#I don't think this is evident but it's extremely plausible

[child-of-hurin]

It is kinda funny, though, to observe the result of Ancalimë's parenting, who ends up having a very similar attitude to mandatory marriage and child-having as Aldarion -- largely motivated, apparently, by her mother's teachings on how much subjection to the male sex suuuuuucks

[rockrosethistle]

If there's one thing TGWDLM fans are gonna do, it's think about the implications. And the implications of the opening number are crazy.

So. We know that the show isn't completely chronological since the opening number takes place before the meteor hits. So that song is a sort of "flash forward" moment. But when you think about it, we don't really know how far in the future it takes place.

What we do know is that by the time it's happening, Emma is infected. She has a little solo in it singing about how Paul is pining over a barista

And we know that this is meant to be an infected Emma specifically. Lauren had other characters in the show, if they wanted to avoid the Emma implication they would've just dressed her as one of those.

So we know this is meant to be Emma.

And Emma isn't infected until the very end of the show. She's dragged off stage during the credits. So since she's infected in the opening number, we know the number takes place after the events of the show.

Another important detail is that Paul is infected before Emma. He's the one that passes it on to her.

So back to the opening number, Emma is infected. Which means by just following a simple timeline, Paul must also be infected. He should be singing and dancing, right?

But that's not what happens. Paul misses his entrance.

If Paul is infected, then there's no reason he should be missing his entrance. Furthermore, if he's a part of a hive mind, there's no reason other members of the same hive mind shouldn't know where he is. They are literally all connected by one brain, and yet both Mr. Davidson and Bill express they have no clue where he went.

What I'm saying is that Paul is not infected. He was infected (again, we know that because Emma is infected and he was infected before her) but now he's not anymore.

I'm saying there's a way out of the hive, and Paul found it. That's the only explanation that makes sense given the facts of the situation. Sometime after the events of tgwdlm, Paul is able not only to break out the hive mind, but to hide from it.

And if he broke out, others could do the same. Maybe even Emma.

Edit because a countertheory has emerged: Yes it's possible that everyone is infected the entire time and the show itself is just Pokey replaying the events for the fun of it. But it seems unlikely to me. First of all, each of the Lords in Black has a distinct personality. They all are evil, but within that they seems to fall somewhere on a spectrum of "silly billy" to "prick." For example, Tinky is more of a silly billy. He toys with humans without much of a motive and more for just shits and giggles. But in every instance, Pokey's more on the extreme side of prick.

He's one of the few with an actual motive behind what he does. In Yellowjacket, it's confirmed that Pokotho hates the sound of anyone's voice except for his own. The events of TGWDLM don't happen because Pokey is bored, they happen because he is executing a plan. So I don't think that he would just have them play out their little scenario just to entertain him, especially just one small island? I just feel like he'd be more focused on world domination.

If the theory is that all this is happening after Pokey's already taken over the whole world, no one was successful in stopping him, then yes it's plausible, but still weird. There are a strange amount of things in that show you just think an eldritch god wouldn't include.

Edit 2: New evidence has emerged???

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is loosely based off of Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Paul's last name is even a nod to the main character, Matthew. At the end of the film, Matthew survives, and continues living among the infected, pretending to be one of them. And wouldn't that be just such a fun little parallel...

Obviously it doesn't prove anything but the source material doesn't lie folks.

[ao3cassandraic]

It looks like Gaiman's reputation-laundering firm (Edendale, which has worked with several other high-profile people credibly accused of appalling acts) is telling him to run a keep-silent play. Or there's legal argy-bargy over his TV series leading to the same silence. Either is plausible, or it could be both. Other authors who have survived allegations via silence and made real (if muted) comebacks include Junot Diaz and China Mieville.

So, fandom, what's our response?

The goal here is preventing more women from becoming his victims. There's some of that we have no avenue to influence -- he got access to and power over Caroline Wallner by employing her, and we can't realistically affect whom he employs.

But we do have influence over his public profile and over how we speak of him to others. We can use that. I would argue that to some extent it is our duty to.

Warning female fans (all ages; again, Wallner shows he does not limit himself to young women) by pointing them to the extant evidence is something we can do. It doesn't even have to be whisper-network any more, I don't think. Though I also don't recommend shouting it from rooftops, as cornered predators can get remarkably litigious even when they have no case -- and defending anything in court is an expensive ordeal.

(British libel law is also a horror, tilted hugely in favor of such as Gaiman. Don't fall afoul of it.)

Protesting venues that allow or invite him to appear is another thing we can do, given his behavior toward fans. I don't mean picket lines or chanting. I mean keeping an eye out for cons or bookstores or the like who put him on their schedules so that we can let them know what he's done. To start, keep it calm, keep it simple, keep it verifiable. "Multiple women have publicly accused Neil Gaiman of sexual coercion and sexual assault. I believe it is neither safe nor wise to bring him here. Please cancel his appearance."

If the venue does not respond appropriately, then we can step it up to boycotts and name-and-shame. But I don't think we need to start there. Given the dearth of media coverage so far, it's quite possible someone wouldn't know. We're Extremely Online; not everyone is.

So yeah. That, I think, is how we start to counter Edendale. More thoughts?

[saintsenara]

Do you think the wizarding world even has a concept of rape? I don't think this was JKR's intent but love potions are considered perfectly legal, Romilda Vane doesn't get in trouble, Dumbledore doesn't seem to think Merope did anything wrong to Tom Riddle Sr., and despite a member of Magical Law Enforcement witnessing lots of sketchy stuff at the Gaunts' no one steps in to help Merope. Plus we know their society is archaic and lacks modern values - ie. quills, slavery, lack of democracy

it's a great question pal.

the answer for which is under the cut, for the obvious reason that it comes with a trigger warning for rape.

when the statute of secrecy was signed in 1689, rape - defined as "the carnal knowledge of a woman forcibly and against her will" - had been illegal under english law since the middle ages.

however, the "against her will" bit is important here. in the seventeenth century, it was a legal requirement for a victim of rape to prove that she had maintained a continuous state of physical resistance during her assault. in cases where a victim could not prove this, her consent was presumed - even if she had been incapacitated in some way. unsurprisingly, consent was always assumed between husbands and wives.

men could not be raped under the letter of seventeenth-century english law - but the rape and sexual assault of men was illegal under buggery [sodomy] laws, and was often taken much more seriously by the state...

and i think we can plausibly say - should we want to - that, on the basis of what we find in canon, the wizarding world might retain this legal requirement for rape to be indisputably resisted, and that this explains why love potions seem to have no repercussions attached to them.

because, of course, love potions essentially function like date rape drugs, even if they leave their victims appearing to be of sound mind [the officiant who married tom and merope wasn't suspicious of anything, for example - and the only reason ron is so badly affected by the love potion he takes is because it was out of date] . they incapacitate a person to the extent that they cannot offer legitimate consent to sexual acts, and they also incapacitate them to the extent that they cannot physically resist their attacker - in their case, by compelling the person dosed with the potion to regard their attacker as someone they want to have near them.

therefore, if wizarding law only considers rape to be something which is accompanied by evidence of resistance... then using a love potion on somebody would not be rape.

the cultural implications of this are fascinating - especially since [no matter what jkr thinks] the wizarding world appears to be restrictive [by the standards of muggle britain in the 1990s and 2000s - although, unfortunately for those of us on our high horses about coming from a superior nation, not by the standards of muggle ireland...] in terms of conventions surrounding sexual behaviour and gendered expectations placed upon women.

the marriage age for women is extremely low [any woman whose wedding date we can pin-point in canon - molly weasley, andromeda tonks, lily potter, fleur delacour - gets married as a teenager]; the age for having children is also much lower than it was in the muggle world - and even than it was in the muggle world of the 1940s-1980s [all four of the women above fall pregnant before they're twenty-one, for example]; unmarried couples don't seem to live together, and there's clearly a social taboo against premarital sex [molly weasley gets a lot of flack from the fandom for making bill and fleur sleep in separate bedrooms, but nobody in the story regards this as prudish or old-fashioned]; divorce doesn't seem to be common [and blaise zabini's mother killing her husbands certainly takes on a new flavour if we assume that divorce is extremely difficult... or even illegal]; and married women - at least in the middle- and upper-classes - don't seem to work.

i also think that it's canonically plausible that arranged marriage, including between cousins, is a common cultural practice [sirius' comment in order of the phoenix about parents "letting" their children marry basically confirms this, i think] - which means we can also imagine, if we'd like, that there's perhaps little legal distinction between arranged and forced marriage.

obviously - obviously - i don't think that any of these are things the doylist text intended. the reason the story says very little about sex - both consensual and otherwise - or law or gender norms is because the harry potter series is a story about a boy-wizard who goes to a cool magic school and fights a good-versus-evil battle to the death which was written for children. i don't begrudge the publishers for not fancying a hundred pages on harry learning how to put on a condom...

[and the low marriage/childbearing ages genuinely seem to be because jkr is functionally innumerate and didn't realise how young she was suggesting everyone was...]

but from a watsonian perspective, they're really interesting - especially for the extremely disturbing paths they can lead us down as authors when we're trying to flesh out the worldbuilding of magical britain.

what - for example - is the wizarding age of consent? and how would this impact how wizards understand sexual maturity, adult-child power relations, and child abuse?

[after all, if the age of consent is unchanged from 1689... it could be as low as ten. which goes some way towards explaining why nobody thinks of tom riddle as grooming ginny...]

and does the law consider it possible for a wizard to rape his wife? and if it doesn't, what does it think about him beating her?

what legal rights do sex workers have in the wizarding world?

is abortion legal? is contraception? is homosexuality? does gay sex have a higher age of consent?

is divorce legal? can women initiate a divorce? how are single mothers treated [and, therefore, what was lupin willing to do to tonks by walking out on her]? how are the children of unmarried parents treated? what property and inheritance rights do women have? are marriages performed by muggles - or dissolved by them - recognised by the wizarding state? what position does this put a witch [like eileen snape] who marries a muggle man in? would a wizard who marries a muggle woman and then abandons her be committing bigamy if he married a witch?

would wizards ever be punished for sexual offences against muggle women? does merope get away with attacking tom sr. in the eyes of the wizarding state because of her gender or because he's a muggle or both? could a muggle raped by a wizard even report the crime?

what modesty standards are there in terms of dress and behaviour? what would wizarding feminism look like? what is it like to be muggleborn [especially from the 1960s onwards] and enter this world?

i think i'm inclined to take the grimmest possible view of all of these questions, to be quite honest...

the wizarding world is fucked up.

[ckret2]

I know that making things not only canon-compliant but canon-plausible is basically your hobby, and you tend to enjoy taking every little detail no matter how inane and incorporating it into the greater lore of your work. Have you ever had a moment where you were trying to find a logical explanation for something, realized that it was EXTREMELY STUPID, and now you just avoid writing things that will make it come up?

I think most fan writers have one piece of canon where they're like "Yeah, no, that was a bad decision, I'm just replacing [unbelievable event/racist character portrayal/blatant disregard for how mental health works in reality/etc] with [piece of fanon that makes it work better]."

Usually, even when there's an obvious author mistake, you still have a cool canon-compliant thing to do with it. Curious if there's any exceptions.

yeah, there's a few things.

Evidence implies that Ford fell in the portal in 1983. Evidence implies that the show takes place during 2012, but maaaybe 2013? The show says he fell in the portal "thirty years ago." He was probably intended to fall in the portal in 1982 but that doesn't line up with some of the dates (particularly, song release dates). Also, exactly how long did he know Bill between meeting him and getting portaled? And exactly how long was the paranoia era? My solution: the show takes place in 2012, Ford got portaled in *mumble mumble*, it's been """thirty""" years since he fell in the portal, we're NOT gonna worry about it, and maybe the Eurythmics released their albums a year earlier in the Gravity Falls universe did you ever think of that? Huh?? But at any rate I just try to quietly glide over the little timeline issues without addressing them.

Anything Bill says that would validate a real world conspiracy theory is a lie; but, much more likely, I'm just never gonna talk about it so we can ignore it completely, especially if the conspiracy theory is antisemitic or racist. "A cabal of global elites secretly rules the world and has a really cool break room"? Bill's lying; but also, we're NOT gonna talk about that, just chucking it out the window completely. "Bill helped fake the moon landing"? We can crack jokes about that one but only to establish that Bill was lying. "The Egyptians made the pyramids look like Bill"? We're NOT gonna claim the Egyptians made the PYRAMIDS for Bill, at most they might have redecorated them; but we're probably not gonna talk about them redecorating the pyramids anyway; and we're gonna crack jokes about how stupid Ancient Aliens style idiocy is; and maybe we're just gonna minimize talking about Bill's relationship with Egypt entirely.

(A side note: one thing i REALLY appreciated from TBOB is that it clearly established that they did not build the pyramids for Bill, just temporarily redecorated them; they did not worship Bill, they thought he was a pest; and the book went out of its way to have Bill say anyone who claims aliens helped with the pyramids is a con artist. It didn't have to do that! But it really improved things a LOT.)

Anything not mentioned by Bill that alludes to iffy real world conspiracy theories, we're just not gonna talk about. "America is secretly ruled by someone other than the president and nobody knows," not gonna talk about that, I don't care that it's Santa. "Dapperly-dressed reptilian aliens," not gonna talk about that, I don't care that they were here to go dog sledding. "Mt. Rushmore is secretly a bunch of robots built to defend America from a future threat," NEVER gonna talk about that, Mt. Rushmore is a carving made by a racist on stolen land sacred to several Native American peoples, it does not deserve to be made cool.

and speaking of Santa: I don't care for Jewish characters getting shoved into Christmas stories, especially if they're "wow, it turns out the Christians were right about the existence of this folkloric figure associated with one of their most important holy days" Christmas stories, so there's a high chance I'm just never gonna mention the Krampus plot lmao. If I do, it'll only be because I need to acknowledge the relationship building Ford & Fidds got. (Or to acknowledge Ford's rage at being commanded to conform to holiday expectations, which is REALLY funny and he's completely right.)

Those are the things off the top of my head.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

my favorite scully and mulder moments from s1

the evergreen classic mulder reaction to a terrified scully knocking at his door in the very first episode- how he checks over her, holds her close, and brings her into his room

(and then ANOTHER instance of examining each other for aliens in episode 8 which was wild. if i had a nickel for each time they had to look at each other's bodies for evidence of aliens, i'd only have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but its weird that it happened twice)

him playing with scully's necklace in episode 3, while admitting he feels "territorial"

the first time he calls scully "dana", right after her father dies- which surprises her so much she mumbles her name back to herself- and he follows up by grabbing her face and gently running his finger over her cheek

(and the first time she tries to call him "fox", after he had been awake for 3 straight days on a stakeout, and she begs him to go home- he laughs and says he even made his parents call him mulder)

((still, she brought him a sandwich and a drink- “if there’s an iced tea in that bag, could be love” “must be fate- root beer”))

scully in Doctor Mode™ after mulder got stuck in the fire in episode 12, trying to give him water as he lays in bed, while he gets all emo and pushes her hand away

when scully gets kidnapped in episode 15 and mulder calls her "dana" again over the phone, her first name slipping out in his fear, then he tells the kidnapper "listen to me, you lay one hand on scully, and so help me god..."

(and THEN he tells everyone going on her rescue mission that this is a very important mission to him, so please everybody do their best)

the endless banter: "i still don't get it. what does this have to do with us?" "robbing a jewelry store is a federal crime" (flatly) "thank you."

when he is at an autopsy with scully in episode 18 and makes it very clear he does Not Want To Be There (but she still is sad he won't join her on her next one in episode 22!)

"happy birthday scully!" (pause of confusion) "you're two months early!"

when she finally listened to the psychic to get evidence for a case in episode 13, trying to make mulder proud- "i'd thought you'd be pleased i'd opened myself to extreme possibilities"- only for him to yell at her for putting herself in danger

(later in the same episode she screamed at the criminal, saying that if he did anything to mulder, she'd kill him herself)

((AND their conversation at the end of that episode when mulder is laying in a hospital bed: "why can't you believe?" "i'm afraid"))

the very empire strikes back coded fighting in the arctic compound in episode 8

"you think it's remotely plausible that someone might think you're hot?" (stunned silence. scholars are still trying to figure out what was going on here)

oh, this one made me weepy: "i have never met anyone so passionate and dedicated to a belief as you. it's so intense, sometimes it's blinding. but there are others who are watching you, who know what i know, and whereas i can respect and admire your passion, they will use it against you. mulder, the truth is out there, but so are lies" aka the episode 17 monologue… what if i melted into a puddle? how would you react to this news? how about mulder the protector turning into mulder the protected?

(also, episode 17 had a moment where he grabbed her shoulder and leaned in and i had to restrain myself)

them having hand signals to indicate watch what you say, we’re being listened to

in episode 18, the preacher’s kid tries to taunt mulder with information about his sister and scully tries to shut him down Immediately

they’re looking for each other in the dark in episode 19 while a wild beast is on the loose and mulder finally kicks open the door and finds scully while she whispers “it’s okay, it’s me, it’s okay”

episode 20, when he shows her a bunch of lumberjacks, which he describes as “rugged manly men in the full bloom of their manhood” and he says she should look for anything unusual or a boyfriend among them... and she laughs

scully losing her mind when the evil cocoon bugs get on her, screaming at mulder to get them off of her, while he holds her still and explains it’s okay as long as they're in the light

(and then they sit on the bed, side by side, talking through the night)

when mulder’s friend dies and she kneels and says to him, “you’ve been through a lot… more than I think you realize” and encourages him to take some time for himself

any episode where they both wear big coats (for the snow in episode 8, or the rain in 20) is an instant classic to me

“mulder, you’re rushing me out of the room… is there a girl coming over?” from episode 11... yeah I laughed. and then laughed even more when he was just hanging out with deep throat in the next scene!

episode 23’s “how was the wedding? Did you catch the bouquet?” “maaaaybe 😊”

and who can forget the finale! she apologizes for doubting his alien leads; “I should know by now to trust your instincts” “why? no one else does” (both smile and i, once again, collapse)

there's so much to unpack here and i could spend a lifetime doing it, but before i watch s2 for the first time i needed to make note of the things that especially made me happy or brought great angst to the forefront; i am studying their dynamic and putting it in a bottle <3

[gallusrostromegalus]

You’ve mentioned several times that Matsumoto is deeply weird, could you explain how?

I think Matsumoto is Autistic and EXTREMELY good at masking, somewhat to her detriment, to be honest.

Point the first: Matsumoto drinks a lot- or at least, is SEEN to be "drinking" but she's rarely actually drunk. She's practically sober relative to her companions the few times we see her drinking in a group. I think that she's not drinking that much- She's getting *just* tipsy enough to: 1. Take the edge of some of her sensory issues and 2. To give her plausible deniability if she blurts out the wrong thing or says something that comes out way more rude than she intended. 3. Surround herself with people whose social inhibitions are lowered and whose skills are a bit clumsy- like how she feels all the time.

Point the Second: Matsumoto is Constantly fucking tired. I think the midday naps are the result of constantly overclocking herself to stay socially likeable and ignore how much that 'silly' thing is bothering her and probably also a sensitivity to barometric pressure changes that lots of Autistic people have.

Point The Third: What evidence do we actually have that Matsumoto is a Bimbo vs this is an act she puts on? IIRC, we don't have canon proof she sleeps with anyone in the series except MAYBE Gin, before they became shinigami. It's been 15 years since I read the series but for someone who certainly dresses and talks and plays up her reputation as a Bimbo, Matsumoto doesn't seem to have much sex. I think the Bimbo persona is just that- an act. It's an act she's learned gets her the kind of attention she wants- In the Rukongai, it was probably a great way to earn hella tips while working service jobs before she became a shinigami, in the academy nerds would be falling all over her to help her study, and as a seated officer, the carefully cultivated Bimbo persona means she can sort of excuse herself from any project she doesn't want to work on.

I'm basing that last point, and a lot of Matsumoto's characterization in AEIWAM on my aunt, who is an attractive big-chested blonde who didn't get diagnosed with Autism until her Mid-fifties. But SO MUCH of Matsumoto's mannerisms and behavior from the Manga remind me of Aunt Sophie- she has a doctorate in Theater Science now, but while she was working undergrad, she was a bartender who cultivated a persona she called "Bartend Barbie" who was a silly, slightly drunk and giggly bimbo with an impressive collection of blonde jokes at her disposal, and "Barbie" got about five times in tips what she was being paid hourly, and that's how Aunt Sophie graduated without student debt in the 80's. She's also recently made the connection between how her severe masking is and her profoundly deep understanding of how theatrical roles are played.

I think Matsumoto Rangiku is very autistic but has had a long time and a lot of practice masking to the point where she has an intensely convincing and extremely likeable persona that she uses almost constantly, and that prior to his betrayal, Gin might have been the only person that knew Matsumoto from before her "Barbie" days.

I don't know what Matsumoto's special interests are. Kubo wasn't great at giving his female characters interiority. I'm tempted to give her Aunt Sophie's understanding of theater, but I'm open to suggestions.

[solradguy]

If you don’t mind, could you provide sources for Millia, I-No, and Elphelt being canonically bisexual/lesbians? Not because I doubt it, but because I’d like to see (I think I know in Elphelt’s case, but not the others). Thank you!

IIRC @tillman's made a compilation of all the "Millia is bi" evidence so I'll forward you on to its askbox for that because Tillman is Millia's #1 fan haha

Elphelt's easy because she does Magnum Wedding on the female cast as equally as the male cast.

I-No's honestly actually the trickiest because it's hard to tell which lines she's being serious and which she's just being extreme to get a rise out of people she wants to piss off. That said, she says this to Baiken in GGXX:

"How sexy. That was a bloody good show! Hahahaha!"

Jam (GGXX): "I don't know much about fighting bare-handed, but I do know what to do with a fist, if you know what I mean."

She's got another one somewhere (Xrd story mode with Jack-O'..?) that feels more like actual genuine evidence but I didn't have these bookmarked and I don't have time to go digging for them right now...

I forgot Jam is probably bi too. She's like the most chill of the women during Magnum Wedding:

In any case, a lot of the evidence to support this these characters being bi or lesbian is about on-par or slightly below what we have to support Venom being gay. It's like, it feels HIGHLY plausible but I don't think Daisuke or ASW have ever outright said they were in the same way they've confirmed Bridget and Testament's gender identities in Strive, so we couldn't include information like this on the wiki but IMO it'd be harder proving they were 100% straight than it would be just saying they're probably at the very least bisexual

[ot3]

I recently played the trilogy and haven't made it to the forth game yet (I don't know if I should because no Maya and I feel bad for him for losing his badge), could you please tell me what happens with Phoenix and alcoholism? (only if you feel like it)

definitely at least give aa4 a chance! its not for everyone but imo its got a ton of merit

gonna try and make this shortish because im not feeling super hot today and also because ive already said a lot of this. but essentially in AA4 there are bottles of what very heavily looks like wine but in both the english and japanese are referred to as bottles of grape juice

In AA4, stuff is pretty rough for phoenix. he's not in a great place, and he works odd hours at a russian bar/restaurant where he plays piano and poker. So he's regularly in a location where frequent exposure to alcohol is par for the course. Later on, in the game's second case, there's this interaction that occurs in the hospital when you investigate this bottle in his room.

Now, whether or not the game has any evidence for phoenix being an alcohol depends entirely on whether or not you interpret grape juice as being euphemistic for actual wine, or just a sight gag. I'm not sure how much the inclusion of alcohol boosts a game's rating.

i will say that none of the ace attorney games were M-rated until dual destinies. So it's entirely possible that they just called it 'grape juice' to avoid any sort of concern over that. however, i do remember reading that shu takumi's favorite drink is grape juice, which is why he wrote that in there, although I can't find the source for that now that i'm looking for it so take it with a grain of salt. I do think it is entirely plausible within the tone of ace attorney's humor that 'grape juice bottles that look exactly like wine and are just juice' is a gag they'd go for.

but the truth is, i kind of don't consider this debate relevant at all? you don't have to take the extreme of either interpretation. it is entirely possible that phoenix is a character with a fondness for grape juice who also struggles with alcohol. Maybe phoenix drinks wine when he's at the club and juice when he's at home.

It's a matter of public information that shu takumi drank pretty heavily while working on these games, including at the office if he worked nights or weekends, and it's also been well established that takumi based phoenix a lot on himself. so i think interpreting phoenix as a character with an addiction problem has a lot of merit. On the other hand, I do understand that that's not how some people view him, and that's totally fine. My big problem comes in when people try to act like it is impossible, ludicrous, or somehow harmful to the character's integrity to portray him as an addict.

I think when people try and 'disprove' the headcanon it's always a pretty shitty thing to do, given shu takumi's history. why can you enjoy something written by someone w/ alcohol issues but you draw the line at any of that making its way into the story, even euphemistically? yknow?

[omar-writes-stuff]

The Dr.Raspberry puzzle 🧩

Hello, it’s ya boy Omar, and as some of you may know I’ve been recently pulled back into the fandom by some of my moots from Twitt due to an insane, wild and incredible lore involving a writer I used to be obsessed with a few years back.

The following message is an ask I’ve sent RandomnessUnlimited, who i apologize since I do not know them personally but is supposedly the only person everyone mentioned to me from the doc that knows more about any of us regarding Dr.raspberry (?).

*** hi. Omar again 🌿 I was wondering, are you going to go into extreme detail and explain every single evidence of the Doc about Dr.Raspberry in your defense doc? Because now I'm getting really REALLY invested.

Ok so Dr.Raspberry joined on A03 in 2020 and immediately got to write Kaeloo bdsm porn at the age of 11. Then also made a Tumblr at the age of 11 in 2020 (even tho its against tumblr rules and verification methods) and the acc. stayed inactive for four years. Then after the drama started their first posts immediately started being all centered towards reblogging your copy pasted theories and announcements. Then they claimed that they knew the original creator of the Kaeloo server even tho you just said they were never in Stm and the creator themselves said they don't remember any 11 year olds (so someone must've told them, and who else knew of the OG creator aside from you?). Then they started defending you in every single post saying that they knew you and that they had "great experiences" with you and that you're a trustworthy and kind person. Then they made a huge announcement named "Attention Kaeloo fans" going into extreme and articulated detail about the "kretty fans" and to not engage with them even tho they were not even in the server but some friends simply kept them updated with everything (for absolutely no reason I guess? Plus why involve this poor random underage fan in private discord drama? Who was even texting this person and why???). Then their post blew up and got reblogged by you and all your friends (therefore you all agreed with this supposed 15 years old that popped out of nowhere and wasn't even involved in the server?). Then the doc came out and BAM, they're gone forever again (strange, I know). And now you're saying that you think it was a fake profile all along and that you don't know them??? After all the positive things they said about you and all the supposed "friends who kept them updated with the drama"? Now you think Dr.Raspberry is one of Jay's friends?? Just ask your sever members which one of them was it that kept Raspberry updated and involved them in the first place! Unless it was you that is…

Now here are the only two plausible options:

Raspberry was a poor elementary child deeply traumatized by pornography and that wandered through the fandom by themselves for years minding their own business until one day one of you guys from Stm approached them (fucking weird) and involved them into this crazy drama for apparently NO reason and told them every. single. detail. bout the story and always kept them updated and even exploited them by having them defend you all the time and write a huge warning paragraph about looking out for Kaetty fans and having to use IPs while it should've been YOUR responsibility as the ADULT and SERVER owner to take care of it (and possibly prevent this 15 years old to be dragged in this hell by god knows who for absolutely no reason, again, they were not part of Stm so why the hell were they even fighting so hard to protect the members and most of all, YOU). Way to go to exploit a child I guess

Raspberry was just a fake account made by a random adult who wanted to write Kaeloo porn. But then if that were the case then it would imply that they were friends with you and other members of the server who kept them updated with EVERYTHING all the time and even collaborated together to warn fans about the kretty chaos and hoe to change IPs. And you never denied any of their comments defending you or involving you. Result: you were actively friends with an adult who wrote extreme fetish Kaeloo porn for years. Or maybe it was just you all along, we don’t know.

The questions remain: who approached this person first? And why? Who kept them updated with every single detail of the drama that happened and WHY? If they were really a child not involved in the server, why put such massive responsability on their shoulders to warn fans and telling them to use fake IPs if the drama never even involved them to begin with and they didn't know all the members? Why didn't YOU do it since it was your responsibility as the owner and as an adult? And if you truly suspected it was an adult hiding behind a fake account since the beginning then why did you never publicly call them out for their porn? Why did you keep them around for so long and have them be friends with your server members (also minors)???

Can't wait to see the end result! I'm sure it's gonna be amazing, I've never been so invested in something so much before, it's very interesting ^^***

But of course, my question was deleted and left unanswered by Unlimited and i got called a “troll” for simply asking (wtf brother lol). My point is NOT to send hate or discrimination. I do NOT care about porn artists or writers, I do not care about who likes it or not, and I certainly don’t care about this fandom ever since the pandemic ended. All my autistic ass cares about is getting to the bottom of Dr.Raspberry’s identity, a cool writer that I really liked back in the day.

Now I’m sure if Unlimited is innocent and has nothing to hide they’ll have absolutely no problem in addressing all of this and answer all my questions in their “defense pages” (?). 🌿 However the answer to this dilemma is actually quite simple and easy to resolve: whoever originally approached Dr.Raspberry (supposedly a child) in the first place and decided to pull them into this drama (again, for absolutely no reason) should simply come forward and share screenshots proof of their chats or at least how they first met). If it’s true that Dr.Raspberry has been updated on every single specific and accurate detail about the server and the drama, about the original server creator (who’s name I don’t fucking remember, sorry) and even Unlimited’s personality and behavior by “some friends” (to the point of defending them in every single argument) then there should be absolutely no problem in finding those chats and sending even just one screenshot as proof.

This isn’t a good position for Unlimited, and anyone who has at least 5% of brain could easily tell that it just sounds like it was them all along, but again, it shouldn’t be right for me to point fingers unless I have even more solid proof, right?

So STM members: whoever of you has been in contact with Dr.Raspberry personally or has been updating them with the entire drama lore for the past month or has made them write warning posts and telling them about IPs (mind you, this is a 15 years old we’re talking about), please come forward and share proof of even one of your chats or how you originally met, to prove Unlimited’s innocence and and to prove that (supposedly) they are NOT the same person. Thank you all 🌿

PS. Shoutout to Dolls from Twitter and all the homies who managed to find me the lost bdsm fic on an Ao3 lost archive site. I have the pdf folder and in case anyone needs proof of the adult-like writing and I can easily link it in bio or share here (hiding it from the tag ofc).

⚠️ I do not believe in bullying, harassing, threatening and discriminating. Anyone who dares insult Unlimited or my friends from Twitter or the creators of the doc will be blocked instantly. I’m just a dude asking questions out of curiosity, if you believe my well-justified interest counts as a form of “trolling” or “harassment” then you’re definitely hiding something or are part of the problem. I do not hate against nsfw writers or artists, I do not reinforce the idea of shaming strangers online or judging others for their actions or beliefs. I just ask for somebody to shed light on this dilemma and help me find the real identity of a writer I used to look up to. Be free and have fun, Mashallah, goodbye ⚠️

[zanethepa1n]

GARMADON ESSAY

// SPOILERS FOR NINJAGO SEASONS 3, 8, 9, AND 16

So this is real different from my usual posts, but this is something I've wanted to write about for awhile.

In this post I'm gonna just...explain my views on Garmadon? Not really sure of the best term to use to explain it; of course, it's just my opinion, but I wanna give people different views on his character, yk? I have really strong feelings about this topic so...I imagine this post will be pretty long.

If you have any requests for Ninjago characters you'd want me to do essays on like this lmk and I'll definitely try and get to it...I'll probably do one on Zane at some point.

Anyways, lets beginnn

Okay so let me just warn you again, this post is probably going to be EXTREMELY long and is all just writing. Basically an essay because I'm not sure how else to express my feelings on the matter other than in writing.

Anyways; I am going to try and structure the points I want to make chronologically...kind of. In each of the sections, I will be focusing on the main topic listed, but I may pull evidence from future or past seasons to support what I'm saying. So, the topics go chronologically, but the evidence will not...if that makes sense.

Here are the topics im going to cover in order, I'll expand on them in each of their respective sections;

Sensei Garmadon

Season 8 Fight w/ Lloyd

Christofern

Oni Training w/ Lloyd

Sensei Garmadon

So, this a lot more of a personal opinion, but I do not consider that Sensei Garmadon is different from Lord/Emperor Garmadon. I may be taking what people say wrong, but in my opinion I don't think that Sensei Garmadon is different from current Garmadon in any capacity; he was just in different circumstances. So, let me explain my views on this.

This is obviously not the best evidence because it can be easily defended by what is literally said in canon, but I thought I'd mention it anyways; I do not believe that the Great Devourer bite caused Garmadon to turn evil. It definitely changed him, but I don't think it corrupted him. In my honest opinion, I think that the only thing the Great Devourer bite did was awaken Garmadon's Oni side, and the FSM considered this to be "corruption".

But, despite my above claim being basically blatanly disproven by canon, it's...technically not completely disproven. It is obvious throughout the show that Garmadon is not completely cold-hearted and evil. He shows obvious care for Lloyd, as well as Misako. So it can be said that, even if the Great Devourer did corrupt him in some capacity, it did not do so completely.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I think that Garmadon only turned out "evil" because that is what he was viewed as. His entire life, he was raised to believe he was evil, and everyone around him believed he was evil. The FSM saw Garmadon's Oni blood obviously outweighing his dragon blood, and considered that to be evil, and likely passed that belief onto Wu, whether intentional or not.

Now, this is where I go back to the main topic, Sensei Garmadon. I think that Sensei Garmadon didn't act "evil" because he felt as though he didn't have to any more. I don't really know how to explain how exactly Garmadon's form changed occurred as a result of the Overlord un-possessing him, but Oni can shapeshift, so it is plausible that Garmadon didn't change as a person, but his view on himself changed. Therefore, he felt he no longer had to be evil because nobody around him was claiming he was anymore.

Season 8 Fight w/ Lloyd

This is like, one of the biggest points I have to make. I want to say, before I get into it; I am not trying to completely remove all blame from Garmadon, but I just want to explain my personal thoughts on the situation.

So, firstly, I'd like to address Garmadon's very first line of dialogue before the fight; It was foolish to come here.

Now this shows that it's likely Garmadon did not want to fight. Of course, it could've been more of a threat, but in my mind it seems more as though he had hoped Lloyd would not fall for the trap.

I would also like to mention how much is probably going through Garmadon's mind during Season 8 and Season 9, in general.

He has just been ripped from the claws of death, and is probably in insane amounts of pain (his voice sounds strained during the fight, not mention his ribcage is literally showing), and the first thing he is told is that he has to kill his son to reach his true potential, and to protect his father's realm. A lot of people don't acknowledge that Harumi literally manipulated Garmadon and I think that's really crazy?? Like, she takes advantage of the fact he's struggling with amnesia and is in pain and is like "lol i brought you back as purely evil and all you can do is cause destruction because you're fully oni!!! go murder your son now!!!" Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I don't think that the fight with Lloyd in Season 8 is entirely Garmadon's fault. There's a lot of things that fueled how he was feeling-- not to mention what he says right after Lloyd speaks to him for the first time; You've...you've changed.

I'd be kinda upset too-- if the first time I see my son in years, he's completely changed, basically gone through puberty.

tldr, I think that manipulation and generally being overwhelmed fueled a lot of what Garmadon did in s8-s9 in general, not just the fight scene.

Christofern

This one means a lot to me. Like I have such strong feelings about this.

I HATE when people say "Garmadon cares about a plant more than his own son!!"

Guys. The plant is Garmadon's way of trying to learn compassion and be better so that he can make it up to Lloyd. Christofern in general is a metaphor for Lloyd, Christofern is Garmadon's symbol for Lloyd.

They even point this out in the show during a discussion between Nya and Garmadon!

Nya: Why are you carrying around a plant?

Garmadon: It was the only green in my life. I had hoped it would grow, and thrive, and perhaps, one day ... forgive me. But now it's gone, and I am alone.

Nya: We're talking about the plant, right?

Garmadon: Of course! What else?

Obviously Garmadon says that he's just talking about Christofern, but,, c'mon...do you really think this man is going to admit he's a little sentimental to any of the ninja... he's literally the emotional wall of the century... /hj

Also, this conversation with Nya is had IMMEDIATELY after Lloyd storms off because Garmadon said he was positive they would lose to the Overlord.

So the line But now it's gone, and I am alone. could easily be Garmadon projecting that he's upset that their conversation ended badly and Lloyd stormed off, and that Lloyd will probably get hurt or die in the battle.

Oni Training w/ Lloyd

This one is pretty simple for me to explain, but I've seen a lot of people that don't like how harsh Garmadon was when he was trying to teach Lloyd how to achieve his Oni form.

Personally, I'm nearly 100% sure that Garmadon was only being as mean as he was to inspire Lloyd to be angry so that he could achieve his Oni form; of course this isn't really the best way to go about it, but Garmadon probably only knows how to trigger his Oni form when it is correlated with anger and/or distress, so he probably assumed it would be the same for Lloyd.

I also think this applies to him faking his death; but of course it was extreme and I can understand being upset about it.

So...that's all I had to say. I might come back and add more later? Sorry if this was really incoherent I just typed this all up in one sitting to get it off my mind. In general, I just hope to give people a different perspective on Garmadon's character I suppose? I just,, don't really like that he's like...usually hated or only simped over.

But, again, this is just my opinion, and I'm not trying to change yours <3

[egg-emperor]

(Okay, I'm sorry for asking about what you think of my art posts, it was kinda fucking stupid and I apologize for that...)

So.. do you think about eggman nega is actually eggman's descendant or just an alternate dimension? If it's the former, do you think eggman nega might've been secretly a robot? Cuz now I'm starting to have this thought.

Don't apologize, I can just take a while to get to certain asks sometimes. Nothing stupid about it, I always enjoy and appreciate being asked for my thoughts on anything Eggman related.

They seem to be going with Eggman Nega being Eggman's descendant in some way. However, people jump to extreme and bizarre conclusions of how this might be, things I never felt fit his character and so I couldn't stand discussions about it for years. But it actually seems like canon has actually been on my side with my feelings on it!

Notice how it's kept very vague with no precise specifications made on how he's his descendant. They made a deliberate choice to not explain exactly how he's related to him. This leaves us up to a ton of speculation and possibilities. He could very well be an organic but indirect descendant and that's my first and most plausible theory.

It makes sense because in killing Eggman, Nega would be erasing himself and stopping himself from existing if he was a direct. Plus Nega can still feel Eggman is a disgrace to the family name and want to kill him. So it makes the most sense in terms of the logic of killing Eggman and the way Nega being direct wouldn't be in character for Eggman.

I say that last part because of the implications made in this Egg Memo!

So with this it's now pretty much been established that it's not in character for him to create life in the typical natural biological way instead of his superior science, there's no appeal. He scoffs at it and looks down on it while bragging about how a true genius does it with code and electrons like how he created Sage. He already has far better.

Eggman is very stubborn and arrogant and will never budge on things he feels this strongly about, especially when it involves his ego, so there's no convincing him otherwise. He likes how he can look down on others and consider himself superior for his ability as a scientific genius to create a life-like being with codes and electrons!

So if he was direct it'd definitely have to be in artificial scientific ways of robotics, code and electrons, test tubes like Flynn suggested, or anything else to be consistent with the memo. But that's a bit too speculative for me as nothing implied Nega was anything but organic and I go only by what we can see/analyze/use as evidence in official media.

With the vagueness of him just being a "descendant" and never elaborating further instead of being his great great great great grandson or something else more specific and obvious, which would've been very important significant information and they surely would've revealed and explained if it was, plus the way he views creating life the natural biological way in Frontiers, and the way Nega doesn't have a fear of himself being erased if Eggman is destroyed, the most plausible theory is that he's an organic descendant but not a direct one.

[underthehedge]

CTVT and a weird niche theory I fell down the rabbit hole about - giant transforming retroviruses???

This is a story about how a single line on a wikipedia page sent me down a rabbit hole of finding one scientist's fringe theory that's juuuust plausible enough to make me question everything while almost certainly being absolute fucking bunk.

Some background

So, on parts of tumblr at least we all know about Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour, aka The Immortal Cancer Dog. For those who don't know, it's a cancer dogs get, usually on their junk, that unlike most other cancers, isn't made up of their own cells. The cells are actually all descended from this one dog or wolf that lived like 11,000 years ago and are, arguably, all technically that one dog. A dog that became a single-celled infectious disease.

We have a wealth of genetic, histological and observational evidence for this. As in, we know it what population of canids it came from, we know it's got a weird chromosomal structure compared to normal dogs, we know it's genetically distinct from the hosts. We also know it's not the only one out there: There's a similar thing in Syrian hamsters and also the famous Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD).

Which made me pause when I was reading something on wikipedia about the devil facial tumour and saw a line mentioning that it was now known to be caused by a giant virus, much like CTVT. Which...huh? Oh I hadn't heard that afore.

Giant viruses

Ok so giant viruses are a thing and they're fuckin cool. They're a relatively recent discovery and comparatively huge, i.e. bigger than a bunch of bacteria. They were only discovered in 1981 and we still don't know an enormous amount about them but they're big and have large genomes and because of the way viruses are they're not easy to detect unless you're specifically looking for them.

They show up under microscopy (sometimes) and you can find them with genetic probes but you gotta already be looking for them to see that really. Current research though basically says they're more common than we think, just overlooked, and there's software out there that scans through genomic data to find sequences that might indicate their presence. There's even a possibility that one group might be involved in some cases of pneumonia in humans, though I need to stress that that's extremely not confirmed right now.

The "wait, what?" moment

So I mentioned that it was a line in the wiki article for DFTD that had me going "wait, really?", the line in question was this:

A study found evidence for an infectious agent resembling a giant virus that was capable of turning heathy cells into cancer cells. It was found to be a huge retrovirus with similar viruses being found in human and canine cancer cells.

Big If True.

So of course I check the source, which was a 2020 paper by Lusi et al. titled "A transforming giant virus discovered in Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour: Stray dogs and Tasmanian devils opening the door to a preventive cancer vaccine".

Hang on, CTVT not DFTD? This is where some alarm bells went off because uh, as mentioned at the start, we know a shit ton about CTVT. Including the fact that it's all one specific dog. Which doesn't fit at all with the idea that it's caused by a virus transforming host cells into cancer cells.

So what fucking gives? What is this research that fully overturns decades of pretty conclusive research to the contrary?

Is this another case of Dr Barbara McClintock? Who spent decades being ridiculed by the scientific community over her wild theory that was, in fact, 100% right even if it seemed to fly in the fact of all prior evidence?

Or is this a Dr Donald I. Williamson situation wherein a scientist with appropriate training is just wildly but extremely vehemently wrong?

[struggles-and-prose]

Interesting

So, when I first saw The Watcher goodbye video, I myself noticed that Ryan and Shane were a bit detached from Steven's dialogue, even more so Shane was. I didn't want to say anything because I am extremely self conscious of my thoughts process, thinking maybe I'm overanalyzing this or it's just me, but it wasn't.

With that being said, most of us know that Shane's view on capitalism is not a positive one with his famous phrase "steel from the riches" or something along the lines (I have a terrible memory honestly lol). But that makes me think that Shane might not be as on board as Steven and maybe Ryan. I've always found that Ryan was extremely hard to read (for me at least) so, it's hard for me to say if he's as on board with the idea or not.

I've talked about this in a previous post, Ghost Files is one of the very few things that manages to make me laugh and bring me joy when I'm at my lowest. The amount of things that bring me joy, are extremely slim. Ghost Files is absolute gold for me when it comes to trying to gwt out of my head. A few minutes in Shane and Ryan's shenanigans, and I'm hooked, can't think of anything else. If they go through with this, I don't know what I'd do to be honest. I had panic attacks that I just had to switch on their videos and it helped stop it. I'm also a very observant and analytical person, so I concentrate a lot on what I'm watching and try to find plausible explanations to it. So instead of overthinking about what made me panic in the first place, I overthinking and concentrate on trying to find what was behind a certain "evidence" our ghoul boys came across. Basically, I'm a Shaniac lol.

I hope they won't go through with this. Do I wish they'd fail? No, absolutely not, that would be selfish. But I truly hope they'll reconsider this, IF there's any possibility for them to take it back, which I sure hope so and this decision isn't behind some corporates or whatever.

[crownmemes]

The X-Files Sentences, Vol. 1

(Sentences from The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016-2018). Adjust phrasing where needed)

"It's happening again, isn't it?"

"Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."

"So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this?"

"I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me."

"Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?"

"You just think you can come up here and do whatever you damn please, don't you?"

"You're saying that time disappeared? Time can't just disappear!"

"There's classified government information I've been trying to access, but someone has been blocking my attempts to get at it."

"I see no evidence that justifies the legitimacy of these investigations."

"Let's just say that I'm in a position to know quite a lot of things."

"You know, the government is not above the law."

"What would be the chances of someone like me seeing a UFO?"

"It can't be aircraft. Aircraft can't manoeuvre like that."

"Just because I can't explain it, doesn't mean I'm going to believe they were UFOs."

"The brain doesn't work like that. You can't just go in there and erase certain files."

"I can provide you with information, but only so long as it's in my best interest to do so."

"Each victim was found with their liver ripped out."

"Why would I make them so uncomfortable?"

"Reputation? I have a reputation?"

"Do you think I'm spooky?"

"If you explain to me what you're talking about, maybe I can help you out."

"What was she doing right before she died? Was she pleading for her life?"

"Come with me or don't come with me, but until they find a body, I'm not giving up on that girl."

"Fact is, we've got a cannibalised body. Someone - or something - out there is hungry."

"On the contrary, I think I've been exceedingly polite."

"So, can I ask about the case you're on, or can't you say?"

"Look, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"I have to admit, that fulfilled one of my boyhood fantasies."

"I have my orders, and the license to execute them as I see fit."

"How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official seal?"

"No government agency has jurisdiction over the truth."

"Are you at all familiar with the phenomenon of cattle mutilations?"

"You know, some mistakes are quite worth making twice."

"There's something else I haven't told you about myself..."

"Some killers are products of society. Some act out of past abuses. Some kill because they like it."

"I thought you'd be pleased that I'd opened myself to extreme possibilities!"

"How come you don't believe me?"

"Our best lead is gone. Someone stole it before the lab had a chance to look at it."

"Remember the day you first walked into my office? You pissed me off just looking at you, but then I saw how your mind worked - how you're always three jumps again."

"A lot of people are saying you've become an embarrassment - a liability."

"The government can't control a deficit or manage crime. What makes you think they can plan and execute such an elaborate conspiracy?"

"That's why I like you! Your ideas are weirder than mine!"

"I think it's remotely plausible that someone might think you're hot."

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters from Watson: The Cardboard Box

Crimes in Context:

Trigger warning for the whole story, since it's pretty much just spousal abuse, and we're going to cover that (briefly) here.

We have previously covered the inability to divorce in Victorian England, where you could practically separate, and be legally divorced under very specific circumstances, but it took an act of parliament to be allowed to remarry, and it was therefore de-facto impossible for many women to leave abusive husbands or to support themselves at the same level after leaving one. Reasons for a divorce to be granted included adultery and extreme cruelty. Yes, extreme cruelty. The bar for proving that to ecclesiastical court and being alive at the same time would be a high and thin one. (Historically: not being able to leave abusive husbands is a factor in MANY historical poisonings. This is not confined to the 1800's or 1900's either - Giulia Tofana, whose wikipedia entry is weirdly short, was famous, posthumously, for providing poisons to women seeking to end their marriages.) Reading between the lines of Jim Benson's tale, we have a more unreliable than usual narrator. Everything he says is through the lens of "she made me do it" which is both a very common pattern of abusers telling their story and prevents his final letter from being the good-faith explanation of events that we often see in other dead, dying, or condemned criminals in this series. The events are also not reconstruct-able by anyone else besides Sarah, and we have no knowledge of whether or not she ever recovers. He never has proof of anything he says regarding Sarah's feelings or what she may have said to Mary, and the only proof he has of Alec and Mary's affair is the custom that a married woman would likely NOT be going on a day trip to New Brighton alone with a male platonic friend.

(Its possible that Mary was not having an affair with Alec or even considering it, but Mary would have been well aware that absolutely nobody would have taken her word that nothing was going on - so I tend to think that either she was having an affair with Alec or she was engineering a plausible reason, i.e. her adultery, to leave her husband. She had two elder sisters with the means to live independently, if she tired of Jim's drinking and jealousy, she had some options.) We especially don't have evidence that Sarah loved Jim - at best, we have an awkward exchange where Jim interpreted a lessening of formality as love (or lust) and Sarah awkwardly backing out of the situation. It's equally ambiguous whether Sarah was attempting to put more distance between the two of them or if she genuinely felt vindictive about unreciprocated feelings. Whether Mary's suspicion had more do do with Jim's violent words and history of drinking than anything Sarah said, or if Sarah took it upon herself to, belatedly, vet her baby sister's husband's character. Hell, she could have been nitpicking their financial arrangements and Jim's career progression. In effect, we don't know anything about this case, and that, more than the gruesome clues and the murder, may have been why it was left out of the story collections for so long.

Why else wasn't it included in collections?

It's not the only story that contains abuse, spousal and otherwise, and it's not the goriest one. When it comes to abuse and very probable murder of a wife, not to mention abuse of his stepdaughters, we have Dr Roylott of the Speckled Band. When it comes to gore, we've had Rucastle getting his throat torn mostly out by a dog in The Copper Beeches, and we're about to have The Engineer's Thumb, which starts with Hatherley missing a thumb. We've also had the prolonged torture via starvation of Kratides in The Greek Interpreter. It is, however, probably the most hopeless story in the entire canon that deals with abuse. Absolutely nobody is saved, and absolutely nobody is given any closure - in fact, Susan Cushing is probably having a much worse time overall now that Holmes has solved the case. Yes, she would eventually know that her baby sister has been murdered by her own husband and it's absolutely broken her middle sister, who she clearly cares about even if she wants to never live with her, ever. But I posit that it's measurably worse if she has any access to Jim Benson's account - because at one point she approved of him as a match for Mary, and his account will make it very clear how wrong she was, and how Sarah, whose concerns or pessimism have probably been dismissed more than once among the sisters, was Mary's only resource.