#Red: Pissed/Critical

[astxrope]

Here's percy's helmet :)

Fun fact: the ear fins aren't part of the helmet they're actually part of.... him, there's just slits behind the ears to let them through.

Also no this one osn't aquatic lmao, just cool helmet stuffs :)

[redstarcat]

In light of recent political events

I wholey believe that Lucien would be the most vocal out of the three Tealeaves

[shivunin]

I didn't want to put it in the tags of that post, but I will always choose anger for Lace and it's bc it makes the most sense to me that she would assimilate those externalized emotions by accepting them and making them a part of her. Apropos of no other information or explanation proposed by the narrative (it was, imo, among the worst articulated in the game).

*not a criticism of anyone's decisions tbc, I think the stats make sense.

[blackstarchanx3new]

Red's characterization is frustratingly inconsistent (based on the viz translation)

So I tried to do a "Red centric" FS reading the other day and honestly:

Red as a character lowkey pisses me off the more I think about him.

Trying to write him doing ANYTHING in FSR just, breaks my brain because: What character does he actually HAVE?

To explain further: WHAT CHARACTERIZATION DOES HE HAVE THAT IS CONSISTANT?

Because I can list a fuck ton of his traits, but none that remain consistent and reliable character traits that I can make into a rule set for me to follow to write him properly and which rules I could BREAK depending on the scenario.

I'mma admit this rn: This might be extremally bad faith reading and I'll admit that with my whole chest but it just bugs me the further I try to think about characterizing him.

Buuuut on the other hand. Venting my frustrations might help me get a grasp on what he's MEANT to be like and that'd be useful.

TLDR: I genuinely think Akira has no fucking clue what they were doing with him and I think he's the worst written Link of the set of four/Shadow Link. (This admittedly could also fall hugely on the fault of the translation team too with botched dialogue.)

And I even hypothesis they cut a whole chapter about him for time. (We'll get to that)

Full rant:

Okay. So you'd think this idiot would be pretty simple to figure out.

There's a lil page dedicated to each Link describing their traits, which are all pretty accurate. (This to my knowledge i only in the legendary???)

EXCEPT IN MY OPINION, RED'S. (Green's too but maybe I'll get into Green at a later time...)

His is just. Wrong. Upfront wrong depending on how you read his character...Which...is imo inconsistent based on the canon events of the story.

Let's go down the list of traits from this page

Easygoing - this is accurate since he takes the mission the least bit seriously between the four and gives everyone silly nicknames.

Bright- ...I'm going to assume this is in reference to his personality being "Optimistic" not his intelligence, as we'll get into soon.

Innocent - ...I have some counter arguments to this one but go off I guess. He's SUPOSIVELY more innocent than the other 3.

Simpleminded - again there is a shit ton to suggest the opposite, but well, get into that shit.

So, depending on how you read the word "bright," there are already inconsistencies with "simple-minded" (I'm trying real damn hard not to be obtuse as fuck here but I'm a stickler for wording...)

So for the "innocent" thing...okay this one particularly rubs me the wrong damn way. Because of a few diffent things.

Let's go over smth first:

Identifying the links, you can always tell its red in a panel due to his even screen tone tunic and white sleeves.

Blue has a gradient that goes almost black with screen toned sleeves. Green also has an even screen tone but black sleeves, and Vio has a noise screentone with white sleeves.

Now, Red's "Innocence" or imo lack there of.

Now thought bubbles are hard to pin to anyone specific without like, tails to lead to characters. The fs manga is guilty of not having proper word bubbles often or pointing at the wrong damn character. But here were lead to think the one who assumed the knights were dead were Red and Green. Green starting the thought and red finishing it here.

Red is the first one willing to stab who they assume to be very close people to them. Green as we know is the one NOT willing to fight and rather just defend himself.

So much for "innocent"

Tangent time: I'm not unconvinced the screen tone artist didnt fuck up here, and this was meant to be Blue, but...uh that's not what it ended up being

It's hard to tell because the eyebrows could be either red or blues from my guess.

Until coloring the first volume of manga I ALWAYS ASSUMED this was Blue.

It's for sure not vio or green since their eyebrows are nearly always blonde/not filled in while Reds are thin but occasionally have a bit more thickness, especially when giving heavier expressions. And if this was meant to be Blue. It would be a bit on the thinner side but would match way more personality wise.

Further on the whole "innocence thing"

Wtf was all this shit

Like...I get it. It's for comedy haha. But it just feels so out of character for him this scene just ends up annoying me.

Like it makes him feel so fake. It makes ALL HIS PREVIOUS AND SCENES HERE ON OUT FEEL FAKE.

His tears feel so crocodile considering he doesn't cry when stabbing someone he assumes to be his friends and does THIS SHIT immediately after assuming blue is MAYBE DEAD???

Seriously I kind of hate this scene it feels so two-faced, out of character, and mean-spirited for no fucking reason.

I get it. It was a joke haha. But why the fuck is he joking around and being a goof when his response to green possibly being dead TWICE was to panic and cry and be terrified for real. Why am I meant to take one seriously and not the other from a character standpoint.

From a character stand point: it just feels like he gives less of a shit Blue is in danger/dying vs Green and considering later character interactions I don't think that's meant to be cannon/intentional. (He also calls out to green exclusively on occasions so like...Again was this on purpose or on accident...)

I'm just not a fan of writing characters shittily and out of character for the sake of comedy that doesn't even land.

From a character context: it just looks like he doesn't give a shit about blue here. Which, fine write him mad blue has been a dick but this feels like such the wrong way to go about it to me. Idk.

Onto his intelligence:

Imma be real it feels like he just is only smart when the writing needs him to be for plot reasons and not for characterization reasons.

His intelligence fluctuates so damn much it drives me insane. He's either dumb as a brick or literally smarter than vio, and there's no in-between or reason behind why. It's not like he's good at certain things and dumb as fuck at other things it's literally just because Akira pulls it out of their asses and said so and that kind of writing especially character based pisses me off. 😭

Examples of red being smart:

I don't have a problem with Red having intelligence of his own, but they had to give vio 1 functional brain cells for this scene to work the way it did. Like red can be smart, it'd be great if he was in some instances! It'd even make sense they're all dumb at some shit or excel at others. That'd make them a good well rounded team!

Vio randomly being shit at directions would be a hilarious character trait.

IS this why he gets lost in the tower of winds? Idk if that's a genuine intentional writing reason, but I'm going to assume/head cannon. Imma say that's why, for my own sanity and making this scene make any sense. But i shouldn't have to justify vio being an idiot here with head cannons.

I'd have loved for a scene where Vio over thinks to shit about smth and red is just like "lol the answer is just this silly" but red and vio literally never speak sooooo...thats off the table.

That almost feels like that's what this was trying to be but just...failed at.

He randomly grows a brain again in the temple of darkness. But it just feels so out of nowhere, considering how he's such an idiot most of the book. Like his competent moments, feel SO out of character in comparison.

Like I can see what I THINK they were trying to do with him but it just doesn't land. It just feels like he randomly grows a brain every so often instead of always having one but he he just lags behind the other three in terms of other contexts.

What i think they were going for is "red IS smart. He IS capable. He just needs to be in the right scenario for it to shine. He has such a unique mindset compared to the other three and hes a valuable team mate"

What it comes OFF as... is bad writing.

Onto his like "crybaby" persona the manga and the Fandom itself likes to fall back on

I've touched on it but it feels so fake.

Like I genuinely cannot tell if this is meant to be a character trait I second guess but it's thrown out the window all the damn time.

-him stabbing that one knight with no fucks given really

-him quickly getting over blue being frozen in lue of a stupid joke

Okay let's see when he DOES CRY...

Virtually all the damn time but here's smth I noticed:

He doesn't cry when shadow dies lmfao.

But he does when they kill random rock babies.

Yeah sorry but that rubs me the wrong way too.

Like Reds whole reaction and facial expressions to shadow dying just gives "I wonder if we're having Wendy's of McDonald's later"

Like I think most people are too distracted by vidow to notice that shit but it's so off-putting from a guy who will take the change to bust out the water works at any given change doesn't shed a damn tear when a version of himself kicks the damn bucket.

Not even a reaction to vio being upset about it. Like wtf.

This is what I mean about him being inconsistent. Literally the entire manga is just "He does x sometimes but not other times when you think he would" I genuinely cannot find rhyme or reason to half his character traits and it drives me up a wall. There's no consistency to ANY OF IT and it just leaves this sense of fakeness and it rubs me such the wrong way.

One last thing:

I'm pretty sure he had a cut chapter centered around Red.

I don't have concrete evidence but here's smth i noticed:

This is the last time we see him before his next apearance

And then...suddenly. THIS IS HIS NEXT APEARANCE:

I'm sorry WHAT.

DID WE MISS SOMETHING???

Randomly:

He has a fairy. They've apparently been looking for the other three. TELEPORTATION IS JUST A THING WITHOUT EXPLANATION???

Like, Wtf????

What my opinion?

And SUDDENLY later Red's all like "I'm so independent!😇 "

WHEN. WHEN DID WE SEE THAT RED BECASE IMEDIATELY AFTER YOUR TOWN SCUFFLE YOU'RE WITH A FAIRY AND GET BLUE SO STFU.

If you want what I THINK happened in this hypothetical cut:

Red got away from the towns people and ran into the fairy, and Shadow shape shifted out of being that kid that stole his shit.

Because like...I never knew that kid was meant to be shadow Link until someone pointed that out as a possibility because...Literally I thought Red having his sword and shield gone after he left the waterfall was an art error and not because of the kid.

Like the fact that is even up for debate whether or not that kid was shadow or it could be misinterpreted is a flaw in the writing imo but whatever.

Like it was never solidly conformed. There's evidence but it wasn't stated/shown directly and having the idea Shadow can shapeshift to THAT DEGREE is very interesting/cool lore. (We know he can look like green/Link but still. Would have been nice concrete powers around him he can be random ass people too and he's not bound to being just Link.)

If you think about it:

Green got the Pyramid segment

Vio gets the whole shadow link subplot

and Blue gets the temple of darkness.

Wtf does red get. He gets tacked on in the temple of darkness KIND OF but that felt like it was ONLY because he didn't get his own chapter and they had to mash Blue and Red's arcs together making both of their arcs WEAKER. And it just, annoys me idk.

Aaaaanywaaaay. That's my rambling nonsense.

I think with the idea of what they were TRYING TO DO with Red's character I can get a better grasp of where to take him in FSR.

It's so hard to describe why Red gives me "uncanny valley" vibe in his characterization but I hope I did a decent job explaining my thoughts.

You probably noticed: When smth about red doesn't make any fucking sense. I try to rationalize it. But I don't think there was any thought behind a lot of what he does. Which is why it makes me annoyed. 😭

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[awkwardnerdylesbian]

NOW TELL ME. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SLEEP AFTER THAT EP

[cluescorner]

Nothing sadder than seeing a Reverse Robins AU where they don't include Steph as a Robin even though she'd be a far better Red Hood than Tim. It's not even fucking close. Like...are you kidding me?? Tim has no reason to die in the way Jason does nor does he have any reason to become the protector of the less-great areas of Gotham. I don't mind it as much when Tim kinda becomes his own thing (that's the appeal of those AUs for me, taking the character and having them fulfill a role they don't in canon + seeing the ripple effects on both that character and others and the story (literally the whole reason I'm doing the randomized robins) + seeing how you can still tell a story that wasn't meant to exist in the way you've made it) but when he's just straight up Red Hood-but-now-Tim...why?

Now STEPHANIE BROWN ON THE OTHER HAND! She's got all the makings of a good Red Hood. She's had the will to kill from the beginning (she was straight up gonna kill her dad, even when she didn't she still beat the shit out of him and talks pretty frequently about getting rid of the bad guys 'for good'), she's been doubted her entire existence as a vigilante, she has like SO MANY FUCKING REASONS TO HATE BRUCE IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY, she has lived the experience of someone (her dad) getting released back into Gotham via Arkham/Blackgate's revolving door, and she's also got the fucking FIRE for it. Steph even has a built-in death that's both thematically relevant for a Red Hood and would drive Bruce to so much fucking guilt. Plus, it's more accurate! And Tim staying as the third sidekick becomes even more fucking interesting. His girlfriend, someone he loved, just died in this role because of Bruce's negligence/her own bungling. How tf does he feel about the role of a Batman sidekick now? Batman needs a Robin, but what does Robin need from Batman? And Steph coming back to see BRUCE just put TIM in the role that she literally died in? Oh she's coming back full storm.

[5-htagonist]

auntie diaries fr gives me chills

[senseiwu]

"Um but she didn't recognise the green guy a million metres away who looker like a speck wasn't her son!!!"

do you fuckers know anything about vision

[piperslovebot]

forwood or klaroline? ( I'm so mean I'm sorry lol)

tyler or hyde?

jackie or caroline?

SARA WHYYYY 😭😭😭 (jkjkjk)

1. Answer is obvious

2. Tyler (I love Hyde but Tyler had better character development imo)

3. Both annoy me the same tbh 😭. And it doesn’t help that both the actors aren’t great either (Mila is a rape apologist and Candice is a Zionist). But I like being in the T7S fandom more, so I’ll say Jackie.

[persephoneggsy]

(more fan-made banters bc i’m a little salty anders never bitched about a seb-mancing hawke. i deserve to yell at the stinky mage and defend my priest boyfriend damn it)

Anders: I know it isn’t my place to say, but…Are you sure about Sebastian? He can’t even choose between the chantry and princehood. He’ll never put you first. He’ll never be able to give you what you need.

(If Sebastian is in the party)

Sebastian: No matter what path I end up choosing, I know I will always want Hawke by my side. The rest is none of your concern. 

Hawke: As you can see, Sebastian meets my needs quite well, thank you. Now fuck off.

(Otherwise)

Hawke: What I need is none of your damned business. I love him, he loves me. That’s the end of it.

Anders: Fine. Live in your denial. Just know that I’ll be there for you when it all comes crashing down.

[lizzybeeee]

Cassandra (10 years later):

Cassandra: Perhaps the archdemons are pets for beings who no longer exist!

Solas: Whaaaat???? No that’s crazy?? Don’t be so crazy, Cassandra. Wild idea.

[synthetic-sonata]

good lord got a post put on my dash that was some Fandom Opinion blog talking ab how things irl shouldn't be mentioned in spaces where it's not meant for. curiously, i searched racism, and well, what you expected to happen happened,

[fear-is-truth]

𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐆 … rodrick heffley — loser!bf headcanons

tags — fem!reader﹒sfw + nsfw﹒headcanons

loser bf!rodrick, who makes a huge show of pda whenever his brother is around. he’ll sling his arm around your shoulder and be like, “yeah, greg. my girlfriend. isn’t she hot?” greg is still fully convinced rodrick’s paying you to be his fake girlfriend, though he has no idea where he’s got the money.

loser bf!rodrick, who lets you sit in on band practice and tries so hard to keep it together, but the second his bandmates start flirting with you, he completely falls apart. his drumming gets so off-tempo that they have to stop and start over.

loser bf!rodrick, who lent you his algebra textbook and completely forgot he’d been doodling your name with his last name all over the margins. when you handed it back, smirking, he looked like he wanted to die.

loser bf!rodrick, whose idea of a date is a night drive to the gas station, where you both load up on slushies and hot dogs. you sit in the parking lot and steal bites off each other’s food (even though you have the same toppings)

loser bf!rodrick, who awkwardly asked his mom to use the “nice-smelling” laundry detergent on his shirts because he knows you like to steal them after having sex and he doesn’t want you thinking he’s gross.

loser bf!rodrick, whose mom acts like you’re already part of the family, offering you snacks and calling you “sweetie” every time you visit. she loves to (unintentionally) embarrassing her eldest son by showing you all of his baby pictures. all the while rodrick hides in the basement.

loser bf!rodrick, whose dad corners you during family dinners and awkwardly tries to sell you on how “rodrick is really a fine young man, despite, uh… some quirks.” you just nod politely while rodrick sits there, sinking into his chair with a beet-red face.

loser bf!rodrick, whose bandmates are constantly making moves on you, asking if you “need anything” during practice or offering to carry your stuff. rodrick will get so pissed that he threatens to kick them out of the band. you think it’s hilarious how defensive he gets.

loser bf!rodrick, who always gives you the front seat in his van, no questions asked. greg has to squish in the back with the instruments, too bad lol.

loser bf!rodrick, who pretends to be terrible at eyeliner just so you’ll do it for him. in return, he paints your nails—or you can also paint his (in exclusively black).

loser bf!rodrick, who acts reluctant whenever you drag him into photobooths at the mall. the two of you end up making the dumbest faces before you lean in and kiss him right on the mouth… with tongue.

loser bf!rodrick, who lets you doodle on his arm with a sharpie, and he refuses to wash them off. they stay there until they fade completely.

loser bf!rodrick, who finally starts wearing deodorant consistently because of you. it’s not even something you asked him to do—he just noticed you sniffing his shirts a little more critically and panicked. now, he’s always freshly applied before seeing you.

loser bf!rodrick, who gets hard every time you kiss him.

loser bf!rodrick, who tries his best to keep his room somewhat presentable whenever you come over. he knows it’s still a fucking disaster by normal standards, but for rodrick, clearing a path to the bed is a grand romantic gesture.

loser bf!rodrick, who’s obsessed so with seeing your hickeys on him. he never bothers to hide them—in fact, he wears them like badges lol.

loser bf!rodrick, who almost accidentally used the wrong side of the condom when you had sex for the first time.

loser bf!rodrick, who absolutely melts when you tug on his hair during sex. he didn’t even realise he had a thing for it until the first time you did it. now, he practically begs for it without using words, tilting his head back and grinning like a total idiot whenever your fingers get close.

loser bf!rodrick, who keeps every random thing you’ve ever given him — notes you’ve passed to him in class, concert tickets, even candy wrappers.

loser bf!rodrick, who hates being bossed around but will do anything you ask, especially if it involves you kissing his cheek or ruffling his hair in thanks. he’s so whipped and everyone knows it.

loser bf!rodrick, who brags to greg about how sexy and smart and pretty you are, just to rub it in, but secretly feels like he doesn’t deserve you. he gets this dumb, soft look on his face whenever you’re around, like he still can’t believe you chose him.

 fear-is-truth 2024 — all rights reserved. do not modify, repost, translate, or plagiarise my content.

[icyrambles]

hi hope it's okay to reblog this, but i wanted to ask some questions out of genuine curiosity on some of the stuff mentioned in this post. and before i started i wanted to say that i agree with the general sentiment of your post; fandom has, and continues to have a very bad racism issue in terms of both actual poc and coded poc characters, something that is often brushed aside and ignored by the majourity of fandom. i believe it's important to address these issues and call them out, less they fester and become prevalent in the background, as well as the fact that fandom comfort in terms of tropes should come second to the safety and wellbeing of poc members.

however i did want to ask why some of the tropes mentioned in this post would be considered racist. specifically in regards to making jazz a decepticon, either former or an undercover spy. i could understand if it was just jazz who was getting this sort of treatment from the fanbase (because if it was just jazz then having one of the few explicitly coded black characters in fandom being on the team that regularly enslaves/colonizes other planets is really gross) but i've stumbled across "what if x character was a decepticon" in pretty much every corner of the fandom; ratchet, prowl, optimus, ironhide, the list goes on. it's generally just a really popular idea to ask the question of what if this autobot was on the other team, so i don't really understand why it's specifically racist if it's done to jazz.

and in terms of hyper violent jazz, i don't think i've personally stumbled across that version of jazz but considering in a lot of continuities he's head of special operations and a literal spy, i don't really consider it that big of a stretch to assume that jazz is willing to commit violent acts. then again i could just be misinterpreting the term hyper violence. if it's about jazz being like, blood thirsty i guess, then yeah that seems really far out of left field considering his appearances within most continuities as being a generally kind and caring individual.

again it seems like a lot of your issues seem to be with really popular fandom tropes that are often applied to most transformers characters, not just jazz. and that's totally valid, sometimes shit just isn't someone's cup of tea. but i think it's somewhat disingenuous to say that people are racist for writing jazz with very popular, and very prevalent fandom tropes that exist all over the internet. like do i think that people could do a little bit more thinking in regards to writing a black coded character with those tropes, yeah, absolutely, biases are everywhere and no author/artist is without them and writers should 100% try to research and check their biases if they're attempting to write about coded characters or really any character who experiences something that the writer themself has not experienced before

but considering jazz is a spy/head of special operations in a lot of continuities, having him be a spy for the opposite team or have him come from darker origins (like being a former criminal) doesn't seem too far a stretch for a fan creator to make and generally from what i know from my experience in fandom, a lot of the fun of playing in the sandbox with characters is asking questions of "what if x character did this" or "what if y character acted like that".

anyways i really hope this doesn't sound like i'm trying to pick a fight, i'm honestly curious how jazz being put into these common fandom tropes and/or experiences (like character traits getting flanderized) is an example of racism even if it happens to every other character within the franchise. and additionally do you have any thoughts on how people could realistically do these tropes? or if people simply shouldn't write jazz into any different stories that don't portray him as a direct 1 to 1 in whatever canon they're trying to write.

I think I've reached my last nerve with how TF fans treat Jazz on here and on AO3, and I feel the need to rant about it. Obligatory "not all Jazz fans" and "not all JazzProwl fans" disclaimer here... if this doesn't sound like it's describing the content you make or enjoy, then it's not. Honestly, I don't think this angry rant is going to convince anybody of anything, but I'm posting it because I want to make it clear that people see this and are aware it's racist.

Never let it be said that racism isn't thriving in the TF fandom on Tumblr and AO3, because so much Jazz fan content is the most blatantly racist shit. And it's nowhere near as bad on other sites that people here usually claim are more racist—I've never seen what I'm about to describe on r/transformers, for example. TF fans on here often claim to love Jazz so much and say he's one of the best, most unhateable TF characters along with Soundwave, but do they ACTUALLY love Jazz?

Tumblr and AO3 users when they see this great, heavily Black-coded hero: We love Jazz! Ooh, what if he was a slave? What if he was hyper-violent? What if he was a disruptive chaos gremlin? What if he was hypersexual? What if he was lazy and never did his work? What if he was a drug addict? What if he was a prostitute? What if he had an evil alter? What if he used to be/was secretly a Decepticon? What if he was a notorious criminal? What if he was literally some kind of bestial monster?

I've actually seen people on Tumblr asking if Jazz being a Decepticon or having an evil alter was ever canon. Well, let this be a PSA: none of this shit is fucking real! I've seen almost all the media Jazz is in, and none of this reflects how he's been portrayed, ever! Apparently people posting links and screenshots and GIFs showing what Jazz has actually been like in canon hasn't caused people to self-reflect, because this shit is still somehow super popular and even filtering doesn't screen even close to all of it! And I've seen in real-time people who are newer to the fandom getting tricked by all this racist fanon and then being drawn into it, thinking it reflects something when it doesn't! That's one of the things that bothers me most!

And then there's the other half of this, which is the immense popularity of JazzProwl. Putting aside how ridiculous it is that a ship between characters who haven't had a positive interaction in fifteen years is somehow the most popular ship in this fandom, half of all the Jazz content I see on sites like Tumblr also stars Prowl, as if Jazz isn't an arguably more prominent character with tons of unexplored stuff of his own going on. But that's the least of it. How the hell do I constantly see people uncritically post shit with this ship like Prowl trying to arrest or pull over a chaotic criminal Jazz? Or shooting at him? Or white savior, copaganda, anti-sex work garbage like Prowl as a cop rescuing prostitute/stripper Jazz from exploitative working conditions (I'm not making this shit up)? (Also, @ people who make content in which Prowl is Jazz's slave—I see you too, and you're not woke. You are still linking Black people to slavery as your first thought and then assuming it's subversive to flip the dynamic you'd expect to see. You're getting off on slavery and still including a Black-coded hero in your shit.)

Even the majority of the much milder content I see is still ridiculously OOC and plays into racist tropes in its own ways. Like how 90% of JazzProwl content shows a lazy, distractible Jazz endlessly trying to get Prowl to relax by disrupting his work or playing pranks or some shit. What media does that come from? Oh yeah, it comes from nowhere, because it's just old fanon that's been endlessly regurgitated by people who aren't realizing how making this up plays into offensive stereotypes about Black men and boys. Hey, if you people love this boring dynamic so much, maybe look at the canon relationships that are similar to it instead of forcing characters who don't fit it whatsoever into these roles without thinking about the implications!

And guess what? I've repeatedly seen literal proof that basically everyone who thinks they like this ship hasn't ever seen the characters interact in canon, too—every so often somebody on here will ask why JazzProwl is popular and ask for fans to share the canon media that made them ship it... and inevitably nobody can share anything, which is hilarious every time. Sometimes people will admit it's all fanon. In fact, the other day I saw a link to a fic from the very early 2000s that claims to be the super-influential, first JazzProwl fic ever making the rounds on Tumblr, and guess what? I looked at it and it was already super fucking racist, with Jazz being described as chaotic and not a hard worker and it had Prowl angrily shooting at him!!!

Jazz is one of my favorite characters and I'm so sick of this shit! Normally I love transformative works and new interpretations of characters, but in this case the fanon is so horrid and has always been horrid, so either try to examine Jazz in canon and portray him based on it, or be a fan of a different character! And fucking REMEMBER that this is a Black-coded hero, damn it! I saw a fic the other day that made me literally choke on my drink because it had Blaster (also a Black-coded hero) describing Jazz as a "spook!" THAT DOES NOT JUST MEAN SPY, THAT'S A RACIST, ANTI-BLACK SLUR!!! And this isn't even getting into how people in fic have Jazz talk! Jazz in all the media I've seen speaks very clearly and rarely has any kind of accent, but I constantly see white people attempting to write his dialogue phonetically in a way that feels straight out of Uncle Tom's Cabin. What the fuck is this?!

Also, petty, but the fans who make and consume this kind of content in my opinion don't then get to relentlessly criticize something like Earthspark, which has a cast and crew of people of color, by claiming it undermined its themes and is racist!

[haveihitanerve]

Dad How Do I but with Bruce Wayne.

Bruce who teaches life advice- showing kids how to tie a tie, how to tie their shoes, braid their hair, teaching young adults to do taxes, to surf, the best lawyers to hire when in trouble, how to avoid scams, he educates the less fortunate on the best places to get free food, where to go in Wayne Enterprises for a hot shower and some toiletries, how to eat at formal functions so the higher elite have one less thing to criticize them on. He teaches people how to do card tricks and make your niece laugh by pulling out a quarter from behind her ear, teaches moms how to rock their baby to sleep properly, teaches teens to do front flips and cartwheels and calculus, educates them on how to write job applications and two weeks notice letters. He teaches people to sew, to cook(alfred helps) to assemble an IKEA shelf, how to work a lawn mower, and all sorts of different things. And when his son dies… Bruce uses his account to share his grief, his story, shares everything about Jason, what a delight he was, how awesome he was, how much he loved to read and school… and then one day, he gets Batman to join a video. And the hero is stiff and everyone can see the exhaustion, the anger and sadness in his joints, his movements, radiating off him. But he sits down heavily into the chair Bruce Wayne had previously vacated… and begins to speak. He tells the story of Robin, his young child sidekick, who just like Jason Wayne, was murdered by the Joker. He tells everyone how his little boy tried to save Jason Todd, and how they both perished in the aftermath. He tells people about his grief, his anger, and why Batman is suddenly harsher and hurts more. “Because I hurt more.” he confesses quietly, and the people finally get to meet the man behind the mask (figuratively) and truly get to see who their hero really is. The account’s popularity skyrockets, and soon Batman is a lot more common to be seen, teaching people how to defend themselves and handle the Batarangs he knows they collect after he fights. Nightwing shows up too sometimes, teaching more elegant flips and tricks and they demonstrate their workout together, and a few months later, Batman shyly introduces his new Robin, same messy black hair as the one before, but slightly smaller, and theres something… more behind those lenses in his mask. But the kid is soon a fan favorite, making sarcastic comments and countering Nightwings witty remarks, and the people get to see a new side of Batman, get to watch as he rolls his eyes at them, as he uses them to teach people how to disguise themselves, ways to use clothes to stem blood, tie tourniquets. 

Then Red Hood returns. And a kid in Crime Alley catches him cursing at his jacket because a button fell off and he cant get it back on. “Um! Mr. Red Hood sir?” the kid pipes anxiously. Red Hood turns to him, angry, but the kid doesn't back down and just goes “You should watch ‘Mr. Wayne How Do I: Sewing’ it'll help.” and then he scampers off. And Jason is pissed and even more angry because of course while he was dead Bruce decides to become a father to everyone in Gotham. But he watches the video. And it helps. And… well, its one of the older videos. And Jason finds another old video. The one about… the one about his death. It shouldn't make his anger lessen, shouldn't make him cry, shouldn't bring him to Bruce’s doorstep where he reveals himself and they hug and cry and catch up and cry some more… but it does. 

Gothamites are a little surprised when their local Crime Lord appears on the channel, standing right next to Batman. Surprised, but pleased. Because Batman looks happy in a way he hasn't in a long time and well… Red Hood watched out for them too. And now their two protectors are working together.