#Has it's flaws to be sure

[spectraling]

Imagining what life would be like if Riot weren't cowards

[takeonmesumino]

Takumi Sumino is an interesting creature.

He's normal. Sometimes goes feral but mostly normal. He's either horribly selfish or entirely selfless depending on the phase of the moon or whatever. He has no spine, it got replaced by a rubber band, you could tell him to go kill babies and if you say it with enough authority he would probably do it (except for the times he won't). He's a coinflip away from being super smart or the dumbest fucker on the planet. He doesn't make things happen, things just happens to him.

I would not feel safe if I was a supporting character in hundred line because he's always one route away from either saving the planet, destroying the planet or doing literally nothing helpful.

Our protag everybody!!

[broareweabouttoviberightnow]

I'm gonna say somethin n yall have to promise not to kill me. ok. so. I think most of the fandom largely agrees that ponys interpretation of Darry was WAY off. blinded by greif n remorse n years n responsibility. pony who thought Darry hated him. who couldn't see how scared Darry was. how much he truly loved him. now. if we can agree that pony misinterpreted Darry. can we not believe the same for soda? pony who would forgive soda anythin. would forget when sodas' sudden anger was aimed at him. would forgive when Soda became impulsive to the point of harmin. soda. his golden. perfect brother. n of course he would. cause when you're convinced one brother hates you would you not be desperate to glorify the other?

[mikeybutnotway]

"Nobody could be that clever"

"You could"

[mellxncollie]

Sophus Helle, Gilgamesh — tablet X, line 55 Dead Boy Detectives (2024) — season 01, episode 07

[bennetsbonnet]

Much has been made of Mr Darcy's "confession" to Elizabeth that he does not converse easily with strangers. It is repeatedly used to support neurodivergent interpretations of his character. And I suppose that when taken at face value, a character confessing that they do not easily converse with strangers and struggle to catch their tone or appear interested in conversation can absolutely scream AUTISM! (I say as an autistic person myself)

But this line is often taken in isolation. When considered in terms of the passage in which it appears in Chapter 31, it appears far less of a smoking gun than may initially be suspected. After some discussion about Elizabeth and Darcy's prior acquaintance in Hertfordshire, Colonel Fitzwilliam asks Elizabeth for information about Darcy's behaviour there. She readily supplies it:

'Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of,' cried Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'I should like to know how he behaves among strangers.' 'You shall hear then—but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, was at a ball—and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner. Mr Darcy, you cannot deny the fact.' 'I had not at that time the honour of knowing any lady in the assembly beyond my own party.'

What Darcy leaves out here is that it was he himself who chose not to be introduced to anybody. As we learn from the description of his behaviour at the Meryton assembly in Chapter 3:

Mr Darcy danced only once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party.

Anyway, Elizabeth correctly does not buy his excuses. Not only does she respond with a cutting sarcastic remark, but she tries to bring the discussion with an end by speaking to Colonel Fitzwilliam:

'True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room. Well, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers wait your orders.'

But Darcy does not get the hint and continues conversing with Elizabeth rather than quitting while he's ahead. However, I don't believe him to be missing a social cue here. Rather, this is an exceedingly conceited man who cannot conceive that anyone would not want to speak to such a Superior Being as he and more-so, is determined to defend himself from a perceived slight against his impeccable character.

Then we come to the passage containing the oft-cited line which allegedly contains proof of his neurodivergency:

'Perhaps,' said Darcy, 'I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction; but I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers.' 'Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?' said Elizabeth, still addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill-qualified to recommend himself to strangers?' 'I can answer your question,' said Fitzwilliam, 'without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble.'

Once again, Elizabeth does not buy his excuse for even a single second. She's fully aware of all the advantages a man such as he will have received in society (opportunities not open to women, might I add!) and draws attention to that fact. It's a brilliant, cutting line from her and she really set that one up for Colonel Fitzwilliam to deliver the knockout blow.

Not only do we have the testimony of Mr Darcy's cousin, that 'he will not give himself the trouble,' to appear cordial to strangers, but we have evidence from Wickham too. Although after this statement, Wickham quickly goes onto misrepresent Darcy's kindness to the poor, which contradicts Mrs Reynold's later testimony, I do believe Wickham to be telling the truth (for once!) here, when he tells Elizabeth in Chapter 16:

'Mr Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not want abilities. He can be a conversible companion if he thinks it worth his while.'

Which, again, demonstrates that Darcy is capable when he wants to be. That is the crucial point. Autistic people fundamentally lack the ability to understand social cues, they cannot turn it on and off as they please because they are snobs.

So, now we come to the infamous line about Darcy's supposed social struggles, and I hope that I've provided enough context to the line to make you see that it should not be taken at face value:

'I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,' said Darcy, 'of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.' 'My fingers,' said Elizabeth, 'do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault—because I will not take the trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe my fingers as capable as any other woman’s of superior execution.'

Again, Elizabeth is not buying his excuses for even a single second and tells him if he feels like that, maybe he should put the effort in. She has seen him in numerous social settings and been thoroughly unimpressed with his behaviour which, when you consider his rudeness to her at the Meryton assembly, she has every right to be.

So, what do I make of the line?

Well, I think it's abundantly clear that Darcy absolutely can speak to people when he wants to. Perhaps, in his mind, he struggles to make that deeper connection and make friends easily. But making friends is not always easy, it's a process you must invest time and effort into. If you do not do that, it stands to reason that you will struggle. Plus, if you hold others to ridiculous standards (as Darcy does) without recognising and fixing the flaws within yourself, you're not going to have deep, lasting friendships.

While this quote may appear to be a moment of vulnerability where he does confess a fault of his, which is astounding given his pride, personally I do not think it was not a soul-searching exercise. It was to make Elizabeth stop grilling him. It was self-serving. Although, I don't think he's entirely lying. Darcy is veeeery careful with his words and though this statement is not considered and perhaps comes out rather abruptly, it doesn't necessarily follow that it isn't true. I can imagine that it is probably something he's felt for a while, yet it is a rather desperate attempt to defend himself from a woman who sees right through him.

I think perhaps Darcy does realise that he isn't as naturally gifted as other men he knows (such as Wickham, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Bingley) when it comes to forming acquaintances. However, he looks outwards and turns that bitterness against the world rather than looking inwards, reflecting upon himself and improving his manners which would be the correct thing to do. Thankfully, he later does this, but it took him twenty eight years...

In addition, Darcy appeared to have been under the illusion that he could coast by on Pemberley's reputation... which has always worked... until he met Elizabeth. For perhaps the first time, he encounters a woman who is not awestruck by him and his reputation and delivers the rebuke that he always needed.

So, while personally I'm inclined to believe there is some truth to his statement, as Mr Darcy is many things but he isn't a liar, I think it is said in desperation. His feeling stems from him knowing what he should do, but he can't be bothered to enact it... rather than any inherent social deficiency stemming from being neurodivergent.

Although, even if he does struggle socially, it's still no excuse for the rudeness he displayed to Elizabeth! My main issue with neurodivergent readings of Darcy is when they are deployed to defend his behaviour, when they attribute his rudeness to any potential neurodivergency and when they excuse his laziness. That is an awful message! Autistic people who struggle with social cues often do not, nor should they, go around insulting others. They should and often do put plenty of effort into being considerate and polite. In fact, I think, if anything, a love of rules makes us more likely to have good manners, rather than the reverse.

Ultimately, I'm not sure this line makes Mr Darcy the sympathetic-poor-sweet-innocent-shy-boy-autistic-representation that people want him to be. In fact it makes him look even worse, if anything. On matters such as these, he is every inch the conceited proud man he was widely believed to be at the Meryton assembly. Luckily, Elizabeth is an incredibly smart woman, who doesn't fall for it and immediately calls him out on his behaviour in a way that he has never experienced before. As she should!

[teyrnacousland]

I wonder if Illario is hurt by Lucanis not seeming to suspect him? If he's offended that Lucanis was so quick to accept he was an incompetent idiot rather than that he planned this? I wonder if Lucanis being so in denial that he treats Illario like he's genuinely the fool he's pretending to be is part of why Illario thinks Lucanis isn't Lucanis and is just a demon now? Because Lucanis would see through him. Wouldn't he?

The same way Lucanis is choosing to believe that Illario is stupid so he doesn't have to accept that Illario betrayed him, would Illario rather believe that Lucanis is dead and replaced by a demon than that Lucanis, the one person who was supposed to truly know him at all, genuinely believes he's an incompetent, careless idiot?

[uncanny-tranny]

It is my sincerest and unironic belief that we must invest in preserving "old technology." The more we move to a hegemonic, easily-surveilled way of living, the worse we will find this world to be.

Letters, public phones and transport, cash, and so much more are key to ensuring both freedom of movement and information, but also to combat the surveillance state. We need to preserve the ability to both access the world but also to be untraceable. I truly hope more people start to recognize this. It isn't about nostalgia for the past. It is about ensuring that we are actually afforded freedom, from the richest person to the person who lives on the sidewalk.

[laurellala-comics]

Doodle dump. They're so family coded to me. Yes I love you, yes I think you're a huge dork, yes I am going to tease you till the day you die.

Because descriptions for the last two pages are long I will put them here instead of in the alt text! I was thinking about growing up in the early otts when gay marriage wasn't legalized and I didn't know gay people even existed... look at me now...

[ID: a two page comic of Phoenix Wight and Miles Edgeworth as kids in 2003 or whatever year that they're 9 in the time line. They are alone at recess because Larry got sent to the principal's office for trying to kiss a girl. Miles lies on the grass behind a half brick wall in the school yard, clearly upset. "AGH this is SO stupid! We can't even play signal samurai without our third samarai!" Nick crouches besides him looking kind of unbothered. "Well we could play something else like foursquare or-" Miles interjects "EVERYTHING ELSE IS BORING!". Miles sits up, crossing his arms and sulking. "They should make all the girls go to a separate school. Then nobody would kiss anybody." Nick notes a hole in his logic "Well, but boys might just kiss other boys then". "What? No, boys can't kiss other boys, don't be stupid." Miles says dismissively. Nick narrows his eyes. "Uh yeah they CAN". Miles leans forward, ticked off and glaring. "Um NO they canNOT! My dad told me boys can't get married to other boys, it's against the LAW". Nick responds "Married is different than kissing, genius. And anyway it's still POSSIBLE to kiss a boy". Miles is about to explode over being told that he's wrong, his face is red and he points an accusing finger out at Nick, who draws back in surprise. "well OBVIOUSLY they TECHNICALLY could, but nobody WOULD do it because it's a rule and people follow rules because they have to! And if you don't they'd put you in JAIL probably! So no boy would EVER kiss another boy OKAY?" Miles is tensed up waiting for Nick's response. Nick glances down at his outstretched finger, thinking about how he can prove Miles wrong, and gives it a tiny kiss. Miles starts screaming. /END ID]

[redr0sewrites]

i will forever defend these two- NOT to start discourse but they are both so heavily mischaracterized by the fandom its INSANE like omg yes they are flawed but they are also trying their best PLEASE leave them alone 🙏🙏🙏

as usual im yapping in the tags if anyone cares

[onebizarrekai]

♪ blue's theme - ALL OF THEM (mostly)

mr. character development's tangible rehab from a stupidly evil power hungry bastard who has committed treason against every country to an idiot pacifist with a zebra print fedora, a moped and a license to teach yoga

( note: the 'mostly' comes from two things; one, the very very first version of this song sucked, and two, there are versions that are mostly identical )

[pluggedintosaverockandroll]

sense8 might be one of the best shows i've ever watched

[wishchip106]

can Charles haters on tiktok please find new excuses to hate on him?? 😭😭

if i had a nickel for every time i heard about Charles raising child soldiers or creeping on Jean i’d be as rich as Charles 🤨

i’ve barely even read the comics but even i know there are MULTIPLE characters who have also raised child soldiers in the comics

and Jean and Charles’ father/daughter relationship is way more developed than something that was mentioned one or two times in the 60s (and onslaught mentioned it too (you’re really listening to onslaught of all people?))

like can you do some research into why you don’t like Charles instead of using the same old copy and paste excuse that everyone is preaching about on there 😭🤚

[styxxsyringe]

hotel manager

[thefallenangel2008]

I'm sorry, but the fact that Stan could have become just like his father but he still ended up being supporting and encouraging towards Mabel, Dipper, Soos and Wendy despite everything... I'm- I'm sorry but I love that man so much YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

[p41nkillers]

'i only take a sip at church' but then they found your secret wine bcs youre secretly an alcholic