#Flaws and all

[ir-abelas-vhenan]

Me:

[nohaijiachi]

Why I Think The Fandom Has Been Doing Aziraphale Dirty Ever Since Season 1 And It's Only Gotten Worse With Season 2 And It's Killing Me Inside

Before we get into the subject matter of the title let me preface a couple of things:

1- All that will follow is, big surprise, my opinion and my interpretation of this character. Do I think I am The One And Only Who Gets The Blorbo Right and that my ideas are 100% the way the author(s) intended to convey the character? No.

More likely than not the way I see Aziraphale could be intensely different from the way Authorman sees him, or Actorman sees him, and I don't think that my interpretation is necessarily any more correct than anybody's else.

That said, if I also did not think that I am, in fact, correct on a certain level, I wouldn't have bothered forming such a thought out opinion of Aziraphale in the first place, nor would be sitting here, writing this post that I can already tell is going to be entirely too long and might probably ruffle some feathers.

So I'll be writing the rest of this post with the caveat that I while I do think my interpretation correct, I'm also not trying to change anybody's mind nor to discredit anybody's else interpretation of Aziraphale. We can sit here in the sandpit and hold different opinions and still be able to build sandcastles together, it really isn't that deep at the end of the day; I can assure you, I'm not here to fight nor cause fights with this one.

2- With the above point, comes also the fact that I won't bother continuously saying "In my opinion" for the rest of this post. You already know that. So, if something will come across as a bit caustic, do know that it is very much tongue in cheek and I am poking a bit of fun at general fannish habits that I am also very much quote-unquoute 'guilty' of having partaken into, and will partake into again plenty of times in the future, I'm sure.

So, with that: Here's Why I Think The Fandom Has Been Doing Aziraphale Dirty Ever Since Season 1 And It's Only Gotten Worse With Season 2 And It's Killing Me Inside

A large part of the people comprising this fandom prefers Crowley. There, I said it.

This fandom's preference blatantly skews toward Crowley. Can we admit that openly? Let's admit that openly.

To be clear, this isn't meant to be an accusation or recrimination or any other -ation you can think of, I am merely stating matter-of-factly a phenomena I've observed in the last four years.

It is also not a wrong nor bad thing in any way, shape or form. I adore Crowley myself. I love them both so much it's unreal.

But I started with that because I think it is very much a symptom of the fact that a lot of people don't get Aziraphale.

I remember back with S1 there had been plenty of times when I found myself reading discussions and opinion exchanges about Aziraphale and Crowley, their dynamics, all the things that went unsaid behind the things that were said, and found myself genuinely surprised by seeing how some people interpreted certain moments wildly different from how I personally saw them.

I look back at that and I think "Oh, sweet summer child". Nothing could have prepared me from the onslaught of takes about Aziraphale that make me go "Good lord, what???" in the wake of S2, and the infamous Last Fifteen.

Now because I don't want to be pointing fingers at specific things and risk upsetting somebody more than I already am by being open in admitting that, guys, yes, some of the takes y'all have been sharing make me go "Yikes(tm)", I'll move on the interesting part and what I would actually love to discuss, aka cracking Aziraphale's head open and see what that actual fuck is going on in there.

Another preface: Because this duo is intrinsically linked and woven together it is downright impossible to only focus on Aziraphale without also mentioning Crowley, so... Let me circle back to our fav demon bae for a sec, here.

I think the reason why it seems that a larger part of the fandom favors Crowley is because I feel like Crowley is a much easier character to grasp. He is very open in his thoughts and feelings, at any given moment us, the audience, have a much easier time watching a scene and sort of ruminating in the back of our heads about Crowley's motivations for saying the things he says and doing the things he does.

That isn't to say Crowley is a less complex character than Aziraphale. They are very much equally complex and multifaceted individuals with their strengths and weaknesses, their issues and the way they each cope with them, how differently they approach their existence and so on and so forth.

But whereas Crowley as a character presents itself with a certain dynamism and a far more outward openness about his complexity, Aziraphale does the exact opposite; we can say Aziraphale is downright hermetic about it.

For us, the audience, he presents a challenge that requires a good deal of thought being put into him to see over the facade he presents at a more superficial level; he requires time and effort to fully dismantle him in our minds to try and see what makes him thick (other than his thighs), and thus I think it is entirely natural that more people latch on the far easier to identify-with, and relate-to, Crowley.

And that is the inevitable consequence of everything that makes Aziraphale... Well, Aziraphale.

So, where to start? Let's try and jot down what Aziraphale truly is at his core.

He is a contradiction.

This man-shaped being is a walking contradiction, constantly existing in a state of being coated in three thousand layers of misdirection and obfuscation and double thinking.

Why is that? Well. He's an angel.

Aziraphale loves being an angel. It is a tenet of his entire existence and something he cherishes. He wants, so very much, to be his ideal of what a good angel is: An entity who is kind and loving and understanding and forgiving.

Of course us, the audience, know that is utter bullshit, because we know angels can be individuals just as complex as the humans Aziraphale loves so much, with all their inherent flaws and capability for cruelty. And, on a certain level, Aziraphale knows that too.

So there we have it, one element of contradiction: Aziraphale wants to think that angels are always Good and Righteous and Never Wrong; Aziraphale knows that angels aren't, in fact, always Good and Righteous and, by god, can they make plenty of mistakes, too.

What else? How about Aziraphale sitting there, being in love with a demon, fully knowing that at the end of the day demons really ain't that different from angels, and also desperately hanging onto the concept of Good vs Bad.

And he sits there, existing with these two contrasting idea equally taking space in his mind, neither side ever capable of taking over the other.

What else do we have? Aziraphale loves God and wants so hard to believe in Her love for humanity and Her ineffable plan, and Aziraphale also time and again does things that very blatantly go against Her will, lies to Her face, and Doubts. He Doubts, a lot, and that requires the capital letter because those Doubts are what spur him in going against everything he's ever told to believe in order to do the right thing.

Aziraphale's very existence is a constant push-and-pull of things he wants to believe and things he knows are real; things he's told to do and things he wants to do. That's how we get "My side" and "there's a bit of good in you" and "you are the bad guys".

And nothing he's lived through has managed to break him out of this unhealthy way of existing quite yet; that's why he acts the way we see him act in the Edinburgh flashback in S2, or at the start of S1 when Crowley has to ease Aziraphale into the idea of trying to stop Armageddon with the usual song and dance of "temptation" and "plausible deniability" and "you'd be thwarting me", even though from the start we can tell there's a little part of Aziraphale who is clearly not at ease with the idea of the end of the world, and once he's been given 'permission' by Crowley nudging him, he is all the way in with the whole saving the world business, not take-backsies.

Both the moments I mentioned here are very important for different reasons, but of the two is very much the Edinburgh flashback that gets a lot more flack by the fandom and is blatantly misunderstood, which I think is the inevitable consequence of that minisode immediately following the glorious, beautiful, heartbreaking piece of art that is the "A companion to owls" minisode.

I've seen a lot of people lamenting that Aziraphale acts obnoxiously in the Edinburgh flashback and, yeah. He does. But I feel like the fact that we are seeing this after watching Aziraphale struggle his way through saving Job's children, even being willing to go to Hell for it, is a though act to follow and probably soured Edinburgh-Aziraphale for a lot of people, made them think that the character had regressed instead of progressing.

But, see, the way he acts is wholly congruous with who Aziraphale is and has always been and keeps being up to the very end of S2. Yes, even after what he does for Job's children.

If you get down to it, Aziraphale had been ready to give up and let the children die, in episode 2. For a brief moment, after Crowley told him he 'longed to destroy the blameless children', Aziraphale was walking away, having tried all he thought he could try to do to stop this senseless act. That was until Crowley tested him by making the crows bleat, cuing Aziraphale to the fact that his impression of Crowley wasn't wrong, and the he could count on him to do the right thing.

To be clear, I don't want to undermine Aziraphale's action by only giving the credit to Crowley but... It is, also, only thanks to Crowley cajoling him and giving him the right excuses, that Aziraphale feels safe in doing what he's always wanted to do all along.

He'd wanted to save Job's children, and thought he couldn't until Crowley threw him that hell of a lifesaver. He wanted to save the world and thought he couldn't until Crowley nudged him on the path of plausible deniability.

He wanted to save Elspeth's eternal soul, blinding himself to the hardships she'd have to endure in her not-eternal life, and was smacked right in the face by the reality of human suffering multiple times.

The way Aziraphale acts in that flashback can't be a regression, because there never was a progression in the first place: He'd always walked the line between Heaven's and God's will and his own, personal morality and sense of justice.

By all means, if we look at Uz-Aziraphale and modern-day-Aziraphale at the start of S1, his reticence about the whole saving the world business should, by all means, appear as a regression as well. You mean to tell me that he'd been ready to become a demon for the sake of three mortal children, and then suddenly a handful of thousands years later when faced with the prospect of the whole world going up in flames he'd just be all like "Heaven will triumph over Hell and it will be all rather lovely"? Like, fuck off, Aziraphale, you lying double-thinker, you (/pos)

Aziraphale constantly exist while being at war with himself. Circumstances have allowed him to rebel the will of Heaven and God more or less safely time and again, but he never quite managed to break free entirely. He'd always ended up being reeled back in, being fed the party lines, being made to feel shame for his independent thinking, until it all becomes too much and he is forced to step back from that freedom he'd been inches away from grasping.

Back and forth, back and forth, never stopping.

And all of this, all of what he is, makes it so hard for us, the audience, to truly see him. To truly grasp him. To truly watch any given scene with him and figure out what he might be thinking or feeling.

To understand Aziraphale is to understand what he is not saying when he says something, which is a good deal harder to do than it is to understand and relate to a character like Crowley, who very much revel in saying exactly whatever the heck he thinks whenever he damn well pleases.

All those layers of obfuscation and misdirection and double thinking that Aziraphale coats himself in are as much an armor that makes it harder for the audience to understand him as they are his very own downfall because, good lord, if you exist like that, if you exist forced to keep things hidden from yourself, well... It's inevitable that at some point you are going to stumble into pitfalls of your own making.

And I love him for it.

So, there? I hope I managed to explain something with this post, and that it wasn't just the rambling of someone who spends way too much time thinking about her blorbos. To be clear, I don't think people who haven't spent as much time as me trying to dissect and better understand Aziraphale's character are like, dumber than me or anything. It's just that this pair of angelic-demonic blorbos take too much real estate in my mind, lol.

Feel free to let me know your opinion and if you think I am wildly off mark and my Take Is Bad. I might answer, I might not, it all depends on time and my mood ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜

[fulcrums501st]

“Oh I like Silco now that we got to see the more ‘attractive’, nicer, younger and AU versions of him”

“Oh I like Jinx this season cuz she’s funny and nice to Isha and is a hero”

GET OUT OF MY HOUSE

[ms-misogyny]

love the aftg community but the way i get pissed off when andrew is written ooc. just because your interpretation of happiness isn't like andrew's doesn't make him less of a character. he doesn't HAVE to smile or be sociable for him to be content with his life. like idk it feels like people are 'pro mental illness' until a mentally ill character (or, especially, real life person) doesn't fit your values.

[theartistonthemoon]

Why Dc keeps up the whole “Batman vs Joker” thing when they have a perfectly good “Blackbat vs Redhood” potential is beyond me

[thesunrises12]

Kiss the pain away....

[theotherwoman-emily]

Common Character Flaws

Abusive~Impatient~Ruthless~Acts Superior~Impractical~Sadistic~Anarchist~Impressionable~ Sarcastic~Angsty~Emo~Impulsive~Secretive~Arrogant~ Inconsiderate~Selfish~Assertive~Indulgent~Sensitive~Attitude~Jealousy~Avoids their problems~Kleptomaniac~Sexist~Shy~Big mouth~Lazy~ Smart ass~Blames people~Liar~Sneaky~Bossy~Loud~ SoreLoser~Careless~Manipulative~Chatterbox~Mean~Spaz~ Closedoff~Messy~Spoiled~Cocky~OCD~PTSD~Mischievious~ Stereotypical~Stubborn~Cold~Naive~Superstitious~ Competitive~Nosy~Temper~Conceited~Obnoxious~Thief~ Controlling~Offended easily~Cruel~Outsider~Thoughtless~Traitor~Cunning~ Overdramatic~Trust issues~Cynical~Over emotional~Undependable~Deceptive~Over reacts~Unorganized~Defiant~Player~Victator~Poser~ Unreasonable~Disrespectful~Pretentious~Unstable Relationships~Unsympathetic~Distracted easily~Prideful~ Uses others~Egotistical~Pushy~Vain~Evil~Pyromaniac~ Forgetful~Quick tempered~Vengeful~Morally Grey~ Protagonist ~Antagonist~Greedy~Rash~Violent~Wasteful~Holds Grudges~Rebellious~Wimp~Hostile~Reckless~Whiney~ Immature~Rude~Wendinel~Religious~Manipulative

[nervoushottee]

Flaws and All | Joel Miller x F!Reader Series

Summary: You and Joel get caught in a blizzard while traveling. Cooped up in a cabin that is a bit of a fixer upper, the two of you learn how to grow with one another. In the process of waiting out the blizzard, you both have no choice but to accept each other, flaws and all. And maybe, just maybe find more in each other than just a travel partner.

Warnings: early!outbreak Joel, (if that’s even a thing on here? I’m sure it is somewhere), set in the early 2000s a couple years into the outbreak. So Joel still has his dark chocolate baby girl hair (I love his salt and pepper, its the main reason why I chose it for the cover, but for the story its younger Joel). kind of an AU story honestly. Will have SMUT in future chapters so mdni please and thank you

Note: If I’m being honest, this books will not have much editing since I am a working girlie now and hardly have the time to even write in general. Will just be writing for the fun of it and posting when I can. This series is really self-indulgent because I want to be cooped up in a snowy cabin with gruffy strong Joel and I will write it as such. So even though I am posting and writing this for me. I hope you can enjoy it also. <3

———————

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

[beaboniim]

my fatal flaw is that I'd agree with every mean thing that has ever been said about me. even if it was wrong.

[writer-and-artist27]

[Image Description: A colored pencil drawing of a bespectacled Chaldea Master in a lotus-clip adorned side ponytail and the Decisive Battle Uniform, smiling while holding onto the mantle of a green May King Archer. The Archer sighs, the one heart thought bubble betraying the love he shares with said Master as an aquamarine ribbon loop connects them both. The drawing's creation date, "6/4/2024" sits at the top lefthand corner of the paper. End Description.]

This drawing took so much longer than I wanted it to. It took me seeing a single page from Chobits, and seeing my favorite Archer get to Bond 15. That's it. And even if my colored pencils take a while, I'm still happy with this.

I'd like to think Robin's happy. I want to keep writing for him, and the little Master that is his little sparrow, for as long as I can.

Least I can do for a childhood hero.

[arrowmaker15]

(Another Tim and Jason 4am meeting)

Tim: You think there's a universe out there where Superman is evil?

Jason: There's a universe out there where Batman dresses as an owl and tries to destroy the entire multiverse, so, yeah, probably. Why?

Tim: Why would he do it, I wonder?

Jason: Dunno.

Tim:

Tim: You think it would be because he fell in love with the Joker?

Jason: Excuse me, what the fuck-

[cameliaen]

[nytephox]

Honestly this. I can say I can respect where the stretch marks came from because growing a human (in my case, two) isn't a walk in the park. I hate my acne because I'm an adult and I thought this shit would be gone by now. I can accept that it is part of my life though and work around it and take care of it. I'm human, I'm not always going to love everything about how I look but I'm slowly understanding to give myself some grace.

[atinyniki]

flaws and all; the series.

authors note: wooo my first series !!! i felt inspired by w2e’s album, ‘flaws and all’. i’ll be making a story for each ateez and txt member with the both discs of the album ! dates will be updated soon, but for now it’s kind of just whenever i feel motivated :)

thank you for all the recent support, i know i haven’t been positing all that recently. i’m still in a very bad place right now, but im certain ill be better soon !!! hopefully you guys can enjoy these hehe :)

thank you to my friends for all the support too! you guys mean the world to me 🥺💕: @skzoologist @kailee08 @writingforstraykids @silverstarburst @sona1800 @yangbbokari @minholing @cinnamostar @cheesemonky

disc 01:

01. bad ; park seonghwa <3

02. sunny days ; choi san <3

03. peach eyes ; choi beomgyu <3

04. evening glow ; song mingi <3

05. pink horizon + akira ; jung wooyoung <3

06. pink ; choi soobin <3

07. calla ; jeong yunho <3

08. love. ; kim hongjoong <3

disc 02:

01. homesick ; choi jongho <3

02. dried flower ; choi yeonjun <3

03. sunburn ; kang yeosang <3

04. pink horizon + akira ; jung wooyoung <3

05. nouvelle vague ; kang taehyun <3

06. so real ; huening kai <3

[sadghostgirl14]

I thought that sharing my flaws with someone would have them understand and love me more but instead sharing my flaws just has them hate them as much as I do …

[thoughts-of-el]

Pardon my language...

Characters that over play their importance in your story...

For more context, basically people bashing u over every decision u make and feeling entitled to order you around in the name of love or concern