#Her mistreatment of her brother (while bad) is NOT comparable to that madness what are you ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

[sammydem0n64]

Being a pkmn fan kinda sucks bc people don’t know how to b normal about characters when they. Are mean. At first

[mythsandheather]

What I hate the most about LO is that Rachel is making the romance between actual gods backward. Aphrodite and Hephaestus were a couple but Aphrodite found him repulsing so she cheated on him with Ares. Even after that cheating on Hephaestus, Ares, and Aphrodite were the only sane couple in Greek myths. Apollo had his fair share of lovers (if you exclude Daphne) with him being in love with BOTH male and female and how does Rachel do justice to his character? By making him a R*****

The saga of Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaestus is often terribly misunderstood and LO is no exception, except that she weaponises it in her narrative and portrays it arguably at its worst.

The original story of these three is often stripped down to the bare basics along the lines of either “star-crossed lovers and ugly loser dude who got in their way” or “bad slutty woman cheats on poor helpless (but still ugly loser) dude with angry frat bro” and it’s wild. It’s a story, at least how I see it, about love, pain and compromise for what you need for yourself.

Hephaestus is hurt, angry and traumatised by his parents abuse of him, specifically Hera, and so he traps her in his specially made throne. He has a point to make and for the first time in his life, he will not be ignored.

Aphrodite is offered as the prize for freeing Hera, without her consent, and so is also hurt, worried and angry, especially when Hephaestus wins her hand. She is handed off to a man she barely knows, let alone loves, and can’t do anything about it

Ares is both not strong to free his mother, nor able to keep the woman he adores from being handed off to someone else — his own brother, no less, and has to just sit and watch. He is humiliated, he is hurt, he is angry.

The retelling I like the most is from Stephen Fry’s Mythos, where Aphrodite and Ares are already engaged when the throne incident happens, Zeus assuring them that surely since Ares is the strongest, he’ll be the one to free Hera. Even Zeus is humanised. Aphrodite’s hand being offered is him making a rash decision to motivate the other gods out of his desperation to free his wife.

When Hephaestus arrives and frees Hera, it’s not what anyone expected and Hephaestus makes it very clear that he’s not doing this to get the girl, so much as to make it clear he’s a force to be reckoned with.

He had Aphrodite seperate shortly after their marriage and she goes on her way with Ares while Hephaestus goes about his work, now with the respect he wanted for his craftsmanship. Ares, Aphrodite and Hephaestus are all on relatively amicable terms as later stories unfold too, especially compared to the fighting of the other gods.

In some versions, Dionysus intervenes and convinces Hephaestus with some alcohol both to free Hera and not to pursue Aphrodite, and Hephaestus agrees.

Now, you might be looking at all this and thinking “wow, what a nuanced tale and what a mature way everyone ended up handling it! Everyone here is flawed yet you like and relate to all of them! Surely this would make a great adaptation for a ‘feminist retelling’!” You’d be wrong.

Ares is a douchey dudebro who is obsessed with Persephone cuz reasons and exists to say every oversexualised, gross, objectifying thought Rachel herself has while drooling over her self insert but can’t make Hades say cuz he’s supposed to be a gentleman.

Aphrodite is a petty caricature of influencers and Kim Kardashian and her hyper sexualised nature is a bad thing and entirely her own fault when something bad happens to her. She’s also purple. I will never not be mad about Aphrodite not being pink.

She and Ares break up because -insert slut-shaming, not like the other girls logic to defend Persephone- here and she marries Hephaestus.

Hephaestus is set dressing, at best. Every cool attribute he has is stolen and given to Hades and instead of being ugly due to injury or physical deformity and this being a source of how mistreated he is, he’s just…black-coded and with prosthetic legs. If that made you slightly uncomfortable, it should.

Speaking of minorities being taken, chewed up and spat out by Lore Olympus, that brings us to Apollo. Poor, poor Apollo. One of the most beloved and influential of the Theoi, literally unrecognisable and reduced to being the self-insert’s r*pist because, you guessed it, reasons.

Let me add to all the people saying it, because it needs to be repeated; APOLLO DID NOT ASSAULT PERSEPHONE IN THE MYTHS OR ANYWHERE EXCEPT LORE OLYMPUS.

I know it’s probably not intended to be homophobic how Apollo is treated in LO, but fuck it, that’s how it smells to me, so that’s what I call it.

Every character, every relationship, every story serves to boost the Rachel x Mads fapfic Persephone and Hades love story and it’s nasty. How the fuck are you gonna call yourself a folklorist and do this?

[hohoz]

The ones that suffer the most

I wanted to talk about this for a long time.

I’m a Resident evil addicted, I finished almost every RE game released and I must say that Capcom made some poor choices regarding Jill and Chris, they are EASILY the most mistreated characters in RE Franchise. 

But let’s explain why is that: 

Jill and Chris are survivors, they had to survive in a mansion with a lot of puzzles and zombies, while looking for items that could help them to progress and find a way to reach Brad. 

When they arrive at STARS Office, they are revolted that Umbrella did all that under their noses and innocents were dying because of that and they explained EVERYTHING in a report - but Irons made that go away. 

In the ORIGINAL RE3 we had this special file (Jill’s Diary) 

August 7th Two weeks have passed since that day. My wounds have been healed, but I just can't forget it. For most people, it's history now. But for me, whenever I close my eyes, it all comes back clearly. Zombies eating people's flesh and the screams of my teammates dying. No, the wounds in my heart are not healed yet...

August 13th Chris has been causing a lot of trouble recently. What's with him? He seldom talks to the other police members and is constantly irritated. The other day, he punched Elran of the Boy's Crime department just for accidentally splashing Chris's face with coffee. I immediately stopped Chris, but when he saw me he just gave me a wink and walked away. I wonder what happened to him...

August 15th Midnight. Chris, who has been on a leave of absence for a "vacation," called me so I visited his apartment. As soon as I walked into his room, he showed me a couple of pieces of paper. They were part of a virus research report entitled as simply as "G". Then Chris told me that, "The nightmare still continues." He went on to say that, "It's not over yet." Ever since that day, he has been fighting all by himself without rest, without even telling me.

August 24th Chris left the town today to go to Europe. Barry told me that he would send his family to Canada and then he would follow Chris. I decided to remain in Raccoon City for a while because I know that the research facility in this city will be very important to this entire case. In a month or so, I'll be joining with them somewhere in Europe. That's when my real battle begins...

For some weird reason this file isn’t available in RE3 Remake. 

But ok, here we see that Chris was doing some investigation - in the RE2RMK  you could see this letter that Chris left in a way that normal people wouldn't understand - the only thing that Claire says is that “doesnt look like him” but how normies would understand what Chris is like is he is not well represented in media ??????????????????

And Jill had all the detective work in her wall. 

So far so good - we understand the basics about them - they are Special police force, the elite, they had a traumatic experience and they survived to tell the story. 

Some problems until now:

Jill had a MAJOR personality change in RE3 RMK- I honestly like most of that, she is a badass in the originals and she is a badass in the rmk but I still dislike the fact that she swears all the time (specially because in RE1, RE Rev, RE5 she doesn't do that) 

We can tell a lot about her personality just looking at her room, but I still miss some stuff (I had expectations - so this is not a real problem. but still) like a Vinyl player (since she is probably into classical music), some letters from her father so new players can understand her origin and why is she so good in lockpicking and more about her dog (she had a pic in the original that could’ve been her boyfriend but it was replaced by a dog in RE2 rmk but in RE3 Rmk there in no dog) 

Okay - after you finish the game the only thing we see is this: 

In my opinion this is Chris since he is always associated with Green colors while Jill is associated with blue. 

So my speculation here is that she found him while in the original we had this: 

This is not a major chance but still is important (lore of course - duh) but the problem here is that while Jill is looking for him - Code Veronica is happening. 

So I can only assume two things, they did not show him because they DON’T HAVE A FACE FOR HIM or I am wrong and that is Jill, but if that is Jill so why there is no decent epilogue like the original ? 

Okay, now we are arriving in the real trouble area

I will do RE5 first and the Wii and Rev1 (even tho those two comes first in the lore) 

RESIDENT EVIL 5 

So before the game was release we had some propaganda, including this: 

So have in mind that Jill was dead, I thought that she died and RE5 would explain that shit. 

But in the beginning we see that Chris is looking for her and have in mind that Chris HAD A MAJOR CHANCE IN HIS APPEARANCE, and I’m not talking about his muscles. 

I will not address Chris in CV since he was good in that game but I the team that made CV also made the original, it had CONSISTENCE. 

Here we have Chris, he’s THE classical american soldier protagonist from Hollywood in the 80′s/90′s and he had some omage to TOPGUN

He also shares some traits with his sister

A major trait here is that HE HAS BLUE EYES, typical good looking soldier from US. 

and now let’s have a look at Chris in RE5...

Yeah... I still hate this face even tho I love his Character in this game, this ugly a** monkey looking mf and he had a lot of steroids

So we have some lore to him in RE5, Jill and Chris went to a mansion looking for Spencer (one of the fathers of Umbrella and the one that was behind project Wesker, he wanted to do this Virus so he could live forever, so RE has a good lore, it’s not just about zombies) but when they found him, he was dead and Wesker was by his side, in a fight Jill sacrificed herself to save Chris’s life. 

Chris started doing mission after mission because her body was never found, and he made a name for himself, he became a ‘legend’ inside BSAA and you can see that in the beginning of RE5.

The reason behind the muscles was probably to fight Wesker mano to mano but still is not well made, it really felt weird playing for the first time. 

So now we have a problem here, there is thing that you use in a narrative that is to make someone strong af powerless, and they did that to Jill. (a good example of this is in TWD- Ricky is a fucking legend and Negan made him powerless in the face of a event) 

Jill was used in a Boss fight and that is it... She is not in the game as a character, she is being manipulated and her whole design was changed, she looks like Nina from Tekken. WTF. - BTW, the fact that Wesker had mind control over her created 1000 fics of sex 

 So that is it, my main problem here isnt Jill itself, but it’s the fact that they used her character as a boss even tho she is the heroine, she never appears in RE lore again until some guy inside Capcom said “Well people are asking about Jill so let’s place a file in Rev2 saying that she is in rehab” 

The only time that she appears again is in a 3DS NINTENDO ONLY game, it felt that Capcom simply don’t care about her character. 

By the way Revelations 1 is a great game and was adaptable some years later for PC and consoles

But you think that this is bad, wait until we arrive at RESIDENT EVIL 6 

When I learned that Jill was not in RE6 I was mad... But after I played that game I said “thank you God” that game was bad, transformers kind of bad, it had bad writing, the lore was all over the place and Chris was the one that suffered the most in this game. 

He was responsible for the death of an entire squad, suffered amnesia and people still wanted him in the command 

THEY MADE HIM AN ALCOHOLIC 

The golden boy of BSAA reduced to THIS. 

By the way, the director said that HE WANTED TO KILL CHRIS IN THIS GAME to SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS - so if you liked Piers now that he died only because of that. 

So now let’s analyse what we know: 

The first 2 main characters are not well represented in media until RE6, they don’t know how to re introduce Jill in the games and Chris was reduced to a normal guy at a Russian bar;

But it gets worse... 

Capcom LOVE Leon, we know that. he is always the hero, he is the protagonist in almost every movie and he is always the cool guy so when he get’s a new model, he looks like this:

But When Chris get’s a new face he look like this: 

WHO DAFUQ ARE U, no offense to the model but he has NEGATIVE JAW LINE.

And still he doesn't look like Claire’s brother, there is no blue/green eyes and he looks younger that he was in 6 (and 6 still uses that ugly character model) 

But let’s go in the lore- we HAVE 0 info on Jill in RE6 / RE7 and no sight of her in RE8 

And speaking of which, they tried to make Chris the bad guy in the trailer so when we play we see “Ohhhh he was not the bad guy, that happened and that is why he did that” 

But still... 

If they are going to do that to his character don’t use this character, shit ! Do something with that Wesker’s son that made 0 sense in RE6 but leave Chris out of this - it really feels that they simply don’t know how to treat him right

And you may think that I may be complaining a lot because of his appearance

But this is him in RE8  

(to me this is some random dude from Russia) 

And this is him in RE:Verse (that is going to be release TOGETHER) 

So this tells me that they have 0 clue of how to handle his looks

Jill got RE3Rmk but it felt like a cheap game compared to RE2Rmk where the original RE3 was SO MUCH BETTER

And this is bad because there are so many new fans joining the fandom only to see 2 great characters suffering from poor director’s choices. 

I’m sorry about this rant, if you like Chris face and looks its okay, really, but dont tell me that Chris from 5/6/8 is the same from 1/CV and if you think im wrong about Jill its fine, but she is an amazing character that could have so much more impact in RE universe (I mean, she never even appeared in a RE movie - animations) 

But it’s sad to see so many characters that receive good representation in media and good games/lore while Jill get’s almost none and Chris is handled like random face guy. 

I was going to talk a little bit more about Rev 1 and RE Umbrella Chronicles but there is no need since Im mad right now and it seems that Capcom has 0 interest in making Code Veronica and Umbrella’s fall after that since their fav boy Leon need a rmk in RE4 even tho RE4 is not that old. 

Bonus:

Fun fact: Chris served in the Air force, so yeah, to me even Tom Cruise looks more like Chris than Chris from the games

[siapsymud-moved]

??? what do you have against molly weasley

    I just don’t believe in her being the amazing mother the fandom makes her out to be. If you ever want to venture out into this tag you’ll find basically most of it.  (under readmore for lenght)

    For me personally, it’s all due to how she is. And yes before anyone comes for me, people are flawed, nobody is perfect I get that. But to me she is... pretty shitty as a mother. She is rude, dismissive, plays clear favorites, pits her children against each other, constantly puts down the achievements of the kids if they don’t meet her expectations. She is also very much xenophobic, and listen I am not exactly a huge fan of the Fleur/Bill ship except with two portrayals of her. But the way she went about Fleur was absolutely disgusting and atrocious. And the second her son is injured she says Fleur will no longer marry him because he’s ugly now?? First of all--- fucking rude, do you think Bill only got a fiance because he’s pretty????? And second of all wow- that’s all I’ve got is wow, your oldest son nearly died and you’re more worried about.. still breaking up your son’s engagement? wowza. Also let me go back in time to when Fleur was around and Molly kept trying to bring Tonks around and set her up with Bill so he’d leave Fleur.

    Then we got Sirius, berating the man in his own HOME. Commenting how he hasn’t been around when it wasn’t like? he had??? a choice????? You think Sirius wouldn’t have taken Harry and raised and loved him if he could have? She’s so critical about how Harry is a kid and should be proooteeecctteeeeddd and he’s too youuunngggg, but he’s in the thick of it and he deserves to have this information. 

    Its well known that Rita Skeetles is a slandering asshole who will make up lies, and then Hermione’s article comes out and she proceeds to judge and gives her a lesser present because she believed what the article said. 

    She puts Harry constantly over her own children, it’s something that made my own Bill muse very critical of Harry for a time. Until he realized that none of this was Harry’s fault but his own mother’s. It’s all across the books, Harry and Ginny comes first, the other Weasley kids way later. Hell, look- she never even looks at what Ron prefers, putting Ginny above him. I get it I get it, Ginny is the girl, she’s the baby of the family. But holy fucking cheezeballs, Batman. You think you’d at least be kinder to your youngest son who has self esteem issues up the wazoo because you created them in the first place by constatnly comparing him to his older brothers. 

    Let me also get on the creepy clock that keeps track of everyone for a while and let me say my favorite thing. 

THE VALIDITY OF YOUR TRAUMA ENDS WHERE THE BOUNDARIES OF OTHERS BEGIN

Let me say that again    

THE VALIDITY OF YOUR TRAUMA ENDS WHERE THE BOUNDARIES OF OTHERS BEGIN

    Molly had it hard during the first war, I won’t deny that. She was raising all these kids when it happened, she lost both her brothers, them being blood traitors for sure put them in a bad spot. But christ- kids these days are rightfully pissed when their parents put that track life app on their phone or monitor their every move when they go out. Molly’s clock is nO DIFFERENT THAN THAT. How would you like to be watched by your mother 24/7???

    Like all fuzzy mothers she bothers Bill about his hair and his style, Bill like typical older brother who had to play third parent to his siblings says yeah well my life, not yours, my job literally doesn’t give a fuck and i’m good at what i do. Sod off. And ahem- trying to sneak up behind Bill to cut off his hair can we think back on that for a moment? Molly Weasley sees your boundaries and smashes through them like the kool aid man in a skirt.

    I think Ron and the Twins are very much on top contesting spot as to who got the worst end of the stick growing up with their mother. The twins’ interest are constantly being shot down, Molly leaves them out like in the prefect conversation when they’re both like ??? who are we???? nobody?    

    Also I don’t think it’s a coincidence how her oldest two sons YEETED right tf off after school, and if you go by a popular hc of Charlie leaving Hogwarts early well then, BEFORE THEY EVEN GRADUATED. AND MOVED REALLY REALLY FAR. 

    I also just feel bad for how she treated Arthur, come on- you can’t tell me you didn’t see it how she doesn’t really let him speak. Or shoots him down, only reaches out for him when she needs the ‘back up’.

    DON’T GET ME STARTED ON PERCY, WHO HAD IT AWFUL. They never take any interest on him when he gets what he wants, at that time the war had started, and they choose to blame him for siding with the ministry. The only people who have seemed to give a damn about him up until that point rather than the family who got mad at him and even practically said he would willingly be a spy for the bad side. Super supportive family 11/10.

    Listen yes- the Weasleys are a big and complicated family like any other, specially one which is brought up in not just one but TWOOOOO wars. But Molly??? She was a pretty bad mother. I’m not saying everyone has to think like me, people out there can love her and see idk what in her maybe a nicer mother they didn’t have. But me having been sorrounded by women who are just like Molly and sometimes worse? No thank you. You can be hurt, you can be flawed, you can have your trauma. But nothing, nothing nothing nothing EVER justifies the mistreatment and abuse of your kids- verbal or psychological.

[xsunfloweer]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH FROZEN 2

I’m completely MAD with Frozen 2. The movie is very good, I confess, but they WASTE a lot of scenes that could convey a meaning or possibility... that could even trigger a sequel, or at least complete what was left in the first movie.

So, the moment when Elsa visits Ahtohallan, and finally finds out the truth in the past...It starts with childhood memories, which makes me wonder, why does it show only the good memories? COME ON... let's pretend that nothing happened!

When she heard herself singing 'Let it Go' it made me think how much her perspective changed, it's like when we laugh at something we did 3 or 5 years ago, it was a learning experience, a MATURITY about the personality. She changed. It's not that Elsa anymore.

So, since Elsa doesn't know about the Duke of Weselton, WHY THEY DIDN'T GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW HER, I know he's in the past and it's no longer her problem ... oh no, Hans is the bad guy . Duke is just a villain experiment.

One thing I noticed that people are wondering, what are Anna's memories doing here? Ahtohallan has EVERYONE's memories of the past. If so, she can see her mother's and grandfather's memories... cause of the real blood? Who knows. But the focus here is to show what nobody knows.

So, Elsa didn't know about Duke's plans. She didn't know how much her power affected Arendelle. Didn't know that Hans was in charge of the kingdom. Didn't know how Hans met Anna. They decide to show the awkward moment of the two. 

Elsa's reaction was disappointing. She acted like a spoiled girl, lifting her nose and getting rid of the 'problem', does breaking the memory solve anything? KNOW WHAT I THINK, Hans became a joke, which is one of the main reasons he became a villain. His brothers made fun of his face, and he NEVER had a chance to prove himself. That he had a personality, that he was capable... he just wanted to rule a kingdom, and not kill everyone! He was blinded by his desire, and would do anything to achieve it. EVERYTHING. I don't think he's a bad guy.

That's why I'm CRAZY, does Elsa look FULL OF RAGE? Of course not. She's sorry. SO MUCH THAT SHE RESOLVES TO DESTROY HIM LATER. So Elsa would kill him? THIS IS SO WRONG. It is like showing a child that mistreating / mocking 'bad' people is normal. And it is correct. So much that poor Hans was destroyed in other movies ... Where forgiveness comes in? WHY ignore this important lesson? Hans was forced to work in the stable because of his actions. And is it still normal to make fun of it?

Elsa's grandfather was responsible for the rivalry between the peoples, killing an innocent because of his FEAR, he made decisions without thinking and suffered for it. BUT WHAT MAKES ME ANGRY, is that they compared him to Hans, have seen their faces? Until the same position, so Disney, they are the villains.

I realize that Hans hesitates before killing Elsa, while her grandfather kills the innocent without hesitation. But isn't Hans the villain?? Elsa's grandfather was an adult and combat specialist, correct?

IF HE IS THE VILLAIN WHY DID HE LOOK AT HER LIKE THAT? NOTHING OF THEATER NOW. He should have attacked her, but no, he waited.... That's why I feel that something is wrong, it's like something was missing, you know? So many mysteries left behind ... this is a waste.

In general, I wish that ALL things should have been clarified in Ahtohallan, Elsa missed a lot, and why the hell not to show the moments of conflict? I'm crazy about it, and because Hans became a clown in the Disney universe, he didn't deserve it.

That’s all, I’m sorry.

[leialannister]

Why C+B=R doesn’t work...

*rubs hands*

This is going to be fun…

I’ll start with busting the evidences that the theorist gave to make their theory believable (I’m not trying to mock them here btw don’t get me wrong) and continue with other factors why they simply do not work.

1)Follies done for love.

So the first thing the theorist talks about is Catelyn’s Tully morals and stuff, then they give Catelyn’s thoughts when she learns of Robb and Jeyne’s marriage as one of the evidences.

Only then came her belated remembrance. Follies done for love? He has bagged me neat as a hare in a snare. I seem to have already forgiven him.

-A Storm of Swords, Catelyn II.

They claim that the “follies done for love” is actually about Robb’s parentage.

“Brandon knew how to take what he wanted. Seems like he begged some,

(We will wed on my return he vowed) and she agreed,

hence the follies done for love.”

This could have been a good comment of the paragraph if we didn’t have a much better and realistic cause for her thoughts which is Jaime. Catelyn freed Jaime to get back her daughters, the daughters she loved fiercely, and she believes they are under Cersei’s claws, who she also blames for her husband’s death, and I don’t think I have to talk about the love Catelyn bears to Ned, for I never shut up about it. (Mind that Catelyn was unaware that Arya had escaped from the capital when she freed Jaime.) So no, passing off Brandon’s bastard as Ned’s isn’t the follies done for love, but freeing Jaime Lannister.

2)I did so gladly.

Here, the other evidence is that she marries Ned gladly and in a haste, because she’ll pass the child as his own, and she shouldn’t be far along or showing by the time they marry.

“When Brandon died shortly before they were to wed, Catelyn now having realized she is pregnant does not want her baby to grow up a bastard, so when told she must marry Ned in a haste, she does so gladly, planning to tell him that the child is his own.”

The problem here is how they interpret the word “gladly”.

Highborns rarely have the chance to choose whom they marry, especially if they are a woman and it’s their lord father who had arranged the marriage for them. (The Queen of Thorns, we all know she’s just another level.) Keep in mind that Catelyn is the favored child of Tully, (I love the Tullys but sorry Hoster that’s bad parenting 101) she is probably even more loved than Edmure, the heir to the Riverlands, and being his precious child, he wants Catelyn to be happy, for she deserves the world (FACTS!). But the man is also ambitious as fuck, she wants both daughters to be the wifes of high lords, and mother high lordlings. This is a great chance at hand, probably that comes very rarely too, considering the heir to the North has always had a Northern marriage. But Catelyn, being the dutiful daughter she is (Family, Duty, Honor) answers the way it would please her lord father.

And when Lord Hoster promised her to Brandon Stark, she had thanked him for making her such a splendid match.

-A Clash of Kings, Catelyn IV.

And when Brandon was murdered and Father told me I must wed his brother, I did so gladly, though I never saw Ned’s face until our wedding day. I gave my maidenhood to this solemn stranger and sent him off to his war and his king and the woman who bore him his bastard, because I always did my duty.

-A Clash of Kings, Catelyn IV.

She marries off Ned “gladly” because she has always done her duty, not because she wants to pass Brandon’s bastard as Ned’s.

3)Jon Snow…

“Another issue is the way that Catelyn treats Jon. Jealousy is understandable, but it's very uncommon for a woman and a mother, with maternal instincts, to treat a small child so badly.”

The whole Jon Snow/Catelyn relationship is severely misunderstood, and I think that is why this is mentioned in the theory.

The thing is… Catelyn rarely even treats Jon. She simply ignores him to at least make his presence bearable. Jealousy comes a long while after Jon is born and brought to Winterfell, and that never makes a change to Catelyn’s behaviour.

She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned’s sake, so long as they were out of sight. Jon was never out of sight, and as he grew, he looked more like Ned than any of the trueborn sons she bore him.

-A Game of Thrones, Catelyn II.

Her problem is not Ned banging another woman in wartime, it’s that this child is in her home, where her trueborn children lives. He lives pretty much in the same luxuries with her own children. This might be bold of me, but there is no other ACKNOWLEDGED (The Baratheon (!) children are out) bastard in the Seven Kingdoms who lives in much luxury under such conditions (like Ned lacking a true born heir, etc.). As their marriage and relationship progresses, my parents (Ned & Cat) fall in love and this is where you can assume the jealousy comes in. She loves Ned dearly, fiercely, and it not only breaks her heart but makes herself feel as if she’s not enough to see that Jon remains in Winterfell, no matter how many sons she had bore him. Aye, she is aware that Ned is bestotted with her, but just like everyone, she has her dark moments where she wonders if she could never fill the hole that the bastard’s mother had left behind (Let’s not forget to mention that she doesn’t even know if she had ever left his heart at all). Despite being a fictional character, Catelyn is still human, and no one can ever blame her for being a human. That is what makes her a greatly rounded and complex character in the first place.

It is also confirmed by George R. R. Martin that Catelyn has never abused or mistreated Jon in any way, other than the time she snapped at him when Jon came to bid Bran farewell.

“Mistreatment” is a loaded word. did Catelyn beat Jon bloody? No. Did she distance herself from him? Yes. Did she verbally abuse and attack him? No. (The instance in Bran’s bedroom was obviously a very special case.) But I am sure she was very protective of the rights of her own children, and in that sense always drew the line sharply between bastard and trueborn where issues like seating on the high table for the king’s visit were at issue. And Jon surely knew that she would have preferred to have him elsewhere.

-George R. R. Martin.

“Keep in mind that the only way a bastard can threaten a trueborn 1st son is if the trueborn son is actually a bastard.”

Umm, no? The kid is a danger to all, especially if something were to happen to Robb. After all, Catelyn’s other children are also a part of the line of succession after Robb.

“In the show Catelyn says:
“All this horror that's come to our family,
It's all because I couldn't love a motherless child”.”

I think I have talked enough about how this scene totally ruins Catelyn’s character, and my opinions on this matter can be understood pretty clearly from the explanation I made about Catelyn and Jon’s relationship. The show is full of bullshit, and this is just one of them. (see my twitter account for this)

4)EvEn CeRsEi?!

“When Catelyn discovers Cersei's children are bastards who are not Robert's, she thinks:

"Would even Cersei be so mad? Catelyn was speechless."

Why EVEN Cersei? Why not simply say Cersei?

She can't believe another woman did the same thing she did, which is to let her husband raise another man's child, as his own.”

LMAO, she is talking about the freaking Targaryens!!! Cersei is literally the queen of the man who dethroned the mad incest supporters and she finds out that his wife is doing the same exact thing! Don’t you guys think it’s ironic? Well, I wonder what makes Catelyn so shocked...

(Oh and by the way, Cersei, baby you were so right..)

5)16,20,50 & Some Height Issues

“This is what Catelyn thinks about Robb:
“Let him grow taller, she asked the gods. Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. ”

So let’s ask ourselves Why these numbers?
Does Catelyn just pick them out at random or is there meaning behind them?
They certainly don’t seem to apply to Ned and yet they fit perfectly when applied to Brandon Stark

-Brandon was 16 when he met Catelyn and they fell in “love”
-And was 20 when he died.
-Although Rickard Starks exact age is unknown,
I believe this is who Catelyn is thinking of when she says 50, Robbs Grandfather who died with Brandon.

So here we have Catelyn's thinking of Robb's life:
may he live to meet a girl and fall in love,
may he not die at 20 like his father
or die at 50 like his grandfather.
may he hold his own son in his arms, something Brandon was never able to do.”

This is one of the most well-thought evidences, but it’s wrong nonetheless.

Brandon Stark was born in 262 AC, and Catelyn was born in either 264 or 265 AC, we do not know the exact year.

So yes, he died at 20, but Catelyn was 12 when her father promised him to Brandon. That makes Brandon 14 or 15 when they met and “fell in love”.

Oh and the mention of “tall”:

““ Catelyn watched a breeze stir his auburn hair, so like her own, and wondered when her son had grown so big.

Fifteen , and near as tall as she was. ... Let him grow as tall as his father"

Catelyn specifically noted how disappointed she was with Ned's height, compared to Brandon who was tall.

So how DID Robb get so tall if Ned is short?

And if Ned is so short, who does she mean when wanting Robb to grow, as tall as him?

Again this sounds like Brandon to us.”

Brandon being taller than Ned doesn’t mean Ned is short. Considering the average height for men is 5’9 today, someone who is 6’3 is tall. A man who is 6’1 is tall as well, but shorter than other. This is the same case. Ned is never mentioned to be short, he is just shorter than Brandon, who is mentioned to be tall.

5.1)Fall in love

Oh, and just fyi, Catelyn was never in love with Brandon. Yes she might have liked or even loved the idea of him and their live together, but never really loved him.

6)When possessive pronouns confuse the f out of you

“"She had brought him forth in blood and pain, not knowing whether Ned would ever see him. Her son.”

so Why say HER son?

This is how the sentence should have been like,

Given the premise that Ned is Robb's father:

"not knowing whether Ned would ever see him. His son.”

Or:

"not knowing whether Ned would ever see him. Their son.””

So ok, I’ll admit that this is the best one by far. There’s nothing I can say to deny them, though Catelyn does mention the children as “our” and as Ned’s son as well. And while might imply, it does not give the theory %100 accuracy.

7)Nine moons

Catelyn thinking about Robb:

““Brandon Stark had bid her wait as well.

“I shall not be long, my lady,” he had vowed.

“We will be wed on my return.”

"Yet when the day came at last, it was his brother Eddard who stood beside her in the sept. Ned had lingered scarcely a fortnight with his new bride before he too had ridden off to war with promises on his lips. At least he had left her with more than words; he had given her a son.

Nine moons had waxed and waned, and Robb had been born in Riverrun while his father still warred in the south.

Nine moons since when? This paragraph started with Brandon, not with Ned.”

Nine moons since ‘Ned had lingered scarcely a fortnight with his new bride before he too had ridden off to war with promises on his lips.’ I think this was pretty clear but okay. Considering the huge hate towards Catelyn, I’ve come to a conclusion that Martin’s works are very open for misinterpretation.

8)A son

““he had given her a son.” He did give her a son, instead of a bastard.

By marrying Catelyn,
Ned has effectively turned her Bastard into a son.”

I think this would have been again one of the best well thought, if Catelyn mentioned more than words to Brandon as well. She basically said that Brandon just left her with words while Ned gave her more. If Brandon gave her bastard, she wouldn’t have just said “words”. Yes, she might not have mentioned it as “a son” but there would be more than that.

9)Lord Dustin is Actually GRRM in a nutshell

““On Catelyn’s own wedding night ...

When Lord Dustin had beheld her naked, he’d told Ned that her breasts were enough to make him wish he’d never been weaned”

Breasts are the very first to expose a pregnancy, way before the belly shows.

Why would GRRM make the effort to give us this little tidbit of information about how her breasts reminded men of nursing?”

I think this is just a way of GRRM describing his type. Quoting grrmartin from Tumblr:

“Catelyn’s descriptions make her seem like the most attractive woman in Westeros. And people comment on her beauty frequently. Unlike Dany or Cersei, people do not fear or need to compliment Cat in the same way. GRRM, the author, married 2 redheads. He clearly has a type. And based on your logic on what makes somebody the most beautiful, LF started the War of the Five Kings because he loved the beautiful Catelyn Stark, even after over a decade of not seeing her.”

see the original post here

GRRM’s like of hot women is known, and “hot women” by classic standards are big breasts, a slim waist and wide hips. They are big guys. Ned Stark is a lucky man. Don’t overread. Not to mention that Catelyn tells herself that she’s given her maidenhood to Ned. Yes, maidenhood does mean an unwed woman, but it is also the synonym of “maidenhood”.

9)First time

This is, again, a controversial remark, I personally believe that it’s her instinct. She felt it. Though, the way it could work is very simple.

Her moon blood might have been early due to stress or coming after a few days they wed anyway. This was a time of war and they didn’t wait till women were most “available”.

10)Timeline…

Ok so I was going to continue with the other stuff that the theorist had mentioned but this is getting too long and I’m getting bored. So let’s bust this theory with the simplest thing: Timeline!!!

“Age: Brandon died in 282AL , Rob was born in 283AL. Time wise, it's plausible.”

“they had spent that year apart, Ned off at war in the south”

This way, because she gave birth at Riverrun without Ned, Ned would not know exactly how long after he left Robb was born.

Robert's Rebellion timeline is speculative, at best.

This is how I think it went, in chronological order:

1. Catelyn and Brandon Conceived Robb at Riverrun.

2.Brandon left for KL, and died.

3.Ned married Catelyn BEFORE calling his banners, to make sure he has the Riverland's support. Riding all the way North from the Vale, only to go all the way back in times of war seems unlikely. Ned probably sent someone in his name to call his banners, while he went to wed Catelyn. This would place their marriage likely far less than 3 months after Brandon left Riverrun, probably around 6-8 weeks after Robb's conecption.

4.Ned goes to war.

5.Jon is born.

6.Robb is born.

Brandon dies In the early-mid of 282 AC (With the words arriving, Rickard coming to Kl) since Lyanna’s abduction happens early in the year. Then Aerys demands Ned and Robert’s heads so Jon Arryn calls the banners and Ned returns to the North and Robert leaves for Stormlands to call the banners. Then, The Battles of Summerhall happens, followed by Robert’s defeat in the Battle of Ashford. Having retreated to the Riverlands, The Siege of Storm’s End starts and we know that the defenders were already in bad shape “by year’s end.” Ned and Catelyn marry after the Battle of the Bells, since it is a double wedding and we know that Jon Arryn loses gallant cousin and heir, Ser Denys Arryn, so he needs a young wife to produce an heir. This means that Catelyn and Ned married in the early 283 AC.

If Brandon had impregnated Catelyn, she would have been heavy with child by the time they married, and Robb would have been big enough to know he’s not Ned’s by the time he meets Robb. I think this is the biggest evidence that this theory simply does not work.

11)Significance of Parentage

Robb getting in the list of the secret parentage reduces the significance of parentage. There are way more believable parentage theories (and canon ones like the Baratheon (!) children) out there that concerns other families, and they have much more evidence other than the crumbs here. Everyone being a secret bastard takes the excitement of the better ones like R+L=J or A+J=CJ (love this one, don’t think it’s true but love it anyways).

In conclusion, even if I’m wrong, and Robb is actually Catelyn’s son (though I know Catelyn to be better than that, there’s a reason why I stan her) it makes literally no impact to the storyline. Robb is dead, Ned is dead, Brandon is long dead, Catelyn is dead, at least the part of her that made her Catelyn is. How other people will be aware of this is a dilemma as well. There has to be a good reason for Bran to look from the eyes of the Godswood of Riverrun. The only way this can have an importance is Jeyne being pregnant, (The chances are quite low on this one.) though not much would come of it anyway.

[aegon]

why dany deserves all the love

So after seeing rather blatantly-biased anti-Daenerys posts and political!Jon nonsense on my dash recently which I found ridiculous and unbelievably hateful against a fictional character, and I’m salty af, here’s all the wonderful things Daenerys Targaryen has done (on the show) and why Jon Snow does not need to pretend to love her. 

Warning: it’s a goddamn long list.

1) Despite not wanting to be married to Khal Drogo initially and is terrified of what’s about to happen, she still has enough grace to thank him for his gift. 

2) She tries to learn how to please him because he’s her husband and she wants to be loved. 

3) She adapted and learned a whole new language and culture that wasn’t her own. She didn’t appropriate it or look down on it, but actually adjusted to it and defended them to her own brother. My god what a horrible person. 

4) Her brother tries to hurt her and she still asks for mercy for him. 

5) She even gets gifts made for the same brother who’s progressively become more and more abusive towards her because Dany still loves him because that’s how big her heart is.

6) I love when people use her threatening her brother as an argument because he literally just hit a pregnant woman and Dany has a goddamn backbone. I’m adding that to the list. 

7) She defends the women the Dothraki want to rape, and convinces her husband to do so. 

8) She undergoes the same level of dehydration, starvation and horrendous living conditions while trying to find shelter for the khalasar that stayed with her. Never once do we see her lash out at them or mistreat them in any way. 

9) After Xaro murders half her people as well as one of her closest allies, she enacts revenge on him. Yeah that’s a positive point because Xaro is a murderer and entirely deserved what happened to him because he’d happily have Dany butchered just for her dragons.

10) She actually takes all the verbal insults Kraznys mo Nakloz dishes her way because she needs his army. If she was such an arrogant, brash woman, she certainly exercised a lot of patience here. Because Dany isn’t petty and understands how to conduct herself. 

11) Dany has every right not to like Barristan Selmy. But she still takes him in and forgives him. 

12) She offers water to a dying slave. Oh no, the cruelty. 

13) SHE FREES THE UNSULLIED

14) SHE COMMANDS THEM TO KILL THE MASTERS BUT PROTECT ALL THE INNOCENTS

15) SHE EVEN TAKES MISSANDEI BECAUSE SHE KNOWS SHE’S AN ABUSED SLAVE AND WANTS TO SAVE HER. 

16) While I’ve never been a fan of sacking cities and Astapor is left vulnerable without their army, I’ve come to realise that they needed to literally build back up from their foundations if they needed to change their way of life. Which was slavery. Which is not okay. So I’m giving this point to Dany because no one else did it. 

17) It’s a small thing but asking the Unsullied to pick their own names. It’s giving them their humanity back and that’s such a precious gift. 

18) Did not buckle down when Yunkai’s slave masters tried to bribe her because she wanted the slaves free. 

19) Gets the Second Sons on her side, the very people who would have fought against her. That’s a queen, yo. 

20) Frees the slaves of Yunkai. 

21) Actually talks to Missandei properly and values her advice. 

22) When finding the road full of slaves all hammered to a cross, she insists upon looking at each of their faces and giving them a proper burial, without their slave collars. But y’all are ready to call her insensitive and a mad queen. Go off I guess. 

23) Frees the slaves of Meereen. 

24) After hearing about her failures to maintain Yunkai and Astapor’s statuses as free cities, she rationally questions herself and decides she needs more experience before moving on to Westeros. And she stays in Meereen and learns. 

25) Paying a goatheader three times the value of the livestock he lost to her dragons. 

26) Letting Hizdahr zo Loraq bury his father. Joffrey put Ned Stark’s head on a pike, but let’s compare the two anyway because they’re exactly the same. 

27) Takes the time to listen to her subject’s complaints and issues. 

28) Takes Jorah’s advice when he tells her not blindly seek revenge, but to give a choice of mercy to the Wise Masters who took Yunkai from her. 

29) Has boy-talk with Missandei. Like she doesn’t need to be so casual with someone who works for her but she is and Missandei feels comfortable enough to talk about it. 

30) Sparing Jorah’s life eventhough he outright betrayed her and committed treason. 

31) Has established halls and barracks to give the former slaves somewhere to eat and sleep 

32) Understands that freedom means allowing someone to have a choice, and if former slaves want to be sold back into slavery, then they should do so under their own terms. She gave the former slaves the right to decide their own fate instead of letting it be dictated to them.

33) Upon seeing a victim of her dragons, she locks them up. Which is such a massive deal because these are her children and seeing them in chains is distressing af, but she does it because she’s looking out for the safety of her people. 

34) Retakes Yunkai. 

35) Heeds Barristan’s words when he tells her the truth about the Mad King, instead of calling him a liar. 

36) Enacts the right justice to a former slave that murdered someone that was supposed to be granted a fair trial. I’ve seen a post say the people hissing at Dany are a sign of her being a terrible ruler, but she did the right thing. And the people didn’t react well to it because it was a former master that was murdered, and their sense of justice is ruled by hatred. So yeah, let’s side with them just because Dany is supposedly terrible at making the right decision. 

37) Tries to understand and adjust to the culture of Meereen by marrying one of their nobles and opening the fighting pits against her own wishes because she values peace. 

38) Spares Jorah’s life again. 

39) Takes Tyrion, the son of the man that murdered her family, as an advisor because she’s not a revenge-fuelled angry queen. 

40) Stands up to Khal Moro despite being alone and vulnerable because she’s a goddamn badass. 

41) Despite Khal Moro literally only moments ago threatening her, she still offers to gift him horses if she can get back to Meereen. 

42) Destroys the super rapey leaders of the khalasar and takes the Dothraki for her own. I know people have had issues with this because she burnt their sacred place to the ground, but given their leaders had just threatened to have their horses rape her, I think burning them to the ground was an ideal decision. But hey let’s sympathise with them because anyone but Dany amirite. 

43) Takes Tyrion’s advice for diplomacy. 

44) Saves Meereen looking fly af in the process. 

45) Demands the Ironborn stop pillaging the land, because she’s already caring about the people of Westeros despite not actually having met them yet. 

46) Grants the Greyjoys the right to rule themselves. 

47) Understands that, despite enjoying a physical relationship with Daario, that she needs to marry for alliances and having a lover could be detrimental to that. She’s thinking like a politician and a queen. 

48) Tyrion tells her that he believes in her, after he’d given up hope on everyone else. Says a lot. 

49) Upon arriving to Dragonstone, gets straight tf to work. 

50) Asks Varys to advise her should she ever go astray, instead of betraying her. This is a huge deal, because Dany is openly admitting that she has the potential to go wrong and that she’d look to her advisers for help. That’s not Mad Queen material, that’s what a good queen should be asking.

51) Asks for forgiveness from Jon for the crimes House Targaryen committed against House Stark. 

52) Allows Jon to mine the dragonglass for his army. 

53) The Lannister battle is controversial, and while I do agree the use of dragonfire was excessive, let’s be real. It’s a battle. It’s her first real battle in Westeros that she’s actively involved in. Also at what point are we supposed to sympathise with the Lannister army again? Arya’s scenes were shown to humanise them, that they’re just pawns in the great game - but Christ, so were the people of the Riverlands and Highgarden that the Lannister army took over. Where was the outrage then? You can’t always side with the people that aren’t Dany at the spur of the moment just because you hate her. 

54) SAVES JON SNOW. YOUR FAVE IS ALIVE BECAUSE OF HER. 

55) SACRIFICES ONE OF HER CHILDREN. TO SAVE JON SNOW. 

56) Pledges to help Jon fight the Night King. 

57) Clearly is good enough for Jon Snow to want to pledge fealty to her. 

58) Knows the importance of the war in the North, so is willing to sit down with Cersei and have her armies fight alongside Lannisters if need be. 

59) Actually does appreciate Jon Snow. 

60) Probably is amazing at sex. I admit I’m including this last point so it’s exactly sixty but I’m not wrong. 

So there we have it. 

60 reasons why Jon is not faking his affection for Dany, and why she’s worthy of the affection in the first place. She’s made mistakes, but she’s done far more good than bad. And given she’s been raped and kidnapped and undergone severe trauma, the idea that Jon Snow would be using her because he secretly thinks she’s a Mad Queen is so anti-feminist because you’re actively rooting for a man to abuse a woman and her trust, so so wrong on every moral level because you’d rather your faves started their romantic relationship based on the misuse of another’s heart and body, and makes a fuckboy out of the man raised by Ned Stark. Which is blasphemous. So jot that down.

Anyways, Daenerys Targaryen deserves love, pass it on. 

[darlingsdream]

My Story With Voltron and Season Seven Thoughts

So, this is the first time I’ll be posting something personal on here about my story with Voltron and how I feel about it. It’s going to be long, and yeah, trigger warning.

A year ago, I was in a very, very bad place mentally. I was learning a lot about who I was personally and dealing with a lot of losses and emotional baggage. As a very young child, I was very into the original Voltron. I loved that stuff, however, when I grew older I didn’t stick to it and didn’t hear about the new reboot of it. Last year, one of the biggest things I was dealing with was my sexuality. Hi, I’ve recognized I’m BISEXUAL! And I’m very proud! But, I found it very hard to accept that about myself last year, seeing as my family did not approve of that stuff. I always lost myself in LGBT members in TV shows because I felt like I could relate to the characters and they helped me get through my emotional stuff. I would hyperfocus on them to drown out the very, very bad stuff I was going through.

One day while scrolling through YouTube, I came across a Klance edit. I did not know what show they were from, and genuinely believed they were a cannon gay couple. I fell in love with them instantly and began watching more video of them on YouTube. After my spree, I looked it up and figured out they were from the new Voltron reboot! I was like, woah! A voltron reboot? A gay couple, in a child’s cartoon? I was DEAD SET IN LOVE with the show right off the bat. I watched all four seasons that were out at the time and yeah, realized Klance wasn’t a cannon ship. I fell in love with the plot, characters, ships, and fandom though.

Voltron gave me something to take my mind off how bad of a situation I was in. It gave me something to hyperfocus on and fall in love with. I’ve met so many nice and friendly people through the fandom, people that understand me! The fandom is so amazing with great content? Like, the fics? Amazing! Art? Stunning! I loved the VA’s immediately and even recognized them from shows I used to watch! I became so involved with Voltron and progressively found myself getting happier and happier as I met new people, found myself, found relatable content and happy spaces to put myself into. Long story short, Voltron saved me from a shit filled situation. I’ve loved Voltron so, so much.

For the past three seasons, I’ve stayed up just to watch them immediately. I’ve worked on many fan fictions and read AMAZING ones by BEAUTIFUL writers!

You could only imagine my SHOCK when I heard there would be LGBT rep! Something I personally struggle with, even now! I cried when I found out Shiro had a male fiancé when he was on Earth! It made me so, so happy!

So, here is where my issues start...

You can tell I’ve loved Voltron whole heartedly for a very long time. Yeah?

This season, season 7, hurt me in more ways than one. It was written poorly compared to the other seasons in my opinion. The episodes where a bit everywhere and the villains were out there! The time warps were confusing, and having twenty new characters thrown at you at once is confusing! Especially when the show is close to ending. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of good things in this season! An amazing and well deserved Hunk arc, Lance’s strong and smart sister! The Paladins all being with their families! Shiro getting a new arm! Major Paladin and Lion bonding! Keith loves his mom!

But, there was just as much bad things as good things... I’ll start with the plot, so people won’t think I’m shitting on a show I’ve adored for MONTHS because “MY SHIP DIDNT BECOME CANNON”. Because that’s not it.

The plot was, for this season, confusing! The space stuff happening was weird. And, as someone who has an 8 YEAR OLD SISTER who watches this show, she was startled by the hostility Keith began showing the fellow Paladins during their “space madness”. The game show episode, while supposed to be a tension breaker, was useless in the long run and more of an aggravating spit run than anything else. Like, it was nice seeing Zarkon, Haggar, and Lotor! As a family! But odd, we never got an explanation as to how. Then we have everyone bashing on Lance, poor lance, for being an idiot, which he is not. As well, Voltron is captured TWICE this season... never had that happened and the way they always get out of the trouble seemed very OP.

Now, I’ll go into characters. Shiro: a supposed LGBT member, handicap, suffers from PTSD, and is of a different race, gets put through the RINGER in EVERY SEASON. They have done this character dirty, I’m not even going to lie. It’s not “character development” to throw your character around like that and kill it a hundred times but allow it to still live. Poor Shiro has barely had ANY good luck through out this show! Then, they go and say, he’s an LGBT character... They kill off his ex fiancé? They said there would be a major plot with Adam and Shiro, and I feel like they did both characters dirty. No, Adam’s death was far from heroic. It was a flash death, not even sudden, and people were left confused to it. I’m pretty sure they even referred to Adam as PERSON 1 in the subtitles. Shiro’s grieving of his old partner is so rushed too. We got an entire clip of Pidge sobbing her heart out over her brother, but see barely a flinch as Shiro looks at his ex fiancés grave. You wouldnt even be able to tell they used to be a couple if the producers didn’t say something. I’m sorry, but personally, I can’t count this as LGBT rep when it’s so concealed like this... it hurts, because they hyped the rep up so much and I was so excited, and then shit hit the fan.

Then there is Lance, who we were promised would get development. The only development for him has been on his crush for Allura and it’s painfully obvious. He is used as a joke. The other characters mistreat him... and it’s very hard to watch. This, as a kids show, just shows that it’s okay to be rude and make fun of other people. My younger sister even picked up on this and said the way Lance is treated by everyone, especially his sister, is bad! The whole gameshow episodes they kept calling the poor teen Dumb and Stupid. Like, jeez, that’s kind of damaging? They even showed that Lance has many insecurities and yet, they don’t go any further about it. He cries? No one comforts him. He’s worried? People shoot him down. He tries to help others? He gets yelled at that he can’t do things right or disregarded. It goes to show as a regular trope kids are taught today, it’s bad for boys to have emotions! It’s like it doesn’t even matter! It agitates me so much...

Then, Keith. Keith is my favorite character, he’s gotten SO MUCH development. More than anyone else... which, I kind of dislike.. but, his personality was totally screwed over this season! They changed him completely, and it’s sad to see! Sure, he grew up, but there is literally NOTHING left of his old character!

Now, I guess it’s time for the major controversial ship talk.... this, is a fucking WRECK. The producers of Voltron said that romance wasn’t going to be a big thing in the show. In my honest opinion, they shouldn’t have done ANY romance, no Adam and Shiro, no Allura and Lance, no nothing. They’ve gone about it all wrong, and it’s just disappointing and UNCOMFORTABLE!!!

I’ll start with Allurance. I, originally, liked Allurance. But now, it’s so over done, it’s so awkward, forced, and uncomfortable! The past six seasons, we’ve seen Lance have a meaningless crush on her. I don’t see what’s so great about her to him? He said she makes him want to be a better person, but, anyone on team Voltron makes him try harder, honestly! It just seems so stupid! And now, that lotor is out of the way, Allura all of a sudden shows interest in him? No build up? No back story? Just random blushing and caring? It sounds like a rebound! I mean, yes, I understand peoples feelings can change, but this? They’ve gone about it ALL WRONG! As well? They have said Allura doesn’t get an endgame, but Lance does? This makes no sense. They have also said for Lance’s endgame: he ends up with someone he NEEDS, not WANTS, the person he ends up chose him as a first choice! This doesn’t sound like Allura, yet, they keep pushing it on their interviews and it’s just awkward! This ISNT slowburn!!!!

Finally, Klance. Yeah, I’m upset... very upset actually. They make Lance like Allura violently and now Axca is randomly showing up and now Keith is HET? Yeah... I don’t get it. I don’t get why they made all those unnecessary Klance moments now. Bonding moment? Elevator scene? Comforting? The soft looks? The concern? The colors in the backgrounds? The built up from rivals to friends to co-leading? They were getting along so well, it was so nice! I really thought that they were the slowburn relationship the cast was so excited and quiet about! It seemed so right! But then, Keith left for the blade, and in the shipping panel they said Keith and Lance were soulmates and they wished they could have seen that earlier. I was hurt. Beyond hurt. When Keith came back, I was disappointed. They changed Keith’s personality so much... he was rude and snapping at Lance, I was like, woah? And then when Keith was rude to Allura and Lance told him he should have just stayed away? That hurt! During the game show when Lance and Keith picked each other to leave, I felt so happy! I was like, wow, they care so much for each other! Lance was so earnest with his response! He made such a soft expression and said Keith was like the future! But then Keith ruined the entire moment and said he just picked Lance because he didnt want to spend an eternity with him! Like, what? What happened to the Keith that hung onto their bonding moment? Why was he so snappy? I am so confused why they built up a nice friendship and then we get THAT from them! It seems so.. wrong now! I am hurt over it, like, genuinely. I don’t even care if they weren’t going to be in a relationship! They could have been AMAZING friends, but they ruined that! They made their friendship seem so toxic!

After this season, I’ve honestly lost my passion and fire for Voltron... I’m so disappointed and sad. Not just because of ships, but plot as well.

I also would like to say as a side note: it’s okay for people to watch a show just for ships. That’s their interest, let them do what they want and don’t attack them... we all have our personal reasons for stuff!!!

[consumatesurvivor]

Would You Recognize Domestic Abuse?

Helpguide.org has an article titled Domestic Violence and Abuse Recognizing the Signs of an Abusive Relationship and Getting Help.  I urge everyone to read it, or any like it, just to make sure you're aware of what is an abusive relationship.  I went through the questions and thought I'd share them and why I dismissed some and shouldn't have.  I wasn't naïve about abusive relationships, but I did compare mine with others who were in a much more physically violent relationships and that was wrong.  I'm sure there are others in similar situations that need to get out but they aren't fully there to accepting it.  Maybe this can help someone.

Do you feel afraid of your partner much of the time?  This was a no for me because I understood feeling afraid as being afraid of being hit.  In fact I was afraid of being yelled at and getting into a fight most of the time.  I was constantly afraid I'd do something to upset him.  So while I said no, the real answer was yes because I was walking on eggshells around him.

Do you avoid certain topics out of fear of angering your partner?  Big yes on this one.  I knew that unless something didn't pertain to exactly what he was doing right then and there he would scream at me if I spoke to him.  I knew any talk of the news would trigger a fight.  I knew any talk of anything I was interested would trigger a fight.  Most of the time I knew that by saying "Hi" it would trigger a fight.  Even in the beginning I knew of some things I needed to stay away from because of his reactions.  

Do you feel that you can't do anything right for your partner?  This was another big yes.  In the beginning it was small things a few weeks ago it was bigger things.  He yelled at me so much and got so nasty when I attempted to cook myself spaghetti that I stopped eating to avoid being yelled at.  I would only get one meal a day as it was, but I stopped eating after that huge fight over the time it took to cook spaghetti, the only food in the kitchen for me to have.  When I didn't eat he yelled at me for not eating.  When I said there was nothing easy to eat he screamed about going to the store, but he didn't go.  When I said I would go he yell at me.  Then he yelled at me for going to the store when he finally went.  When I said I'd order groceries for myself and have them delivered, he yelled at me and strictly prohibited it.  He gave excuses for everything.  But no matter what, I couldn't do right.  

Do you believe that you deserve to be hurt or mistreated?  No.  I never believed I should be treated that way.  He did however.  It was a reoccurring fight of ours.  I believed I deserved common courtesy and he believed I didn't deserve that or any effort into being nice to me.  He firmly believed I was only owed being treated like crap because anything else would mean he was a itch with the b or a doormat.

Do you wonder if you’re the one who is crazy?  Yes.  All the time.  He'd read psychology textbooks and twist what was said and try to use it against me.  I know I have my own issues and while some times he really missed the mark, other times he really made me doubt myself.  He tried to convince me that I was the one who was abusive to him.  He actually accused his last girlfriend of it and now I really wonder about all his accusations about her.

Do you feel emotionally numb or helpless?  Yes.  There was no way I could change the situation.  I would try to reason with him but just fail.  When I got through to him and he eased up the next morning he'd be mad again and accuse me of manipulating him.  I had no light at the end of the tunnel.  I had no way out.  I just lived each day as it was and hoped for the best for that day.  When I went to bed I didn't care if I even woke up the next morning.

Does your partner humiliate or yell at you?  The humiliation is a hard one.  He yelled at me more than anything else.  The humiliation didn't come until recently.  He would "tease" me and those things hurt.  I thought it was just part of his joking sense of humor.  But I think that was part of my blinders.  He makes fun of that which he doesn't like.  He's very anti-American.  At his core he hopes the whole country goes up in flames.  I didn't realize this at first.  He was always joking about America and if I got upset when he crossed a line he would blame me for being too sensitive (an American trait as he'd say).  It wasn't until I was into the marriage for a while that I realized his teases and jokes like that were only focused on that which he hated.  So I think I had blinders on when he made fun of me.  

Does your partner criticize you and put you down?  Yes.  Especially in the last year it's been more than anything nice he's ever done.  During our last few fights he said some of the worst things ever imaginable.  I remember a fight months and months ago where I told him he was crossing a huge line and he said he wasn't.  Even when I told him he was meaner and said things worse than the elementary school bullies ever did, he didn't care.  He loved to put me down.

Does your partner treat you so badly that you’re embarrassed for your friends or family to see?  Yes.  Not that they would see it.  But I remember calling my Mom and him throwing a fit.  We had one phone in the apartment and it was on his desk.  In order to call my Mom he would have to be displaced.  I rarely called her when he was home.  In fact I can count on one hand how many times I used the phone while he was here in the entire 5 years I was married to him and have fingers left over.  I would call my mom when he was gone in the evening with friends, which happened in the summers only.  The last time I tried when he was there was years ago and he was being so whiny about it that I had to explain to my mother his reaction.  I sugar coated it by saying he'd feel bad later and we'd laugh it off.  It was true, but only in the first two years did he feel bad and say it.  After that if he felt bad he'd take it out on me instead of admit he was wrong.  The laughing was to diffuse so he wouldn't turn angry.  I didn't find it funny.  I found it scary actually.  I knew then he was limiting my ability at communication with the outside world.

Does your partner ignore or put down your opinions or accomplishments?  Yes.  My degree is meaningless in his eyes because it doesn't compare to his.  Graduating with honors was meaningless because it was just a stupid fake US university.  My writing is meaningless because well… I did it and not him.  I could go on and on.  He would challenge every opinion I had and argue them even when they were the same as his.  My opinions were meaningless because I didn't read the same books as he did so he said.  He never cared what I thought unless he was testing me.  Then I'd always fail in his eyes.  Even when I got the proof to back it up it was still meaningless.

Does your partner blame you for their own abusive behavior?  Yes.  I was playing the victim.  I was manipulating him.  He wasn't stopping me from doing anything I was just being lazy and blaming it on him.  I was "a mental case."  I didn't deserve politeness because I once laughed at him or stole mail or insert other weird random thing he made up on the spot.  I was actually the abuser and he was afraid of me.

Does your partner see you as property or a sex object, rather than as a person?  He didn't view me as a person, that's for sure.  But I'm not sure it was as property.  It was more like the enemy.  He never cared about me during sex.  There was no emotion to it or tenderness at all.  It was all about getting him off and if it hurt me who cares.  I refused sex the last two times he asked.  This was something he threw in my face recently screaming about how he was in a sexless marriage.  Yeah so asking me twice in the last three years, once when I had a pulled muscle in my back or I probably would have said yes just to get him to leave me alone, was his reason he hated me.  He did say he liked porn better because it didn't require negotiation and communication.  (I'm going to add something here.  I'm rereading this and I realize he did treat me as property, but he did it in a joking way at first.  He actually used to joke about chaining me to the kitchen to prevent me from leaving.  It was a joke.  But it wasn't a joke because that's what he did only to the bedroom.  There was no chain, but I bet if he could have gotten away with it he would have done it.)

Does your partner have a bad and unpredictable temper?  Yes.  You never know when he will get angry.  He got so angry with me shortly after we were married because I suggested he get a starter fishing kit.  He used to fish and loved it.  His mother threw away his stuff because she was tired of it at her place.  Because I suggested getting new stuff he yelled at me and berated me for the idea because he was upset at his mother.  When his brother mentioned it then it was a great idea.  He had a very unpredictable temper and he could even resort to breaking or kicking things in his rages.

Does your partner hurt you, or threaten to hurt or kill you?  The last fight we had he screamed, "I'm going to kill you now."  It was after the second time he was physically abusive to me in the fight and he was preventing me from calling the police.  Until that fight I would have answered no to physically hurting me or threatening me.

Does your partner threaten to take your children away or harm them?  I have no kids.  So silver lining in that although I wouldn't have stayed with him if we had kids and I wouldn't have moved in with him if I had kids previously.

Does your partner threaten to commit suicide if you leave?  No.

Does your partner force you to have sex?  No.

Does your partner destroy your belongings?  Yes he has although he doesn't target them.  He just breaks anything in his path.  I've learned about his anger so I have tried to keep my things separate just in case and those that mean the most to me were packed away.

Does your partner act excessively jealous and possessive?  Yes, but he wasn't with me because I was trapped in the bedroom.  He broke up with his ex because she was cheating on him.  Well… he claims she was.  She called a friend of hers by a meme and he said that was proof she was cheating.  He just had no clue what a meme was or that the honey badger thing was a meme.  But he was always worried about it with her.  Since he was the only person she'd ever been with I doubt she was cheating.  He was cheating on her though with several people and many prostitutes.

Does your partner control where you go or what you do?  Yes.  Just, yes.

Does your partner keep you from seeing your friends or family?  Yes.

Does your partner limit your access to money, the phone, or the car?  Yes.  We didn't have a car, but I had no access to the home phone, no cell phone, he wouldn't allow me to spend my money, and he wouldn't spend his money on me.  It wasn't like that in the beginning with the money though.  It got worse over time to the point where he wouldn't allow me to buy my own groceries with my own money.

Does your partner constantly check up on you? Yes.  Even thought I was in the bedroom he'd come in and see what I was doing and yell at me if I wasn't writing.  Even if I was researching something I was writing about he'd yell at me for it.

There are a lot more yeses in there than I had originally thought there would be.  I would rationalize and diminish some of them because I was using his excuses to justify the behavior.  In fact that's a tactic of abusers, denial and blame.  I allowed him to treat me horribly in the beginning of our relationship because of this.  It was a huge red flag I didn't see and didn't know back then.  I knew what he was doing was wrong, but not how he handled it afterwards.  Maybe if I did I would have changed the course of my life.  

According to the article the tactics an abuser will use include, dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, and denial and blame.  My husband used so many of these over me.  I should have seen this from the start because he did start in on me in the beginning.  I couldn't see it and I don't know why.  No one else who I was close to at that time pointed it out to me either.  The closest I got was once my mother said she was worried I'd get hurt.  I had a friend who should have known all about this because of her degree, but she didn't say anything or she didn't recognize it.  If I didn't, why should she?  We should all know about abusive relationships even if it's to spot on our friend is in.  

People who are being abused may seem afraid or anxious to please their partner, may go along with everything their partner says and does, may check in often with their partner to report where they are and what they're doing, may receive frequent, harassing phone calls from their partner, and may talk about their partner's temper, jealousy, or possessiveness.

People who are being physically abused may have frequent injuries, with the excuse of “accidents,” frequently miss work, school, or social occasions, without explanation, dress in clothing designed to hide bruises or scars (e.g. wearing long sleeves in the summer or sunglasses indoors.)

People who are being isolated by their abuser may be restricted from seeing family and friends, rarely go out in public without their partner, have limited access to money, credit cards, or the car.

People who are being abused may have very low self-esteem, even if they used to be confident, show major personality changes (e.g. an outgoing person becomes withdrawn), be depressed, anxious, or suicidal.

I always felt I wouldn't put up with an abusive spouse.  But I did for years.  They don't start off completely controlling and abusive, it starts small and slow and they work you into a situation where you're stuck and you're fully enmeshed into this horribly abusive situation.  Your confidence and self-esteem are shattered.  You blame yourself.  You feel ashamed and embarrassed.  When you want out you can't find a way to go.  You feel completely and totally trapped.  What I needed more than anything was a way out.  If I knew I had people who would help me, I would have left years ago.  I didn't think I had that.  I didn't think I had that until my mother told me I needed to come home and live with her to get back on my feet.  

If you're in an abusive relationship, reach out to your friends and family even if you haven't spoken to them in years.  Call the domestic abuse hotlines and talk to someone about your situation and find out what you can do.  If you have a friend you think is in an abusive relationship, reach out and let them know that no matter what you'll be there for them and help them whenever or if ever they need it.