#If there's a reblog limit that exists. We will fucking DESTROY IT.

[clover-the-awesomest]

:0

:/

:)

:D

>:D

Y O U H A V E M A D E A G R A V E M I S T A K E

You know, it’ll be fun to talk with you about our favorite WOY episodes. @clover-the-awesomest​. 

What do you say, buddy? Doesn’t that sound like TONS of fun?

[brucewaynehater101]

Ok so I saw a post u reblogged and it lead me to this fuckin thought

(is it a good one? Idk man)

Yj but Shiva is there. She's already trained Tim, which makes him hers (in the sense that she made him) (in a similar but opposite way to cass. They are both her children).

Yj on their own are pretty morally grey. Tims hard limit is killing, and yj follows that but the second Tim doesn't, they don't.

Bruce I hc as not reading the yj mission reports bc if he did he would've made Tim into an unbeatable baseball player just in case after the One time. And he never did that so he clearly never read them.

But years later Shiva rocks up to the watchtower (we all know she could) and asks for her Kids.

They're like fuckin WHOMST

Surprise it's yj. The clone u didn't care for, the speedster you didn't want, the child you hated for who his predecessor was, the children you failed, not just physically but emotionally. Who you never thought about beyond the burden they put on you.

They fuckin it up with lady Shiva.

Tbh I hc that if she found out ab cass she'd fuck up the loa bc she respected Tim enough to not force him to kill, so I doubt she'd knowingly let it happen.

So to me she's calling them to destroy the loa and David Cain. Tbh yj would kill on this mission. No records, just murder and they tell the jl "we partied!!"

The way you explain your reasoning behind Bruce never reading YJ mission reports is 100% true. That man, after reading such a report, would've made sure Tim knew how to play every single sport in existence. Honestly, it could have been a cute bonding moment of them playing sports (are there ulterior motives? Yes. Could still be nice).

I'm also vibing with your good mentor/parent Lady Shiva. I wonder if, in this AU, Tim does the whole killing and reviving Shiva thing. Would she be proud?

Anyways, good on Lady Shiva for accidentally adopting all of YJ. Let her give YJ the morally grey support they need

[spilledmilkfkdies]

duman vs kalshare

This one goes out to the people who weren't there during the great YouTube comment battle, allow me to set the stage for you:

All the way back in December of 2021 I was just existing on YT, looking at a couple videos, whatever- When suddenly, in a random comment section I came across the question that started it all. If Duman and Kalshara were to fight, who would win? And because I was about as normal as I am now, very extremely normal, I just. Jumped in there. Which I actually don't do, usually. Commenting stresses me out and ''arguments'' even more so.

I said Duman would win ofc. No surprises there. Now I will admit I literally just went "Duman." and dipped, I was satisfied with that at the time. I think a couple of people did the same thing, actually? Just a short chain of "Duman", it was kinda funny. Then the person started their defense, something along the lines of: "Kalshare has fairy magic and wild magic, that's more than Duman." And I'm not 100% proud of this response, but basically I just went "nuh uh"?? Like yeah it's more in the sense that. Those are two things. But is it more in terms of strength? 2021 me didn't think so. And lowkey I still don't.

Is it my bias against season 7? Maybe.

But did Kalshara still have her fairy powers when she went full wild magic? Idk!! If she did, she'd still wouldn't have finished/graduated fairy school?? I'd argue still being part fairy would put her at more of a disadvantage tbh, because y'know. Trained fairy hunter who is immune to fairy magic. Which is a point that was brought up to the commenter, Duman can't be hurt by 'lesser fairy magic', as mean as that might sound. The Winx themselves needed a specific transformation to start doing damage to the Black Circle, ignoring how some people feel about that, it was a thing. We told them that. Kalshara isn't a Believix fairy so her being a fairy would not help.

Besties. When I tell you their response will be engraved into my mind forever. "We never saw her transform so we don't know if she is." SORRY lemme just-

I don't even feel like explaining why that's a deranged take, so I'm not gonna. I'll just move on to my next point.

This might be because I don't really respect wild magic as a whole, but what it looks like is just. Transforming into animals and creatures. Which? Slay ig. But it seems that's where the limit is. Animals and creatures. Duman is shown to also be able to transform into people and fucking WATER on top of animal and creatures. It's his preference rather than his limit. We don't really know where his actual limit is and S4 didn't bother giving a clear answer. Just kinda killed him off. That whole thing also vague in the show.

Anyway, we went back and forth for a bit, didn't come to an agreement or anything whatever. I ended up finding this person in other comment sections after this as well! Asking the same question. One comment section being. My own. Under my Duman VA video. I think the original comment section was blocked because the video got marked as for kids, but I may have some screenshots laying around that I'll add in a reblog if I find them. I do have this response to one of her comments that I decided not to interact with:

Because spoken like an individual that doesn't value their two turtles.

Remember besties, one of these villains had to be DESTROYED, the other fell down a hole, was declared dead and never seen again. Things to think about. I know I think about it. Sometimes. Because I'm normal.

[twilight-skies]

I can’t believe it’s been a year, and I also can’t believe it’s finished.

So I guess I’m two days late posting this, but it was the night of the 30th that I realized that was the anniversary and not July first. So I only had the time to finally finish it last night. Close enough.

A year ago now we all were given the news of Technoblade’s passing, and a few days afterwards I got the idea to build something for him in my own solo survival world. Over the last year I’ve been slowly on-and-off working on it, and as it took so long to become how I wanted, I decided to get it finished by the first anniversary and share it with everyone then.

(View of the front and reverse)

(View of the front and reverse)

I first had the idea of a small hollowed out cave with dark oak trees at the entrance and a decorated room inside, and I then chose a small cove along the coast that my base is on. There, I first drained out the water and started building into the land.

Between several design changes and resource trips; making the trees and roof by hand when I realized it was too cramped to grow them; a creeper falling out of the fucking sky to not only destroy a double chest full of supplies and the entire entrance, but also give me (what I believe was) my first death in the world’s history; the painstaking process of sand-draining as well as some very long decoration-hunting; terraforming the cove to make it look more natural; and finally finding all of the quotes I wanted to put in, this has been quite the build. Don’t let the small size fool you.

While this is my survival world, I like to think of it as a work of art that is forever in the making (mostly because that’s how I keep myself from abandoning every project. look I swear now that this is finished I’ll get to the barn.) so while the glass path may look slightly awkward (and I may make it better at a far later date), the rest of it fits right in perfectly, as it will for the rest of the world’s existence. I’m incredibly happy with how it turned out and I hope you guys do too. Below and in the reblogs are all the photos I took, so if you reblog this yourself please do so with the version with all of the pictures.

GG Alex, take this as a humble gapple in your eternal duel with god.

Also, I’d like to think that he’d approve of the fact that several impromptu chicken murders were committed in the creation of this monument.

Also also, sorry for the light glares in most of the photos, I couldn’t avoid it.

The entrance:

(the front of my base is on the other side of the mountain, built into the entire thing)

Left and right walls:

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to add quotes on the walls. What I ended up doing was make a book filled with all of the other good ones I collected, and all the space I had for signs on the walls was used to write out my favorite of all of Techno’s quotes, aka the Skyblock monologue. (Which SAD-ist also animated as their own tribute to him.)

There are more photos, but due to Tumblr’s limit they will all be in the next couple reblogs.

[ro-botany]

"they've continued to [worship Grima] for a thousand years despite repeatedly being persecuted for the rest of the world explicitly for worshipping Grima".

My point here is that most people would stop worshipping a god if it repeatedly caused their neighbors to try to kill them. Nowhere does it say that they deserved to be caused, only that the religion is widely hated by the rest of the world. You are directly putting words in my mouth.

Even if I did, which I didn't, a personal opinion is a personal opinion and not a reason to insult someone about a discussion you weren't in.

And as I've said, its hardly just Emmeryn's father that tried to kill them, Walhart explicitly makes it clear his plans were to obtain the Fire Emblem and unite the world to invade Plegia and destroy Grima worship. Walhart even blames one of his tacticians being Grimleal for his attempt at religious genocide not working out and causing collateral damage.

Similarly Frederick describes the Grimleal as fanatics that worship a "fiend".

Clearly Grima worship is very controversial in both Ylisse and Valm, with worshippers of the god of of annihilation being looked down, if not outright killed. So if anything I'd say Grima's worshippers are very steadfast and loyal, loyalty one would crave in a worshipper.

Lots to unpack here, so let's start with the simpler bits.

Firstly… replying to a public post is not butting into a private discussion.

If you don't want people replying to you there are several options available to you to prevent this, including but not limited to: posting on your own blog and disabling reblogs, and/or blocking me or anyone else you don't care to talk with.

Secondly…

Grima's Characterization

"[...] if anything I'd say Grima's worshippers are very steadfast and loyal, loyalty one would crave in a worshipper."

Oh sure, the grimleal are loyal to the idea of Grima.

But again; when Grima stops acting how they believe he should act (see: everything he does as Robin), their loyalty turns into them physically forcing him to act as they see fit. Validar. Aversa. All the unnamed grimleal who fight the shepherds. It's a relationship of controlling and being controlled, not of actual respect. Which is, perhaps, part of the source of their general frustration with humanity as a whole.

I'm not saying their reasoning is correct or their reaction measured! But there's logic to it, and I think their Heroes dialogue is fairly consistent with their characterization from Awakening.

Wanna know something wild? We don't actually have any hard evidence that Grima even tried to destroy the world the first time Naga's faithful killed him. We only have the word of Frederick (early Chapter 2) on that that, and he's a human raised in Ylisse, a country that was founded on opposition to Grima, repeating an Ylissean account of history. He's not a reliable source.

We have no clue who was the aggressor back then, what their reasons were, what their goals were, the scale of the conflict... We literally don't know!

A lot can change about a culture over a thousand years, and the only version of Grima we get to talk to is one that's been reborn in the modern era when the extremist grimleal already exist and he has fully fucking snapped.

---

And now for the… big, messy part. This is going to cover some fairly serious plot points and will briefly mention some fraught real-world events, so I'm putting it under the cut.

"My point here is that most people would stop worshipping a god if it repeatedly caused their neighbors to try to kill them."

No, anon, they absolutely would not.

There is no gentle way to say this: In trying to explain why you think Grima worship is folly, the argument you are making is that the most logical choice for victims of repeated genocide attempts is to stop having the culture that people want to genocide them over.

I am not putting words in your mouth. These are words that you are typing out, and the meaning that they have. If this isn't what you're intending to say then you're doing a poor job of phrasing your argument.

Judaism. All of the many Native American cultures. Probably many cultures that the British Empire colonized. Historically, trying to wipe a people out over their culture and religion has not been a compelling argument to make the survivors stop having that culture and religion.

(Do not mistake this as a 1-1 comparison of any of these mentioned cultures to the grimleal. I'm not calling any of these cultures evil or extremist. I am only bringing them up to illustrate a specific and very narrow point re: attempted cultural destruction.)

Are the grimleal extremists? Absolutely. Is their work to bring about the actual apocalypse horrific and worth being stopped? Fucking obviously. Is Grima a terrible person? The one we meet in the game certainly is.

But please consider that even though Emmeryn's father's crusade ostensibly targeted the extremist cult, it was explicitly condemned by the game's text for the undue pain and suffering it caused to both Ylisse and Plegia.

I reiterate: not all of Plegia is grimleal. They don't all follow the grimleal or subscribe to grimleal beliefs. We have dialogue from Plegian citizens and soldiers expressing distaste and fear of the grimleal. The majority of Plegians who are victims of the religious genocides other world powers keep launching at them are not grimleal members and probably have a culture that they would like to continue having. That culture may or may not include some form of Grima worship.

I understand that you're trying to argue that Grima is despicable. We've never disagreed on that point; our disagreement there lies only in his motivations and the reasons he is who he is.

However. There's a lot about Plegia, Grima, Ylisse, and Valm - both explicitly stated things and strongly implied things within the game's text - that you are ignoring in your pursuit of being strongly anti-Grima. And the result is that you are (accidentally, I hope) saying some kind of fucked up things.

Dislike Grima all you want. I'm happy to agree to disagree on the liking Grima thing. But this game lays out a fairly complex political and cultural landscape for us, with a long history that we ultimately only get small glimpses into, and nothing about it is as cut and dry as you're making it out to be.

[docholligay]

Oh man, I am one of the world’s PREMIER haters. For as much a hater as I am, you have no idea how much hating I keep to myself on a daily fucking basis. I was FAR ahead of the curve on hating Harry Potter, long before JKR showed her ass. I was not team “Don’t read Harry Potter because JKR is a shitbag.” I was team “don’t read Harry Potter because it’s bad.” And I am a PETTY hater, to be sure.

ANYWAY, taking aside those obvious answers above--all of which i agree with--I have to think about ONE thing that I would take out of the timeline, only one! When there are SO MANY things I hate.

Obligatory you’re allowed to like whatever you like I’m not insulting you as a person I think you are lovely and a supergenius and your hair smells like roses and fresh rain. This does not mean you should stop talking about the thing you like. You could spit directly in my face while saying, ‘If you talk about Overwatch again, i WILL scream” and I would carelessly wipe it off my face while going, ‘I was thinking last night about whether I think lena would prefer jaffa cakes or Jammie dodgers--” and I encourage you to have the same energy. Have I soothed you enough? Okay.

So, a sampling of some of my long list of things I can’t stand/think are fucking stupid/am so ungodly tired of hearing about: The whole the Ninth thing, Pokemon, Miraculous Ladybug, anything to do with Kiera Knightly, Ace Attorney,  The meme that mostly implies y’all don’t ever read the fucking news, and tumblr’s reading of any psychology text.

But the thing I would destroy? The thing I would nuke from orbit, then burn, then salt the earth for?

Critical Role.

But Doc, you may say, this seems so very weirdly chill for you to be so mad about.

I am a person with limited time on my hands. I don’t even like to watch TV much because of the time involved. I don’t watch videos because this meeting could have and should have been a fucking email--write a goddamn article that I can actually reference.

I wasted 16 hours of my LIFE, because people were telling me the story was SO AMAZING. I could neither confirm nor deny that! Because in 16 hours we got fuck all NOWHERE. I am convinced that if a tabletop RPG is not the worst storytelling medium ever conceived, it’s right up there with interpretative perfume collections. And I even play tabletop games! (Which in fairness means I should have known better) This is not me hating on the concept of playing a game.

But Jesus Christ, how do y’all have the emotional energy to microdose a story over 2874649 hours while simultaneously reblogging how modern life doesn’t leave us time for anything? And people don’t just listen (I tried this! It was more successful, but still bonked) they fucking sit there and watch people sitting at a table talking to each other in voices while the story arc has moved .56% over three hours. I am too ADHD for this shit. I cannot.

And that was one thing. I can just be privately mad that I wasted my own personal time.

BUT THEN, I COULD NOT FUCKING ESCAPE IT. Matt Mercer’s face was everywhere, his voice haunting my nightmares, fucking drawings of their characters everywhere, and just when I thought it would wrap up, they just started another one, and, with my Premier Hater Goggles on, I can only hope that the fact that everyone is turning on D&D means that I get to stop hearing about someone’s fucking game night.

So yes, if it were up to me, Critical Role would never have existed, thank you and goodnight.

If you could delete one mainstream media movie/book/series/intellectual property from existence, entirely removing it from everyone's memory and cauterizing the timeline so it cannot reemerge, what would it be?

Mine would be Minions.

(Answers more interesting than JKR/Star Wars/MCU/GRRM are more fun. What PERSONALLY just makes you FURIOUS to have to look at it?)

[tanadrin]

This guy blocked me the instant he reblogged me, but I feel compelled to respond, because I think this is a weird take!

Plainly, it’s not intolerable for the millions of people who do it every day; and even if we posit that many of them would prefer to live in single-family houses on their own lots, enough people are actively moving into apartments--e.g., here in Germany where most urban housing is apartments and population has been steadily concentrating in cities for decades, as people depart rural areas--that it’s safe to assume your experiences are not universal, or at all close to it.

Is there a regional/cultural thing at work here? Maybe. Housing here in Germany tend to be built of concrete, including interior walls, which makes them quieter. Tenant protections are much better, for those who rent rather than own their apartments. North American-style Euclidean zoning isn’t a thing--and that doesn’t mean that North American-style houses don’t exist. They do--they’re a bit smaller, because land is more expensive in Europe, but they absolutely exist! You just don’t have the vast majority of the land in a municipal area zoned for that, and only that.

And even if apartment living sucked and people only did it because it was cheaper (which, given housing costs in some urban areas, is no small thing), the whole point the original video made, which all the NIMBYs here are ignoring, is that Euclidean zoning is unsustainable. Cities simply can’t afford to keep doing it. It requires de facto massive subsidies by the government, and you haven’t explained how you would fix that problem, or why your personal preference for suburban-style living outweighs the preference of other taxpayers in your city not to subsidize that style of living. I’m not saying that’s a case you can’t make, but “I hate apartments, pay higher taxes to make me able to live in a house” is not such a case!

Personally, I fucking hate living in suburbia. I hate having nothing in walking distance, I hate having to drive everywhere, I hate losing big chunks of my day to commuting, and I hate feeling like I have to own a car to live my life. Fortunately, I don’t live in the U.S. anymore. But I know a lot of Americans feel the same way, because I am friends with them, and I used to be one of them. Thankfully, there’s a compromise possibility right in the middle of the Overton window in American politics: let the free market decide! Repeal restrictive zoning laws that limit what property owners are allowed to build on their land, so they can build the type and density of housing they want, and let people pay for the kind of housing they want to live in, where they want to live.

If this sounds like a bad idea to you, it’s possible that it’s because your preferred style of living is only beneficial to a narrow class of homeowners and aspiring homeowners, you’re unwilling to pay what it really costs, and you’re depending on the government monopoly on force to protect your own narrow interests while forcing everyone else to shoulder the burden. If you were willing to pay higher property taxes to compensate for the increased cost of services in these areas, or willing to live in more rural areas and/or with a lower level of municipal services as a compromise, that would be one thing. But by and large American homeowners aren’t, they seem to want the convenience of living near major urban centers without confronting the tradeoffs that that imposes.

This isn’t a big conspiracy of evil YIMBYs plotting to destroy all that is good in the world. This is simply the pitiless arithmetic of municipal finances. You can rage and bellow against it all you want, but it doesn’t change the math.

[kommunistkaitou]

fr i feel like antisemitism among leftists, esp when Palestine is brought up, is not actually people criticizing israel in an antisemitic way. and the warning "careful not to be antisemitic when you're criticizing Israel" serves more to limit anti-zionist discussion among white gentiles than it does to actually prevent antisemitism.

Like leftists already know that Israel is fucking evil as shit, and we also know that it's got no right to exist. the main ppl criticizing israel in an antisemitic way are certain kinds of liberals and fash. Where they'll condemn israels actions but also still do the Zionist thing where they act like what's happening is an Ethnic Conflict rather than settler-colonial genocide, call Israeli settlers "Jewish supremacists," or in the case of fash they'll point to Israeli atrocities as an example of how jews are like, evil monsters who want to take control to destroy the innocent gentiles.

Whereas when I've experienced and witnessed antisemitism in leftist/commie spaces, it's usually been stuff like

asserting that "Jewish privilege" is a real thing (even in Israel, what they have is white supremacy apartheid, not Jewish privilege. Look at how white goyische Americans and Europeans are treated there compared to Ethiopian Jews)

Lending credence to model minority myths about Jewish Americans, or myths that we are disproportionately wealthy

Making critiques of "organized religion" that don't make sense applied to Judaism, or other various incorrect assumptions about Judaism

Erasure of Jews of color/assumption that all jewish people are white Ashkenazim

Use of the Shoah (Holocaust) and Nazism as rhetorical tools/ implying that holocaust victims get "too much attention" instead of just giving attn to forgotten genocide victims without making it a contest

& finally, the only one that's really relevant to conversations about Palestine:

groundslessly assuming Jewish people to be Zionists

Like, I haven't experienced lefties being critical of Israel in an antisemitic way. But holy Shit have I experienced a double standard where Jewish commies are expected to like, vocally denounce Israel as part of their introduction to people, in a way that isn't expected of white American goyim despite their having a higher statistical likelihood of supporting Israel. & like one of my friends who wears kippah, is asked regularly by new ppl who he organizes with, "you're not a zionist, right?"

& that is what's antisemitic. Not a particular way of criticizing Israel, but the way people clearly conflate Judaism w zionism. & Ironically, by spreading around "please be careful not to be antisemitic about Israel," that conflation is only being encouraged. There is little that anti-zionist Jews want more than to stop associating Israel with judaism at all.

(gentiles are encouraged to reblog this but pls behave)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 301: All My Todorokis

Previously on BnHA: We learned that when a bunch of superpowered villains are suddenly set loose with nobody around to stop them, things get fucked pretty quickly. Old Man Samurai and a bunch of other useless people decided to make “I pretend I do not see it” their new mantra, and resigned. Endeavor had a moment of despair on account of being crushed by the guilt of having ruined the lives of himself, his family, and basically everyone else in the entire world. For various reasons the heretical notion of “person who has done bad things feels sorry for doing them” sent fandom spiraling into a meltdown, so that was fun. The chapter ended with the entire Todoroki clan descending upon Enji’s hospital room to have a dramatic chat about Touya and All That General Fuckery.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “here’s the story of how Baby Touya slowly went insane trying to win his father’s love.” It’s a tale full of subverted expectations and heartbreaking inevitability, and also like twenty panels of the cutest fucking kids who ever existed on planet earth, who are so fucking cute that I can’t stop thinking about their cuteness even with all of the horrifying family tragedy unfolding around them. It is absolutely ridiculous how cute they are. Touya is out here pushing his tiny body past its limits because he inherited the same obsession as his dad and neither of them can put it aside even though it’s destroying them, and yet all I can think about is Baby Shouto’s (。･o･｡) face. Anyways what a chapter.

so I have to confess that even though I managed to avoid being caught off-guard by the early leaks, the number of people reblogging my Endeavor posts from earlier this week and using the tag “bnha 301” kind of gave me an inkling that this chapter will include more Tododrama lol. that said, I don’t know anything else about it, so we’re still good spoiler-wise

AHHHHH FLAHSBAKC AHHHH. omg I know I typoed the shit out of that, but I’m just going to leave it lol I think it’s fitting

holy shit holy fuck. so this is Rei and Enji’s first meeting, then??

yepppp, oh shit

so wait, I know this is not even the slightest bit important, but are they meeting at Enji’s home or Rei’s? because I always figured that Enji was the one with the super-Japanese aesthetic, but maybe that was Rei’s side of the family all along

(ETA: from what I found during my very brief google search, omiai meetings are often held at fancy hotels or restaurants, so maybe that’s what this is.)

there’s such a period drama feel to this setting. like it’s so outrageously formal fff how can anyone stand this kind of atmosphere though seriously

OH THANK GOD

I mean they’re still stiff af but at least they’re not rigidly sitting in seiza and staring at each other unblinkingly anymore lol. Enji’s actually got his hands in his pockets now. why is this somehow almost cute

oh damn it’s the flowers

Rei seems so subdued and it’s so hard to get any idea of what she’s actually thinking. I want to see her side of this dammit

but anyway, so at least from Enji’s perspective it seems like even though the marriage was arranged and he picked her because of her quirk, he still loved his wife and wanted to do right by her. the fact that he was watching her and noticed that she liked the flowers, and remembered that detail for all these years -- there’s a reason why Horikoshi’s showing us this. we know what’s going to happen later on; we know how much fear and violence and breaking of trust is coming up ahead, and while it may seem like this scene is serving to soften Enji’s character further -- which to be fair it is -- it also helps drive home the full impact of his abuse. that it’s so terrible not only because of the trauma of the abuse itself, but also because of the way it retroactively destroys all of the good things as well. this could have potentially been such a sweet scene, but it’s inescapably tainted by the knowledge of what’s to come, at least for me. and that’s just brutal

anyways, shit. is the whole chapter going to be like this?? feel free to toss in something I can actually make a joke about sometime, Horikoshi

oop, back to the present

omfg lol

“are you all right” “NO I’M NOT ALL RIGHT WHAT THE FUCK.” “oh, right, because of all the stuff that’s happened with me abusing you and you having a mental breakdown and being hospitalized for ten years and then our son coming back to life and killing thirty people, right, right. I almost forgot.” whoops

omfg you guys I’m loving this new and improved steely-eyed Rei. I’m loving her a lot

and what do you mean “part one” fkjds how long is this going to be. TOO MUCH DRAMA FOR ONE CHAPTER TO HANDLE

oh, hello

yeah I’ll say you did. didn’t seem to bother you much at the time, though

HMMMMMMMMMMMM

Dabi Is A Noumu intensifies even further. anyways though would you fucking look at this boy lounging on this moth-eaten couch doing his best DRAW ME LIKE YOUR FRENCH GIRLS impression wtf

Dabi what if you actually had killed him??? what would you feel?? satisfaction?? regret?? anything at all?? tell me your secrets goddammit

who are you talking to buddy

Fuyumi-chan, Natsu-kun (is it common for brothers to address each other as -kun?? can’t recall seeing that in many other anime, but hey), and “dot dot dot,,,,,, SHOUTO” lol thank you so much for this bountiful heaping of Tododrama Horikoshi we are blessed

AH, WHAT DID I SAY THE OTHER DAY

ULTIMATE MELODRAMATIC THEATER CHILD. “I’M JUST GOING TO LIE ON THIS COUCH SHIRTLESS AND ALONE AND MAKE SPEECHES TO MY FAMILY MEMBERS WHO AREN’T THERE AND SAY THINGS LIKE ‘WATCH ME IN THE PITS OF HELL’ WITH A STRAIGHT FACE BECAUSE NO ONE’S THERE TO JUDGE ME.” WELL JOKE’S ON YOU MISTER CHATTERBOX BECAUSE I AM IN FACT JUDGING THE SHIT OUT OF YOU LOL

(ETA: and on a more serious note, it’s interesting to see that “look at me”/”watch me” theme being used again though, because we see that same sentiment uttered repeatedly by the younger Touya in the flashback. well kid, you definitely got your wish at last. don’t know what else to say.)

OKAY HORIKOSHI HAS DECIDED THAT’S ENOUGH FUN, TIME FOR MORE FLASHBACKS

oh my sweet precious lord

just as cute as we left him. giving us a child this cute when we all know full well what’s going to happen to him is just unspeakably cruel though

HOMG

I’m fucking speechless. you broke me, congratulations. what am I even supposed to do with this

I can’t get over this. moving forward my life will be split into two distinct parts, B.P. (Before the Pout) and A.P. (After the Pout)

and meanwhile there’s ALL THIS BACKGROUND ANGST BUILDING UP, AND I CAN’T EVEN FOCUS ON IT. Touya’s arm and cheek are covered in bandages (I’m guessing this is shortly after that “ouch!” panel we got some chapters back), and Enji is deliberately avoiding training with him because he doesn’t want him to hurt himself further. I can’t fucking get over the irony that all this time everyone thought Touya had died because Enji pushed him too far in his training, and it turns out that it’s the opposite -- the tragedy ultimately happened because he didn’t want to push him. but I’m jumping ahead of myself though I guess

by the way,

remember this?? just wanted to remind you that it exists just in case you forgot

so now someone is talking and basically saying that Touya is the exact opposite of what Enji was hoping for when he decided to start playing with quirk genetics

-- okay hold up

...lol no, never mind. for a second I thought “holy shit he looks kind of familiar WHAT IF IT’S UJIKO OMG” before I remembered that Enji would have recognized him during the hospital capture mission if that was the case. so NEVER MIND, PROCEED

IMAGINE THAT, ENJI DOESN’T QUITE SEEM SATISFIED WITH THIS SUGGESTION OF QUITTING NOW

(ETA: how the fuck did this man go around saving 62 towns in a single day what even is All Might.)

[clicks tongue several times] trouble a’brewin’

MEANWHILE BABY TOUYA HAS UNFORTUNATELY INHERITED HIS DAD’S STUBBORN STREAK

KLDIHWOEIJFL:KSDJ

!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god. oh my god. what is this chapter. WHAT IS IT

so now Touya is all “YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND MY MANLY DESIRE TO BURN MYSELF ALIVE” well you got her there champ

THEY’RE TOO CUTE. OH MY GOD. HIS FURIOUS LITTLE TEARS. HER CHUBBY LIL FACE. HIS STUBBY LIL FISTS. SOMEONE HELP ME

also are they just home alone lol or what. “hey Touya, you’re what, like six now?? do us a favor and look after your baby sister for a couple hours for us would you? make sure not to set yourself on fire or anything.” WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG!!

now it’s nighttime and Enji and Rei are arguing, presumably about his decision not to train Touya anymore

whew. okay. so, a couple of things here

1. first of all I think this conclusively shows that Enji really was trying to do the best he could for Touya. he stopped training him as soon as he realized it was hurting him, but Touya was still determined so he tried to make it work anyway, and even visited doctors to try and figure out if there was anything they could do. then, once they were absolutely sure that it wasn’t going to work, he tried multiple times to explain to Touya why they had to stop. he didn’t just abandon him out of the blue, which is really important to note. “no matter how much I tried telling him...”

so yeah, that debunks another common fandom accusation. so by the time he finally makes this decision, which we all know is going to turn out horribly, it’s basically because he’s already tried everything else he could think of. which, by the way, still doesn’t mean he handled this right. but at the very least he was taking Touya’s feelings into account and he was trying, and he didn’t just abruptly toss his son aside (at least not yet)

2. buuuut, then there’s this panel right below all that

which is the other side of it. if he’d just quit like the doctor person advised him to, that would have been the end of it. Touya would still have been upset, but he would have eventually gotten over it and the family would have moved on and possibly even been happy. but what happens next happens because Enji can’t let go. he still has this maddening urge to surpass All Might, and so he and Rei keep having more children, and then Shouto is born, and Enji finally has a kid he can start projecting all of his hysterical ambitions onto once again, and everything starts spiraling out of control soon after

though p.s. none of that is Shouto’s fault though!! he’s one of the few good things to come out of this whole mess and I’m very happy that he exists. the tragedy is that his dad fucking lost his mind over his quirk and fucked everything up. but that’s on him, not Touya or Shouto

anyways, SLKFJLSHGLKJL

I CAN’T FUCKING TAKE THIS YOU GUYS??? LOOK AT THAT LIL BUTTON OF A NOSE??? I’M LOSING IT HERE???

AND TOUYA JUST SEEMS DEVASTATED OMG

because children aren’t stupid, after all. he understands that his dad is still looking to surpass All Might. and so he feels like a failure, and feels like his dad is trying to replace him because he wasn’t good enough. and even now, isn’t that what the adult Touya is trying to prove?? that he was good enough after all?? “I’ll show you what happens when you give up on me, dad”?? “I’ll show you what I can do”?? fuck my life fuck everything

AND YOU CAN SEE THE TOLL THAT IT’S ALL TAKING ON REI GETTING WORSE AND WORSE AS WELL OH GOD

really nice touch here with the panel outlines becoming all shimmery from the heat of Endeavor’s flames (and/or becoming more unstable as the family gets closer and closer to their breaking point). but man, Horikoshi I can’t handle this, please show us more cute kids or something I can’t

GKELKWFJLDKSHFLKL

WITTLE BABE. BEEB. BUBS. SMOL. lkj; oh ouch a piece of my heart just detached and latched onto him huh look at that

TODOROKI “I’M SO SMALL AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING ON AND I DIDN’T ASK TO BE HERE” SHOUTO AHHHHH

crazy how they all just seem to know right off the bat lol. kid doesn’t even have object permanence yet, let alone a quirk. but do they care?? IT’S THE HAIR, RIGHT. WE’RE ALL THINKING IT, I’M JUST GONNA COME OUT AND SAY IT. they knew the minute they looked at him lol

AND MEANWHILE TOUYA IS OFF HAVING UNSUPERVISED TRAINING/CRYING SESSIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS OR WHATEVER, AND, UH OH

are those blue flames yet?? they seem pretty close

(ETA: this is one of the few cases where the manga being in black and white is infuriating lol.)

OH MY GOD AND STILL

so it’s not like he was so disinterested that he didn’t notice what was happening, and he was still trying to stop it and get through to him. trying to reassure him that it wasn’t the end of the world and there were other things he could do with his life, but this one particular thing just wasn’t going to happen

fucking hell. it’s agonizing seeing how close they actually were to fixing it. if he’d only said the right words, or if he’d realized at this point how destructive his obsession could be to his kids, and backed off from putting that same pressure on Shouto. we came so close to possibly having a happy ending

AND ALSO THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING BUT PLEASE LOOK AT HOW TOUYA IS LIKE THREE AND A HALF FEET TALL AND HIS DAD IS LIKE NINE AND A HALF FEET. Touya barely comes past his knees flkjlkg. the Todoroki household must have been so filled with like plastic stepstools to reach the bathroom sink and all the little baby toothbrushes, and baby gates to keep the kiddos out of the important grown-up rooms and stuff. and also days-old half-empty cups of water and stale crackers and hot wheels and my little ponies strewn everywhere

“BUT EVERYONE AT SCHOOL SAYS THEY’RE GONNA BE HEROES” a wild Deku parallel appears?? how bout that

I know this is like a pivotal moment in the Todo Tragedy and all, but fucking look at this lil dumpling

“sup bro, it’s me, the manifestation of your fears of inadequacy and lack of fatherly affections. a GAAA. ba-baAA-baa [gurgling baby sounds]”

OHHHHH IT’S THE SOUND OF MY HEART BREAKING OH NO

HE WANTS TO BE LIKE YOU ENJI. good lord somebody please just get this family some therapy

“DAD YOU IGNITED IT IN ME” flkjslkj nope, nope. not ready for this pain here

baby Shouto, would you like to weigh in on this affair? “DA!! ba-ga-daaa, [pacifier chewing noises]” oh my, you don’t say. so insightful for one so young

OH MY GODDDDDD

IT’S SO DRAMATIC BUT ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT ARE THE SHOUNEN WOOSH LINES SURROUNDING FOUR-MONTH-OLD SHOUTO LOL HE WAS LIKE THIS FROM BIRTH OH MY GOD I AM DYING HELP

SHOUTO YOU’RE RUINING THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER!?!?!

“yo, the fuck kind of family was I fucking born into” oh, son. if you only knew. IF YOU ONLY KNEW!!

(ETA: lmao I got so distracted by the ridiculous cuteness that I glossed over the fact that Baby Touya seems to possibly be aiming at him?? it’s hard to tell because he’s also super out of it from heatstroke and may just be losing control in his attempt to show off his upgrade.)

ANYWAY THAT’S THE END EXCEPT WHAT’S THIS LAST LINE OMG

ffffff. and we’re in for ANOTHER chapter of this next week?? MORE drama?? MORE BABIES?? MORE OF EIGHT-YEAR-OLD TOUYA’S SLOW DESCENT INTO MADNESS. MY HEART CAN’T TAKE IT, BUT ALSO YES PLEASE SIGN ME UP

[ghostlyerlkonig]

I've had a large handful of asks come in about if I'm pro or anti and I fucking hate all of you. I assume the majority are asking because they are "antis" as anti censorship views are inherently hand in hand with proship/comship/profic blah blah blah blah and you want to see it admitted outloud like you are the judge and prosecutor and I am the accused without a lawyer.

I don't like you. I think you are immature and weak-minded individuals. I think you have more life to live before we could have a decent even conversation. So I'd ask that anyone who sees this reblog culls their need to ask and understand that i dont care how gross you think something is in fiction, i will never call for it to be destroyed or the artist killed for it.

I think people who call for death over fiction are no better than those people who jeer on public punishments because ultimately that is your goal. Public punishment over fictions that you don't like.

I've never hidden my interests. I make sure i tag things i know people may not want to see (for example KV as a recent one, though ive been on a kick of looking at various got couples atm, got will be used as an example though this), I guess i was lucky to find myself in a corner of the internet that was more free of this and encouraged the "Fandom rules". I also have a dad who was very quick to question why the first time I expressed disgust at media why I felt it and had me work it out rather than avoid it.

I grew up in pure media control. I was mormon. We were told not to watch R movies because they are corrupting and against god. Some choose not to watch pg13 movies as they are also that way. That's why so many flock to Disney products because they are safe media. Godly media. I was allowed Disney cartoons. A collection of vhs tapes. My dad would slip something a little "harsher", ie ghibli or some live action that was still meant for kids. I knew and know many people who believe movies ans tv shows should not be allowed to show sensual scenes or drugs or alcohol or violence or anything "icky" or ungodly.

So telling me you think... SA should not be allowed in fiction tells me you are immature. I say this as someone who skipped through the more violent scenes in got for many years and who struggled through the failure of Viserys as his wife died in childbirth due to sexual trauma of my own. It was not SA scenes in movies that lead a boy to tell me god told him he had to save me from my sin (lesbianism).

Seldom will someone make you watch or read things you do not want to. Sometimes you have to, like in school. And if something sticks with you so horrifically, maybe think about it rather than being disgusted and attempt to smother it.

I like fucked up things. I like them in fiction and in writing especially because nothing is real. I like blood, knives, the idea of being mutilated to achieve something else in a limited form, science that does not exist to warp the form at the behest of something. I like complicated and horrific relationships. Relationships I would not want to see two real people in because I know how destructive they are but in fiction it does not matter. Codependency. Manipulation. Abuses. But a book can be shut. A movie turned off. Art turned away from. Knife play scenes can be discussed and negotiated.

I struggle to watch some scenes got not because I am disgusted by what is happening, I have read them and listened to them in audio books, but because I KNOW that it was filmed before intimacy directors were common. Because Emilia Clarke has talked about Momoa having to advocate for her. That hurts me because another human was hurt in real life. These scenes can be done safely. But it requires care for real humans and an understanding of what is needed to keep each other safe. Attempts to cull difficult fictions will not help that. I believe it would just make it worse.

Mostly though, I care about the fact that Utah is banning porn. Banning books. Setting religion in laws. Setting me up for interaction with the police and possibly a charge if I want to piss in a toilet. That our government is funding deaths. That i cannot get a job. That my dog has an ear infection. That my ankle has been hurting for a month now with no improvement after i crashed on my bike. That my ability to continue medical transition may be taken. I am worried that my wrist pain will become so bad I will not be able to do the things I enjoy doing. I am worried for my friends. I am more worried about the state of the world than some ship you don't like that you are blowing out of proportion. Fucking block people. I have so many words muted. I have 509776 people blocked on Twitter. You can too! Just fucking help yourself. Do not expect the world to bend to you. You remind me of the world I grew up in and that is not a compliment.

I care about encouraging people to read about real life so they can spot when biases are in fictions.

I stand by the statement of my previous reblog. If you are pro-censorship, you are selfish. You are part of the machine. You would join the chorus of Tomorrow Belongs to Me willingly to burn works from existence. You are enabling the worst of humans to harm real people. To put it in a way not wrapped up in norse poetics; I hope you feel regret someday and grow while alive and able. It is one of the few great things humans can do. I'm going to clean my dogs ears now.

"But the art is gross!"

Come'ere and let me tell you a story.

When I was in my senior year, a painting of mine got into an art show at a university museum. I was wild crazy excited and wrote out my artists statement in one night about the piece. I painted it based off a photo I took of a local reservoir during a particularly bad time and my statement spoke about being queer in my city and finding peace at places like the reservoir. I painted it with pallet knives and acrylics.

I was forced to remove any mention of my queerness from my statement due to the "sexual nature" of it by people at my school. There was nothing sexual about it.

Obviously, I did it, with some pressure from others. but when I drove up to see it there, I could not feel proud of it there. Compliments felt hollow. I was told they placed it at the front because they loved it. But it was censored in a way that made it lesser to me. Often I wish I would have refused.

Censorship doesn't stop at "icky" things. It crawls and devours like ivy until everything is dead. Nothing remains.

[sweetiebriar]

Don't look surprised or dismayed, this is a rant. I'm going to be deliberately mean, accusatory, and probably a little injuring too. Minors and sensitive people out, I guess? Anyway, I expect nothing from this post except to put my exasperation into words, let alone ❤️s unless perhaps you share my opinion. No comments allowed either unless you follow me so if you have something to say to me after that, there’re always reblogs (which I leave open) and asks (any insults or abusive language will be deleted immediately and the person blocked, of course). You have been warned.

So, a minute ago, Tumblr addict that I am, I was scrolling through posts looking for new blogs to follow when I came across a reblog comment from a user who was offended by a ship and its fans (no idea what fandom that was) because the characters included a minor and an adult.

Aaaand the writer in me just snapped and rose up. Still, it wouldn't have had to end in a rant, I could have just brooded in my corner as usual... if only the response that followed this reblog hadn’t made my hair stand on end just as much. And so, my legendary patience reached its limits. I'm not trying to make a fuss, but as a confirmed author, avid reader, and occasional shipper, I simply can't understand WHY people are always trying to apply the moral codes of today's society to works of fiction! Forgive me but it's crazy!

IT'S A FUCKING WORK OF FICTION, IT'S NOT REAL, I DON'T HAVE TO FEEL ASHAMED TO WRITE ABOUT WHAT I WANT!

There is such a desire for revolt these days, that others are desperate to create chaos wherever they can.

'Oh, this book must be banned because it contains racist remarks within; It doesn't matter that it was written at a time when these sort of remarks did not reflect the same offence as today and that it is a great classic!'

'Oh, this horror book certainly is outrageous since it depicts a serial killer who abuses his daughter; It doesn't matter that this man is a psychopath and therefore this is the behaviour one can expect from such a character!'

And when a fanfiction writer gets lynched online because she wrote in vampiric fandom where the main couple are brother and sister… They are bloody vampires! In the vampiric genre, incest is not considered an issue!

What the bloody, fucking hell! What do you not you understand in 'work of FICTION'!?

The fictional does not encourage reality or imitation, the fictional is here to make you dream, travel, and escape into an imaginary universe where the world as you know it would no longer exist. Authors shouldn't have to restrict themselves for fear of 'what will people say'. Writers shouldn't have to censor themselves because brainless idiots will take offence and trolls will just want to screw things up wherever they go. Inspiration is such a precious feeling that one should not put chains on the few souls who possess it. I'm tired of reading comments similar to this reblog, I'm tired of seeing passionate authors feeling their work being reduced to nothing because wimp people don't understand anything about freedom of writing! We defend freedom of expression, but we oppress authors about what they’re writing. This is absolute madness!

However, I really, sincerely understand that people can feel outraged or uncomfortable with certain subjects, but in this case, then go on your way. Nothing obliges you to read this story which could fascinate many others.

And I say the same thing about fans a bit too radical who destroy the canon of a story to just impose their own ideas and ships! This. is. not. normal! Of course, you can create your own world within a fandom (that's what fanfictions are all about), but you don't have to impose it on those who don't share your views, or even on the authors themselves. In the same way, one mustn’t blame others for liking something that they dislike themselves.

Yet, banning books for this or that a reason, bringing authors down for this and that thing; there is nothing modern about it! Nothing revolutionary about it! And there is absolutely nothing justified about it!

So leave works of fiction in peace! Unless it physically hurts others or morally/psychologically hurts an actual person/community, it’s perfectly legitimate! That I choose in my fictional story to address incest, abuse, paedophilia, murder, unbridled sexuality, cannibalism, suicide, mutilation, religious truths, profanity, or disease-type mental disorders etc, it's my right! And in particular, if these subjects concern fictional characters to whom moral human codes do not apply and do not have to be applied.

[paragonevil]

I'm gonna be honest, as far as Aku, evil overlord dictator of an empire that's dedicated to wiping out most if not all of humanity, you write him too mushy. He's supposed to be a sociopath, from what we see in the show, but you have him being shipped with like, a dozen people. You write him waaayy too nice. That being said, I suppose if you didn't, you would have very limited interaction with people, and you've written out "development" for him, but the point still stands that he's way too roman

What do you think about my interpretation? | accepting!

ooc ★ Before I get onto my response, I’d like to thank you for having the audacity to send this. I feel there’s this unhelpful idea in the rpc that people have to agree with everything you post; and to say you disagree with someone’s interpretation is often met with ferocious resistance. But when I reblog memes of this nature asking for opinions, I want the good and the bad. I AM always looking to improve, and to not take criticism when I so freely dish it would be hypocritical of me, I guess. ( For lack of a better word, right off the top of my head. )

I COULD put this under a cut, but I feel this is important enough to just let it sit out in the open. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a while.

That said, two things for you.

Firstly, I LOVE writing violence! In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s in my top two favorite things to write, right beside slow-burn romance ( and particularly one-sided yearning ). However, while I used to jump at every opportunity to write violence, I can admit I’ve since slowed down a bit. Not only because I’ve gotten progressively less and less people coming to Aku trying to pick a fight with him, but also because I’ve come to feel that fight threads without a purpose to further the plot are repetitive and somewhat boring. It tends to be a lot of the same-old same-old; repetitive actions, repetitive imagery. And yes, while this is a significant piece of his character in the show, and I love exploring it even further and particularly pushing the bounds of his abilities, if it doesn’t serve a purpose in the greater scheme of a plot or an arc then... Why waste your time with it? And frankly this goes for all repetitive actions, like gratuitous sex and slice-of-life. If it doesn’t serve a purpose to write, such as say to kill an important enemy or fight a significant battle or even to maim a loved one when he’s not himself and bring down the angst hammer, then? Why.

Secondly, despite not wanting to write violence just for the sake of violence... I can admit I want some conflict over here. But that’s just the thing. In Aku’s main verse he’s samurai-less. I did this simply because the NUMEROUS Jack blogs there used to be have since become inactive, and if my initial intention with Aku’s blog almost from the very start was for him to kill a Jack and switch over to my Bad End universe, I can’t very well have Aku always worried about a ghostly, intangible threat that he can’t confront. And of all the Jack’s on this hellsite, of which I’ve written with and followed more than a few along the way, I can only name ONE which is still active. ( And another which followed me today, on that note, but they don’t have a rules nor an about page, so. )  ...But that first Jack I mentioned, @sonxflight, we don’t really write anymore. Nowadays Dari’s been more focused on fluff / romance threads, and I’ve been more interested in developing Aku’s mental health. Aku isn’t gonna go out of his way to confront a Jack that he views as not being his problem. Dari’s Jack isn’t the one from my Aku’s universe. Dari and I just kinda tag each other in dash memes and comment on one another’s posts once in a while; and that’s about the extent I see action from a Jack nowadays.

I would LOVE some more conflict on this blog! But I’m not going out of my way to find it if it doesn’t particularly serve to further my current plot— which is Aku’s eventual ascension to Godhood at the end of this year. And that’s another thing, if Aku himself doesn’t stand to gain anything from talking to someone, inciting a conflict, or being a dick to somebody, he’s pretty much going to keep his distance. He finds most people to be a waste of his time; and this is nothing against other RPers whom I love seeing on dash! Because lord knows I’d love to push him to interact with folks. But if Aku himself looks down his nose at most people and finds them not only boring but also boorishly stupid, then there’s not much else for it. He sees others that come to him for money, freedom, and other boons in exchange for their services as nothing more than cattle; and frequently this is how his meetings with new people go. Meeting others out in the field is the best way to get a truly organic and not copy-and-pasted interaction out of him. And even then, there’s still numerous factors which would predicate how such an encounter might go.

Because there’s not too much conflict on this blog for now, I’ve decided to take greater liberties with exploring shipping and platonic relationships also. But for those of you who have followed me for a while, who have seen me mention on more than one occasion that slice-of-life threads aren’t really my schtick, I can understand why you might be a bit confused. Well, allow me to explain: the reason I’ve chosen to place greater emphasis on these kinds of relationships lately is to preclude a little RP / character bleed mishap which happened recently and which impacted my enjoyment when writing as him and even just simply being on this blog. And by ‘recently’ I mean slowly, over a period of the past several months.

Aku’s entire arc with Rick demonstrated to both of us that he’s in an incredibly bad kind of headspace in regards to healthy relationships on this blog. In his universe with Rick, basically all his ties are a result of his relationship with Rick. Bill ( wildgcd, whose blog has since been deleted ) and Ashi ( @tigersteeth ) are both inactive, and have been for months +. They’re the only ones with whom Aku has a healthy relationship that isn’t directly tied to Rick in that universe, and as a result he tends to rely quite heavily on Rick for his social needs. So when Rick left him too, Aku’s abandonment issues reared their head. Unhelpfully, mun has a problem with abandonment amongst a slew of emotional / psychological problems quite similar in nature to the one’s Aku suffers from— albeit with a fun little mortal twist. 🤗 So I knew I needed to take action so I could comfortably be on his blog in the inevitability that Stephanie goes on hiatus again. Which is why I’m trying to focus a bit more on building more platonic and romantic relationships besides the ones with Rick and co. that way Aku has more people with whom to spend his time when Rick is away.

Furthermore, now that Jack’s out of the picture regardless of verse, Aku’s allowed himself to focus more on making friendships and forming attachments just in general. One of the reasons he tended not to do such before is because he felt that Jack would kill whomever he felt close to in an effort to get to him. In fact, he even shouted at Rick for daring to mention that he and Jack could possibly work together to build a future which would be brighter and better for everyone; because he felt certain that Rick would wind up being targeted by Jack to get to Aku.

He’s started going to therapy, also, to address long-held mistaken beliefs in himself, too. Beliefs which interfered with the relationships he had tried to foster with others; it was enough to frustrate him, when he let himself acknowledge such, and he knew he needed to sit down and talk with someone professionally if he didn’t exactly have friends around per se with whom he could talk. Also, I personally believe he chose not to do such before, because his very existence was hinged on destroying Jack so he could conquer the universe in peace without meeting resistance. While he knew he was unhappy and knew furthermore that he had some problems that needed addressing— and had even made a thin attempt to talk about such with himself in show canon as you recall—  ultimately his mental well-being took second banana to making sure Jack was DEAD.

The therapy, coupled with his own slow internal journey, some perspective which was afforded to him during Rick’s absence, and some 4th wall Discord conversations has lent him valuable insight on the way he functions—and how Nightmare works too. Who, in many ways is just himself but with unchecked mental delusions and mistaken beliefs that had grown unchecked. He saw what had happened to Nightmare mentally, and didn’t want such a fate for himself. Hence the therapy and greater, braver attempts to let himself be closer to others.

Finally in the case of Bill and Nightmare... both of them take place in different universes, of course. Universes which in themselves were split just after the break up between Aku and Rick. Aku is still thoroughly alone in those universes, because again. He doesn't have Rick and all the people who were brought into his life as a result of his relationship with him. He’s at that point in his immortal life where he’d like to try his courage and test out the things he’d discovered about himself in therapy and in his personal self-explorations, and see about developing a relationship with someone with a fresh perspective with his recent failure as Rick’s partner in mind. Which is why he’s so amicable with them and trying to get to know them better. He wants to see what a healthy relationship, platonic or otherwise, developed on his own might be like.

However. I WILL acknowledge that Aku trying to make friends with people is ooc. It’s ALSO ooc for Aku to try fucking / romancing someone. There, I said it.

But you know why that is? It’s because that facet of his character was never explored in canon, even in all the comics, games, and the addition of the 5th season in 2017. So I suppose you could say that if I were to play him absolutely true to his canon material he’d only ever be a fucking mauling, mutilating, destroying, force of nature. Which yes, he still is despite my writing him how I do with a greater emphasis here lately on developing relationships with other characters. I ask you: isn’t the whole point of RP to develop dynamics and explore facets of a character that canon neglected? I could do fight threads all day, boy; but please ask yourself: how much would that really serve to further my interpretation and understanding of him, if at that point I’m just rehashing canon fights with a fresh coat of paint and different enemies? Whereas platonic and romantic relationships are a thoroughly headcanon and character-development heavy area for a character like Aku, who hasn’t had a single friendship or romantic relationship in his canon media.

And if you’d like cliff notes, rp examples of him being fucking EVIL, and links to evil headcanons I have you’re more than welcome to send a second ask asking for said information. But I think I’ve already given you plenty to think about and read, unless you’re some kind of masochist and want to torture yourself more with reading my self-absorbed and self-assured opinion. Thanks for making it this far, here’s your consolation prize.

TL;DR: Canon already gives me fights for days, boy. And while I thoroughly enjoy writing fight threads, they tend to be repetitive and exhausting if they’re not serving a purpose in a plot arc. Whereas things like interpersonal relationships for a character like Aku, who did not see such development in his canon media, is full of things to explore. And ultimately that’s what RP is about, exploring facets of a character which canon doesn’t explore for you. Once again, thank you for asking, and I hope this answers your question. I can provide examples for everything cited above, as well as fight threads and evil moments abound if you’d like. Furthermore, if there’s anything I do in RP which confuses you or which you feel is ooc, I invite you to jump in my askbox again with further questions. I’d be happy to explain my reasoning for ANYTHING I write!

P.S. I INVITE you to form your own opinions and compare me to my duplicates, 90-100% of whom are inactive. <:) Here they are, for your browsing convenience: @unspeakablyevil @akunoakuma @onibred @aku-blogs @shogundad Take a gander, consider what I just told you, and then see if you can hit me with this same anon again, yes? 😏💕

[theredhairedmonkey]

A few people had some feedback for my meta on Claudia here. Instead of reblogging the meta over and over again, I’d rather address the arguments raised by @silverspetz​ here and @atreefullofstars​ here.

So... neither of these posts seem all that enthusiastic with either (1) my treatment of Dark Magic nor (2) my assessment of Claudia. I’ll do my best to break down both of these arguments as well as possible.

From @silverspetz​:

I don’t really believe in the “power corrupts” thing in the first place, but even if I did it wouldn’t change the fact that primal magic users also have elevated power and the only reason you can give for why dark magic would be more tempting is because it makes things “too” easy. If you were actually honest with this argument you would be insisting that the true evil is that magic exists at all and not just that dark magic is arbitrarily “too powerful”. 

Let's break down these forms of magic. For Primal Magic, in order to take full advantage of all that it can offer you, a mage has to have an arcanum (or an uber-rare Primal Stone). An arcanum requires a deep, fundamental understanding of the Primal Source, and far more so; there’s a reason only a rare few elves even become mages, and why even sky mages can’t automatically learn to grow mage wings. There’s a lot of internal mental discipline and legwork that’s involved--the reason why Lujanne can cast spells, but Runaan and Rayla can’t. While Callum is an exception, canonically it usually takes years if not decades to master this kind of magic.

Dark Magic doesn’t require any of this. If you have the materials and the incantation words, that’s enough. No deep understanding or internal channeling of magic is required. That’s what makes it so easy. And this is canon; this is what Aaron and Justin describe as the difference between Primal and Dark Magic when it comes to ease.

But being easy does not in of itself make Dark Magic bad. It’s why it’s tempting (Callum catches on to this, even when Viren and Claudia do not). The fact that there is no limit to what you can do with Dark Magic, combined with the fact that everything you could ever need or want could just be a single spell away is what makes this dangerous. Again, unlike Primal Magic, Dark Magic is characterized as unlimited power. That’s what makes this a toxic combination.

Primal Magic simply doesn’t operate this way. It’s a naturally occuring phenomenon that can be tapped into. There are limits as to what can be done; Primal Energy needs to be nearby, and many spells, such as aspiro and mage wings, are limited by what the mage can physically exert.

The Primal Mages that we’ve seen demonstrate a separate issue with Primal Magic, but I’ll talk about that below. 

Sure, it is nice that you at least admit that Xadia probably exiled humans to preserve the status quo, but you are still insisting that dark magic is the only kind with inherently corrupting influence and acting as if being born with an inherent power isn’t already playing life at easy mode. You don’t ask the question “how long before elves decide to do the easy thing instead of the right thing” even though they have already done far worse things than any dark mage on the show. It is all so very reminicent of all the arguments you hear from the majority whenever a minority tries to assert itself. “No, you can’t fight oppression your way, that’s wrong and bad. Do it on our terms”. The show’s thesis is basically that “reverse racism” is worse than actual racism, and the fandom largely agrees. You can save your “is dark magic too powerful” concerns until humanity as a whole has been given even a modicum of the power they actually deserve.

The show definitely doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to dragons and elves. Sol Regem quite nearly wipes out a city, while the ethnic cleansing of humans had been compared to the Trail of Tears by the show’s creators. And the thing is, there are issues with the way elven mages and dragons use their magic, even though that’s beyond the scope of my meta on Claudia. But just because a group is oppressed or marginalized doesn’t mean any attempt to gain, as you say, a “modicum of the power they actually deserve” is justified. In fact, that’s all very reminiscent of real-life formerly oppressed groups who either gained that “modicum of power” through exploiting others or taking advantage of their newfound power to settle the score with their former oppressors, which just perpetuates a cycle of hatred and violence...which kinda sounds like the point the first three seasons of the show was trying to push!

To your question “how long before elves decide to do the easy thing instead of the right thing,” we already have an answer. There is an elf who isn’t bothered by questions of doing the right thing.

Who only really cares about increasing his own power in the quickest way possible, regardless of who he harms, corrupts or kills along the way.

And it’s this guy:

In spite of mastering all six Primal Sources, he still turns to Dark Magic as a means to get what he wants. Which does give us the answer to your question--when an elven doesn’t care about the right thing, merely the easy thing, they too turn to Dark Magic. That’s the corrupting influence of this branch of magic. Aaravos should have had all the power he needed, but he wanted more.

And what does he do with his power once he has it? He eclipses the Sun Nexus, creating perpetual night over Lux Auera and quite possibly wiping out the city. That should drive home what “unlimited power” means with regard to Dark Magic--you can quite possibly destroy Primal Sources at will. You can’t do that with Primal Magic.

But Primal Mages, at least who we’ve seen, don’t particularly care to bolster their own power over the lives of others because, honestly, they’re kinda indifferent to them. And that’s their flaw--not power-lust, but apathy to the plight or struggles of people.

Keep in mind, they’re not unkind or callous toward others. Lujanne, for instance, is nice and will help Team Zym...when they ask her to. It’s why she simultaneously tells the group that “dark forces are pursuing you” while still being willing to show Callum around and letting the team drag their heals. Rayla was quite indignant at that (”I thought you were on my side!”). 

Or, she helps Ez get to Xadia because Soren asks her to, then wanders off to fuck around with other humans, while a war for the future of the world is fought. 

Ibis is similar--he suggests to Callum that the group simply leaves with Zym rather than make their stand, thus giving Viren the opportunity to gain power. He helps out in finding dragons to fight alongside them, but we never see him take part in the battle itself. Just like Lujanne, he helps the group with their goals but doesn’t engage directly with any threats.

The differences between Dark and Primal Mages are similar to the Sith and the Jedi in the Prequel Trilogy. The Sith are power-hungry, perhaps beginning their fall to the Dark Side out of a goal to protect their loved ones or a similar aim before being corrupted by their desire for power and domination. The Jedi, however, are “keepers of the peace,” and will get involved when that peace is disrupted...and turn a blind eye to slavery on worlds like Tatooine. They’ll preserve the status quo, but don’t do much else, which is why the Separatist Crisis was started in the first place; countless worlds were irate that the Republic, and by extension, the Jedi Council, ignored their problems and struggles.

Primal Mages are the Jedi in this situation. From what we could ascertain, they didn’t do much of anything to help the humans before they were desperate enough to turn to Dark Magic.  The fact that a human learning an arcanum was so surprising just shows how little anyone tried to help humanity before dismissing them as a lost cause. 

This is also why Callum is such a standout example of a mage. He rejects the temptation of Dark Magic while also deciding to stay and fight to defend Zym. He’s chosen who he wants to be, and he’s not going to make the same mistakes that mages from either camp have made.

Primal Magic has its flaws, but to say that Dark Magic and Primal Magic both represent power and share the same temptations misses the larger point.

As for Claudia supposedly being “selfish”, yeah, this is where you are absolutely being dishonest to demonize Claudia. Soren was not willing to accept his condition. It was blatantly obvious that he was just having a breakdown and trying to find silver-linings whereever he could. Even his first poem was basically him lamenting his new situation. And he was very obviously happy when Claudia fixed his spine. 

You would have a point had Claudia actually obtained Soren’s consent. The fact that she didn’t even bother to ask his permission violated his agency. Even after she was done, Soren never found out what it cost for him to be healed. 

All of this is extremely problematic. It’s not a small thing that medical practitioners seek out consent from their patients, even when the treatment is painless, simple, and safe. The autonomy that people have over their own bodies is of utmost importance, something that can’t be dismissed with a simple “Oh well he was unhappy anyway, he would have said yes if I asked.”

I think that, deep down, even now, Claudia is a good person. She thinks what she’s choosing to do with her magic is ultimately the right thing. It’s just that, in her mind, other people don’t get to choose.

 So forgive me if I think that meta about primal magic you plan to write is going to be a bunch of drivel that admits elves wen’t too far in commiting genocide but ultimately doesn’t see how being born with the power to crush armies might make you at least as tempted to solve all your problems with sheer force as the ability to turn chains into snakes.

Hopefully, the little that I wrote about Primal Magic assuaged your worries somewhat. There’s a lot more to write about this form of magic, most of which can’t fit here.

And it’s not like creatures with Primal Magic never use sheer force to try and solve their problems (that’s exactly what Sol Regem attempts to do). But when you look at what you can do with Primal Magic versus what you can do with Dark Magic, the former simply doesn’t compare. This isn’t an apples to apples comparison in terms of raw power.

For @atreefullofstars​:

And miss me with “dark magic is easy and dark mages don’t sacrifice anything so everything they do is selfish.” Yeah, characters in the show–the ones who already don’t like dark magic–have said that a few times. But what’s shown on screen is dark mages collapsing, falling ill, panting, and turning corpselike and clearly unhealthy from using it, when nothing like that happens to primal mages. What is “Claudia doesn’t lose anything other than a streak of black hair” supposed to mean? She didn’t make a magical trade, her hair color for Soren’s spine; if that were the case she wouldn’t have needed the deer. She did something so difficult, that put so much physical strain on her body, that it turned some of her hair white. When that happens in real life, there are physiological consequences way beyond hair color; the hair is just a clear visual representation of how badly that strained her body.

Lets set aside whether Dark Mages never sacrifice anything for their magic (Ziard, for instance, sacrificed his life to save Elarion; Callum fell into a coma). What I’m talking about is in this particular case--Claudia momentarily collapses from using a lot of Dark Magic...then proceeds to get back up again and is none the worse for wear in the next scene. That’s all I’m trying to say. Claudia does not “sacrifice her own well-being” to save her brother when there are no long-term side effects to her other than that one streak (it’s not from the physical strain either; stress-induced grayness doesn’t just come up in one spot and it certainly doesn’t friggin turn already black hair white!).

The streak isn’t supposed to visually represent the strain on her body that was clearly temporary. It visually represents how Dark Magic is slowly starting to change Claudia. One might say it’s corrupting her.

And if that just isn’t enough, if she should have to give up more because she’s supposedly being selfish, well, it’s still more than primal mages sacrifice. What did Callum sacrifice to save Rayla? What did it cost him, what did he lose? Is it selfish that he used his magic to rescue her from falling, because he loves her and doesn’t want his life to change by losing her? What did he give up when he cast Fulminus to selfishly override Ibis’s objections to teaching him? What did it cost him to cast Aspiro and blow Zym up into the air to block out the sun, saving him and Rayla? Every primal spell in the show is “selfish” when you view it through a lens determined to show it that way, and not one of them has a cost. Every good deed anyone has EVER done could be construed as selfish because it made them feel good to do it; even if it was difficult or uncomfortable, they were obviously still satisfying some other principle they value more and getting net benefit.

I think you’re missing the point if you think that the issue with Dark Magic is that it doesn’t come with enough personal sacrifice. Me arguing that Claudia didn’t sacrifice her well-being for Soren isn’t me arguing that she should have.

But as for whether primal mages are selfish...Callum quite nearly falls to his death in a long-shot attempt to save Rayla. And keep in mind, he isn’t trying to save an idea of her, or the portrait of a perfect relationship, or something that he simply desires for himself. He’s trying to save her. And unlike with Claudia, it doesn’t come at anyone else’s expense--just, potentially, himself. 

Before that, he puts himself between Zym/Rayla and scores of enhanced soldiers. He risks his life just to protect them. Before that, he crushes a moon opal to learn the truth about Rayla’s parents, so she can feel free to make her own choice (and this was the epitome of selflessness; he didn’t attempt to convince her to leave with them. If she wanted to stay, fight and die, Callum was willing to accept that. Think about that when you say that every primal spell in the show is somehow selfish).

And before that, he uses Fulminis to get Ibis’s attention so he could learn magic...so that he could protect Zym and his friends from Viren’s army. Throughout all of Season 3, Callum does magic primarily to help others and never just for himself. It doesn’t come at the expense of anyone else’s life or anyone’s agency. That’s the difference between Callum and Claudia--to reduce all of that to just “well any choice is selfish when you think about it” is just pure nihilism.

[thesporkidentity]

please don’t reblog

please don’t reblog this is just a personal rant i need to get off my chest because it’s driving me fucking bonkers

i just. i really hate how most articles complaining about things like cellphone usage and social media take the stance that the technology is just unequivocally bad (in fact i actually can’t remember reading an article that didn’t do this when criticizing them). because like it just pisses me off that they’ve equated irresponsible personal use of a technology to that technology being bad entirely and it completely misses the point.

the problem is not the cell-phone and internet that give me access to answer so many questions and curiosities at the click of a button; the problem is the person texting in traffic and not paying attention to the road. the problem is the attitude that just because you can be reached means that you should be always available.

the problem isn’t social media which can be used to maintain relationships with long-distance friends and relatives or amplify the voices of those who would be ignored by traditional media outlets. the problem is that specific person who keeps interrupting social situations to check their phone (again, you can’t always be available to everyone) (and also honestly a little bit on the person who doesn’t address that issue with their friend and instead chooses to write a think-piece about it). the problem is with people not fact-checking stories or unnecessarily escalating situations by forming bully mobs.

like, the problem isn’t the technology it’s that people have developed an unhealthy way of interacting with that technology and all these ‘think-pieces’ are self-indulgent temper tantrums on an aspect of society that isn’t going away you can’t just wish that technology back into the box. and it’s just a lot of wasted time, energy, and hot air that could be spent actually having a productive conversation on how to alter the usage and attitudes around it.

and on a more personal note it’s really annoying to me specifically, as a chronically ill person in too much pain to leave home half the time, when people say technology is bad and destroying relationships when these technologies are the only thing allowing me to maintain any sort of relationship. it just. people talk like they would take the literally life-saving technology that allows me to be anything more than a friendless miserable shut-in and destroy it if given half the chance just because it’s easier than learning and teaching people how to use it in a healthy and productive manner.

and like. i know that a lot of abled people just forget that there are people who exist in the world differently from themselves. i get it. and i know it’s not usually malicious but like. i’ve had this conversation with people before, and they’ll apologize in the moment, and then they’ll say the exact same shit the very next week and like. at that point the forgetfulness starts feeling less accidental and a little more personal and intentional (this of course is not limited to the use of social media it’s just the pertinent example of something that happens all the fucking time and it’s driving me crazy).

like don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of issues we’ve created with the advent of this new technology and we really do need to address that both on a personal and societal level. but it’d be nice if we could actually do that instead of just demonizing something that has made my life 1000% more livable by characterizing the use of that technology and emotionally uninvolved or narcissistic.

[haljathefangirlcat]

still thinking about that “we Have To Talk about how quips are ruining fandom by destroying meta and turning all fic into shitposts” post @ms-demeanor wrote a great rebuttal to, and about the other posts she wrote about it and about the You’re Doing Fandom Wrong attitude in it, and about the notes on those posts. not gonna reblog or reply to any of those because my thoughts are admittedly kind of random and jumping from place to place and probably OT to the point of the discussion, but you know. still thinking.

so, uh. not trying to start wank or anything but enjoy the ranting that got way out of hand under the cut.

so, like... that one “we can’t just block everyone who quips and shitposts because some of these people also write actual meta but then they unfortunately go back to Not Engaging With Canon by writing quippy shitpost-y stuff” line, or however it was actually phrased? besides the blatant entitlement with the “you have to fandom ONLY in ways I like, I can’t just engage with the part of the content you create that I’m interested in and scroll past the rest” thing (which kinda reminds me of the whole “you can’t CNTW on some of your fics, I should be able to read ALL of your fics” thing, in a way) and the ”I refuse to curate my fandom experience and I’ll make it some stranger’s problem” thing (which... reminds me of a few other things, but tbf it has probably been around since the very first days of fandom), what if someone doesn’t even see meta and quips/shitposts as fundamentally different and mutually exclusive approaches to fandom? what if they see them as just two ways to be interested in a specific fandom and interact with it, and maybe even closely linked together, so going from one to another is actually very, very easy for them? hell, what if they (gasp!) even mix quips and meta together sometimes?

I have a few posts about what I think Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese might have been doing with mythological references and themes in Dark, and about what I got from the series finale. some are meme-like, phrased in a joking tone, probably even shitpost-y? another one is literally just a gifset plus me having intense Feels in the tags, and the last one is an edit of the kind I’ve seen people complain about as “those cringey unoriginal tumblr aesthetics that all look the same” in at least a couple of occasions. does that automatically mean I only wanted to “win” at fandom (with my hard-earned prize being... a handful of notes in a fandom that’s not even that big compared to others) and that I haven’t actually spent probably way too much time thinking about the significance of Martha’s Ariadne play as a commentary on character interactions/plot/narrative themes (and honestly still do from time to time), or that I don’t occasionally read the captions under other people’s gifsets and suddenly feel very much enlightened about why the Ariadne play mentions the myth of the Flood of all things? that I didn’t start reading posts and comments and reviews and theories about the series finale as soon as I finished watching it? that, just because I didn’t write 10K+ words of Perfectly Serious Seriousness about all that stuff, I simply refused to Engage With The Text? 

... and if I said that I feel a little irrationally self-conscious at the idea of writing down all of my (often rambling, sometimes jumbled) thoughts about a series that to me actually does feel very deep and complex, so adding memes and humor to that or finding different means to put my ideas out there makes me feel more comfortable expressing myself while also taking off the (admittedly made-up) pressure of having to write a whole coherent essay where I have to find a clear and explicit way to explain where every single thought comes from and how it leads to the next like I’m gonna get graded on it? or that a lot of those thoughts stem from memories of spending five years of high school translating and analysing ancient Greek poetry and reading and watching and discussing every available interpretation and reinterpretation of it from Nietzsche to Vernant to Dürrenmatt to Christa Wolf to Pasolini to a lot of others and from certain things in Dark violently hurtling me back to those times without even asking for permission, so a part of my self-consciousness is actually “I probably don’t actually know/remember enough about this to base a whole in-depth analysis on it even though I do think there’s something there” and another part is “shit I’m too lazy to dig through all of my old textbooks and homework and additional readings to hunt for the thing I feel the desperate need to reference or figure out who might have said it, so no extended explanation here either”? I guess in the end it would all boil down to “there’s an amount of effort and physical and mental energy I’m willing to put into fandom but I also have limits to stop something that makes me feel happy from becoming a chore”, which. considering the whole “you have to put all your resources into constantly pouring out 100% serious meta and nothing else because that’s what I like, no deviations allowed” thing? yeah, I can see saying stuff like that would still make me a blight upon fandom. and/or Not Engaging.

which, I realize, it’s a thing I keep coming back to. but that’s because I really, really, really hate it? seriously, what even counts as Engaging With The Text correctly? not shitposts, and not quips either, apparently. Regardless of the fact that humor and crack have existed in fandom since forever and that it’s actually not uncommon AT ALL for them to be born out of looking at canon from different angles, pointing out whatever the fan in question finds surreal/strange/implausible/convoluted/awkward/just kinda funny about it. 

also, not canon divergence/what if fics motivated not by a desire to “fix” something that made us feel bad when it happened in canon but by a desire to actually fix what we felt was objectively a poor writing choice from the author, because we shouldn’t Engage by analysing the text to criticize it or to think over how and why certain aspects of it don’t work for us or how we think the structure of the text itself could be modified or even improved, we should Engage by... writing meta and/or writing canon-compliant fics with perhaps a little allowance for slightly-to-the-left-of-canon-compliant missing moments fics, I guess? 

from what I’ve gathered from reading other fandom discussion some time ago, AUs are also out, especially Modern/No Powers AUs, because those are always just an excuse to slap your fave’s name on your OC/disguise your original fiction as fanfic to get comments/ignore all that’s interesting about canon to write yet another dumb syrupy high school or coffee shop AU, even if I’m honestly not sure what kind of AUs people are even reading to never get to the “there’s no supernatural threat so let’s focus entirely on the fucked-up family dynamics and blatant mental issues in a world where you can’t just ignore them by marrying off your daughter or sending your son to be someone’s squire” AUs or the “this is pretty much what happens in canon but adding new dimensions and different outlooks on the themes by moving everything to a new context” AUs. seriously, I could rec you a pretty great “this guy would be a horrible father and treat his children horribly in any world, it’s not just the feudal society around him, it’s him as a person” AU and that’s literally just the first thing that came to my mind. but, hey, maybe Engaging is only engaging with the canon plot and setting and nothing else, what do I know.

... fuck, thinking about it, I’m not even sure if by “not shitpost and not quips” I should even mean humor/crack? because it’s not like the OP was clear about it in any way? maybe it’s just all that’s weird and tropey and not-canon-compliant? I can see the “everybody gathers in the main character’s stuff to smoke weed and weird shit happens” fic I got a chuckle out of some time ago being one of the dreaded tumblr-born shitpost fics that are supposedly ruining fandom by ensuring that fans stop thinking (?), but what about the “everything is the same but this one character is a catboy, not for any particular reason but just because” fic I’m currently following and loving? people have been joking and shitposting about catboys a lot on tumblr lately (I distinctly remember that the last catboy joke to pop up on my dash was the “I’m your catboy gf and I’m stuck in a wall” one...) and finding an always-a-catboy!AU initially got an amused smile out of me, so is the mere premise enough to make the fic just a joke/just taking a trope and running off with it/just part of a shallow trend? even when the author literally goes “oh shit just realized this is all a metaphor for neuodivergence and masking” in the story notes? unless writing a character who’s never explicitly stated to be neurodivergent in canon as a being literally or metaphorically neurodivergent in your fic is always shallow projecting or posturing issuefic... instead of, y’know, looking closely at the text and Engaging with it by interpreting it that way....

I feel all this ranting/venting might end up plunging into Why We Slash discussion territory now, so I better stop here.

anyway, in short, good to know I’ve been in fandom for years yet I’ve always been just a Fake Fan who Can’t Think and is constantly Doing It Wrong (by Not Being Transformative Enough, possibly). gonna do my best to stay exactly like that in the future <3

[premakalidasi]

thepurelands reblogged your post:Listen, I’m up to here with “spiritual” men and...

I love this SO much… All else to say, which is not in contradiction to your words but a qualifier, is that we as women...

#so much YES#sexuality

Well, I would be very careful with your terminology there (even though I believe your basic intent was benevolent, don’t worry). Saying women “aren’t victims of the patriarchy” edges far too close to basically telling women, bluntly in their faces, that they’re just imagining it all. Which is bollocks--and what I’ve been trying to get at in my post; that there are issues in the way of healing and liberation and becoming whole. It’s exactly because women are victimised as fuck and abused and beaten up all the time that it’s more difficult for them to even start handling sexuality. 

Women are victimised and abused left, right and centre by a fucked-up, patriarchal system that values the male and “masculine” values over “feminine” ones, and that fucks men up as well as it goes. The whole system is based on violence and power-over and it’s 100% real. And we absolutely need to acknowledge that before we can move on. Not tell women, like far too many self-help guides (who’ve never had PTSD themselves) that hey, just think positive sparkly New Age thoughts and be ~open~ and ~forgiving~ (and forget about these silly BDSM things as therapy) and everything will be fine. Women are fucked over in this world 24/7, end of story.

But.

But.

There’s a difference, a massive difference between being victimised, being on the receiving end of violence and abuse and adopting a victim identity. That’s the key; that’s what I hope you were after, too. I don’t believe in victim-blaming, but I do believe in shaking people out of the *internalised* victimisation part, the internalised self-hatred and passivity and weakness. I would never have said this pre-Tumblr, but I am honestly starting to wonder if women wouldn’t be so badly off right now if it weren’t for their own fetish for fucking themselves over.

My dear, dear sisters: whenever you feel hopeless and useless and act accordingly (or, rather, remain passive because you’ve accepted you’re shit), feel like you don’t have the right to do X (act that doesn’t harm anyone), don’t have the right to say Y (thing that doesn’t harm anyone), that this thing is rude and that thing is being a spoilsport, circle your sentences with “hehe” and don’t use full stops because that’s too stompy and yadda yadda, that’s a big-ass part of what keeps you down. You. You keep yourself down because once you’ve been put down by someone else, you copy them and start doing it to yourself, too.

Every time you call yourself a victim (instead of someone else victimising you that very moment), every time you think you’re weak, every time you’re being a nice girl and not making a fuss (when you absolutely should), every time you put yourself down and remain passive, someone benefits from that. Every time you fuck yourself over typing a Tumblr tag saying “but I feel like there’s nothing I can do” or “im shit lol”, someone’s going to benefit from that, usually the dudebros who are having fun somewhere else celebrating violence and other tough-guy crap (while trying to pretend they aren’t soft and squishy human beings underneath all that). Every time you define yourself through something you are Against, you let yourself be defined by the thing you think is your enemy; by focusing on resistance you’re forgetting about the part where you should be exploring and actively building alternative ways of handling things. You have a choice as to whether you’ll type that Tumblr tag or not, but you’ve forgotten you have it. You’re not being yourself--you’re being what The Man wants you to be. Miserable and malleable and useable because you don’t believe in yourself, believe you have any rights, any power, any divinity in yourself.

So I just want to clarify that. There’s a difference between being abused and *abusing yourself,* putting yourself down. There’s something you can’t help--if someone’s kicking you in the face with a combat boot, it’s pretty damn difficult to start manifesting your innate divinity. And I don’t want anyone to belittle that. It’s incredibly difficult to handle sex if the penalty for that is humiliation and physical violence. But those times you are on your own, self-governed (for example, on your own blog on the Internet, or in your own bed with a vibrator)--if you choose to put yourself down *there* as well, then, yes, that’s a problem. And that’s where you’ve got to start, because if you don’t believe that you have any value, you can be used over and over. That’s candy for abusers; that’s candy for narcissists--they see they can walk all over you. 

These self-defeating structures have been programmed into us for millennia exactly to uphold the system as it is, so that we remain home as passive housekeepers and baby machines. It all goes back to that; every time you say “I should put my feelings and hurt aside and put others above myself at all times even if it literally kills me,” it goes back to being an efficient homemaker while the guys (in turn brainwashed into being good cannon fodder, efficient killing machines) go off to wage war. All gender bullshit boils down to that: either making someone into an efficient home/kid management system or a killing/moneymaking system, and all the divine potential inside of us, regardless of genitalia, gets destroyed and burned on the altar of that system. It’s madness. 

But we’ve come so far from that. We’ve now got the technology and civilisation and brains to be far more than just homemakers or soldiers. We already know we can use these skills for building hospitals--transcending the homemaker and the warrior and channeling that into medical science and the engineering and power needed to build that hospital (and that these skills exist cross-sex, so gendering them is too limiting). We should be able to articulate our feelings and use them wisely by now, and to respect each other by now. But we have to respect ourselves first (and the same goes for guys respecting their “girly” parts). If you start saying “no, actually, this is how it works for me”--which is why I was explaining all those things about the female orgasm in my post, because nobody fucking talks about it on that level, especially in spiritual contexts--then we have a beginning. It’s a defiant act, a hella radical act and it’s exactly when we realise what such women are up against that we understand just how revolutionary it is. 

Even now, I have to try and stop myself from saying “TL;DR” here because that’s one of those many forms of self-belittling, ways of saying “hehhehe, what I just said isn’t that important” because it bloody well is. I struggle with that shit, too. (I’m not even going to go into the list of the shit I’ve been through, even if this kind of Discourse often demands people show their hand--because I don’t believe in cred through victimhood. I almost started to list that shit, but stopped myself, because that’s what awareness is all about--not just vomiting out what you feel, but trying to at least have some consideration over what your output’s gonna be. And I don’t want anyone to feel they somehow have less cred than me because they haven’t been on the receiving end of X, because that’s inhuman and also insane). But all you folks need to know that I’ve been There, and over and over. And sick of it. And it’s exactly because people still self-perpetuate all this crap that I can’t keep quiet about it any more, having been through all this myself. Twenty years ago, I hoped things would be better in 2018, but they just seem to be getting worse, so we’ve got to talk about this stuff, start talking about it as much as people talked about this stuff in the 60s and 70s, and as critically as they did then (but that’s a whole different rant).

We’ve all got to start somewhere--but let’s just be careful about the terminology and not taunt people with broken legs into running when they’re still recuperating, or in any way imply they fell over themselves when someone else tripped them over. 

There’s a difference between sabotage and self-sabotage. Being victimised=/=victim identity.  

Now, can we talk about the glory of uterine orgasms?