#I just feel like she’s the most mischaracterized character honestly

[anyaskalliope]

Mel and Jayce Deserved Much Better

After experiencing horrors and walking through valleys and shadows, I truly hoped Mel would break down this season and unleash her emotions. Especially since she spent the entire season unlearning hardness with Jayce being so openly affectionate and emotional. This final act was honestly a slap in the face.

The one person she hoped would offer her that safety net to do this completely shuts her down. Mel was always cognizant of his feelings, constantly looking out for him, advising him, and teaching him. She shared with him her deepest insecurities and vulnerabilities. I can understand if Mel and Jayce are both going their separate ways because of the Noxus plot but to have him be this cold, and distant, and show a lack of understanding toward her plight is bizarre.

Mel comes back with a changed appearance and a different demeanor, and he doesn't even ask what happened. He seems to not care. Jayce isn't even giving her a chance to explain herself and just keeps coming at her and you can see the moment when Mel puts all her walls back up. Don't even get me started on the fact that he held the hammer in his hand for most of the time.

Their interactions during this act paint Jayce as one large hypocrite. He benefitted from all of Mel's teachings, from her providing comfort and affection, to her investments in Hextech. Asking her why she didn't save Viktor like she had something against him was wild.

This is the same Mel who offered comfort to Jayce when Viktor was severely injured during the explosion. The same Mel who immediately understood why Jayce left after their night together, recognized the importance of Viktor to Jayce.

If Mel could protect everybody in that room, she would. When she explains her lack of awareness of her abilities to him, he just keeps going on and on.

And the apology with the "passenger" line was just bad. It lacked a certain level of remorse that I would expect from Jayce of all people. Where is that good-hearted man who could tell when people aren't feeling their best, that person who always wanted to help people and make their lives better?

I think the Survivor Jayce is not the Jayce that Mel fell in love with, this is another man. The Jayce she fell in love with died at the bottom of that cave. The survivor Jayce is Viktor's passenger.

Jayce abandoned not just Mel but also his mother who protected him many times to be with Viktor in the afterlife?? In what universe is Jayce pulling that shit?

Now Mel's heading off to Noxus. A nation that doesn't align with her values and morals and would most likely have to harden herself to rule or have influence there. I hate it all. I hate that Black women always have to be strong. We actually had an opportunity to see a Black woman who grew up in that environment slowly shed those walls with a man who actually loved her and was openly affectionate and vulnerable. I'm so sad that it was taken from us. I'm sick and tired of the strong Black woman trope.

With how mischaracterized her motives and actions towards Jayce are, I for one cannot say that I'm excited for a spin-off series with Mel as a main character. Not with this writing team and this fandom.

To me, this show ended in season 1 with Zaun becoming independent, Jinx not firing the rocket, and Mel and Jayce growing together as individuals and as a couple.

[nestastits]

Something that lowkey pisses me off is how Nesta is always portrayed as this girlboss by her stans because she was a bitch…

Like, yeah she was bitchy and at times she had good iconic one liners but it was a trauma response, her using harsh words to tear into others before they could tear into her was a defense mechanism rooted into her from the mental and physical abuse she suffered from as a child. This side of nesta is commonly the only one portrayed and it’s so sad. Especially when we see this soft side of nesta in acosf when she’s finally able to just be herself in the house of wind, like at heart she’s just a girl who loves to eat chocolate cake, read smut, cuddle, and have sleepovers. She’s not some bitchy club girl! (Not bringing down anyone for this lifestyle.. it’s just not Nesta’s lifestyle lols)

And nesta hated herself when she said harsh things to others. She hated that she was a bitch 😭. It’s just sad seeing people who say they love her uplift her for things that nesta hated about herself and wanted to improve on..

[transhitman]

Ok I posted about this in anger a while back but I'm gonna say it more intelligently and actually tag it because I think it's something people need to hear. Something that bugs me about how people talk about the morality of the men in this game is that a lot of analysis totally glosses over Anya's motives and what she actually asks of people, and in doing so once again strips her of agency. Like. The reason Curly sucks isn't because he failed to properly punish Jimmy, it's because he ignored Anya in favor of her abuser. He didn't listen to her regarding how to move forward, he didn't give her a way to protect herself. No matter what he would have done to Jimmy, Anya is still traumatized and in danger, and that's the most important point of failure.

I think a lot of people are projecting a revenge fantasy on Anya, and while I'm not gonna argue about the validity of revenge here, for Anya specifically I think that's a major mischaracterization. She's the one who says that our worst moments don't make us monsters. And while yes, this could just be her trying to appease her abusers, she still doesn't strike me as a particularly vindictive person. She's a nurse, symbolically in a role associated with care and healing. Before the crash, she seems like a very soft-spoken and restrained person. Hell, she can't stand giving Curly his meds because she feels so bad for him. There isn't really a point in the game where she calls for violence at all. And even if punishing Jimmy or Curly is morally correct (subjective), saying that it's what anyone Should have done still glosses over Anya's wants and needs. It still centers the abuser, even in vitriol.

It's especially weird to see people judge Swansea on these grounds, because like... We don't know what his dynamic with Anya was like. We don't actually know what she said to him, if she even confided about her pregnancy or the SA at all! I honestly think Swansea's actions give more credence to the idea that Anya herself wanted a peaceful resolution. The whole "Oh, I'm holding it together" thing, him becoming more hostile after speaking with Anya... He waits until Daisuke AND ANYA are dead before trying to kill Jimmy. I think the obvious reading is that he wants Jimmy dead, but Anya asked him not to do anything crazy. Genuinely, I think Anya just wanted to be safe. She wanted out above everything. She didn't want more violence. The only violence she commits is against herself in the end, in order to escape this hell her coworkers made for her.

And like. Swansea is kind of the only one who actually did try to protect Anya in a meaningful way. I won't say that he couldn't have done more for her - all of the men on that ship failed her in some regard - but Swansea intentionally keeps the axe out of Jimmy's hands. He keeps the pod a secret, probably to give to Daisuke, but we can't say anything for sure. I joke that Swansea should have killed Jimmy from the start, but if we're being real that would have been an insane thing to do given what the characters know. But Swansea isn't the point of this post. Like. Idk I just think it's really bizarre that when people discuss Anya's assault, they still do it from the perspective of the men involved. It's weird and I don't like it. Like people have said before me: it's not enough to hate abusers, you have to love victims.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

We talk about how mischaracterized Hobie is - which he is - but I honestly think someone else is characterized REALLY weirdly by fandom

Miguel O'Hara and Misrepresentation of His Rage: a.k.a Miguel has Ken Energy you fools

[this is a breakdown where I examine Miguel's trauma, his relationship with Miles, his role in The Society, and his personality]

I talk a lot of shit about the Hobie tag, but the over-saturation of smut in the Miguel tag is at critical mass.

And like Latino-fetishization aside, I feel like he's not written as a human.

He's written so flat.

I swear ya'll be writing him as the angriest, coldest, most anti-social man on earth. Ya'll be having him rude and avoidant with no friends whatsoever or a romantic soft latin lover and NO IN BETWEEN

which is so funny cause like... I feel like Miguel is Just A Guy

I know they're easy to overlook but I think about moments like these all the time

But I ALWAYS see him written him as friendless, and cold, or constantly irritated and angry but like - I feel like most of the time Miguel is just some dude. Like in a Good Way.

And he's fine with that.

Miguel runs a Society Full of Spider-people, and they're working for him voluntarily. Peter Parkers wouldn't work for someone they didn't think was genuinely, good-likeable, and level-headed.

He compliments Lego-Spider-Man. When Hobie was there he wasn't pissed he was just like 'not in the mood rn ngl'

and Hobie didn't take the piss outta him - because I feel like him and Hobie have a mutal understanding/relaxed relationship. All throughout the movie Hobie isn't talking bad about Miguel in specific - he never says anything about Miguel being annoying or evil - he's always taking about The Society Miguel has made.

Even Hobie - who will openly talk bad about the PM, doesn't really feel the need to diss Miguel's character in specific. Which I find very interesting.

I think this, along with a couple other things shows that the way we view Miguel in fandom is not really how he is, like..when he's not going buckwild insane.

Miguel and His Role as Canon

I could see Miguel taking his role as boss very seriously - the same way he took being a father.

Miguel has assumed the role of 'leader' over these Spider-people. In his eyes, it's his job to lead these people through their canon events to the other side, for the safety of the universe, and for them to become the people fate says they're supposed to be.

Because he made the mistake of 'going against fate'. A lot of the time we say that Miguel's justification is 'because I suffered, you must too'. But in his eyes, it's more like 'I tried to run from who I was supposed to be and it blew up in my face. Please don't make the same mistake - it's not worth it.'

Quiet literally 'Do what you're supposed to do, and things won't fall apart around you.'

And I think that really says a lot about how he feels about his own choices, and his own daughter.

Miguel broke canon to be with his daughter, and because of that, she - and billions of others, died. And Miguel feels directly responsible for that. In his eyes, he killed his daughter and murdered billions of people.

And although he loves his daughter - he sees it as not worth it. He sees taking her father's place as a mistake.

To Miguel, canon events and the pain they cause are much more 'worth it' and 'tolerable', than the pain and guilt of killing an entire universe.

Because with canon events, there is no fault. It's not your fault you couldn't catch Gwen Stacy. It's not that you're not fast enough, it's that it's suppose to happen. It's not your fault.

But in Miguel's case - it was his fault. It wasn't suppose to happen.

That's why Miles sets him off in a way others don't and can't. Because he wasn't supposed to happen.

When things are under control, Miguel is fine. When things aren't, Miguel isn't.

Miguel needs order. He needs canon. Not because he likes it, but because he feels beaten into submission by it. He feels safe in the idea that canon events happen even if you do everything right, because he still feels the guilt of having done something 'wrong'.

That's why he sees letting people die in canon events as 'the right thing'.

It's the trolley problem.

A trolley is hurtling at someone you love, on the other track there are 5 people. Do you let the one you love die, or do you hit the switch and save them - and take the blame for killing five people?

What's the right thing to do? Save your captain father and letting a universe die? Or letting your father die, but the universe will for sure live.

Miguel has already made his choice, even if he didn't know it at the time. By becoming a father, Miguel hit the switch. And he chose his daughter at the expense of a universe. And he regrets that decision. He feels guilt, like he's to blame.

When canon events happen, there's no one to blame. When anomalies happen, there is.

Miles and Miguel

Miles and Miguel have an interesting and unique dynamic with each other, one that I haven't seen anyone mention yet.

When I look at Miles and Miguel, especially in this scene:

I kinda see Miguel and a past version of himself. Miguel trying to stop what he sees - as someone about to make the same mistake he did.

When Miguel met his daughter, he didn't know about it's threat to the multiverse. And although it might be described as the best time in Miguel's life, he regrets it. If he would go back, he would have rather let his daughter live. Fatherless, but at least she would have lived.

Miguel didn't know. But Miles does. And that's what makes Miguel so furious.

Miles is going to go against canon, be with his dad, and threaten the multiverse. And Miguel believes that if Miles does this, billions of people and beings across a universe will die. 100% totality rate, 100% assured.

Miles is in the same position as Miguel once was. Miles has the same choice. To choose the one he loves over canon.

The only difference is Miles knows. He has a chance.

Miguel believes that Miles can spare himself the pain, and the guilt of murdering billions - if he just listened to him.

Miguel is the only Spider-person who has ever killed a Spider-verse. And he doesn't want that for Miles.

Miles being an anomaly was one thing. He was ready to calmly talk about that. But when Miguel sees him going down the same road as he once did, making the same choice even though Miguel is telling him not to - it makes it snap.

Because if Miguel could go back, knowing what he knows - if Miguel could only be in Miles' place - he wouldn't. Like Rio said - Miguel would kill to be in his place.

He sees Miguel like how Rio describes herself, oddly enough. Rio says she'd kill to be in Miles place, and she doesn't understand his 'irresponsible' behavior. But unbeknownst to her - his 'irresponsible' behavior is more heroic than she can understand.

Miguel is just the same. He sees Miles' choice as irresponsible, that he's making all the wrong choices even though people are throwing opportunity at him.

Miles is the only other Spider-person to risk what Miguel risked. And, genuinely believing everyone will die because of this - he's furious at Miles, the same way he's still furious at himself. He loved his daughter, and he knows Miles loves it dad. But having been on the other side of it all, he sees it as not worth it.

Miguel wants to be the only Spider-man who is the way he is. He doesn't want to Miles to do what he did, become what he is. Because he knows theres no coming back from that.

If Miguel could go back and shake himself and scream in his face to leave Gabriella alone, to just leave her dimension alone, he would. But he can't.

So he does it to Miles.

Miguel as a Boss

I don't think Miguel is an outright mean or abrasive person. I feel like outside of Miles, he's fairly calm, albeit a bit stressed. I could see him being really organized and good at time management -

And I can see Miguel being good with people. I don't think he's the kinda boss that'd be like 'Oh, you had a canon event last night? Your girlfriend fell off a building? Yeah, we get that a lot, get over it.'

And if anything - I think he'd want to help the Spider-people when it comes to processing canon events.

Miguel believes that canon events are necessary, not just to the multiverse, but to the development of who Spider-people are 'supposed' to be. So I think he'd set up support systems around HQ to help them process it, and he'd at least be a bit understanding.

I could absolutely see Miguel as the type to ask a teammate "Are you alright?" after something intense, or telling them to sit out. I could see him giving generous leave for Spiders who are going through stuff.

By Jess's response, it seems as if he leaves most of that to her, but I feel like the fact he stops to tell Gwen "Don't worry, kid." shows that he's use to comforting people, or prioritizes putting people at ease.

I mean, what Spider-man doesn't?

Miguel does seem to get along with people (aside from Miles and Gwen when he's scolding her), and it seems like people do like Miguel.

Miguel's Personality

Tbh - I don't think he's nearly as angry as fandom makes him out to be.

He was raising a child. I imagine that for the most part, he's pretty patient.

Like if you call him a name, he's not gonna get pissed. I feel like he's more likely to be like "Haha. Very funny." Or just pinch his nose bridge and be like "You done?"

I mean I know with all the gnashing and clawing and yelling and going apeshit, it can be easy to imagine Miguel as JUST that.

But I also like to imagine that most of the time, he's just like that normal boss as Target.

And a lot of his day is spent doing boring mundane things.

He's not always standing there brooding over videos of him and his dead daughter. He only does that when he's psyching himself up to yell at Miles.

Outside of that, he probably has a lot more things to do, realistically speaking. Organizing missions, checking status reports, looking over intake forms of anomalies, okaying and vetoing different protocols. Approving new technology, taking complaints from members, dealing with Hobie (an extra job in its own right), fixing things MayDay breaks, etc, etc.

And he's completely fine with that. Maybe he even finds calmness in it. When there's order, and routine, and everyone is working together and there's no kinks in the hose per say, he can operate.

Like yeah he's a little irritated and looks like he only slept 4 hours - but he's here and he's going to work with his team and employees, make sure things run smoothly, and make sure everyone gets home safe.

He's gonna try and make the society a nice place to be and make sure people on the team (like Lego) feel appreciated and odd-one-outs like Hobie get to hang and do what they want without much kickback.

The other Spider-people - like Pavi - wouldn't have joined otherwise.

If Pavi had showed up and Miguel was all stern and cold and rude, he probably would've been like 'no thanks my friend'

Miguel knew Peter B. before he lost Gabriella. So he had to become friends with Peter some way. He was putting up with Peter and his humor by choice, and in return Peter must have found Miguel cool enough to hang out with.

I think it's because Miguel is good with people, a lot of different types of people.

He's pretty down to earth, even if he is a work-aholic. He can be fun to chill or hang out with, even if he's a bit of a tight-ass.

Sure his humor may be dry, and his personality tame, but he's just him.

But I can see him as being a guy who you see at the gym routinely and never say hi to but you just nod at each other in silent respect while doing your workouts sometime.

Or the dude at your job you only see at the coffee machine - you know he does other stuff, but you never run into him anywhere else.

Or the dude who'll stop on the street when you ask for the time and lift one earphone before telling you it, then walking away without another word.

DO YOU GET WHAT I MEAN DO YOU GET THAT VIBE Like just Dude He's like a dad but not like a 'Dad vibe' with like sneakers or anything but like 'Dad who comes to PTA meeting but doesn't talk to anybody and quietly leaves when it's over'.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS VIBE It's giving Ken.

Anyways stop avoiding Miguel's Kenergy.

[atopvisenyashill]

Please bring back the anon mode, I fear sharing my opinions publicly like the coward I am. Since your name is atop Visenya’s hills, I have to ask

Do you think the fandom mischaracterize her too much? I always see it in fanart, discussions that Visenya was the big bad person and Rhaenys the good natured silly princess and last time I checked both of them were trifling at times. I like Rhaenys duality as a trifling at times character but truth is still that she was wilding out.

Rhaenys went ahead and instigated a war in Dorne by bunting Planky Town😭 civilians, not the ports, not the exits, old, women, and children😭 I never seen one conquest of hers where she didn’t get to violence.

Rhaenys depsite being the favourite wife still had affairs. Before the “rumours by the maesters” gang come for me, Rhaenys was the most liked of the two wives. Visenya is accused of sorcery and even when it’s admitted people thought she was beautiful they had to add “Even those who loved her best found her beauty to be more austere than her sister Rhaenys”. They can’t even let her have her stans. It’s also funny that Rhaenys surrounds herself with comely young men, can you imagine a man surrounding himself of comely young ladies, mummers and dancers, no matter how fond of the arts he was! Now Aegon still spending 10 nights with Rhaenys over Visenya maybe a form of cuck fetish, maybe she was having affairs to stress him out so he’d overdo attention to her but that’s not my point. Maybe since it was an unconventional marriage they all fucked whoever they liked and Rhaenys is the one who got caught. Whatever

Visenya maybe was sterner but she wasn’t without softness or warmth. Created the Kingsguard, had sense to not surround herself with side pieces, and she was nice enough to Ronnel to be comfortable with her, the child didn’t seem distress by her presence despite the giant dragons so I assume she wasn’t all mean.

People often use the usurpation as a defining moment but often forget that for YEARS she’s kinda been pushed to the limit? Aegon straight up neglected her son and left them on Dragonstone, man approved the match to Ceryse who was 10 years older. And Aegon absolutely fostered the distance between Aenys and Maegor because there’s no other way Aenys would feel bold enough to take Dragonstone from Maegor. Not to forget Aegon had married her to steal her claim to Dragonstone since if married, his claim would supercede hers.

Another mis characterization is that Rhaenys is always curvier (hips, chest) mind you she was the slender one, but Visenya is explicitly described as curvaceous and seductive. They even took away her titties and her rizz😭 FREE VISENYA

asljfdlksjdafdkj sorry i kept getting like mean anon messages, i was honestly deleting the most out of pocket ones and posting the ones i thought were funny but i had gotten like 6 in one day and i was like alright enough i can't fucking do this rn and that's why i turned anon off but i'll probably turn it back on soon.

last time I checked both of them were trifling at times.

no because REAL. i do think visenya often has this reputation In The General Fandom as this like unfeeling evil ice queen, not dissimilar from for comparison's sake the way cersei and catelyn are characterized in fandom - her flaws are inflated or made contextless from what she has experienced and people just kinda pretend like she's a one note villain to Rhaenys' sweet charming queen. but i don't think that's at all accurate to how she's characterized in the series nor do i think rhaenys as the ~sweet never wrong favored wife~ is very accurate for Rhaenys. Look at the beginning of the conquest for an example - Visenya rolls up to Cracklaw Point, to a people who don't really want her there, and instead of just threatening them with fire and blood, she just kinda points at Harrenhal and goes "if you submit right now without a fight i won't give you any overlord but the crown itself" which is a pretty nice deal for a region that has been regularly fighting off being ruled by other people! she takes it bloodlessly through diplomacy! now what does rhaenys do when she goes to dorne? she immediately starts making threats! she refuses to see why perhaps the descendants of the rhoynar aren't high on the idea of being ruled by what's left of valyria! she just threatens and leaves. and when it's time to take dorne, what does she do? she burns planky town the home of the orphans of the greenblood, the last stronghold of rhoynish customs and culture! she completely and totally botches the dornish conquest!!

now this isn't to say that visenya isn't also a) weird about dorne (because basically every single targaryen up until daeron ii is weird as shit about dorne) and b) full of vicious and self righteous violence herself. but as you say both of them do some extremely stupid shit yet only one of them has a reputation for being evil!

and yeah, the thing is, while i think aegon is very smart in how he handles his lords (again, outside of dorne) he is dumb as a box of rocks about how he handles his own sons. he's just very clearly playing favorites, letting the rift get bigger and bigger, actively antagonizing visenya, and not only that but like - visenya isn't wrong that there is a slight succession issue here between maegor and rhaena, given that visenya is the oldest wife and the first wife, but he completely handwaves this off, which really heavily implies a rejection of visenya and maegor completely. should they have reacted the way they did? well no lmao but it's stupid to pretend like aegon doesn't set his kids up for failure here when he sees how deeply unhappy visenya and maegor are and does absolutely nothing to help the situation.

Also damn you're right, I have always had this issue with the way the conquerors are depicted, especially the women as being these two barbie bombshells but like, canonically, VISENYA IS HOTTER the same way Rhaena is considered hotter than Alysanne but whereas Alysanne always gets depicted with her yellow hair and mismatched eyes and a kind of cute, round face to Rhaena's much more Valyrian steely looks, Rhaenys is ALWAYS this Valyrian bombshell. Rhaenys should be drawn the same as Alyssa T and Alysanne though like where do we think they got their looks hmmmm??? IT WAS RHAENYS. RHAENYS IS NOT A BOMBSHELL SHE'S A REGULAR LADY. SHE'S 'CUTEST GIRL IN YOUR ANTHROPOLOGY 101 CLASS' HOT!!!!!!! SHE'S NOT A MODEL!!!!!!!!!

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

In Defense of Shinji/Rei

Out of all the pairings in the Evangelion fandom, Shinji/Rei is one of the most controversial and least popular, especially here on tumblr. It did have some popularity at one point but that has died down in favor of Kawoshin and Asurei. It’s a ship that I, and many others, feel is often mischaracterized and dismissed due to its more controversial elements but one that is honestly very emotional and deserves less hate in my opinion, as do it’s shippers who people also have a misguided view of. Fandom in general has become more moralistic and puritanical in recent years. It’s like no one learned a thing from the SU fandom discourse where people were bullied or called homophobic for liking a certain pairing over the other.

Argument 1: she’s his mother/sister

The most common criticism of the pairing is that it’s incest and that their relationship is that of a brother-sister or mother-son. First, Rei’s whole arc in the show is that she’s not just a clone or copy of Yui or Lilith. She’s her own person with her own desires which is why her loyalty to Gendo wanes as she becomes more of an individual. Her DNA also isn’t that similar to Shinji and only a small amount of Yui’s was used. The rest was affected by Lilith hence the differences in their appearance. So there is a little bit of blood relation but it’s not on the same level of say Bwen or Pinecest. Incest is terrible because it’s a betrayal of family trust and abuse but Shinji and Rei met as teens and were not raised as siblings, nor did he know of her origin until Ritsuko explained it.

I’ve also seen the argument that their bond is sibling-like or Shinji views her as a Madonna/mother figure. Anno has stated that he intended there to be a “love triangle” with the pilot trio and show’s proposal described Rei as having “learned about feelings when she fell in love”. While that info comes from Reddit and may not be reliable, it does challenge the idea that there was no intention for their dynamic to be romantic.

Next, antis really take that elevator scene out of context where Shinji was complimenting her on being like a mom while ignoring him telling her she’d make a good housewife. The rebuilds and manga make their connection more blatant but it was always there. Misato, Toji and Kensuke all tease Shinji about his crush and the two act as friends after warming up despite their icy first interactions. There may be some maternal aspects to it but it’s rather simplistic to dumb their bond down to a family connection. It seems antis argue that they’re siblings because the romantic implications are uncomfortable and antis don’t want to admit that they do have feelings for each other.

Argument 2: it’s misogynistic and queer erasure

Okay, this is a less common argument against it but one I’ve seen from popular Eva analysis writers that view Kawoshin as the only valid pairing for Shinji. I’ve seen it used against Asushin and Marishin too. This goes hand and hand with the idea that Shinji views Rei as a Madonna and is misogynistic. I have a lot of thoughts about the “Shinji is an incel misogynist and Asuka did nothing wrong” discourse but that’s for another day. He’s not a perfect uwu soft boy but fans seem to base his entire characterization off the hospital scene in rather single issue Eva analyses that cherry-pick certain scenes or dialogue.

The argument that it’s queer erasure is one I’m starting to despise. Yes, there are homophobic dudebro fans who hate Kawoshin but not everyone who prefers a “straight” pairing is anti gay. Shinji could still be bisexual and be in a m/f relationship. I’ve also seen some ship him in a polycule with Rei and Kaworu. Plus, not everyone has to interpret the show or character the same way. The writers made it so people can view Kawoshin as romantic and Shinji as queer, but never demanded that be the only possible interpretation.

This kind reminds me of something I’ve occasionally seen in the Ben 10 fandom too. A few fans, not all of them, treating the wholesome gay ship as the only good pairing because of the problematic elements in the m/f ships or because they view the male protagonist as a misogynist. The “male character is sexist or a bad boyfriend so let’s make him gay” is also a fandom trope that kind of irritates me. Not every ship has be gay or a girlboss romance either.

Argument 3: they’re kids and you can’t ship them

This is one of the least common criticisms but one that I’ve occasionally encountered. First, they’re 14 which is around the time a lot of teens start dating. Second, romance =/= sex and child/teen characters can have romantic feelings for each other. Yes, ship wars over fictional kids can escalate but there’s nothing wrong with just liking a pairing. This post about Chihiro and Haku’s bond from Spirited Away kind of applies here too.

My thoughts: why do I love this pairing?

I first fell in love with this ship because I watched the rebuilds first on Amazon Prime and didn’t know the series was on Netflix because my account, embarrassingly, still has parental controls on it. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea but I liked them. Shinji was a character I really connected to and so was Rei. Their relationship got me a bit emotional and the scene where Shinji attempts to save her had me on the edge of my seat, while the scene where Shinji accepts Rei Q got a tear out of me as did the apology scene in 3.0+1.0.

If I had to compare them to any other pairing, which I’ve done before, it would be Hodaka/Hina from Weathering with You which also is a bit divisive and a bit of a tearjerker. Ironically, EoE is one of Makoto Shinkai’s favorites and he considers Anno an inspiration. Everything from their bond to Hodaka’s character and Hina’s arc of a blue haired girl, blackish-blue in Hina’s case, that’s lived a difficult life and who’s only purpose is to be a sacrificial lamb, learning to pray for herself is a lot like Shinji/Rei, down the ending of WWY being a lot like that of 2.22. The scene where Hodaka gives Hina a promise ring is also a little like the “smile” moment from Episode 6/1.11.

Conclusion

In short, Shinji/Rei isn’t a bad pairing and is overhated and misrepresented by many in the fandom. It’s fine to dislike it or prefer another ship but one can do so without chomping at the bit to paint its shippers as homophobes, misogynists or people with incest fetishes or Oedipal complexes. Many of us like it because it’s one of the least toxic relationships in the series and is honestly a very powerful story. Are there some questionable elements in it? Sure, but you can like a ship even if it’s not up to golden moral standards and expecting every pairing to be unproblematic is ridiculous. Real life is much more grey than what moralistic fans claim.

[dj-of-the-coven]

So, I've been thinking for a long time about why Beat is the most mischaracterized guy in the main cast of twewy, and last night I finally had a breakthrough. It's not only because he's not as popular as the others (though that's a part of it, and the two kinda feed into each other). It's baked into the game. More specifically, it's built into Neku's perspective as the main character.

Twewy has a lot of complex personalities interacting with each other, and for the most part it does very well at walking the players through their thought processes--obviously done the best with Neku, since we can see many of his thoughts word-for-word, but the other characters get similar treatment too. Joshua gets fleshed out in secret reports as well as his interactions on-screen, and Shiki's story doesn't require a ton of meta-textual explanation since envy is a common experience for teenagers. Beat's the only one of the main cast whose character needs a lot of connected dots to make sense, and the game trains you from the beginning not to look too closely at him because at first you're supposed to be empathizing with Neku.

When Neku starts out being rude to Shiki, the player already gets that he's being a dickhead. Everybody knows somebody like Shiki in real life, and if you don't know her, you probably are her: she's sweet, passionate about her hobbies, and extends her compassion to the people around her with basically no prompting. She has relatable self-image issues. You don't need your hand held to understand that Neku is the one in the wrong. On the other hand, what about Beat? We know that Neku has issues to work out by the time he shows up, but the game takes Neku's side on some of his harsher criticisms. He's not the only one who comments on Beat being "stupid" and impulsive. Most of the characters he interacts with have a line or two making fun of him. The player is generally expected to laugh at him alongside the others--he's nowhere near as easy for the average player to relate to.

The teens playing twewy probably know what it's like to feel better than everybody else, like Neku and Joshua, or worse than everybody else, like Shiki, but I'll bet that most of them don't have the same rebellious spirit that Beat does. Statistically, it's just not that likely that everybody playing the game was a delinquent with shitty parents. I was; some people were, but not everybody. It's a feature of Neku's character arc that the game gets you to see Beat the way that he does originally, just to break down the facade by showing you his compassionate side. Beat couldn't help but save Neku even though it would get in the way of his goals. He's just that kind of guy, and doesn't that mean more than anything his intellect could provide? Beat's character arc helps you understand Neku better by design, because it gets you to see how somebody with a judgy leaning could end up being such an asshole with only a little encouragement. The game presents its players with someone easy to make fun of, goads them into making fun of him, and then shows them why that was wrong.

Unfortunately, while this is really good storytelling, it doesn't make for an easily-digestible character to make art and fics about. The player has to look past what the game (and Neku, Konishi, and Uzuki) thinks about Beat in order to find his depth. I could be talking out of my ass, but honestly I think that this, along with more than a decade of fans getting him wrong in fics, comics, and meme posts is the reason why players of the original game don't tend to appreciate him as much as the other main characters, even though Beat collectively has the most screen time in the series besides Neku. It originates with dickhead teenage Neku himself--the players just didn't learn to look past his initial perception.

[devillime]

Okay I’d like to talk about the treatment of the side characters and how empty the world feels so this is not proof read or anything this is a rant

Firstly

The world

We know that other students are there i understand that making a game takes time but for crying out loud the whole world of devildom feels so empty and yes we have the Little D’s but they are mainly in the castle with barbatos so they are practically diavolo servants like barbatos and even the recent event we are helping barbatos with serving nobles

NOBLES

Which is just baffling to me because games like arcana twilight that came out after obey me and are clearly inspired by obey me at least feels alive do we see full body sprites no of course not but we this

We can see what the characters look like to get a better understanding of how they look yet in obey me nothing really now I know if I remember CORRECTLY Nightbringer will be a continuation of the original game but it’s honestly stupid how a game like a obey me that been out longer than arcana twilight feels so empty

I’m asking for but if you want to write a good story and make me fee apart of it then take a moment to let us explore how the world works on OUR own.

Secondly

The side characters

Don’t get me wrong I love the brothers but I also love the side characters just as much but it’s ridiculous on how little screen time they have now is crazy not to mention the treatment of the new characters

First diavolo HES THE FUTURE KING OF HELL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD I believe he should get enough screen time but no the devs go against it

And before anyone say “well originally the side characters weren’t dateable” I only started playing after they were dateable but are doing some research the “side characters” have been dateable for a good while to the point they technically be considered they are perusing the mc minus Luke

So why are they still getting shit on by the devs? Probably because when most people think of the game they think of the brothers but honestly which character peaked your interest before playing the game because for me it was diavolo

And don’t get me started on the new characters this is more of a pet peeve with the fandom but why do you guys mischaracterize Mephistopheles and Raphael? Raphael has a similar if not same personality as belphie yet a lot of people say belphie is being cute while Raphael is being rude and Mephistopheles I’m sorry Lucifer fans but think of it from Mephistopheles perspective I’d be piss to if I was born to practically be someone right hand man only to get cased aside for something new?

A lot of you guys had mischaracterize thirteen when she came out but the devs oh god we barely seen thirteen and Mephistopheles in Nightbringer now Raphael I can kinda understand but the two that are in devildom with us don’t show up? That’s a joke like seriously

At this point why did they add them if they don’t appear as much hell I dare say obey me could have been a yandere otome game where the brothers became yandere after making a pact with the mc and the side characters like Solomon and Mephistopheles noticed this and try and help us but Solomon can’t tell Simeon and Luke because another war might break out again

But that’s all I have to say I brought up the world building or lack of in the official obey me server and people seem to say “but it be more pressure on the devs” I get that but this game gets a lot of money and I’m pretty sure it’s more pressure if they can’t keep the story straight because after lesson 40 I’m pretty sure we all have questions

And please PLEASE LET US SEE THE SIDE CHARACTERS MORE IN THE ANIME PLEASE

Rant off

[blade-liger-4ever]

I just need to let this out

The new film, Transformers One, from what I've seen of spoilers taken straight from the theaters and what I've read up on Wikipedia, is a good show. It's got plot threads and characterizations taken across practically every medium of the franchise, and even utilizes the Transformers: Prime theme music twice in the film. It's honestly, all things considered, the best TF film since Age of Extinction in 2014.

But....The only one whose acting I actually enjoy is Brian Tyree Henry, the guy playing a young Megatron.

And that's great; he's a fan, and his love for the Transformers comes through crystal clear in his performance. I fully admit he doesn't tonally sound like Frank Welker's Megatron, but he sounds like Megatron: his vocal range hits every emotional beat you'd expect/are familiar with Megatron having in the various cartoons and comics, and he practically swallowed the source material and became Megatron, all while making use of verbal tics Frank Welker has employed for the character and making it his own while still being Megatron in his own right without stepping on what Frank Welker has done with Megatron.

And I love that. Heck, I 100% expected him to walk away from this production with all the awards, and he'd have earned them all in my eyes.

But....listening to Chris Hemsworth as Orion/Optimus....there's, there's a kind of lacking and restraint there.

Don't get me wrong, he's admitted to going to Peter Cullen himself for advice/guidance in playing Orion/Optimus and to make sure he doesn't goof up his portrayal of the character. But, there's not nearly as much range in his emotions as there is with Brian Tyree Henry. Maybe he's leaning into Orion/Optimus being the more controlled of the two, maybe he's leaning into the immaturity too much, or maybe he just feels like a bull in a china shop with all the pressure on him.

But...he could've done more. He could've - could've tried harder to be emotionally present, like Brian.

And I just - I just can't feel anything from his performance, save one line - and even then, that one line is, essentially, Orion's last words before dying and being reborn as Optimus Prime. I will give him this, he made me believe Orion was seconds away from death.

But everything else....there's not quite as much effort in it, most likely for fear of losing a balance between honoring Mr. Cullen's work and staying in his own lane. And when he speaks, it's....not that impactful.

There's not...how do I explain this....He just, he just doesn't have a vocal presence. He doesn't stand on his own in this movie; if anything, he sounds like a walking anomaly and just hearing him talk makes my suspension of disbelief for the movie shatter.

Scarlett Johanssen, I'm just gonna be blunt: she was a mistake to cast as Elita One.

Elita is one of my favorite females in Transformers of all time, and Johanssen - every time she speaks in this movie, my brain just registers the moody, teenage porcupine she voiced in Sing and Sing 2. She doesn't fit as Elita. There's too much youth in her voice (says something that she has the voice of a teenager), too much strictness/harshness, and not enough warmth and feminine strength in her voice like there was in G1. That's the whole point of Elita: she's the feminine counterpart that complements Optimus' masculinity.

And they took it from her. They took it, from me.

Yes, Elita doesn't have as much memory/love held to her as Optimus does, and I understand that people are gonna mischaracterize her. But that doesn't make it okay; it doesn't make it okay that she's modernized while having attempts at making her nice/still partially given feminine qualities to - this version of her.

And I hate how she fights in this movie. She moves like Black Widow - all slip 'n slide, using confusion and up-close-tactics with kick/leg-grappling-thing techniques.

Elita, in the original, from what we saw, was both a distance fighter (read: she shot a space gun), and capable of close quarters combat that was both feminine and practical. Heck, she was even more bad-aft than the movie portrays her: she literally caught a missile in her debut and threw it back at the Decepticons.

Why is a fighting style like THAT so hard to emulate?

Bumblebee, I don't care. His appeal has become lost on me for almost two, maybe years now. But dear Lord in Heaven, he is so annoying in TF One. No joke, Megatron would be in the rights for ripping his voice box out in this continuity.

That said....the guy doing him, somehow, manages to convey the seemingly eternal sugar rush this version is on. And he gets a small nod of approval from me for being physically active behind the mic in order to sell his performance.

(Despite that, something about the actor rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's that both he and Bee never shut up, I don't know. I do know that I never wanna be in the same room as him.)

Shockwave....is too emotive, but it gets a pass from me because so far as I can see, all his emoting in this film is a direct result from hearing Bee yap non-stop, including in an unconscious state. That's passable for me. A tic, yes, but passable.

Soundwave still sounds monotonous, but the ones in charge get an 'X' in my eyes for not getting Frank Welker back for the character.

Starscream is done interestingly, and although I don't yet know how to rank Steve Buscemi's delivery of the character's lines, I'll let Buscemi slide because he's had experience in voice acting - little bits, but the experience counts. I'll also let him slide because he returned to volunteer firefighter duty when 9/11 happened, and he stayed there all three days of search and rescue. So, while I can't rate his performance fully, he has my respect and I will not take on his portrayal negatively because of that.

Sentinel....I'll give the VA this, he pulls off the airy, self-aggrandising theatrics well. Beyond that, to be decided.

Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion....I'm not sold. His voice is too deep, and while I have many issues with George Takei, he did, indeed, nail Alpha Trion's performance post G1. Takei's experience, plus his voice, allows him to sell Trion as an old, yet still physically capable, former Prime whose wisdom is sound and collected from eons of experience.

All I get from Fishburne's portrayal is "old but still tough", and that's not enough for this character, in my book.

That's...more or less it. I'm just, really tired of consistently getting new Transformers media that has potential, but without Peter Cullen and Frank Welker even being approached for the projects. Yes, there's a possibility that they both tell/told these people to pound sand, but they've said repeatedly that they're getting pushed aside by the higher ups. And they've been so vocal about wanting to play the characters, but are constantly being given the boot by Hasbro.

They deserve better than that. The fans deserve better than that, and even I deserve better than that.

Peter Cullen and Frank Welker are the reason I and so many others had such golden childhoods. It's painful to see them getting disrespected like this, and I hate that more new TF media is being made without them, especially since they aren't getting any younger.

I'm not scared, exactly, about them dying.

I'm just scared they won't be able to have any more rodeos in Transformers media together before their time comes.

And that is why, ultimately, I can't bring myself to enjoy or watch Transformers: One. Why I don't care that it's failing like this.

Because Hasbro had their chance many times, and they've failed me. They keep failing me, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, and all of us.

I'm just done caring for new shows from Transformers unless it's got our childhood heroes voicing our favorite characters with the good writing they had up until Transformers: Robots in Disguise 2015. And given this commercial blowout, I won't be getting satisfied anytime soon.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I hope you don't mind the release of my pain, but I've held it in for a month, more or less. I just needed to make it public.

[sexycornenthusiast]

back on my horror game anime girls bullshit again please bear with me.

It's really interesting to me how Yuri DDLC is one of the most consistently flanderized characters I've ever seen. She's been everything from generic pompous nerd to generic emo girlfriend to generic misogynistic trope, like she can only be a fraction of her character at any given time. She has the smallest fanbase, less than the girl who literally kills everyone (no shade to monika she's doing her best), and even then a significant part of that fanbase are fans of these flanderizations.

Honestly even as I'm sitting here writing this post, I'm not entirely sure I get her either. I'm not gonna say I'm the only one who's ever been right about Yuri, because that would be stupid, or that there isn't good characterization out there, because there is, but in my experience it's the rarest for her out of all four girls.

I cannot stress enough that I'm not even upset about this. You'd think having a favorite so often mischaracterized would start to bother me after a while, but really, it makes me like her more. The girls' dynamic with the player is an integral part of the game because the player is technically also a character, separate from MC. This makes players' real thoughts and feelings about Yuri into character interactions, in a way. All of this just introduces the idea that in universe she's a person who is often misunderstood.

She's very quiet but will talk your ear off for an hour if you bring up something she's interested in. She expresses herself in a way others in-story say they don't understand. She's weirdly pedantic for no reason. She's a terrible judge of whether or not she's doing something socially inappropriate. She has a hard time dealing with big emotions. There's just something meta and poetic about that kind of character being the one people are openly put off by, the one people don't get.

[oreo-oro-orero]

I thought I would talk more about how I feel Ekko is often mistreated or ignored by the Arcane fandom and why I think that is and spoiler alert I Anti-Blackness is at least a part of it.

Ekko is subjected to what a lot of black boys are too in real life which is  adultification. Ekko just like a lot of black boys was essentially forced to grow up and due to this I think a lot of the Arcane Fandom treat him as an adult and thus judge him more harshly just like how in real life black boys are often treated as older then they actually are and thus are subjected to more scruinty and Ekko is sadly constantly subjected to this by the fans. This is in direct contrast with Jinx who seems to be given a lot more leeway which to a certain extent is understandable because it is her story essentially but I still find it odd how she is given the "oh poor baby pushed around by the big bad world must protect" but Ekko is just given a side glance and a "he's doing fine" when both Ekko and Jinx deserve that "need to protect" additude but yet it feels like Jinx is given the most of the protection and Ekko is just left to fend for himself.

Honestly I don't think a lot of the Arcane Fandom looks at Ekko as a victim and that is genuinely upsetting. They look at his situation as more of a success story but even then his "success" is is very sad when you think about it.  Yes he built a community and yes I guess he did "turn out okay" despite his situation but he shouldn't have had build that community in the first place and just because he did doesn't mean he's healed, trauma doesn't just go away because your relatively okay compared to everyone else. I also think his hurt isn't taken as seriously as the other characters because he doesn't actively display it as much, in total his hurt is displayed in two main instances and that's it mostly, the other times he's on screen he's either angry or at the very least mildly annoyed or somber which is interesting because this is most likely a mask he wears and this mask is a direct result of the adultification I talked about earlier. 

Ekko suffers from what a lot of black characters do which is that despite them going through the same or sometimes even more trauma then non black characters, their trauma is often overlooked or downplayed to be less then it is which is something that happens in IRL to black people all the time. Also this mischaracterization of Ekko extended to Shipping as well to where some people label him as an abuser towards Jinx which is ironic because he is one out of like 2 other characters that doesn't actively kill anyone and if anything he tries to avoid that as much as possible so I genuinely don't understand where this abuser assumption came from, is it because they genuinely Believe it or is it because they saw a black man being aggressive an automatically assumed he was the one in the wrong in the situation.

I got a little bit ranty there and I apologize but Ekko is my favorite character from the show and just fiction in general and I feel like he has so much to offer but he is seemingly being mistreated by other fans of the show and that just doesn't sit right with me. I just hope next season really gives him his time in the spotlight.

[shalomniscient]

wing kjsr anon here!!

its pretty uncertain if she can fly or not. i hc that she did know the basics but after being fostered by kujou, she slowly forgot. since it is canon that she never really connected with her tengu side after being adopted.

another reason why i think there is a chance she might have known to fly is that in her friendship lv.6 story where she gets her vision.

"Though she had the strength of the tengu, she was still young and could not stand against the monsters alone, and was hurled from a cliff during the battle, her wings having been damaged prior.

Plummeting from the heights, and unable to unfurl her injured wings, she seemed fated to fall to her death."

like i think its hinted that she could have been able to fly and not fall if her wings weren't injured. i could be reading too much into it!

if she ever do gets a hangout quest, i hope we see her connect with her tengu side. maybe even visit that mountain she originally lived in. like we barely get any crumbs regarding her, even gorou got more than her 😭😭

i dont play genshin anymore and wasn't really an active player but omg i think a lot we got to lrarn about her was from her teapot interactions and the character stories.

shes so forgotten and mischaracterized that everytime i see people write her as mean and cold, i need to take a deep breath and take a walk 😞😞

i wish people started to actually learn her character than just call her a raiden simp. also bit off topic but i really hated how the inazuma archon quest ended. it pisses me off how they build so much tension just to end it like that..

signora's death was not needed imo, we barely got to even learn more about her character. and all we got about her past from were literal artifacts. and like the tension like the political complexities that happened at the time, the way we saw how people were affected after they got their vision taken away..like it was all soo well written in the beginning and then it just ended like that. inazuma was what got me into the game after liyue but also after inazuma, no quest really hit hard like how the quest where we get to see how inazuma was during the vision hunt decree.

like they wasted sm time on an npc that i could not bring myself to care about!! like i did not gaf during his death scene 😭😭 even yoimiyas quest was wasted on npcs if i remember correctly.

ok i think i rambled bit too much, but i stand by kjsr deserving more crumbs 💯💯

yeah, sara flying is a very grey lore area. i think at the very least we can assume she has the capacity to glide... god she makes me so emotionally unwell i need to give her so many comfort kisses shdlfjsdf also i agree somewhat with your view on the inazuma questline. i think the introductory patches like 2.0 and 2.1 were alright in building up to the war and establishing the weight of it, and how the sakoku decree has affected people from ritou to inazuma city to eventually watatsumi, and how neither citizen nor foreigner is spared. however, hoyo fumbled their landing so immensely to me. most criminally i think was there wasn't really any exploration of the fallout of the war and the decree. kokomi's story quest outlined the peace treaty between the shogunate and watatsumi, but that's literally it. why couldn't hoyo have included even a world quest or something about regular people trying to bounce back post war? surely inazuma's economy and technology has suffered ever since the decree was established. but no, there's not a single hint of information as to how these issues were resolved. it makes the war feel like it wasn't that big of a deal at all, since people seemed to have moved on pretty much immediately. it's a waste of incredibly rich story potential and as someone who does occasionally partake in writing, it genuinely hurts to see something miss the mark so horrendously.

as for teppei, i didn't feel any attachment to him at all, even when he died. honestly, i was more annoyed by him than anything. throughout the entire quest he was a part of, from when we meet him to when he dies, he maintains this cheery, naive energy to him. and again, hoyo's missed potential strikes again, because they could have written a bright-eyed character eager to partake in all the 'glory' of war coming to learn that in truth, there is no glory in war at all, only misery and suffering. that would've made a more compelling story, to me, instead of what we got. honestly, i was more attached to kazari then teppei, and she's a world quest character who doesn't say a single word. and onto signora... i will be crucified for this but to be truthful, i was never that attached to signora. yes she was very attractive when kicking venti in the guts but beyond that... she never stood out to me. i started actively disliking signora when she fucked sara up so badly we walk into tenshukaku and see her barely alive on the floor. after i saw that it was case closed for signora in my book lmao, if the shogun hadn't offed her EYE would've hsdlfjdhfljdf i fear signora will never find my forgiveness for that crime (not that it matters since she's-- *GUNSHOTS*)

anyway. one last thing about inazuma story quest before i go that has always bugged me immensely. the whole war between watatsumi and the shogunate... it's a complete farce when you think about it. there's genuinely no way the rebellion could have ever hoped to succeed if the traveler didn't show up. and i know that sounds obvious, but listen: the rebellion only exists because the shogun permits it to. realistically, if she so desired, the shogun could have sunk watatsumi in one blow. she may no longer have her gnosis in her possession, but a god is a god, and watatsumi is a godless land. i think the shogun would have been completely content turning the war into a battle of attrition, and in that sense, she has already won from the start. after all, who could possibly outlast eternity? this set the grounds for some absolutely crazy politicking and scheming that i would have absolutely LOVED to see... but we all know how the story quest ended up being so :/

[dungeonmeshi-confessions]

I often take issue with a lot of the way this fandom mischaracterizes Falin. I know a lot is having fun and for the bit but it feels so wrong to not see this discussed as much! Obv there are pressing matters when discussing mischaracterization of characters like Kabru or Toshiro but I feel like there could be more room for people talking about Falin’s as well. I feel like Falin is often reduced to being part of farcille (I don’t even dislike farcille, far from it, it’s just I feel it’s sort of a labru effect, where a character is sort of mushed to be a specific thing for a ship, and a lot of content contains those specific mischaracterizations, making it harder to enjoy without a lot of curation) or being the one who became falingon, or being an ideal existence who exists to contrast and reflect the ugliness in others in the party and not in a way that humanizes her. I know people are having fun and that’s fine but also I think falin warriors need to rise, this is my promise as a falin warrior to make people do her better. Self proclaimed falin lovers who don’t love her as character but merely a concept will come to my house and see my beliefs for once.

I think Falin is a person who masks herself as normal so well, that people mistake her for someone who is generally kind instead of a strange go with the flow type person who doesn’t really care at all about social norms but also has reduced herself to having few desires to be more acceptable, she doesn’t care about most people except for those she’s close too, it’s a more selfish thing on her end in that sense but it’s not at all wrong. True she’s very empathetic but she doesn’t care for others as much as some would think, she dislikes violence but would hurt others for the people she cares for (those being laios and marcille, others like her but I don’t think that fondness is as required as others think of her with, and she’s ok with that she enjoys them as she finds them interesting and fun to spend time with, they just aren’t in that mental box). Falin literally left magic school and didn’t contact marcille for 4 years bc she didn’t want to do magic school and in her mind it’s fine and normal to just get up and leave, yet if she did this to anyone who isn’t marcille and maybe laios (see laios abandonment out of fear incident that deeply effected both peoples worldview) many may consider that action strange and terrible. Falin is someone strange, she keeps it on the down low and to a degree as she understands the social contract and thus works to make things easier for herself and those she cares for, being easygoing to avoid conflict and stepping in to keep peace is a genuine form of autonomy that allows her to keep people around but not have to decide always. Honestly she often gets a pass because she can easily fill that preconceived social conceptual role of a passive strange girl dragged around by her “weird” brother, with ppl failing to realize she’s taking an active part in the touden shenanigan of being 2 weird siblings.

The story largely tells of laios’s disconnection from others (due to his autism experience, I’m not taking criticism on this) so it makes sense people want to discuss it, much like how other party members have a disconnect from people that’s literally how the entire party was formed (and how many non party members are defined). But as a contrast Falin is a character who’s disconnect is so great she doesn’t even care about it, she plays into concepts of the inhuman long before she is a dragon, laios may want to be a monster to escape that rejection but Falin wouldn’t see a point in becoming one, as by who she is and how she is treated she already is one. Falin is the concept of the “changeling” (a myth created because people couldn’t accept their autistic children), the possessed, the pixie dream, the witch. But that doesn’t matter to her because Laios cares for her even when the village hated her, that marcille became her first friend who connected with her after that. Because of that it’s fine that others don’t like or understand her. Even if Falin is physically human there’s a deep disconnect from her autism. Though those closest to her can’t see the real Falin that doesn’t matter to her, she’s unaffected by loneliness of that type. Her experience is so different from others that even when re-angles by the Falingon people don’t realize their similarity.

Honestly the falingon isn’t even totally different from falin in a sense just more dragon like, with less inhibition, and has had all of the people she likes and dislikes swapped around. There’s multitudes to her, there is hate in her, there is love in her, there is falin in the dragon. Stripped from human context is falin, a person who already has always felt a fundamental disconnect from humanity. A girl who’s now getting on her feet and choosing to make her own choices for the first time. One who declined to marry toshiro because while living on that foreign land would be enriching and fun for her and she could play as a lover she feels it would be dishonest to his feelings. You can’t tie down a dragon.

Falin is her own person.

——————

If you think describing these traits is a form of villainizing her, WRONG!!!!

These are cool fun interesting traits.

.

[arsene-ee]

not to butt in someone else's conversation but im glad more people are talking abt how ulder gets mischaracterized!!

hes one of the characters that already existed in dnd lore (for several modules even, hes an important guy lol) and its just weird how many players have decided hes either a completely absent uncaring and unloving father or this overtly strict asshole who abused wyll when the game and canon personality both go against that

i like that their relationship is complicated, but so many players are barely willing to even spare 1 minute to Consider wyll, much less ulder

don't feel like you're butting into a conversation I'm with someone publicly 😭😭😭 it's fine, i really appreciate your input 🩷🩷🩷

Honestly I never played actual DnD so I was not aware the Ulder is such a Important Character lol (I mean obv in game he is like THE GUY, one of the most important men in Baldurs Gate)

I think some people can't fathom the complexity of real human relationships, or real human characteristics in general, especially when it comes to Video games so they won't get it when it's not explicitly fed to them.

And like the little attention both of them get is really bothering me because people just look at Wyll deem him boring and then put him into timeout at camp and THEN THEY OBV DON'T EVEN WANNA GET TO KNOW ULDER OR EVEN CARE ABOUT HIM AND IT MAKES ME SO FUCKING MAD, especially since Ulder is one of the only Parents you actually get to meet in game (I'm not sure about Gale's mom but I think she's only mentioned) so a little more voice lines for him would be nice, like bro I'm gonna be your daughter in Law, react to me like pls.

[joneleslament]

I've recently been replaying V3 and writing down like every line of diolouge that I see through an important lens(Because I have an unhealthy obsession with this goddamn game and I know like everything about it)

And it really bothers me how like every line of diolouge outside of trials or just any line that isn't fully voiced gets forgotten, Because it leads to so many relationships between the characters being overlooked or mischaracterized to hell and back

The biggest example is Maki and Kokichi's dynamic

Everyone in the fandom says they hate each other without even bothering to listen to each other. That Maki would try to kill him the second he steps into her line of sight. That Maki was always looking for an excuse to kill him

When it's so aggravatingly wrong.

Maki was mad at him for revealing her talent and putting her in harms way(Keep in mind, Before this, Maki thought of him in the exact same light as everyone else) but this only lasts maybe a day or so in canon or just one chapter at most. Because in the post trial of chapter 3...

This scene happens. And you can perfectly see that Maki talks calmly to him and promises HIM to his FACE. That she's going to work till everyone(Which includes him) can trust her And she would NOT say any of that if she hated him You can also tell Kokichi was genuinely surprised by this, You can tell by the sprite he uses(He only ever stops like that when he's surprised or being honest) Because he's perceived Maki as a cold blooded killer who would snap on him(Trying to kill him) by the slightest teasing word.(Which, ironically, Is how a lot of the fandom perceives her) And he perceived her that way because of his belief that murder is the worst thing a person can do(And he automatically sees people who've committed it as heartless killers until proven wrong, Which surprises him because he obviously doesn't see it often) But this perception of her is false and he learns this first hand when she replies calmly to him, Making a promise, and I can't stress this enough, TO HIS FACE she's gonna fix things between them so he can trust her even if she's an assassin Right after this he makes a comment to cover up the fact he was surprised and keep up the mask he's been playing on the whole game, But honestly I feel like his view on Maki has shifted in some way. Because we already know he hates her JOB and maybe this just helped him separate the sin from the sinner(per say) I will not deny Maki hated him in chapter five though, But that's only because he 1. Kidnapped Kaito And 2. Said he was the mastermind(Which Maki believed) But she would've hated anyone if they did that(Even someone like Shuichi) so it really isn't singled out on him. And I will also admit before this, Still in chapter five, she was angry at him and suspicious of him(Because he was now making promises to kill people if stuff didn't get interesting), But, Again. It isn't singled out on him. TLDR: Maki didn't hate Kokichi until she thought he was the mastermind, And Kokichi hated her job but was able to separate her from it

[mommyashtoreth]

what are your most hated popular aziraphale and crowley mischaracterizations

GREAT question I fucking love complaining

Not to sound contradictory right off the bat but for Az it's both like. "Aziraphale is mean" and "Aziraphale is SO cartoonishly nice that he can't even fathom of anything that could be construed by anyone as being somehow 'bad'", because I think both are really fundamental misunderstandings of Aziraphale as a dramatic character for the former and as a comedic character for the latter. "Aziraphale is mean" seems to be based entirely on the ending of s2 and I've certainly said my piece about that already, but to summarize I think it's a bad reading of that scene and I find "actually Aziraphale is manipulative and mean and Crowley is 100000% always in the right and never did anything wrong ever" to make for a much more boring story than what we've actually got. On the other hand, boomeranging right into the other direction and making Aziraphale way too nice is ALSO something I find boring, but in a more standard "fandom flanderization" type of way. Like, I'm sure you've seen something where Aziraphale is so nice and good and pure and soft and sweet and smol cinnamon roll needs protection that he passes out whenever someone says the word "penis." And I find that boring! It's a bad way to engage with his joke. Aziraphale IS nice, genuinely, and he's good to people and helps people and loves humanity, but also like, he's smug and he lies and he says guns lend weight to a moral argument and is kind of a cunt in ways people don't give him credit for. And that's good! That's awesome. He's really really really funny and I obviously really really like him. Basically I wish people knew how to balance "Aziraphale is nice" and "Aziraphale is a bitch" bc both are true and it's a fine-tuned craft managing to depict both at once

Crowley is harder to pin down... idk I just Also find a lot of fandom Crowley very boring in very similar ways, either stripping him down (God I wish) to form one half of a very basic very boring Good Guy Vs. Bad Guy dynamic, or making him this like Sexy Domineering Alpha Male Daddy Dom type that I find very boring. Not that I think Crowley can never be sexy or domineering, my url is literally, yknow, that, but I think all his "evilness" has an almost playful nature to it where like you know he's having fun with it, OR I like when it feels like he's doing it as a job. like Oh, fuck, have to make the quota today. Gotta go cause a pileup. I think people generally tend to make Crowley either too serious or too nice, and he IS nice, there's a guarded softness in like both renditions of the character that IS very important, but he's still Also kind of a bitch! And that's fun! Idk people always make "sin" out to be some huge thing like "Crowley has to literally murder a child" which makes for good conflict, but there's also little stuff that he's a) good at and b) likes doing, like causing traffic jams and moving construction poles around and just like, generally annoying people and I think that's really really funny. I read a fic once where she would order pizza for delivery to other people's houses, and I'm still workshopping mine where she, like, convinces this rich guy to invest in a bad industry so when his stocks plummet he'll be insufferable to be around (also bc greed is a sin. There are sins besides lust! Animals), and that's fun! And honestly Crowley's fun even when he's down in the dumps, he's funny when he gets annoyed with Aziraphale or when he gets angry at Gabriel or whatever. I wish people tapped into that more! Idk I also clearly like Crowley a lot I think we could hang out I could grab a beer with him and play Bowie and Brian Eno on the jukebox, and a lot of fandom Crowley does not feel like somebody I could grab a beer with. Let him loosen up! Misery is fun to write but all work and no play makes Tony a dull boy