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verdantlights · 20 days ago

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Thoughts/Analysis Part 2 (but its coherent)

OKay so i slept (finally) after staying up since wednesday morning and only getting roughly 5 hours of sleep in total?? until I finally managed to get decent hours of sleep last night. anyways. i am still not normal in the slightest over round 7 but i have many more thoughts, am a lot more coherent, and have had it swimming in my head for a while.

TW for mentions of drug use. I'm gonna start with Luka. I've stated in the edit I made of the original post as well as in a few reblogs, but Luka is a victim. A lot of people are Luka haters, and that's valid! I am also, to an extent, a Luka hater.... even if I have a thing for blonde twinks with issues. But his character is also incredibly interesting. If you are familiar with Honkai: Star Rail, then you might understand what I'm saying when I think Luka is a combination of both Sunday AND Robin. He has the trapped bird in a cage mentality from Robin with the need for order and control mentality from Sunday. Order and control referring to winning being the only thing keeping his sanity in check.

Luka, as a human pet, is aware that he is playing a losing game. He needs to win, but he knows that winning Season 50 is not the end. He may have won against Till, but now the segyein are going to put him against Hyuna, considering Hyuna and Mizi were referred to as special guests. The way he looked at Hyuna in that last scene was part of him realizing this. It's the face you pull when you realize something horrible, but you need to keep face/keep your composure.

Their ear pieces are similar to their collars in that they show the emotions of the wearer. We can clearly see Till's earpiece glowing red the entire time (up until Mizi appears), and Luka's is constantly glowing green. Luka was seen in hysterics pretty much the entire time like the one frame where he's holding in his laughter.

Luka was drugged on something that makes him euphoric and lose his sense of control, like weed or cocaine. He found fucking with Till to be the funniest thing ever, but it's not normal for Luka to be so outwardly expressive of his elation. We know he enjoyed fucking with Mizi, even if it let to getting his ass beat, but even then, he wasn't as expressive then as he was with Till. That leads me to believe that he has something in his system to heighten his emotional output as well as some sort of adrenaline drug like what Till was most likely given.

What bugs me is that they don't show us what color his earpiece is as he looks at Hyuna. We see Till's earpiece turn green at Mizi, but does Luka's stay green as he looks at Hyuna? I feel it was orange, but that's just me.

Luka now knows what's about to happen, which is also why Hyuna tries to stop Mizi. Hyuna knew the whole time that if they were to save Till, they'd be walking straight into the trap. Mizi's heart is too kind and she's desperate to save Till.

Thankfully, what Hyuna had gone there for originally seems to be completed. Whatever files she was downloading was complete before she went after Mizi, and I think that's where were gonna see Issac and Dewey again. I think she might've been uploading those files to them so that they can take the lead from there. This leads me to my prediction for the next episode. (ill get to till last, hes my little meow meow and im not normal about him)

I don't think Blink Gone is done. I believe there is a part two to the Finals, and that round 7 wasn't even the final round. I've already stated that the most likely thing to happen next is Luka v Hyuna, but then I also talked about Issac and Dewey.

Hyuna could have gotten her hands on high profile data regarding Alien Stage. She sends the data to Dewssac, and they shut down the stage from the inside, allowing the resistance to come in and do a massive sweep, hopefully before either Hyuna, Luka, or Mizi dies.

Now, as for Mizi. We know Mizi is the main character, and there are people who are saying Till's death boosts her hero arc. Now there are two ways I see this happening, either:

Vivinos keeps up their streak of tragedy and kills off everyone, leaving Mizi isolated entirely.

Or someone (dewssac, hyuna, mizi, maybe even luka) pull through and live to save more people.

If it's the first one, Till is dead dead. If the second, Till has a chance at being alive.

There are many reasons why Till is most likely alive, and as a hopeful feeler... I also am clinging onto the more hopeful ending (the second option). Not just because "Haha guys I need Till to be alive, he's my bias" but also because seeing Mizi completely isolated and forced to fake a smile and perform would absolutely fucking destroy me and I don't think I'd ever be the same after that, honestly. Like that genuinely scares me.

There's the narrative of ALNST and vivimeng's beautiful storytelling. That is my number one hopeful reasoning for Till being alive. If Till dies here, it would be utterly nonsensical and it would ruin the narrative. It would completely void all of Ivan's character, for starters. I was just talking about this with @rockwgooglyeyes and Vant (idt they wanna be tagged here), but Ivan's character is static. He is not dynamic or fluid, but he is extraordinarily complex which makes up for it. He never really had an arc of his own unless you count what happened in his past during/before being bought by Unsha. His death is meant to haunt the narrative, meant to haunt Till. So why would he die, only for Till to die a few hours later? It would completely ruin what he was meant for and it would be so unsatisfying and bitter.

However, there's also the thematics of ALNST. Rock called out @pwippy for this already, but I'm gonna call them out too because fuck you plip (/j i love you plipster). Rock put it really well in these two excerpts I took from his post:

"Alien Stage is a universe full of suffering and pain for humans, forced to perform until they literally die on stage, all for the entertainment of the audience. It's not even meant as a way of exerting control or oppressing them, though it serves that purpose, because why would the seygein bother to oppress something that can't even fight back? Why go to the trouble of controlling something that is just a pet, whose cries are the fuel for a new age?"

Once again mentioning the Hunger Games because I genuinely can't help myself I love THG way too much, but that's the key difference between ALNST and THG: the human pets aren't being forced to do this because of a past rebellion and are being punished by the oppressing government... They're being thrown into this for fun. Full credit to @alien-til-i-stage who said this as a joke, but it is really fucking real, but the segyein bringing their human pets to watch ALNST in the audience are like people bringing dogs to a dog fight in real life. And that, I fear, puts into perspective as to just how much of a pet the humans are to the segyein. They are only there for entertainment. The resistance is mostly a thorn in their side as of right now (dewey and issac better change that next episode or istg) and killing these humans is simply just fun for them. They know humans can be hostile, just like dogs, but they tame them and make them docile and obedient, only to make them kill each other in the end, even if it's through a singing competition rather than an all out teeth and claws brawl. (except for round 5, that doesnt count)

"In this world of pain and suffering, perhaps death is a mercy. If Till is truly dead, then he no longer a tool for his oppressors, he is free of their control. For Ivan and Sua both of their deaths were mercies to them- Ivan was able to die for the one he loved, as was Sua, and neither of them were forced to live in a world without their beloved."

(thank you rock i love you pookie snookie)

He also mentions that it's not in character for Till to die, which I completely agree with. Till's persona is that of someone who wants to win, but not in the same way Luka needs to win. Till wants to win to live and survive with those he loves, he wants to win to beat the system, but considering how dystopian of a world this is, as much as he wants to win and save Mizi, he craves death as a freedom.

That out of the way, another thing that @junebluues actually got me to think about was this:

The bomb has Till's eyes and is crying as it knows it's going to die (assuming it's a sentient alien like Freddie). And the comparison here honestly opened my eyes a little bit and got me thinking.

Was Till a catalyst? Because that was a smoke bomb. I ended up thinking about it for a minute and came up with three possibilities where Till is a bomb/smoke bomb:

Mizi is using Till to hide her feelings

Till is the bomb that sets off a chain of events

Till is used to hide/cover up the real plan for either the segyein or for the resistance

I don't think it's the first one, I feel like it'd be closer to the other two, but any three of those could work. Because Mizi's feelings of despair over her situation can be hidden behind the hope as she reached out for Till. But as the smoke clears (Till dies) she remembers that it was, in fact, a bomb.

EDIT: Also, the lyric that plays during the smoke bomb scene is "No, don't look back now" which also kinda leads me to believe that Till is the start of a chain/domino effect. Once you knock the first domino, you can't go back.

I think someone somewhere had also talked about Till being forced to be used as a catalyst/bait again considering how well it worked here. There's a good chance Urak might have supplied the drugs to Till and also paid out or WAS paid out by another person to use Till as bait. Urak wouldn't want his pet that he is grossly possessive over to die that easily without every ounce of use being wrung out of him,,, something something Till being a Trojan Horse of sorts (thanks rock for that one, too).

EDIT: I also remembered that during the sequence in the song where the audience is singing the chorus and we see Ivan on the screens, is when Till looks like he's about to pass out. What gets me here is the fact that it is quite literally a chorus of vultures. The audience singing the chorus with images of Ivan surrounding him and seeing Luka mimic Ivan made Till realize that he was surrounded and that's when he started losing hope. It's why his reaction to Mizi is so prominent, because it's like she was there to save him from the vultures. The audience singing is my favorite and also least favorite part of the video/song because the feeling of being surrounded and cornered with everyone against you and their voices echoing in your head... really does it for me. I really want to animate this sequence from up close in Till's POV.

Anyways the 4th reason i had for the bomb theory was that Till is smoking hot (sorry). okay im done now i think,,,,,, i might actually come back with more because i think i forgot something... but i cant remember..... i forgor.....

other tags: @shakingparadigm @aakaneeee @ivanttakethis @k9punkout @crustyfloor @apriciticreveries @bluemoonscape @tsukacchako @nottoonedin @paperstarry

side note that i genuinely put more effort into my analyses than i have ever put into any school essay ever

edit: FUCK I WAS SUPPOSED TO ANALYZE THE LYRICS AGAIN GOD DAMNIT i dont feel like doing that anymore ill just do it later maybe

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creaman · 8 months ago

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—BECAUSE KUNG FU PANDA 4 KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?

To preface, I watched this movie and I'm genuinely tweaking right now so I had to write down a very brief (lie) criticism on this film — which you should boycott, by the way.

Starting with the things I liked, before briefing my primary points of criticism:

Po's Character Regression

Po and Zhen's Dynamic

The Chameleon

I'd also yap about Lord Shen and the death of the art style and the entire narrative and pacing and use of the staff of wisdom but my therapist says being such a hater is 'unhealthy' or something. My heart is full of hatred.

SPOILERS for the entirety KFP4 for the 2 people who care.

KFP4 undermines and ignores the previous three movies — Unwriting character developments, outright removing the Furious Five, straying from the character design philosophies and is completely inconsistent with the established lore.

Things I Liked About Kung Fu Panda 4

The Chameleon's character design

Visual gag in the Tavern where Po uses a recently thrown axe as a hat rack (made me laugh)

When Mr. Ping did this:

so cute! the little heart!

Po — Character Writing

Po, as established in the previous movies, is confident in his abilities and identity — he’s learnt inner peace, he’s matured as a character. However, in KFP4, his character has completely regressed. He’s immature again (such as KFP1, possibly worse) and says verbatim, “only knows kicking butt and taking names” — UNLEARNING inner peace and insisting that “…being the Dragon Warrior is all I know.”

It’s childish, and sort of Hotel Transylvania-esque.

Which isn’t helped by the comedy, the dialogue — a large chunk of which are jokes in the style of:

Master Shifu says something philosophical

Po quips off of it / doesn’t get it (i.e. Whoa!! beat I don’t know what that means.)

Oh, it’s great, yeah, very tolerable. Po’s shenanigans are normally reeled in by the presence of the Furious Five who are generally more serious in nature, creating a much needed balance in the dynamic — So without them, it’s just Po becoming increasingly obnoxious and insufferable with every consecutive quip throughout the screenplay.

Po and Zhen — Character Dynamics

[No more graphics sorry I'm too angry]

As if it wasn’t obvious that Zhen was going to be the next Dragon Warrior the second she was introduced.

Zhen, as a character, has no depth besides being a quippy thief. She quips, she steals. This character has no motives — it can be assumed that the writers intended on a ‘change of heart’ thing, but she isn’t established as evil, her working for the Chameleon is written as a (albeit poor) twist reveal.

By which point, her taking either side wouldn’t make sense, given that she has shown no loyalty or attachment to either Po nor the Chameleon.

The movie artificially strengthens their bond by having Zhen start opening up about her backstory out of nowhere for no reason but they have done nothing to grow closer to each other.

Small tangent, her backstory is exactly what you’d expect it to be with no subversions or even emotional weight. Woe is me I was so small and hungry I had to steal to survive. Glossed over in about a minute.

The majority of the dialogue between Zhen and Po is spoken exposition — explaining how powerful and badass the Chameleon is, explaining how ‘we have to go here to do that’ and ‘this place was cool until the Chameleon did such and such’, and the rest of their time together is spent engaging in filler chase sequences and fight scenes.

The Chameleon

Where do I even start…

This is where it becomes apparent that the movie relies heavily on telling rather than showing —

She is the weakest villain by far, not only in universe but as a written character; which is particularly disheartening because I genuinely adore her character design and feel as though a shapeshifting character has great potential.

The movie artificially inflates her power by insisting through exposition that this is the most capable antagonist thus far (lie).

The audience is TOLD by Zhen and various restaurant patrons that the Chameleon is a powerful shapeshifting sorceress and that she 'dominates the city' whilst the film does nothing to showcase this.

'Dominating the city' meaning letting her henchpeople run amock and bully the civilians just like Lord Shen's wolves in KFP2... uninspired.

I just realised they didn't even give her a NAME what the FUCK is going on

She describes HERSELF as ruthless, clever and unsentimental when comparing Zhen to herself.

She says HERSELF that she’s “Stronger than every opponent you’ve ever faced.”

Let’s see what vile reprehensible things she’s done, shall we?

Gently push someone down some stairs

Her first appearance is through Zhen’s exposition, as opposed to the dramatic and memorable entrances of the previous villains. Her motives or character aren’t established until the final third of the film. She doesn’t even FIGHT anybody until the final third of the film; and even then, her fight sequences are uninspired and she never really poses a real threat. (She goes down in two hits.)

That being said, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER GUYS WE CAN STILL GET HER OUTTA THERE I'M COMING FOR YOU CHAMELEON I'M GONNA DRAFT YOU A PROPER BACKSTORY AND MOTIVE AND YOU'RE GONNA BE THE MOST THREATENING VILLAIN THUS FAR

There's a scene after the climax of the film where all the kung fu masters and previous villains from the spirit realm bow to Po. I'm not going to provide my thoughts on this because I fear I may burst a blood vessel. Good day!

Closing Statements

To put it simply, Kung Fu Panda 4 was my Megamind 2.

The film rejects its predecessors in every way. It really feels as though they brought in somebody with no prior knowledge of the franchise to direct the movie.

It's a film that relies heavily on telling rather than showing — banking on the previous three movies to carry it through the box office.

It's just really disheartening to see studio execs turn one of the best franchises into a safe sequel cash grab and regress every character's development.

Nevertheless. I do adore the chameleon's character design so I might do my own take on her character.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no fairy godmother, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no kung fu panda 4.

#creaman talks to drywall #kung fu panda 4 #spoilers #I'm actually tweaking #sorry I stopped drawing the graphics because the film crushed my soul #you drive me to drink kung fu panda 4 #when the rantsona crosses their arms #hating on main #kfp #discussion #criticism #kfp4 #technically a vent post #i've lost it #the chameleon #zhen #po

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the-girl-lost-in-fandoms · 1 month ago

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DEBUNK OF TIT FORSHADOWING

hello! i promised a recap and debrief of all the times dip and pip teased what happens in the terrible influence show, so here it goes, brace yourself 'cause it's gonna be a long one

GENERAL REMARKS

so i started with the videos posted during the summer, since they were rehearsing the show during that time. i might go further back if this post does well (they said they've been writing for six/seven months and they were already teasing during dan's birthday stream). anyway, there were some recurring hints that i'm gonna get out of the way now:

a LOT of emphasis on the fact that it's been nearly 15 years of dan and phil (cough cough, reminds me of phil's infamous inconsistant line about their anniversary coming up in octodecember, cough cough)

a lot of ancient lore being introduced by 'the year was 2009/2011/2015', which is generally reminiscent of the recap at the beginning of the show, and most are the actual years featured in that segment of the show

they acknowledged 'we are ph-', which they also use in the show i.e. the phouse, the phortgage, the pheal, the phitchen, etc.

they are SO aware of the moms/dads/straight boyfriends that we have forced dan and phil onto, they kept asking us to bring them and they acknowledge them several time in the show

DNP GOING AWAY Q&A (1st Sep.)

strong emphasis on the haitus (reminiscent of phil's dramatic haitus microphone moments)

say they might adress the japhan wedding conspiracy (which they do!)

the nude colored briefs (are for sister daniel)

at 2:45, phil says 'gay' and the rainbow light and sound effect happen just like in the show

dan mentions red flags (might be far fetched but reminded me of the green flags/red flags of lawyer!dan and doctor!phil)

phil says cunt (like in the show)

'no but seriously imagine it'

phil broke a rib during repetition of 'some kind of stunt event' (during the boxing/wrestling match)

they spent $300 on silicon for 'full body character transformation onesie' for 'a perfectly unsexual moment of the show' (read: phil wears fake abs while pretending not to have sex with dan on stage)

Dan: 'you're not a 365 party girl? terrible influence when you're bumping that?' (charli xcx is on the preshow playlist and it teases the terrible song)

reveal of the 'dan and phil made me gay' T-shirt, teasing of the sweatshirt and black tour T-shirt

DATE NIGHT WITH DNP (25th Aug.)

dan sings muder on the dancefloor (which is on the preshow playlist)

dan going 'ohmygod they SHARE CLOTHES' (one of the conspiracies addressed in the show)

WRITING PHAN FICTION ABOUT OURSELVES (19th Aug.)

it's a fill-in-the-blanks game, as they do multiples times in the show (okay, not really foreshadowing as they've done this in all of their shows, but i think it was a way to introduce this to the newer audience maybe)

MrBeast mention

DNP REACT TO TATINOF (16th Aug.)

phil: 'fall out boy! my chemical romance! the shipping had started!' (basically all the ingredients of the no seriously imagine it post)

'if we asked people to confess stuff now it would be so much worse' 'the tone might be different' & 'and if you come to our show, there might be a different tone' (so... confess your sins to sister daniel, need i say more)

#spon (which is now #ad in the terrible song)

'i went to see dan and phil and all i got was this lousy plate' (EXCUSE ME DAN??? he was basically spoiling the merch two weeks in advance) (this is the moment that inspired me this post btw)

dan 'professional hater' howell is now the one starting the song in tit

'imagine that but 2025. we're old. we're gay. phil can say fuck' (and indeed, he says fuck)

DNP PLAY DRESS TO IMPRESS (11th Aug.)

they wear the matching 'precious baby angel' t-shirts (same phrase used to describe phil in the show)

DNP DRESS EACH OTHER (14th July)

Phil: 'like two Kens playing with Kens' (i bet pj was crafting the little rooms and the little dolls at this point)

they both have mesh shirts as the main show outfits

'how booty are the shorts, dan?' 'i'm not gonna bend over in these things'.... except for the photocards that feature your ass in those shorts!

the two first look (emo!phil and beach!dan), the white cowboy hat, phil's blue and purple bomber jacket are all featured in the photocards sold at the show

DNP MASSIVE MUKBANG 2 (5th July)

'we've been doing this since 2009 and 2006 *excerpt from phil's first videoblog*' (that's literally the opening of the show)

'we reclaim what Dan and Phil is in 2024'

'we’re gonna look at what YouTube is like in 2024, how do we fit in, we’re gonna be taking shots at people'

'we’re gonna spill some things that would have sent you into cardiac arrest seven years ago' (2024-7=2017. so basically any of the conspiracies they adress from that time, like the tour bus, vegas, etc.)

'we’re gonna go full theater kids' (oooh teasing the musical number already)

'what do people want? Series mystery hunting, lifestyle cooking, real life, get a dog, domestic' (that's basically all the things they try on stage)

#titspoilers #dan and phil #terrible influence tour #dnptit

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shiro-s2e2-erukinzu · 3 months ago

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AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! 😱 THIS CHAPTER OF UNDEAD UNLUCK GOT ME SCREAMING LIKE CRAZY, DAWG!!! 😵

I'm gonna do things a little bit differently this time around, but I ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY thought that this chapter was a 10 OUT OF 10!!! 😆 So, let's get into it shall we?! 😎👍

[UNDEAD UNLUCK CH. 218 SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON, SO BE CAREFUL!]

First off, at the beginning of chapter, I was like...:

"What is this man planning...? 🤔", while also just being happy to Andy for a quick second there...!! 😎 After that, we cut back to Fuuko and the gang talking with Tatiana, telling her that she doesn't have to join if she doesn't want to...! I also liked this part:

I love Tatiana's "Thank you. Onionhead." for Chikara taking the perfect photo for her, it's so adorable...!! 😁 But then, on the next page, THIS HAPPENS...:

And I was like:

"WHO DO DID THAT!?!" 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

Then, I see the culprit...:

...AND IT'S MOTHER FUCKING RUIN!!!!! 💢

Let me tell you something, I'VE HATED THIS MAN with a BURNING PASSION ever since HE STABBED FUUKO IN THE GODDAMN CHEST in the previous Loop!!! 😠 But, I had hope that Fuuko could possibly convince him to join the Union in this Loop...

...NOT ANYMORE SON!! I WANT THIS MAN BURIED IN GROUND!

I'm sorry, I haven't had this much hatred for a character since Ryo Asuka from Devilman: Crybaby...!! 😤 Is there still a possibility for Ruin to heel turn over to the Union's side? Most likely...! Will I be fine if he doesn't join the Union and get ABSOLUTELY CURB STOMPED BY THEM INSTEAD?!?! Most definitely...!! I'd totally be cool with either of these outcomes...!! 😁👍

But anyway, enough of me being possibly Ruin's number one hater, let's get back to the chapter...!! And I cannot believe that Kururu for some reason already looks like how she did in the previous Loop, now with an Union badge...?! 😕

I don't know what exactly Tozuka is doing with Kururu, but I still hope that she gets more development in future...!! 🤞

Back to Fuuko vs. Ruin; THAT BASTARD injured Fuuko's eye, but of course she still looks BADASS!! 👌😎:

Then...

...THE MOST HYPE THING HAPPENED AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER...!!! 🤯:

ANNNNNDDDDDY IS COMING BACK BABY!!!

But, even though this is HYPE AS FUCK, this looks to be exactly what UMA Soul wants...! Which means the Master Rules are about to be set free...!!! 😵

So yeah, this chapter FREAKING SLAPPED and I just had to share my absolute hatred for Ruin, thus why I did things a little differently this time around...!! 😄 I'm super excited for next week's chapter, so I'll see you all then...!! LATER!! 😎👍

In other news, my mom recently changed her lock screen on her phone to a picture of Andy and Fuuko because she became a fan of the series after we watched the anime back when the English dub was coming out!! 💗🤗💗 (She also made Spy X Family, my other favorite manga right now, her phone background...!! 😊) Okay, now I'm done!! BYE FOR REAL NOW!! 👋😉

#undead unluck #udul #uu #undead + unluck #undeadunluck #UDUL Ch. 218 #undead unluck spoilers #uu spoilers #udul spoilers #manga spoilers #fuuko izumo #unruin #gina chamber #undead andy

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strykingback · 5 months ago

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My Reply to Stop The Hate 2.0

Okay so I know I prompted to stay quiet about this one anti/RWDER but you know what screw it. When I saw what they were posting yes it left me a bit disturbed, but also the fact that he was liking some incredibly wild shit. But one post caught my attention the most and it was and I quote: "Stop The Hate 2.0." So I took a read at it and little to know surprise in the words of Genji from Overwatch.... I'm not impressed. and surprisingly this person needs no introduction I'll just get right into the nitty gritty of this poor individual who has entered the Thunderdome. papitimefire177.

Before I continue with this, I just want to immediately say this: Please for the love of god and all things holy. DO NOT WITCHHUNT Do not send any anon hate just do what I did. Block and Move On. Anywho lets get into it.

This individual here first off says things such as calling people who criticize Jaune (ala Jaune Haters) as fucking stupid and categorizes them all as he quotes: Fucking Morons and how we bitch about "made up stuff that is not true."

Okay, first things first is Jaune has basically stolen a lot of screentime from RWBY. How much? Over around 5,489 Hours of Screentime. Which is one hour thirty-one minutes and twenty-nine seconds (Counting from Volumes 1-6) And oh do please use this chart here. Special thank you to Emotional-Feed 5489 on the r/RWBYCritics subreddit for going through hell and back to get these results.

Further note- This is only going from Volumes 1-6, Seven is not included since he did not get any screentime until Volume's Eight and Nine.

Secondly, Jaune really began to grind my gears when Volume six had to reinforce the fact that Pyrhha is gone. Okay. We get it already Pyrrha is dead and Jaune is literally mourning her still. At this point lets just get it over and done with and move on. Yes, I am fully aware that Pyrrha's death has lingered heavily for him but at the same time it does not take you three entire volumes to take a deep breath in and a deep breath out to carry on.

What really set me off was in Volume nine after, Ruby who had one of if not the MOST SATISFYING mental breakdown scenes and calling out her teammates (Especially Yang) for being horrendous teammates when throughout that whole volume Ruby was going through the shitter, only for Jaune to steal it all the way cause "I suffered more than you have."

Yes Jaune as if you have the whole world on your shoulders? Like dude grow the fuck up. Because you are also talking to someone who is fifteen years old (once again this could be the case of time goes forward but the characters don't age trope.)

Then right after Ruby literally "Ascends" by drinking the tea. It's time for more Jaune angst cause he's going through it more than Ruby did?! It took Weiss, Yang, and Blake almost the entire volume to care about Ruby but it took them just a few minutes in an episode to hug Jaune for his "angst" fuck that.

Now moving on. Of course lots of people do write him out of their stories but some people do keep him only for him to have atleast one or two arcs depending on the writer of course and have him die or keep him around to develop him better than what RT's writers could do. Once more his historical allusion is to the legendary female knight Joan of Arc and I have spoken with a few friends of mine who did have plans for their RWBY Re:Write to have him transition into a woman to better fit the allusion and have him die a hero.

Gee it's not like I have MADE A POST ABOUT THIS.

Also furthermore I did do some research trying to find that "Jaune Arcless" video paptimefire177 talked about in their Stop The Hate 2.0 message. Instead I didnt find jack diddly shit at all. So I can only assume they pulled that out of their ass to try and get their point across as they go on to say that Who wants that because Removing Jaune is fucking stupid.

Which as my counterpoint. Lots of people do want Jaune to be out of the picture whether if relegated to side-character status for him to not be so damn annoying where he wont step in whenever characters like Oscar for example who in Volume 6 got a wardrobe change and some development only for it to be stolen away for a fucking statue sequence.

Or how at the end of Volume eight he could have healed up Penny and got her across the gate to Atlas so that way she could also have the relic with her. Nope lets have him kill her so he can have angst in Volume nine!

And lastly he goes off on a rant stating how Jaune Haters are pathetic along with the hate for Jaune and stating how people who hate Jaune need to wear diapers and go back to the basement we have come from.

Okay Papi. since you wanna ball. We're gonna ball. You are the pathetic one seriously do you really think people are going to follow you? You who have used ableist language against someone calling them a slur in DM's no less. Want proof?

Or how you claim to not be a race fetishist but at the same time you liked this.

WARNING RACEPLAY BELOW

(When I looked back in there again to find this man in the likes section of this post I could not find his name but earlier when I did my first post of Jaune Arc A Horrendous Example of A Knight. I did see his name amongst those likes)

Lets also not forget that you would happily block evade through your other accounts as well. Now then are you listening there amigo? Cause I can keep this shit up if you arent too busy. Oh wait, whats that?

You claim RWDE has made as you quoted yourself: "Sends Death Threats, Suicide Bait, False Accusations, Being general assholes, Bitches about everything"

Really then? Where is your evidence? What is your source where made those bold accusations from?

So papitimefire177 do me a favor and go outside, touch some grass, walk around take in nature itself. Instead of trying to start fights with your raceplaying ableist ass... cause guess what. Ain't nobody got time for that.

And if you do plan on replying, you aint gonna be sayin' shit so whats it gonna be!?

#RWDE #tw: slurs #tw: raceplay

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nartml · 1 year ago

Note

Your misogyny is showing. Get your shit together

(First and last time I'll ever bother with such a rude ask, but I'll use this oh so sugary sweet statement to get some things out the way )

CW: Rant ahead, not Sakura or Hinata friendly, if you disagree and won't be nice about sharing your opinions fucking DNI, this isn't for you.

My misogyny 💀

Because I don't like Sakura and Hinata, I assume? Why is it always misogyny's fault with y'all?

Respectfully, I don't really care about Sakura and Hinata. I'm mostly indifferent to them, but they're fun to criticize, considering there's so many flaws to talk about.

Maybe I was harsh with my words when respectively bashing them, but what I said still objectively stands. Sometimes, not liking a female character has less to do with misogyny and more to do with the fact that they're really, really not that good.

But alas, I sincerely apologize for my just so disgustingly misogynistic words (in case you don't get it, I'm being 100% sarcastic)

In a bit less harsh, more analytical manner, allow me to rephrase:

Sakura is someone who doesn't fit in the Shinobi world. She's too delusional about her romantic fantasies regarding Sasuke to be able to properly advance in such a harsh environment. And Hinata, with or without her infatuation with Naruto, is an incapable kunoichi. She's far too timid and hesitant to be a warrior.

Now, those are not necessarily bad things. Not having what it takes to be a Shinobi can easily be considered positive; be it because you're a hopeless romantic and that hinders your ability to maximize your potential or because you just don't have the spine or endurance necessary to be a badass ninja. Those aren't reasons to violently hate on someone. Specifically about Sakura and Hinata, those aren't even the reasons why so many people dislike them.

Or at least I hope not. I'd understand the point of your ask better if I had said anything derogatory about their appearance, for example. Those types of haters are annoying, and I manage to turn into both Sakura and Hinata's biggest defenders the moment someone says shit that degrades Sakura for her chest or some other bs, and/or fetishizes Hinata in any way. Rest assured, I'm anything but misogynistic.

But oh shit, it's time we realized that Sakura's "feelings" for Sasuke were simply a shallow school girl crush. And that would've been okay, understandable, maybe even a little cute, if it weren't for the way she constantly pushed herself onto him, consistently referred to him as hers in her head, saw him as a trophy, a blank canvas to project her fantasies onto. She was disrespectful, and her confessions were sickening.

Because how dare you compare your loneliness to that of a genocide survivor? How could you make your supposed love's pain all about you? How could you be so ready to abandon your friends, family, life, and future just to follow him to someone who you know would cause him harm, when you so clearly don't even know or understand him? How could you try to minimize everything he went through, try to diminish all he's suffered in the name of "laughing and having fun like the good old times"? "What about me, Sasuke? I'll be in so much pain if you leave. Please, if there's even a small part of you that cares about me, stay". "I can't get close to you, I can't exchange blows with you, I can only whine and beg, it's pretty pathetic. There's nothing I can do for you".

These are all things she's said and/or done paraphrased. There's so much more I don't care to recall. And they're all very annoying.

Her sole motivation was Sasuke; he's the reason she talks about how she'll get stronger to catch up to him and Naruto, about how she wants to "save" him, or "protect" him, about how she wants to be able to "fight for herself next time".

But she never managed to really do any of it, because it was all so surface level. Her aspirations for life began and ended with Sasuke, a guy she ultimately doesn't know a single thing about. That's objectively pathetic.

I don't like her because of the way she treats Sasuke, because of the way she views him, because of the way she's so pretentious about her "undying love" for him.

I don't like anti-sasusakus who come at it from a "Sakura deserves better" perspective, because she got exactly what she asked for; now she even gets to parade around wearing that Uchiha crest like the trophy it is to her, while having done nothing to earn it!!!

But.

Honestly? They're not exactly wrong. Maybe she doesn't deserve better. But her character would, at least if Kishimoto even wanted to write that story.

What do I mean by that? I mean that Sakura, as a main character, does not benefit from her feelings for Sasuke. It's not that Sasuke isn't good for her, it's that her "feelings" for him aren't.

I'll use Naruto as a comparison. His feelings for Sasuke [No, I don't care how you interpret their relationship. If you want, they can be platonic feelings or familial feelings (you'd be wrong but who am I to judge), or romantic feelings] actually serve as his basis for self improvement.

Usually, in media, love is something that drives characters to be better.

Naruto's love for Sasuke is his greatest strength.

Naruto kept getting stronger, with Sasuke as his motivator. Naruto kept trying to understand him, to see things from his perspective, never held any sort of idealistic "Sasuke would never do that" train of thought.

Naruto got to better understand the injustice of the system through Sasuke and his love for him. Naruto initially fought to bring him back to Konoha, not because he wanted to play house with him, or because he wanted Sasuke to cater to Konoha's every whim, but because in Naruto's mind, Konoha is home and it's safe, away from Orochimaru's dirty hands.

But then once he finally understood Sasuke better, once they fought and he carried Sasuke's burdensome hatred with him, he let him go. He let him travel, leave Konoha, without ever asking for him to stay, because he gets it (Unlike Sakura, who still didn't get it, and did the exact opposite)

In Sakura's case, however, her "feelings" for Sasuke hold her back. Though that's a bit of conundrum, seeing as any sort of achievements she's made are directly linked back to her crush. Like I said before, he's her motive. No, it's specifically the shallowness of her love, the half-heartedness in her convictions to improve that holds her back. Her "feelings" aren't as genuine as she –or any of you– likes to think they are, and that keeps her from growing, from seeing clearly (i.e: in the long run, they hold her back)

They're proof of her superficiality. She's too caught up in romanticizing the absolute shit out of Sasuke, too caught up in using him to live out her fairytale dreams, too caught up in asking others to bring him back to her, or whatever. She's too caught up in whether Sasuke looks at her or worries about her to fight properly. And I mean "fight" both literally and metaphorically here.

So yeah, her "feelings" for him aren't good for her. It would've been a much better character arc, in my opinion, something that could be actually empowering that would give her depth, if she had ended up with Lee instead.

Because Lee is the exact opposite of Sasuke, in the sense that he's ugly in Sakura's eyes (I'll state here that I don't think Lee is ugly, bushy brows and all, he's very pretty to me), and so to end up with him, well. That would require Sakura to see past physical appearance.

Sakura tends to be very judgemental of other people's looks, and the way she treats them is often correlated to how beautiful she finds them.

But falling for Lee would've been a great way for her to move past the cover and read the book. Something which could then translate to her being less insensitive and judgy from then on.

[Sakura fans love to point out that she might say rude stuff, but then she regrets it, so it's okay! To that I say, it hardly matters that you regret something you say and promise that you'll be better, if you're just going to repeat the process the next day]

That said, she didn't even have to end up with anyone. She could've remained single, after realizing how wrong she was about Sasuke. She could've stopped pining after him, and gotten herself a goal that is bigger than just ending up with him.

But that's not who she is. That's actually, an entirely different character. That's not how Kishimoto wrote her, and criticizing him because of that is stupid. He knew what and why he was doing it, and the narrative some of you adopt, the one that goes "no, I'm better than so-and-so, this character should've been that way instead", is exhausting.

Sakura fans never represent her how she canonically is. Truly, 100%, the way she's depicted in the show. They nitpick which parts of her they like, and ignore the rest. You guys love the version of her that isn't shallow, that understands Sasuke, that is assertive, that is 3-dimensional; a person whose hard work actually comes to mean something, who is much more genuine about her love for Sasuke, who is by all means an independent badass. The Sakura who is selfless and understanding and a go-getter badass. And that's okay, I guess. But at least admit it.

It's always an outsider commenting on how "she's better than Tsunade" because they saw her punch one time, or "her feelings for you have matured" (something cancelled out entirely by Sakura later). It's always "I've caught up to them" after something that amounts to nothing significant. We're told she's great. We've yet to see it for ourselves, outside of those five? Six maybe? Eight is my being generous. Truly iconic scenes that she has in the entirety of the manga.

I stand by my closing line on her post.

She's foolish, and too caught up in her own romantic, fantasy world to substantially thrive in a reality as cold-blooded as the one she was born in.

And that's all she'll ever be.

As for my girl Hinata. I absolutely stand by everything I said on that post. Not taking a single word back. Maybe Sakura has a few redeeming qualities; like I said, you could explore her character outside of her crush on Sasuke and make a true badass out of her. (While still acknowledging the fact that that's not who Kishimoto wrote her to be)

But Hinata? There's no character to explore. Period. She's nice. Sweet. Kind, maybe? Sweet. Did I mention nice? I should probably not forget to say that she's sweet. Let's not omit that she's privileged and doesn't care one bit that her family is a-okay with slavery!! OH, and she can cook well. She also has those big boobs. And all her symbolism with Naruto was ripped off sns, coincidentally.

She's very passively likable, and the definition of forgettable. Like it or not.

____________________________________________

As for me, I should make it clear here and now that I am no misogynist. I like to think of myself as a very passionate intersectional feminist, who gives credit where it's due.

These two ladies? They don't deserve the aforementioned credit.

Have a great day 💞

#anti sakura fandom #anti ss #anti the last #sns #anti hinata #anti sakura haruno #anti sasusaku #anti naruhina #anti nh #naruto ramblings #my stuff #y'all need to get yourselves some of those shiny critical thinking skills #they're very useful #respectfully fuck off 💕💕#long post #pro sasuke #pro sasuke uchiha #anon #my anti ss agenda

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mypookiewookiebear · 8 months ago

Text

getting high with Hetalia characters

(cause I'm kind of high and bored :P) (I just did the allies + Canada to make my life easier)

⚠ DISCLAIMER ⚠

these are just my opinions/ headcanons, if you don't like... uh, don't read pls 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

TW/CW: drugs, lots of drugs mentioned, uh I curse? mostly weed mentions, mentioned alcohol, I use gay as an insult (GUYS IT WAS A JOKE I PROMISE PLEASE)

America

I feel like most of the time he would mellow out. Like most strains would make him more chill, like purple kush.

I think he would prefer edibles, it's easier, you’re higher for longer, and I headcanon that he’s on the heavier side so the edibles are more effective.

(also he’s weak and can’t smoke for shit)

Regardless, I don’t think he smokes or takes edibles too often. I think his preferred substance is probably liquor, if anything.

England

Okay, here me out. I think he experiments with hallucinogens.

He has his little witch friends, they light a bong and do fucking magic

(my normal friday night tbh…)

But that is the craziest thing he does, plus he’s old and has a strict 9 pm bedtime.

(plus he needs his booktok kindle to read bad colleen hoover books)

I bet he has a clicker and everything so he can lay down and read his kindle

Anyway, I think he’s had his fair share of za, but gets busy so he doesn’t do it all that often.

France

Okay the haters are gonna sabotage me, but I think he smokes the least out of this group,

Does not like the way weed makes him feel, he gets sensory overload easily while high, his adrenaline spikes and makes his heart race (in a bad way).

Prefers alcohol, specifically wine, doesn’t usually get drunk or sloshed but is more comfortable being drunk than high.

Russia

More inexperienced with weed tbh.

Like he has smoked cigarettes, drinks often enough, and done an occasional hard substance, he just doesn’t see much appeal in weed.

I think he is extreme, like he either is dead sober, or sloshed from vodka. No in between

When he is high, he gets more introspective, and depressing lol.

(he thinks more about his childhood, how he felt during all that)

Canada

I wouldn’t say he’s the no.1 stoner, but he’s in the running for that.

He would totally come to a world meeting high asf

(I mean, who's gonna notice?)

No preference as far as smoking vs. edibles, but i bet he’s done some crazy crack pipe diys to smoke weed

(such as, but not limited to: making a bong out of a water bottle, hot wiring an iphone charger, and smoking out of a banana)

When he’s sober he's chill, but when he's high, legit the chillest of chill. Like owns the word chill.

More sociable and charismatic, also makes bomb ass foods.

China

Saved the best for last 😘

Guys… we did it, we found the number 1 stoner 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Kidding kidding, but he is very familiar with medicinal marijuana.

(my man has a bad back… leave him alone…)

While he has a lot of experience, rarely does he get extremely high, again mostly smokes for medicinal purposes.

But he still has a high tolerance in general, so if he does decide to get super high, he needs strong ass edibles or a full cart.

(me asf tbh)

In the event he gets high as hell, he mostly ponders… thinks about philosophy or something gay like that./j

Idk he’s not that crazy, just sits by himself and thinks about stupid shit, like the appeal of bamboo to pandas.

Side note: don’t use gay as an insult that's bad…

OK BYE GOODNIGHT

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #aph china #aph america #aph england #aph france #aph russia #aph canada #cannabis #smoking #writing!#tumblr fucked up my formatting so i have to kill #i have an ear infection lol

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crystalelemental · 25 days ago

Text

Full tier list is here, breaking down the F-tier. Time to expose my Hater Tendencies.

Red Realistically, Red is not inherently awful, my hate is a byproduct of the franchise itself constantly pushing him as the biggest most importantest trainer ever to live, and I despise that. He exudes nothing to me. I think his challenge in GSC also sucks, the remakes actually made it way worse, and Let's Go's conditions are so annoying I refused to even entertain the idea. I have no respect for him, and think the general fanon perception of selective mutism is giving credit where it's not due. He's just supposed to be strong and silent warrior man archetype, which is boring as sin, and people are out here making him actually interesting. Stop it. I'm trying to be a hater.

Brendan "Your dad's a gym leader so I thought you'd be a guy." "Unlike you, your dad seems tough." Brendan is a piece of shit masquerading as your first "nice" rival and I never got over the bad vibes. Fuck this dude.

Flint He looks stupid, and is in love with Volkner. Atrocious taste.

Thorton He's just kind of a dweeb, and then Masters had a really early event where he's supremely rude to Hilda for literally no reason. His vibes are rancid.

Flannery Every tier has one I look at and go "I am being a little unfair, but I must be true to my feelings." Flannery is that pick. I cannot stand Flannery for entirely unfair reasons, but nothing gets me past it. I'm sorry, it's an ongoing hangup, but I cannot get over how much I hate when they make a female character whose thing is being shy or self conscious, and put her in a revealing outfit. Like come on. I know what this is and I'm mad about it. Consider her my entry point onto some guys being just really skeevy about female character designs.

Volkner "Oh, I'm so bored of battling because no one is a challenge to me, guy who isn't even on the Elite Four." Get over yourself, loser.

Klara/Avery I'm lumping them together. I hate them both equally. Galar is already fighting an uphill battle with its atrocious aesthetic, and these two being petty losers is doing nothing to help their case.

Sordward/Shielbert I mean...do I really need to explain? His head is a penis. Literal dickhead. Worst post-game segment of the series.

Ball Guy Originally omitted, decided to include just to shit on garbage reddit meme culture. Masters, you fucked up putting this thing in here.

Mohn/AZ Okay, these two are the actual, beyond all else, bottom of the barrel losers. Why? Because they are the only inclusions that I think actively harm their games. In the case of Mohn, the only emotional center Gen 7 has is the Aether Fam, and the husband/father is literally just hanging out on an island. We know where he is. He's the bean man. And this angst gets absolutely annihilated over the fact that he's literally just right the fuck here. USUM even has him interact, only to shut down a real resolution with him. Like great Lusamine, glad you've decided to move on, that is a choice, but like. We're all really going to pretend like this wasn't the entire core of the issue and just let it all go in a half-cooked scene? I wish he never showed up.

AZ is much the same. His presence as an eternal entity wandering the earth bothers me, because honestly bro, it's been 3000 years. Do you know how quickly people change who they are? I'll give you a hint, it's fewer years than that. And at no point was there any real attempt to like. Reflect or undo his previous actions? Like you could've dealt with the machine since you knew where it was, man. You could've done literally anything. And his resolution is supposed to be one (1) battle with you where he suddenly feels like he can just let go of the weight of his sins of creating a doomsday weapon that runs on Pokemon life and committing a genocide with it. Hooray. Glad we wrapped that up. He should've just been a cautionary tale that existed in history, not a literal guy who continues to be here. I hate him so much.

#pokemon tier list #pokemon characters tier list

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no-shxme · 3 months ago

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Hi I saw you have TalEz on your won'ts for your commissions. Just curious can you explain why?

hi anon yEAH i can explain but like, to preface this, if you happen to like talez you're totally valid and dont feel like you have to dislike it or anything bc im gonna be a lil hater. people like what they like (and dislike what they dislike) and thats totally okay. this is just my own personal opinion. i wish i liked talez more bc its probably the most popular talon ship and im often starving, but i just dont and there's a couple reasons why.

i dont like the way its usually portrayed

im not the biggest ezreal fan.

imo there's better fits for both of them.

ugh this is going to be long so ill put it under the cut.

tbf, you dont NEED some complex reason to dislike a ship/character. like reason 2 is already enough for me to open and shut smth, but i do have complex thoughts about talez. and i am totally going to do a little hating below.

i think talez is so fucking anime that it lacks so much complexity. i dont really like anime. (i know thats a broad, loaded statement i just hate 99% of the tropes that pop up. not saying ive never enjoyed a shitty/tropy anime, but just--no) i think talez is broadly boiled down and portrayed by most fan-creators as 'edgy dark cloud + ball of sunshine' and i think thats so boring and lame for both of them. imo it reduces them to a really basic ship trope and there's nothing inherently WRONG with it, i just think its so boring. i look at popular fanworks and personally find it super reductive for both of them. it feels like talez happened bc at it's inception league needed an anime character ship. to be fair, you can reduce ANY ship to smth basic. talsett is just 'tall x short' but in comparison i think talsett has so much more complexity in theming. same with like, rhaayn for example. to me there's a lot more depth. i think the most depth you can get out of talez is related to ez's loss of family and talon's too + themes of belonging, but god. its not good enough.

talez is also usually portrayed romantically and i'm turbo aromantic and mostly romance repulsed and also hc talon as the same, so this already cuts out so much talez fanwork for me. :')

ALSO while we're at it, talon is such a bottom to me. even when he tops. and i hate him being portrayed as this like, idk, grim edgy SUPER TALL??? domineering top when he's like, as tall as katarina in the comic and was prolly malnourished bc he lived on the streets for years. tbh i would automatically like talez more if they were BOTH shortasses and switches as god intended. but noooo. i think if i literally just saw/read more ez topping talon then i'd be automatically more on board. but id also need an aromantic angle so its literally never happening.

i think when ezreal gets paired with talon both of their personalities get so fucked. his ass is not cuddling. ezreal is not some weak damsel or master of seduction either. i think a problem that not just talez creators but like, creators in general suffer from is erasing bad traits that characters have, unless they're 'cute.' talon has some cute bad traits, but he also has some seriously bad traits that loving or being loved wont fix. and ezreal is just reduced SO bad. so talez feels inherently ooc to me. fandom has done a number on him. there's nothin left in the pot. i think being with talon (in canon) is such an uphill battle and most of the time i dont see ezreal equipped to handle it in comparison to other people.

i dont really like ezreal. i think i've already made that clear before. he's fun to play and i like him on a surface level and ive got friends that really like him and thats totally fine but idk he's just not my blorbo. the only time i really like him is when he's with aphelios, where somehow my dislike of both characters cancel out. maybe i dont have room for him because i like talon too much, who knows. either way, often times when talez fanworks are created the focus is actually just on ezreal, and that annoys me as an ezreal disliker. (fanwork creators can create whatever the fuck they want ofc, godspeed do what makes you happy)

and my third point: there's better fits for both of them. i like ezphel and ezkayn more than talez. i think in canon there's a good chance talon might genuinely kill him. or ezreal might really overwhelm him and drive him away with his outward facing personality. and frankly there's a good chance ezreal also goes away bc talon is bad news and also doesn't have the charisma to keep him there. and ofc for talon i think talsett is the ultimate fit, or even talshan is right there.

THAT BEING SAID. i don't mind talez AS much if there's a third, though we still run into some of the same issues as above. like ive written talezsett before. thats nice! talezlux is okay too even if,, completely unfeasible... (i have strong opinions im sorry. as a crack ship its fun i think)

blah blah. i think i could like talez but i would have to write it myself. thats what it boils down to. there are ideas/concepts i like about them. ive juggled the idea of putting a talez fic on my to do list but i just dont think i'll write it in any way that actual talez fans would like, which means there's no point in writing it at all. i've plotted several, long and short, but i think everyone would hate it. talez isn't a strict 'won't write.' iirc it specifically says like: 'unless the idea goes hard' but no ones tried me pfppf, and im fine with it i guess.

there's more i can say but like, i dont want this to be too long.

the important thing to remember is that if you like talez... GOOD. im happy for you!! keep loving it, godspeed. these are just my personal reasons it doesnt click with me.

#shx answer #kind anon #talonposting #im not tagging characters or ships on this one i dont wanna put 'hate' in a tag.#congrats if you read the whole thing.

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soupbitch-moneybitch · 1 year ago

Text

i am genuinely impressed by what the show has done with izzy this season

i was never like, a Discourse(tm) izzy hater, but i didn't like him bc he was a narc and a weasel, and yet they've managed to make him delightful to watch, and i think it's because they haven't actually given him a traditional redemption arc

a traditional redemption arc, imo, is where a character apologizes and does something narratively that is good enough to counteract their past behavior

izzy has 1. not apologized for jack shit, and 2. has not really done anything all that significant to make up for what he's done

but he's not the antagonist anymore. he's just A Dude whose role is no longer to instigate conflict. the writers haven't taken away or dismissed the harm izzy caused (which is good bc a lot of his behavior had racial and homophobic undertones and it would be an issue to sweep that under the rug), but what they /have/ done is given him depth

izzy was caught up in his idolization of ed/stuck on some toxic masculinity bullshit, AND he has admitted to himself and aloud that this has caused harm to the person he loves and the others around him. this does not eradicate that the past existed

izzy hated (hates?) stede because he was a fruity little guy making his boss/love interest go soft, AND he's learned that maybe that's okay because ed needs that balance, and that maybe the two of them don't need to be enemies. this doesn't mean he and stede are going to be besties; their relationship makes sense for where they're at narratively

izzy sold stede and ed out to the english because he didn't like what ed had become, AND he has learned that he can't own ed (literally or figuratively) and have everything be roses; ed is more nuanced than izzy originally wanted to believe. this doesn't mean that the crew isn't still healing from the results of having to surrender to the english

izzy attached his identity to being blackbeard's first mate, AND he's beginning to find out who he is without him (imagine season one izzy's reaction to seeing a crew member in drag, let alone dressing up himself). this doesn't mean he's suddenly got all his toxic codependency out of his system (he still loves ed, and is in the beginning stages of detaching himself from that web)

izzy was a piece of shit to the crew, AND the crew has grown to appreciate his presence and want him around. their forgiveness doesn't mean they don't think he's still a dick, he's just "their dick"

idk, if they had done a traditional redemption arc i probably would have just continued to dislike him, but because they are fucking masterful at making the characters feel like actual, well-rounded, nuanced people, i'm able to not only accept izzy, but enjoy his scenes

as always, i'm just deeply impressed at how djenkins and the writers and actors etc always manage to subvert expectations. nothing about this show is traditional, and that's what makes it precious because -insert "sometimes things that are expensive traditional are worse" meme-

anyway, i like izzy now, the end

#i won't put this in the izzy tag just bc some of it is neg #but for the record i don't hate your fave #i just think he's morally grey #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #diz says words

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bylertruther · 1 year ago

Note

That comment was so true, I was just thinking the same way. Old bylers were more open to criticizing the show's bad aspects and writing choices instead od trying to bend the whole thing to come up with excuses and explanations. Nowadays when you criticize a writing choice or something done by the Duffers you automatically get accused as if you've just committed a crime because how dare you think the Duffers aren't perfect genius writers that put everything intentionally without any mistake.

yeah! nowadays, in this corner, criticism is seen as a bad thing that you would never do to something you enjoy, and it's like... huh? it's okay to not enjoy something 100%. the duffers and co are not infallible and people don't have to like every decision they've ever made. that shouldn't even be something that someone on the internet has to say—existing as a human being in the world should've taught everyone that back when they were a baby.

even beyond that, as others have mentioned in other conversations, you can understand someone else's viewpoint just fine and still not feel as though there's enough relevant evidence to back it up, and feel hesitant because of how the duffers have consistently handled other plots.

like, personally... i struggle to be one of those #believers, because of how present the show's racism is in my mind. also, season three and season four are right there, alongside the show's misogyny and classism, too. and don't forget the little inconsistencies and anachronisms either! there's A Lot that i don't like and that i feel could've been corrected or reworked more effectively had they had a more diverse writing room or consulted others during the writing process. i like the general direction of the show, but there are a lot of details or ways they went about it where i'm like ://// man..

and.... controversial perhaps... but i feel that behavior is especially rampant in the byIer fandom and it manifests as the fanon that we can't seem to shake off.

mike does pay acute attention to will in some ways, but he's not the obvious lovesick, clingy, forever doting, golden retriever bf that people make him out to be [shout out to s2 mike tho he was built different 💔]. that fanon!mike is fans overcompensating for canon mike's behavior and presentation, which honestly has not been that fucking great as of late, purposely because he can't balance having both will and el in his life, among other mike-specific reasons, and because the duffers changed the way they wrote him post-s2. he does care about and love will, but not like many fans suggest, at least not yet.

but if you say that around here, you're seen as a freak weirdo mike hater talking about some ooc mike even though the show is right there and i could point to the 9384038049 times that mike forgot about will, brushed him off, was mean to him, or explicitly chose someone else over him. purposely! of his own volition!

and it also shows in how they babygirlified him, even though mike doesn't act like or look like that at all in the show, nor has he ever been described that way by anyone, whether in-universe or by the people that bring him to life.

And Don't Even Get Me Started On Will. Zon't.........

they had to recreate these new characters with mike and will's names and faces, because they didn't like what was on the screen. simple as that. but will they ever admit it? lmao.

as a fan of the show, and a fan of these characters and the stories they're representing, it's really weird to witness. there has been a distinct shift in the way in-fandom bylers talk about byler and the show and it started post-s2 when things started happening that they felt they had to correct. if they want to engage with the material in a way that best suits their tastes, fine. whatever. literally everyone does that. but to insist that the things that they say that go directly against canon or don't even exist within it .... are canon? and that everyone else using direct lines from the text are the ones projecting or twisting it or otherwise not appreciating the material? i have to laugh.

it's the same with other serious criticisms. if they can't create something to justify it, then they just brush you off as a hater because that's easier than acknowledging that maybe their precious bloated ensemble show isn't entirely perfect.

#asks #everything has flaws and is not meant to be liked by everyone on planet earth and pointing any of that out isn't Bad or Hateful #i kno this was mostly general but i catered my response more towards My wheelhouse bc well. points at my url <3 #i love when ppl criticize things bc i think a willingness to interact with smth and dissect it in this context often comes out of love #and the frustration you feel bc it COULD have been better and you WANTED it to be better and so you look for where it went wrong to #better understand or make peace with it. like a lot of sw fans don't like a lot of the sw content tht gets shat out by disney but they stil #love the world n engage with it bc of tht love. the love of what it Could be and what was. etc etc etc

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leaderpinhead · 1 year ago

Text

Idia - Livestream

Idia was the very first to admit he was a total social hermit. From his noise canceling headphones to his anxious sputtering, Idia knew the reality of his status. He didn’t go around trying to deny it either. He was all doom and gloom—nerdy with a hearty dose of spazz. If he could see himself in the wild, he’d probably suffer a full-body cringe.

Gloomurai, on the other hand, was an absolute legend.

Which was why it was easy for Idia to put a bit more energy behind his voice when he was sure that red circle on the screen was glowing and his tablet pinged with a message Gloomurai had gone live on Spasm. “What’s up, all my Gloomys? Y’all hyped for today’s stream?”

The number in the corner of his screen gradually rose, already breaking the thousands thanks to the post he’d made on his official Gloomurai Magicam account. The chat picked up speed quickly until the only thing he could make out was the custom blue flame emojis Ortho had designed. His adrenaline started kicking in just like it always did at the start of a livestream. The feeling was still fairly new since he had only started streaming at the beginning of the school year. One of his few online buddies had suggested it after he’d invited Gloomurai to his 3 AM livestream. Apparently, the internet was as weird as Idia knew and loved it to be, and people loved a sarcastic, gloomy personality.

It still boggled his mind, but hey, it was extra cash for his gaming pleasure.

Idia checked his setup on his spare monitor, making sure the window for the game he had planned to play was streaming at the right ratios. He’d learned his first few streams that his audience wouldn’t hesitate to point out any flaw. Best to get it done now instead of halfway through a match. “Everything looking good...is the sound good?”

After a few seconds of delay, a wall of thumbs-ups buried everything else in his chat. Idia leaned back in his chair to glance at Ortho. The thumbs-up Ortho gave him was the only one he trusted. “Sweet. So we’re changing it up a bit today. You guys know Red isn’t big on the shooting co-ops, but I’ve been on a Towernoon streak lately. So as promised at the end of my last stream, I'm gonna be hitting up trios.”

His eyes skimmed over the chat. In the midst of the hype, one username popped up for being benched for ten seconds. He never saw the comment that had benched the guy, but he could imagine they’d said something negative about Muscle Red. Those—and the real toxic mess—were the only comments Ortho immediately dealt with as his mod.

“First up.” Idia paused to flip through his character customization. He grinned at the comments speeding through the chat about his suspense making. “I’d like you guys to welcome back one of your favorites.”

The chat freaked out when Ortho’s preferred skin—one of the anthropomorphic monsters—popped up behind Idia in the game lobby. Ortho giggled into his mic at the wall of hearts filling the chat. “Hi, everyone! It’s good to be back!”

The chat was nothing but hearts and Little Gloomy!!!! Even new viewers would know Ortho’s gamer tag because of the reputation he had built as Idia’s mod. When he wasn’t deleting the haters, he was chitchatting with the regulars. When Idia had to throw up an animated screensaver for some downtime, he’d give the mic over to Ortho to shoot the breeze. For all the incessant DMs and comments he received for a face reveal, Ortho was getting just as much—if not more—demands for the same.

“Okay,” Idia said, absently checking his settings again, “now we just gotta wait for the other to get online.”

Idia’s eyes flicked to the Hermes app opened in a different window. Some viewers were already getting impatient for him to start. He typed out a quick message and hoped she’d be near enough to her computer to hear the ping. His subscribers liked his doom and gloom, but they could only be distracted for so long.

The green dot lit up next to Yuu’s name. Idia breathed a sigh of relief. He had only briefly mentioned her joining the livestream the last time they’d played together, which had already been two days ago. She was already so busy running around the campus with everyone else. It wasn’t very farfetched for him to imagine she would find someone else to hang out with.

“Am I late?” Yuu’s voice sounded slightly muffled. The chat started whizzing by almost too quick for Idia to read it. “I know you said six, but I completely lost track of time.”

Ortho cheerfully greeted the prefect by her gamer tag. Idia responded, “You’re fine. It’s cool that you made it either way.”

That was Gloomurai’s smooth response. Idia’s internal response was actually, Thank the King of the Underworld she made it, and she chose gaming with me over a full body massage in Pomefiore! It would have been awkward having to fill in a third person at random.

Yuu’s player model appeared in the lobby shortly after Idia sent the party invite to her. Despite him gifting her the current and previous season passes, she still stuck with the default skin, the only exception being the colorful butterfly wings he had bought her after she downloaded the game. Nothing else “spoke” to her was her excuse when he made fun of her.

Idia hesitantly glanced at the chat again. It had fallen back to a moderate enough speed for him to quickly skim, but so far, the only complaints were a couple of obnoxious viewers asking if LadyKnight was really a girl. Idia rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like Yuu was the first girl to play Towernoon. The top streamer on Spasm was a chick who practically played it 24/7.

Idia made a slashing motion with one hand while his other hand clicked the key to ready up for the match. “Okay, okay. Everybody chill. LadyKnight is practically noob status right now, so don’t be so hard on her. Me and Little Gloomy will pick up all the slack.”

Ortho giggled, which spawned nothing but dazed hearts in the chat. “I’ll keep everyone safe!”

“Do they still have the bows in the game?” Yuu asked. Idia wasn’t sure if she had heard him talking to the audience or simply ignored his insult. She might have become so used to being referred to as a noob that it didn’t register anymore. “I liked setting the builds on fire with the fire bow. I couldn’t find one the last time we played though.”

“They’re still in-game,” Ortho helpfully answered. His player model started dancing to copyrighted music, which made Idia automatically mute the game audio. “They’re just a little rarer since the new weekly quests don’t require them.”

“So that’s why I leveled up so quickly last week.”

“How many things did you set on fire?”

“I burned down every location Gloom and I visited.”

A sudden snicker almost made Idia choke on the energy drink he sipped. He wiped his chin and totally ignored the chat for the first time since the stream started. “She’d rig up any car we came across so she could mow down the buildings too!”

“It’s the fastest way to get ammo.”

“I’ll let you have the fire bow if I find one!” Ortho promised. The text above his avatar switched from the red Not Ready to green Ready. “Ready up!”

Yuu’s status flipped over at the same time. While they waited for the server to drop them into a match, Idia quickly skimmed over the chat. He frowned at some of the messages he had received from the viewers who donated through the widget he designed.

They weren’t necessarily...bad. Idia could tell the instant everyone had logged on based on the donations. A few had welcomed him with a single thaumark donation, probably hoping he’d acknowledge their usernames despite being transparent that he only read off the messages for the big donations. Ortho’s arrival brought a few more fangirls/boys, and Idia would leave those for Ortho to respond to later. Yuu’s arrival had sparked the biggest donation pool of single thaumarks Idia had ever seen.

Is she really a girl?

Does she stream too?

Is she your sister?

Those seemed to be the most repeated questions. Idia scrolled through the long list of repetitive donations until he landed on one for five thaumarks. His audible choke made Ortho reach for his shoulder IRL. “Are you okay?

Idia sputtered slightly before recovering enough to sputter, “Where are we dropping?”

“Ice mountain.”

The lack of inflection in Yuu’s voice bordered no arguments. Ortho happily agreed. Idia rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. He knew which location she referred to, but he couldn’t temper his own sarcasm. “There’s three mountains on the map.”

“That’s why I said ice,” Yuu persisted. The shock that had sent his heart hammering in his chest moments ago gradually slowed with a snicker. “There’s broke mountain, city mountain, and ice mountain.”

“Cluttered Cliffs, Metro Mountain, and Pike’s Peak,” Idia listed.

“That’s what I said. Broke mountain, city mountain, and ice mountain. The one with ice is where I want to land.”

Idia snickered into his hand. Since they had started playing, she had never once referred to the locations in the game by their actual names. After he had to explain why some of the names changed after the holiday event and how they would likely change again at the beginning of the next season pass, she had responded, “So what’s the point of me actually learning these names?”

Her lack of care in the gimicky names was like an inside joke at this point. Whenever Idia would name a location, she would reiterate with her own classification. The fact that she knew how to describe each place was enough to let Idia know she was fully aware of the map’s layout, so it had never bothered him.

He glanced at the chat while they waited to drop into the match. He frowned at two usernames that had been benched for five minutes. “You know, the fire bows don’t always spawn in that area.”

“But I’ve found one in the matches we played before.”

His monitor flashed, and they were floating across the map in a hot air balloon. Idia waited until the last second before nose diving down into the small research station on the mountain. He could tell Yuu dropped with him when her username appeared on the screen. Ortho’s was last. “We’re gonna win this! Just let me know when you need help.”

Cue the happy swoons in the chat. Everybody loved Hero Boy Ortho. Almost as much as they loved Giggle Slayer Ortho. Nothing entertained them more than a squeaker running around headshotting other players while giggling and offering strategical advice.

Idia sighed. “Hear that, Lady?”

“I prefer Knight if we’re shortening it.”

Idia snickered at Yuu’s quick response. He landed on the roof and started pilfering the few chests in the area. She came floating down beside him as he sorted his inventory to his preferred lineup. Ortho’s username landed a little farther from them, but Idia wasn’t worried about that. He spotted another trio landing near him and Yuu. “I could call you 800815 since that’s actually part of your name too.”

“You might as well call it what it is,” she fired back. He peeked over the edge and focused his crosshairs on her shuffling two guns in and out of her inventory. One of the players on the other team was slowly heading in their direction. “We’re all mature enough to handle it.”

Idia snorted. Ortho’s giggles took on a slightly different pitch. Maybe they weren’t as mature as she tried to claim. He couldn’t picture Yuu saying the same thing IRL, which was probably why he found it so funny. The anonymity of online gaming brought out the pervert in them all.

Another username flashed by in the stream chat, the status saying they had been benched for ten minutes. Idia frowned and made a mental note to ask Ortho later what the message had said. The lengthy times were getting a little outrageous. “Have you found a bow yet?”

Yuu’s aggrieved huff was answer enough. “No. I’m pretty sure you cursed me. I’m only finding rapid fire guns.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about you aiming to hit anything then,” Idia countered.

Ortho’s giggling was nearly non-stop now as his name kept popping up in the in-game log. The Squeaker Destroyer was leaving a trail of death in his wake, and his viewers were loving it even if they weren’t watching Ortho’s perspective. Yuu made a small noise. “Good job, Or—Little Gloomy!”

“Thank you!”

The entire time they had been chatting, Idia had his eye on the player approaching Yuu. He toggled to a rifle with a scope. He poised the crosshairs on the player’s head but didn’t pull the trigger. “Did you check the chest behind you?”

“What chest?” Yuu’s character jerkily spun around. Her yip of surprise made Idia snicker. Her panicked spray sent him cackling. “How long has he been there!”

When she cursed at a forced reload, Idia took his sweet time landing a direct headshot that sent the opposing player crawling for shelter. He swung his scope towards the building he had seen the player’s team vanish into. Another player stood frozen in front of a window. Idia took pity on him and downed him with another headshot. Turns out the guy wasn’t as AFK as he appeared when he started crawling for shelter too. Whoops.

“I found my bow!”

Idia immediately made a mad dash off the roof. He had just landed on the ground when parts of the building caught on fire. He huffed and circled around to where he had last seen Yuu. “I was on top of that roof, thank you very much.”

“Whoops.” There was zero remorse in Yuu’s voice. “My hand slipped.”

Idia rolled his eyes at his screen. He shuffled through his inventory and pulled out a green keg he found while looting ammo boxes. He tossed the keg at her and stepped into the bio-hazard green spray to build their shields. “I should have just let that scrub pick you off.”

“Spare me your wrath, almighty Gloomurai.”

Idia’s snicker was cut short by Ortho’s pause on his killing spree. “Hey, do you mind if I answer a question that keeps being repeated in the chat and donations, big brother?”

“Huh?” Idia asked distractedly. He zoomed in and out with his scope, searching for the last player of the opposing trio. “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Okay!” Ortho’s hum was like background noise. “No worries, chat! Little Gloomy can keep up with you guys and slay some baddies all at the same time. Since you guys seem really curious about it, I’ll just come out and say it. My big brother and LadyKnight aren’t dating. At least not at the moment.”

Idia’s arm jerked. It caught on the energy drink he had been drinking earlier, spilling all across his desk. Idia sputtered and lurched forward to dab the spill with a nearby box of tissues. He only managed to knock over the plate of pizza he planned on eating between matches, sending pepperoni and cheese across his keyboard.

Ortho was quick to react. “Oh, no! We’ve got a pizza emergency!”

“What happened?” Idia vaguely heard Yuu’s voice coming from his headphones, which he had instinctively knocked off his ears and now dangled around his neck. “Is everything all right?”

“Minor technical difficulties,” Idia answered. He wanted to strangle himself when his voice cracked. “Just keep us alive.”

Yuu hummed. While Idia and Ortho quickly cleaned his keyboard, Idia watched her circle him on the screen in jerky motions. She paused and pulled out her bow again. “I think I see the other guy over there.”

Idia dabbed at his desk faster. Ortho picked strings of cheese from between the keys of his keyboard. “Just let them—.”

“I’m gonna set him on fire.”

Idia only saw Yuu fire a flaming arrow because of the way his character was angled. She fired two more before clicking her tongue. “I ran out of arrows.”

Idia threw away the empty can of energy drink and fixed his headphones over his ears again. “He’s probably had enough time to pick up his other teammates.”

“I can take him.”

The words had barely made it through his headphones when his character dropped to the ground from a single headshot. Yuu hummed when he cursed. “That’s unfortun—.”

Yuu yelped before she was crawling on the ground with him. “I made a miscalculation.” LadyKnight’s name appeared in the game’s log for claiming a kill. “I take that back. I regret nothing.”

“Got it!” Idia’s keyboard clacked back onto the desk. Ortho skipped back over to his area, picking up his tablet. “I’ll hurry over to pick you two up.”

Idia grunted. He spun his mouse until he faced Yuu. “What even was your plan? Take random shots and pray they’re bigger noobs than you?”

“My plan was to burn my enemies and claim at least one kill this session.” Yuu hobbled away from him towards the burnt building. “And I have been successful. I think that means I've leveled up.”

Idia rolled his eyes. “That’s like saying a baby leveled up because he figured out how to roll over.”

“Wah.”

The poor imitation of a baby cry flipped his mood with a genuine snort of laughter. Giving up on Ortho picking him up before he fully died—Ortho had landed farther away than he thought—Idia turned his attention to his chat. There was some good-natured back and forth between most of his usual viewers. A wall of spam dominated the chat before it disappeared, the user being benched for thirty minutes. Idia’s eyes widened at the amount of time. That was extreme even for him.

An angry huff from Ortho made him glance at his younger brother. He glared at the screen of his tablet, and the fringes of his fiery hair had turned a light red. “If I see anyone say anything negative about LadyKnight again, I’m gonna permaban them from the chat. This is casual games night, and we’re all here to have fun.”

Idia paid closer attention to his chat. Most of them seemed to agree with Ortho, some of them even thanking him for banning the spammer. There were a few snide comments in the mix, most of them calling LadyKnight a fake gamer. Idia snorted. “Fake gamer? Chill out already. I literally already told all of you she was a noob. She just started playing over the winter break. And no one even said she was a gamer. She just agreed to play because Red didn’t want to.”

“I have fun playing too,” Yuu added. She didn’t sound upset or anything, but her voice still startled Idia a bit. Her not being in the room had made him think she hadn’t heard him for some reason. “I don’t know what I'm doing half the time, but it’s still fun.”

“We like playing with you too!” Ortho agreed. He glowered down at his screen like he was watching the chat for any naysayers. Which he probably was, in all honesty. “So be nice to her, so she comes back to play again.”

It was hard for his viewers to argue with Ortho, considering they were nearing cult level status when it came to their love for him. Idia watched the chat for a moment longer, ignoring the prompt on his screen to return to the lobby. His face felt a little warm now, but he wasn’t about to roll over for his chat. If he had physically been in a crowd with all of them, then he no doubt would have. But this was the internet—Gloomurai was cool, and slick, and in control.

“By the way, I’m in another match, and I don’t see either one of you.”

Ortho made a small noise. “You went into another match? I haven’t even died yet!”

“The game asked if I wanted to go into another match, so I said yes.” The faint crinkle of a chip bag came through Yuu’s mic. It was obvious she still had a mouthful of chips when she next spoke. “Gloom always gets on to me for going back to the lobby for no reason.”

Idia sighed and backed out of the match into the lobby. “The one time you actually listen to me...”

“Nine times out of ten, I block you out,” Yuu admitted. The chip bag crinkled again. “You just get really haughty when I go back to the lobby, and I don’t want to listen to your cranky mumbles.”

Idia snickered and ignored Ortho telling the chat—again—that he and Yuu weren’t dating.

#twisted wonderland #twstober #idia shroud #ortho shroud #day 14 Red

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sad-eyed-lady-of-the-paperbacks · 2 months ago

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Thoughts on 2.2

Okay, there are a lot of characters in this little room! I gave a rundown/refresher of the characters in order of appearance in 2.1, so you can read that here. We get a few more in this chapter.

As usual, even though I'm reading the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation for this read along just to change things up, I'm quoting from the David McDuff translation unless otherwise specified, because I like that one the best.

Elder Zosima

This is the man they're all here to see, the one to whom Alyosha "had attached himself with all the ardent first love of his quenchless heart." It is the goodness of this man that inspired Alyosha to want to pursue the monastic life. He is about 65 years old, and interestingly, he comes from a landowning family and in his youth was a military officer serving in the Caucasus—just like Dmitri Karamazov.

Far from being stern, Zosima is cheerful, and far from being judgemental, he is known to show the most love to the people who are the most sinful. He does have some haters in the monastery, but most people "positively loved him with all their hearts, ardently and sincerely." (1.5) He is known for being extraordinarily perceptive about people, and being to nail down exactly what is on the mind and conscience of the people who come to visit him. It is also typically the case that his visitors go away joyful and at peace.

The Father Librarian (Garnett, P&V)/Bibliothecary (McDuff)

We won't really see this guy again outside of this set of chapters, and he's not given a name. What's important is that he is the librarian, and thus he knows stuff.

In Garnett, he and Father Paisy are merely called monks, but more specifically, they are hieromonks (P&V)/hieromonachs (McDuff). This means that they are monks who are also priests, which is why they're called "father."

Father Paisy

Father Paisy is going to pop up again later on. Again, he is both a monk and a priest, and is known for being very learned.

Rakitin

A seminarian or divinity student, studying theology. He is 22 years old, "for some reason" is living under the monastery's patronage, and his eyes display "wit and attentiveness." He is well acquainted with Alyosha and the two are "nearly on close terms," which is interesting—makes us wonder why it’s only “nearly” when Alyosha seems to get on so well with basically everyone.

Interestingly, we have some class dynamics at play here. Rakitin is not the social equal of these landowning visitors, and he doesn't bow to them. His expression is one of "utter deference but a proper one, in which there was no obvious fawning." He knows his place, and on the surface at least, appears comfortable with it.

A novice

He doesn’t really do or say too much here, and never gets a name.

Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov (Alyosha.)

I know you know who he is. He’s the hero of the novel, the narrator’s blorbo, everyone, even Fyodor Pavlovich loves him. Even Miusov has nice things to say about him.

Ok, onto the thoughts!

The bowing and kissing ceremony is done with real emotion, not like a perfunctory ritual. While in the chapter which introduced the institution of elders it was acknowledged that inherent to the office is the danger of pride, Zosima here is putting himself on equal terms with these two hieromonachs, and this seems to be sincere. These men seem to have real mutual love and respect between them. But then we get Miusov’s POV, and to him it does look performative.

Even though Miusov does not share the religious beliefs of the monks, as a guest in the monastery, he had planned to respectfully go along with their customs. But now he’s irritated by this bowing and kissing, and so instead of allowing the elder to bless him, he makes a formal, secular, European bow and sits down. Fyodor Pavlovich mimics him (“like a monkey”). Ivan does the same sort of bow, though he is “very solemn and courteous.” And poor Kalganov, the youngest of the four, is so embarrassed and flustered and confused that he doesn’t bow at all.

Elder Zosima doesn’t seem offended or thrown off by this. He had raised his hand to bless them, but simply lowers it and invites them to sit down. Alyosha, however, is blushing and ashamed.

The furniture in the cell is sparse, old, and shabby. The pots of flowers at the window are an interesting detail, and point back to Zosima not being a stern or austere man. Making do with humble furnishings is appropriate to his office, but he is no ascetic.

The Catholic crucifix is an interesting detail, as is the juxtaposition of the expensive foreign engravings with the cheap Russian lithographs.

After all the glowing things we’ve heard about the elder so far, it’s surprising to read this:

Indeed, there was about the Elder’s person something to which many people, and not only Miusov, might have taken a dislike.

This is followed by an unappealing physical description. Miusov concludes:

“To all appearances a malicious and pettily arrogant little soul.”

(P&V)

So often in literature, especially in 19th century literature, physical beauty—or at the very least a pleasant appearance—equates with goodness. Where this trope is subverted, the subversion is most commonly that a physically beautiful person turns out to be villainous. But I can’t think of another instance of a character who has heretofore been portrayed positively where it is said that one would take an instant dislike to him by his appearance. Usually their goodness is somehow evident in their countenance, even if they are not beautiful or have some sort of deformity. Perhaps we are to take away from this that in this novel, we should not trust appearances, and people will often surprise us by being quite different from how they appear on the surface, or how they are initially introduced.

I love how Miusov is annoyed with himself for his petty, nasty little thoughts, but his annoyance with himself only seems to make it worse. I think we’ve all somewhat been there.

Fyodor gleefully throwing his son under the bus for being late and emphasising his own punctuality.

Once again, the dynamic between Miusov and Fyodor is just SO GOOD

Garnett translates it as “I am an inveterate buffoon, and have been from birth up, your reverence, it’s as though it were a craze in me” (italics mine) but the actual word here is юродивый, yuródivy, usually translated in English as “a holy fool.” This is an Orthodox tradition. The short version is that a holy fool is an acetic or saintly person who acts in a way that is foolish or insane from a human standpoint as an expression of their holiness and devotion to Christ. Their behaviour was often outrageous or provocative, and they might wander around speaking in riddles and behaving in strange and disruptive ways. Apparently this was often intentional, a simulation of madness for the purpose of disguising one’s holiness or expressing some truth. But by the 19th century, this phrase would also be applied to people who were mentally ill or had a cognitive deficit or disability in some way, and was sometimes used in the derogative, as when Raskolnikov refers to Sonya as a holy fool in Crime and Punishment.

It definitely was not used to indicate possession by an unclean spirit, however! So for Fyodor Pavlovich to say that he is “every bit the same as a holy fool” and equate being a fool-for-Christ with demonic possession is a very offensive thing to say in a monastery.

The Diderot story is very silly. The idea of a famous atheistic philosopher instantly changing his beliefs and converting because a bishop quotes one scripture at him (“the fool hath said in his heart, ‘there is no God’”) is so absurd. And the fact that it was apparently being repeated as fact by Russian landowners, including Miusov’s own aunt, just made me think of churchy boomer Facebook posts.

(Please appreciate this, I had to log into Facebook to make it and I don’t think it was worth it)

What is happening in the elder’s cell right now is entirely unheard of. Everyone, even the highly educated free-thinkers who aren’t religious but come for different reasons (curiosity, a desire to engage with different beliefs from theirs, etc.) are always deeply respectful, and often moved by the love and sincerity present. Indeed, that was Miusov’s initial intention: to be respectful and go along with the customs of the monastery. But Fyodor Pavlovich has succeeded in drawing him into being a ridiculous participant in his farce.

The fact that Alyosha believes Ivan could intervene in this situation shows how much power he has over Fyodor. But interestingly, Ivan does not. He doesn’t seem to feel any of Alyosha’s shame over his family, sitting there with what appears to be curiosity, “as though in this matter he himself were a quite uninvolved bystander.” This brings me back to his articles in which he reports street incidents under the nom de plume “Eyewitness.” He is a detached bystander—or he is at the very least trying to be.

We have a hint that something a little more than appears on the surface is going on with Rakitin, because Alyosha is said to be the only person in the whole monastery who knows what he’s thinking. And we the readers are likewise not being let in on what it is that he’s thinking.

The Elder Zosima is not at all fazed by what is going on. He tells Fyodor Pavlovich to be at ease, diagnosing shame and discomfort as the root of his behaviour. Fyodor readily agrees with this.

“When I go among people I do indeed always feel that I'm more vile than any of them and that they all take me for a buffoon, and so I say to myself: "Very well, I really will play the buffoon, I'm not afraid of what you think of me, because you're all of you to a man more vile than I!" That's the reason I'm a buffoon, it's shame that makes me so, great Elder, shame. From pure mistrust do I play the lout. I mean, if only I were confident on entering that all would instantly accept me as a man of the utmost charm and intelligence - Lord! What a good person I should be then!”

So here, he’s given that opportunity. The elder accepts him, invites him to be himself, and even calls him intelligent. But Fyodor Pavlovich continues to act in a buffoonish way, and no one, seemingly not even he himself, knows if he is being sincere or not. This is such a longstanding pattern at this point that it takes a lot more than one person accepting him and treating him as a human being of intelligence for him to drop this protective and comfortable act.

The elder’s words here are extremely profound, and it’s only on this reading that I’m beginning to appreciate how much:

“The one who lies to himself and believes his own lies comes to a point where he can distinguish no truth either within himself or around him, and thus enters into a state of disrespect towards himself and others. Respecting no one, he loves no one, and to amuse and divert himself in the absence of love he gives himself up to his passions and to vulgar delights and becomes a complete animal in his vices, and all of it from perpetual lying to other people and himself.”

I can’t even quite articulate my thoughts on this yet, so I’ll just leave it there for now. But it’s a very astute observation, as is what he goes on to say about making up reasons to be offended for the pleasure of having been offended.

But to this outpouring of truth, Fyodor chooses to respond with more buffoonery, this time telling yet another patently ridiculous story, this time not only for the purpose of annoying Miusov, but also of throwing Miusov under the bus.

“I never told you that, I never talk to you at all.” —this makes me laugh out loud every time, it’s just so childish.

Miusov got this story from a French academic. According to the endnotes, the story Fyodor relates was not in the Chet’i-Minei (or The Lives of the Saints), just as the Father Librarian says. It actually comes from Voltaire, who made up this story about St. Denis as a joke. According to the endnotes, the Chet’i-Minei are not even read in orthodox liturgy, which Miusov and his learned French friend are evidently unaware of.

There’s something to be said here about getting one’s knowledge of a culture through a source who has studied it academically but is an outsider coming from a perspective of superiority, which probably all of us have been guilty of to some degree. Miusov is Russian, but he has spent so little time in Russia that he admits ignorance of his own culture’s religious practises, and takes as an authority this foreign academic who has “made a special study of statistics about Russia” and “lived in Russia for a long time,” and was apparently telling this story over dinner for a laugh.

Even after all this, Zosima addresses Fyodor “with a merry countenance.” There’s no judgment or offence. He really does practise this active love that he preaches.

And Fyodor again responds with buffoonery. It seems to be the only response he’s really capable of. I did laugh out loud at, “Pyotr Alexandrovich, you are the most important man left—for the next ten minutes.” (P&V)

I feel like there’s a lot more to say especially about the elder’s words, but even in my fourth reading I’m not entirely up to articulating it yet. So this is what I’ve got.

#tbk 2.2 #the brothers karamazov #tbk book club #keeping up with the karamazovs

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