#I've shipped them for ages actually. months even

[kakusu-shipping]

I’m kinda insecure about one of my f/o’s because, 1. He’s a teenager (and I’m an adult), and 2. He’s kind of a meme character. I’m worried people will think I ship myself with him as a joke, but I’m not. I really, really like him!

This is the Internet and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks ever.

Well that's my go to response anyway, but I do understand the hesitation, especially with a canon minor character, feels like you gotta dance around certain people for that, and it makes the whole thing feel kinda exhausting. Though I'll say, it's probably not as scary as you think it is, it's easy to fall into this hole on the internet that if you make even the slightest misstep people will scream for your head, but it's really not that bad, I promise. Maybe I'm just lucky though, or off most people's radar.

The other half though, the worry people think you're self shipping with them as a joke? Honestly, if people think that, it's probably fine all things considered? Like I get it kinda sucks not being taken seriously, kinda hurts, but at the end of the day your F/O knows you're serious, and you know you're serious, and that's what matters.

Every character is someone's unironic Fictional Other. There are people out there who'd unironically want to Marry Shrek, or Nagito Komeda, or Sans Undertale and the Oncler together. And like!!! Good For Them!!! I love that for them!!! Shrek and Sans love them back!!

So if you're comfortable with it, take a deep breath, and love loud.

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Who Builds Theseus' Ship?

This ties in to a greater discussion about Larian's changes to the game post-Full Release, and whether you consider those changes to be a good thing or a bad thing. Personally speaking, the quality-of-life and gameplay mechanics improvements were appreciated, while the direct changes to characters and especially characterization were not so much.

In such discussions, I often see people downplaying the actual changes to characterization that have been made thus far as "minor" things, but I often see one of the most glaring examples of a characterization change left out, because so many people aren't even aware of it ever happening:

Halsin.

For those who don't know, if you were romancing Halsin at the time of the original full release, and for almost four months afterward, if you took him with you to Act 3's orgy scene in Sharess's Caress, he would open up about a situation in his distant past. He would tell you about how he had briefly been "something between guest, prisoner, and consort" in a drow House, and been kept there for three years before escaping.

He stated that this was something that happened "a long time ago", when he was "a foolhardy young druid", which would mean it would likely have been between ages 100 and 245 — or at minimum 105 years ago, and at (likely) maximum 250 years ago. He closed the discussion with a line that really struck me, and that gave me such an appreciation for his character, and for the writers who had created it:

The passage of time has a strange way of polishing even the most arduous of memories into precious keepsakes.

As someone in their late-20s, with a number of traumatic events in my past, this resonated so much both with my experience of those events – once harrowing and haunting, now just simple happenings that do not affect me the way they once did – and as an inspirational message, that hurt would not necessarily linger forever.

Not only that, I really valued the insight it gave into Halsin's personality, further showing him to be someone who was deeply complex and meditative, always looking for meaning and something to take away or learn from any experience. It also served to showcase the likely reality of the relationship elves and druids both would have to the concepts of time and memory. (Another example of this is the experience of Shadowheart's father compared to her mother at the hands of the Sharrans.)

I started playing the game almost immediately upon its release in August, and was intrigued by Halsin from the start. He was someone who was kind and heartfelt, but also very settled in himself and with a simultaneously rigid and very flexible moral code. It was that complexity that drew me to him, and I appreciated the inclusion of a character distinct from the Origin companions, all at close to the lowest point of their lives.

It was to my surprise to find that this appreciation for his character and perspective on his Act 3 revelation was not unanimous. As it turned out, there was a vocal group of people claiming that this writing was problematic, and that Halsin clearly didn't even realize he was actually traumatized, and that Larian needed to fix it. Not everyone joining in with this crusade had even played the game.

And, ultimately, in a pattern they have continued to follow, Larian responded. They fixed it. At the end of November, as part of Patch 5, they uploaded an edited version of the scene with new dialogue, where the player could express this "reality" to Halsin, in one of the most gallingly patronizing statements I've ever seen.

Sounds traumatic. You may need to reflect on that.

(If someone said this to me after I had opened up to them about my trauma and my experience of it to them, we would not be maintaining a cordial relationship afterward.)

Halsin's new response to these dialogue options is a cringing, self-deprecating cascade of how the player is of course right, and he should have known better, and time could "prove to be a trickster on one's recollections" and that perhaps he had "lost perspective".

Quite frankly, it is a completely different character answering, and an almost directly opposing overall message about the role of time in healing, and the path forward when it comes to trauma. No more "one day these events will not hurt to recall the way they do now". In its stead: "only healing that looks a specific way and follows a specific path is acceptable - anything else and you are simply a poor fool lying to yourself."

The following quote is from a comment left on a video of Halsin's original dialogue in that scene, before the changes, and is just one example of how much that representation meant to more than just me to see:

That said, Halsin is trauma recovery goals for me absolutely. Being able to remember without actually being triggered? Being able to fully and freely engage HOW ID LIKE TO instead of being fettered by trauma responses? Goals. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there 100%, we don’t get elven lifetimes irl, but his level of healing brings me hope.

Ultimately, this post is not meant to argue that you should agree with me that one is better than the other. More so, I want to highlight that this existed — for many people, this was their experience of events and characters, and that is not so easily redacted. And I also want to just state, for the record, that Larian's way of approaching narrative and characterization changes to their full-release game has been incredibly frustrating. I did not agree, in August, to play an Early Access game with the inherent understanding that any potential narrative aspect might change at any time. I purchased a full-release game, and immersed myself in the story and the characters, to get to know them as the writers had originally presented.

And when Larian makes these changes based on fan feedback, they are explicitly making decisions about which fans matter, and specifically, which fans matter most. Rather than allowing everyone to experience the story they decided to tell, and draw from it what they take away, and let that spark discussion and engagement, they made the decision to defer to some fans over others, and prioritize their experience of the narrative — something that, no matter how well-intended, is always going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

[viaviv124]

What argument anti rayfrog shippers (or nayfrogs as i've learned, which is 10x more hillarious) that just makes me question if these people actually pay attention and is also lowkey funny to me is "Bullfrog said he watched Rayman since he was a tadpole!" That is literally not what he said. He said "i used to watch you as a tadpole"

Considering the Rayman show is probably the only or biggest kids program in Eden and Rayman is literally everywhere i doubt Bullfrog couldn't not watch him, espacially if it's mandatory viewing (which it most likely is). To me this just makes it like their Spongebob but forced, you get what i mean? I don't think this really proves a point. Bullfrog didn't even mention ever being a fan or liking the show. Just that he watched it. It's also funny to me how he dropped that line right after calling him "Eden's favorite Poster boy" like it's such a random thing to add lol, i don't think he wanted to imply he ever idolized him considering he was just mocking him the entire way through. Either way, at the time they met both of them were consenting adults able to think clearly and, again, Bullfrog hated Rayman with a passion at that point and did not idolize him, i mean, look at that glare:

If that's not pure spite and mockery i don't know what is.

What people need to understand is that no sane rayfrog shipper goes "Bullfrog likes Rayman/Ramon because he loved watching him on TV like 25 - 30+ years ago!" Pretty much all concepts/headcanons are hurt/comfort because the consensus of them bonding consists of them supporting eachother and becoming a shoulder to lean on to work out their mental stuff like Ramon's guilt about literally everything and Bullfrog's survivors guilt and eldest sister syndrome. Also, Bullfrog is quite literally a trained assassin of a group that quite literally has been fighting the templars/Eden since pretty much the beginning of human history. Pretty sure if anything his mind would default to spiting and distrusting Ramon at every turn instead of idolizing him for something he saw on tv when he was a literal toddler i mean come on are you serious. Also pretty sure his mind is clear enough to think about shit rationally.

Another point i love is "they shared only one scene." People have done more with less. Ramon and Dolph have not exchanged a single glance and Laserray (rayhawk? Idk) is a thing. People will ship anything as long as it has a good dynamic in their eyes. I'm just saying Mordetwi and other crossships.

Its genuinely hillarious to me how people hate on the popular ship instead of everything else. The two canon predators? Nope! Sarah x Jade that would, if it would be canon, be nothing but abuse considering all of their interactions in the show, as few as they were, are pretty abusive? Nope! But god forbid two consenting adults with an age gap that support eachother kiss! I absolutely do have certain problems with rayfrog but considering the lack of material we have to work with these problems are all speculations i can headcanon them away.

Also as a small note in case the conkai crowd pins me on this because of the posts i made several months ago, no, two consenting adults with an age gap are not the same as a 17 year old banging a physically 6 - 8 year old even if he has the mind of a 17 year old, thank you.

[ihatedean]

please help my baby get his ear surgery done<3

thank you for clicking read more :)

so after months of testing the vet informed us a few days ago that our cat does, in fact, have skin cancer. to get more specific it's actually squamous-cell carcinoma.

(text is in spanish but im sure google lens can translate pretty well.)

it's affecting the tip/side of his left ear and hasn't spread to his nose or the other ear, so the vet recommended surgery to get the ear removed as soon as we possibly can. this would be on september 2nd, this monday.

exams like x-rays and biopsies have already been pretty expensive so i'm making this post to hopefully offset the cost of his pinnectomy (ARS$180,000->USD$189) even just a little bit. the whole thing has been really stressing and adding to that a messed up family situation where i can't ask them for help, please trust me when i say i wouldn't do this if i didn't need to.

details for the fic commissions:

my ao3 account for reference

right now im working on stuff for supernatural and formula 1 so that's where my brain's at, mostly, but ive done a lot of writing for jojo's bizarre adventure (im Very fluent with jotaro and all part 3-4 characters) and for the argies in the room, i've even written stuff for los simuladores and el marginal. i have no issues writing in spanish (rioplatense).

im also comfortable writing for genshin impact. been playing for years and im familiar with the lore up until fontaine. i've been itching to write something for a while :)

im Very Very familiar with x reader fics and will do OC x Character or OC x OC gladly as long as you provide character art or detailed descriptions to help me capture them best.

im comfortable writing pretty much every ship for the fandoms i named and can do gen, teen, mature and explicit works. im open to all kinks and have a history of doing incest and age-gap pairings. im comfortable with most dark themes— will write dub-con, non-con, cnc, and want to hear your weirdly specific skinks. in general, it's easier to say what i will not do than what i will. no judgement, as long as you respect

what i will not do:

horror

gore

necrophilia

violent non-con or explicit non-con (mentioning it in the story is fine, but i will not write the actual scene)

scat

vore

race play (hateful imagery/racial slurs)

kidfic

for formula 1 im simply inept at doing maxiel and c2. in general, i struggle with max and carlos. won't write anything for lando, sorry. anything else from 2010 to 2024 is fine, and im open to AUs of any kind as well as gender bending :)

pricing

Tier 3 — USD$5 for 500 words. 5 slots open

Tier 2 — USD$10 for 1k to 3k words. 2 slots open

Tier 1 — USD$25 for 4k to 10k words. 2 slots open

if i exceed wordcount in any case, it's on me. i'm a yapper.

contact me here or ask for my gmail in tumblr dms ^^

i can only accept ppal for USD$. if you're in argentina and you're interested, dm me for mercadopago info :)

(if you just want to donate that's totally cool. i just felt weird asking for money without anything to offer. it's a me thing)

ppal link

if you read this whole thing, thank you. here is the boy himself. he's almost 11 years old, incredibly grumpy, manipulative, called ugly by almost all my friends, has already gone through eye surgery so that's why his eyes look Like That, and on the rare occasion he sits on my lap i literally cry.

please put sunscreen on your cats, especially if they have white hair like aki. we didn't know for the longest time that exposure to the sun could cause skin cancer on cats and by the time we knew and started doing it, it was too late.

[matan4il]

911 ep 710 first watch reactions

Ha, so Chris is upset, Eddie is distraught and his go to person is Buck, who drops everything else and comes over right away. And not for the first, or second, or third time. Yes, this is exactly how every platonic friendship I've ever had has played out.

The way Buck reads Eddie, knows him so well, that Buck can vocalize the part that Eddie can't say out loud right away... Soul mates.

"What you always do." Married soul mates.

LOL The way Hen and Chim don't even blink when Buck and Eddie show up at the hospital together, like the married couple they are. XD

This group of fire fighters being the best amateur detectives on TV since the Scooby Doo gang will never not be funny. Also, highly implausible, but that just makes it funnier.

"You go to hell!" "You first!" So 911 was having a western kink kinda month, and decided to set up this very likely storyline, just to be able to quote Tombstone? Hmmm.

"This one, we both walk out of." See, 911 is the show where I can roll my eyes 30 times during a storyline, but the climax moment still gets to me with its humaneness. That's the show's power. And the follow up reunion with Bobby! I had no doubt he'd live, but it was still very emotional to walk with Athena down the hospital hallway into his room and get to not only see, but also feel it.

"Bobby is the father I've never had." We know, but it was still nice to hear. "Your father's alive." Oh, Tommy. How little you understand Buck. "So maybe we both have daddy issues." "I don't." "But you think I do." "God, I hope so." lol Is this supposed to be flirting? If so, it's so off the mark for me, the dart ended up in outer space. I mean, Buck obviously has daddy issues, and I guess whoever needed that confirmed can celebrate (I'm sure there will be even more fics digging into this now), but pointing that out in the middle of a date is hardly the sexy move this ep's writer seems to think it is? IDK, I'm obviously a Buddie shipper, I like BuckTommy better than any other r/s Buck's had with a non-Eddie person, I do enjoy it as a part of Buck's journey (and I also generally believe in ship and let ship, even when something isn't my endgame), but even if I was a BuckTommy shipper, IDK that I would have liked that line. Especially when it treads a bit close to the issues I had with the BuckAbby r/s, which the show has never properly addressed. Oh, well. I'm still mostly amused that someone thought this was a great flirty line.

"He's 13, he should have a say!" To be heard? Yes. To have the final say? No. He's 13, not 18. There's a reason why at that age, we don't let kids make decisions for themselves yet. Also, the Diaz parents trying to pretend like the fact that Chris suggested him living with them for a while isn't their secret fantasy come true (or that they have no past where they hurt their son with this idea) is just crude. Also, hinting to Eddie that if he doesn't let Chris run away from his problems, then he'll be just like Ramon, is fucked up.

Also, kinda hilarious that Buck and Eddie's daddy issues are both brought up in the same ep. Sometimes being soul mates means exactly that, getting your partner perfectly because you have the same emotional baggage.

So, Chris is leaving, and the first one to talk to him on screen since the Kim debacle, and since he got the green light to go, is Buck? And Buck's also still there for the actual parting moment? Speaking of actual dads rather than bio ones...

I really liked Eddie just hugging Chris, using no words. There might not be anything he can say to fix this right now, but he still loves his son more than anything, and he can still let Christopher know that. And then when the message didn't get through, even though he's not a words person, Eddie managed to verbalize it. Don't mind me, I'll just be bawling quietly in the corner.

Buck's comforting hand on Eddie's shoulder is the real MVP. <3

I'm glad Mara's back in touch with Hen, Karen and Denny, but this feels a bit like a "deus ex machina" moment, even if it's just to wrap up the season finale, and not the final resolution of this storyline.

Bobby and Amir are actually so similar. They both lost everything, they both were at their lowest, they both chose to help others when they had nothing else left to live for. That handshake was a nice ending to their story, and it did feel more "earned" for not coming quickly or easily.

Ha, that ending. It's a good twist of events as a build up for season 8, it's just interesting because 911 doesn't usually do end of season cliff hangers. I also feel like, knowing the show, I can already predict more or less how it will turn out, so I'm not even feeling that much suspense. But it's not a bad turn of events, so long as it works for most viewers, I suppose. Overall, I enjoyed most of season 7, it feels revitalized, better paced and structured (despite being shorter) than seasons 5 and 6, and I have no doubt everyone will flock back to see how things unfold in season 8. Especially when this season was a nice reminder of everything this show can do right, and why we love these characters and fire family so much.

Thank you for reading! If you’re looking for more, you can find my s7 reactions tag here, and more of my Buddie meta and content in my pinned post. xoxox

[ygodmyy20]

Opps this post got forgotten! But if I don't post it today when will I!?

Okay so, I've been thinking for awhile on the question: why do I like terumob and why did it take over my brain? What is it about it...what caught my interest. As someone who was very NOT into ships when i first got into mp100, why did I crashland into this one?

This post has been in progress for like....weeks now? Nearly a month? 3 months? Yea.

Okay so. Here we go. THOUGHTS! On terumob and why the fuck I like it. Below the cut.

Like I mentioned, when I first finished Mob Psycho 100 in June of this year I wasn't into any ship. I was actually REALLY NOT into ships. I really liked gen. I wanted to explore the characters and I loved the complex relationships between everyone but I didn't want it to be overshadowed by romance. I purposely steered clear of any and all ship art.

But then I started to see some TeruMob fanart and I was like "Aw man, they are so cute and squishy." And I started to like them....just a lil bit. ONLY A LITTLE BIT.

BUT then I read more Teru-centric fics, read Teru analysis' and then I was like. Oh shit, Teru is 100% so into Mob it's like....this kid has it bad. He has a major crush. And even on the rewatch I am like WOW yep, confirmed in my brain, Teru has it bad. The subtext of his pinning is JUST so there for me. I didn't even have to look hard for it. I suddenly was very in on the Teru-one-sidded part of the ship.

But here's the thing, I'm not a big fan of ships like that... feels too unrequited. Hard for me to really like it. I need to have some level of something from both sides. Just how I am.

So that still leaves the question.

When and how does Shiego liking Teru work? Is there any subtext for that or am I just making it all up because I want the ship to work for me?

(which also is fine ya'll, no judgement if you ship two characters that barely interact, thats the fun of fandom stuff!)

I mean, all things considered, Shigeo likes Tsubomi. Scratch that, he REALLY likes Tsubomi. Shiego loves very strongly, like all his emotions. And he definitely likes Teru, they are good friends, so I kept thinking: where and how does that cross into a crush to me, for these characters?

Teru cares a lot, he adores Shigeo—Shigeo is kind, he is powerful, he is everything Teru wants to be. But are there places where I see this same level of intensity from Shigeo?

Annnnnnnnd then I got to their fight in season 3.

Everything Shiego did to Teru was so pointed. So raw and angry. Like I said, I think Shigeo feels his feelings very strongly and, I don't know, just the fact that he PERSUED Teru to humiliate him EXACTLY in the same way again, tells me that their first meeting had an intense impact on him. We don't see a lot of his feelings on his meeting with Teru, besides the brief ??? in that episode. After meeting Teru, it's just...life goes on as normal for them. But deep down I don't think Shigeo ever really tackled his complex feelings about Teru and their first meeting.

So it all comes out, its all be stewing for AGES, and what comes out is mean. It's aggressive. It's almost sarcastic? It's what happens when we let things chew us up inside and comes out all twisted.

Teru evoked such a strong reaction from Shigeo, even if Shigeo didn't admit it or express it, that I can't help but think, after things have settled, after he has spent more time adjusting to his whole self...after they both take time to really examine themselves and grow....

....that Shigeo wouldn't develop stronger feelings for this boy who also turned his world upside down. Who made him feel such strong emotions, who changed his world too.

Teru was forever changed by meeting another esper his age.

I think Shiego was too.

And I think where I started to love them was after the finale, after Teru's acceptance of Shiego for who he was.

I don't want to pigeonhole any of the espers into only being able to date other espers. But I also....yes, Shiego is a normal kid, but he is also Shiego.

Teru is a person who understands the strength it takes to keep that power, who has seen Shiego at all sides. His best and his worst.

But gosh this scene....

OUGHGGH

JUST THROW ME IN A RIVER WHY DON"T YOU

Yeah this whole scene just.....just yea. OUGH.

But yeah I just feel like Teru's crush would only grow after that. He would see Shigeo as a person over an all powerful esper.

While I like to think Shigeo's would develop over time and them smack into him like a runaway freight train. Because Shigeo FEELS so strongly, for all his emotions. He feels sadness strongly, he feels love strongly, he feels anger strongly—he just feels everything SO strongly. That is why he is powerful, that is why he is who he is, that is why ??? became what it is.

Anyway. My thoughts have ended and that's all i got. Thanks for coming to my ted talk of rambling mess that has been in progress for months that I realized whelp with the anniversary of the end of S3 nearly here, mind as well post it.

[justapastetic-humanbeing]

Their reactions to seeing them shipped (Bungo Stray Dog addition)

Ft: Soukoku, Shin Soukoku (afternotes: there was a mistake in the age calculations due to stupidity so just uhh ignore), FyoLai, FyoZai, RanPoe, SigZai Tw: A bit of swearing and mentions of sex but otherwise, none

Soukoku

"The slug??? The slug????" Dazai caught his head with his hand, shamefully covering the upper part of his head. He looks to Chuuyas direction, clearly disgausted. "Out of all the options available, y'all chose him??"

"Don't yap around like you're any better." The ginger scoffs. "I should be the one cursing the lord for being portrayed as even remotely interested in your ass."

"What do people even see in us? Clearly I deserve someone who can at least hold their liquor within at least the first 5 minutes." he fans the air.

"Don't give me that shit. A 7 year partnership with somebody isn't gonna turn into gay love, and that's not even considering the fact that I've repeatedly mentioned how badly I want to strangle this bandage fuck-"

"Actually" Dazai inturrupts with a finger raised. "It does occasionally end in gay sex. Just sayin'"

Chuuyas brows flutter. "PICK A SIDE WOULDYA??"

"I'm JUST stating out the truth"

"You mother-"

----------------------------------------

FyoLai

"Did I just hear that correctly??" the clown gasps dramatically, holding onto the shoulder of the man beside him with a gigantic smile. "People think we have a romantic relationship, Dos!!! How adorbs is that??"

Dostoevsky seems to not pay his deepest attention to the matter. "Oh. That so. How fantastic"

Gogol turns to the side with a finger by his chin. "I wonder what they say about us?? And all the fake stories they write of our relationship! How exciting, how exciting! This has just made my day, no, my month!!" he giggles.

Dostoevsky looks up. "Oh, good for you."

----------------------------------------

FyoZai

"Ohhhhhhhhh god. Nevermind what I said about Chuuya" Dazai shook his head in dismay. "Do I look like I'm remotely interested in a showerless-rat??"

"How foolish." the 'showerless-rat' in question replies. "I suppose I've heard worse in my life. But to come to such conclusion is utterly ridiculous and mindless."

Dazai is still shaking his head, unable to keep eye contact with Dostoevsky. "Couldn't these people pick a more tasteful person? I mean I wouldn't mind if I were to be paired at Kunikida at least."

(Dostoevsky has left the chat)

----------------------------------------

RanPoe

"It's... flattering?..." the novelist mutters. "It's weird but... I don't mind it I guess?" The uncertainty in his voice was clear.

He looks to Ranpo, who doesn't seem to be paying attention. "Ranpo? Are you gonna say anything or..."

"Huh? Oh" He looks up to the man. "I like it."

"Y-you do?"

"Well yeah. You're always providing me with the most free snacks out of all the people in the Agency. Hey by the way" He cocks his head. "Why don't you show me that novel you were talking about? It has something to do with powdered donuts right?"

"Well... I didn't write it but... since that person gave it to me... you can read it... I haven't read it yet so..."

----------------------------------------

SigZai

"Romantic...? With....Dazai?"

"Well isn't that an upgrade." Dazai tosses his head.

"Pardon?"

"Well, when I say a tasteful person, I suppose Sigma would certainly fit the bill."

"Uhm, no, no, no????" The manager denies. "I do not... wish to be a part of this?? Who is the one that makes this statement??"

"It's not a someone. It's the internet, a community of a kind, something that I reccomend you to stay away from"

"I am aware of what the internet is" Sigma says. "I just don't get it?? What romance is there between us? Had I just not noticed?"

"Oh believe me, you don't need that in order to have people create a ship for us"

Sigma raises an eyebrow. "A ship? They built a ship for us?" he questions, thinking of the boat kind of ship. "Why does that have anything to do with all this??"

"Oh Sigma."

[the-unconquered-queen]

With Blades 2 coming to an end, I just wanna get it off my chest that I'm really not a fan of how they wrote Nia for a great part of this one, particularly vis-à-vis the way they wrote MC. I know I've been saying some stuff along those lines for ages now, but it hasn't left my mind so now I'm gonna actually get into it.

For starters, I think a lot of the issue with Nia's writing was captured pretty well in the tags of this post, particularly on point 2. Like I've said, Nia unfortunately falls into the category of a Mary Sue in that every "flaw" she's given just serves to elevate her to perfection. Hell, even when corrupted—when a person is supposed to be in their most volatile state—the worst she does is be snarky that first chapter (she is aggressive toward MC at one point before this, but it's neither acknowledged nor repeated later). After that, she is entirely normal, just not as much of a pushover, and while I much preferred shadow!Nia, I do think that this really undermines the whole gravity of corruption and b2's emphasis on shadow-light balance, since shadow!Nia comes off as quite balanced already, especially compared to other corrupted characters we've seen.

But here's the thing, that post that got me thinking is months old, and we have gotten more story since then, and what I have noticed is that Nia does, in fact, have one real flaw in canon, but it's the one flaw she's absolutely not meant to have: Nia in canon can at times come off as self-absorbed. She either makes things about herself or doesn't stop people from doing this, and there are multiple examples of it. There is the instance in Riverbend when MC is taking a moment to finally try to process Kade's capture (which, following their own capture, they never got the chance to process) and Nia derails the conversation and makes it about her own grief and is comforted by MC and Mal. Another example is the moment on Gerhard's ship when she vents about the pressure she's been under and lets MC comfort her without at any point considering that MC might have been under similar pressure.

And don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a character putting themselves first. But when the book doesn't waste a single chance to tell us that Nia's character is the complete opposite and that she is chronically incapable of not being considerate 25/8, it's quite contradictory. I mean, you can even call out Ethan Ramsey, PB's golden boy, on making things about himself at some point in OH, but because, unlike Ethan, Nia is written for you to consider her super sweet and wholesome and perfect, the Blades MC actually contributes to this by performing mental gymnastics to turn something around to be about Nia.

Which brings me to my final point: Blades 2 pushed MC to the side to revolve around Nia, but MC is exactly the person they meant for Nia to be, by virtue of the dissonance between showing and telling. They tell you that Nia is selfless because she always puts everyone else first. Well, I can and did name examples showing the contrary, meanwhile, MC is the one who was been through the most traumatic ordeal and is constantly checking in on everyone else without expecting and without receiving much of the same courtesy in return, even apologizing to Nia because she was "carrying all that weight on her own", never mind that MC always has the weight of the world on their shoulders. They tell you that Nia is the heart of the party, but they both told and showed us that everything fell apart without MC.

Even some of Nia's most defining character traits, MC has in similar measure. Nia sees the best in everyone? MC can be the #1 believer in Aerin's redemption after all the shit he pulled. Nia is trusting to the point of naivete? MC literally trusted Valax while she outright told them at every turn she would turn on them at the first opportunity, and was genuinely hurt by the betrayal. Miss me with MC calling Nia "our better self".

Every trait that they've gone out of their way to tell you Nia has they've shown twofold in MC, which is why it's so exasperating to me that they reduced MC to the conduct through which other characters' (particularly Nia's) stories get told while their own is an afterthought. I am by no means saying that two people can't have similar traits or that two people can't be good people at the same time, but there is something about praising these traits in Nia when, based on these, MC should be held to a similar standard. Instead, they relegated MC (main. character.) to a supporting character in Nia's story, elevating every trait that MC possesses only in Nia while ignoring them in MC to the point that many scenes felt frustrating to play.

[greyias]

I really don’t want swtor to shut down it’s the only eu thing that’s active we have left

I knew these asks were going to start coming in.

So for those who haven't heard, it was reported, and then later confirmed by Keith Kanneg on the forums, that EA is "selling" SWTOR to another developer, Broadsword. For those who want to read the article discussing it, you can read here: https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-development-third-party-bioware

TL;DR -- It's not shutting down. The servers are going to stay active for a while

There's a few points to note here:

If I understand things correctly, EA actually owns Broadsword. So EA is in fact not actually offloading a property, I think what's actually happening is BioWare Austin itself is being divvied out and would not be surprised to see if that branch is shut down

At least half of the SWTOR dev team is part of this move, so the key things to keep an eye on is which members of the dev team are moving. If the narrative staff is kept intact, then we have more story ahead of us beyond what's been written, and they've confirmed we're getting 7.3, 7.3.1, and 7.4. It's important to note that their production timeline is generally a year out from things being written, so story-wise, if they have narrative staff, we'll likely still have some story drops ahead of us

SWTOR is profitable (it hit over $1 billion in profit several years ago), and I will admit I don't have the best understanding of video game finances, but my impresion it was far into the black and maybe not an enromous cash cow, but a decent consistent revenue stream. EA is a publisher that is about profits, so as long as the game is profitable, even if there's not new story drops, the game will stay online

Disney has seemingly taken a recent interest in SWTOR after mostly ignoring it after its acquisition of Star Wars, even going so far as to finally acknowledge the general KOTOR/SWTOR era in their presentations last year at Celebration. Does this ultimately mean anything? I don't know, but SWTOR is one of the longest running current properties with a stable player base. They're just as interested in profit as EA. Probably another indicator that the game will keep running for a while.

Other properties that Broadsword operates, such as Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online, are old games. Ultima Online was released in 1997, and the servers are still active. So like, I think regardless of what happens in regards of the story, we're not losing the ability to log in and play the game

Long term subscriptions - I remember reading, and forgive me, because I've long forgotten the source, that a key indicator if the servers are going offline is to also keep an eye on the six-month subscription option. Basically, if suddenly the only option for subs goes down to one month, that's when to worry about being able to actually play the game.

This is probably not about SWTOR, but BioWare as a whole. It seems there's a leadership issue at the main Alberta office that's causing issues. This is likely an Anthem issue all over again, but Anthem this time happens to be the Mass Effect and Dragon Age properties. Unfortunately, BioWare Austin looks like it's going to suffer the consequences of that, even though they've been running a tight ship overall compared to the rest of the branches. I feel for them. This sucks.

Now I'm not an oracle, I have no idea if this is ultimately a good or bad thing for the game itself. There's a lot of evidence for both sides of the coin, so right now the best thing is to wait and see. We at least have the promise of the next two patches. Let's focus on enjoying that, and celebrating what we love about our silly space game.

If you love the game, keep playing it. Spend money on it, and keep it profitable and it will stay around. Be kind and supportive of the devs, who regardless of how this shakes out, are going through a major transition. But immediately decrying an active game's death and going into doom and gloom is not going to help things.

Will we get more story beyond 7.4? I do not know one way or the other. I hope we do, but it's hard to say for certain on that front. But I do believe we'll still have our toons and be able to replay all of the released content for quite a while to come. Again, for now I'm just going to enjoy my favorite game, and support it as long as I have it. Even if this inevitably means it's going to change.

[arthurianlegend144]

I've been wanting to talk about my interpretation of America's and England's relationship for some months now, but I was afraid to do it, because it could sound like I am saying "If you see them in another light, YOU'RE WRONG". However, that's not my intention, I hope y'all can understand ://)

I don't enjoy the interpretation of Alfred and Arthur being a family (parent and child or siblings), because for me, the title of "little brother/big brother" in the context of colonization seems to be just a forced way to make the personifications of the European nations (the colonizers) feel better aka "My people are not exploring their lands and killing people! They are just... Helping me to take care of my little sibling".

This isn't a valid familial relationship to me, so much that after the independence you don't see the colonized nations calling the colonizers "big bro" or something anymore. With the exception of France, he calls himself that, but he wants EVERYONE to call him that not just the nations he colonized.

In the case of America and England, England didn't even want to be called a big brother and he wasn't even there most of the time to enforce this relationship with America, even if it was clear that they both enjoyed each other's company, despite everything that was happening.

And I will say, in real life, a person just sees someone non related as family when they spend a long time together, this is especially crucial in the early childhood. Actually, if a person is related to you, but you haven't seen them for ages, you instinctively won't care for them as family, even if you know they are related to you. So why would America see England as his family? They aren't related - not more than every character in Hetalia must be, but that's a rambling for another time - and America kind of raised himself.

I do ship UsUk, because I think they probably got to know each other better after America became independent, because now they could become closer on their own terms and without the colonization aspect, which is way more healthy to me.

In conclusion, I personally feel uncomfortable with the idea of America and England being family, because of the whole context I just talked about. But that's just how I feel, if you don't agree, I don't mind, be happy :)

[confused-rat]

Is it just me, or is it weird that Lily says both that Josh threatened to leak her address and that she was homeless at the time? Like I know it's over some time, so maybe both are true, but it still feels like her scrambling for excuses as to why she didn't do anything.

Also like, even so, how does that explain her 'shipping' jokes? Does she claim she was threatened into making those throughout the years she was friends with him?

Idk if I've ever seen someone so bad at lying before. As others have pointed out there were far easier/simpler explanations for her doing what she did, namely she was young, and everyone in the friend group became desensitized to it, and made similar jokes. Just fucking apologize and move on.

But lily seems incapable of not trying to pull a victim card or cast herself as the most sympathic light( while also demonizing those she hates) to point she makes up nonsense. It's the same shit she tried with her fic. Instead of admitting she wrote it simply to be edgy, and doesn't stand by it, while apologizing, she claims bizarre things like it getting hacked or AI being used to make her say she wrote it.

Like the amount she lies is absolutely exhausting. It's why so many don't believe other things she says like having cancer or her claim it was actually Courtney that assaulted her. If she'll go through all the hassle to badly lie about a fic she wrote years ago and excuse a few horrible jokes she made, when would she tell the truth?

Lily is physically incapable of admitting she did something wrong. Mistakes in the AtLA video? Fuck you, she added those in to piss off the nerds. Wrote a cringe fic about pony grooming? No, she wrote a bait fic to piss off bronies. Shipped a 15 year old with a 22 year old? No, they dated like a year or two later, so focus on that instead.

Also the address thing is confusing, but does make sense. Lily just refuses to be fucking coherent. She was at a Youth Housing program until she aged out at 24, then she was couch surfing with a friend. She’s claiming Josh somehow had the housing address and her friend’s.

(Lily turned 24 a month before the fallout, so if he was blackmailing her, it had to have been when she was in housing too, or her making that “why I ship FireRose” post happened several months before the blackmailing/her discovering the relationship. Which defeats her argument. Somehow. Idk how, she still made it — them possibly dating or not, how does that justify it, Lily???)

So, Lily was homeless in the sense she didn’t own a place to live. But she wasn’t like. In shelters or anything. Pretty sure she would have posted about it then, right?

[suemooon]

Let’s talk about Oncest

softsue-sue: An small analysis and review

Random post here, I just wanted to talk about this, because it’s something that really hold my attention, see. Do you remember the Oncest? of course you do if you are in, you were in, or you know The Once-ler fandom, and if it’s not the case, maybe you had seen these fanarts before.

As someone who hasn't been in The Once-ler fandom in its golden age (I've only been here for a few months now). I notice that definitely the Oncest doesn’t have a very good reputation, I think it never had a good reputation (?) but anyway. My point is, is very noticeable the REALLY HUGE REJECTION that this ship has today, I just saw an amount of people that actually like this ship, the other hand, there's these people who really doesn’t like this ship, and seems that they doesn’t want to bring this ship back in any other wise, seriously!

So I'm gonna make this example:

Let’s cheek out this video, this Oncest edit video, uploaded 9 years ago (uploaded in march 9, 2014) by mewnadja:

Let’s cheek the older comments:

Now let’s cheek at the most recent ones:

I understand why a lot of people in the fandom used to like this ship, first, because was it was the most popular, so people took it and begun to like it, and second, it was like the only existent ship, yeah, Normaler exists too, but it wasn’t and isn't the most popular ship, let's say it, it was probably : 'or you were team Oncest, or you were team Oncest!' so people who was an artist for example, to get more notes or adapt themselves in the fandom, they begun to draw Oncest. As I said before, it was the most popular ship in the fandom (and is still, we like it or not).

Oncest itself was born as a… desperate? way to ship The Once-ler with someone else, because let’s remember this, of course The Once-ler fandom, was only focused on The Once-ler, that’s why his name is the name of the fandom too (obviously, there was exceptions of people that were Interested in all The Lorax stuff too and not only The Once-ler, but the point itself was The Once-ler for mostly the majority).

Today I see inside the fandom that a lot of new Oncelings that doesn’t want to be related with this ship just for being in the fandom, making a totally no worries comments about ‘hating on the Oncest’

Other ones can even throw hate on people who actually likes this ship, and you know, that’s… that’s just bad, it doesn’t even need to be clarified.

A lot of them doesn’t like it because they are seeing it bizarre, other people maybe because the ship itself is very… unfriendly with sfw stuff, if you know what do I mean (c’mon, it’s true that this ship as A LOT of nsfw stuff, let’s say it) other people seeing it in both ways.

Conclusion.

This ship doesn’t have a normal point, or you love it or you hate it.

And… look guys, we shouldn’t care about if someone likes Oncest or not, that’s not our business and are their likes and dislikes. Whatever, if it doesn’t hurt real people, then there’s nothing wrong with that.

So…

If you’re a veteran onceling or ex-onceling (or oncelut, let’s go wild if it's the case), I would love to hear your experience and why do you think this ship exists in first place.

thx for read this garbage.

[epersonae]

I wrote this originally as a reblog of something else, but after letting it sit in drafts for a while realized it needed to be its own thing. (but do go read that post, it was what got me thinking in this specific direction) I have not edited it much, other than to remove some intro about the kind of shitty day(s) I was having in my non-online life that were part of why I wrote something and then sat on it.

I have been thinking about

Don't like, don't read

(I saw this with rainbow text, and I asked how the fuck to do that, and frankly I don't have that level of patience, so just imagine it rainbow I guess)

And..........

Sure? We're all just here to have a good time or whatever, and Just Like Stuff, and it's exhausting being a hater (but also [stares at people I know who I've seen say all that and who are also ABSOLUTELY haters in private])

But I want something more nuanced than that. I mean that as both:

a writer of things I know other people have taken issue with (including, I remembered today, something that I heard secondhand about, in addition to the vagueblogging I've mentioned in an earlier post about my older fic)

and a reader/art appreciator who has some issues with things I've tried to read and art I've seen.

I don't what it is or how it works or how to get from here to there. I don't even really know how to do this with people I'm close to! (with the exception of having been a thoroughly obnoxious beta constantly saying "make me believe this could even happen", or pointing out conflicts with canon or whatever) I tend to silently nope out and then change my opinion of the person without ever telling them, because yeah, I'm horrifically conflict averse.

Which is why this might sit in my drafts for a long time.

And then, outside of friendships, and Difficult Conversations or whatever

I don't like pile-ons. I don't like a couple of people trying to articulate what bugs them about a piece of writing, and maybe being awkward or clumsy about it, and immediately getting drowned out by "you're being mean to my friends". (and I say that as someone who has had friends' writing receive this sort of critique! Multiple friends!) Maybe the immediate answer is, yes, the back button, but it has to be possible to dissect what's bothering you about a piece of writing (or a trope, or a ship) without it being negativity or an attack.

Here, I'll go first, because these are two things in OFMD fic that bug me endlessly, that writers I like have written, and I think they exhibit a subversion of the source material that is counter to the actual themes of the show.

Note: since I wrote all of this, I have written a little bit about my sort of complicated feelings about a fic that imho is an original novel in a trenchcoat, a sort of fic lacroix despite being very good. these examples are in the same vein as that.

Inevitable fucking disclaimer: I don't think people are wrong or bad for doing these things, I'm not going to try to make anybody stop, I practice don't like don't read (and I have some exceptions that I've enjoyed despite it being something I don't like generally)

Enemies to lovers: the whole point of Ed and Stede is that they click perfectly and immediately. They like each other! From the very first minute it's friendship and mutual admiration and delight and attraction. Enemies to lovers is a cliche that belongs to a different story entirely. I wish people would think more before jumping to that trope. (I've had an AU in my head for months that I absolutely cannot write until I solve this problem from the AU's source material) It's an interesting question to me, actually, why it seems to be so easy to write characters who don't like each other and then somehow fall in love, when the source material shows them liking each other SO MUCH right away.

Younger than middle aged: again, the whole point is that they are changing their lives, that their midlife crises brings them to the point where they can find love. I think it's a djenks Themes and Motifs thing, to have a story about getting to this point in your life and really looking at it and going "am I where I need to be?" Also it's incredibly unique and special to me after the last few years of my own rolling midlife crisis. (petty thought that I have sometimes: it is a failure of imagination about or knowledge of actual middle-aged people) Tbh, this goes double for age difference, I will nope out of that even faster than both of them being young.

And I think there's something about being able to not like something and still not be a dick about it, to know enough about what you do like to look at something and say "this doesn't work for me and here's why", to engage thoughtfully and critically (and yeah occasionally in public) while still having respect for the other person.

I am thinking also of @emi--rose and @frommybookbook and music, and their efforts to find kpop and Taylor Swift, respectively, that I might enjoy, because I don't like most of either, and I think this thing we've been doing is helping all three of us understand more about what we all do and don't like.

[pausing to think]

It occurs to me, also, that I spent a lot of time griping while editing for the benefit of all the broken hearts, about having to go back and do a lot of set up/rewriting to make some of what happens in that read plausibly. And I was soooooo bitchy about it and also that critique was all correct and it made the story stronger even aside from making it more "canonical", whatever the fuck that means in that particular setting.

And that was in the particular creative intimacy setting of working with a beta, which is different, admittedly, from random critique on the open internet.

But then I spent a while, back in the day, immersed in the TAZ questions of "is Lucretia a lesbian?" and "can Magnus ever love again?" and I wrote my rarepair (and associated polycule shipping) very much from my id, and a certain amount of "you can't tell me that didn't happen" that was based on overidentification and personal experience, but there were definitely people who were pretty publicly "ew" about it, and I had to think through my position, and both decide what felt true about and also decide to write from my weird heart, but not blindly.

Idk, I've written all of this and I'm just landing on

I think introspection is nice.

I think it's good to do, I think it's worth thinking about what you like and don't like, and maybe where that comes from, and not in a puriteen way but with sincerity and curiosity. I would like to support and encourage that spirit of artistic introspection.

[readreactrant]

This may just be a me thing so anyone who happens to see this, don't take me too seriously (like I'm just a random nobody on the internet plsss) I think Goyuu doujins are a more accurate representation of their relationship than the fics I've found.

This might just be because I've been reading more doujins recently but I've been through almost everything on the site I read on, took me like two months but I've basically read at least 30 or more I guess, and like...I never actually got tired and even the ones without steamy smut scenes gave me a lot to look forward to, like deep angst and some drama.

When it comes to the fics tho (I read on AO3 as a chad should) I don't see a lot of variation. I mostly read in the E and M category and most of what I've seen is just Gojo being an absolute offender or taking advantage of Yuuji in ways I don't think their relationship has to be interpreted.

Which isn't to say "oh it's bad to interpret a wide age gap, heavily unbalanced ship as problematic" but I just feel...when that's the most prevalent portrayal of their dynamic...it gives yikes. After a while it just starts to feel stale and uninteresting as the next one you read is just the one you left but with different tags. The writing tends to set a few apart but after a bit you notice it's the same pattern.

Goyuu is a ship I'm really into right now and I'm always happy to read what I can of them, there's a good amount of beautiful ones that aren't the usual "bad touch Gojo" type fics, and even the ones that are...are still a bit fun to read ngl. But anyways it's fine, write what you want this isn't a critique of anyone's writing just my general observation from what I've been reading lately.

[ironbloodaika]

Happy Halloween 2023!

This is something long overdue. Even though I stopped posting my commissions on here that doesn't mean I've stopped getting them!

I've especially enjoyed getting Halloween commissions because those are really fun to conceive, order, and see made into reality. I've especially enjoyed getting them from Aeolus06 and he's never disappointed. Sadly due to me being between jobs I couldn't get any this year. :( That said I've decided to use this as an opportunity to show what I've got over the last few years and hopefully you'll love them as much as I do! :)

These first four are unique in that these were all from the same year (2020 to be exact). Since Aeo has a cool down period between commissions, I actually got these all done over a period of a few months. XD Took a lot of luck and prayer, but I got all the ideas I wanted done!

First one was probably the most complex, but was worth it because of how well it fit. Star, Marco, and Hekapoo from Star vs The Forces of Evil as AndrAIa, Matrix, and Older!AndrAIa from Reboot! Much like Matrix, Marco had a bit of age jumping that fit naturally (especially body types and eye scars). Plus Star and Hekapoo are shipped pretty hard with him so it was natural they dress as the different versions of Matrix's lady love.

Also, Fun Fact: Marco's scar/prosthetic eye is on the wrong side compared to his costume, but I felt it was better to ignore it than have Aeo flip the entire costume. XD

Next up we had some classic hotties from Canada, Lindsay and Courtney. Everyone with a pulse will know I'm a Courtney fan, so I'm always eager to give her some love. And while I'm not AS big on Lindsay, she's a fun character and I have some friends who love her too so I didn't mind them sharing the spotlight.

Obviously the theme/inspiration behind this pics conception is the fact Lindsay and Courtney pack the biggest T and A on the island respectively, so they needed some costumes to illustrate that. Thus we got Courtney as everyone's fave lady wrestler Rainbow Mika from Street Fighter and Lindsay as the boxing cheerleader Tiffany Lords from Rival Schools. Both ladies who kick ass and look good doing it! Give these ladies some love folks!

Another Fun Fact: This one took faster to do than I expected, mostly cause I didn't realize my refs were thigh high. In the end I feel it still looked good and didn't bother bringing it up. XD

Here's another cute couple and one I think deserves more love. Eclipsa Butterfly and Globgor are also from SVTFOE and honestly very sweet and adorable. While they're regarded as evil by less tolerant folk, they're honestly some of the sweetest characters you'll see on the show. I feel this is a nice contrast to their costumes, Sindel and Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat. I went with the MK9 versions of their outfits since they were both modern and simple. Didn't wanna be THAT guy who commissions SUPER complicated outfits. I'm not a sadist! While later games would retcon Sindel into being just as evil as Shao (something thankfully corrected in MK1) I still feel this outfit and character works for Eclipsa, even if she and her hubby are as far from evil as you can get. XD

Final pic of this year is another couples pic with Danny Fenton and Paulina Sanchez. I ship these two and take no shame in it. This was originally gonna just be Paulina as Phantom Girl from Legion of Superheroes since the name and colors matched Danny perfectly. But then I figured just having Paulina in costume wouldn't be fair, so I had him dress up as Timberwolf, since I recall them having a few moments in the cartoon. A cartoon, much like this pairing, is very underrated. XD

Now to 2021! This was a fun crossover and and me deciding to avoid "themes" and combining two character pin-ups in one! Once again we have Hekapoo and this year she's dressed up as Otedamako. Who's that? Only my fave Monster of the Day from Sailor Moon! :3 To her side with have a humanoid Rarity showing off her darkside as Martha from Helluva Boss! This one came from the animated opening in G5 that had Rarity showing off some spiky teeth and a crazy look in her eyes. IMMEDIATELY brought Martha too mind. All and all, very happy with how these two came out!

And now to the prior year of 2022. By this point Aeo started coloring the stream commissions and honestly, it was worth the price increase. Dude is a machine! If this one has a theme it's basically me taking the waifus of my close friends (Chill, Terrible, and Raccoon) and dressing them as other sexy waifus. From left to right we have Himiko Toga from My Hero Academia dressed as Harlequin, the Harley Quinn of the Gods and Monsters film. A very hot/underrated design for a VERY twisted take on the character. Toga makes it work! Front and center we have Wilhamena Mettle from OK K.O.! as Starfire, specifically the comic book version for obvious reasons. XD Finally we have Juri Han from Street Fighter dressed in the tight leathers of Penelope Spectra from Danny Phantom, specifically her second form. Lot of specifics in this piece. XD

Final Fun Fact: Was tempted to have Wilhamena as Star Canary, the fusion of Starfire and Black Canary from the Batman/Superman comic. Very hot design. XD

And a bit of a bonus! I ended up really helping out a new friend on deviantART back in 2020 and got to get a bit of art as a thank you. Courtesy of XJKenny we have Meteora Butterfly, daughter of Eclipsa and Globgor as Mileena. Also her MK9 design, this not only works for Meteora herself given her story, but also matches up with her parents' costumes as well!

Well that's everything I wanted to share this year! This has been a rough year for me personally and for the world as a whole. But I'm hoping we can turn things around a bit with what bit of the year we have left.

Happy Halloween everyone! Stay scared and stay safe! 👻 🎃

[the-badger-mole]

There's A Difference

I think I've said this before- in fact, I'm almost certain I've said this within the last few months- but the reason I can't let Aang's actions be dismissed by his age is because his worst traits are never addressed in canon. The reason why I personally find him very incel-ish is because the grown men who created him and project onto him strike me as incel-ish (and yes, I'm aware that at least one of them is/has been married. Incel is more of a frame of mind than an actual state of being). Aang could have had a growth arc, but instead Bryke chose to either ignore his flaws or make them out to be virtues. I'm judging Aang as a character, not a child. Because Aang is not an actual child. An actual child might have been confronted on the things Aang did. Aang is a character whose creators want fans to think is perfect, even when they themselves introduce the idea he might not be (Aang's being a terrible father is not that surprising to me, but even then Bryke had to scramble to tell us he wasn't actually that bad 🙄)

I am a lot less harsh with Zuko because he actually faced the consequences of his poor decisions. He worked to make amends not only for himself, but for his family. I empathize with his losses and his personal tragedies because the narrative actually cared about how those things affected him in just about every episode, unlike Aang, whose devastating losses are only touched on when they're convenient to that episode's plot. Otherwise, he is the picture of unbothered to the point that I question if he even knew most of the time that he was in a war (the answer, it would turn out in the penultimate episode, was no, apparently not). There's not much I can criticize Zuko on that wasn't already touched on within the show. Why would I judge Book 3 Zuko based on Book 1 Zuko (who btw, I still think was a much better rounded character than Aang in any of the series)?

When it comes to Katara and the misogyny inherent in how she was treated in her canon ship? Well, I can only point to canon and aks to be proven wrong. Katara had very little to do with the development of Kataang during the series, and that little was usually prompted by someone or something outside of her own thoughts and feelings bringing the idea up. Meanwhile, we know from the beginning that Aang likes Katara (well, he likes how she looks anyway). His feelings matter to the narrative: Katara's not so much. Then the disastrous comics where Katara's character from the show is completely stripped from her and she ends up being the cheerleader girlfriend of the Avatar. I know some of that is walked back in the more recent comics, but we already know how it ends for Katara and her kids. Also, the post LoK scramble to give Katara more agency honestly just makes me think that my original assessment of her relationship with Aang was spot on.

Zutara, in my opinion, would have been a great relationship for them both. They would've been just about perfect together, because as hot tempered as they can both be, they also both get really good at communicating with each other, which is something that Katara never really has with Aang. That's why it doesn't surprise me to find out how dysfunctional their family is. Katara and Zuko know how to work together as a team. In a relatively short time, they got comfortable opening up to each other. They are both passionate to the point that they can be really hot-headed, but they are both also extremely empathetic and compassionate. They are a couple that would've helped each other grow, and would have been so much more interesting than anything that happened with their actual canon relationships.

I get that there are people who would rather believe that Aang could outgrow his selfishness. That's totally valid, and has made for some great stories. However, I don't think saying the way he was written in canon has shades of incel is wrong. Especially by Book 3. I could see that guy growing up to be a viciously obnoxious narcissist. I bet those of us who know an "Aang" IRL can picture that, too.