#People calling you out on your shitty behavior doesn't mean they want you dead or homeless

[fuckhouse2theelectricboogaloo]

Not Shep related but Jesus tap dancing chirst Curio 😭

[tac-the-unseen]

What the Lost boys think about vampire related media

Fluff, x reader but just barely

•While making conversation with your four Vampire lovers you were suddenly plagued with a question.

“How do you guys feel about vampire related media?”

-That question was an immediate head turner. The cave goes dead quite before Dwayne speaks up, “Well…vampires are in hiding so…”

-This sparks a conversation about how media representation of vampires may not be accurate, but that's a good thing. “If a book or movie comes out and it is shockingly accurate to what being a vampire is really like, the creator isn't going to last long.” David explained

-That's because there's a set of rules vampires have to follow and one of those rules is to never publicly reveal your double life identity

-”If something like that comes out, that means a vampire has broken that rule OR somebody knows vampires very closely and is creating media they know shouldn't exist.”

-Turns out if a vampire breaks that rule it's basically open season to kill and destroy their creations.

•You turn the conversation and begin to ask how they, specifically, feel about certain vampire representation

•Bram Stoker's Dracula

-Dwayne is the first to buy in his opinion.

-Dwayne feels that while it is a cult classic and well written, The characters are exceedingly dumb.

-”Johnathan spends a ridiculous amount of time talking about other characters ‘Breasts’ and trying to figure out why his host climbs walls ‘like a lizard's.”

-David is the next one to speak up

-David thinks it's not really worth the read

-”Unless you're trying to brag to people there's no point in reading it.”

-”Also why was Mina talking to that old sailor so much?”

-Paul laughs as he remembers “how fucking crazy he wrote Dracula to be”

-”I'm pretty sure the real Dracula thinks it's a heinous crime against him”

-Paul hasn't read it but have heard enough about it to know even the more obscure references

-Marko comments on the graceful writing style and the beautiful descriptions

-”I've only read it because Dwayne thought I would like it"

-Marko also loves how oblivious Jonathan and most of the other characters are

-All of them think the movie adaptation is hilarious and love the shitty special effects

•Interview with a vampire

-Paul chimes in immediately

-”God it's so homo erotic it hurts…in a good way.”

-Paul thinks its a nice horror novel mixed with a weird cozy atmosphere

-Dwayne thinks it's another well written classic and He actually begins to rave about all the themes involved within Anne Rice’s work

-”It's a beautiful Gothic thriller with a deep, sadly comedic energy.”

-He even offers to read it too you sometime

-Marko chimes in quickly about “Claudia’s rebellious behavior and persona”

-”imagine watching your family choose somebody else over you. It's so deeply upsetting but to an understandable level.”

-”I would have hated to turn so young. I look like a teenager and other people can respect that to a certain point. But being five years old with the mind of an adult, No one would respect you.”

-Marko relates to Claudia on an internal level and loves unraveling her character. When you ask why he quickly responds "Some people call me a cherub... You think I enjoy that?"

-David says he doesn't have much to say other than it was a decent read (That's his version of a compliments)

•Twilight

-All of them agree that it's laughably horrendous

-Almost immediately at the same time they say “This is the skin of a killer Bella”

-This leads to banshee like laughter

David speaks up immediately

-”Why do you humans want us to sparkle so bad?”

-”I personally hate the idea of being a walking disco ball, but to each their own.”

-Marko chimes in quickly

-”Would you like it if we sparkled?” He asked while leans on you affectionately

-Marko thinks the only reason to read it is to have a nice laugh

-”Why did Edward have such a violent reaction of Bella standing by a fan? That makes no sense…like I have mates and I enjoy the smell of you guys but…I'm not nearly clawing off my face at your smell”

-”Yeah yeah, I get he's trying not to overreact but running out of class to get away is crazy.”

-Paul even adds that even thought it's very dumb even he can appreciate the message it's trying to said.

-”something something, coming over adversary, something something, love wins, something something..”

-”Also that Jacob imprinting on Bella's infant daughter is super fucking creepy.”

-when you asked Dwayne about his feels he scoffed and said It's insulting at best and borderline sexual harassment at worst.

-He refused to go into depth

•You thank them for humoring you and they tell you that it's no problem

-David kisses the side of your head in an uncharacteristically soft way “We don't ever mind answering your vampire related question.” He tells you

-Marko turns to you “But seriously do you want us to sparkle?”

-”I think I have some roll on body glitter somewhere..” Paul says while getting up to look for it

Thanks for reading <3

[desperatemeasures-if]

✶ DEMO (TBA) ✶

It's always the picture-perfect days that end the shittiest...

You had finally been having a good day after a horrible week-- nice weather, good company, and you got your manager off your ass-- but you should have known that was only the calm before the storm. A storm that completely rips apart not only your life but that of your family-- not the ones related by blood, you had given up on them long ago, but the people that had taken you in and given you a home. The Vipers, the most reputable gang in the Northside of Riverwood, and the only family you had left.

The boss is dead... We have no leads.

A single message had completely turned your life on its head. The man that had singlehandedly saved you from yourself, from ending up face down in a gutter, was dead. You don't hesitate in volunteering to help hunt down his killer-- not if it meant protecting your family and avenging his death. Even if it means calling on your biggest rivals for help or getting assisted by an over-eager detective.

Desperate times called for desperate measures...

Desperate Measures is rated 18+ for explicit language, sexual themes, drug and alcohol use, violence, intense interrogations, blood, questionable behavior, and more.

✶ Features ✶ Character Intros (WIP) ✶

Customize your MC: appearance, parts of your personality, segments of your background, hobbies, vices, and more! Do you have what it takes to avenge the death of your mentor? Do you have a nickname that's specific to the Vipers?

While you're investigating make sure you maintain contact with your gang, and don't forget that you have a job. Even if it is just at a shitty cafe.

Romance is definitely something that is offered and will bring insightful moments to characters that may otherwise remain an enigma to you. Or, of course, you can strike up a friendship with them!

Find a killer and either take justice into your own hands, allow someone else to do it, or follow the law!

✶ The ROs ✶

Heather Grant ✶ She/Her ✶ 29 ✶

The Heiress of Riverwood Royalty, the Grant Family, and one of the only people that could offer assistance with the investigation-- with her limitless amount of resources and the fact that the Grant Family seemed to own all of Riverwood. The only problem? She absolutely hates the Vipers. Will you be able to come to some sort of middle ground?

Special Aspects: Enemies-to-Lovers, but will you be able even to blame her for her hatred in the end?

Damien Frost ✶ He/Him ✶ 29 ✶

A recently promoted detective within the RPD. A man that's been assigned the case, either out of pity or malevolence, you aren't quite sure, but Detective Frost isn't one to give up, even when all the odds seem to be stacked against him. In fact, he seems to have a penchant to appear wherever you are, and he doesn't seem to mind at all that he's working alongside criminals. He simply wants to get the crime solved. Is it only because he wishes to prove himself? Or is it something more?

Special Aspects: Law Enforcement Officer with a Gangster... Need I say more?

Stephen/Stephanie Matthews ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 27 ✶

Stephen/Stephanie, or simply Stevie, is someone you know you can count on no matter what. They'd as easily offer you their last beer as they would knife someone in the gut to protect you. Your best friend since you joined the Vipers, being the one that had trained you after your initiation, it's no surprise that they join you on the hunt for the killer.

Special Aspects: Best Friends to Lovers

Gabriel/Gabriella DeLuca ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 28 ✶

The other half of your motley crew within the Vipers. Gabby is known for a multitude of things within the Northside, being a jack of all trades when it comes to their skills, but their true trademark is the sea of broken hearts they've left in their wake. With a disarming smile and devil-may-care attitude, it isn't hard to understand how someone could be pulled into their axis. It's just escaping it unscathed that's the challenge.

Special Aspects: Have the option to be friends with benefits, or simply friends, and see how that could influence the possible romance to come.

Leon/Lena Prince ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 28 ✶

The one person you wouldn't wish to run into within Riverwood-- having completely destroyed your relationship with them; possibly breaking their heart in the process. You haven't heard much about them since you left the Southside, but learning about them taking over the rival gang of the Vipers? Your week just couldn't get any better, could it?

Special Aspects: Exes-to-Rivals-to-Friends-to-Lovers (once more). Will you be able to build back the trust you lost?

[touchoffleece]

Very well broken down. I have been focused on other things, and just ran into the supposed suicide attempt (2 people who are aware of James Somerton's irl contact info have stated He is not dead, and there's nothing to worry about) but this is basically what popped up into my head when I heard. He has a history of lying, and trying to twist facts to make himself the victim, and then using the sympathies of well meaning or naive internet users to form defense mobs (he's done this when smaller users called out his plagiarism or problematic behavior in the past, shown in HBomberguy's video). He's tried to downplay and excuse his action 2 times now since he was exposed by Toddintheshadows and HBomberguy only to fail in making himself the victim once again, and getting rightfully called out on his shitty behavior. So what better way to get the ultimate "I'm the victim here, and you should be feeling sorry for me and feeling guilty."-move than to set up a suicide and make a final spectacle of it, leaving the people who exposed your lying and cheating to be framed as bad guys lacking context. Whether there was an actual attempt or not doesn't really matter in my opinion. What matters more is why, if Somerton truly felt sorry and regret, why did he choose for the Nth time to make himself the victim from actions he himself had done for years and continue(-ed/-s) to do, even after his alleged passing? It really sucks that we have to be critical of someone saying they are suicidal, but this is one of those rare psycho pathic situations regarding a compulsive liar, with no shame that uses well meaning people as shields and swords against people he views as "aggressors/bullies". A lot of people may want to dumb this down to simple black and white terms; but the truth is Psychology does not work like that and this can't be so easily explained or categorized. The hard truth is: People like James are and should be treated as exceptions to normal forms of empathy and forgiveness

I wanna be blunt about this ongoing James somerton suicide threat issue but I don't want to connect it to my IRL Twitter to comment on the dogshit takes I'm seeing there or the good and well meaning but maybe too kind takes I'm seeing here.

Obviously, I hope that this is a false alarm cry for help fake threat. Yes, it would reinforce that Somerton is a self-centered egomaniac who can't handle consequences but that's preferable to dead.

But I work in local news and let me tell you something. I've covered half a dozen family annihilating murder suicides and heard hundreds of men making suicide threats over police scanners and a huge swath of these don't happen because they're depressed or because people are mean to them on the Internet. They're punishment. A person with an enormous amount of entitlement towards people around them gets backed into a corner and they punish the people closest to them by killing themselves or threatening to kill themselves.

No one wants to talk about this feature of suicide because...you want to help people who are struggling and guide them away from this path and being blunt about the fact that sometimes people die of suicide as a consequence of their own shittiness towards the world does not really help actively suicidal people. But suicide rates are higher in men not just because they have higher rates of untreated mental illness (a societal issue we must address for the sake of all) but because some people, often men, use suicide (but more often the threat of suicide) as a tool of abuse and control.

I'm not saying somerton is like, an icky abuser bad guy, he's just a run of the mill grifter scumbag, but his actions in the past show a clear pattern of escalating behavior that aligns with this.

Somerton gets called out -> somerton alleges physical threats of violence against himself and his fans rally around him supportively -> Harry calls somerton out in a bigger way -> Somerton says he's hospitalized but there are inconsistencies with the story but no one wants to talk about that because you wanna be nice-ish about a guy who just tried to kill himself and now he's trying to be framed as tragic but it doesn't really stick -> somerton apologizes again but his apology is rightly called out for lies and manipulative framing as well as his continuing attempts to profit off the community he betrayed -> James posts a suicide note publicly putting the onus of his own suicide on the loss of his friend Nick who he repeatedly threw under the bus and now everyone is rallying to say nice-ish shit and wring their hands in concern over poor james -> indefinitely repeat this vicious cycle forever until he actually does die or finally gives up and gets real, intensive therapy and a day job.

Thats not to say anyone's concern is misplaced, it's 100% better for him to be a living scumbag than a dead one. He deserves the chance to grow and learn and have a life outside of youtube.

But you don't have to portray this as the action of a sad depressed man who got bullied off the Internet. It's manipulation, whether he intended to go through with it or not and whether someone intervened or not. Not denying that internet bullying is a thing, I'm sure there were some people who were shitty directly to James but he made the choice to not unplug from this and to try and keep being a public figure rather than taking care of himself. He could have deleted Twitter, blocked anyone who was an asshole, gone to therapy and tried to move on with his life but if he'd deleted his channel he'd have lost monetization... Can't have that, right? So he posts some apology videos so his channel stays active and then complains about how ruinous this is while never trying to take real accountability.

But the reality is that people would have forgotten about him so quickly and maybe his job prospects would've been impacted but...that's on him, and that's for him to figure out but it's not actually life ruining. He chose to continue to engage knowing he'd get backlash and hate and he'd feel worse and worse and things would never get better without the time and space for people to forget.

He made the choice to make a public spectacle of his own alleged suicide. That is the action of someone who wants to put the weight of their suicide on someone else's shoulders and is morally wrong. He can be held to account for that, alive or dead.

[bkdk-art]

Endeavor's and Katsuki's way of atoning

Smth that has been going on in my mind for a while now and I know I'm late to the party since the manga is way past the Endeavor agency- and the Izuku-left-UA-arc but I gotta get if off my chest.

I've read a lot of analysis about similarities but especially differences between Endeavor and Katsuki, so I won’t point them out here. I'd rather continue with smth I don't think anyone else has pointed out yet (?).

In Episode 18 of Season 5 or in the manga chapter 252 Natsuo was kidnapped by that arrow-quirk-villain and while trying to rescue his own damn son Endeavor just stopped in his ways, later explaining he was afraid that if he saved him, Natsuo wouldn't be able to speak his mind freely anymore. Like??? Okay then?? Just let him die, seems to be the better option for you, Todoroki Enji AKA No. 1 Hero. And I know some will say he had faith in the three musketeers to save the day but let me remind you that Endeavor was surprised by their improvement!! So I don't think he hesitated in a strategic or calculated way but rather in a self-centered, egoistic one. And I cannot even begin to explain how much this makes me despise Endeavor, risking Natsuo's life like that.

Whereas, remembering chapter 285, Katsuki's "body just moved on its own" when Izuku was about to get stabbed. “There were no thoughts" like – yes! Exactly! I mean, Katsuki also could have had a thought process like "If I risk my life for the nerd, he will have no choice but to forgive me for my bullying, even if I don't deserve it" or something like that. But he didn't! Because all of that doesn't matter if the person in question might be freaking dead at the end of the day!

Man, Endeavor’s behavior in that episode/chapter pisses me off for so many other reasons like telling Natsuo he doesn't want his forgiveness. Yeah well, you sure don't deserve it but it may be a start to freaking apologize, like truly apologizing – which Katsuki did btw. Katsuki too, said that he doesn't expect things to change between him and Izuku but he apologized nonetheless because that's what you do if you screwed up.

And at the end of the episode when Endeavor decides to separate himself from the rest of the household, saying this is his way of atoning and guys, I can't keep up with his bs! He's turning away from them without even properly facing them!!! When he damn well knows that Fuyumi e.g. wishes for them to be a family again. Yes, sir, your kids and one son in particular are hard on you, calling you out for your abuse – as they should! – so you just give up after only two shitty dinners??? Of course there won’t be any forgiveness after such a short period of time. And this pisses me off so much because Shoto told him that he’d like to see how he would perform as a father and yet? Endeavor runs away after a few ugly confrontations with Natsuo.

And again, smth Katsuki managed to do – he stayed close to Izuku, really trying to help him out. And yes, I know, Izuku never pushed him away, in fact, ever but still, Katsuki is really putting effort into their relationship, not needing other people pushing him into doing so. He is in fact atoning.

Endeavor is just running away, not really thinking about his family or taking them into account, not truly trying to change. He's not making it about making it up to them but rather making it about how he can punish himself. Self-centered as usual.

Sometimes I wonder if Hori did the Natsuo-Endeavor-scene exactly that way, with Katsuki listening, so that Katsuki would be inspired to be nothing like him. Especially with the parallel of both of them talking about their former behavior in front of others but with the HUGE difference of Katsuki putting Izuku first.

Well. Where was I going with this? Originally this was supposed to be a Katsuki-redemption-appreciation-post, showing in comparison to Endeavor how many things Katsuki has gotten right but it kinda ended up pointing out how Endeavor just keeps fucking shit up.

Hope you're fine with that and sorry for not including any screenshots.

[limelocked]

I think the reason people love to say that c!ranboo can do no wrong is that there's this idea of moral purity being the only thing you can enjoy going around. like, it's ironically starting to corrupt fandom spaces cuz no one wants to get canceled, or be called toxic, or have to defend themselves, or get involved in discourse for liking "problematic" things.

(and I put problematic in quotation marks because.... its fictional media. the only thing I will label as problematic are people who are affecting real life people. so.... the moral purists in this case)

the idea that out faves MUST be good is poisoning fandom in two ways. the first is that people start avoiding/bashing content for a certain character. in this case, we'll say philza and techno. I constantly see bad takes for their characters and those that don't have bad takes generally don't watch these people anymore because fandom has ruined those characters for them, regardless of whether these takes are true or not.

(newsflash, they're not lol)

the second way is that people want to continue to enjoy those characters, so they ignore certain traits of a character or push the blame on someone else. for this fandom this means, generally, the minors of the server (esp since people are now seeing purpled in the rp). all of their shitty behavior is being either ignored (tubbos expirementation on ranboo anyone? who manipulated him into doin that??) or blamed on dream (oh, its okay, the dream voice is dream because he's manipulating ranboo)

so, to the fandom, its okay to like a character that's "problematic." you're not a bad person, you don't need to jump through hoops to justify a characters actions. because these people aren't real. you're not supporting blowing up houses, or being toxic, or slaughtering a country. dark fiction (which the dsmp honestly barely overlaps with, these things are NOTHING in the grand scheme of fiction) has always existed for a reason.

your favorite character is not perfect and that's okay. they're supposed to be that way, it's what makes them feel real. because people aren't perfect either. and if we can't accept that our fiction doesn't have to be pure, how can you accept that people aren't either?

the rot of all fandom is here as mold as well which is kinda sad, honestly been in denial about it while still recognizing that the same beast just keeps rearing its dumb fucking head over and over again, cancel culture isnt dead, just dormant, and its influenced the way we consume media still, tragically

those last two lines slap hard too tiny, honestly you deserve so much clout for this essay

[flyingcookierambles]

Uuugfdhheahehehwhshsvshdheje

last night at dinner my sister's new conspiracy theorist boyfriend started talking about his mental health history and about his anxiety and stuff and how Cognitive Behavior Therapy helped him and how he stopped taking his anxiety and depression meds because he figured that it was all in his head so he just had to think his way through it. Plus he doesn't think that there's enough research on depression pills. And I'm just like. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAA

Like yeah depression ans anxiety sick and wow good for you for finding a good therapist that works for you and congrats on not needing medication to overcome your issues but the way he worded it + knowing about his family's background of being super religious and anti-vax makes me worry s lot bc I know that this guy is going to convince my sister that all mental issues can be solved by CBT and people should stop taking medication and stuff. Like. He is really convinced that he will be helping people with this advice. And he seems to mean well and all but like just because something worked for you doesn't mean that it will work for everyone. Yeah maybe some people don't need to take medication but others do. Maybe some people can use CBT techniques to overcome their mental illnesses and sometimes it doesn't work on others. Like. YOU NEED TO WORD THINGS CAREFULLY. I TOOK ACTUAL CLASSES IN COLLEGE ON MEDIA LITERACY AND WRITING SCIENCE FOR THE PUBLIC. YOU HAVE TO WORD THINGS CAREFULLY.

my idiot immature impressionable 21 year old younger sister hates reading and when she does read she reads basic romantic YA published Wattpad stories like After and stuff. she only watches shitty Netflix teen romcoms and CW shows. She literally didn't know the difference between County, country, and continent. This new guy who probably gets his information from some blog or forum that also features theories on why sandy hook was fake and why Bigfoot is real is like. 28 or 29 years old.

UDHEHWHWEJWJSJDJEJEHSJDJENWNWNDNDJEKEKFKFKRELSLFKFNEWNJWWK I HATE IT HERE

Like yeah maybe CBT will help with some of my sister's issues but there are other issues that she faces that her white cis het boyfriend doesn't that CBT can't just fix. In high school her class was awful and racist and called her things like dog eater and zipper head and chink even tho we are the whitest Chinese American in town thanks to our white parents and transracial adoption and ive read that CBT doesn't help with external factors much like racism. You can't just rationalize that stuff away or think that it's all in your head for external issues like that. UUUGFJHSHAAHWHAHWJEHSJSKSZK ripping my hair out jsjssjdjsjsjsndbajakskdkdk

The weird thing too is that the new boyfriend said that during his younger years he was surrounded by a lot of child death?? He got scared by watching House the TV show or something too? HOw you can go from wanting to stay health and not die to being distrustful of doctors and scientists who are trying to keep you alive is frankly insane to me.

ONCE AGAIN I HATE IT GET ME OUT OF HERE I DON'T WANT THIS CRAZY ANTI-SCIENCE THOUGHTS IN MY HOUSE WHEN I'M LITERALLY A STEM MAJOR (not that it worked out but you know) AND HAVE MADE MULTIPLE BIOLOGY AND PRE-MED FRIENDS IN COLLEGE AJDJDJWJWJSJSHWHAHSHEHEHSHDHDJEEJSJDBDBEBCIFORPWWMDBRBWUDIFBRBEWJXIFKRNWBSJFKRNEBSDJ CRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGEEEEEEE HELP

ugh it they have kids and those kids get like. Idk. Polio or small pox or something bc he convinced my sister to not have them vaccinated and they end up in an iron lung or dead or whatever I'm just going to be like. Your brought this on yourself for believing some random internet stranger named Gary or something instead of a professionally trained person.

[woodchipp]

@erogurox

He's cowardly.

Cowardly characters still need to be rootable for.

But the point of omori is he does. He faces his feelings, his guilt, his trauma, he tries to fix it. He tells people what happened after he's barely convinced to leave his house.

as I, someone who was homeschooled and never left the house, didnt know how to confront or deal with feelings. How do you deal with social situations when you're so utterly terrified of letting a lie from four years ago slip? I was like sunny with my own secrets my friends didn't know. I didn't know social shit.

Such personal anecdotes have little place when it comes to character analyses and/or discussions like this, as they often tend to color one's perception of the character in a biased way.

If your argument is (or is largely predicated on) "you can't criticize the character because they're just like me fr fr", you have no argument.

it was a complete accident

It wasn't.

he's stupid, he doesn't know what a fucking lemon is,

Now that is a new one.

Stupidity doesn't grant you an examption from criticism.

He was in a state of shock when basil came to help him and he let basil do whatever because they both weren't thinking clearly.

His reaction to seeing Mari's hanged corpse upon snapping out of his fugue state is feeling "at peace", though.

basil is also at fault for not correcting behavior and calling for help,

I never denied that Basil's at fault too lol. In fact, I have my own issues with how laughable his cover-up is. Thing is, he's not as contemptible as Sunny - covering up Mari's murder was the worst thing he did, and him stabbing Sunny's eye out has an understandable explanation (i.e. his psychotic breakdown). Most importantly, Basil wouldn't have felt the need to intervene were it not for Sunny in the first place.

Sunny himself, however, shows a rather consistent pattern of asshole behavior the game doesn't provide any explanations for.

but opting to have sunny keep it a secret. Sunny didn't choose for it to be a secret, basil did.

That implies Basil coerced Sunny into keeping silent about the actual reason Mari died, which is completely false - Sunny chose to keep it a secret because he didn't want his friends to stop loving him.

He's going to make mistakes and be immature because he was twelve

A 12-year-old would not feel "at peace" upon seeing his relative's dead body.

I'll keep spamming this until you all stop using the "he's 12" argument.

He acknowledged his fuck up, and he tries to fix it.

Him telling the truth does not outweigh the myriad of shitty things he did. Or what, am I supposed to applaud him for basic decency?

He is just facing his trauma in the game after nearly half a decade of escapism.

And, again, we circle back to my question - why should I root for him to do that? He does nothing of note that would make me root for him over the course of the entire game. Your argument boils down to "You should root for him because he has trauma and he's just like me fr fr!", which are, as I've said, not solid arguments.

At least he helped kel get the gangs shit together.

He did not. He simply was There while other characters (Kel included) moved the plot. You could easily cut him out of most cutscenes in the town and nothing of value would be lost.

The truth is, Omori is about overcoming grief and loss,

He is not an extremely smart wizard that can conjure up perfect decisions in pressurising situations.

I love when people make up a guy to argue against instead of actually trying to understand my points.

It’s a fictional game, getting so hard-pressed over a little kid is kinda weird

If it's a "fictional game", he's not a "little kid". He's a fictional character. That means I'm free to talk about him however I please.

even if you dislike Omori, writing about it like this is sorta dramatic in my opinion.

Frankly, I could say the exact same thing about all the reviews, essays and analyses about how OMORI is flawless in every way possible.

I guess the reason why such a sentiment isn't applied to these people is that you like what they have to say :)

Alrighty, so since the user I reblogged earlier apparently doesn't want to engage in any conversation with the people they're lambasting, I'm making my reblog a separate post. I'm nothing if not willing to talk :)

learning to forgive yourself even after seeing the full weight of the consequences of your actions, and realizing that you can still be loved and relearn how to love despite everything

1) "forgive yourself" I am not Sunny, and Sunny is not me.

2) Why should I be inclined to forgive an unlikeable asshole who killed his own sister because he's too self-centered to consider her feelings, lied about it to his friends, did next to nothing to show he cares about them during the game's events (the only time he tries doing anything for anyone is when he stops Basil's suicide attempt, and even then he contemplated ditching him again as a legitimate option) and then left them after revealing he lied to them for the last 4 years while bitching about how hard it is for him to live with the guilt?

Why should I root for him? I'd love to hear a reason other than "He has trauma!" or "He's the protagonist!" or "His love for his friends is shown via the dream world he has in his head!" or an ad hominem attack.

overcoming grief and realizing the world still moves on, with or without you, whether or not you think it's fair or if you blame yourself

OMORI isn't a game about overcoming the grief of a loss. It is a game about a character who's grapping with the well-earned guilt for taking another person's life and then lying about it. Those are quite different things.

Such an argument would've been applicable had Mari actually turned out to have killed herself.

You still have responsibility over your actions, and everything you do still matters,

Which is why the gang's reactions to what Sunny's done didn't matter enough for the game to show them, I suppose.

You still can change people's lives for the better or worse even if you think you aren't worth a second thought.

Sunny changed his friends' lives for the worse. And then he left.

I really enjoy this game can you tell.

Good for you! Doesn't mean others can't point out the main character is a nasty piece of shit and the writing has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, though.

I do think some people need to retake basic literature classes or touch grass perhaps

How classy. Is it because "some people" are not reading the game the way you want them to? :)

Look. You're well within your right to shove your fingers into your ears and go "lalalala I'm not listening!" when someone tries to explain their point of view to you and you don't like it. But you can't criticize people for different opinions when you refuse to listen to any explanations.

[western-magical-girl-confessions]

capslock, bold, giant font, assuming all anons are one anon bullying you... I am very uncomfortable right now. I've seen blogs use tigger warning and tw for easily triggered losers and other shit like that before, that's why I said it wasn't funny. but that doesn't make assuming I'm trying to bully you/all your anons are one angry person bullying you rational or logical. I'm sorry I upset you but this feels like a disproportionate response to wanting pedophilia to have a trigger warning.

…your right. 

Your absolutely right, and I want to apologize.

Let me just explain things a little. I hope you guys understand.

It’s just lately, I’ve been getting anon hate ever since people been sending in more anti C@tradora/C@tra centered confessions. First it started off with anon hate, like calling me a “shitty bully” or saying that “my blog sucks”. So, I decided to ask why. Now, I’m not sure if this next anon was the same anon, but they claimed that they weren’t. However, they claimed by allowing said confessions on this blog, that it “took the fun out of this blog”. 

So, I tried to make a fair compromise. I stated until further notice, I won’t allow any anti C@tra/C@tradora confessions, because it was “beating a dead horse” (even though now I think it would just simply be easier to ban anti C@tra/C@tradora confessions that directly talk about its fandom). 

Unfortunately though, I admittedly broken my own rule, so I got a response for it. However, even though I said that it won’t happen again, I also stated that said confessions will eventually return to this blog. So because I said this, afterwards, I still got some anon hate about it. Then the “minor se**ting” accusation ask came up, and of course, I got offended. People asked me to tag it, I mistakenly tagged it and...you know the rest....

The point that I’m trying to make is, I just been confused, stressed and frustrated of these anons sending me hate and I believe this caused me to make accusations that all of said anons are the same anons. And for that, I’m really sorry. 

As the “tigger warning” thing, that was truly an error on my part. 

I didn’t mean to do that, I swear. I understand completely that people just want the proper tagging for things that will trigger them, and I do NOT in any way confuse this as anon hate. Sorry for not making that clearer. I also want to admit that I have been stressed and bothered by real life things at the moment. I know it’s not an excuse, but this could’ve been what sent me “over the edge” a little bit. 

I really want to apologize to you two and to anyone who saw my response. What I’m probably going to end up doing now and here on out is disabling anon to avoid this problem. I will still create confessions anonymously of course, but I’ll just know who the users are, but that’s ok! No one else but me will!

I’ve already put the proper trigger warning already. Let’s just put this behind us, ok? And again, I’m sorry for the accusations and my immature behavior. If you don’t feel comfortable with being involved with this blog anymore, I completely understand. I just hope to learn from this in the future and do things better.

If anyone has any more concerned or questions, let me know.

Please, stay magical!

[overdrivels]

The Hanzo-disliking anon here. I would have actually preferred discussing this w/ you privately but I prefer to be on anon for the whole "doesn't like a beloved popular character" thing. The reason I don't like Hanzo is how he seems to have the audacity to act like the offended party with Genji when he's the one who did wrong. It's not even that he doesn't realize he did wrong. He abandoned his clan due to guilt. I can't for the life of me understand what appears to be his victim complex. (1/2)

(2/2) He goes around calling Genji “trash” to his face in the Japanese version of OW for goodness’ sake. That Genji is dead to him and stuff. It could be that he feels Genji betrayed him by refusing to join the Shimada business or that he feels like his redemption quest has been for nothing, but those are terrible reasons and don’t excuse his shitty behavior. I’ve been trying to think of what the writers are trying to go for with him, but I just can’t imagine anything that justifies his attitude

(3/2 I miscalculated 2 asks aren’t enough) I hope I didn’t come off as a jerk. I have no issue with people who like Hanzo and I don’t want to disrespect or undermine them. I’m just irritated at how self-entitled the character seems to be. The reason I actually brought this up with you is bc I was hoping you’d have some insights on this that will help me understand why he’s the way he is.

You’ve been very respectful in the way you express your opinions and well articulated in your reasons, so I’m actually extremely happy that you’ve presented this to me and feel comfortable enough to share. (You have no fucking clue how pleased I am to have a discussion like this, really.)

This is rather long (very long), so I’m placing this under a cut. To everyone else, please be mindful of each other’s opinions, especially when it’s being conveyed so civilly. Understandably, if you are of the opposite opinion, you may feel angered, but I ask that you refrain from attacking anyone and if need be, present your opinion and thoughts in the same manner as this anon.

(I also ask that this doesn’t get reblogged because I don’t think I can handle my inbox getting wrecked by people who weren’t initially a part of the conversation or know the context of the entire discussion leading up to this.)

I’d be happy to discuss it with you on chat or something, but as it is, this’ll have to work. I’m going to preface this by saying that Hanzo doesn’t need to be (shouldn’t need to be?) justified as a character because sometimes, a character does shitty things and that shittiness (shittyness?) needs to be acknowledged and not justified for any reason because there’s no good enough explanation.

(I’m sure we’ve all experienced or done something like that in real life–did something so inexcusable without proper explanation, but there really isn’t one, and we have to accept it as is.)

I think it’s easy to look at the singular action of Hanzo killing Genji in a vacuum. Based on that singular event alone, and seeing how Hanzo acts afterward, it’s very easy to paint him as an asshole whose actions are inexcusable and he doesn’t deserve to claim that he’s the one who is hurt. In which case, absolutely. He should not act like he’s been wronged when he’s the one who started it.

But what if we start further?  

I want to look at the cause and what could’ve led up to it. Not to justify it, but to see where this could’ve come from. It’s my own opinion, but I think that people are very used to writers having their characters as is–no background unless it’s relevant to the plot, no thought of what sort of life they’ve lead up to this point, and is presented as a given. However, I see that the Overwatch team has put some effort into characters (the level of effort can be debatable, but I’m not interested in debating that), so I want to show some level of respect to the writers by trying to dig a little deeper into where, why, how–who is this character?

And I think a lot of it may have come from Hanzo’s circumstance, his relations with his brother, and his past. To understand it, we have to take a deeper look into Japanese culture (or Asian culture, in general). Now, I can’t claim that I have a complete understanding of anything, so a lot of this is just what I know (and perhaps experiences) and some speculation and logical deductions.

In life, Genji was given a freedom that Hanzo, as the eldest and the heir to a criminal syndicate, never truly enjoyed. That isn’t to say, however, that Genji didn’t have his own fair share of troubles. 「一族の恥」(ichizoku no haji)、the clan’s shame/the embarrassment of the clan is what they called him. We can leave the discussion about Genji for another day, but let’s look at how this affects Hanzo.

So from birth and even after his father’s death, he was held to a strict standard. Everyone was watching him. He was chosen by the dragons. He must not make a mistake lest he bring shame to his entire family.

In Japanese culture (and Asian culture), losing face is probably one of the worst things that could happen to you. In Western culture, it’s not that big of a deal if you embarrass yourself a little or you’re not as successful or you don’t have the respect of your subordinates. People will tease you about it, and move on.

In Asian culture, you’re pretty much fucked. No one will let you forget it, it becomes a part of you now. You will lose the respect of everyone around you, and depending on the level of face you lose, every piece of success you’ve built up can be lost in a second. It is an integral part of your identity and society. Losing face could make you a nobody, scorned, and an outcast. It can affect your job, your family, relations with neighbors, cost you that raise or promotion–it’s a big deal that cannot be contained to the words, ‘embarrassment’ or ‘shame’.

(For example: you’re at someone’s house and you’ve finished off your glass of juice, but you’re still thirsty, so you reach for more from the fridge. You’ve now made the host lose face because, by getting your own drink, you’ve shown your host that they suck at what they do and should be more attentive to you, their guest. You’ve made your host lose face. Now your host is embarrassed and that’s going to be a mark on them for a long, long time. If there were other people there, they would notice this, too, and give that person shit. This sounds absolutely silly because it’s a glass of juice, but it’s a big deal.)

Hanzo was losing face. He couldn’t control his brother. That’s a deep scar on his image, on everything he’s built up in his life. For Sojiro, his father, it was less of a deal–he let Genji do it and probably made it openly known that this was acceptable. And no one will go against Sojiro, the master of the clan and who could have them all killed in an instant.

But Hanzo?

He doesn’t have that rapport yet, so he’s subject to the scorn and nasty comments of his elders and the like. (I’m assuming there are elders and those in the clan who are of a high power that Hanzo cannot take action without consulting. It’s kind of like a Japanese company. While a President delivers the decision, the decision isn’t made it without consulting those who are affected and knowledgeable.) He can’t defend himself against them. 

Why? 

Because of the hierarchy. There’s a very specific type of hierarchy in Japan that’s difficult to explain because to understand it, you have to understand the intricacies of the culture and the dynamic of the clan, which we don’t particularly have.

(There’s a very good post about it by someone about Hanzo losing face on tumblr, but I can’t seem to find it at the moment.)

Regardless, that must’ve built up a lot of tension and repressed anger that he wasn’t allowed to express. Expressing your anger is not taken the same way as in the Western world. It’s…well, not to say it’s not acceptable, but it’s not taken the same way as it would be outside of Japan.

So, Hanzo has quite a bit on his plate. Why can’t Genji just do what he’s told? Why does he have to stand out? (As a side note, standing out in Japanese culture or disrupting the status quo is not looked kindly upon.There’s even a saying in Japanese: a nail that stands out gets hammered ( 出る杭は打たれる ).) So Genji’s defiance is another point of contention. Why does he have to keep disobeying his elders? Hanzo is Genji’s older brother. It’s his absolute responsibility to make sure his brother is kept in line. That’s the burden of being the eldest. If Genji isn’t in line, Hanzo has failed in his basic duties in being an older brother. (The implications are much more serious, and I’m not quite sure how to express it.)

He may be acing his studies, and listening to his father, but he can’t seem to exert the right amount of authority over those who should be listening to him. And his father isn’t helping by letting Genji do what he wants. He also has this constant pressure to do better because his best isn’t enough from both his family and the clan. Logically, they wouldn’t follow someone who is weak or doesn’t have his shit in order. But he doesn’t. There’s always something tripping him up, and that’s his brother. Not to blame Genji, because again, he has his own share of troubles, but from Hanzo’s point of view, he was likely the source of a lot of his resentment.

In short, Hanzo is a failure. His accomplishments, his perfectionism, none of it means anything if he’s constantly getting shit thrown back at his face.

I seriously believe that all the lines he says in-game to himself such as, “Never second best,” or “Unworthy,” or “You will never amount to anything!” were all just Hanzo projecting.

In the Japanese version, he refers to Genji as 「くず」 (trash). I don’t know what to make of this. I could take the angle that it’s Hanzo projecting onto Genji still, or I could speculate that he truly believes he’s superior, or take it a little more neutrally, he’s repeating what everyone else calls Genji. But if I had to guess, it’s a mixture of everything. This is something that stumps me a little bit, but the above is the best explanation I have for it.

When Hanzo becomes the master of the clan, he was probably told to put Genji in line. And Genji didn’t want anything to do with the clan. He wanted to live his life, enjoy it. But that sort of enjoyment came with certain responsibilities that he has shirked since the time of their father. But with Hanzo as the new leader of the clan, he had to put Genji in line or…do something about it.

It’s very likely that the rest of the clan saw this as an opportunity to make their name good, to get rid of those who stood out, to right everything. Their new leader is young and inexperienced without his father to protect him. So, Hanzo was presented with those two choices: straighten Genji out or kill him lest you bring more shame to the clan.

Now, Hanzo is given an opportunity to redeem himself and his image and the clan’s image. This goes beyond the redemption quest he set out for after Genji’s death. I think he was on one even before then. He can save face and fix everything if he listens to his elders (his betters in the hierarchy). He can fix everything if he can get rid of the problem–Genji.

He did it. He did not take an insult to his power passively, he rectified it by putting an end to it. He restored confidence in his clan as an assassin, as master of the clan, as his brother.

…but it wasn’t so.

After killing his brother, we all know he left the Shimada clan. We’re not sure if it was immediately after or some time after. The timing may be very significant, but as we do not readily know, we’ll skip over it for now. We can easily call his leaving an act of cowardice, or the result of his guilt, or that he wanted to do something he always wanted to do but never found an opportunity to do so. He wanted to leave. He wanted the freedom that Genji had, but couldn’t have because his immediate family still existed.

By leaving, he thought for himself for once.

Ah, not to mean that he was blindly following anyone’s orders or anything, but for once, he thought of himself. He was selfish. In Japanese culture, the collective comes first. The clan, the whole of Hanamura, the whole of society comes first.

But for once, Hanzo became selfish, and so, left everything behind. Here’s the funny thing though, by killing Genji, he found a way out for his freedom, but by killing Genji, he also managed to never fully express the envy and hate he may have had for his brother.

In many or most cultures, you’re supposed to revere the dead. It’s pretty much the same in Japanese culture.

Now he’s been mourning for ten years, still unable to express that hate that he has supposed buried when he killed his brother. And guess who shows up? Genji. Back to sling shit into his face again. Not only is he a failure as a brother for being unable to keep his brother in line, as the master of the clan by leaving, but also as a killer by having one of his most life-altering kills come back from the grave.

So, under such circumstances, I would absolutely be pissed beyond hell and vent in almost any way I can because pride is a fragile thing. Or at least, it is for Hanzo.

But here’s an interesting thought: I also wonder if he knew, deep down, that it would come to this. He didn’t seem entirely too surprised beyond the first few seconds. As a matter of fact, he seemed to have gone back to something more childish, acting almost immediately like a big brother–scolding his younger brother for something and telling him to get his life together. He slips into the role almost too easily.

We can chalk it up to shock, but couldn’t it be that he also knew he never actually dealt the finishing blow and that’s been nagging at him this whole time? Not that he gave his brother a chance to live, but that he let his brother suffer. If you’re going to kill someone you love, you’d make it quick and painless, right? We can argue that he never loved his brother, but we can also argue that he was warring with himself and couldn’t bring himself to do it.

I must sound like a broken record, but to me, it’s very interesting to speculate and think about. There are so many angles we can take on this and the possibilities are endless. But it could also be that his character could also be very simple broken down as an man who mistakenly thinks he is being wronged all the time.

But yes, your thoughts are valid and meaningful to me in a way that I can’t explain. They also gave me some perspective on why some people might not like him, and I really want to thank you for helping me expand my horizons. In light of that, I hope I’ve been able to articulate why he may be the way he is, whether he is justified in his behavior or not is a completely different story. I’m just interested in why.

(There was a lot more I would’ve love to elaborate on, but I think this would’ve actually turned into a research paper. I hope this has been helpful and sufficient in answering your questions even though it’s a little disorganized in its presentation. Again, it’s perfectly fine to dislike a character–not all characters are made to be liked, and not all people are expected to like all characters.)

[masterangst]

I totally agree with all of this. I hope you don't mind me adding on, that she was also hinted at being a villian from the beginning. They needed Lokis help to catch her. (But how did they not know it was her, yet she says they have been chasing her for a long time? Doesn't make sense. You'd think maybe Ravonna knew since she caught her the first time.)

She was literally shown killing minutemen. She bombed the timeline, which we never saw what the implications of that was. But whenever a timeline branched Hunter B15 had a overwhelming need to reset it. Does that mean all of those timelines were resetted too? Which means she forced all of those timelines to be erased without a blink of the eye.

That and she knew that the minutemen were Variants to begin with, but she killed them anyways. Violated their minds and left them for dead. "Friends" of Mobius and had been doing it for a long time, yet when Mobius is hugging Loki he says he likes HER more? Even though his whole job was to catch her, because she was KILLING their men. Through out the whole show, she's shown to be extremely manipulative to everyone around her, especially Loki. And when they find that house with the person who stayed behind, her first thought was to use violence or intimidation to get what she wants. Violence is always her first answer to everything. In the grocery store she made innocent people fight for her. Let's say if someone used full force on that person, they would surely die. Just because they are going to die anyways doesn't justify it.

Like already said, she refused to have a calm discussion and wanted to only kill, kill, kill, kill. Fight, fight, fight. Because that's the only thing she knows how to do. She doesn't care about saving the timeline. Or Loki. Or the other Variants. She cares about killing the man in charge of the TVA. Revenge for taking her and resetting her timeline. And maybe that was the only thing fueling her for so long so she didn't know how to let that go, but she also was told what would happen if she killed him. Which was to put so many timelines and people in danger. She doesn't care if people suffer the same as she has or worse. She wants her revenge and nothing else. That's not hero behavior. And that's fine.

People always deflect and say Loki has killed too or manipulated people too, but they are just trying to justify her shitty behavior. It's fine to like her, but most people seem to like a character that doesn't exist. If you like Sylvie you like a very rude, manipulative, abusive, extremely stubborn and extremely arrogant antagonist and that is fine. But it becomes an issue when you try to say she isn't those things, (with no real canon to prove it so its almost like when they say "you just don't like the show cus it doesn't live up to your headcanons" its more like they only like the show because they project their own headcanons) and try to make Loki look worse in the process. Not every action has to be justified, but her actions shouldn't be denied and constantly in comparison either.

In order to make her look good they made Loki look worse, and that's not how you make a good character by making everyone else worse. They put every effort into making her seem better than him at every turn. "Isn't about you" "If anyone is anyone, your me" "superior loki".

Maybe she could have been better if the show was consistent with its own canon and gave her an actual backstory, not a small snippet that was mostly for another character and have her background only hinted at. But I also know that if the tables were reversed and Loki behaved that way, everyone would be furious. They'd call him shitty. They would never let it go. His actions would be call out all the time. If she was in Lokis shoes, people would be FURIOUS! If she was stripped on screen and constantly humiliated and had a previous background that was altered or ignored for some comedic relief, people would have a different mindset. Imagine the last episode, but the roles reversed. Imagine all of the people saying that Loki was being blah blah blah They couldn't handle it. They'd go crazy. And why is it okay for Loki to be treated like that but not her?

Telling someone to shut up when they try to help is rude but it is not abuse. Betraying and trying to kill person close to you can be considered abuse. Just like Loki did to Thor multiple times.

I don't mean to be rude but this message is more of the same: it is impossible to discuss the things Sylvie has done because the discussion always deflects from her to someone else. "What about x, we've seen y doing worse, but z has done many other things too". It's always the same.

If you always need to deflect it's because what Sylvie has done is unjustifiable. It's that simple.

She doesn't just tell him to shut up. No, what she does is silence him and tell him in no uncertain terms that her life (her pain, her suffering, her experience) are more important than his. What she does is tell him to shut up because, despite telling him she wants him to speak his mind, she doesn't. She wants him to follow not to lead: his role is to support her and be there for her at all times. He's not allowed any agency, any opinions, he's not a person but a mere extension of Sylvie. And he's entirely submissive.

And for us as the audience, after having watched all previous movies, we know what that silence tactic can do to someone like him. And yet, it is only considered "slightly rude" and not a big deal? Was that needed at that point during the conversation? No, it wasn't. He wasn't pushing her, he was showing affection, not even saying a damn word because to quote Loki "it never made a difference". It is literally impossible to speak some sense into her because she's actively refusing to consider other people's opinions.

But you think betrayal is bad? That's exactly what she did - and I'm not only speaking of the kiss. She betrayed him every time he was there for her and she wasn't. She betrayed him during the whole duration of their argument in the Citadel where she refused to have a healthy discussion with him and chose to manipulate him and accuse him and hurt him and play the victim instead. There's so much emotional abuse in that scene that it blows my mind that anyone would ever defend her behaviour there.

And at no point during that conversation she answered any questions nor showed any interest in discussing the chaos in the multiverse because she didn't care if others got hurt. And that includes Loki too.

You think trying to kill a person close to you is bad? Well, she fought Loki in the Citadel when all he was doing was telling her to stop and think so they could have a calm conversation, and yet she kept on attacking him over and over again, until the end when she used his feelings for her against him and kissed him to keep him out of the way.

If the roles were reversed and Loki had done this to her instead? Oh boy, the hate would never stop.

Also just one more thing. There are many types of abuse other than the physical one. Psychological and emotional abuse are just as bad and Loki goes through a lot of those two during the show, and yes some of it at the hands of Sylvie.

Sylvie doesn't need to be perfect, she doesn't need all her actions justified and for her to be treated like an angel who does no wrong. What kind of a disservice to the character is that? She's full of shit, she treats everyone around her like hell, she enchants minutemen and innocent people too, she manipulates and yes, abuses whoever she needs to so she can fulfill her selfish wants and needs. I don't care about the framing, she's not good. Not even close. And that's fine. She's a villain, nothing wrong with that.