#100% forgot Mei was into MCR good for her

[imminent-danger-came]

Your analysis is delicious and thank you for enabling my bitching. We are holding hands.

Your point about the samadhi fire is so right! Like if Red Son got it, it would have to be a completely different arc, everything would have to change. Unrelated but I think Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is very interesting

TBH I could go on for even more paragraphs about my many problems with how Mei's treated by the fandom so here's some petty complaints I left out of the first ask:

Her getting hypersexualised in a lot of fanart

Her struggles with the samadhi fire only getting used as angst-fuel for other characters and never for herself

Fans only ever addressing misogyny when it's about someone disliking a ship shes in.

She gets compared to Willow from TOH like a lot? I don't know why???

(this one is hyperspecific and very petty) Multiple Youtube vids about LMK that only bring up Mei to talk about how the ship her with Red Son (while making fun of other ships simultaneously for sooome reason...)

girl is canonically into MCR. thats not a complaint i just dont see people talk about it

and thats not even going into how the fandom treats female villains :P

Anyways Mei deserves a gun and LBD and Spider Queen deserve the world

Mei, MK, and Red Son all simultaneously being foils of each other is SUPER interesting. I just talked about Mei and MK as well as Mei and Red Son parallels, and like it SLAPS. I should delve into MK and Red Son parallels, but that's for another time.

On the topic of Mei being compared to Willow, I think it's because they're both green girl characters who are considered "tough"? It's a very vague archetype—but, I think fandom in general likes to put characters into these nebulous categories. Each character gets sanded down to like 3 base traits and everyone calls it good. It's genuinely maddening.

And personally, I don't really ship anyone in LMK (excluding Freenoodles), so the amount of ship art I see and the way ships predominate is very off-putting for me. I think that's mainly because none of the actual show really focuses on romantic relationships (one of it's virtues, I'm an MK is aroace truther), but to each their own. Shipping is super fun, and I totally get it. However, when it gets to the point where no other relationships/dynamics are really focused on, especially on a show so focused on friendship, it just feels off. It feels even MORE off when the only time you discuss the main female lead is to ship her with Red Son.

AND LOL THE FEMALE VILLAINS. MY POOR GIRLS. I don't think I've ever come across a post about Spider Queen (though her henchmans get a lot of love), and really it's a shame. That girl was doomed by the narrative, and BOY was she doomed by the narrative with MK. Granted she's been dead for 2 seasons, but I STILL see Sandy and Huntsman art, so idk. It honestly feels like the misogyny.

Lady Bone Demon and I are best friends and I love her so much. Truly one of the most villains of all time. "No staff and no backup—so, your plan is to fist fight a child?" OH MY GOD SHE'S SO ICONIC. That AND she has fucked up parallels to MK (sorry my boy foils just about every character in this show, he's a reflection), what is there not to love?

She TRIED to go about helping the world the "right" way, attempting to lead someone with real power to be better (as shown in the 3x11 flashback, but on god that scene parallels her whole relationship with spider queen), and IT DIDN'T WORK. So then she tried to "help" the world by starting with a clean slate, and that didn't work. And then you realize that she was doomed by the narrative just as much as anyone else. I'm fucking obsessed with her. Seriously, the "to pain" scene has been in my head for 5 straight months. I'll never stop yelling about it.

I've been listening to Lady Hell by Dirt Poor Robins on repeat thinking about LBD, and I can't help but rotate her in my mind. She captivates me.