#I didn't want to spread hate nor controversy

[amatsuchan-eiliniel]

Maybe I should talk to her in DMs, I saw her vent post and the answer on this drama and I feel bad for putting """hate""" over her (NOT HATE, I'M NOT SPREADING HATE PLS DON'T HARRASS HER!!). But I don't want you to be like "she's saying something and then she just changes side because of a vent post". The thing is I'm too kind/respectful to not just pass through a vent as if nothing happened. My purpose was to warn, not to prove hate or spreading bad things so much that her mental health is impacted. The thing is I'm still hesitating because I do have trust issues...

[penguwastaken]

Danganronpa's Most Misunderstood Mastermind

*Obvious spoiler warning for Danganronpa 3, go watch it it's awesome

Danganronpa 3 is one of the more controversial entries in the series. While I'm not here to discuss all of the decisions it's made (many of which I think get way more hate in the fandom than they deserve), I do want to talk about one thing in particular that many seem to dislike: the mastermind.

In Danganronpa 3, we discover that the chairman of the Future Foundation, Kazuo Tengan, organized the killing game in order to manipulate Ryota Mitarai into releasing the Hope Video to create a world without despair, or rather without conflict.

Many criticize Tengan for seeming inconsistent in his motives or having an unnecessarily complicated plan. People have even gone around spreading the narrative that Kodaka himself was disappointed in Tengan being revealed as the mastermind, which makes no sense because not only is there no source to this, Kodaka himself literally worked on Danganronpa 3.

In my opinion, I feel like many of these criticisms are either unfounded or come from a poor understanding of the character. With this giant post I hope that maybe I can try helping people understand the point of Kazuo Tengan.

The Man Before

Before we discuss Tengan as the chairman of Future Foundation and mastermind of the killing game, it's best to understand his origins and where he came from.

Tengan was formerly the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy before being succeeded by Jin Kirigiri, afterwards becoming the school's advisor. This is the first instance we see of a core trait of his, that being his distaste for conflict.

In his artbook profile, his dislikes are listed as just "conflict." His personality description reads:

"Former headmaster of Kibougamine. A good-natured old man who currently works as an advisor at the school. He understands what the academy is aiming to do, but questions if it’s true hope. He wants the main and prep school students alike to enjoy carefree school lives." -Translation Source

Tengan wants everyone to live a carefree life free of conflict, this is what hope is to Tengan. As an advisor, Tengan is able to voice his opinions on issues regarding school, particularly ones about the school's vision and ideology.

Tengan believes that hope comes from a world without conflict, one of peace. To him, conflict just creates despair.

Tengan questions many of the decisions made by Hope's Peak, and is personally against the Kamukura project. However, as just an advisor, he never forces his hand and gives Hajime the choice of whether or not he wants to participate on the project on his own. This ties into Tengan's core trait of hating conflict, allowing Hajime to make his own choice but still trying to persuade him into making a certain choice.

The Tragedy

Unfortunately as every one knows, Junko's plan succeeded and the world was plunged into despair.

Tengan made the decision to stay outside of Hope's Peak and help fight against despair, doing whatever he could in order to end the conflict.

The war began to take a toll on Tengan. He knew that all the fighting that the Future Foundation couldn't end the war. After all, violence creates more despair.

When Kyosuke asks Tengan why he changed, he simply responds with "Because I learned the way that we're doing things now will not eliminate despair."

Now the question is, how exactly did Tengan change? What made him become a "coward?"

It's revealed that before the killing game, Tengan obtained the despair video and watched it by his own volition as a last ditch effort to end the war. He knew that the conflict wouldn't end just by constantly fighting, so in a way this was him giving in. And with that, the old Tengan was gone, and he became another Remnant of Despair.

The Man After

Despite being brainwashed and having his mind reconditioned in the same as Class 77, he didn't align with their goals nor was he even a part of them. While his mind was twisted, his core traits and ideals remained.

It's worth noting that being brainwashed doesn't completely change who you are as a person. Just like how Nagito obsession with hope remained as a remnant, Tengan's desire to end conflict remained as well. The difference is that their methods became more extreme and subconsciously reflected despair more than hope.

As despair Tengan, he would go to whatever lengths it necessary to achieve "true hope," or in his eyes, peace.

In Danganronpa Gaiden, Tengan tells Kyosuke to let Misaki and Takumi decide what they want to do.

However, Tengan slips a bomb into Misaki's pocket as an extreme measure. As despair Tengan, he didn't lose the side of him that lets people choose what they wish to do, what changed is his method of persuading people getting more extreme.

The Final Plan to End All Conflict

During this time, Tengan began working on the plan that would end all conflict and despair once and for all. The war wouldn't end the way things were going, and more fighting would pointless. However, the perfect opportunity fell into his hands.

Tengan had discovered that Ryota not only developed the technology used in the Despair and Suicide videos, but that he was also working on a brand new Hope Video as well. With this, Tengan could put an end to the war once and for all.

With his immense power in the Future Foundation, he was able to make changes to the building in order to set up his very own automated killing game. He would take advantage of Makoto Naegi's trial to bring the top members of Future Foundation in one place, only to gas them and trap them in a killing game. Through word of mouth, Ryota would discover the killing game and release the Hope Video in order to end everything. Why did he choose to do it like this instead of just stealing the video? Well, it's pretty simple.

Looking at it realistically, tension was already brewing amongst Future Foundation. The chances of someone like Kyosuke who already wanted Tengan dead getting in the way were too high, so getting them out of the way so that way they can't affect his plan was important.

More importantly though, he wanted to give Ryota a choice. As we saw with the board of trustees, Hajime, Takumi, and Misaki, Tengan wants people to choose what he believes is true hope on their own. However, he's not opposed to persuasion, and as despair Tengan, his methods have only gotten more extreme. Obviously Ryota wouldn't possibly say no in a situation like this, and that was Tengan's plan.

Unfortunately Tengan made one mistake, Ryota showed up to the meeting uninvited. Unfortunately the word of mouth that Tengan intended to use to get Ryota to discover the killing game ended up causing Ryota to find out about the meeting and go there.

Unfortunately, once the gas was automatically released, Tengan couldn't just cancel the killing game, and it would be suspicious if everyone but Ryota vanished. As a result, he had to bring Ryota along with them and give him the wristband that was meant to be used for Yasuhiro.

The wristband prevented Ryota from using his talent, which may seem backwards on the surface, however it makes more sense when you think about it. If Ryota used his talent to make everyone stop fighting, then that would completely screw up the killing game.

So Tengan opted to protect Ryota until the killing game ended, and when he died, he left a message for Ryota inspiring him.

It's worth noting that Tengan didn't intend for the killing game to last forever. He knew at some point they'd regain connection with the outside world or discover the breaker room, which he intentionally hid behind an exit door to bait people to it. His plan was just to have it last long enough for Ryota to release the Hope Video without anything getting in his way. But now with Ryota with him, his plan shifted to protecting Ryota until the game ended.

But things were different now, Tengan was affected by the virus known as despair. Whether he was conscious of it or not, his plan to get rid of all conflict, to eliminate all despair, was just another form of despair in itself. Tengan's plan would inadvertantly bring more despair than hope.

And that is the very nature of Kazuo Tengan's plan! (dun dun dun)

So Basically

Tengan was a man who believed that true hope came from peace. His distaste for conflict was the driving force for many of his actions. While he encouraged people making their own choices, he aimed to persuade people into picking what he perceived as true hope.

When he was brainwashed as a result of his own desperation, his methods became more extreme and twisted and he didn't even realize. He believed that everything he did was for the greater good, to end all conflict, even if he had to manipulate people and go to extreme lengths to do it.

That's why Kazuo Tengan is such a great mastermind. In the end, Tengan's goal was to end all conflict and create what he thought was true hope. However his nature as a despair betrayed him, and unbeknownst to him, he would actually be creating another form of despair.

Conclusion

I feel like a lot of people underappreciate Tengan. In my opinion, he's such a cool character and belongs next to Junko, Izuru, and Monaca when discussing the masterminds of the Hope's Peak saga.

If I were to try to guess what caused Tengan to be so disliked, I'd say it has to be due to the quality of the dub which makes him more difficult to understand along with Danganronpa 3's (honestly undeserved) reputation in general.

There's a lot of really cool things about Tengan, like just how awesome it is that he's an old man with his chuusen. But unfortunately, he's just seen as the forgetable funny old guy from Danganronpa 3.

Maybe with this thread I was able to persuade you into reconsidering. However, in the spirit of Tengan, that's a choice for you to make. I'll still give my input though :)

[just-another-boring-bisexual]

I Saw Priscilla so You Don't Have To: A Review

Before I begin, I should say a few things.

First, there will definitely be spoilers for Priscilla (2023). I'll try not to give too much away, but instead, do so in a way to add context. Second, I am not a Priscilla hater, but I'm not a stan, either. I can acknowledge that neither Elvis nor Priscilla were perfect, and that both made mistakes regarding their relationship. Finally, this is my opinion. I may reference other works, including Elvis (2022), but do not intend to tear one down in order to build up another. You are free to disagree with anything I say, all I ask is that you do so respectfully and don't spread hate.

That being said, let's get into the review!

The first thing I should note is that even if you didn't know who the director was, you'd still be able to tell it was a Sofia Coppola picture. Much like with Baz Luhrmann's Elvis (2022), there's a strong emphasis on the visual aesthetic of this world. Through Sofia's lens, the realm of Graceland feels more grounded and feminine. It honestly ticks all the boxes of a Sofia Coppola film, including regularly utilized elements such as:

The female protagonist/feminine perspective

A coming of age

Visual montage

Prominent soundtrack

The ups and downs of relationships

While the story arc revolves around Priscilla maturing into adulthood, the pacing felt a bit unbalanced for me. For the first half of the film, she's a teenager, and the following decade is briskly told through the last hour. The script tends to focus on the more intimate moments between her and Elvis, so several several major events happen in just a few shots (ex. the wedding, Lisa Marie's birth, Priscilla and Mike Stone, etc.) I get that not everything from Priscilla's book would be present in the film, but I feel like a greater balance could have been exercised.

Next, I should talk about the casting. I feel like Cailee Spaeny did a fine job as Priscilla. Even though she's the main character, I don't feel like I have much else to say about her beyond the fact that she's able to convey Priscilla's growth over the decade and a half span.

Now let's talk about Jacob Elordi.

While he's definitely a different Elvis from Austin Butler's interpretation, I didn't hate Elordi as much as I initially though I would. Since most of the scenes follow Elvis and Priscilla's day-to-day life as a couple, there are far fewer demands of Elordi's character than there are of Butler's. Despite the few flare-ups, his character feels very understated throughout the entire movie. One thing I should note is his constant mumbling; if you have auditory processing issues like me, you're definitely going to miss a few of his lines.

There's definitely been some controversy over how Elvis would be portrayed in this film, and I feel that, in that sense, the movie's going to play out a bit like Barbie, where what you anticipate from it is what you're going to get. For those going in believing the film will expose Elvis as an abusive p*do, then that's what they're going to take from it (even though they show several scenes where Elvis decides not to have sex with Priscilla before their marriage). For the people who have read Priscilla's book and are familiar with the story, it will feel a lot like her book. The main thing is that context is key. Since I'm already very familiar with the story and events, I found myself filling in the blanks in some places. I can only wonder how those going into this with no frame of reference will interpret the final result, especially since the movie ends so ambiguously (After telling Elvis that she wants a divorce, the final scene shows Priscilla saying goodbye to the women she was closest with at Graceland and driving through the gates while Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" plays).

There are a few scenes that depict the darker side of Elvis, but the film was honestly tamer than I expected. Some of the scenes included are the pillow fight, him threatening to send her back to her parents, and the disagreement over his songs. While he loses his temper each time, he immediately apologizes after. The bible study scene shows a devastated Priscilla rush off to the bedroom, but dosen't show anything beyond that. The climax includes the infamous "r*pe" scene, but the action never goes beyond kissing. Overall, the content felt very tame considering the film's R rating (they honestly could have cut one of the two uses of "fuck" and slid with a PG-13 rating). I feel that this tameness is to allow the film to be more palatable to a general audience that may only have a base level of knowledge about Priscilla and Elvis. Elvis' use of baby-talk is heavily toned down, and the dialogue really pulls its weight when trying to provide context and add references.

There are a few things from the book that either I was expecting to be included, or had hoped would be present. While not pleasant, I was expecting "Kurt" to be present in some capacity (they most likely wouldn't show anything onscreen, but enough to get the point across). I talked about the bible scene already, but I expected them to go all the way (assuming the R rating wouldn't have been as tame as it was). I was hoping the interaction between Priscilla and Jerry would have been present, but this did not happen. In fact, all of the Memphis Mafia members almost feel like a faceless mass, like none of them have distinctive identities (I did enjoy the instances of them horsing around and being dumbasses together). The Circle G Ranch is never mentioned, which I found odd, considering in her book, Priscilla talked a lot about their experiences on the ranch after the marriage, and how she enjoyed it so much (I would have at least enjoyed the lasagna scene). The main thing that bothered me was the under-utilization of Dodger (or whoever that generic southern grandma was, because she sure wasn't Dodger). While Priscilla also develops bonds with Patsy, Alberta, and the other wives (if Joanie and Sandy hadn't been named, I wouldn't have realized they were even in this movie), More could've been done with Dodger. In the book, Dodger plays a bigger role in Priscilla's time at Graceland, acting as a grandmother figure and providing context about Elvis. Overall, I would have liked to have seen Priscilla develop closer bonds to the women of Graceland, but there's only so much that can be explored in a limited amount of time.

I will note a few things I did enjoy. Like I said earlier, the visual aesthetic is strong, but one thing I particularly enjoyed were the home movie scenes. The frame was squared, the edges were fuzzy, and it really gave that intimate feel of discovering some lost home movies. I also enjoyed some little details present (Elvis' reading glasses make an appearance!), but these moments feel few and far between.

Overall, I feel like one's own frame of reference and attitudes towards the subjects will heavily influence how one views this movie. Everyone will have something different to say about it, and that's perfectly fine.

[thegreatallie]

I wanna share a tip I learned about online arguments I picked up back in the pre-covid days when I used to argue with anti-vaxxers online (I had to stop because I didn't understand nearly as much about the covid vaccine as I did about, like MMR vaccine and stuff, so I didn't want to spread misinformation by arguing with incorrect information.)

The first tip is, don't get into arguments online. Seriously. Self-care is not getting into arguments with irrational people over the internet.

The second tip is, don't argue to convince the person you're arguing with, argue to convince the onlookers.

Think about it. When you argue with a brick wall, you get frustrated and angry. You will get rude and start dishing out what you think are snappy one-liners that really don't sound as good to others as they do to you in the moment. You'll probably resort to name-calling and insults. And no matter how cathartic it is, in the end, no one is convinced and you got yourself all worked up instead of doing something productive.

But look, here's a snippit of an alien conversation about a controversial product called Zarfloos that the aliens buy because it makes their lives significantly easier. But you come across two aliens arguing and it sounds like this.

Alien 1: People who buy Zarfloos hate the indigenous population of Zimbo and are committing genocide!

Aleiln 2: People who tell you not to buy Zarfloos are trying to commit eugenics against the disabled because they can't exist in society without them!

So are you pro-Zarfloos or anti-Zarfloos? Do you hate disabled people, who need Zarfloos to live? Or do you hate indigenous people, who are being murdered for these Zarfloos? One thing's for sure, neither of these aliens have changed their minds nor are they going to.

But look at this argument:

Alien 1: People who buy Zarfloos hate the indigenous population of Zimbo and are committing genocide!

Alien 2: That's a misconception. The indigenous Zimbos are actually the ones in charge of the production of Zarfloos. They aren't being exploited; they're using their resources to create a product that then injects a significant cash flow into their economy and helps lift the poorest of them out of poverty.

Furthermore, since the introduction of Zarfloos, aliens with Srub-Nar Syndrome have been immensely helped. Previously unemployment among the population was at 86%, but since the introduction of the Zarfloos, it's dropped to 21%. They're now able to work and live independently whereas before they would have to spend their lives with family or in care homes instead of having a home of their own. Furthermore, they're reporting less pain, more ease of movement, and overall an improved quality of life.

Alien 1: You're a fascist! Go commit self-unaliving!

Okay. So you check out all those blue words and they're links to news sources you trust, and when you read the articles they back up what Alien 2 was saying.

Tell me: based on the second conversation, do you think purchasing Zarfloos is ethical? Probably, right? But do you think Alien 1 has changed his mind? Obviously not.

Alien 2 knows that Alien 1 doesn't care about what he's saying. But he knows scores of people will see this argument because it's on a post that's on the front page of Alien Reddit. At least some of those people will be coming into this having little exposure to the Zarfloos argument, and if they see Alien 2's reasonable, well-thought-out argument, they'll walk away thinking, "Man, Alien 1 and people against Zarfloos are idiots." So in a way, Alien 2 won the argument, just not in the way you'd expect.

You might think this doesn't work for big picture items. Like, obviously, you're not going to meet a lot of people who are undecided on the whole "is racism bad or good" thing. But the thing is, a lot of people who are racist don't consider their behavior actually racist, and don't actually want to BE racist. They just say things that are racist because they literally were never called out on it. And a lot of people still don't understand the tiny minutiae of racial politics. So you're not actually arguing "Racism is bad!" "Um, racism is good, actually," what you'd really be arguing is, "Race-blind voice casting is the preferable way to get the best actor for the job" vs "Choosing actors based on the character's race is an excellent way to uplift marginalized communities." Plenty of people haven't given this topic enough thought to be rabidly on either side. And when you meet people like that, you absolutely don't want their introduction to the topic to involve you screaming and hurling insults at someone even if they really do deserve it. I mean, come on. He had it coming.

So in conclusion, argue to convince the spectators. Imagine you're a university lecturer with a heckler, rather than two dogs fighting over a fanbelt. You'd be surprised how many people you'll convince that way.

[dlamp-dictator]

"A public apology or admittance of all the skeletons in the closet, controversies, and other mistakes recently made would go a long way in rebuilding goodwill with me. As much as I would like see to see a rehiring of fired artists I know some of those folks might had broken NDAs to speak out and professionally that wouldn't be a good look to ignore, so maybe a quiet and private restitution for those effected would be a good way of good PR." -Allen X, September 3rd, 2023

Welp... looks like I gotta' answer for myself, huh?

Okay, so been debating this one for awhile now too, but thankfully this took a lot less deliberation, namely because I had the intention to way a few days before talking about it. For those new a quick recap.

About 2-ish months ago the video game company Project Moon, develops of games such as Library of Ruina, Lobotomy Corporation, and most recently the gacha game Limbus Company, had been bombarded with a number of controversies including the firing of a beloved artist, several other artists involved with the company coming out to admit the company's mismanagement, the removal of certain side materials and content, and a few other major things I personally haven't been keeping up with nor care to discuss in detail. This had led to a mass boycott/protests against Project Moon's latest game, Limbus Company by what has mostly been the Korea fanbase for a while now, but several Westerners, myself included, have also taken a step back away from the game in either solidarity of the cause or wanting to stay away from a game that is actively losing profit and could shut down in the next few months due to the massive profit dip.

As of two months later, the loss of about a third of their profits (depending on the source) and Tokyo Game Show going in full swing drawing further eyes on them, the company has finally spoken about the issues that had happened during the summer event and gave official apologies on it, promising to do better with how they manage things going forth.

That's the general situation as far as I care to look into it and this post is mostly me backing up my own words that I said early this month. Now that Project Moon has officially apologized how do I feel and do I think it's worth coming back?

Short Version: Yeah, this is more or less fine... For now.

Long Version: Well... it's more complicated than that.

To repeat, I did wait about a week or so after this apology came out because a lot of things tend to get lost in the noise of fandom and tensions get high for really dumb reasons. Also, needed to make sure things didn't explode further or another necromancer decided make Project Moon's skeletons start Cossack Dancing out of their closet again before I could get a word in. Especially given how Tumblr and Twitter work in terms of mob mentality I'm glad I waited a minute before posting. But with that all said here's the general rundown of the apology (link here for those curious):

An admittance that bad things happened and that they offended certain parties to the point of feeling pressured to let go of vital staff/contractors.

An admittance that said bad things were due to cyberbullying and other online attacks via social media.

An admittance to a spread of misinformation that lead oversea fans to come to conclusions of varying levels of accuracy.

An overall apology for the mishandling and harm said issues have happened to both staff and fans.

A promise to take a harder stance against cyberbullying and spreading of misinformation, including legal action (I believe Korea has some stricter laws against cyberbullying than the US) if need be.

A denouncement/non-endorsement of hateful ideologies and promise to do better in the future with their management of employees.

These are all the basic gist of what was said. This basically covers everything I wanted them to cover in an apology back when the month started (and if this also comes with another free 1300 lunacy down the line I won't complain either), but the important thing in terms of criticism is that the overall wording of the apology is very vague. Personally, I think this is about as direct an apology as we're going to get from a company, but I also know that this is written with enough wiggle room that this is either everything I personally wanted to hear from Project Moon, or a general smokescreen that is worded with just enough admittance that they take minimal heat for it. I'm an optimist, so I'm looking to the former, but I don't blame anyone for thinking the latter. Not to mention the way they discuss the use of legal action in terms of cyberbullying and misinformation is a bit suspect as well. It's to the point that several parties and groups can and have come to different opinions and conclusions on this apology.

While I have came to the conclusion that Project Moon is, if not remorseful, then at least savvy enough to understand they needed to say something in terms of admitting fault to get their customers back, I still understand if some people see this more as a company getting their arm twisted and grunting out a few vague words of apology to get people back into spending money on their product again.

For me, this is... enough. For now. I'm taking the stance of the Youth Union: I'll buy it for now, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open for future misdeeds if news comes my way. I completely understand if folks are wanting more, either a more direct apology, some actual proper action done about the misinformation and aforementioned hate groups, them admitting their losing money with all this happening, so on and so forth. This is one of the more popular Korea companies with a global audience, so they should have the influence to do something like that. However, I also know barring an actual lawsuit this is probably the most to expect from a corporation in terms of actions taken.

I'm... willing to accept this for now. My previous points still stand though. Canto V needs to be a 12/10 for this game to truly make a comback, and Project Moon should probably keep it's head down after the TGS ends and stay quiet and peaceful until that update is ready. This game still lost a lot of profit and trust is earned, not bought. But for now... I'm willing to at least redownload the game check things out again. Again, this is... enough. For now.

For those still on the fence I believe the second legal entity that could be an actual threat to Project Moon has finally gotten the funds together for a proper lawsuit and you can just wait until that to fully goes through and see what happens. I'll equally say that for those still hardline against continue to stay away from this game to just ask yourself what you want from the company and what will it take to bring you back. If your faith is truly crushed and you have no interest in Project Moon anymore then I recommend going to games like Arknights, or Monster Hunter, or even Eternal Return, all fun games with a pretty decent gameplay loop that's worth playing.

As for me, the Mirror Dungeon is calling and there's still enough time for me to at least get Molar Yi Sang for the log-in event. I feel okay enough about this game to actively do that overview I was wanting to write months ago and I'll happily start working on that this week with all the other stuff I'm writing doesn't wear me out first. Until then, I'll see you folks later.

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

I recently read the A Court Of Thorns And Roses series and am currently on A court of silver flames and i just wanna ask.....why is the ACOTAR fandom filled with so much hate? Like there's people hating on Nesta or on Elain or on Feyre and Rhys. I don't get it.

Oh my, welcome to the chaotic ACOTAR fandom 😁

Let me start with the fact that I don't pay much attention to the hate ACOTAR gets because I love the series and I don't want to let anyone attempt to ruin the series for me.

But to help you out a bit, I will list a couple of things just so you know what the fandom is having issues with. Most of these are from what I know from reddit, tumblr and tiktok. I will also add some links so you can dig deeper.

These are not my opinion, unless stated otherwise, I'm simply telling you what I know from others.

HEAVY SPOILERS!

“Reading is my therapy” masterlist

So let's begin;

Sarah J. Maas and/or ACOTAR Source: Caitlin Alicea / Reddit

SJM gets lot of hate for lacking diversity in her books. One issue that most people have is the fact that other than one or two of her characters, most of her characters are pale and light skinned, but even when she has POC characters, they are killed off [Throne of glass]. This obviously created controversy around the author.

Another issue is with the lack of LGBTQ+ representation. There are two characters— if I recall correctly— who have been mentioned briefly or in a bit more detail as LGBTQ+ characters, but even in those cases many feels it's only for the sake of writing LGBTQ+ characters not to actually give a proper representation.

Obviously the above mentioned created a lot of backlash that SJM should consider, because indeed her books could use more diverse representation. However, if you ask me, she did not deserve the death threats and public videos of people burning her books, nor did her fans deserve the death threats and bullying comments for buying her books. Unfortunately, the more popular you are, the bigger the backlash is, but I don't believe that the answer lies in bullying and cancel culture whether towards the authors or their fans.

Feyre Source: Reddit

Well, there was some controversy over how she "revenged" Tamlin, because whilst he did some shitty things, people expected more from Feyre, they expected her to be more mature and not to lower herself to that level. Some even thought that it was mean of her to leave the Spring court in ruin even though Tamlin helped in the war and in saving Rhys. In which case she promised to do anything, which came off as empty words in the end. I guess this also depends on how much people like/hate Tamlin, but she spread lies, ruined his court, turned his allies against him and not everyone liked to see this side of Feyre.

Then there were issues around that fact that she expected loyalty in an entitled way. Such as expecting Lucien to turn against Tamlin, the man who saved him and offered him a home. She also made Mor choose between her and Rhys when he told her about the mating bond and made Mor keep her whereabouts a secret. Many felt that these actions from her were uncalled for as she expected people who had hundreds of years old bonds to choose her over others.

Besides, I've read a couple of comments about her being all up in other's business all the time, which irritated them when they read the books.

Rhysand Source: Reddit

Well, one of the most significant issues people had with him included him forcing Feyre to basically wear nothing, dance like a puppy, get drunk and many felt that him touching her inappropriately under the mountain was SA.

Also even though him and Tamlin had a horrible past where both families hurt each other, people hated that Rhys "kicked" Tamlin down even when he was heavily depress and let himself go and Rhys didn't help him even after Tamlin helped him come back to life.

Another issue people have with him is the fact that he kept the dangers of Feyre's pregnancy away from her. He always said that everything is Feyre's choice and he would never decide anything for her, but he still ended up keeping her and Nyx's potential death a secret until Nesta came along and opened her mouth.

Besides, to list some other things; people didn't like him using the woman in his court to dress up and act all sexy to distract his enemies, repeatedly entering people's mind, hence summer court incident, even though he keeps saying how much he respects boundaries, and basically threatening everyone, including Lucian and Nesta etc. even when there was no reason for it.

Nesta Source: Reddit / Reddit

One of the reasons is that she let Feyre do the hard work at a young age and basically feed them and keep them alive whilst she was sitting at home doing nothing. And many times she treats Feyre horribly for no reason. Most people found her behaviour uncalled for and very rude and can't excuse her behaviour even if others say it's because she expresses her emotions differently and deals with her trauma differently.

Besides she was also very mean to Elain in the last book, even though she is her favourite sister if we can say that. Which many took very badly and further grew the hate towards Nesta.

She also treated her own mate, Cassian like he was nothing but a body to f*ck and only kept him around when she needed him and pushed him away when she didn't want him around. This also caused issues because many felt it was selfish of her.

Elain Source: Reddit

One answer I found was her passive behaviour and sheltered upbringing by the other sisters. Also she is not getting punished for her flaws like the other characters. She didn't help Feyre just like Nesta when she kept the family alive, still people excused her behaviour because she is just Elain with her cute gardening and because she realised what they did was wrong. Some people think that her recognising their wrongdoing and apologising is not enough. People feel like she is treated like some cute doll because she is pretty and a little naive and they don't like how just because she is described as the sweet sister, everything is basically forgiven when it comes to her.

She was also rude to Lucien even though he had given her space and tried only getting closer to her on occasions and even then he kept his distance.

Besides, Nesta was always beside her, helping her and protecting her, but she didn't help her getting over her trauma or even recognising her sister's mental state which some people took negatively.

Other issues

Also people think Gwyn is going to be like Ianthe and so that's one reason they hate on her and also Elain x Az fans don't want her to be with Azriel for obvious reason, whilst Gwyn fans has a dislike for Elain x Az fans because they want Gwynriel. These pairs have been causing some issue as well.

Besides many people think there are way too many plot holes. Feyre not being able to transform her pelvis even though she could transform back from her Illyrian form when she was pregnant. Many thinks this was unnecessary as it was still the beginning of the pregnancy. Another is the healer not being able to do a c-section or something similar because it would be a risk, even though Cassian could be healed from his almost deadly injury with his intestines hanging out and heavy blood-loss.

Well, that's all I have for now. I hope this helps :)

Once again though, these are not my opinion, unless stated otherwise, I'm simply telling you what I know from others.

[saltygempearl]

kinda feels like if you're gonna make the exact same excuses pink pearl made for pinks actions (she didn't mean to!) then it's you who missed the point of the episode. not to mention the fact that the show actively presents pink as a controversial figure at best who still did fucked up shit after her redemption (bismuth) and who many characters are trying to move away from. but I don't expect someone who's an anti anti (ie defends racist and homophobic art) to have braincells

Woah, what on earth are you on about? Take a deep breath dude.

So a first off, a quick cheat sheet in case you don’t read the rest of my post.

EXPLANATIONS =/= EXCUSESREDEMPTION =/= FORGIVENESS

We good on that? Cool. So with that in mind, let me point out that my post literally had nothing to do with me saying what Pink did was OK. When I say “what she did was awful, and the Pearls needed to come to terms with that” what I actually mean is what she did was awful, and the Pearls needed to come to terms with that. Sorry if that was unclear. 

If you’ve seriously watched the whole series and your take away is “pink is a controversial figure at best who still did fucked up shit after her redemption,” you have a terrible misunderstanding of not only what redemption means and how it works, but Pink/Rose’s arc as a whole. It was presented in reverse; you can forget the good she did if you want, but kindly don’t force that weird view on other people.

For reference, the actual point of her arc (and indeed the entire show) is that people can do bad things and change, and that’s valid. The people they hurt in the pass can also understand this and still acknowledge that what happened was fucked up. The point of the episode is that you don’t have to downplay your own pain  just becasue you understand why someone did what they did. And that’s something I think you might benefit a lot from learning tbh. It’s a message of hope.

What I was doing was explaining the difference between what people were saying she was doing (actively beating Pink Pearl up every time she was pissed) and what actually happened (accidentally hurting her Pearl during one of her tantrums and never throwing a tantrum again after that). Sadly, it’s heavily implied she was never given a chance to reconcile what happened with Volleyball, nor even apologize, but that’s the story of Pink’s life at this point.

Hate her all you want, I don’t care. But don’t spread lies about her - isn’t she bad enough without doing that? And for the love of all thats good, please don’t shit on people trying to spread this message of hope. The message that you can change no matter how much you fucked up, and the message that even if you can’t confront who hurt you, you can still move on if you face the pain directly. Like the Pearls, you can heal all on your own; you don’t need anyone’s permission to do that. That’s so important.