#Like yes she did horrible things but her character makes sense she was a victim sorry not sorry

[carpthecarp]

I’m not done yet

[kobitoshiningneedle]

I think the tumblr Ace Attorney fandom has a weird stance on Dahlia Hawthorne. Even more so, on her culpability, to the point that some people claim that she was justified in killing Terry Fawles and even Valerie

First of all, we need to consider the main message of the games first and our personal sense of justice second, because Dahlia, as much as any other AA character, operates within the games' own narrative, and has consequences according to it. And Ace Attorney makes it quite clear that any human life is valuable and no one has a right to take it (illegally). This message was accentuated in TGAA mostly, but even in the trilogy we have Edgeworth who says "everyone deserves a fair trial"

And (I think I need to say before someone throws tomatoes at me) I'm not here to defend Terry Fawles and say that he didn't do anything wrong. He pretty much did, and the fact that he started to date his young pupil is pretty horrible and brow-raising, even if it's unclear who initiated it. It's also possible that Valerie was a neglectful sister, and that Dahlia's whole family was abusive and insufferable to her. The most important thing to understand here is that even if Terry and Valerie were all-round terrible people, killing Valerie and manipulating Fawles made Dahlia a criminal. Objectively.

The second point I see people miss is how disastrous was the collateral damage Dahlia caused in her attempts to cover herself. Poisoning Diego. Killing Doug. Attempting to kill Phoenix. Attempting to kill Maya. And the question is: in what way did any of these people do Dahlia injustice? What is their fault?

They didn't have any. By the time of T&T timeline she was pretty much a person poisoned by her hatred and fear. The main tragedy of her character is that she spiraled down from a mistreated schoolgirl who wanted to run away to a malicious woman who would stoop to crime whenever she needs to. I think this is a solid example of an anti-arc, in which Dahlia's fate was indeed shaped by her unfortunate circumstances in many ways, but! She still had agency in her actions, and having agency means having responsibility

To clarify: I don't hate hate Dahlia, even though my disagreement with the fandom lies in the amount of her hateability. I think she's fascinating and is a good foil to Mia. She pretty much IS a tragic character, and we actually have a good insight into her via Iris' recollections before the final trial segment - the person who probably understood Dahlia the most. Realizing that Dahlia was yet another victim of Fey family drama, much like our Maya (even if in other ways) adds some sympathy points to her. But I have a firm opinion that she wasn't exactly redeemable at the end of her criminal path

So, do I think Dahlia's character goes beyond the crazy-psycho femme fatale? Yes, even if the game wasn't really forthcoming about her childhood misfortunes as much as we would want to. Do I think Dahlia deserved condemnation in the end of BTTT? Yes, and I personally didn't expect Phoenix or Mia to pat her head after being responsible for the deaths of 4 people and (the other important part that adds to her hateability) feeling absolutely no remorse towards people that had nothing to do with her tragedy. Having complexity doesn't necessarily mean Dahlia is secretly better as a person, and understanding why a character became the way they are doesn't mean we should sympathize with or forgive them

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Possibly unpopular opinion (Or perhaps not idk): I love what they have done with Zuko and Ozai's relationship in the live action Netflix Avatar show.

In the cartoon we never get the ~vibes~ that Zuko has a complicated relationship with his father, only that it is abusive and one-sided in the sense only Zuko craves Ozai's approval, while Ozai straight up hates him, wants him dead or has no problem with him dying (Why doesn't he kill him if he has Azula? We don't know, plot has to happen, he sent Zuko to find the avatar in order to get rid of him, probably, or actually canon idk or remember), clearly prefers Azula to him as successor, etc, etc, etc (+ later the comics literally overkilled this trend "she was born lucky while..." omg stfu). Zuko is basically the perfect character to prove the fire nation is not all evil (Oh look, they hate him too, he is inherently their victim too from the very beginning).

So when Zuko switches sides in the cartoon, what I see as an adult rewatching is someone giving up on luxory, physical safety and... that is pretty much it. Sure it is a big deal to give up on those things to do what is right (Few would) and still awesome that he did the right thing in the end, but if you really think about it, he is not giving up that much, he is not giving up anything truly valuable to him. Respect? Honor? Sure he is said to have received it back after Azula "killed" Aang, but we never truly see it. For all intents and purposes his sister has that and wayyy more of it. His father's love and acceptance? Never had it, so he didn't truly "loose it" when he spoke up for those soldiers, got the scar and was banished, it is not really shown to have suddenly popped into existence when he was said to have killed the avatar. He literally had nothing in the fire nation, literally nothing. This could only make "doing the right thing" a lot easier for him, and for the adult audience (At least for me), his arc is just him realizing what is almost irritatingly obvious for us: That no one in the fire nation truly loves and respects him so might as well switch sides (Basically if we weren't also shown that Zuko is compassionate and does care about the horrible things the fire nation is doing, Ember Island Players would have gotten a bit of truth in it).

Now, in the live action, where do I even start? It has been so good so far when it comes to Ozai and Zuko. That man, if he hated Zuko in a cartoonishly evil way almost from birth, he sure doesn't show it. Don't get me wrong, he is just as abusive (Creepily so in many scenes, made me feel so protective of Zuko and Azula), but he is also shown to "care" about Zuko as in having some hope left that he can mold him into another powerful genocidal mini me. Is Azula winning by far? Ofc, she is still the prodigy, I am sure I am going to see flashbacks of favoritism later on. But Ozai doesn't yet seem to favor her in a way that makes Zuko's craving for his approval (Or even Ozai's hope in him as heir) hopeless. It seems, from his scenes with Azula, that Ozai foments the rivalry and competition between the two siblings not only because he personally thinks Azula is the best (Which he also might in this version), but also as a way of control through fear (Especially for prodigy Azula), and to make them (Especially comparatively weaker Zuko) "better", something this version of Ozai appears to think is possible EVEN when he banishes Zuko. Now, he might have done this "to get rid of him" as in the original, but in the live action he seems super open to and genuinely believe the idea that the exile could make Zuko stronger and better, not to mention worthy of the throne if he succeeds. Ozai treats Zuko like the heir despite favoring Azula is all I am saying. Zuko's actions are therefore almost impossible, yes, but not hopeless or even naive. And if this trend of Ozai's respect and "love" (Super on quotes) being achievable continues, Zuko's eventual turn to the good side will be much more powerful. He will have to give up much more after spending a summer with his abusive parent love bombing him for "killing" the avatar. Zuko's choice will be solely based on his findings about the horrors the fire nation has committed and not wanting to be the cause of more suffering even though he could have it all. Even though it was his fate to be his father's "mini me"-> Something terrifyingly likely and not so quickly discarded by the narrative itself as it was in the animated series.

I think the best part about this subtle change in the father-son dynamic (If it was the intention of the writers, I am aware it could have been unintended) is that the scar tm was a direct result of Zuko's compassion for those soldiers and not just the excuse Ozai used to banish him or "final straw" because he preferred Azula sooo much more, as it is pretty much implied later on in the animated series and comics by focusing so much on how much of a perfect victim Zuko was pretty much from birth. The addition of the 41st surviving because of Zuko was also pretty nice, and so is Zuko's relationship with them, he will need fire nation allies when he gets to the throne and this is a good start, something the animated series never touched upon much.

I am on episode 6 btw so my opinion might change. I will edit this post if that is the case. BUT my thoughts on these first scenes doesn't change, they are good imho

EDIT (And spoilers): I just watched Zhao’s revelation where he tells Zuko that Ozai would never let him return and he just wanted to use him to motivate Azula. It does change things and invalidates most of what I said, but taking out just this one scene, as I said, the Ozai-Zuko dynamic is great in this show, and also, Zhao is obviously not the most reliable source, because he was allied to Azula and obviously wanted to hurt Zuko, as he was losing the fight with him. There is also the fact that Azula wasn't watching Ozai and Zuko when Ozai told his son that he was being banished and that it was in part so he could get stronger etc, that was all for Zuko and had little way of serving as motivation for Azula (Unlike the scenes where Ozai praises Zuko in front of her, those could have totally been him bullshitting his daughter to motivate her to work even harder). So all in all this scene doesn't ruin the overall impression I had of the Ozai-Zuko father-son dynamic in the life action show. In fact, it could be taken to confirm one of my impressions which was that Ozai likes pitying his children against each other to push them harder.

EDIT 2: Ozai's reaction to Zuko's possible death is further proof imo that his “test” was very much real (even if almost impossible) and everything I said earlier still stands. He wouldn't mind that much if he died, it would just prove his “weakness”, and he is very pleased with Azula, but he didn't look happy or even indifferent when he learned the news.

[marauderseraconfessions]

people who favor literally any adult in the hp fandom need to accept that all of them all have flaws and stop trying to scale things down or victim blame.

sirius- bullied snape and continues to do so as adults, saw harry as more of james than his own person AT TIMES. does that mean you can’t like him? NO. does that mean he’s a horrible disgusting human being? NO?? Did Sirius do A LOt of good in his life including giving his life to protect his godson and help towards defeating voldemort? YES does that mean he’s a person with flaws? YES. did “snape deserve to be bullied”? NO??😭

snape- bullied students, joined DEs, and called lily a slur. Are all of those things unacceptable? YES! Did he have good qualities, especially as he matured and left the DE and risk his life in order to protect his students ? YES. Does him having flaws mean you shouldn’t like him? NO. Does it make sense why a lot the bad things he did take place? YES. does it justify those? NO. Did he deserve to be bullied and ultimately lose his life in double service and spy work? NO???😭

Lupin- Pushed a lot of things under the rug, worked in a position where he risked children, and tried to excuse bullying because of their age, are any of these things acceptable? NO! was he a a generally good person, sacrifice his life and contribute a lot towards the order? YES. Does this erase the bad things he’s done? NO. Did he deserve to be outed in the maurderers era shrieking shack incident by his friends? NO????😭

Molly- She favorited specific kids of hers, didn’t support the twins dreams, and had a werid (misogynistic?) stigma towards hermione and flur? YES. But overall she was a good and loving mother that would end anyone in order to protect her children and their spouses? YES. Did she overcome the werid stigma towards hermione and fleur? YES. Do her bad calls cause her to be a horrible person? NO.

Minerva- Similar to snape she favored her own house, send kids to the forbidden forest, and treat neville unfairly? YES. Was she still a really good head of house who fought for her students? YES. Does her wrongdoings make her a bad person? NO.

Dumbledore- Did he purposely send harry to an abusive home, not do anything about it when there were clear signs, leave everyone in the dark, make snape strike a deal over the safety of HIS order members, risk many students safety like every year, abandon his family which resulted in death, raise harry to die and have him fight dangerous adults almost every year, ask snape to kill him, allow the most unqualified people ever to teach, ignore the shit out of a mentally unstable teenager, let sirius rot without fair trial nor even thinking twice about the possibility of his innocence, and probably even more we’ve yet to know about? YES. were all of these horrible? YEA💀 did he mean any of these with malicious intentions? NO. Did he do this for the creator good? YES. does that mean he was aware of the people he hurt? YES. do i like him? FUCK NO. does that mean other people are able to look past this and continue to like him? YES.

many ways to summarize like every and any adult in this franchise has done some shit but that doesn’t mean you can’t like the character.

ᯓ★

[darklinaforever]

I don’t know what this person sending you their rants is on but - “there are no prominent debates about the validity of Rhaenyra's love for Harwin. There's no one jumping on posts about the Velaryon boys to say that Rhaenyra only had them because she couldn't have Daemon. “ And Rhae loving one ‘set’ of boys more over the other …

Saying this is never debated and it’s always JUST Laena stuff is so fake. I’ve seen many many debates over all of these, and more.

Did Daemon care about Laena, yes. Did he love her? Maybe. Would he have ever married her if he had been allowed to marry Rhaenyra? No.

All of that being true and stating it doesn’t make us racist. It would have been the same if Laena had been like the book. I’m sorry the show writers suck, and did her dirty but.. It is what it is.

This is from this reblog :

I simply wanted to say that yes, Laena is the victim of misogynistic writing (like all the women in the series) and of racism in addition, but that the fact that Daemon is not in love with her has nothing to do with that, because that most likely wasn't the case in Fire and Blood either. I expressed myself clumsily and too quickly, sure, but to assume that I'm saying that Daemon hated Laena when I never implied such a thing ? Like, just because I say Daemon wasn't in love with Laena, does that necessarily mean I'm saying he hates her ? WTF ? That does not make any sense.

Then, yes, I've already seen tons of posts exposing (with good reason) the fact that Rhaenyra probably wasn't in love with Harwin. It seems pretty obvious that if she could have had Daemon, she would never have been with Harwin. For what ? Because Harwin is an anedoc in the text for Rhaenyra apart from her boys. And also the fact that she suddenly stopped having children with him when Daemon was finally allowed to return from his exile to the court.

Just like I've already seen tons of Laena fans insult Rhaenyra's character as a whore. Literally, I've had some come to my inbox. Just like there are fans of Laena who write her in fanfiction as Daemon's true love and Rhaenyra the jealous whore who can't live up to him. But for all that, I'm not going to say that all Laena fans think that Rhaenyra is a whore (plus misogynistic and grossophobic comments).

There's even debate that the Velaryon boys should be disliked by Rhaenyra because they put her reputation and legitimacy at risk (even though in reality, no one cares except the asshole greens) !

Basically... well yes, as you say, everything this person cited has been debated about Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra is also a character who has always been in trouble, even before the release of HOTD.

Not to say that Laena's case in HOTD is not serious, on the contrary, it is. But she's not the only victim of the fandom's mistreatment. I even think she's not the worst in the female character category from the entire GRRM universe by the fandom.

Either way, HOTD's general treatment of female characters is truly horrible and I fear that even if Baela and Rhaena finally get real scenes and dialogue in the future, they won't be treated any better than everyone else. Which particularly annoys me.

[reliquiaen]

Solomon is set up to be a trustworthy and reliable character. He is gracious when Sarah gives him a piglet, he warns her to be careful in the woods (or is he just worried she’ll catch him; if he knows about the parties, then he probably knows they visit Widow Mary, hm…). He is kind and understanding when she tells him she loves Hannah, he is protective when Pastor Miller tries to kill her in the chapel. He tries to talk sense into the other townspeople. He seems like a genuinely good man. But he’s not, and when I did my rewatch, I looked at his words and actions through that lens instead.

It's fairly self-evident that he’s selfish and cares about others only insofar as they can be of use to him, but knowing what he is from the start allows for some interesting reads.

First, this exchange right at the end with Sarah; the tinting of my lens:

Solomon: “Consider, Sarah, a single soul,” (Cyrus Miller) “Just one. And in return, what no amount of praying could ever bring. One person every few years seems a small price to pay.”

Sarah: “One person? The pastor slew twelve children.”

Solomon considers one person to have been sacrificed. Sarah argues it was thirteen. Both of them leave out poor Widow Mary, a total of fourteen people. Neither of them mentions the other costs: the divisions and suspicion it sows in their community, the dead livestock and the toll that will take on a small village’s food supply, or the potentially unending casualties this will have going forward. Obviously, given the situation and how shocking this is to both of them, I’m willing to put aside these things. Heat of the moment and all that. And Solomon expects there will BE no consequences in the vein of poor harvests and such.

What I really want to emphasise here is this: Solomon views his only victim as being Cyrus Miller, Sarah considers all of them to be his victims. This is interesting because it highlights not only the completely askew moral compass Solomon is working with (and I mean, yikes, you know), but also how he views women. Again, this is an “at the time” thing that I’m mostly willing to wave off as being pretty standard. Men did see women as less than at the time so it makes sense that he’s not really visualising Widow Mary (who had a Reputation for being a bit of a weirdo anyway) as a Victim Who Mattered. Children were also, generally speaking, a woman’s concern. He shows no remorse at all for the children being killed; the children who would’ve been Union’s future. And he WAS a father. We never find out how his wife and child died (or maybe I’m just not sure I believe his story), but I’d be very curious to know if this is his first foray into the occult or if perhaps he had previous victims. A trial run or some such.

HOWEVER. This idea of Solomon not actually giving much of a shit about women got me thinking about another scene from earlier in the movie (and this is where I really started to re-evaluate his actions based on new knowledge).

This is Solomon upon entering the chapel where Cyrus has just murdered a dozen kids. You can see in his expression and movements that he’s unsure what to expect; he doesn’t know what he’ll find in here. He clearly knew there would be SOME effect on poor old Pastor Miller, but my guess is he just assumed the man would die horribly and that’d be that. So imagine being Solomon here and having to confront what you’ve REALLY done.

This is the shot where he fully comprehends what’s happened. The horror on his face. He was not expecting this. Something bad, yes. Gouging out kids’ eyes? Not so much. (There’s a slightly zoomed out shot of Solomon on his knees just after this and it’s great, it’s like here you are Solomon. Behold the consequences of your actions. And he’s sitting among all these dead children, we as the audience are getting a moment to fully take in the horror of what’s just happened, but HE is taking this moment for it all to sink in. In this moment, he’s got to be wondering “Is this really worth it?” and I wonder what kinds of things he’s weighing up in his head. I wonder what would’ve happened, what he would’ve decided later, if Sarah hadn’t stumbled onto his secret and condemned him for it. Anyway.) Please also note the lighting behind him: not an accident, he is literally being posed here as a saviour of some kind, a vengeful angel, perhaps. We are being positioned to see him as the guy who will Do Something about all this, starting with Cyrus Miller we must assume. Very good framing in the “don’t let the audience figure out he’s the bad guy” kinda way. But wait up a minute.

The townsfolk spill in the doorway, they find the children relevant to them and have a horrified moment and then there's Sarah in the front row. The pastor comes around the stand with the clear intent to kill her, and Solomon has a moment. He knows what’s gotta be coming, he has to know, there’s this anger in his face, and he calls out to Sarah as a warning. Goody Miller says, “Cyrus no!” and then Solomon impales him. No hesitation. This is a man beholding his works and being very conflicted about them.

What’s interesting to me is that the first time you watch this scene it is VERY easy to say that he does this to protect Sarah whom he has feelings for. Super easy. It’s set up right from the start with Sarah’s conversation with her dad and her lil visit out to see Solomon and their friendly banter. It’s established and it’s understandable. The contrast is between Solomon and literally everyone else in the room, however.

The townsfolk with children come charging in to find out what’s gone on and they all go right to their children because they love their kids/siblings obviously and want to look after them. Goody Miller’s instinct is to go to her possessed, murdering husband because she CARES for him. But Solomon does not go to Sarah. He stands there, staring at Cyrus and that’s it. He doesn’t even LOOK at Sarah. Why not? He’s supposed to care about her? But does he? Does he value her at all outside her potential as a wife?

Now, Solomon is obviously Going Through It, here. He did a thing, it escalated WAAAAY beyond his expectations, and now he has to wrestle with that. He has to decide is all this worth it? Does he care so little about people that’ll he’ll do it again?

This is largely the scene I was considering. But there are other little changes to a reading of Solomon. Such as when Sarah tells him she loves Hannah, which she did right before this scene in the chapel. Here’s his expression:

This is Solomon’s face when Sarah says, “And if it wasn’t? […] That’s why I’m so afraid, because it was not just a dalliance.” That is the face of a man whose grand plans are crumbling. On a first watch, it's the face of a man hearing something he's not expecting to, something he might find a little distasteful about a person he cares for and respects. On a rewatch?

He KNOWS that she and Hannah have been having a lil thing going on, he SAW them in the woods. But he’s clearly decided that it doesn’t matter, he’s got his own reading of the situation happening in his head and it goes like this: a woman loves a man, they get married, they have kids, there are no deviations from this; if there ARE deviations, they are just… practice for the real thing, nbd. Therefore: Sarah will love Solomon, they will get married, have kids, all will be well and as people expect. So when Sarah very much has no intention of going along with this view… he’s got to be wondering how it’ll work with his devil plans. He MUST have this niggling doubt in his mind that she's even worth including in his master plan. And when he saves her in the chapel but never so much as looks at her? He has a decision to make, there.

And it makes ME wonder: how much did he ever really care about Sarah? Did he love her? Or did he just love the idea of having another wife? A take-two at being a family? Did he love the idea of proving his brother (and the town) wrong and being a hero with a thriving farm and a quaint lil family? Because he turns on Sarah easily enough, he chooses the devil pact over her and the other townsfolk. He chooses not to live his life but to end others. (Solomon Goode has two hands and he's making that everyone elses' problem.)

So when he’s standing in the chapel over the body of Cyrus Miller (his one and only victim, we PROMISE), what’s he really thinking? Yes, more than one person has died. No, that doesn’t have to put a dent in his plans. Perhaps Sarah can still come around. Is he considering how to get rid of Hannah? Is he wondering if Sarah is worth it? She’s a very strong personality (she is no lamb, after all), it’s not like she’d let him go about his business without any questions, she’d stick her nose in everywhere, maybe find him out. Is that risk worth it?

Solomon actually says when they’re wrestling at the end, “Don’t make me hurt you, I love you, Sarah.” And it’s the ‘don’t make me hurt you’ that’s so typical of men like him. He doesn’t love her, he loves the idea of her, the idea of what she could give him or be for him. He's a man who lost his wife and child and he feels that keenly; a failure or absence in his manhood. So his faults and shortcomings become her problem. Any woman could be substituted and as long as they were malleable and suggestive enough, it’s all the same to him. Which is clearly the conclusion he eventually arrives at since he turns on her and she hangs.

Should Sarah have figured out he was untrustworthy and insane earlier? No. I don't think so. It's not like Solomon was waving red flags around everywhere. He seemed like a normal dude on the surface, definitely pretty great in comparison to Thomas or Caleb, which is what makes him so dangerous. It is interesting to watch again knowing the truth, though. The things that make your hackles go up with more context, the subtle hidden meanings in his words, the way everything he does is for himself, it's a very nice reframing.

Sarah’s final line also drives me absolutely insane: “I will never let you go.” She didn’t want anything to do with him, but now? When it ends like this? When he’s decided she’s not worth it and he doesn’t want her after all? When he's taken away her chance at happiness? When he's ripped all the solid ground out from under her? That’s when she says she’ll never let him go? And that word choice? It's not 'I'll never let you forget this' or 'I'll never let you rest' or something more like that, it's 'never let you go' she'll hold onto him forever. He's made his issues other people's problems and now she's making herself HIS problem. Taste of his own medicine. Never let him go. Vicious, outrageous, iconic. I love her.

Everything is about HIM, and he uses all the tools at his disposal to make sure things come up Solomon. He chooses himself every time. A great juxtaposition to Sarah who chooses Hannah every time (even when Hannah tells her to run and she does, Sarah still goes back. It's a stupid decision, monumentally dangerous, but she wants to help Hannah, she goes back because she CARES). And I think the really great part is that to everyone else in the town, it looked like Sarah was just being a bitch, but she made her choices with the goal of protecting people; she tried to protect everyone in Union – Hannah, foremost, sure – but even that is a selfless act. She knew it was one or both of them so she saved Hannah. Solomon knew it was him or like… hundreds of people. And he chose himself. Would love to know what Hannah did after this, we don’t see another Miller in ’78 or ’94 so like, where’d she go? (The answer is probably ‘got married, took her husband’s name, no more Millers’ but like, c’mon, something more interesting please.)

And listen, I know Solomon must’ve gotten married again and had more kids, that’s obvious enough; and we know he kept going with the rituals, but I BET he pictured himself as the poor, sad, unsung hero of Union, doing this for the Good Of Everyone™ and having to live with the suffering in silence. I bet he thought he was living a miserable life because it didn't turn out EXACTLY how he wanted. Because he had to justify it to himself somehow, and it started with his ‘these lands are fertile’ so he’s got this picture of himself in his head where he’s solving everyone’s food problems as if he didn’t cause them in the first place.

He’s the very epitome of “be careful what you wish for” because he wished for Sarah Fier and by god he got her, teeth and all.

[wyverningx]

people on The Internet Dot Com keep being absolute idiots about thea muldani so here is your reminder that she's a ravens success story — she grew up in an environment where she was asked to give her all and engage in incredibly unhealthy practices, but the result of such sacrifice was that she was rewarded for it with US court and a pro team. she was part of a cult and "left" in the sense of gaining physical distance, but all of her experiences reaffirmed that the toxic ravens environment was the most effective way to a successful exy career. it is fucked up that she believes others should go through the same thing in order to be "worthy" or "good enough," but i simply do not understand why so many people look at her and think that she should be crucified for being a representation of a finished, successful raven. especially not if she's unable to recognize abuse in others, which tbqh is something that is very common in cult-like settings. you don't want to look something-that-could-very-well-be-abuse-happening-to-others in the eye, because if they're being abused, then you could potentially be being abused, too, and what do you do with that? do you have any idea how hard it is to come to terms with that reality, especially when you are told day in and day out that this is the only way to get to the top? that this is how you make it in the sport? that someone who is being harmed by the coach or the team captain absolutely deserved it? that people who can't hack it are weak, but you're not weak, you're one of the best, you'll do whatever it takes?

is it extremely shitty that she blames jean for his own sexual assault? absolutely, yes. but she doesn't have the whole picture, and it's clear that jean intentionally deceives her (with the comment about him being fragile/clumsy, etc.) and lets her believe he had more agency in his sexual experiences than he truly did because it's a coping mechanism that also serves the purpose of letting her fill in blanks so he does not have to explicitly tell a lie. besides, if there is any singular raven that both kevin and jean view fondly, wouldn't they want her to believe whatever it took so that she didn't ask too many questions? wouldn't they both want her far removed from the reality of the moriyamas and human trafficking, because her uncovering the truth would put her entire life at risk?

people can have friends that are imperfect or do not understand them completely or that fuck things up sometimes. i get that jean's experiences put people on-guard when it comes to how he interacts with other characters, but god damn. she was his mentor. she taught him everything he knows about being a backliner. she made horrible and judgmental assumptions about his experiences. all of those things can be true at the same time. does she not deserve the opportunity to change upon receiving new information? does she not deserve the ability to take a step back, as ravens are dropping like flies and all eyes are on evermore and the perfect court, to consider that maybe she was a victim in all of this, too? that plenty of people are capable of making it to the top without calling another human being the master and turning a blind eye to the king beating his own men? that maybe kevin and jean and all of them were terribly wronged? why is she the only person in this series who's not allowed to grow as a person by developing a more nuanced understanding of rape and sexual assault and learning how to be a better friend to someone who had no choice?

also someone tried to "gotcha" me by saying thea and jean aren't friends because she uhhhh (checks notes) calls him a teasing nickname and says "i'm going to break your ribs" as though threatening your friends (especially ones you play a contact, violent sport with) is the worst possible offense ever in the same book series that people regularly ACTUALLY fistfight each other and pull knives on one another. i'd argue that these are actually huge indicators that they do like each other, because she's probably one of the only people in the world who he can express himself around and even say things like "i'm not from paris" exasperatedly. you know, like you do when people you care about tease or poke fun at you. those are actually probably some of the most normal interactions jean has pre-TSC, especially as she is not needlessly cruel to him like literally everyone else in the nest is. and not only is thea one of the only people who has any sort of comraderie with him and who makes the effort to see him after his injuries because she cares, but she also makes it past wymack and kevin and renee and neil guard-dogging him. does that seriously mean nothing? do you think renee fucking walker (who was ready to brawl on-sight at evermore) would have let someone like zane waltz into abby's house if kevin said a single negative word about him?

i have seen some incredibly wonderful and nuanced takes about most characters in AFTG, but at the same time, the way thea is treated and criticized in a more severe way than literal murderers in the series for her possibly-willful ignorance is utterly crazy to me.

idk. just some food for thought

[archangeldyke-all]

There’s so many things you noticed that I didn’t lol. I think that yes, the guy pulling the chain was ekko. He looks different cuz of no paint and new hairstyle but that him I’ve stared at it for hours.

Okay, I think I’ll just do that lol. It’s just that I prefer to talk with ppl person to person instead of like I’m groups with reboots and stuff. And arcane is going to make me sooo anxious? Excited ? Idk it’s gonna make my heart race and I want to rant about it really well knowing someone is reading yk ? I’m an anxious person and so many things happen in fandom that I barely interact when things are intense. I usually just wait for it to chill. But I can try that; watching as it comes out. It will be good cuz I also won’t be able to keep my excitement at bay hahaha.

This might be annoying, but I’m not a huge fan of Caitlyn, so I get what you mean by how she’ll probably be the character to annoy you the most this new season. I don’t hate her; I just really cannot stand her ignorance and naivety. It really irritates me how she really genuinely has not clue if he reality of things; while being overconfident in her opinions lol (like, “it looks like they bury dead ppl in there” when looking at VI’s home; or “what ? You don’t have parents ?”. Very small examples but the others are too long to talk about lol).

I won’t blame her for wanting to kill Jinx though. But if Ambessa really is manipulating her, I’ll never see her as anything more than a victim. An annoying victim lmao. I don’t know how to ignore abusive behavior, so it’ll be Ambessa then cait cuz despite being manipulated she’ll be doing some horrible shot that won’t help anything at all and it’ll be so frustrating to watch cuz that’s just one of the consequences of her naivety. (Also, how did you get the idea that Ambessa would ? I’ve seen ppl saying that too, but like I don’t notice all these small details all the time :(

And Viiii. There was this physical event organized by like RIOT or sth where they showed an exclusive sneak peak of Vi in her street fighter era (these are not the leaks since they’re official but it was a private viewing and no devices were allowed) and a YouTuber (schnee) that watched it talked about the clip and like made his predictions for the season. I’ve been so excited to see her since I saw his video (again, these are not the leaks but a sneak peak where the vibe was a you-had-to-be-there type vibe). I feel so bad for Vi, she doesn’t deserve anything that’s happening to her😪

I’m not a CaitVi shipper, but yeah I think I’d love to see their kiss too; or like, the start of their relationship being more than yearning. I don’t understand their ship fully but I’d like to see how they decide to be together after all this chaos. It would be very interesting cuz both of ‘em are entangled emotionally in a mostly negative way. What with the whole ‘my sister killed your mother and now you wanna kill her’ thing.

And ouuuu, I know Ambessa is hot but I hope she dies😞. She’s too obsessed with war smh. (I just thought of like, doing a character study on that lol. Like, why didn’t she think to actually do sth peaceful and productive? Why was her first thought ‘they’re must be war for peace to rain’ lol.)

Anyway, ppl were saying on the YouTube video that they aren’t showing Victor, Jayce and Mel to keep ppl in suspense or sth.

I really hope they don’t kill sevika off cuz I will actually also not want to watch much. Though I love the characters so I’d have to take a break if they do that. Even if they do, she’ll never be dead to me.

I don’t have any predictions for the season cuz I hate being wrong about them and wi to bathe way things are going, one can never be so sure tbh. I love your prediction though. It makes sense.

yes!!! i think the most fascinating thing about cait's character is her whole personality is trying to get out from under her parent's control, wealth, and influence-- but she's always falling victim to someone else's control, wealth and influence. whether it's by joining the enforcers-- piltover's military, essentially, where the lower levels are constantly controlled by their bosses, who are controlled by the council-- or by teaming up with ambessa!!! the writers are so fucking good at making characters make sense-- of course a naive rich girl would run from one system of corrupt power to another-- she doesn't know that they're all corrupt, she hasn't been hurt by them enough to see through the different facades because she's rich!! (but she will always have a special place in my heart... that scene where cait's out in the rain talking to jayce and she goes 'i suppose i've always been an outcast too' or something?? gets me everytime. tears streaming down my cheeks. that little lonely rich lesbian :( )

HAHAHAHA i agree with you 100% about ambessa, but i think unfortunately, she's the least likely to die this season. she's just too powerful and domineering and influential. but idk!! we'll see, arcane has a good way of killing off important, powerful characters.

i feel really bad for vi :( i wish she just had a few minutes to, like, breathe. she literally gets busted out of prison after 10ish years just to track down her sister, and the only reason she's not thrown back in is because of her relation to cait, which means she's indebted to her forever, but then cait goes and tries to kill her sister and her sister tries to kill cait and she's only been out of jail for like 72 hours!!! she needs a spa day. and some weed. give her a break omg.

i'm not a super big caitvi shipper either (mostly for the reasons said above, their relationship is so rushed and co-dependent) but i feel like i gotta root for lesbians life gives me lasjdflksa;dlfj. and i think it would be refreshing to see a show with writing like arcane's do a lesbian sex scene (or something intimate)-- because i have confidence the writer's wouldn't make it a cheesy lesbian porno hahaha

[crappy-homestuck-confessions]

When it comes to Vriska "hate" and discourse, I can't help but feel quite a bit shaken up. Gamzee, who was mind controlled and influenced by an immortal buff green skeleton demon into doing what he did, someone who is incredibly malleable and easy to shape into a pawn, specially after he was given absolutely nothing to latch onto with his religious beliefs deconstructed and absolutely no purpose in life, is treated like he deserves to be stomped into the ground for the shitty things he did in acts 5 & 6, meanwhile Vriska who CHOSE to do the things she did, wasn't mind controlled, yes influenced but not mind controlled, is let off the hook and treated like she deserves to be forgiven and have her actions look past.

The thing about Vriska is yes, she DID become the way she is due to the environment she was raised in and a bit of influence from Scratch, but she CHOSE to do what she did, she omitted details to June in order to give herself a better look, and while I don't TOTALLY doubt she genuinely feels bad for what she did, she kinda skips the detail of her ensuring Bec Noir's existence by ensuring Bec is created in the first place. Why did she do this? Because she has a fucking complex. Instead of making up for what she did by being a better person, she tried to make up for the shitty things she did by creating a monster that threatens the lives of everyone around her, so she could kill said monster and "fix" everything she did. She's a villain who desperately wants to be a hero and takes things way out of proportion. And the end to her arc in act 5 was perfect, she was a well written character, a pretty good antagonist with a hint of tragedy and a fuckton of personality, the consequences of her actions caught up to her in both timelines, one being killed by one of the people she's deeply wronged, and another being shown that her whole plan of forcing a situation where she's the hero was stupid and she was painfully shown that by Jack rejecting her challenge and doing what Terezi said he'd do, blow up the meteor and kill everyone on it, bringing two of the trolls to Vriska to further hammer it home.

She was a bad person who definitely had a reason to end up the way she did who ended up paying for the things she did, she served the story well as an antagonist and was enjoyable while she was onscreen (except the ableism. That part wasn't fun.)

... And then act 6 ruins that! She's revived and SUDDENLY she's amazing at planning, everything she does goes right, and she's never in the wrong, and she gets to be a hero like she always wanted to. This makes NO SENSE, she's suddenly amazing at making plans even though during act 5 every single plan she made blew up in her face, she fixes everything going on in the meteor like she's a master psychologist and relationship fixer even though she's barely got anything together on her own, and overall she's handled horribly. This is why I have a problem with people excusing Vriska's actions with act 6, bc what she does makes NO sense and is just Hussie being fucking weird about Vriska bc she's his pet favorite character that never does anything wrong.

I mentioned Gamzee earlier and part of the reason this all annoys me so much is Vriska stans keep bringing up her past to justify the way she is, while stomping the poor clown into the ground and treating him like he's always been a horrible person, even though before the Meteor Murder Incident he had never been implied to kill anyone or be violent at all, in fact he was just a religious stoner that wanted the best for his friends, until he had his faith ripped away from him by accident and then stumbled upon a puppet that's LITERALLY KNOWN AND STATED TO BE ABLE TO CHANGE PEOPLE'S PERSONALITY AND MORALITY ON AN INHERENT LEVEL. HE'S MIND CONTROLLED. BY LORD ENGLISH. but do you see anyone waxing poetic about him because of that? Because he's a victim of circumstance that did horrible things as a result? No!!!!! He's just dunked on over and over again specially the longer the story goes on, culminating in his PQ route where they just go "haha murder clown" EVEN THOUGH THAT'S COMPLETELY ASININE AND HE NEVER DISPLAYED ANY OF THOSE TENDENCIES PREVIOUS TO BEING INFLUENCED BY LORD ENGLISH. I'm not saying what he did was JUSTIFIED, no, god no, but the Gamzee we knew from before and during Sgrub is long gone, and in his place is just another pawn to LE like Scratch, Kurloz and Bro. He COULD have ended up better had he not been mind controlled and gotten to improve his mental foundation, same way Vriska could have ended up a good person had she not grown up as a blueblood with a shitty lusus, but does anyone care? NO! NO ONE DOES! BECAUSE IT'S NOT VRISKA!

Again, to clarify, they're BOTH good characters previous to Act 6, the downhill trend comes in at Game Over, they're both well written and have depth, I DON'T HATE VRISKA, it just severely annoys me seeing what kind of severe double standards this fandom has.

And to cap this off, I'm a polyamorous bi trans woman. So don't you fucking bring the whole "people hate Vriska because she's a woman" shit here.

This was very very long and I'm sorry for that but I HAVE to let this off my chest.

.

[lesbianfakir]

"#if anyone cares send me an ask id love to ramble about my issues with how mangahood are structured" oh? owo?

ANON YOU ARE MY HERO!! You have been warned these are my personal taste opinions and don't necessarily reflect what makes a "good" story

I have two main points that sort of tie into one: I think fma makes more sense as a smaller scale story.

Under the readmore because this got long:

Yes, it’s a shounen of course it eventually has a grand arc with the world at stake. I can’t really blame it for that. But at its core the story is about the Elric brothers’ love for each other, and their loss of innocence as they venture out into the world that's hurt them so. We care about them, about their near impossible struggle to right a mistake and get their lives and bodies back. And we see how cruel and horrible the world can be through the eyes of children. Keeping with mangahood’s hopeful tone we also see how good the world can be, and imo this works best in the smaller interactions ie winry helping to deliver a baby, the hughes’ family’s generosity to the elrics and winry, etc. The jump from a character driven story (Edward wants to save his little brother) to a more shouneny plot driven story (Edward needs to save the world) takes the focus away from a lot of what I find compelling about FMA.

3/4's of the way into mangahood the Elrics are sort of subsumed into the plot at large and the story doesn't come back to them until Al makes his sacrifice. If I'm being honest, the final battle feels a little contrived to center our protagonists when the whole conclusion could've been written with them at the center to start with (that said I LIKE the end of Brotherhood, this is just a personal taste for story structure thing).

Now obligatory 03 ramble, in contrast 03 keeps the Elrics centered throughout. The final battle isn't much of a battle at all. And sure, it isn't as grand. But it feels in keeping with the heart of the story--Dante is going to kill Alphonse so she can live forever. The whole series up until this point is about Ed trying to save Al, it makes SENSE for this to be the conclusion. The brothers' codependent love comes to a forefront with each unwilling to let the other die, even at the cost of his own life. In this way not only do we begin and end with the Elrics, but we've stayed with them the entire time. 03 is a much more character driven personal story and that's where its charm lies.

My second and bigger issue with the structure of mangahood isin the way it uses large-scale tragedy to fuel its plot.

There are better posts than I can make already written about how mangahood centers the feelings of the perpetrators over the victims. What I will say is the fact that the ishbal war started due to an “accidental” hate crime against an ishbalan child by a military officer is a very sensitive topic and hits close to home (I’m American and this is a very, very relevant conflict). It feels a little in poor taste to me to take something so political and so sensitive and go ahaha but you see it was ENVY all along! Arakawa picked a very heavy subject as the backdrop for her story and sort of relegated it to that: a backdrop. What’s presented as a racially motivated genocide actually was just the bad guys being evil. It falls just short of a real, in-depth criticism of the military. Instead we are left with good men and women who were just following orders (which she DOES explore to a good extent and I appreciate how she does not shy away from making it clear what they did was unforgivable). The corrupt military being corrupt because it is the pawn of a big bad inhuman god-wannabe just... falls flat for me.

In 03, the child's murder at the hands of the police is a fabricated story created to "explain" the genocide--instigated by the military without provocation. And this happens because one, powerful human selfishly wanted to extend her own life. This is the story that feels more true to life and dares to really engage with the themes presented instead of writing them off as some plot device. Not to say that 03 didn't have its own problems with its depiction of genocide because. oh boy nazis in shamballa?? HUH!.

Anyways again these are all my opinions. I think FMA has a lot of heart, and it works best on a smaller scale in order to tell a more personal story.

[crushpunchh-art]

Lilith is so special to me bcs she's like so complicated and I love every aspect of her character lol

Also love the way you express her guilt thru Ur art!!

I feel like not enough people explore that.

Like, Lilith spent 30 years in the cult, most of her life, and despite being a victim it also probably caused her to do horrible things, especially to loved ones (i.e. Eda), almost killing Luz (a child), and it left her morality to be very flawed especially in S1 and what we can assume was in-between her initiation and her leaving.

And imagine the guilt for her actions. Like yk she's just cringing at all the horrible things she did in the past, and the horrible things she let be done to her "for the greater good".

Hopefully this made sense :3

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES. ALL OF THIS EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT THIS ASK. i feel like a lot of the time when people talk about lilith they act like its umm. a lot more black and white than it is? like either shes The Literal Devil (dont see this very often but theres this ONE GUY ON THE OWL HOUSE FANDOM WIKI.... endless entertainment watching them i promise you.) or Only a victim who Never did anything wrong.

like i love her BECAUSE shes garbage actually. she SUCKS in season 1. like obviously shes suffering but just. like. objectively? shes AWFUL. making fun of eda for her curse when She Caused it comes to mind. she SUCKED in s1! like, really badly! she kidnapped luz and was COMPLETELY unnecessarily menacing to gus and willow (girl chill out stop. you know damn well you could be handling this better) etc etc etc.

except also im like 90% sure she Knew she sucked. actually shes kind of the Leader of the Lilith Hater Squad. im not even sure its a case of flawed morals so much as a case of 'What Does It Matter? It's For The Greater Good'. / occasionally 'what the hell else am i supposed to do.' like does she KNOW shes doing awful things? oh totally. is she going to STOP? nope.

i would like to highlight. this part of your ask:

Like yk she's just cringing at all the horrible things she did in the past, and the horrible things she let be done to her "for the greater good".

lilith doormat truthers rise up. that woman lived under a man who hated her PERSONALLY for like 30 years. while her coworker was bullying her (Why was Kiki like that honestly like what was her damage when it came to Lilith. With Hunter okay sure. But Lilith??? Whatd she do to you???) you think she was STANDING UP FOR HERSELF? No! That woman hasn't stood up for herself since she was like 15! If she had she'd probably be dead by now!!!!

Sorry sorry sorry im ranting. I love her so much. Dumbest little cheeto puff who tries so hard and somehow still manages to do everything wrong.

TO THE ART BIT OF YOUR ASK: oh my god thank you so much!!! when im drawing her thats really like. what i try to focus on? like thats what i REALLY want to get across. that she feels so crazy guilty about everything.

thank you for having so many correct opinions about lilith. we will shake hands or if you dont want to do that we will nod approvingly at one another

[demonsfate]

i just don't understand why i keep seeing people assume tk8 is ignoring tk6 Jin and think it's just pretending it never happened or something because he's the current hope for mankind, when literally in the first 4 minutes we have him talk about needing to atone, Kazuya directly calling him out for starting the war, and literal flashbacks taken directly from old cutscenes. What is everyone else supposed to do? Let Kazuya just steamroll the entire world instead because it's somehow more important that Jin be punished?

Regardless of how one feels about Kazuya, it is. Canon. That he's been trying to take over the world since the very first game. Jack was literally sent to the first KOIFT by the Russian government to stop Kazuya. We know exactly what happened as soon as he gained power in tk2. Tk8 is consistent with Kazuya in a way the fiasco in 6 was inconsistent with Jin. It doesn't mean Kazuya lacks depth--he can do both!

WELL. Tbh, I somewhat understand what people mean by that. I don't think they mean the game is just pretending it never happened but they're pretending the weight of it never happened. Yes, Kazuya does bring up this weight by pointing out that Jin got 'countless killed' and all that. But of course, the villain is gonna bring up the protagonist's (huge major) faults. The problem is how the other characters are treating him.

For example, even though Tek7 was already doing a better job at depicting Jin (not as good as Tek8, but better than Tek6) - characters all still fucking hated his guts. Claudio obviously had bad intentions with him until that was changed in Tek8, Miguel wanted to kill him and only didn't because he wants to wait until Jin is happy, so he can take that away. The journalist hated Jin for supposedly killing his family, and then Lars STOPPED the Journalist from killing him, but only because they need him. Lars even agreed with the Journalist that he too would kill Jin if Jin wasn't needed.

So how does Lars sympathize with the idea of stabbing a comatose Jin in the head with a screwdriver to all of a sudden now fist bumping him, and smiling while saying "I'm proud of you! You did good!" Like it really doesn't make sense. Especially when you remember all the horrible, straight up traumatic things that Jin did to Lars. Such as having Lars do his dirty work (until Lars stopped believing in it and rebelled) getting Lars' best friend killed - remember Tougou or whatever his name was? Yeah, I don't think Lars does anymore either, but that was a good friend of his. And then forcing Alisa to fight Lars, and then Lars being forced to "kill" Alisa - then Jin immediately mocks her AND Lars after she dies.

While it's understandable that Lars knows they need Jin, it's just bizarre to see him acting like buddies with him after all of the above. Like there's no reason Lars has to behave this way toward Jin. Which is why people feel like Tek8 is ignoring Tek6 to an extent. Same with all the other characters being weirdly supportive - not just because they know they need Jin, but they're to the point where they're acting like good friends.

Which, I mean! That DOES make me happy! I always wanted to see Jin get support from friends and family! It makes me so happy that after so many years of being alone and pushing people away, Jin finally has more than two loved ones! I love, LOVE seeing Jin take on the role of the protagonist again and is even seen as the "hope of mankind." But I do understand the criticism and confusion. It does feel wildly inconsistent. Which is also why I wish they would've just retconned Tek6. Because as I've said many, many times - if Jin was brainwashed or not in control, it would be understandable why everyone is on his side again - because now Jin would be seen as a victim, too, in a way. And everyone would sympathize with him more.

YEAH YEAH!! Which is ANOTHER wild things by fans. Like I've pointed out before - there are so many fans who think Kazuya has done nothing wrong prior Tek7/8

THE ONLY THING KAZUYA IS WRONG FOR OUTSIDE OF BEING AN AWFUL PARENT IS BEING IN POSSESSION OF THE GENE. And this isn't even the only time I've seen this. I've seen this take multiple times. Like one time I saw ppl say that Kazuya is only seen as a bad guy because he opposes Jin and Heihachi??? Like PRIOR TEK6 - WHY DO YOU THINK JIN OPPOSED KAZUYA??? Like Jin wasn't a bad guy at ALL in Tek3-4. So why would he want to kill Kaz back then if there was no war?? Maybe it's the long list of crimes he did back in Tek2. Like for some reason people FORGET (or intentionally ignore) that world domination, or at the very least, ultimate power was always something Kazuya strived for. Like it's not something they started doing all of a sudden just to villainize him. He's always been villainized. Yeah, in Tek2 - they were emphasizing that there's still good in him, and he's constantly in a moral struggle. But in the end, he was still doing many crimes despite this internal struggle.

So, if you look at Tek2 and Tek8 Kazuya - you can feel their motives still line up, and they are practically the same characters. However, if you look at Tek4 Jin and Tek6 Jin - they have different personalities and their motives do not line up. I've already pointed out with screenshots how drastically different Tek6 Jin is from regular Jin.

[handicappedbuenchico]

Think about some strong opinions (about anything) that you have. Could be about RP, life, school, work, people. Where did that come from; what happened to make you feel or think that way?

I'm going to use this question to share some of my horror movie opinions here, specifically my A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet franchise hot takes (mainly Freddy's Dead because WHOO BOY 😩) because I have a lot of those I feel. Also, I am fully prepared to lose my N.ightmare franchise fan card, as I know damn well that these are very unpopular opinions. All of these opinions will be under a read more because like I said I have a lot, and if you want more in depth explanations for my opinions, I'll have to make individual posts about them because Tumblr hates multiple in-depth explanations in one post apparently.

The original A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet from 1984 and A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet 3: D.ream W.arriors are extremely overrated - I always found them to be extremely boring. Also, Nancy's death was really underwhelming when you look at it in terms of the rest of the series.

F.reddy's D.ead is NOT a feminist movie in the traditional sense (it actually makes the female characters, specifically Maggie, look worse when you really think about it) - The only "feminist" things about it was that it was directed by a female, R.achel T.alalay, and that almost every victim in the movie is male with the exception of L.oretta K.rueger. The main female characters within the movie itself are written horribly while being given the protection of plot and main character armor even though they didn't really do much within the narrative to really earn it. No not even Tracy. The male characters that aren't Doc and Freddy himself are treated like they have no agency/autonomy in the story, and they're only there to narratively serve the female characters their purpose in the story on a silver platter until the narrative erased them from existence when they were no longer useful because why the fuck not. *cough* John Doe doing basically all the detective work about Freddy for Maggie and spoon feeding her the info that Freddy had a daughter and not a son as HE was dying *cough*

F.reddy's D.ead's portrayals of child emotional and physical abuse are disgustingly offensive because it treats those types of abuse like jokes, while they give all the seriousness and tact to the child sexual abuse survivor - Yes, I know they couldn't make a joke of child sexual abuse. Even still, Carlos and Spencer's REAL trauma and abuse should have been given the same care and attention as Tracy's. Tracy didn't have to go on a cringy exposition dump on the type of trauma she's supposed to be suffering from, nor did she feel the need to point out any physical reminders of her abuse and trauma when the movie thought the audience would forget about it. Carlos and Spencer shouldn't have had to either. Also, if you couldn't make Freddy joke about sex abuse, maybe don't have him making entire comedy routines out of physical and emotional abuse, just a thought.

Dr. M.aggie B.urnham is fucking terrible at her job and should have never gotten her license to practice - She also didn't deserve the final girl role, as she did LITERALLY NOTHING OF FUCKING SUBSTANCE the whole movie except acting like an NPC that can only say three phrases. Hell, she was LITERALLY GASLIGHTING John Doe the entire time they were in Springwood. She was a selfish, self-centered bitch who used her job as a means to her own end when John Doe was brought to the shelter. Since everyone loves to compare F.reddy's D.ead to D.ream W.arriors, Maggie is the Dr. Simms to John's Kristen and Doc's Neil AND Nancy.

Carlos, Spencer, and John's deaths in F.reddy's D.ead were literally pointless from a narrative standpoint because of Freddy essentially playing God and erasing them from existence - Spencer's death in particular creates a giant plot hole when they use Spencer's pipe bomb that he had made earlier in the film to finally kill Freddy, despite Spencer himself no longer existing.

The original shooting script of F.reddy's D.ead, along with the comic that came after the movie, is actually 10x better than the movie we actually got - Specifically with scenes like Spencer's death sequence and the beginning of Carlos's death sequence. The shooting script also gives us some more info on Carlos and Spencer than the movie did, so there's that.

The main plot of Freddy's Dead could NEVER work - Not only does it not work from a logical standpoint, as the basic math required to figure that shit out already destroyed it, but also the way the Freddy sets the plot into motion makes literally no fucking sense? Why is Freddy suddenly trapped in Springwood? If he's this damn near omnipotent dream God from killing every single child in Springwood, shouldn't he have the power to break through some bullshit barrier that's just arbitrarily placed around Springwood? Also, the main plot of Freddy's Dead is so nonsensical and pointless that almost every major streaming service spoils the weak "twist" of Maggie being Freddy's daughter.

F.reddy's R.evenge and F.reddy's D.ead are a part of the original ANoES canon, no matter how much the fandom tries its hardest to erase them - Get over it, fandom.

Kristen was selfish and dumb for passing her powers (and the inevitable headache known as F.reddy K.rueger) onto Alice. - Like, why couldn't she let the fear of Freddy die with HER? Was she not the true last E.lm S.treet kid? Wouldn't Freddy's thirst for vengeance technically end with Kristen? I mean, I know that there's always that possibility of him coming back organically, but Kristen...girl...come on honey. Why would you put your friend through that torment? She literally lost her brother and later her boyfriend-turned-baby-daddy because of you.

W.ill S.tanton and S.pencer L.ewis would have been absolutely unstoppable in their respective movies if the narratives had let them live.

All the original parents of E.lm S.treet should have been charged with murder when they lynched Freddy, and then charged with child abuse/neglect with how they treated their children years after the fact - Look, I understand why they did it and all, and I know they couldn't have possibly predicted that Freddy would return as a dream killer. However, they still broke the law, and are continuing to break more laws. The treatment of their children, including having them forcefully institutionalized/imprisoning them in their rooms and drugging them against their wills, are literal forms of child abuse. Why were we supposed to root for them again? I also have no sympathy for Freddy, by the way, he absolutely deserved to get locked up for his crimes too. However, maybe whoever was in charge of the warrant should have made sure all the proper T's were crossed and I's were dotted first before going all gung-ho.

[dotthings]

Kung Fu episode 3.08, the midseason finale and it’s a doozy. Extra props to Olivia Liang, who always brings strength and grace and vulnerability in her depiction of Nicky every episode, but she really escalated her game in this one.

Nicky’s trauma over Xiao’s attack on her parents and her sister Althea combined with her sense of betrayal as she realizes Bo was involved hits her deer in headlights. After her ferocity defending her family, she dissassociates a little from the frantic activity of her family in crisis mode. She’s terrified by this direct attack on her family, in their home, by the sight of her mother bleeding.

She loves very deeply and she loves her family and she loves others so someone she trusted and gave her heart to being part of this attack, plus her beloved Shifu Pei-Ling being used to attack her family.

It’s a lot. And she’s blaming herself for so many people she loves being put in danger. The self-blame. ‘I let him Bo in, I gave him the blade” “It’s my fault Xiao has Pei-Ling” “I should have seen through him”

We get Bo back story, and it’s not that it excuses him, but he was a young, frightened child and completely alone when Xiao found him and started manipulating him. Child Bo having a unique ability that manifested without warning, trapped in some kind of depleted apocalypse world. He would be extremely vulnerable to Xiao. Who blackmailed him emotionally—there’s no one else who can help you except me—and spun him a pack of lies about herself and her motives. So he believed she entirely a victim, he didn’t let himself see her ambition and greed. So he believed she was good and that she was intending to free the souls. “She’s my shifu”

Now he’s waking up to Xiao’s true nature. “I would have done anything for you. I did horrible things. This whole time I was just a pawn?”
“Yes.”

At least she’s honest about it.

“I told you to watch her. You’re the one who got involved.”

It wasn’t Xiao’s idea to emotionally manipulate Nicky and it wasn’t what Bo was setting out to do. He’s still dishonest but he did fall in love with Nicky and hadn’t yet woken up to how corrupt his shifu is.

Sebastian leaving, oh no. Mei-Li is very comforting to Ryan about it, she’s right about how overwhelming things are for Sebastian (who is a bit of a mirror to Nicky’s self blame) and he needs time, he’ll work it through and he’ll come back. But I’m sure it won’t be easy. I’m looking forward to seeing what Sebastian’s arc on his journey back looks like.

Ryan is coping about as well as he can and being the smartie and solving the puzzle again. But the sadness is hovering over him, with Sebastian gone. And on Mei-Li, but like Ryan she keeps on going.

With a little ascerbic comment to Carrie about being down a chef.

Mei-Li building a better dumpling for the mass market, crunching numbers, and going over Carrie’s head and taking initiative to protect her standards for Harmony Dumplings, that will still make a profit even if it doesn’t meet corporate’s “target” and Carrie (played by the wonderful Kim Rhodes who has to walk a line with Carrie, making her brittle and something of an antagonist for Mei-Li yet not an enemy) has to respect it.

And I’m going to say the quiet part out loud — metaphor for creatives in the tv industry having to convince corporate.

Jin advocating for systemic change, for rehab, for better care within a community, as crime prevention, rather than adding cops and rent-a-cops.

A lot of genre relies on world-without-parents, or they are involved peripherally. And a lot of genre plots hinging on the trauma parents inflict. Kung Fu stands out as a show where Mei-Li and Jin are supportive and nurturing, have some short-sightenedness and vulnerabilities and flaws, who get to grow along with the younger characters, and show their comptencies, experiences, and strengths.

The sense of family and community is so strong on Kung Fu, both by blood and chosen family circles and the community around them.

Nicky’s very single minded and going over the edge throughout this ep but I did enjoy the Henry: Nicky, no Nicky: Nicky YES vibes where Nicky knocks out the cops who catch Nicky, Henry, and Zhilan breaking in to steal evidence.

Also I need more team Nicky, Henry, and Zhilan.

But Nicky is really not okay and going over the edge, and in her confrontation with Bo, she loses her grip. Her hurt, her guilt, her sense of betrayal, her anger, spills over as she beats up Bo in a way we haven’t seen Nicky go against an enemy before. She does as much as she has to and no further, usually. She stops herself short of killing Bo.

And afterwards she completely falls apart. She can’t wash that blood off her psyche and can’t even wash it all off her hands.

That final scene with shattered Nicky, who was about to run off somewhere, instead sobbing in her father’s arms. Because Jin finds her and intercepts her on the way out the door. Oh my HEART.

[spacehero-23]

Except, the Matthew scene STILL makes no sense because Grace doesn't need to kiss someone to use her powers on them. If she wanted a “Big reveal” she could’ve written her actually manipulating Matthew into whatever. But she didn't. So it was just SA for the sake of having SA.

Making Grace kiss James gives her adjacency. It’s no longer ‘Oh you can’t be mad because she was forced by her abusive mom” It became her choice. Which is fine, if you’re writing an antagonist and you’re not planning on giving the abuser a redemption arc. We all know that's not what happened here. If she hated those powers as Cassandra Clare later claimed she does, she could’ve told him she didn’t want to do anything before they’re official and he LITERALLY would have no other choice but to say yes and rationalize it. So again a choice Cassie made just for shits and giggles I guess.

Same thing goes for the ChoI scene, Clare couldn’t find a better way of making James realize something’s wrong? She had include yet another SA scene? Which, once again makes the “redemption arc” she have Grace so fucking stupid and downright disrespectuful to any her fans who might have lived thought something similar. “Hey, I know I made her do horrible things to people BUT look how sad she looks in ChoT! I will continue to tell you how sad she is and include a weird ass scene of a victim being told he needs to forgive his abuser, because she had a hard life too! Hope it doesn't make you feel like trash for hating yours!”

In ChoT she made Grace the “perfect victim”. I guess she was hoping people forget that that is not how she was characterized for the first two books. And to her credit, some did.

I don’t remember anything about James being excited about kissing Grace so I can’t comment on that. Except a character being excited to kiss someone they think they love is not a loophole for excusing SA.

I know I always shit on Grace because of the SA scenes. But can talk about Cassandra Clare being a little FREAK for actually writing them?

Because those scenes have NO reason for existing. Why is Grace kissing James if he's already under her control? And we have to read not one, but THREE separate scenes of him being SAed? For what? What was the reason Cassie?

And the Matthew one!? She has Grace force him to kiss her, threaten to tell people that HE was the one who SA her! And then she makes him forget and it's never mentioned again. So it's not like it was important to the plot. Clare was just a freak who decided to include FOUR SA scenes in her YA series, apparently for shits and giggles!

At least when Sebastian did it in TMI it was obvious that we're meant hate him for it, and be disgusted. At least in those books it was treated with some respect. But in TLH? She gives the person who did it a redemption arc and doesn't even have the balls to write a proper confrontation or an apology.

I have A LOT of issues with Cassie but this one takes the cake.

[nobodyfamousposts]

After reading your “Why Lila Fails” essay, I want to ask what would you do to make her a better character/antagonist? Because as much the writers did succeed on making Lila unlikable, I do think her writing feels a bit clumsy.

The problem is that they didn't make Lila unlikeable so much as they made her unenjoyable. And yes, there is a difference between the two. It's part of the reason the old school Disney villains remain widely popular and memorable. They do nothing to make the villains likable, but they certainly do everything to make them fun to watch. And interestingly enough, sometimes THAT'S gets people to like them more.

Look, sometimes we just want a good villain. Not one with a sad backstory thrown in retroactively to try to make them seem like the victims after the fact. Not one that is suddenly said to have a HeelFaceTurn despite them doing nothing to be redeemable. Not one with retconned sympathetic motives to try and make them relatable while ignoring the unarguably horrible actions they take. Just a villain who is a villain and who is GOOD at being a villain.

But part of what makes the villain enjoyable is how they scheme and how we get to see their plans working out. They have their vices and selfish reasons for messing with the heroes as well as their evil plans, and It's also what makes their eventual comeuppance so satisfying. But for that to work, they need to be unlikeable based on their actions rather than a setup. There needs to be a reason for what they do and a reason for why they're able to succeed in what they want to do.

Lila doesn't have any of that. Which is sad, because there are so MANY ways that Lila could have been awesome as an antagonistic character.

So that being said, I would do one of a few things.

One, go with the Miraculous Rogues concept. Have the appearance of Lila also introduce that there are other Miraculous out there besides those of the heroes and Hawk Moth and be the starting point that expands on the magic and lore. This immediately gives Lila more purpose in the story and was honestly what most fans were originally hoping for from her in the first place. In addition, have Lila have a Miraculous that she has either knowingly or unknowingly been using which bolsters her lies. This would open Lila up to becoming a villain in her own right and gain more power with her Miraculous, and in turn boosts Lila as a threat.

Two, make Lila someone else's rival. Marinette already has Chloe as her main bully antagonist and Kagami works better as a viable non-antagonist romance option for Adrien. Adding Lila to either/both is just excessive unless Chloe is actually going to get a redemption arc and stop being an antagonist.

It has already been pointed out that there is a perfect setup for Alya and Lila to be rivals with both being Fox-based. Add to this in that Alya is known for seeking and revealing truth while Lila is a manipulative liar. Plus Lila claiming to be Ladybug's best friend and Alya actually BEING Ladybug's best friend? Come on, we could have had them be foils for each other as both seek acclaim and popularity albeit in different ways. We could have had Lila create an Anti-Ladyblog where she and Alya keep competing as Lila tries to make up lies about the heroes while Alya tries to make the truth known. After all, Lila apparently spent months hiding away at home after Volpina, it'd make sense if she was actually doing SOMETHING with that time than just sulking.

Alternatively, if Chloe redemption was really going to be in the cards, Lila could be HER rival. Imagine how easy it would be for Lila to paint herself as a victim if she targeted Chloe instead of Marinette? The classmates wouldn't look nearly as bad for believing her over Chloe because of Chloe's history, so their distrust of her would seem reasonable. Furthermore, this would be so much simpler for Lila to do than constantly making outrageous claims that she can't keep straight. In turn, this would make Lila appear intelligent as she would be using information she could easily gain to promote herself in the eyes of her classmates by setting up Chloe and making herself out to be a victim—the sort of lie that all of them, even Marinette, would be inclined to believe. Instead of getting their sympathy for various ailments she reasonably shouldn't be able to fake for any extended period of time, she would gain their support and protection from an actual perceived threat. This could also be Chloe's test of character as she's trying not to backslide after the false accusations. It would also serve as a comparison for two different types of bullying, with Chloe being must more openly aggressive and straightforward so people she deals with KNOW she's a bully while Lila is being underhanded and manipulative in such a way that those around her don't realize it.

Or hell, have her be ADRIEN'S rival. Heaven knows he needs one. How would he be able to manage with a liar trying to make him look bad to his friends and family? Suddenly trying to compete with him as a model? Spending more time with his father than even HE is? It'd give Adrien an actual conflict he'd need to address and possibly some development.

Three, change the dynamics. Instead of Lila being an antagonist for both Marinette and Ladybug, maybe have her like Marinette well enough while hating Ladybug. Other fans and creators have made content along these lines and it's immediately more interesting than what's happening in the show. It would also do more to expand on Lila's character.

Four, reveal her motivations or at least plot out her plans more. SHOW, don't tell! Ultimately, it needs to boil down to answering "What is Lila doing and WHY?" In canon, we can certainly guess at a few things, but we have very little reason or understanding of Lila's motivations or thought process. She shows up and is lying to everyone out the gate. She takes high risk/low reward actions and seems to genuinely expect them to just work out in her favor with no real planning or effort on her part. The biggest problem is that it isn't really clear in canon just what she's trying to accomplish. What is she wanting to have happen in any of the setups she's involved in and how are her specific lies supposed to help with that in the long term? How would she even know her plans would work? What even is her end goal? We can guess, but canon doesn't really make it clear.

Five, set up a better stage. Given that Marinette was apparently out of school when Lila first arrived, take advantage of that and show that Lila's already started setting up a groundwork instead of a kingdom. She should have had a few days to interact with Adrien by the time the Volpina episode started so maybe already show her and Adrien interacting like acquaintances. Then instead of having her immediately jump to lying about Ladybug when she should have no way of knowing that Adrien likes her specifically, just have her trying to interact with Adrien at first and trying to get close by sharing in his interest...and then SHOW her be frustrated when Adrien gushes on and on about Ladybug. At length. At least if it's clear to her that Adrien is THAT crazy about Ladybug, then Lila would have a reason to target Ladybug specifically in her lies.

Six, have consequences. So much about Lila would be more bearable and less grating if she at least had to deal with some fallout of her own lies. Either because people realize she's lying or because they take her lies seriously and act accordingly. Have something backfire on Lila so she doesn't always win. This has the double effect of giving some satisfaction in resolution of her storyline/plot of the episode while also building up Lila's own frustrations and reasons to want to succeed.

Of course, those are just what come to mind when I'm half-asleep, so take it as you will. I may have others in the future.