#-being an antagonist that needed to be stopped)

[messyemmy]

Fuck Love- Valentine's Day Grapejuice (fic) Flashbacks.

[This is part of the Grapejuice universe but can be read as a stand-alone one shot! Harry's best friend, Jack, is Y/n's younger brother.]

Premise: When your boyfriend stands you up on the most 'romantic' night of the year, Harry shows up with a sweet solution.

Grapejuice / Other Writing

Word count: 2.5k.

💗

The living room’s yellow lamps are the only lights casting through the empty house- empty other than yourself, curled up on the cosiest sofa- and it looks like it’s going to be a night of misery. 

Dressed in such a pretty tulle-draped cherry red dress, matching heels discarded at the entrance hall, you really are having a pity party. 

Being three hours late is one thing, it’s another thing to go radio-silent just as your boyfriend seems to have.

These dinner plans have been in the works since January, and even though you’ve come to expect this type of behaviour from him, hope had somehow riddled past the obvious- only to be dismissed once more. 

A year ago, you might have still been waiting in the entrance hall until your feet ached along with your heart, frantically glancing out the window at any sign of car headlights, anxiety punching you in the gut over and over until eventually, you would end up on this same sofa, mulling in sorrow. 

In the silence, you soak up sadness- only coming out of this haze when the soft sound of the front door unlocking garners your attention.

And then a mop of soft curly hair peaks round the corner, paired with the squishiest cheeks and softest smile. 

Nobody needs to know how quickly your muscles relax at the reassurance of no longer being alone- even if that company happens to be your extremely annoying and antagonistic brother’s equally annoying and antagonistic best friend, Harry Styles. 

Dressed in comfy dark grey sweatpants and his favourite navy hoodie, Harry looks so comfortable as he slips out of his scuffed trainers and neatly toes them off into the shoe pile. 

He carefully sets down a pastel pink rectangular box on the nearest side table and offers no formal greeting as he meanders over to your wallowing figure. 

There’s a thick coat of sympathy painting his stare- the type that you can see from afar, and it has your fists clenching at the thought of him feeling sorry for you. What a low blow. 

His shoes stop just before the sofa and he peers down at you knowingly.

Though Harry’s face shows no sign of pity, it’s his words that have you wishing the earth would swallow him whole, 

“Did he stand you up again?” 

“Don't rub it in.” You warn, and his features instantly soften apologetically. 

“Didn't mean any offence, Clutz.” 

Harry cautiously sits on the arm of the couch, watching tentatively as your furrowed brows turn from one of frustration to one of hurt. 

The type of face he rarely sees- and when he does, it scrunches his body with something he can’t quite find the word for.

All he knows is that he wants to do anything it takes to make things better, or at the least soothe that adorable frown decorating your glowing features. 

The palm of your hand greets your forehead with a forceful press of disappointment, and for some reason, you can’t stop your head from shaking, nor can you stop the words suddenly whispering his way,

“I should've known.” 

Now it’s Harry’s turn to furrow in bewilderment, he certainly can't understand how you’re the one to blame for any of this.

Is this truly how you see things- that you’re in the wrong for having expectations?

“You shouldn't have to assume everything will end in disappointment.” 

He plops down on the sofa with a soft thump, shifting himself comfortably to face you. It's a totally defensive reaction when your stare snaps and shocks his own, eyes squinting,

“And you should find a girlfriend you can prove that to.” 

“I'd ask you if you weren't taken.” Harry shrugs off your dismissal like a pro, incapable of dimming his boyishness to pure darkness. 

Perhaps it works, because your face is washed of all prior feelings of upset, and it looks like you’re fighting a fearsome battle against a smile peaking at the corner of your lips. 

But just as easy as it was to settle, it’s just as easy to spiral, and now you’re a jumble of thoughts all surrounding Harry’s current intentions, suspiciously crossing your arms along your chest, 

“What are you doing here? Thought Jack was out with Millie?” 

“He is. ‘M just lonely.”  Harry shrugs off the small sting of vulnerability,

“And I figured you might be here, feeling the same.” 

“ I am not lonely, Harry.”

“Alone, then… On February fourteenth.”

Harry has his foot in his mouth and he doesn’t even know it- no clue that every word he utters is like venom in your veins, and you’re mere seconds away from taking out every ounce of hurt on him. 

Hurt doesn't begin to cover it. This ‘relationship’ of yours is three and a half years past a fling- deep in the depths of a complicated, disconnected companionship that more often than not left you a tearful, insecure mess. 

Your heart- and head- know that the relationship is fading, but security and closeness are not something you can find in just anyone- the threat of going from a duet back to a single 23-year-old is rather daunting.  

Harry strolled his way right into the line of fire with his misguided attempts to express that he understands how you feel- that he knows you. Instead, it’s coming out like he enjoys the notion that this is how you spend your Friday night. 

And he’s looking at you with those big clueless emerald eyes, practically begging to be lashed out at. His wish is your command,

‘Can you stop being so negative about my relationship?” 

Harry’s shoulders stiffen in puzzled suspense. He knows he shouldn't be surprised or offended by your mood this evening- hell, his mood is no better, it’s just another year of pining over his wanting for you- but he hadn’t expected your anger to be fully directed his way. 

He can feel the air between your bodies thickening with anger, and chooses his next words with great caution, 

“I was just stating the facts.”

“Well, thank you Harry for rubbing it in that my boyfriend doesn't care enough about me to even show up for Valentine's Day.” 

Your voice is louder than he likes, harsh and loaded with hurt. Pain that is clearly caused by his choice of words, and all in an instant, the realisation of how badly he has miscommunicated his desire to bond with you, 

“I'm sorry.” He’s earnest, “I didn't think of it that way-”

“You never think, do you?” 

“Alright, I deserved that one.” 

Harry concedes with shame, hoping that the steaming anger spewing from your cutely flaring nostrils will soon fade, and it is fading, because that all too familiar fear of cruelty comes rushing back, convincing you that there’s no right to be upset- even if your feelings are hurt.

“Just… there's no need to pity me, alright?” 

And you know he means no harm- he hardly ever does- how could Harry know the insides of your relationship if he’s never been in a serious one himself?

He should know better than to poke a grumpy bear, even in an attempt to be kind. He'll certainly know now, 

It’s all you can ask of him, and Harry feels his mouth dry up at the implication that he sees you as anything less than perfect. How the hell can he make that clear? 

“I don't pity you. I pity the man who chooses to be anywhere other than near you.” He’s watching for your reaction, “You'd have to be insane.” 

“Tell him that.” You scoff with incredulity. 

“I will. Give me your phone.”

“Absolutely not.” Suddenly Harry’s lurching for you, hands playfully roaming as he jovially searches for your phone.

And you’re arms are flailing, trying to swat him away in between exasperated giggles and gasps, “Harry!” 

He stops his prodding, body leaning close enough that his senses are surrounded by your sweet jasmine perfume, and all you can do to stay sane under his hold, scolding, 

“You’re a menace.”

Harry’s the picture of enjoyment as his entire face scrunches into an even greater smile- if possible- as he rides the high of your heartwarming laughter, willing to do anything to keep that gorgeous giggle playing on repeat, 

“‘M gonna say, ‘Hey dickhead, open your eyes!’ And then I’ll whisk you away on a date.”

“You’ve got it all planned out, then.” How can you ignore the fondness you feel for Harry’s romantic valiance? 

“Hold on a sec.”

Harry has a strike of genius, removing himself from your shared bubble with such sudden disregard that a shock of disappointment rattles your spine. 

Your gaze trails his lanky figure as he heads for the entrance hall, quickly retrieving the mystery box from earlier.

With surprising relief at his haste, Harry removes the cardboard lid and sinks back down into the sofa cushions. 

He shuffles closer until the searing brush of his cotton-clad knee makes contact with your now crisscrossed calf, and thank the heavens that the box he presents you is alluring enough to dismiss the rush of excitement his closeness evokes. 

A container housing the most mouthwatering stack of thickly chocolate-drizzled brownies. Enough brownies to put your frazzled being into a comatose state.

Eyes oozing with hungry desire, Harry hides his pride well and offers the box your way,

“Here we go.”

To avoid almost snatching the box and needily digging in, you eye him up suspiciously, pondering the origin of these suspiciously alluring treats, 

“Who were these meant for?”

“Me.” He states simply. 

“Ah, one of your many suitors, or… suitress?” 

“Curious, hm?” When you scoff shyly, Harry softly chuckles and clarifies, “From ‘m mum.”

“She’s the best.”

“No, they’re yours.”

Exhaling fondly, Harry carefully shakes the box like he’s offering a treat to a well-behaved puppy. You can only offer a bashful refusal, 

Harry chuckles deeply and sets the brownies down on his lap before he picks one from the top of the pile and dramatically parts his puckered lips, letting his tongue and teeth lazily engulf the dense fudgy cake.

He moans filthily, chewing a couple of times before coaxing through bites,

“Oh, c’mon, you know you want one… Can see you eyeing them.”

“Shush.”

“C’monnnn Y/n, you know you wanna.” 

Harry’s cutely tempting coos are almost too much to resist. Your eyes are darting from the brownies begging to be devoured, and the devious smile stretching across his entire face, 

“I don’t want to indulge in anything Valentine's related.”

“Fuck love, you say?”

“Fine.” Harry agrees casually, because, of course, he already has a solution for this dilemma,

“These aren’t Valentine's brownies. They’re ‘fuck love’ brownies.”

That’s all the permission you need to soothe your sorrows with a sugary overload of chocolate comfort as you reach over with pathetic haste and grab ahold of the nearest brownie. 

“Atta girl.” He praises.

The dessert disappears into your mouth with such momentum that Harry almost misses the entire thing.

But when he sees your ruby-stained lips coated in sweet chocolate and you continue to chew contently, Harry is a mess of all-encompassing love.

He embraces the love he has for you, as he has time and time before, and it always feels like the very first time he realised that he had been falling in love with you his entire life. 

The two of you share a couple more brownies in pleasant silence, while Harry sneaks glances and observes curiously as your brows constantly shift from frustration to satiation- You can’t settle on sorrow or satisfaction. 

But how can Harry say it aloud in a way that would make sense to either of you?

Because if it were so simple, he would profess it over and over, and perhaps you would be sitting here overjoyed instead of so overwhelmed with disappointment. 

Harry’s going in for number three and your gloomy gaze is glued to your hand, still cradling a half-consumed brownie and presenting your new theory, 

“I’m starting to think love is some cruel form of punishment.”

“Maybe you’re right.” 

Harry thinks being in love with you can be as painful as it is rewarding. Watching your heart lose hope more with each day, he feels a type of hurt that he imagines you must be experiencing with each disappointment. 

And he can’t help that it makes him spiteful, and jealous, and perhaps he’s secretly praying for your relationship's downfall.

Which has him constantly riddled with guilt, but that fades in rare moments like these, when he gets a taste of what life loving you would entail. 

Perhaps you don’t notice how normal- natural- it feels to spend time with Harry one-on-one because the dull ache in your chest has yet to subside, even with the warm comfort of Harry and chocolate dessert, it’s impossible to dismiss your heartbreak. 

All you can muster is a disappointed sigh before finishing off the rest of your brownie, halfheartedly dusting the crumbs from your fingers and concluding, 

“Fuck love, yeah?”

“Fuck love.”

Harry agrees- for your sake, and perhaps his own. But as the words are leaving his lips, bitter betrayal of the heart harshly burns his tongue, and if he doesn’t deter this moodiness soon, he risks throwing up all his honesty about loving you, as well as the brownies. 

Chocolate was the first step in making up for a rough start to the evening, the second was to create a worthy distraction, and though he would prefer doing that with just his company, Harry fears he might further provoke your mood. 

Harry’s about to spend the next couple of hours scorched beneath your bare soles, one palm resting along your ankle, desperately resisting the urge to caress the other along the slopes of your calves. 

The safer bet is to suggest turning on the telly, which guarantees an avid nod from yours truly, reaching out for the remote.

He puts the remaining brownies on the coffee table, his breath hitching as your legs carelessly and comfortably stretch out and rest atop his mid-thigh. 

Comfortable familiarity embraced you as soon as his hand wrapped around your exposed skin, and you began aimlessly scrolling, tilting your head to garner Harry’s attention, 

“What should we watch?”

“You’ve got mail-”

“No romance.”

Harry won’t argue with you on that one- if pretending to be part of the ‘I hate love’ club will soothe you right now, he’ll do it. Even if it twists his insides with treachery.

“Right. Fuck love.”

The two of you continue debating over the perfect choice, and it’s a quick consensus to select the most action-packed thriller that any streaming service has to offer. 

As the intro music fills the room with a foreboding melody, you try your hardest to ignore how easily you'll accept your boyfriend's apology tomorrow, and Harry tries even harder to pretend he isn’t so consumed with loving you that he’ll wait patiently when you do.

💗

Hope you enjoy it! Part 5 coming soon! - Emmy. xo 💞

[synergysilhouette]

10 Disney hot takes/unpopular opinions (Part 7)

I'm sure the title is self-explanatory. You know the drill! Check out part 6 here.

Phoebus is Disney's best main-supporting character--I know I stated this objectively, but obviously "best" is subjective. I always appreciated his kindness and strength, and while he doesn't really grow in viewpoint since he always has a strong moral compass, his allegiance changes, and we love to see it when a good guy stops working for the bad guy! Only wish he got to sing.

2. Aurora's dress is the best Disney princess gown--I think it's because of the uniqueness of it; the sharp elements instead of rounded aspects, as well as the pink color (which helps her stand out; blue pits her against Tiana, Jasmine, and Cinderella). Plus I love when merchandising gives her a blue AND pink dress.

3. Eric should've sang in the musical and he and Ariel should've gotten to talk after the battle--I'm glad other adaptations (the live-action remake, the Broadway adaptation, and the anniversary special) have fixed the singing part, but I do feel like it was a missed opportunity to not have Eric sing in the film. It's kind of disappointing actually that it's actually other characters who sing most of the songs rather than the main character (who only gets 1.5 songs) and her love interest. Plus I always wished we got a reconciliation scene between Ariel and Eric rather than a "back to square one" approach they did.

4. I think Disney could get away with more (censored) violence--Kind of an oxymoron, but what I mean is that "Pocahontas" and "Mulan" got away with violence in a way that was still digestible for a younger audience. Not saying that every Disney film needs a lot of violence, but when violence is warranted, they can do so by getting creative with how it's shown, rather than it being offscreen or skipped over.

5. Mirabel should be a Disney princess--I know some people see the DP line as kind of elitist and only admitting "a certain type" of heroine, but aside from adding diversity to the line by being the first Latin-American princess/first South American princess/first Disney princess with glasses, she's also a well-written character who's personality and heart makes her join the line without feeling like she's just there for the sake of optics.

6. "If I Never Knew You" is the greatest Disney love song--I've said it before, but not on a hot take post. It stands out as a song that isn't about the sweetest moments of love, but the darkest elements and consequences of love. Not saying I want the next Disney couple to have a sad ending like Pocahontas and John Smith, but a love song when all seems lost is really unique, and I kinda wonder if this song would've won an Oscar if it had been included in the final cut.

7. We need more complex stories with complex antagonists--I feel like Disney has started telling more complex storylines with "Frozen," "Zootopia," "Big Hero 6," "Encanto," and "Raya and the Last Dragon," and I want them to continue to. Obviously you want a story with a happy ending and something to please the kids who may want something uplifting, but that doesn't mean you can't have more grey-area movies with the protagonist having to change/grow their perspective, and the antagonist not necessarily being a villain.

8. "Tangled" is the wrong movie for Disney on Broadway to be working on--While I understand that it's a popular film, there are renaissance films that should've gotten that treatment before, as well as "Moana" and "Encanto" feeling like better ideas, especially in order to capitalize on their viral impact.

9. "Frozen 2" has the most (emotionally) impactful soundtrack of the Revival Era--I've thought a lot about this, but while Disney always has an emotional song or two in their musicals, "Frozen 2" is an emotional journey from start to end; even the fun songs like "Some Things Never Change," "Lost in the Woods," and "When I'm Older" have a profound meaning to them, a sense of change that Disney should've brought into the 2020s with them. While I found the film narratively clunky, all of the songs (even the ones I wasn't big on) still left me with a feeling of fufillment, like I had just went on an amazing journey of self-discovery. Mature movies like that usually aren't musicals, so I'm glad this was.

10. The Bronze Age is one of my least-favorite Disney Eras--If you know my channel, you know my opinion on animal-centric films; not a fan, with "Zootopia" being an exception because I loved the plot AND they were somewhat human in the world/setting. Almost all of Disney's films during this era were animal-centric, and none of them were good enough for me to be engaged. And while I find "The Black Cauldron" underrated, I do kinda wish Disney had made it a musical instead.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Imagine you're Mr. Wu and your weird gay daughter runs away in tears after destroying some unespecified object while yelling about you ruining her life. Because you told her you'd be moving to another state. This is the last time you see your daughter in half a year, and when she comes back, she comes back... wrong. She's wearing a light leather armor, a fur-lined cape, and a green flower crown. She has two long scars, one alongside her spine and the other along her chest, the tissue around them covered in burn scars. Doctors say she shouldn't have survived. Doctors say she didn't. Yet she's right here, in front of you, hospital gown clinging to her small, fragile, trembling frame. She fidgets with her hands. Getting her to stay still has always been difficult, but now it seems impossible. She won't let go of her phone. She's always texting her two friends. When you take it away, she gets anxious. You always knew those damn phones cause kids to act weird, but your kid having a panic attack seems too extreme, even for her. Then again, she's always been odd. Nowadays, she wakes up crying and screaming almost every night, and you realize she's been stealing her phone from your bedside drawer every night to text her friends, returning it before you wake up. You catch her once and decide to give her that damn phone back. It's the only thing that calms her down, as if she were a baby with a pacifier. She spends her last weeks in LA clinging to her friends, having sleepovers and playing her weird board games with them. Everytime they drop her back at her house, there's an excessive amount of hugs and tears. But the moments when they call her, or when she leaves to meet with them, or when they show up at their door to pick her up... those are the only moments in which you see her happy. One of her friends, the rude and disobedient one, came back with a big scar on her face. She's been acting a lot nicer, though. The other one too. She acts a great deal more adult now. You doesn't know what happened or where your daughter went. She won't tell you. But you can tell this friendship is the only thing keeping her afloat right now. Maybe you know, deep down, that no one else would understand.

And then you decide to move anyway because fuck her amirite

[mayoiayasep]

happy birthday kei miyama my wish for you is that you are allowed to be an actual antagonist

[lemonduckisnowawake]

Rating (the translated, not actually OG) titles of manhwa/manga because I was bored

Monstrous Duke's Adopted Daughter/The Monster Duchess and Contract Princess - not egregiously long but boring when the story is actually interesting. 6/10. Rename it with something more snappish like the Adopted Shadow or whatever. idk. Have I mentioned I've been banned from naming things?

My In-Laws Are Obsessed with Me - 4/10. Also not horrible but it's clearly a clickbaity title and I roll my eyes. Better to rename it to like ..... something to do with blood maybe? Or if you want to keep it family-themed. Blood Ties? Also boring and you can tell I'm speaking from a western YA-genre reader

Beware the Villainess - 8/10. This needs no change

The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine - .... it's exactly what the title says, ngl. 7/10. But it could be better and less of a summary. Don't know what, though

The Noble Girl Who Finds a Nerdy and Plain Guy Moe Thinks That the Arrogant Prince Is in the Way - 0/10. I just. Why? The official English title is something like The Lady Likes a Nerd over Princes, which I found weird but the summary was interesting (turns out it was a good manga. But the author just has zero respect for the agency of women. Like. Comically so that it's not even funny as it gets a tad bit narratively frustrating as it's used as a device to drag on the plot) Anyway. Just why?

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride - 2/10. Not as unforgivable as the previous but horrible all the same. And while the concept was interesting and I gave it a try because it was a rec, it turned out to not be for me at all. The title is dramatic, I'll give you that. It reads like it's a self help book for demon kings who want to learn how to Love and that's basically the manga

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End/Frieren at the Funeral/Frieren the Slayer - 10/10. Look. Any of those titles are good. It doesn't pop out but neither does it force you to hide the title out of fear of being misunderstood

The Savior's Book Cafe Story in Another World - 5/10. Inoffensive but another summary title. You could have literally just called it the Savior's Otherworld Cafe instead. Or something

I Listened to My Husband and Brought in a Lover - 1/10. Encourages cheating with consent. Actually, the manhwa kinda did too (the husband cheated first and was like you should cheat too). At least people know what they're in for? Don't want to retitle it. It deserves it for starting with decent potential for that premise and kinda failing to deliver.

I Stole the Number One Ranker's Soul - 6/10. Again, it's pretty catchy and not terrible but I still don't like these summary titles. Manhwa is amazing, however.

Can't Stop Cursing You - 8/10. Dying laughing because it reads as someone going "man, I just... can't stop cursing you. Really can't help myself you know? Sorry not sorry" while zapping you repeatedly with curses. Still pretty stupid when the actual manga was REALLY shiny with all that horror and bloody gore and interesting plot

Gingerly in Love - 10/10. Trust me. Once I saw what it was about, I died laughing. Not the most memorable manhwa but the wordplay of the title....

The Tyrant Wants to Be Good - 6/10. Again. Inoffensive but there's something annoying to me personally. The manhwa is great, though. Love me a woman who makes her trauma everyone else's problem, regrets it, and then internalizes the guilt in her do-over at life so bad that she ends up getting aggressively adopted into a found family

I Got a New Skill Every Time I Was Exiled, and After 100 Different Worlds, I Was Unmatched - 0/10. Why are isekai titles actually the worst sometimes. Manga itself is meh, in my opinion. It has potential ruined by the usual commodification of women, so I dropped it despite my interest

Bonus:

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - 3/10. Twain really was isekai titling when he probably didn't know that Japan was even a thing, huh. Not terrible, but it has that isekai style of summarizing the premise.

Bonus again:

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent - -10/10. It was an okay book but you shouldn't have had this power over your book titles, Daniel Defoe. Seriously. My edition just says "Moll Flanders". Never have I wanted to shame a dead author more. It's not even an isekai but it's worse than an isekai title. It's a whole anime opening credits.

[peony-pearl]

yeah I’ll say it again: there was no reason for Azula to be put in an asylum for a year and still be going through it that bad all for a breakdown that took, what, less than a month? If we take Zuko’s betrayal, then Mai and Ty Lee swapping sides(? we never really see them “turning good” they just prevent Azula from hurting Zuko and the Gaang but that’s a different discussion) and then her father’s denial of her joining him to the Earth Kingdom (then feeling like she’s being treated like Zuko - thus she’s suddenly lesser in his eyes) followed by Zuko defeating her (which, in her mind, is a whole new failure and she probably feels like she failed her Nation)... yeah that’s stuff that, if given proper therapy, she could have just stayed in a hospital, and within a year, possibly even be living back in the palace with a whole new outlook on life. The writers make it sound like Zuko just wanted her out of his hair which is not how you want to write your hero whose arc is based around growth and wanting acceptance and is forgiven by a family elder after he hurts him. Yes he’s a new Fire Lord and he’s got a lot on his plate, but to just handwave his sister away after he knows the pain of being denied by his family is... bleh (also you all know how much I hate Iroh's canonical endgame)

And I know that there were talks of a fourth season in which she got her healing arc (which would have been really great to see); but it’s such a mess that the comics just kind of decided ‘nahh let the teenager who’s been locked up for a year keep her antagonist role, that’s fresh right?’ Not the girl who was put on a pedestal until suddenly everything she did was wrong (which... yeah, she WAS doing wrong; but she’s been raised to believe everything she was doing was for a greater good for HER nation and the world. She believes she’s a hero because she’s doing what she was raised to do, and to them she IS a hero. She has daddy’s ‘love’ so long as she’s perfect and amazing - and then suddenly all of that gets absolutely obliterated right in front of her one at a time as she realizes everything she’s been doing to maintain her power is also driving people away. Being 'the good kid' until suddenly you aren'twill unravel you.). Zuko knows how that feels, to feel like everything he did was wrong. He knows how it feels to have to break away from realizing he’s been hurting people; to learn from that and how he needs to change his ways.

And not only that but the way they write Azula as a villain in The Search is just AWFUL like it’s boring af. They recycle the same beats over and over and no one gets the bright idea to stop the cycle it’s AWFUL everyone in that comic is a raging idiot.

idk I could keep going in circles and we already know the comics are awful but there’s my extra 2 cents on the matter. They took a character that was already entertaining and fascinating and denied her a really great potential arc to make her one of the best allies the Gaang could have (and Zuko could have some FAMILY) but nope. Let's retread the show but instead let's make it bad.

[july-19th-club]

favorite type of villanous characters are the ones whose motivations boil down to

like they dont even have to have any stakes in the broader situation. they just have take pleasure in destruction

[dazzelmethat]

Long time no Bud. Wow the last time I made her a ref was 2018. I experimented some with her pallet. Unsure if I like the profile head but oh well, open mouthed anime inspired profile faces are notoriously hard for a reason.

Sigh. What am I going to do with her.. my writing conundrum workshopping in tags. My tag rant mentions plot related suicide and ableism (in relation to the zombie trope).

[theyjusthowl]

I was never going to publish this but here we are, at the tail end of winter hiatus, still throwing daggers at each other over a ship war that's mostly fueled by a few very annoying very loud individuals that hide behind fictional blorbos to justify bigotry so. Brace yourselves this is long. This is specifically about 9-1-1 and part of the bucktommy fanbase but run with it it applies to every fucking fandom war ever.

One thing I see a lot is how we've twisted the idea of representation. Representation is supposed to give oppresed collectives the chance to normalize seeing people within their communities as fully fledged members of civil societies. It is never said anywhere that these representatives have to be perfect and we cannot accept holding them to impossible standards when the same perfection is not required for hegemonic identities.

Beyoncé and Karla Sofía Gascón are prime examples of how we as societies behave when confronted with the reality that oppressed individuals and collectives are still humans and are allowed to make mistakes and be wrong and imperfect and that still does not justify the hate we send their way. Beyoncé might be rich and turn a blind eye on sexual assault in her inner circle but she is still a black woman. Karla Sofía Gascón has been openly racist and anti vaxxer in the past and engaged in hate speech about the ongoing civil unrest over cultural repression in Spain, but she is still a trans woman. Doing morally bad things doesn't deny that they belong to oppressed collectives or justify in any way the structures that support systemic oppression towards them as non white or non gender conforming individuals, and their individual actions are in no way accurate representation of the communities they belong to.

Can this tie in with fandom ship wars? Yes, yes it can, because as we become more vocal about the lack of diversity representation and demand an end to token characters, we inadvertently push these unrealistic expectations on characters and portrayals alike and while I'm not here to discuss the merits of the cancellation vs death of author debate it's still relevant to remember that actors don't write characters, they only play them. If you're confused by that, that's on you. It's okay to dislike a performer because their values don't resonate with you but they can still be good performers and convincingly portray great characters that are their absolute moral opposites. It is possible to dislike a performer and dislike the character they play or think their performance is lackluster and unfair to an otherwise well written character (especially valid for book adaptations), but none of these scenarios imply in any way that it's okay to blur the lines. If you think a character deserves criticism because the performer ends up being a bigot you're disrespecting the writing and casting team, and if you think a performer deserves criticism because they played a controversial character maybe you should stay away from fiction in case it makes you question your moral standing and you feel attacked by it. Performers =/= characters.

On to the next topic, it is absolutely fine to dislike a queer character beyond their sexuality. It's fine to dislike a person, as a person. Nobody likes a dismissive partner or a nosy coworker or someone who has generally prejudiced worldviews. The tricky thing here is that you all need to ask yourselves why you dislike the character. Is it because they're written as actually morally evil or dislikable people, or is it because you're letting your privilege get the best of you? If you can ask yourself that question and really think about it you're probably fine disliking the character, really.

Acknowledging that some people have core values that are fundamentally incompatible with yours is normal and necessary, people pleasing is never a good strategy. You dislike a person, okay, toodle-oo, run along. Screenwriters know that they need unlikeable people for strong worldbuilding, they're spinning a tale and they need to take us there with them and sometimes that has to happen through awkward situations.

Sexuality is a big part of personal identity but it isn't intrinsically tied to a person's value as a person, because identity isn't reductible to a single trait and that kind of oversimplification leads to the formation and perpetuation of stereotypes that, when confronted with evidence to the contrary, might come out stronger than before. In other words, subjecting queer people to an unattainable ideal of perfection is only fodder for the haters who are going to take each and every one of their personal hang ups and turn them into a way to justify bigotry. If queer representation is bullied into fitting that perfect form, that is the example we're setting for our queer youth, effectively forcing them into comp het and other flavors of compliance to hegemonic hetornormativity.

We are all worthy of dignity, we just don't necessarily have to be likeable to be treated with that dignity is the point, and I'd like to see some grace for female characters regarding this, because apparently the argument that they aren't likeable and no one is shitting on them for being women goes that way and that's acceptable and okay and we're supposed to take in stride the million misogynistic stereotypes and remarks about them that do relate to the fact that they're women. You can dislike them for their core values -ymmv depending on your fandom but you'll find they're generally good people, morally-, but you cannot disrespect them for being women.

Oppressed collectives do not equal perfect people because oppresive dynamics are interesectional and no one individual belongs to a single collective at any given time because identity is complex and multidimensional, and it does not even matter because we still owe each other respect, recognition, full and equal participation rights and above all dignity, and this is not even my own thesis that is a widely recognised Social Justice perspective that we somehow erase when we talk about representation, which factually means making present the absent, recognising each other as worthy of dignity on the basis of existing regardless of the shape of our existence, and that goes back to Idealism, which you'll remember as one of the most influentian western schools of thought, ever, and despite the profound colonialism that operates in academia, the fundamental questions of the experience of being are common to a vast majority of cultural backgrounds outside of the western bubble. We all want and need to be dignified in the act of existing.

We owe each other knowing that we are all human and deserve to be recognised as such. We just don't have to support worldviews that infringe basic human rights or perpetuate domination narratives, and yes we still can treat each other with dignity because a person is also not reduced to their worldview and being human is not something we can evaluate based on moral performance. We're good people and we're bad people but we'd do well to remember that we're people.

That one character you hate might not be a good person, from a moral standpoint, but they are, in all their fictional glory, human, and valuable as representation of the collectives they stand for. We don't have to like them in order to ackowledge that they're -fictional- people. Disliking racist hate speech from a queer individual -again, fictional- doesn't make you homophobic, intersectionality is just one of the ways inequality operates. It does make said individual a racist, though. And you do not have to stand for racist individuals in fear that they'll call you out for being homophobic. You can take the good with the bad. Failing to see bigoted characters for what they were written to be and reducing their identity to their sexuality in an attempt to call out the other part not only fails at dignifying the other part, it also utterly fails at critical thinking. Responding to an articulated reasoning of why certain behaviors are racist with name calling is the manifestation of inability to reason.

That's all.

[silverselfshippingchaos]

one of my favorite things about k.ido is how during his villain arc, he's just... so bad at being bad??

(some ykza 4 spoilers)

he's holding a woman hostage under his boss' orders and being all gentle with her, apologizing constantly and being careful to not hurt her??

his boss tells him he did a good job and he's smiling like a dork? he meets k.iryu and starts going on about how this is an honor and he starts talking all polite all of a sudden???

[enemyoflactose]

Me: I'm going to become a better person 🤗

Also me when I see someone mischaracterize and then hate on my favorite character:

[teafiend]

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

//rant.

[clowndensation]

okay finally listened to the new podcast ep and. um. davrin 🥴🥴🥴

[oschonseleven]

wow

rare moment of introspection from mother..

[bs-el]

Burying the hatchet with my pretransition self by giving the OC i made to represent them a redemption arc