#I’m sick of people comparing me to those characters

[tigers1o1]

Having a lazy eye is strange bc its so normal to me that i completely forget that its something ive lived with my entire life that makes me different from others

But then i see a video or a clip of someone with lazy eyes, and either the clip is making fun of them or people in the comments are making fun of them. I’m fucking sick of the only media rep for this condition being fucking Mad Eye Moody (harry potter) and Derpy (mlp). Their fucking NAMES imply that theyre crazy/insane/stupid. What the FUCK dude. If every wheelchair user in media was conveyed as lazy or stupid, people would have a lot of fucking issues with it but lazy eyes are always the butt of a joke and nothing more. I’m sick of being a joke. I’m sick of no one realizing that its not just “oh haha that person is dizzy or stupid” NO. Its a REAL THING.

[heliza24]

I want to talk a little bit about Daniel in the Interview with the Vampire show, because the new trailer material has me stuck thinking about him, and also I’ve never written about how meaningful he is as disabled character to me before.

I don’t see many people thinking about show!Daniel in these terms, but he’s a canon disabled character. And I think the way he is written is just SO good. The acerbic wit, his relationship to doctors and his medication, his rueful acceptance of the way his disability has changed him. It is all so correct!! It’s really incredibly rare to have not only a disabled character written this well but specifically a chronically ill character written this well. His illness is always present; it doesn’t get forgotten about by the story. It gives Daniel insight into the vampires (more on this in a min), but it also gives Louis and Armand leverage over him. When Louis triggers his Parkinson’s symptoms? Deeply not ok. But that’s what made it such a great scene, and really made Louis feel dangerous and threateningin that moment. Armand and Louis arranging Daniel’s meds is a sign of great care and also great power over Daniel. It’s the perfect way to communicate the complicated power dynamic in their relationship.

I also just fucking love that this show takes place in 2022 and doesn’t erase the pandemic. Covid is a very present concern for Daniel and I cannot describe how validating that is for me as someone who is clinically vulnerable to Covid and who has had to really limit my life and take a lot of precautions because everyone else has decided to stop caring whether they pass on Covid or not. The fact that Daniel gets on a plane to Dubai is a BIG DEAL. He’s risking his life to talk to Louis and Armand before he’s even in the room with them. He really wants to be there. I have to make a similar calculation every time I travel, and trust me, getting on that plane knowing getting sick could spiral you into even worse health or kill you is really hard.

I think making Daniel disabled and including the pandemic is kind of a genius level decision on a thematic level. Of course Daniel is now facing down his mortality, which gives him a whole new lens on the vampires and the fact that he once asked them to turn him. And the pandemic further highlights his fragility, and is also possibly being used as a cover for drama that’s happening in the vampire world. But I think it also really sets Daniel up as a foil to Louis.

There’s a lot of analysis of the vampire chronicles that reads vampirism as a metaphor for queerness. But I would actually propose that it’s a much neater parallel for disability and illness in a lot of ways. So many of Louis’s initial experiences after being turned resonated with me, as someone who became chronically ill in my 20s. My appetite and relationship to food completely changed, much like Louis. My relationship with the outdoors and the sun changed, because of dysautonomia and allergy reasons. I was very mad, and very depressed, and I too have missed out on birthday parties and big life events like Louis did because I was too sick to go. Hell, you can even say that the way that Louis is treated as evil by his family, that the way vampires literally can’t be a part of society during the day, is reminiscent of ableist exclusion and ugly laws. (Ugly laws were laws that forbid disabled people, especially those with visible differences, from being out in public, and they were on the books in many American municipalities until the 1970s.) You can look at Lestat being an out and proud vampire in the first few episodes on the season and imploring Louis to leave his shame behind as a queer thing, but you can also view it as a disabled thing. Disabled people are portrayed as monstrous so often (and in a way that has gone relatively unexamined compared to say, the queer coded villain trope) that sometimes it’s just easier to embrace that label: I’m the monstrous Crip, but at least I’m not ashamed of or disgusted by who I am anymore.

I do think the real strength of this adaptation is that while you can find parallels between queerness or disability or other forms of marginalization with vampirism, ultimately it’s not a one-to-one parallel. It speaks to the real world but ultimately it is a gothic horror story about supernatural monsters. So I don’t mean to say that vampirism directly equals disability, because it does not. But I do think that making Daniel disabled was an intentional choice to help draw out some of those parallels, and I think the text is richer for it.

So Louis and Daniel have had these kind of parallel experiences of uncontrollable and difficult things happening to their bodies. It sets them up perfectly as foils, and even, I would argue, as the A plot and B Plot protagonists. This is one of my favorite ways of kind of examining the structure of a TV show (or maybe it’s that most of my favorite shows seem to be structured this way?). When TV was all episodic, it would be common to refer to the A plot (mystery of the week), B plot (interpersonal drama happening as the mystery gets solved) and C plot (any overarching plot tying the season together) in an episode. Now that stuff is serialized, there’s often a main protagonist, who has the main dramatic question and the most agency, and then there is often a secondary B plot that explores similar themes and mirrors the A plot, or presents a second main character who is the ldifferent side of the same coin” to the main protagonist. (My favorite example of this is Flint and Max in Black Sails, and I’ve also made the argument that Wilhelm and Sara fit this pattern in Young Royals.) In IwtV, Louis is obviously the main protagonist of the show, especially in the A Plot, which is the stuff taking place in New Orleans/Paris. But I would argue that Daniel is the protagonist of the B Plot set in Dubai. At the very least they’re intentionally set up as mirrors of each other:

They are both unreliable narrators, who are struggling with the way memory contorts (through memory erasure, illness, deliberate obfuscations, and just the passage of time). The most recent teaser trailer, where we hear Louis saying “I don’t remember that”, with panic in his voice, further underlined this similarity between Louis and Daniel to me. I don’t know if it means that Louis has also had his memory tampered with, as I’m assuming Daniel has, but I do think it means that Louis is going to be struggling with feeling out of control of his own narrative more in season 2, a thing that was already starting for Daniel in season 1.

They are also both locked into power struggles with people more powerful than they are. The fact that Louis is under Lestat in the flashbacks and above Daniel in the Dubai scenes in terms of power/status makes it all the more interesting. And, if we want to go ahead and assume that the Devils Minion’s years have happened in the past by the time we get to Dubai— it’s possible that both Daniel and Louis are united in being the less powerful partner in their own respective fucked up gothic romances.

They’re also both the audience’s entry point into their respective stories. Louis’s narration guides us into the world of vampires. Daniel’s questioning satisfies our human curiosity in Dubai.

I think one of the things that makes the show so special is the way that these two protagonists interact. In a lot of shows the a plot and the b plot stay pretty separate. I love talking about Black Sails for this because I think it’s such a good example; Flint and Max never exchange dialogue the entire show, even though they’re so clearly affecting each other the whole time. But the way that Louis and Daniel clash in Dubai is so exciting. We see them both wrestling for control of the narrative. It’s thrilling to watch and it just hammers home the theme of how complicated and changeable stories can be.

I am SO excited to see how the Dubai scenes play out in season 2 because of it. I really can’t wait. I’m really hoping we’ll see Daniel and Louis’s relationship evolve in surprising ways, and I’m holding my breath that we’ll get a lot of Armandaniel material to work with. (I have a whole other post drafted that’s much less smart than this one and is just me waxing poetic about Devil Minion’s theories which I may post at some point. You have been warned.)

I do have two wishes for Daniel in the new season, and they’re 1: that he gets to have romance/sex, because disabled (and older!) characters are so often seen as unworthy of being desired, and I would like to see that challenged and 2: that he continues to refuse to be turned/is not offered a vampiric cure for Parkinson’s. The magic cure for a disability or chronic illness is probably my least favorite disability trope, because it serves to erase disabled characters and representation from the narrative, and I want to see my experiences continue to be reflected in Daniel’s. That means that whatever ending Daniel’s story has will probably have at least a bit of tragedy baked into it, but I’m ok with that.

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Is shattering permanent in the comic (especially with the force fusions and cluster) or can it be fixed down the line like future did? Asking for your opinion on this too bc I found out about it in Future and it makes me feel weird (bc now it feels like any SU stuff and shattering has no consequence or tension, so haven’t been able to read or write stories). Maybe I’m seeing this wrong? Would love your thoughts

Hmm...

So to answer your first question: The comic for WDAU works on the same rules as canon does. I have no intention to over-write anything canon clearly stated to be true.

The ability to put back together shattered gems is definitely a part of that.

So yes, theoretically, even in WDAU, gems being shattered is not 'the end' because they can be eventually re-instated through the work of the diamonds, IF they someday decide to Change Their Minds like they did in the original series.

That being said...

I want to talk a little bit about something you said, because it tickles my brain in an interesting way:

"now it feels like any SU stuff and shattering has no consequence or tension"

And the best way to talk about stuff, I've found, is to ask questions about our underlying assumptions. So my questions for you (all) today are:

For us humans, death certainly IS a constant that remains ever-permanent, and thus it's easy to compare it to shattering and draw that parallel... but is that a fair comparison?

In fiction, death is often circumvented and there still remains reasonable tension in things like magic-heavy worlds, vampire novels, sci-fi where almost any sickness is eradicated, etc. Is this not quite similar to what shattering is for gems?

Is the perceived permanency of shattering the only reason it feels like a heavy consequence?

Are there OTHER consequences of being shattered that make it just as interesting, if not more than, to be explored as a plot device?

Must there be an ever-looming threat of something horrible and permanent happening to make a story good?

There isn't a right or wrong answer to these questions, necessarily. I'm not posing these in order to lead you to a singular, 'absolutely correct' conclusion or way of writing.

For some stories, death DOES need to be permanent in order not to make light of what the characters go through! In some forms of writing, there IS no other way around that consequence.

But I daresay SU is not one of those stories.

Let me put it this way - 100 years ago, medicine had only BEGUN to develop into the thing we know it as today. Sure, there were therapies and treatments for diseases, broken limbs, poisonings, etc. Some of them were quite good, even! But overall, the death tolls back then from basic illness were MUCH higher than they were today.

Pnumonia, Malaria, Syphillis, Smallpox, Bubonic Plague, AIDS.

These were things that people died from, with near CERTAINTY, for the LONGEST time. They were considered the road to a permanent black screen.

And today? Even though they are still, without proper intervention, JUST as deadly, we now have new tools and vaccines to combat them. Hell, if you get vaccinated fast enough you can get bit by a rabid dog and live to tell the tale, unscathed! Rabies used to be a one-stop-shop to the afterlife.

Despite this, we still view these diseases with appropriate fear. They are still dangerous - in the right conditions.

In the right conditions, the consequences for a LOT of things can be permanent. If permanency is what you're looking for.

So alright, the Diamonds can heal shattered gems now. Booooring. How easy it is to fix any shattered gem! What a simple solution to anything tragic.

But................... will they ALWAYS do so?

In fact...will the Diamonds ALWAYS be around?

Will the gems who got shattered always be picked up, piece by piece, and be brought back to them, perfectly preserved? Or will they lose pieces of themselves along the way - literally?

And what NEW consequences can we think of, when we stop thinking of the permanency of death, and start thinking of the Impermanence of those tools that keep us here longer and longer?

Just food for thought. 👀

[vampiriccreature]

Dmc 3 Dantes design is AMAZING in a storytelling aspect but does NOT work outside of dmc3 AND I’M SICK OF SEEING IT USED IN CROSSOVER MEDIAS !!!!!!

Long ass yap under cut

Dante has always been one for over the top outfits and designs. In the dmc1 novel one of the first sentences is talking about how Dante is flamboyant. At the end of dmc3 we see he has his dmc1 outfit on with all the layers and vest and everything. NOT shirtless.

At the start of dmc3 bro was getting out of the shower, like you hear the water and the shower faucet. You see the water droplets and steam coming off of Dante. And when he answers the phone he says the shop isn’t open yet. Dude was having a lazy day.

Dante did not have time to put on a shirt, he wasn’t planning on going out anywhere or doing anything, he was just eating pizza and chilling. I see SO MANY people (including cannon media like the dmc3 manga) just assume he regularly does not wear a shirt…. like he does! he just didn’t have time to put one on before Arkhams bitchass showed up with his demons.

Don’t even get me started on those pants…. light brown has never been a part of Dante’s color scheme so light brown pants definitely seem weird right? Also he had no belt despite clearly needing one.

Like look at this render, you can see how far his hip is from his pants. He probably just threw on some old pair without thinking about it. And with no belt too, every other version of Dante has at LEAST one belt. So seeing Dante in light brown pants, alone with no belt is definitely strange.

Yet it WORKS SO WELL for the overall design in 3. Reducing the amount of black in his color scheme to better focus on the red and establish him as a much lighter character compared to Vergil ties in perfectly with the dark reflection trope Vergil and Dante play into.

The most iconic thing about Dantes design has always been that red coat. No argument there. So taking away the rest of Dantes more extravagant parts of his design to better focus on the coat is perfect especially for dmc3. Another thing that ties back into the dark reflection trope of Dantes and Vergil is that cutting down on Dantes design makes Vergil and Dantes personalities reflect in their designs so much more. Vergil is very well kept, with a much more complicated outfit and slicked back hair. So Dante being the opposite of that with a lack of shirt, pants that don’t match, no belt, etc. (while still being flamboyant with that red coat) shows their differences in maturity.

You look at this guy and you KNOW he put so much time and effort into his look. He exudes elegance and effort. Meanwhile Dante’s just thrown on a coat and called it a day.

My point is. This design is great for the storytelling aspect of dmc3 as well as the symbolism and metaphors in dmc3. However, we know Dante doesn’t usually dress like this. He wears shirts. So I get personally annoyed when I see Dante portrayed as that one dude who never wears a shirt. I head cannon that around the shop when he has nothing planned he won’t wear a shirt (saves money on the water bill cuz less laundry) but if he plans to go out or have the shop open or whatever, he’s putting on the full fit. Shirt, belt, coat, and plenty of other accessories.

Also here’s the second paragraph from the dmc1 novel cuz I just love how he’s described not only as flamboyant but also adorned with a lot of jewelry:

[mamawasatesttube]

Sorry, I know you don’t really like people bringing up Jason but I’m very curious. I read Straight on Till Morning several times before really joining Tumblr and I was surprised by how much you seem to dislike him compared to how nicely he was written in said fic. Is it cuz it’s a future fic so he can be more chilled out than in current comics or something?

Feel free to ignore me if you want. Curiosity does not owe me answers.

no worries, i don't mind polite questions! :P

so there's two things. a) sotm was written when the only real comics i'd read were sb94, yj98, tt03, batgirl (2000), and nightwing '96 (iirc - i might be forgetting one or two but the point is, when i was pretty new to comics). at this point wfa had tricked me into thinking jason actually had a consistent character arc that i simply hadn't read yet, and i assumed it would be weird to write a fic where dick, tim, and cass were all around as kon's friends + damian was there being jon's friend in the background, but jason didn't get mentioned, so i worked him in bc i thought that was like. gonna be weird if i didn't, even tho i didn't know what he was doing in postcrisis yet. i mostly just wanted to write about kon and did not yet have the strong "actually i do not care for 99% of post-rebirth comics" feelings i have today. if i were to do the sotm rewrite in my mind, jason would actually still be in his villain to antivillain era because that's my actual favorite era of him. i think it's fun when he's hanging around being like... a vengeful ghost who's just determined to make his problems Everyone's Problem. i'm not really interested in soft angsty daddy's boy jtodd or whatever sdkjfh and that seems to be the most popular version of him i see. it's either soft angsty daddy's boy jason or it's power fantasy cop-adjacent jason who has never done anything wrong in his life and is completely valid in every decision he's ever made. neither of these interests me.

which brings me to b) it's not so much that i dislike jason todd as a character so much as that his fans are so fucking annoying to me. that chapter of sotm? multiple people in the comments were there ONLY to talk about jason, even though the fic is literally about kon and not about jason and he just happens to appear for PART of one scene that chapter. it made me get sick of hearing about him. like theres soooo many jason todd fics out there can you go read those. i want to talk about kon! and i've had people bring him up on my completely unrelated fics too like he doesn't even get MENTIONED like one fic is about clark kon and tim, and someone was in the comments like "omg i bet clark was thinking about jason here" and i was so ... dude. read the room. or the fic even. it is not about him.

but even more than the way a lot of jason fans have this apparently compulsive need to make him the main character of the entire universe, i really can't stand how many of them i've seen spout literal straight up copaganda and/or defense of the death penalty. like they will bend over backwards so hard to defend why he was right to put 8 heads in a duffel bag or why it's morally correct to kill rapists that they start spewing right-wing talking points. and the constant need to make him the perfect imperfect victim ("he's angry and loud unlike GOOD victims--") and all of that just... it really turns me off of 99% of fan content about him that i've seen. it makes me genuinely kind of uncomfortable. like if you think there's a category of criminal that it's okay to execute (without a trial, even) i want nothing to do with you. can you guys just say it's sexy when a man is covered in blood after murdering a room full of people without having to be like "and he was right to do it too!!" because i promise he was not. and if you SAY any of this people will come up with a whole thing about how you must hate victims and/or poor people or some shit. its... really something.

all of that being said - i think there are interesting things you COULD do with his character. i think he can be a fascinating character! with stories worth telling! the family tragedy, the horror story, the vengeful ghost! but at this point with how rancid i find his fanbase i just really only want to see jason takes from people i know will not start spewing copaganda at me + people who i know appreciate tim kicking him in the balls (bc he kicked dick in the balls and tim is a bitch).

anyways. bring back tentatodd 2k25 who's with me

[luniviravosshipper]

At the risk of upsetting some people and inciting discourse, I’m not going to tag this fully at this exact moment.

Also, CW/TW: talk of suicide and depression.

I’m rewatching some scenes from season 6 right now.

And it legitimately makes me feel so sick to my stomach watching the scene of Viren deciding not to hand Soren the letter, which would detail his last words, on the pretense that it would not offer empowerment to him. Not only does he withhold it, but he outright burns the letter so it could never be seen by any other eyes besides his own.

Like, just thinking about all of the subtext that dates back to the very beginning of the show surrounding the idea that Viren could have been depressed.

It actually makes me so, so angry that not only all the characters but the writers themselves very vocally believe that Viren was completely undeserving of being heard or acknowledged as a person because he wasn’t a good one.

And, that’s not even going into the whole servant motif with him that, by the way, has some incredibly classist undertones given how Viren almost canonically grew up poor and is the only character we know of who is indicated to have been and is also the only character who has been constantly ridiculed for his status and seeking out of power by every other character of a similar status to him. And the show decides to fucking affirm all that ridiculing by forcing Viren to wear the same garments he was draped in for a “purifying” ritual conducted by a group of elves who very clearly had racial biases against humans in the scene of him sacrificing himself while claiming to be a servant by using dark magic to help people, the very thing he decided to let go of in part because of the judgement he received for supposedly not being able to help others with it and for being the thing that made him be viewed as lesser then his actual earned status.

I have so many qualms alone with that. The fact that the show used the idea of servitude, which would have been fine if they had used it any other way because it is obviously very relevant and important to his arc, to dehumanize him. (They outright contradict what it means to be truly serviceable to others by denying Viren the right to actually atone for anything he did and to only accept whatever punishment and treatment he’d receive for what he’d done. Instead of helping others, he is forced to be isolated from everyone and locked up till he is needed to save an entire kingdom of people who will never directly recognize his efforts in saving them. His interpersonal relationships played such a big role in his arc up to that point. And now he wasn’t allowed to be acknowledged by anyone on an interpersonal level besides Soren, and only to a very small extent? Most of the people he wronged he did on an interpersonal level, yet he wasn’t allowed to do anything whatsoever to “make up” for what he did for those individual people?)

Also, the fact that somehow Viren denying himself the chance to be perceived fully by others and allow himself to be emotionally vulnerable (so much of his arc revolves around his struggles with introspection) was what the series considered empowering for Soren when it’s really just punishing Viren more then.

It is actually, really upsetting. It makes me angry, it makes me sad, almost to the point of making me cry. Straight up, I just have such a visceral reaction every time I rewatch any of the scenes starring Viren in season 6. Yes, I know that seems extreme. I don’t know, just the idea that the show thinks a character is deserving of being denied help or simply acknowledgment for struggling with depression or being killed in such a way that it is very comparable to committing suicide is totally fine (especially considering how this is a kids’ show and what message kids can get from this,) if they are unlikable or deemed a bad person (even though their chances to prove they are anything but those things or at least can become anything but those things are denied). (Could even go into what this communicates about imperfect victims of mental health struggles.)

[prinzrupprecht]

Counter argument to those that are complaining about sexualizing anime high school characters

Why are people now crying about writers sexualizing school kids in anime? It’s fiction, they’re not real. Anime is not real. Finding a minor character in a show attractive, doesn’t make the reader or the writer a pedophile. Actually, the term pedophile has been loosely thrown around way too much. It’s a psychiatric disorder when a person has a strong attraction to pursue or try to engage with pubescent children below the age of 13. This is completely different to liking a character that is not real. Hate, disagree with this all you want. Liking or having a crush on underaged fictional characters isn’t comparable at all to pursuing/sexualizing minors in real life. People need to stop comparing the two. Fiction doesn’t equal reality at all. I couldn't care less what authors/writers do as long as we all can understand the difference between fiction and reality. For the longest time, I had a huge crush on Manjiro and I thought he was 18, but turns out he was 16. A lot of the time they don’t look or even act their age. Hidden inventory 16 y/o Gojo fanfics are insanely popular on wattpad/AO3 and he barely even looks like he aged from 16 to 28. There's also so much r34 art of Zero Two and Marin Kitagawa. It’s pen and ink. So who cares?

“Omg tHaT’s a cHilD yOu sIcK fuCkS.”

Some people here don’t seem to understand Japanese culture and it speaks loud and clear. Do these “anime” high school characters act or look like a child? No. Does Yuji/Megumi/Yuta look like a shota? No. They have bodies of an adult and don’t even look like or act like children. Also, liking underaged fictional characters doesn’t mean we are attracted to children / minors in real life. Stop with that shit. A lot of Mangakas sexualize their minor characters. It’s normal in their culture. So that makes Japanese weird too? Nah stfu, let the Japanese cook. I’m guessing the minority that are crying about it are probably pissy Americans that can’t seem to accept that it’s normal in someone else’s culture and many others to like the looks of fictional 2D drawings of characters that don’t look like real humans. All it is, is just art. None of it is real.

It may seem wrong to you, but it is normal to others. Especially those who’ve been writing fanfiction for years on Wattpad and AO3. There’s millions of fanfics of “underaged characters x OC/Readers” which has been normalized already for decades because people can separate their fictional fantasies from real life. Age doesn’t exist in fiction when you can change it in your fan made content. Authors can change the age of the characters too in their fanfics/one shots. There’s been countless of people making High school AUs of Gojo x reader/OC fan made content surfacing Wattpad and AO3.

Some of y’all be reposting Geto x reader smut, & Sukuna x reader smut and they are mass murderers, child murderers, Geto is a racist, and Sukuna is cannibal and arguably a rapist. Would you fuck a child murderer in real life? Y’all be having fantasies of these characters. Majority of Sukuna smut on here is him using a “minor’s” body to fuck the brains out with the reader and that’s somehow better than people finding Yuji or Megumi attractive? Relax. It’s just fantasies we all have, they’re not real.

Anime characters are 2D drawings, so no, I don't consider finding anime girls/boys attractive equivalent to finding young real-life girls/boys attractive. No more than being attracted to drawings with absurdly disproportionate eyes means you like humans whose eyes take up half their skull. It's just an art style. That’s the whole point of fiction, it’s just fantasies as long as you don’t act on those same thoughts in reality who gives a shit. I would never like minors irl, so ffs call me a pedo for liking anime characters or disagree with me. Idc.

[barrenclan]

I know several people have said this already, but can I just say how much I absolutely ADORE Deepdark? He’s such a unique sort of villain to me, one that I don’t really see in fiction that often. He’s the sort of villain that thinks he’s an all-powerful deity, but then so does everyone else. His very presence is so uniquely terrifying, like there’s really nothing you can do to stop him from killing and plundering and manipulating and ruining lives as he pleases.

I’d even go as far as to say he reminds me of villains like AM from IHNMAIMS or Judge Holden from Blood Meridian. Both of those are pretty extreme examples, but they also give the impression of this god-like character that’s infinitely smart and cannot be stopped no matter what you do. They’re the sort of villains that almost feel like a representation of death itself, that no living entity can escape from their grasp.

In light of that, I think it’s also very refreshing to see that Deepdark got his way regardless of what Pinepaw wanted. I feel like if it ended with Pinepaw being triumphant over Deepdark, it would be like escaping death itself if that makes sense. We know that death is often not fair, and does not discriminate towards anyone or anything. It’ll creep up on you regardless of what you do or what you want, a grim reminder that Deepdark embodies almost perfectly.

All in all, you really cooked with Deepdark’s character lol. I’m really looking forward to possibly seeing more of him and his sick philosophies in the last few chapters. Excellent work 💞

Thank you so much! Comparing Deepdark to huge literary figures is quite the compliment. I really enjoyed writing him and I'm pleased with how his role in the story played out.

[kurorosanime]

"The Sound of the Wind"

Twenty Five Years of Hunter x Hunter (1999)

Twenty-five years.

Twenty-five years. A quarter of a century. It’s a surreal amount of time to think about, yet here I am reminiscing on my favourite anime of all time finally reaching that milestone.

Yes, the original Hunter x Hunter TV anime is finally twenty-five… and a bit. Yeah, I missed that target by a couple months, but it was all for the sake of this blog. Hunter x Hunter (1999) is the first anime that made me truly think about anime as its own thing. I was a fan of Dragon Ball Z, played the games, saw Digimon, basic stuff, but this was the first anime I went out of my way to pirate and that I watched purely in Japanese. It introduced me to one of my favourite mangaka and was the melting pot of some of my most controversial anime and manga opinions, so I feel it is fair to give it the courtesy it deserves.

So, enter the Hunter x Hunter (1999) episode by episode analysis blog. I have always been disappointed by a lack of people treating this adaptation as just that- its own adaptation. It is always inevitably overshadowed, elements of it discarded as mistakes or inferior to some other, later adaptation, and the anime itself is often only seen as homework, just watch the first episode and move onto the supposed greatness that is the rebooted Hunter x Hunter (2011).

I don’t play to radically change that sentiment. I’m just one person. But, I’m one person who will hopefully get found by one or two other people who will see my sentiments and views and think “Hey… this one’s onto something here.” 

As a preface. This will not be a Hunter x Hunter (2011) hater blog. I’ve done enough of those on other channels in the past, and even I’m a bit sick of it. This will not be saying that Hunter x Hunter (1999) is the magically more faithful adaptation. It isn’t. It really, really isn’t, even in that first episode it features some really radical departures from what our author, Togashi Yoshihiro, had written. This will not be contriving Hunter x Hunter (1999) as better than the manga, or 2011, or even 1998, or even the various stage adaptations. 

Instead, I will be viewing 1999 as its own production, comparing it to the manga to highlight what it deems as significant. What deviations it makes and why those matter, how this effects the interpretation of the characters, and really, what it was all about. I’m not a ‘sakugabro’ but I also hope to briefly, whenever my insight is valued or warranted, go through those ideas as well since the animation of this original adaptation is something typically praised in the modern age.

I will also try my best to cover things typically not covered. The English community for Hunter x Hunter (1999) is barely existent as it is, so much is not known about it. From the merch, to the musicals, to the games, and of course, to the supposedly real cut alternate ending that I have seen no sources corroborating but also no real disprovals of it, I will try to talk about all of this. 

I’m still in my early days with this concept, but so far I have blogposts for the first four episodes written. The most significant aspect of this blog will be its pacing, as that will be what gives me time to breathe and analyze- going through the episodes the way I do takes a lot out of me. I have spent sometimes four hours just examining the episodes and seeing what liberties are taken, how they are framed, even what music is used for a given scene, so I can only ever do one episode on a good day. But I hope the end product will be satisfactory.

For now, I will take it at my own pace before, in true celebratory fashion, switching to a weekly format once I’ve ‘caught up’. For example, if I were to catch up today, that would mean I would have written blogposts for the first twelve episodes, and thus my next post would not be until January 22nd, 2025 for the thirteenth episode, on the 25th Anniversary of said episode. So this will be a fairly long blog in the abstract.

As of now, I will not be discussing the OVAs or other adaptations, as they were done by completely different creative teams in a lot of respects. While the Yorkshin OVA carries over a large chunk of the DNA from the original TV anime, it is still lacking that guiding hand of Furuhashi Kazuhiro, the original work’s Director. Similarly, the Greed Island OVAs were mired in production troubles, and while it would be interesting to analyze them as a whole, they do not fit in here. 

Another topic that comes up is the original 1998 Pilot OVA, which was a Pierrot production and more a spin-off of Yu Yu Hakusho when you analyze the staff for it. I also have no real interest in it. Maybe I’ll have something to say for its 30th Anniversary in 2028? But until then, it’s a no-go. Same with the 2011 series and its two films as of now.

If you found this blogpost before I posted anything, thanks for being such a dedicated fan already. I should be uploading my first blogpost sometime tomorrow and from there I’ll try to maintain daily uploads until I reach that ‘caught up’ point mentioned earlier. 

If you want to follow along, I will be using the [EncoderAnon] release, which can be found at the usual places. If you don’t want to follow along… well, I guess you could just not do that. I don’t mind. 

Regardless, thank you for visiting my humble blog. I hope we can see each other off once we reach the 25th Anniversary of the final episode on March 31st, 2026.

[maxdibert]

Hi again!! so I was that anon that asked about Draco, but I loved reading your opinion on him :)

I think I'm slowly warming up to him as a character because he seems more realistic/complex compared to how Harry is treated like this Chosen One with unrealistic traits in the earlier books/movies. And ur right, he did certain questionable things but people forget that he was raised/fed propaganda about the Death Eaters and Voldemort's ideology, shaping his worldview and his Dad being the main giver of this propaganda. Plus, once he realizes what he did he shows guilt and reluctance, like in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, hinting at his internal conflict. Unlike Harry, whose heroism is idealized, Draco’s growth is more nuanced and flawed.

And idk why but Snape seems to be a better father figure, he seems to be the most likable teacher in the story— like, everyone else like everyone else like Dumbledore or McGonagall, while "great" in their own ways, feel distant or overly idealized + Dumbledore is way too cryptic. Teachers like Trelawney are sympathetic since all magic is controlled/dumbed down by a stupid Ministry. Snape's complexity, despite his flaws, makes him feel more relatable and grounded + Harry's dad did bully him.

I am developing an idea (for a larger multifandom story arc) where Draco ends up being fully sick of the whole wizard conflict, and Snape too- so they end up running away from the HP world, through a disappearing act right when Harry tries to retaliate after Dumbledore died. Now, this isn't to spite JKR or anything but an idea I came up with if Draco ended up choosing neutrality and rejecting the war's ideologies.

Anyways, I'd like to hear ur thoughts ^^

Helloooo! Good morning btw hahahah

Well, I’ve always seen Draco as a modern version of Regulus (which isn’t surprising since, after all, they’re family). Both are boys raised under a set of ideas they never questioned, but when the moment came to confront what it truly meant to put those ideas into action, they realized it involved doing things they didn’t like. This is something that happens a lot in real life and feels very realistic to me. I don’t think Draco completely let go of his own prejudices or conservative ideas, but there’s a huge difference between having problematic thoughts and actually wanting to exterminate people. A 12-year-old like Draco might spout off absolute barbarities he heard at home (like wishing Hermione would die), but he’s a 12-year-old kid who has no clue about the nonsense he’s saying. He doesn’t understand what death means or what it’s like to see someone dead. Once he experiences that years later, it horrifies him terribly.

Draco is an incredibly realistic character, and that’s why I find him likable.

Now, Harry is a much more complex issue because, in general, he’s an unrealistic character. His way of dealing with trauma—pretending everything is fine—is unrealistic. The fact that he doesn’t suffer from PTSD after living with the Dursleys is unrealistic. The way he conveniently holds grudges against certain characters but forgives Sirius overnight for attacking Ron in PoA while trying to catch Pettigrew—without even a proper apology—is also unrealistic. But in the end, it’s just Rowling deliberately and conveniently ignoring the consequences certain characters’ actions might have on Harry because it doesn’t suit her for readers to question whether those characters are morally dubious. She also doesn’t want to delve into Harry’s internal conflicts regarding them. It’s the same with Lupin being a total piece of crap to Tonks. It’s completely glossed over because Rowling wants to keep portraying him as a saintly, good guy. So, abandoning his pregnant wife gets resolved in two pages, and then we all move on as if nothing happened, lol.

I’m not sure I fully buy into Snape as a father figure, but I’m also not sure I completely reject it. I think Severus was very childish due to his traumas and the emotional immaturity they caused. This is evident in how he interacts with his students. The jabs he throws at them often reflect an adolescent mindset—he’s stuck in that stage because he couldn’t overcome a series of events. And then there’s the added layer of being “trapped” in the place where all those things happened to him. His reactions when triggered are those of a teenager who hasn’t yet learned to control himself.

His moments of camaraderie with the Slytherins clearly echo what his adolescence must have been like—encouraging the strong in his house. Except now, he’s the strong one, the one with power and authority. This creates a stark contrast and a strong dissonance with his other role, which is protecting the students—something he takes very seriously. Honestly, Dumbledore is a cynical, negligent jerk who doesn’t give a damn about his students unless they serve his future plans. McGonagall seems to have stayed out of all the plots Dumbledore and Severus had going, so we can’t really blame her. But Severus was tasked with protecting the children, and he genuinely protected them. In that sense, he might be the most responsible adult at Hogwarts, maybe even the only professor truly concerned about ensuring none of them ended up dead. However, this contrasts heavily with the way he treats them, which is hard for readers to understand if they don’t look beyond his image as a mean teacher.

What I do believe is that he cared about Draco. Just as his treatment of Harry reflected his unresolved issues with James and his guilt over what happened with Lily, I also think Severus projected onto Draco the gratitude he felt toward Lucius for probably being the first to accept him into Slytherin, opening many doors for him. In fact, I think Severus must have been quite close to the Malfoys on a personal level. Narcissa trusted him enough to ask him to make the Unbreakable Vow and to place her son’s life in his hands, knowing she would do anything for Draco. That suggests a close relationship behind the scenes.

Anyway, I don’t think Draco ever left the wizarding world. I could see him keeping a low profile, wanting to stay out of the spotlight, and focusing on managing his inheritance or pursuing activities that didn’t require him to go out much. But I don’t see him leaving the magical world entirely. He received a very specific type of education, and while his ideas about exterminating Muggle-borns likely vanished after the war, he was still an aristocrat with no reason to reject his lifestyle. I do see him adopting a much more moderate and cautious outlook, though.

Severus, on the other hand, would’ve left. Severus would’ve locked himself away in some remote place where no one would think to look, dedicating himself to his studies and potions, and telling everyone to go to hell. Severus was utterly fed up, but he didn’t have any options.

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

I often see people describe Spider as a neglected child. Do you think that is totally accurate? Would Norm and the other scientists have set rules and boundaries? If Lo’ak and Spider did something stupid together would Jake punish both of them? What would a scene like this look like?

Hello! I know you sent this question to other creators like a month ago. Sorry this took me so long to get to. I’ve been busy and I really wanted to give a detailed answer to this but I could just never make the time until now.

So short answer yes I definitely think Spider is a neglected child.

Long answer:

While I do believe some of his basic physical needs were met like food/water/shelter I don’t believe all his physical needs were met. First is just basic safety and while I don’t think his foster parents the McCosker’s physical beat him they definitely didn’t seem to care about him. From what we see in the comics and in the movie Spider was allowed to leave the base by himself at a very young age, like around 7-8 from the look of him. I personally take huge issue with this. I’d love to know how far away the village is from Hells Gate because maybe if it was super close, like you could see it from base kind of close, then I don’t think it’d be as bad but either way your letting a child, who is already super tiny compared to his huge surroundings loose in a jungle that we are told point blank from Jake’s narration is dangerous! Like it’s one thing to let your kid walk to a friends house to teach them independence but what parent would let their child do that if they could be potentially eaten by a tiger or trampled by a rhino. But that’s exactly what the scientist and the McCoskers are letting Spider do! That is just so negligent to me.

Next is Spider’s hair which I know we talk to death about for a lot of different reasons. So I actually have the exact same hair texture that we see baby Spider having so I can personally attest to it tangling easily when not properly maintained. After looking at 7-8 year old Spider i feel like I can pretty confidently say those aren’t dreads they’re mats. That’s what dry, unwashed, un brushed curly hair looks like after weeks.

From my research children typically need help with taking care of their hair until around age 12 and so the fact that his hair is matted tells me no body is helping him. And that could lead to issues down the line because matted hair can grow mold which will obviously make you sick. Even when we see Spider at 16 he hasn’t learned how to maintain his dreadlocks properly. They’re uneven, there’s unlocked hair sticking out all over the place. Really to me it looks more like he did his best to do something with his hair after all the childhood neglect. So yeah not putting in the effort to properly take care of a child’s hair when they’re to young to do it themselves is a form of physical neglect in my eyes

Now onto bigger issues.

We see from the comics that Spider’s foster parents just flat out don’t care about him. Other creators have gotten into that so I won’t go on about it. What I will go on about though is that I think it’s a failure of every adult that saw how neglectful and uncaring the McCosker’s where to Spider but did nothing. They did nothing because it was easier for them to do nothing. Sometimes foster placements don’t work out and when that happens you find an alternative until you find something that best fits the child. They didn’t do that! They did what was easiest for the adults and that was to turn a blind eye. I’m guessing after the events of the high ground comics that Spider didn’t even really have a guardian to answer to. He was basically just a ward of the rebels. I really do hope we get to see him interact with characters like Norm and Max post his kidnapping because from what we see in the movie Kiri was the only one worried about him. I think it would have been nice if during the scene where Jake and Norm are talking about Kiri’s seizer Jake asked if Norm had any new information about Spider, so we the audience would see that these adults do care about this kid. We don’t get that though.

And honestly I take huge issue with Jake’s treatment of Spider. I didn’t like it when I first watched the movie and never felt like he earned the “son for a son” line because again we never even saw him care about Spider aside from him asking Neytiri not to kill him which is beyond bare minimum. Reading the comics made me straight up appalled. My jaw hit the ground during the climax of the story when they are being chased by R.D.A, shot at, the forest is burning and Jake told Spider to turn himself in because he was slowing them down! And my poor boy just promised to keep up!

And I know Jake believes that they won’t hurt Spider because he’s just a kid but 1. Why would you even think that? Seriously what evidence do you have that the R.D.A wouldn’t hurt this kid. They are your enemy! They’re literally shooting at you as you speak! What makes you think they wouldn’t shoot Spider on site! Why would you even take that chance with a child’s life! Even if they do accept his surrender then what? Are you okay with this kid being sent back to Earth? Or being forced to live on the R.d.A’s base with little to no say of what happens to him? And 2. They do hurt him! A year later when Spider gets kidnapped Ardmore was willing to turn Spider into a vegetable to get the information she wanted! The only reason that didn’t happen was because Quaritch stopped him. This is just going to be an all me rant for a second but I could never leave a child behind like Jake did with Spider. I don’t care how tough you think he is he’s 16! And he was left in the enemies hands on an absolutely insane amount of good faith that they wouldn’t stoop low enough to hurt him. They fucking tortured him. And if Jake had at least payed lip service to being worried about Spider I’d be slightly more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and say there was nothing he could do to get Spider out of Bridgehead, he had to protect his others kids. But he doesn’t. He says that Spider’s a tough kid and that’s that.

So to wrap this up Spider was incredibly neglected. Based off of everything I said above it seems to me that the adults provided bare minimum necessities and then just let him run wild which is no way to treat a child especially when their young. We’d be here all day if I started up on the emotional neglect of this boy. I truly hope we get to see Jake treat Spider better in the next movie and that we get to see Spider interact with Norm and Max.

Those are my thoughts. If anyone disagrees I’d be happy to have a respectful conversation about it. I’m always curious to hear other people’s opinions. 💙

[bohemian-nights]

I’m not team black or green, and I’m also only watching this show for nettles - but I have to say that the only racist comments I see are coming from team black. They are so racist it’s insane.

1. They treat the velaryons like Rhaenyra & her (white) son’s cheer squad . They can’t fathom the velaryons being their own people with their own thoughts and opinions.

2. Their treatment of vaemond. They justify his murder for daring to speak up against their fav. They gaslight anyone who supports vaemond’s right to be angry that his house is being stolen by a white kid and claim that Luke “legally” isn’t a bastard and that we are misogynistic.

3. Their treatment of laena - they either claim that she was Rhaenyra’s lesbian (?) lover or that daemon never cared about her - they refuse to acknowledge that daemon was happily in love with her.

4. Their treatment of nettles.

I’m so done. I’ve just had a conversation with one of those insane stans, and they said that I’m “playing the victim” for pointing out their racism. I’m so sick and tired of hearing that I’m “playing the victim” or that I’m being “over dramatic” for wanting actual black representation and calling out performative activism.

Team Green has its moments(I don’t love how some of them treat Nettles), but Team Black is indeed objectively worse.

I have yet to see any other sub-fanbase go on rants about how there are too many Black people on the show so it’s fine to cut the only in-canon Black character(Nettles), that they are glad the n-word died(Laena), claim that a Black woman’s Afro-hair is dirty(the leaked photo on the beach), calling people monkeys(again Laena), comparing characters to animals(Laena and Nettles), the legally biracial fiasco, denying that there is racism in the books and that their fave is one of the perpetrators, saying that Daemon sleeping with Black women is a detrimental character trait…It’s a mess.

Honestly, most of the viscerally racist stuff that has been said had been geared toward Nettles or Laena(Vaemond’s a close third) because they are perceived as a threat.

Which shows you how f*cked up these people are. They are legitimately willing to resort to racism to attack fictional characters over a fictional ship.

And the kicker is, they don’t see anything wrong with their behavior because: I’m not racist. I have no problem with good Black people(aka the ones who kiss up to my fave), ignore me saying how a white woman (who I hate cause she's a Green 🥦, but she's still white) with less plot development is somehow more relevant than the girl who shows that you are more than the blood in your veins. That's not relevant. You wouldn't like her if she wasn't Black!

Let's not get into the fact that they only like Baela, Rhaena, Corlys, and Alyn because they haven't/don't do anything. The moment we see them have a personality and it’s not solely about worshipping Missy Anne they'll turn on them.

If the show ends Rhaena’s arc marrying a Hightower they'll call her a whore and a traitor. If Baela calls out Missy Anne for not being motherly towards her and her sister they'll call her ungrateful. When Corlys puts his blood first he’ll be treated just like Ser Vaemond. Alyn will be hated not for saving the psychotic white woman(who arrested his father and tried to arrest his brother) in her hour of need.

If what they said about Rhaena taking Nettles’ place actually happened, do you know how upset they'd actually be with Daemon even putting his actual child first before Miss Maegor? She'd become enemy #1. He is not allowed to love anyone more than her.

They also love to defend their deplorable behavior by saying the characters they are attacking are fictional so it doesn’t matter.

B*tch it’s no longer just fictional when you call someone(even if it’s a fictional character) the n-word.

When you are actively trying to take away what little representation we do have and hurling slurs and stereotypes used against Black people in real life for centuries to attack characters you don’t like, you’ve gone past fiction and gone straight into a Klan rally.

There is loads of evidence of their demented behavior. Anyone with a working brain knows they aren’t right in the head and what they are saying is wrong.

Hell, they themselves know what they are saying is f*cked up, which is why they try to gaslight you into believing they are the innocent victims and you've just lost your mind. When that doesn't work and you provide them with the receipts for their bullcrap it’s crickets cause they’ve gone crying in the corner 🦗

They keep crying and bemoaning about Miss Maegor being called a whore. That isn't exactly nice, but you can't flip things around and make yourself look like the injured party when you are a f*cking racist.

For Christ's sake, these people are just all-around hypocrites. Some of them have called Nettles a whore(the worst is yet to come with her) yet they spaz out when you say Miss Maegor and start yelling about misogyny.

They are the same ones who mocked Laena dying(and her son) yet they cry when you call a dragon baby a lizard.

You can't claim that it's all fiction and then start crying when your fave who is also fictional is “attacked.”

There is a good reason she's being “attacked” considering she's an awful character with next to zero redeeming qualities(which is probably why she's attracted the worst fanbase).

You can't claim misogyny and perpetrate it yourself. You can't claim to not be a racist and then overtalk Black women when they call you out on your behavior and then call them crazy for defending themselves. You can't force Black women to overlook your faves racism for the sisterhood and then spit in our faces when we don't. That's not how this works.

I could go on, but I'm going to stop here cause it's pointless. You just have to laugh and bow out cause talking to them is like talking to a brick wall.

[plague-karm]

Hello Ultrakill mutuals I’m back on my bullshit and I wrote an entire thing around the Guttermen because they make me sad lmao enjoy.

There are so many aspects of the Ultrakill lore that are tragic (Minos’ death, the abandonment of the Ferrymen, the entirety of the final war) but the lore behind the Guttermen makes me feel sick to my stomach and it shows how much everyone in that world is completely fucked.

Integral to the lore, the Guttermen were the first successful blood powered machines created for the final war, but due to them not having the plating that V1 has (where they can be sustained by blood for longer periods of time), prisoners of war were forced to become their bloodbanks (those of which were falsely declared as willing volunteers who had returned from war).

Their skin, muscles, nerves, and organs, all slowly siphoned away by the machines they were forced to give their lives to, a fate worse than death, a creation beyond any sense of morality.

A creation so monstrous that hell itself took notice of the Guttermen and created the mannequins, more equally grotesque creations stuffed with the limbs of husks, resembling twisted visages of elegant models (they would be the biggest cunt servers in the game if Gabriel wasn’t a character). Imagine creating something so abhorrent that hell would end up taking inspiration from it? That’s a spine chilling concept.

That alone is horrible, but what makes them so unbelievably tragic to me is that the life that was given to them didn’t just make them feel bloodlust, but empathy, empathy towards those who were locked away inside their caskets.

One of the saddest things in the entire game (so far) to me is in this book found in 7-2, its contents are heavily implied to have been written by a Gutterman and it’s as depressing as it is tragic.

They don’t just show empathy towards those locked away and forced to give their lives to them, but remorse, remorse for the fact that their suffering was caused by them, all for a war without reason. And the fact that they thought the only way they could redeem or justify their lives was to kill the poor bastards forced into their coffins is DEVASTATING, they didn’t want this just as much as the victims put inside of them didn’t want this, and the self hatred they feel for just existing breaks my heart even more.

We know the machines aren’t unfeeling, they’re capable of complex emotion and thought (V1 and V2 can both hold grudges for example, the ultimate haters fr), but up to this point I’ve never seen it this detailed before, and I find the fact that it likely came from the first wave of machines made for the war genuinely heartbreaking because it was a time where most of humanity still had hopes and dreams. A lot of people were likely born during the final war, it’s all they ever knew, it was their normal, maybe that’s why the guttermen’s thoughts are put out in a more intricate way compared to the other machines? I’m not sure though, that’s just a personal theory of mine.

They even have their own theme, “Do Robots Dream Of Eternal Sleep?”, and like every other track in the game, it fits their story perfectly. Droning, eerie, and drowning in melancholy, a never ending cycle of souls being stuffed inside their caskets, forced to endure the horrors of war, and waiting to be put out of their misery, and the fade out consisting of gunfire that gets unceremoniously cut quiet? Perfection.

This is another reason as to why the Guttermen were a horrific creation, not just because of the methods used to bring them to life, but the effect it had on the creations themselves, the fact that they became sentient enough to be fully aware of how horrific they were, to understand the suffering of the vessel used to bring them to life, the pain their vessels felt to give them life brought them pain as well, beings that solely exist to kill, that have no concept of a normal life, even they were aware of how twisted their existence was, and even then, even after killing those who reside in their caskets…

They still end up in the Violence Layer, doomed to repeat the cruel and inhumane cycle again and again, the Violence Layer is my favourite layer in the game so far (yes I will be making a separate post on it but it’ll take a while), it completely changes the tone of the game from batshit insane to depressing and horrific as fuck in such a natural way and if it sets the tone for the rest of Act III I’m all for it. I didn’t even feel satisfied Ultrakilling any of the new enemies I just thought “thank god I’m putting them out of their misery good riddance” the blood against the pure white just feels wrong to look at, ALL of it feels wrong to look at, even after several playthroughs there are so many details I find bone chilling (imagine dying in the final war only to end up in the layer where war and bloodshed is constantly occurring like what the fuck that’s horrible).

If the theory that the entirety of hell is going to freeze over after the final boss in Treachery ends up coming true I’ll be happy about that, only so the Guttermen are actually put to rest and freed from existential torment, where they can be free.

Where they no longer have to dream for eternal sleep.

[elainsgirl]

oh fuck me i hate seeing people’s bad takes on this damn app. i’m scrolling on my for you section of tumblr and a post comes up of someone saying they believe elain will be the one to betray everyone in the next book. because that will be the most shocking. what in the world??? that would be shit in my humble opinion. and then they go on to say she is coddled so much (okay maybe) that she’s weak. dude, she stabbed hybern (which they state in their post so idk why they say she’s weak) and kicked the naga or whatever those things were attacking them when they were escaping the camp with her BARE foot. to me she is pretty fucking cool and brave for someone who has never trained. also poeple calling her weak and boring are so… she hasn’t had her book yet!! you guys don’t know what she’s capable of. everyone hated nesta before her book and now she seems to be the most loved female acotar character (legit saw a poll where she had the most votes for that). and even if elain doesn’t end up being a warrior or a valkerie or whatever, that doesn’t mean she isn’t a strong female character. she could become something else with her seer abilities. just because she loves to garden and cook and bake, doesn’t make her weak or boring. this fandom can be so misogynistic. and it’s mostly women saying these mean things about elain. makes me sick

If you’re craving for a shock factor therefore coming up with non-sensical theories- maybe leave acotar alone - as its clear they’re bored with the series and move onto other books.

Elain has no motive to betray her sisters or anyone else - the whole “she wants to be human!” BS ended in acofas.

Elain literally stands up and tells her sisters to basically stop coddling her, Feysands bonus emphasises this issue and Rhys says about letting Elain grow as a person. Anyone that calls Elain week - hasn’t read the books properly bcs she is literally so far from being “weak” for the reasons you listed. If anyone else had stabbed a king - they wouldn’t be callled weak…yet Elain is??? Make it make sense - but they can’t bcs in the end it comes down to misogyny and viewing feminine women as lesser then and incapable. If a man had done half the things Elain has, he’d be praised and labelled “hot” or the “standard”

Yh anon. I find Elain Archeron pretty cool too. I’d love to be able to easily stab a king right in the neck with a dagger im holding for the first time in my life and then spend the next day baking and cooking to my hearts desire. She’s literally an “IT” girl. Someone you should strive to be.

After everything she’s gone through, has done already - Elain Archeron should already be labelled as a strong fmc. She can spend the next book - baking, gardening or just waltzing around and showing us her favourite places in Velaris and no one should even say anything bcs this woman has already done so much for the plot compared to some characters who have been around for books…*cough*.

Its only a repetitive cycle with the Acotar fandom. They hate a character/ship -> their book comes out and behold! Said character/ship is now their absolute favourite. History repeats itself and the majority dont learn from it.

I think thats what I find so disturbing about the acotar fandom, 85% is women that are coming up with such degrading, misogynistic and disgusting takes against these fmc’s. Like. What?

[d3sertdream3r]

I’ve noticed a lot of rancid takes about Taliesin’s characters that are annoying me, so I’m going to rant for a minute. 

Tal has perfected the art of creating paradoxical characters, and I think a lot of people end up getting lost and confused in the layers. This is not a “if you don't get it, you’re dumb” type of thing. It’s just that I wish people would truly ponder his characters and why they’re the way they are because they’re not the stereotypical protagonists that North American entertainment focuses on. They’re not strictly kind and generous, intelligent and charming, or hateful and arrogant. They’re all of the above. 

A lot of western media features characters that are fairly cut and dry and easy to understand. There isn’t a ton of complexity happening, and from what I’ve seen, the majority of the people hating on his characters and role-play style are from areas where they aren't used to Tal’s type of character. They’re not used to characters having multiple characteristics that seem to contradict each other all at once (even though that’s how people are in real life). I’m guessing that’s part of why they don't like them, but who knows. 

Caduceus is the least paradoxical of his characters, which is why I think most people say he’s their favorite of Tal’s characters. He is the personification of a fluffy blanket and a warm hug. What’s not to love?? Percy, Molly/Kingsley, and Ashton on the other hand, are all much rougher around the edges. The point of them is to provide the opposite of comfort for the audience; they're meant to make people a little uncomfortable. They hold up a mirror to the audience and force us to look at the parts of humanity that we try to avoid. Not the pure evil of mankind that Matt’s villains often show, but something even more sad and hard to swallow. 

Audiences tend to like characters that deal with trauma through humor and/or charm. People benefit from these types of characters by laughing at them or lusting over them. There’s nothing wrong with this by any means; that’s all part of the fun of fandom! However, characters that deal with their trauma in ways that are more raw and painful tend to be disliked. 

Percy is filled with constant fear that his past will haunt his future. He is convinced that wherever he goes, the darkness will follow and the pain awaits. He has horrible nightmares and lives with incessant paranoia, yet faces the deadliest monsters, demons, gods, etc with nothing but his wit and a gun. He can't stop inventing, not just to glorify himself but to protect everyone. He’s so many things at once, which is what makes him so real and complex and fascinating. 

Molly/Kingsley’s story is about wondering who you truly are and not meeting expectations of those you care about. Imagine that you’re not the only one comparing yourself to someone else; all your friends are too. You’re trying to figure out what defines you while feeling like everyone you know wants you to be someone else. His story is also filled with questions about nihilism and whether or not anything truly matters, including identity. 

Ashton represents the endless loneliness of abandonment and feeling like no matter what you do, those you love will never care about you as much as you care about them. He pushes people away and acts like he doesn’t have a care in the world while simultaneously doing everything he can to grip onto his friends. He is jealous of Laudna for the way she died because it showed how loved she was, and how sick is that? To be jealous of someone’s death? To try and force someone to admit that they haven’t gotten over their issues because you can’t accept that it’s possible to overcome yours? What's wrong with you? If it’s possible for people to do that, why can't you? What’s wrong with you? Why is it so hard for you when it seems so easy for others? What’s wrong with you? They represent not just the physical, but the emotional chronic pain that most people don’t have to think about every day. 

I have so much more to say about these amazing characters, but that would take an entire novel. They emotionally bleed all over the place. While they can still be lighthearted and humorous at times, they’re often really messy in various ways. But that doesn’t stop them from being so loving and wonderful at the same time! 

TL;DR, Taliesin’s characters are incredible and I’m so grateful that he is willing to play them in such a raw and real way for those of us that aren’t always funny or charming enough about our trauma to make society like us. 

[mariodreemurr]

Can I vent to y’all for a bit?

tw // vent (under the cut)

As y’all know, the main reason why I switched to selfshipping was that I had trouble with fictolove and what it entailed compared to the former. But there is another reason for me ending things with Petal specifically. Though she is still an F/O of mine, here’s why we “broke up” in a fictolove sense.

When I first started things with Petal, most people didn’t seem to mind my irl self and her being together. Given that I was so in love with her at the time, I just felt as if it was perfectly OK, and that I was unstoppable.

But then things took an unexpected and unfortunate turn about two months into it. Angry anons started sending awful words to me. People on Reddit and other places started blocking me. I felt unwelcome in several ficto spaces, and I didn’t have a true home. I was terrified and alone.

But I kept going on. I kept moving forward. I figured that there wasn’t anything wrong with me. Despite my bad reputation, there were still people here and elsewhere that have supported us, and I thank each and every one of y’all for doing so. I tried as hard as I could to make the best out of the situation, and I think I succeeded at the time.

But over the past month, I drifted away from Petal. I spent most of my time doing other things, including being in introspection about my life and the people in it. And the more I was in thought, the more I realized that I remembered the bad parts of our story more than the good. The encouragement was just a blur, but the criticism was imprinted onto my brain. I remember the exact damning words people have said to me, yet I cannot for the life of me make out a single compliment in my mind.

Hell, just today I opened an anonymous message on a Christmas tree site from a Redditor after I left r/Fictolove, that stated: “you are a freak and I’m glad you left.”

Things already weren’t going well with Petal, with me being less and less dependent on her…but this feeling of dread and agony is what ultimately made me decide to pull the plug. The hate with our relationship was strong, and it unfortunately got to me.

What’s sad about this is that I still love her very much, and she’s such an amazing character to me. But the world just wasn’t ready for us, nor will it probably ever be. Because I still love her, she’s still an F/O of mine, but she will never be shipped with my irl self again, but with Curt.

I hate being a human so damn much. I would rather be anything else than to be the same species as those who have put us down. I’m tired of conforming to their bullshit standards. I just want to be my own damn person without anyone saying I can’t. I’m fucking sick of this shit. I really am.

Yet at the same time, I just want to feel accepted. And it breaks my heart that given the way I am, I cannot have it both ways. But I would much rather be accepted than to be remembered in a negative light. (I’m really starting to think that I’m not a 4w5 because of this. I might just have balanced wings or just be a plain 4w3.)

I just needed to let off some steam. I’m fucking tired, y’all. Tired of people, tired of everything, tired of life. I need a nap or something…

Please read my full DNI in pinned before interacting, thank you.