! space is so cool!

two: I don't believe that "intelligence" is a real thing, and if you pay close attention to the words I've been saying, none of the things I've said are bad about Pluto Reclassification Opponents have been about them not being smart enough to understand the science. I'm assuming everyone is on the same level unless it becomes clear someone doesn't understand something, and I try to be helpful and explain things to people whenever that happens.

so, okay, just to be, as clear as possible all in one place. here is my actual honest stance on the Pluto reclassification:

the 2006 reclassification of Pluto was a necessary and well-thought-out reframing of how we think about the structure of the Solar System. it was in no way a "downgrade" or "demotion". Pluto was never very much like the eight planets to begin with, and now it's in a group of other objects that it fits in with much better.

the word "planet" has multiple uses, and the IAU definition is only one of them. I have no issue with people using the word "planet" to refer to things that are not technically-by-this-one-standard-definition "planets".

the specific thing that I have a problem with is when people say things like "Pluto is one of the nine planets" (the only definition of "planet" where this makes sense as a thing to say is "the things I was taught were planets in school, and nothing else"), or when people act like they're being personally attacked when lists of planets don't include Pluto, or (The Thing That Actually Started This) when someone makes a list of dwarf planets that does include Pluto.

there is a significant difference between using a word in a way that's different from a specific technical definition and insisting that anyone who does use that specific technical definition has done something immoral. I think it's bad that I can't talk about cool space facts on the internet without a hundred people arguing at me about how they think it's bad to refer to Pluto as a dwarf planet.

[cpvnksabm]

i've barely posted here in like 3 months but i still get activity notifications pretty often and at this point for my sanity i try not to click on them. because more often than not, it's someone reblogging one of my educational posts about ableism and then, before i've scrolled down 10 posts on their blog, doing one of the exact things i've implored this fandom not to do, or being overtly ableist in some other way.

i work hard to make sure my educational posts are kind, approachable, and easy to listen to. i think that's gone too far. my posts are so approachable and inoffensive that they've attracted an audience of people who only reblog my posts because they see me as a Good Nice Disabled Person, and see reblogging my posts as an easy way to get your "I listen to disabled people" card without, without ever having to change your behavior or challenge your ableist views.

but you DO have to change your behavior and challenge your ableist views.

people always respond to my posts like i must be talking about someone else. some unknown ableist that mysteriously never appears on their social media feed, not them and their circle of friends and the things they casually see on their dash & assume must be okay. i say "the RTC fandom needs to stop doing XYZ ableist thing" and all of the allies in my notifications respond "yeah obviously you should only do XYZ under ABC circumstances!"

you don't speak for me! you don't get to decide that what i say has obvious exceptions that i forgot to mention! you don't get to assume that when i talk about something being a problem, i don't mean it in the way that you do it because you could never be part of the problem!

i hate seeing ableists reblog my posts about ableism because it makes me feel like everyone is seeing it and thinking i agree with the words they're putting in my mouth. like i'm endorsing their ableism. i would rather not be listened to at all than have people only "listen" to me so that they can cherry-pick what i say, and interpret it in the most strained way possible, just so that it seems like i'm not saying anything they need to hear.

i don't know how to make myself any clearer; i say what i mean and my posts generally DON'T have a million obvious unspoken exceptions. when i say "if you haphazardly change ricky's disability to 'fix' canon rep without understanding what canon did wrong in the first place, you are likely to cross over into disability erasure" i don't mean "the only changes you should haphazardly make to 'fix' canon's disability rep are these ones that we've all agreed are okay". when i say "don't single out the disabled character to call him a freak" i dont mean "its only okay to call disabled people freaks in these circumstances". when i say "dont try to speak for the disabled community, focus on boosting our voices" i dont mean "you should only try to speak for the disabled community if it's one of these specific issues where you obviously already know what the whole disabled community thinks".

the truth is: this fandom has a HUGE ableism problem. ricky's canonical neuromuscular disorder is almost never acknowledged, the vast majority of depictions water his disability down in some way, his mobility aids are treated like fun cute props instead of something he genuinely needs. at the same time ricky is constantly dehumanized, stereotyped, turned into the butt of ableist jokes. and when disabled fans point this out - or speak about ableism in any other form, or just talk about our lives as disabled people - we get stereotyped as well, and we get belittled, and people who know nothing about the subject step in to correct us or argue with us or decide what we mean. because obviously, everyone knows better than the disabled person about ableism.

if you see me talking about ableism and you assume you surely aren't part of the problem, then nobody will ever improve. the problem is huge. you are almost definitely part of the problem! so many well--intentioned people are! i have been, at points!

just. you don't speak for me, nobody speaks for me except me. stop deciding my posts dont mean anything you might need to hear. do your research. listen to disabled people.

[generalluxun]

So, I was thinking about your response to Brennane Lee Mulligan here: https://www.tumblr.com/tumblingxelian/777292639421759488?source=share (I found it in the notes by accident, as I habitually scroll notes for many posts and was surprised to see you there XD) & OI wanted to share my main take aways:

I think you raise two majorly good points in that stuff like the power of friendship is a great trope in that it emphasizes community, communication, comradery and is a useful theme. Especially for kids but also just in general, I certainly love it.

I also think you were right on the money with your point regarding how seeking personal power to protect one's loved one's can easily lead to extremely toxic places (Anakin) and can come off as basically ideological selfishness/egotism incarnate. Or taken as basically arguing that 'might' is the only metric worth following.

However,

I also feel that what he was talking about was not friendship or love in those terms, but the more specific examples of love/friendship breaking the established rules of the setting and story but only for 1 character.

I'll speed over the usual Harry Potter point people make. IE, why was it only Lily's love that was enough nullify the killing curse when tons of people have died for their loved one's and not imbued them with any kind of protective barrier. Did they just not love enough?

& instead go to Sword art Online, where-in, secondary lead and romantic love interest Asuna manages to overcome the very foundational rules of the game and entirely artificial world she's in to save Kirito out of love.

IE, the main villain had everyone paralyzed and was gonna kill Kirito but Asuna broke through by sheer love/willpower.

Here's the thing, tons of people in SAO are defined by the loss of their loved one's in many cases due to some game mechanic or circumstances stopping them from saving them. Hell, several of Kirito's other friends were also there & wanted to help but couldn't.

So did all those people just not love enough?

That's kind of fucked up isn't it?

Someone I spoke about this with made a really good observation on the subject that I will quote here:

If there aren’t any extenuating circumstances that change love/friendship into power, then there’s the inevitable question of why no one else has done it (assuming that in that world no one else has)

Cos the thing is in a lot of these stories and settings where that kind of event happens there are not extenuating circumstances, mechanics, or explanation for why no one else has done it.

Which leaves one with the implication that they didn't love enough and that's kind of super depressing conceptually. As well as outright incoherent in stories where characters have paid the ultimate price for a love one, or been in the exact scenario as the hero and just weren't enough.

That's the trope Brennan Lee Mulligan was taking issue with given where he placed emphasis in the video and on that front I do agree.

Especially cos "The power of love" coming in and super charging just one person in the entire story, or however it works when used like this, often feels more like a deus ex machina than any kind of coherent story beat. That often serves to undercut every sacrifice, act of devotion, or genuine effort the characters have put in. Clearly they just needed to love harder and they'd auto win, cos love, etc.

Anyway, I hope that was interesting and made sense!

See, I just have never met these stories he is referencing. I already dissected why HP doesn't work for his theory so you can read that there...

Sword art same deal- you hit it right there. Willpower. Willpower in the moment. Not to mention the nerve gear itself is a a bleeding edge tech released into the wild without proper safety vetting. Who knows how it would interact with each and every of the 10,000 human minds in all knowable circumstances over a 2yr period.

These things actually *do* happen. You hear stories of mothers lifting cars off of trapped children but it's rare! Why? Don't the other mothers love their kids? Or is a miraculous combination of love/body chemistry something that can't be reduced to science and numbers?

Taking the idea that love can be the fuel to push us beyond our limits and turning it into the idea that every time we don't exceed our limits love is somehow lacking, is pretty sick in the head. It's willful contrarianism of the worst sort. It's disingenuous misinterpretation just to score 'points' in edgelord freshman philosophy class.

The whole argument is so desperately reductive. It allows no room for magic in literal magical worlds. It seeks to use a rational metric for an emotional subject.

I said in the comments and I'll stare it here:

Show me a story where they measure the power of love in discrete units and have codified thresholds for exactly what love can do if you love 'enough' and I'll gladly critique that 'power of love' story. That would be a story trying to apply rational rules to love, so you can question it's validity.