#That being said she is a character I love to hate

[tealvenetianmask]

I want to talk about a kind of troubling reaction I've been seeing to both Apology Tour and Ghostfuckers among parts of the fandom. The person is usually a reaction youtuber but sometimes someone writing on tumblr or twitter. They say something along the lines of "oh, I'm glad Blitz is being forced to confront his crimes/traumas/pain. This is the only way he will finally heal."

That's not how healing works.

I know that reaction youtubers don't always have the most developed takes because they're . . . you know . . . reacting in the moment. But I think it's still worth talking about.

I'm going set aside the people who seem to believe that Blitz needs to be punished for his crimes, and address those who genuinely think that getting a tidal wave of his own trauma in his face is what he needs to heal.

There's an attitude in contemporary culture that traumas are something people need to confront. As in, put on a brave face and dive in like a big boy. I blame capitalism, rugged individualism, and all the pieces of media that tie up a character's arc neatly by having them confront their darkest fears and insecurities. It can put a nice bow on things, but it isn't really how healing from trauma works.

Apology Tour:

Blitz gets confronted by a shit ton of people who hate him, at least some of whom are his exes, who he feels he's personally damaged. The decor and party games are all about killing and torturing him. Verosika confronts him about how much he hurt her. Oh, and then he sees the love of his life, who he's just recently pushed away, making out with another guy- proof, in his eyes, that Stolas is happier without him. And this all reflects the underlying fears he already has about who he is as a person (shown to us by Truth Seekers).

So what was the takeaway? Blitz came to the conclusion that he doesn't always want to be like this (good, but like . . . worth this much pain?). He flops on his steering wheel (relatable). He stops trying to reach out to Stolas (uh oh . . . ). He spends A MONTH spiraling in his own misery and making a mess of all aspects of his life until he's dragged out of it by a caring friend.

The party doesn't empower Blitz to change. It knocks him down and fucking traumatizes him (seriously, images of Stolas from the party show up later in his trauma reel) too much for him to be able to do actually work toward said change. I suspect that if left to his own devices, he would have kept spiraling for quite a while longer. It's one thing to want to change, and another to try to do so alone in the aftermath of a pile-on.

Ghostfuckers

After Blitz drags himself out of his hole of cheesy ice cream and despair to "play sex ghosts" (escapism, again, still knocked down by Apology Tour), infester demon Rolando picks him out as an easy target and assaults him, yes, assaults, with horrific images of his worst traumas and fears.

Not to state the obvious, but Rolando isn't interested in helping Blitz heal. He's trying to kill the guy. He wants to engulf Blitz in his trauma to the extent where he's consumed by it and loses the will to fight back. And as some excellent posts by others have pointed out already, he very likely would have succumbed if not for Millie's support.

Millie helps Blitz get through the onslaught by telling him about what makes him great and how he's improved her life and showing him love and care. And by literally beating the fucking infester out of him. Because there's someone in him who's hurting him, who's re-traumatizing him against his will. She takes him away from the reel of horrible memories.

So . . . do I think that confronting traumas can play a role in healing? Sure. But only if it's consensually (which neither of these situations are) and when the person trying to heal is ready. And most likely in small doses. No one's going and successfully confronting every horrible thing that's ever happened to them in one go.

And in my humble opinion, it's not going to work (for anyone, but especially not for Blitz) alone and without a healthy dose of kindness and compassion (both external and internal).

Blitz has a long road ahead of him toward healing, and it's going to be hard work on his part but also require love and support from the people in his life.

In a wonderful moment near the end of Ghosfuckers, Blitz and Millie work together to get Blitz's wrecked van unstuck and push it back through the portal into Hell. I love it because it's so simple and it kind of tells us everything we need to know. This sweet and salty gremlin has a lot of work ahead of him, but he doesn't have to do it alone.

[wandaslittlelove]

Hii, can you please do agathario where y/n sacrifices herself to stay with rio at the end?

Kiss Of Death

Pairing: Agatha harness x Rio vidal x reader

Warnings: Angst, character death

The wind blew heavily around you as you watched your two lovers fight. Agatha was covered in cuts as Rio stalked closer. It was awful and violent. You were powerless as you watched the two. Afraid of stepping in and potentially hurting one of them although you knew you couldn’t physically hurt Rio. You hated all of this. You wished things could go back to the way they used to be.

When Billy decided to step in you listened as your love said it had to be one of them. Agatha had quickly told Rio to take her and you stepped in quickly.

“No! Take me. Please” The three of them looked at you in shock. Rio takes a step forward but Agatha is quick to pull you behind her.

“Don’t touch her!” Rio tilted her head at Agatha’s words. You were surprised by her words. Agatha hated you so why was she protecting you?

“Agatha-” You started but was cut off.

“No! She won’t take you” Rio stood watching as Agatha glared at her with so much hatred. It made her instinctively take a step back trying to avoid the harsh gaze that she hated so much.

“Agatha look at me” You demanded as you grabbed her face and turned her to look at you. Her eyes held unshed tears as she tried to keep herself together. She couldn’t lose you. She wouldn’t lose you.

“She took him. She can’t take you to” she whispers and she holds onto your waist tightly scared that if she let go you would disappear. She’s spent all this time hating you. For not trying harder to protect Nicky. She blamed you when really it was no one's fault. He was always supposed to die. And she realized that now. But you, you weren’t meant to die yet. It wasn’t your time.

“I love you. I have and always will love you. But you need to let me go with Rio.” Agatha’s grip on you tightened. 

“I love you too. Please stay.” Your hands on her cheek began wiping her tears as they fell. Rio watched the interaction in silence. She wasn’t necessarily a fan of one of you dying but it meant that you would be with her for eternity. That you would never leave her and that’s all she has ever wanted. 

You tilted your head towards Agatha and closed your eyes as your lips met. She pulled you flush against her as she tried to memorize the feeling of your lips on her. Of your warmth. Of the feeling of you pressed against her. While she was distracted you let your magic seep into her, freezing her legs so that she couldn’t move. Slowly you pulled away and looked into her eyes as she realized what you did. 

“I love you. I'm sorry.” You whisper as you slip out of her arms and towards where Rio is standing. When you get to her your hands settle on her face like you did with Agatha only her hands come up to hold your wrists.

“Nena” She whispers as she melts into your touch. It had been so long. So long since she’s felt either of you. Agatha yells and curses at Rio from her where she is frozen and Rio looks up at her. Her eyes fill with sorrow as she tries to move away from you.

“Rio my love. Look at me” you plea and her gaze is immediately back onto you. “You're going to take me. I’ll be yours. But you will leave Agatha and the teen alone. You will not take them until it is their time.”

Rio’s small nod is all the conformation you need and you quickly press your lips against her. Kissing her like your life depends on it as her magic begins to kill you. But none of that mattered. She knew she was killing you and while she wanted to pull away. Wanted to demand that you aren’t going to die. She found herself not being able to. Either by your magic or that selfish part of her wanting you forever she didn’t know.��

[joejhang]

my aftg hot takes

most of these are pretty lukewarm but i'm gonna get flamed for them anyway but whatever. spoilers ??? ahead ??? idk read at ur own risk

i don't think andreil ever say i love you to each other; i feel like the discourse about this is virtually endless ever since nora said it but honestly her explanation was so valid??? they're such a show not tell couple it just makes so much sense for them to show the "i love you" in their actions than ever saying the words out loud. esp bc neither of them have ever really heard those words and have them mean anything real or true or actually loving. personally i think their little percentages and the "i hate you"'s and kisses and keys mean more to them than an "i love you" ever could. i'm not a purist on this tho i do think i could visualise it happening maybe somewhere along the road i just think nora's explanation for this is very very in line with canon andreil.

i don't hate thea muldani; i've made a post abt this but basically my thoughts around her are literally just: she's a human being, and she's never gonna be perfect. i also find it very...interesting how the fandom likes to flame thea (an explicitly stated woman of colour) for being "problematic" and a "terrible person/character" when she doesn't act all that different from andrew, neil and kevin (white men) ??? idk it seems a little strange to me bc she seems pretty on par with them on whatever moral compass this batshit crazy fandom has decided to impose on these fictional and very much morally ambiguous characters. anyway go check out my post i go a lot deeper into thea's character and why she does a lot of things wrong but i don't rlly think she's deserving of the insane amounts of hate she gets in the fandom.

i don't think andreil ever get married; this MIGHT be me projecting bc the idea of marriage is just a very complicated and rough concept in my mind but also just i feel like there's something so beautiful about andreil never really putting a label on their relationship??? like they never define it by calling the other their "boyfriend" or "husband" they just are. they have nothing "concrete" binding them like a marriage certificate but they choose to stay with each other through everything. idk it's real to me but again i'm not a purist people can do whatever they want.

i've said it before but i'll keep saying it till enough people hear me: the aftg fandom mischaracterises literally the main fucking characters; i'm mostly talking about andrew and ESPECIALLY neil here bc neil is not a sweet, sunshiney, oblivious, blushy softboy and andrew is not a cold, unemotional, stoic, "conceal don't feel" stone. since i've already bitched on and on about neil's mischaracterisation let's just talk about andrew for a sec. i think andrew is actually a deeply emotional person and is fully aware of the feelings he experiences. does he vocalise or express them often? no but more often than not they show themselves anyway. him crashing out after neil was kidnapped, letting himself get walked like a dog by neil for three books straight, choking allison for slapping aaron, idk i could go on. but yeah you get it.

i don't actually think neil is that oblivious; before people come at me like "but nora said!" or whatever yeah, i know she said he's as dense as a brick when it comes to people flirting with him. considering how much of the ec the aftg fandom likes to disregard allow me to disregard this little bit of it, yeah? this isn't me tryna impose my own projections onto nora's characters, this is lit just me tryna explain how i understand neil josten (he's my bsf btw). he literally clocks his feelings for andrew in trk (after his deep convo™ with nicky) but he just files it away for later bc he doesn't consider attraction or romantic interest anything to be thinking about considering he's got the mafia and his serial killer dad on his tail. i also don't really blame him for not catching onto andrew's feelings earlier (tho doesn't he get pretty fucking close during that one convo they have in exites in trk???? someone correct me if i'm wrong but) bc dude andrew was out here sending fucking mixed ass signals like bro was saying "you are a pipe dream" and "i hate you" in the same fucking conversations like??? neil has always taken andrew at face value and he's not about to question him now. he's also never confused or uncertain about nicky or marissa and what their comments about him meant, he just genuinely does not gaf about them so he doesn't acknowledge them or pay them any attention in his narration. i truly truly think his dismissal of all the advances made upon him in aftg were borne out of indifference, not obliviousness.

have already said this in detail but i don't think andrew's actually a misogynist; the wording doesn't feel right. i'd probably describe andrew's distrust of women (esp. those in motherly/mother roles) as a similar ingrained wariness that neil has for older men. this is something borne out of trauma and shitty experiences that takes time and trust to unlearn. nora says a lot of things the fandom disregards and for me, this is one of those things i'm a little iffy about. misogyny actually isn't reflected in andrew's actions at all, i'd say. does he respect women? no. but he doesn't respect anyone unless they've actually earned it. and among the people he does respect and care for there are women (renee, bee). he doesn't treat women any differently and obv doesn't think they're any weaker than men are (considering renee wipes the floor w him their first sparring sesh). andrew's an equal opportunity hater and i don't think he actually has any sexist or even misogynistic tendencies. i think what is there is just a slightly biased worldview of disliking/mistrusting mother figures, given his bad experiences w tilda and cass (they've left him w more long-term emotional damage that's probably rlly difficult and complicated for him to work through esp considering cass did love??? him and he did want her enough to be willing to suffer dr*ke to be close to her; there's more to it but for the sake of word count i won't go into it) but honestly it doesn't actually show that much??? if people wanna say he hates women, sure, but for one, he doesn't hate a lot of things he's just very indifferent to them and two, he holds a pretty similar apathetic distaste for most people and things, so it's not like a very big distinction. i also think the whole "no girls" thing w aaron was very much a personal thing, and his mistrust of katelyn probably came from aaron's past (apparently negative) experiences w other girlfriends and friendships in general. and if i remember correctly the deal wasn't even "no girls" it was just "family only" which is why aaron didn't make friends w the rest of the foxes either. i digress but i don't think saying "andrew isn't a misogynist" is robbing him of any nuance as a character.

i like nicky and honestly feel similarly towards him as i do about thea; he isn't perfect and never will be and i think while the way he acts towards neil and others (see: matt, kevin) is pretty untoward and inappropriate, i also do see where he's coming from, esp after aaron's explanation of it. that it's a defence mechanism coming from someone who's experienced a lot of prejudice and harm because of his sexuality. obv i think everyone can agree his assault on neil was fucked up but i think nora was right in saying that nicky was high and drunk and not rlly in his right mind at the time, and he does apologise and i'm pretty sure she also said he and neil work it out privately anyway. he's a messy character and definitely not perfect queer rep but again, he's pretty realistic, and i think he's honestly a rlly well-written and complex character.

[yourladyem]

Late Night Ramblings:

A Beetlejuice 2 Press Tour Observation

I noticed in several interviews Michael Keaton didn't really spend a lot of time with Winona Ryder and barely spoke about her compared to how he spoke about Catherine O'Hara at times. I watched him in one interview where he barely acknowledged her when she kept blatantly looking at him trying to make a point about something.

He kind of distanced himself a bit from her outside of the film. I noticed there weren't really any pictures of just them at events and they barely interacted together.

The cute BTS moments between them threw me off compared to how he was acting during the press tour and premiere. He clearly enjoys her and loves working with her. Loves making her laugh, too, and she does have a high opinion of him even after all of this time. She says she's completely comfortable around him, and he makes her feel safe. Probably more so than anyone else the way she talks about him. He calls her Noni, too, and says she's the sweetest. And the way he gently kept touching her in those BTS clips. The ETalk Canada one was definitely an exception. I think it showed more of his actual relationship with her.

Thought it was interesting compared to how he was acting in other interviews.

However, whenever he was asked about the romance between their characters in other interviews, he perked up and was slightly defensive of her only being his. 😅

Interviewer: "You're both fighting to be Winona's husband."

Keaton out of nowhere: "Yeah. Yeah. She likes me more a little bit!"

Immediately shoots his hand up saying he's better husband material for her than Justin as Rory. No debate.

"Ask her, she'll tell you. She said secretly wants to marry me!"

"Secretly we're kind of in love with each other! Secretly she wants to marry me!"

Admits they have incredible chemistry together and that Beetlejuice does anything she asks because he's in love with her. Keaton acted like it was his favorite subject.

Suddenly he was acting like, "She loves me! Only me! Nobody but me! We've wanted this for years and no one is taking this away from us including Tim! Nobody touches her! She's mine!"

The contrast was hilarious. Maybe he just hated some of the interviews. 😆

[crooked-wasteland]

I think what annoys me so much about the way the show blasts Blitzo for being a cold and unromantic partner is that it’s a perfect example of ignoring worldbuilding to make a character look worse.

By human standards, Blitzo abandoning someone when they tell them that they love him is pretty cowardly and understandably upsetting. But in Hell standards? Verosika should’ve fucking known he’d run away because Hell seems to look down heavily at the concept of love. This is like knowing that it’s taboo to kiss and then getting mad at a character for not kissing you. You can’t blame someone for being adjusted to what society expects of you. Verosika can still be hurt but it’s genuinely insane how much she clings on to this hate like he did a crime.

And the fact that we just skip over seeing their relationship is also infuriating because I get the feeling that Viv was both not interested in actually showing us what Verosika was like and also afraid to make her do anything that feels more in line with her character which is act angsty and spiteful

I've had a thought about Verosika. From the we've seen this season, the writers have actually listened to and addressed criticism for the show. The Ghostfuckers leaks show an overhaul of the original story, the fact that episodes got shifted around at the start of the series, the blatant un-writing of the assassination plot, and the fact that Unhappy Campers was the only pre-special episode to not be in the season 2 trailer (most likely because it was still in the early stages of animation due to massive rewrites to incorporate more Millie) are all evidence to this. It's obvious the crew is not happy about it, but they are listening.

With that in mind, the show has repeatedly been accused of extremely sexist writing in favor of the male cast. As such, it's not surprising to see the pivot more towards "humanizing" the female characters in specific. I remember seeing a lot of comments about how they wouldn't forgive the show if they made another female character irredeemably cruel and brainless following The Circus, and even louder after Western Energy.

What fans had wanted was a complicated or even toxic dynamic where both characters weren't perfect, but still held Blitz accountable for his actions, fairly. What they got was the cheapest, laziest writing I've ever seen. Not only does it not make sense in regards to the established world building of Hell's attitude towards love, it still makes no sense for Blitz to run away just because Verosika said she loved him, only to then adopt a child. He explicitly goes to the pound looking for a pup, pivoting to taking in Loona out of pity. It's like saying marriage is too much of a commitment, but still having kids.

Instead, Medrano overcorrected to pander to critics the same way she panders to her fans. Verosika is not an irredeemably cruel and stupid, spiteful woman. She's a perfect victim actually. Not only is her only crime falling in love, but the relationship ended so fast and sudden that she didn't have any time to do anything.

All these choices feel not only deliberate, but resentful in how little care went into the writing. The most drastic overhaul being to Ghostfuckers where the entire narrative trimmed down and immensely reworked already existing elements into the script. It goes to show the level of improvement possible to an idea when given better direction, but it also shows the limitations of not having actual writers on the team.

Ghostfuckers does an amateur's best and comes out generally okay, but still suffers from over reliance on tropes without narrative substance. It's the genuine best that can be done with this team. And unfortunately that's still not good enough.

[ask-the-colony-tree-siblings]

How did Riv find out about Saint's third eye? Also I find it kind of wild how they think the colony would care about their 'unusual features' when Riv is literally some kind of salamander hybrid slugcat or something like that lmao (not that I blame Saint for it, given their anxiety) ... though hypnotizing their way into the colony on the otherhand...

The first question will be answered later, (I’m too lazy to draw rn sorry lol) but I’m gonna ramble about the second thing you said now! I love rambling ✨

They think that the colony would hate them for not looking like normal slugcats because of things like in these two examples (from an old comic featuring one of Inv’s flashbacks) that were said to them when they were younger.

In the comic (don’t go look at it the art is so old lol) Inv says that they’re going to run away and find a nice slugcat family to adopt them, and Bountiful’s response is to basically call them a freak. When the thought of being driven out or killed for their odd appearance doesn’t scare Inv enough, she turns to posing the question of if Inv will leave Saint alone with her (not safe) or take them out into a dangerous world that will hate them (also not safe). By making Inv think that running away will get Saint hurt just as much as leaving them unprotected with her would, she makes it so both Inv and Saint stay with her.

Of course, eventually they both ran away anyways, but the idea that they’ll be hated for their appearances is still firmly implanted in their heads. Despite the colony’s obvious diversity, they’re still scared that they’re too different.

But, they’re starting to grow away from that internalized idea of “we’re not normal (derogatory)” and are heading more in a “nobody’s normal (positive)” direction! Inv’s best friend, Riv, was the first to know about the siblings’ true appearances, and had the polar opposite reaction to what Bountiful had said would happen. Riv though that they both looked very cool, and was confused as to why they’d ever hide that. The siblings are starting to question what they were taught, but still think it’s too risky to be themselves.

The growth is visible in the banner change btw! In the current banner, Saint is wearing a bandanna instead of a hat. The bandanna shows a lot more of their face, but it still hides their third eye. Inv’s wearing their sunglasses on their forehead in the new banner, not covering their eyes. It isn’t that big of a change, but you can still see that they’re not hiding quite so much of themselves anymore. :3

(Inv doesn’t realize they were ever manipulated by Bountiful, by the way. They think that Bountiful was crazy manipulative with Saint, but never bothered with them. While it’s true that she manipulated Saint more, Inv wasn’t spared from her influence. It’s definitely something that will be part of their arc later, so I thought I’d throw this part of their character out there, since I’m not sure if people have picked up on it yet lmao)

[bibibbon]

Need to get something off my chest

People in the fandom blaming Nana for causing Shigaraki to be abused and all the suffering the Shimura family went through as well as calling her decision to abandon Kotaro stupid is if someone blamed all the abuse and horrible actions of Enji that the Todoroki family had to suffer through on Enji's deceased father.

Specifically people appear to zone in on Nana's call to not have All Might or Gran Torino check in with her family when it makes sense. She knows AFO has eyes and ears everywhere and will use that to kill those closest to her and those around her as we know since Nana's husband is dead by the time Kotaro is given up for adoption and All Might leaves Japan for the US in order to avoid AFO for that same reason. There is also no way for Nana to know that her successor would wind up as the strongest wielder of One For All and would be the first person to take down All For One.

I'm not sure if you were in the mha critical side of tumblr, but this is a very common opinion here. Nana deserved better, and none of the nana hate honestly made sense.

People shouldn't blame nana for doing what she could to protect her child. She explicitly said that she had done it to protect him, and she didn't willingly want to give up her child. The act wasn't done out of malice but was done out of love. Her husband was dead, and all for one was on her tail. She had to train all Might, and there was no safe choice to keep kotaro. It was a hundred times safer to make a distance between her and kotaro so he could live without the burden of his mother's duties on top of him caring or threatening to cause him constant harm.

Nana tried her best as a mother, and we didn't talk enough about it. She, at the beginning, was probably the breadwinner of the family, her job making it so that she had limited time with her son, yet from the flashbacks we see that kotaro loved his mother dearly. He loved her that child him simply cried and cried when she was about to leave, he loved her to the point that he kept her picture acknowledging that she was his mother yet despising that she left him all alone. His hatred of nana stems mainly from feelings of sadness and betrayal, which only exist because he loved his mother and felt safe when she was near.

I suppose we don't talk about the fact that after nana's husband died and she became a widow she had to juggle all the responsibilities of being a weirder of OFA, a mother who had to be constantly active in her child's life and a hero who had to save others while also ensuring that she earned enough money to keep her son comfortable.

I headcanon that at the time nana was never a good cook and that it was her husband that usually cooked for the family but when he died she had to take on the cooking duties which was a struggle but we see her actively trying even including her son in the process.

Giving up kotaro was the most logical circumstance, and I stand by that. I think to a certain extent, kotaro realises that too, and it's exactly why he doesn't blame his mother but blames her job he blames the hero, not his mother. To me, it evidently seems like kotaro separates nana into two different versions : the hero and his mother.

If we follow that belief, it's exactly why the only photo that kotaro has with his mother is so painful. Every time he sees that photo he in a way, is forced to acknowledge that both versions of nana are his mother. The photo shows his mother, but it shows her in her hero attire she is the 7th weirder of ofa in that picture not his mother but the mannerisms, the way she smiles and looks at him is that of a mother's look.

A haunting picture for kotaro. A picture of a mother's love.

Comparisons between enji and nana fall on deaf ears especially when you look at the circumstances and situations that both characters are faced with.

Enji DOESN'T love his children, his actions were out of malice, greed and desire to be great. He sacrificed family for greatness.

Nana LOVED her child. Her actions had a desire to protect, love, and care for her only family, her only offspring. A beautiful light in the world that she doesn't want destroyed by AFO. She had no choosing as I bet if she truly had the choice. She would do anything to love, protect, and be with her child. In a dreadful situation, nana chose the only way to guarantee kotaros safety.

[maxdibert]

Hi! Could you tell me your top 5 least favorite Harry Potter characters and why?

My 5 most hated characters in Harry Potter are:

5 - Molly Weasley: I can’t stand this woman. I can’t stand how she acts like a morally superior, pure-blood yet holds endless prejudices, especially (and mostly) toward other, younger women. I don’t like her tradwife vibe, and I don’t like how overbearing and suffocating she is. Seriously, in real life, I’d feel the urge to tell her off—she’s that typical annoying woman who doesn’t know where the boundaries are.

4 - Remus Lupin: Zero sympathy for a man almost forty who got a 24-year-old girl pregnant and then abandoned her. Remus Lupin is a coward and a piece of trash, a bullying accomplice who keeps his head down regarding his own actions and needs a 17-year-old to teach him a lesson in manhood. I really wish Tonks had left him and taken off with Teddy to get as far away as possible from that pathetic excuse for a person.

3 - Dumbledore: Starting with the fact that the entire problem of the story basically stems from his irresponsibility with Tom Riddle, which already showed that he was a terrible teacher. He only shows concern for students who can serve his purposes or suck up to him, and his involvement throughout the story shows a moral stance I find nauseating. I mean, he’s a guy who has the nerve to lecture his former students who “chose the wrong path,” but when those same students were under his care, he constantly neglected and rejected them just because they didn’t belong to a certain house. He had the audacity to call Severus Snape “miserable” when it was Dumbledore himself who allowed Snape to be bullied and almost killed without lifting a finger to stop it or punish the bullies. This same Dumbledore scolds Draco Malfoy for not trusting him when from Draco’s first day at Hogwarts, all he saw from the old man was favoritism toward a certain house and certain students, completely ignoring the rest. Honestly, I’d have banned him from teaching. There’s a lot said about Snape as a teacher, but Dumbledore was responsible for everything, allowed terrible things to happen, and turned his back on many vulnerable children and teenagers. Then he acted all surprised when they ended up in bad places. Screw him, hypocritical old man.

2 - Ginny Weasley: The “I’m not like other girls,” the “shut up, Hermione, you don’t know anything about Quidditch,” the “everyone look at me, I hex people, I’m one of the boys, I’m not vain but I’m hot, but I’m not prissy,” the “I make fun of girls who are pretty, flirty, and feminine because I’m a textbook pick-me girl” who is shoved into the end of the series. She’s a character who didn’t matter at all throughout the story; she’s barely mentioned in some books, but suddenly she’s Harry’s love interest because J.K. Rowling needed all her characters to end up married with 468749284 kids, and Harry needed to be part of the Weasley family. So, they had to do something. Ginny is a terrible character, going from irrelevant to some sort of Mary Sue who even the Slytherins drool over and who, of course, is not a “typical girl” because being a “typical girl” in Rowling’s world is somehow the original sin. So, she’s great at sports, hexes people, pulls pranks because she’s so cool, uh uh uh, she’s not like the others, uh uh uh, but she has internalized misogyny that you can smell from here to China. Honestly, someone should have slapped her for being so damn stupid.

1 - James Potter: There’s nothing I haven’t already said about James Potter. He’s a character who really grinds my gears because they try to sell him as some kind of hero, but he was just a spoiled rich kid who decided to torment a poor, vulnerable boy simply because that boy was friends with his crush. He used his social power and status to get away with all the crap he pulled, attacked in groups, lied to his girlfriend saying he’d stopped bullying people when he really hadn’t, and when he was supposed to be locked up in a house with his wife and son, he was off fooling around with his best friend. James Potter was an ass, and defending him is defending classism, elitism, and whitewashing social classes. I’m not going to explain why.

[lostsyren]

Yes!!! I must know what you thought of the proposal scene and the heartbreak that followed after!!

SPOILERS:

I screamed when he got down on one knee like I honestly didn’t think he’d do it!! Like it made me sooooo happy, i forgot about their horrible screen time, but I was soooo upset at the ‘breakup” and how Sofia didn’t even get the chance to say something???

People saying she deserved it?? What exactly did she do?? She said a couple of words to rafe saying how the deal MIGHT be worth it and he went ahead and signed the wire transfer STRAIGHT AWAY, then A DAY LATER she told him not to do it (despite him trashing her to his friends behind her back) and it’s not like she thought she was scamming rafe out of money, HOLLIS TOLD HER THE DEAL WOULD BE LUCRATIVE!!!

And we saw how stressed out Sofia was becoming at the prospect of rafe being scammed– she wanted what’s best for him, HOW IS THAT SCAMMING HIM??

Her character is kind hearted and sweet, she loves Rafe. You don’t have to ship her with him but you can’t deny she was done dirty, not Rafe– (the man she loved proposed to her, gave her a house, a ring, a promise of a future and then took it all away because someone else told him she’d “betrayed” him)

The Sofia hate is not cool guys, like my girl literally did no wrong

[christelightlavo]

My Ever-so changing opinions : Anime Version.

All time favorite Anime : bungou stray dogs, look at it. Its so tragic-comedy while being so straightly-GAY that I can't look away.

Favorite anime for its story : Spy X family, Anti-War + Spies/assassins + Found family + Adopted Parents + fake Dating + Telepaths + perfect characters = an amazing series.

Anime favorite for its art style : oshi no ko, it's very pretty to look at. And most of the style chooses match the story it's telling.

Favorite anime for its soundtrack : Promised Neverland, **lullaby starts playing** *I start crying*

Favorite anime for its characters : Sk8 infinity, I LOVE REKI, LANGA, MATCHABLOO-- You get the point. It's the first anime that was centered around sports that I watched and I watched it JUST for the characters alone.

Favorite anime for action : Spy x family, *points at any Yor action scene*

Favorite anime for fantasy : Fairytail, I will be honest. Nostalgia played a big role in this picking. It was like the third anime I watched.

Favorite anime for romance : My perfect/happy marriage, it was so good. I love the main characters together. Though the villains were very one dimensional but it's a romance so I ain't complaining.

Favorite anime for comedy : Buddy daddies, I will be honest, Rei and miri were the most funny together to me.

Favorite anime for its science fiction : wonder egg priority,.... I am VERY confused on what the series was about. But it did succeed as a sci-fi and horror to be honest. (Feel free to explain it to me. I am dumb as hell)

Favorite anime for slice of life : Boruto : nng, Uzumaki family has my heart.

Favorite anime movie : silent voice, okay when she confessed and he couldn't understand and said "I love the moon" I genuinely felt my heart ache. It wasn't healthy for me but I loved it.

Anime you like but everyone hates : Boruto, do I need to say more?

Anime you hate but everyone likes : non actually? Unless you count hating the fandom. In that case, mha.

Favorite male character : AKUTAGAWA RYUUNOSUKE

Favorite female character : ANYA FORGER

Favorite protagonist : UZUMAKI BORUTO.

Favorite antagonist : SHIGARAKI TOMURA.

Favorite animation studio : Ghibli, I see comfort in the animation.

Underrated anime : WOLF CHILDREN, GO WATCH IT. IT'S SHORT. PLEASEEEEE. IT'S ABOUT A SINGLE MOM RAISING WOLF CHILDREN AND IT MAKE ME CRY.

Overrated anime : My hero academia, do I need to say more?

Character you hate the most : DAZAI- SIKE. he is my second hated but first is Fyodor for killing Bram in front of Aya.

Worst anime : Rent a girlfriend, only one episode was enough for me to just stop watching.

My first anime : DRAGON BALL Z!

@fandom-stealer *points at you* wait you don't watch anime-

[gayofthefae]

Season 1 is Mike and El's love story because season 1 serves as a prequel:

Part of the thing with Mike and his romance with El is that he doesn't overtly seem to have a storyline outside of it. And that means that his primary character arc must be tied to and his demonstration in the final season of said character arc, which is confirmed for him is not complete yet, would be in his relationship with her.

But they got together in season 1. In the situation where he is straight and his character arc focus is to do with being with her...they started him with 0 need to grow in season. one.

If Mike were straight, the focus of his arc would be something he achieved in episode 8. of 42.

There isn't focus on them the way there is because they're the "main couple". There's focus on them because there's been nothing left for them to do as a couple since episode 8 of currently 34. (Their conflict serves a different purpose now).

In season 1, Mike would have needed to allow himself to see himself as deserving of El and be vulnerable enough to make a move. In episode 3, he worries she would judge him because of the bullying, but he overcomes that and does make a move.

If that's his arc....that's it. If that's his arc, then everything after that just repeated an already solved issue in order to solve it again. And I understand why people who think that hate it.

But when every other arc is written for 4-5 seasons...doesn't anyone find it odd that what they think Mike's is was only written for 1? The others prove that they clearly planned for being renewed so....what gives?

I'll tell you what gives. Someone having an arc that completes itself that quickly with so much left is not an arc, it's a set up. It isn't an arc. Season 1 of 5? That's still just exposition in the grand scheme of things. They didn't finish a story then fall off. They simple established a fact: Mike and El are together and they got together in this way. All important information to have for later. They were not telling a love story. They were establishing a fact.

And then what they did with that fact was tell a story: a boy in a straight relationship behaves in a way that he shouldn't and didn't before being with her. - to know that we need to see him before he's with her.

Season 1 is simple: meet Mike before El. They're dating now btw.

That isn't a love story. It's just information you'll need for later. Season 1 is just "information you'll need for later when we tell you a story based on it".

That's what it is for literally everybody in the show, actually! Think Lucas Sinclair. Season 1 serves to show him before he met Max, much more tense and easily stressed a person. In season 2 his story really STARTS. Season 1 is his "before". The same is true of establishing Nancy and Steve and the way they are still together in the end of season 1. Will is also not in season 1 at all but he is a MAJOR part of the story and lore.

So if season 1 is just their "before"...what does that mean for the love story fully contained to season 1 with no further romance, payoff, or get-together outside of it?

I've said before: literally all they had to do was interrupt them two seconds earlier and save the first kiss for the Snow Ball. But season 2 is part of the story, not the prequel, and them kissing was just to have them start dating as soon as possible so by the time we hit the story, we knew it to be true.

But I understand. If all of us were given prequels thinking they were stories, our perceptions of the book would be much different. It makes complete sense why the perception from people who watched in 2016 and people who binge it now are so different. 2024 bingers perceive it as a prequel. They know the happy ending isn't left there because the drop down menu has three more numbers in it. They understand that this is just information to work off of. They expect more of those two's love story but when they aren't given it they go "huh, guess that was just in the prequel".

Mike and El's relationship isn't a story. It's lore. It's backstory. There's just no way to convey that when releasing it chronologically (and calling it a prequel would be assuming/seeming to depend on a renewal and not have gotten picked up).

[serenai2i]

1. Slavery as a cheap plot device

omg, real, cause the romanticization of slavery is just so common in manhwas these days. like, they often excuse the existence of slave-owning in the story by making the MC evoke surface-level empathy and "fix" the problem by making said MC buy a slave (usually making the character extremely devoted to the MC/meant to constantly praise the MC)—as if it would make things better??

2. ML murdering ppl for "disrespecting the FL," "offending the FL," "causing emotional distress to the FL," and justifying it

I feel like this trope has potential cause, like if you make the ML murder ppl (usually innocent ppl, or ppl related to not-so-innocent characters) with the intention of portraying it as creepy or f-ed up behaviour then it would actually be a good plot device, of sorts, since it could signify the future state of the relationship between the ML and the FL, depending on how the FL reacts when or if she ever finds out—BUT authors usually make MLs do this for the sake of appealing to a "crazy love" obssessed audience who, in turn, romanticize the ML's actions (😕).

3-4. Intentionally making the MC look good by justifying their actions or way of thinking (usually by saying, "It's set in a different era!") and in turn nerfing the antagonists' intelligence

I hate hate HATE it when ppl do this because, like, what's the point of making these antagonists and portraying them as these cunning masterminds if you plan on dumbing them down for the sake of the MC? I also hold a special, dark place in my mind for the ppl who say that ppl born in unfortunate situations (i.e rashta from remarried empress) is deserving of the pain and suffering they had to go through, for reasons that elevate the MC. Like, the entire story of remarried empress makes my blood boil because the author constantly makes navier look good by comparing her to rashta's inherent immaturity when it comes to things that comes very naturally for nobles (as they had been taught to do said things since birth), as if rashta WASN'T BORN A SLAVE AND FORCED TO SUFFER BECAUSE OF ELITIST ARISTOCRATS FOR THE BETTER HALF OF HER LIFE

5. Feminine characters constantly being portrayed as evil or slutty

don't get me wrong, I love a good angelic looking/feeling antagonist, but the way these manhwas/manhuas/mangas portray these characters is...!

(will edit/add more thoughts soon)

Tropes in manhwa are awful yet people still defend them

I'm in a bad mood right now so what better way to release all that pent up anger by ranting on what can ruin a good story.

1: Slavery being inserted only for cheap plot and slaves being demonized as obsessive/greedy monsters for "not knowing their place"

Theres nothing wrong with wanting to insert slavery in your story AS LONG as it's not just cheap plot to make your MC look "better" by buying from a single to all of the slaves because let me tell you this: there is no such thing as a good slave owner, you cannot morally own another human being. A lot of manhwa like to have slavery be a part of their plot completely ignoring that just because the MC goes "wow this is terrible" doesn't make them a good person after they buy a slave.

Remarried empress does this with its villian Rashta by pushing the notion that she's being greedy for not wanting to stay in poverty so Navier won't suffer because apparently a slave wanting what the silver spoon mouthed nobles were born into is so terrible not to mention they justify slave owners and slavery in general as a punishment for criminals (neglecting the fact that children can be sold by their parents)

The villainess has fun again justifies a child slave being bought by the lead and he becomes an obsessive shouta love interest, fans continously justify by using the ancient lolicon excuse "he may look young but he's actually 99182823 years old!"

In divorcing my tyrant husband, Robelia buys 30 slaves and the only 2 that consistently show up have no other personality other then "we love you FL we will worship you till the end of time!"

There's a damn manhwa out there literally called the order of slave breeding and even when a story tries to do this correctly such as VADTD with Penelope being portrayed as a bad person for what she did to Eckles, fans have been so deluded by the idea that FL's buying slaves is "girlboss" that they think Eckles should be grateful to be Penelopes "pet"

2: ML's murdering innocent people after one guy hurts the FL

I already made a specific post about it before and I'll say it again: all this does is make your male lead/father figure look like a horrific monster. While you could say it's because its a medieval kingdom (objectively that is true that they would do this) manhwa and OI is the same place where despite in those times taking a mistress was considered normal they still view it as cheating and "how could you pick that slut when you have such a perfect wife!? 🤬" in most stories. So yes, modern morality is still inserted within these tropes. While I can get it's a way to show that the man in questions loves the FL so much he's willing to go to such lengths to protect her I think just mutilating the guy that actually did the sin would be enough because try imagining yourself as a faithful servant who was amazing at your job getting brutally slaughtered by the Emperor because your boss attacked his daughter or lover.

Into the light once again does this with Aishas dad murdering all the relatives and close friends of a count that tried to kill Ysis and Aisha, Aisha doesn't seem to care despite being in a situation where she was wrongfully executed in her past life.

Remarried empress does this too. After Navier is nearly killed by Krista's brother, Heinrey tortures and kills the dad and slaughters the servants of the zemensias. I can't remember if he also murdered the remaining family members but I wouldn't put it past him.

3: protagonist centered morality

Protagonist centered morality is the biggest indicator that a piece of media is dealing with a mary sue FL. Whatever the protagonist says is right is immediately morally correct. This is actually used to justify the last 2 examples with "it was for the FL!" Things like slavery, murder, workplace abuse, union busting, pedophilia, and being a POS to your loved ones are all justified if the protagonist finds a cheap way to justify it and you HAVE to agree with her because her backstory is very tragic ���. Protagonist centered morality also ruins the chance for good characters since the FL herself never has to grow as a person so she stays the same exact thing as she was just with more enablers and random characters will be treated as villains even if they aren't actually wrong about being suspicious of the Protagonist or calling out her behavior. It twists the narrative in such incomprehensible ways that you don't even know what your reading anymore. I can't even list all of the manhwas that do this given how many there actually are so I'll just list some that are at least self aware there Protagonist is awful/morally grey or isn't even a bad person but they still have flaws that can be pointed out

Villains are destined to die

My in laws are obsessed with me

Not sew wicked step mom

Depths of malice

The villainess turns the hourglass

Beware of the villainess.

4: villains being dumbed down to make the lead look smarter

This is unfortunately another common staple often used as a quick way to make the FL look smart and witty but is that really hard to look smarter when everyone else around you is an idiot? Not only does the FL not have to put in actual effort to best her enemies but you just start to pity the villain for basically being a punching bag. Dimwitted villains aren't always bad in fact they can be some of those most entertaining characters no matter much they lose but that only works when they are meant to be seen as a goofy character that your not supposed to take seriously. Villains that are written as extremely childish and stupid but your still supposed to treat them as serious antagonists on the other hand are just annoying since you wonder how the protagonist even got killed by them in the first life if they're so stupid.

Isabella de Mare while admitly having a good reason for being dumbed down (she's a teenager in the 2nd life so it's reasonable she wouldnt be as smart as her adult counterpart) is still a joke of a villainess who keeps flipping back and fourth from a snot nosed whiny brat to a mastermind only at convenient opportunities when the plot needs conflict.

Mielle from the villainess turns the hourglass was first portrayed as extremely conniving as she arranged for Arias downfall in the shadows but in the second life she fails at every scheme she has even though she has Emma and Isis to help her out.

Ragibach is a literal demon possessing the body of another woman with the goal of setting demons loose on the word to start another human vs demon war and she succeeded in that the first time, the devastation was all there so clearly she has to be a formidable antagonist right? Well no, she's another case of being dumbed down further and further so Keira can succeed and while they do understand some plot holes such as Ludwig not trusting her as much in the second life it doesn't change the drastic character change from evil genius to bumbling idiot.

In short: dumbing down your villains so your lead can look smarter is essentially going to give the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb vs a coughing baby.

5: feminine women being demonized as basic "other girls" sluts

Okay this one isn't nearly as terrible as the others on this list because we all love the good old "a demon makes itself look beautiful to deceive humans" kind of villain, in fact as you probably know by me by now, white lotuses are my favorite kinds of character and even in media outside of manhwa I always find myself drawn to angelic villains but it seems like this is less of that and more of "Oh those are all the other girls who just want a man to save them, look at how much better my badass rich boss babe is for working for herself while taking all of their men at the time 😎" in manhwa. As soon as a traditionally feminine girl shows up, comments are already calling her a two faced bitch and half the time protagonist is already skeptical of her. This is the opposite of what being a feminist really is, a real feminist wouldn't be putting down other women just because they dress with more pink with bows and skirts and while I do think for most manhwa this is unintentional I do wish that we could have more characters like Psyche, Helena, Athy, and Jennette that prove that being overly feminine doesn't make you a backpedal on feminism. This doesn't make the badass or sexy fl's bad either, it just means they can co-exist.

An angelic villain should be treated as evil for being a well calculated schemer, not because they have a light colored color scheme

6: toxic relationships being romanticized as good

You know for a large community that claims to be about girl code a good chunk sure likes to look the other way when it comes to toxic relationships as long as the abuser is "hot" and theres always the terrible excuse such as "he has trauma!" Or "he doesn't know how to show his love normally!" No just no we aren't doing that here. Cry or better yet beg has this problem with not only the narrative claiming that Matthias graping Layla is okay because she actually loves him and doesn't know it but a large part of the fanbase also defends it, the same goes with try begging, a manhwa written by Solche who also wrote cry or better yet beg and once again despite Leon being an abuser everyone's ready to justify his actions because he's just a soft little boy who ends up falling in love with Sally awww 😍 (what the hell?) Everyones all about not justifying abusers because they had a sad past until it's the "sexy" male leads with daddy issues.

7: maid slapping

This shit isn't asserting your dominance as a boss bitch it's just work place abuse. This trope has gotten so out of hand of being justified by narratives and readers that there is an entire webtoon called this isekai maid is forming a union that's all about criticizing twisted manhwa tropes that get brushed off with maid absuer being at the biggest one. It's funny because a lot of people complain that Isekai maid union villainizes the nobles too much but they never ask the same questions when a OI is demonizing maids as greedy and lazy in order to deserve a beating. This doesn't just stop at hands either it can escalate to threats of mutilation just to assert dominice which is absolutely sick. Most of the time these leads used to be office workers or terminally ill patients, they know how terrible it is to be treated like garbage by their superiors yet they continue to absue every maid who isn't getting on their knees for them. Most maids in real history would not mistreat a noble even if they were the most hated in the house and even if they did they'd be fired without a letter of recommendation so why can't the FL's just fire the rude maid if they care about dignity so much because I'm pretty sure getting violent with a maid isn't very dignified either.

8: disgusting age gaps

Very similar to #6 but in this case while the ML/FL isn't a cruel monster to their partner it doesn't change the fact that grooming and pedophilia is still a crime worthy of life in prison. You'd think "oh no way, this can't be justified can it?" You'd be wrong. Now I belong to house of Castillo thankfully has a larger fanbase of people who think that a relationship between a girl who got groomed by her knight is bad but in cases like into the light once again a lot of people like to say "Well Aisha is technically 28 so it's fine!" When it really isn't since Aisha is still mentally 14. Taming my ex husbands mad dog is another one that does this with Reinhardt grooming a 16 year old boy and its apparently meant to be "cute".

9: claiming a character as unattractive yet giving them a perfect body and appreance

I just think this is a major cop-out since there's time where they want to make a realistic story yet also wanting a fantasy fufilment. I don't think its a coincidence that the only woman in tears of a withered flower that yout supposed to support is a Victoria's secret model body type. Even though she's meant to be an overworked exhausted 33 year old woman being mocked for losing her beauty she sure as hell isn't drawn that way, the only other women around hae soo are all women with smaller boob's and in general more common body types that are either classed as stupid or jealous that Hae soo is so beautiful that all the attractive men want her

how about we don't pit all the women against each other for once? And let's especially not villainize other women because their jealous they could never be have large boob's and tiny arms+waist at the same time?

10: the commoner protagonist actually being a noble rich person all along

Look I know most of us had loved those "the hated child is the lost princess" GLMM but we need to drop it because it's kinda disappointing that the nobody who had to work their way to the top is actually a secret magical princess who had royal blood in them all along. While I did think the villainess turns the hourglass was a pretty decent read I was super disappointed finding out that Aria was of noble descent all along. I liked seeing a commoner protagonist for once and it really felt like it was critiquing the idea that all commoners and poor people who want nice things like the nobility are greedy animals. Something similar can also happen with certain saintess manhwas that decide to twist itself into "the villainess was the true saintess all along!" And I'm just sitting here thinking "well there goes the hope that you didn't need the super duper rare power to be a strong character"

I feel way better now after writing all this.

[pixi4]

**OBX SPOILERS**

Can we talk about the fact that Obx4 is not about good plot, writing or character based story. It's about shock value and fan service.

JJ Maybank, who literally hasn't had a moment of happiness in the 4th season, gets killed by the end so that were shocked and hooked for the next season.

We get one shot of him dead, his friends barely even crying and them BOOM gets buried in the fucking ground in the place that's not even his home, literally plopped into the fucking ground like a piece of rock. Audiences don't even get time to process his random ass death and suddenly John Bs stupid ass monologue shows the flashbacks of JJ and how he was a good friend and all that shit.

If people who WROTE this fucking show can't understand that JJs character goes FAR beyond just being a good friend, then I guess I'm not even surprised by the end.

We were CONSTANTLY shown aspects of JJ that in some other universe would've been properly explored. He's clutches his chest constantly, perhaps suggesting he's got a heart thing or breathing difficulty, his home life is shit and not a single adult gives a fuck. John B is practically stalked by the CPS in season 1, but no one bat's an eye at the fact that Luke abuses JJ. He's got dyslexia and kleptomania which is only ever played for laughs meanwhile Cleos kleptomania is regarded as a serious thing she had to do to survive. He can never sit still and constantly switches back and forth, obviously ADHD coded. Whenever gang argued before, JJ used to pace around and put hands over his ears suggesting he has some bits of PTSD from unstable home environment.

All of THAT exists and is true about JJ yet in John B fucking monologue he's reduced to just "a good friend" ????

Literally NOTHING of his trauma is explored or even touched upon aside from that bit in season 1. NO ONES trauma is explored except for Sarah's (no hate to her) and John Bs.

Fuckin bs.

Imagine being given up by your dad (who killed your mother btw) to a morally questionable man such as Luke, who then proceeds to beat you and emotionally manipulate and torment your for years, neglecting you and abusing you. To then suddenly being told you're not actually his and that all that beating and abuse COULD'VE been avoided had someone actually wanted you. Then you meet the said biological father only for him to lie to you, manipulate you, gaslight you, scam you, attempt to kill you once and then fucking succeed in killing you..... The amount of disrespect for JJs character.

Fuckin Luke, the biggest abuser is JJs story is alive and well and FUCKING JAIL FREE??? WHILE JJ IS IN THE GROUND???

The angry faces of others and Kiaras "revenge" implies that season 5 will be about seeking revenge and sinking further into darkness in order to right the wrongs of JJs murder. But guess what?? Sarah's pregnant. That storyline itself is basically ensuring that happy ending is in sight. For basically all of them, because as Kie said: takes a village (to raise a baby). Motherly vibes are gonna spread their positive energy and then they'll heal and John B will most likely give another boring ass monologue about how People die but they also live and heal and shit and how everybody deserves happiness with shots of the gang raising the kid and riding off into the sunset....

Guess who fucking deserved happy ending THE MOST out of all of them???

JJ fucking Maybank.

Every season of obx focuses on on Pogue. 1.- John B, 2.-Pope, 3.- Kie. Imagine waiting for your own season only for your character to constantly be dealt the worst of cards, be perpetually disregarded and have shit go from worse to worse to in the end fucking die randomly???? If I was Rudy Pankow I'd fuckin sue.

The shit that pisses me off the most is that it's so painfully obvious that Rafe will inevitably get a redemption arc and his own happy ending, possibly even with Kie since people love to ship her with a man who's a) mentally and emotionally not at all alright b) is a murderer who never served his time and got one of her friends framed for it causing him to literally be chased out of his own home for crime he did not commit while he was still a minor c) has tried to kill her d) has tried to kill her best fucking friend, who is his own fucking sister

Infatuation with sociopath men in media HAS to stop. But it most likely will not stop any time soon and JJ is yet another victim of shipping wars.

I can't even read stupid ass fanfics anymore because I'll always remember that JJ is not alive in the Canon anymore.

Who ever gave the green light in the making of the end of season 4, sincerely and disrespectfully, I fucking hate you.

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

[xtarmanderx]

I don’t ever post things like this here because this is primarily my writing side blog, but it feels too important not to say something.

I started writing 9-1-1 fics for the Buddie fandom and for a friend who was near and dear to me. I quickly left the fandom because of the mods for an event that I was participating in and how awful they were to one of my best friends that joined the event with me. That completely killed my desire to interact with the Buddie fandom at all and I don’t know if I will ever finish posting the fic that I poured my heart into for said event. Because that fic is fully done, but those encounters with those fans made me never want to write Buddie again.

And then Tommy Kinard came along.

And holy fuck, I fell in love with him so fast. I immediately rewatched the show after he reappeared in season 7 because I was so fascinated with his character. And then I fell in love with Lou Ferrigno Jr. and began watching S.W.A.T. just to get glimpses of him and I grew to love that show and its characters, too. And I read his interviews and saw how happy he was to be back on the show and it made me happy, too.

Then I saw all the hate and negativity.

It filled me with so much anger and I blocked so many people across so many different forms of social media so I no longer had to see it. All I wanted was to surround myself with positivity.

Because I’ve been that bitch.

There are people no longer in certain fandoms because of me and I’ll never be able to apologize enough for the ways that I hurt them. Sorry will never be enough to mend those bridges that I poured kerosene on.

It’s why I’ve stayed in my corner and all of my fic comments have been generic, which isn’t who I used to be. I used to engage and leave long comments, but honestly I’ve been terrified to try and join any new community. Because I am fucking terrified of reverting back to the person I never want to be again.

My best friend started watching the show again after I went to his house for dinner and had him watch the BuckTommy kiss episode with me. The last five minutes of that episode, I told him to put his phone down and pay full attention and he was completely engaged and was so happy to see another queer couple onscreen. It gave us something else to bond over every week as we would watch and text about what was happening.

Tonight’s text:

This coming from a gay man who does not engage in fandom spaces at all and who felt blindsided, too. Like so many of us did.

I immediately started writing a fix it fic because that’s who I am. I want to write the endings I want to see. And then I stopped writing and sent Lou a message directly because I needed to get something off my chest.

I was raised in a broken home. Raised by racists who belittled me endlessly and have told me within the last couple of years that I am their least favorite child. I am the youngest of 6. That shit was heartbreaking. It’s a wound that will never heal. But why am I bringing it up? Why does that matter?

Because I saw myself in Tommy. I saw a character who represented the worst parts of my youth, who spouted hateful things my parents taught me to say and then spent years having to unlearn those things. Lou talked about his own ideas about Tommy’s past and it struck so close to home for me. Because Tommy showed he was capable of change. And I did, too. It took therapy and years of reflection and being hyperaware now of the shit I say and having to constantly stay on top of my own thoughts and correct them.

I have been dating a woman of color for the last 9.5 years and she’s the love of my life. She has been there through every stumble and stayed even when my passive aggressive inclinations got the better of me. And I saw so much of myself reflected in Tommy Kinard’s character and Lou’s portrayal of him and saw our relationship in Buck and Tommy, too.

Tonight hit me so much harder than expected. And this probably seems like a jumbled mess of thoughts, which it is, but I needed to get some things off my chest and out into the world.

This is not the week that so many of us were expecting. This hurt. We’re allowed to be upset and need time to process. I sure as hell do.

But I do want to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone who has brought joy and friendship to this fandom. The fics that have been written are amazing and the art has been fantastic. I’ve seen some people make lifelong friends in the past few months thanks to this. It sure as hell strengthened some of mine.

So, if you need a friend right now, know that I’m here. I’ve been subdued for a while, but I refuse to lose out on more joy in my life. Not when we all desperately need it. So I’m here for you.

And please remember to be kind. Don’t let anyone take that superpower away from you.

[alipeeps]

Episode 19

SERIOUS SPOILERS in this one, jfc do NOT read ahead if you have not already watched ep 19!! 😭😭

Wait where did all the other demons go? We only saw Li Lun let one out and leave with her.

"You're the reason I have nothing" says Li Lun??

Ooooh Li Lun killed all the people keeping the demons in cages... and the "fight" we saw a glimpse of earlier was Zhu Yan stopping Li Lun from killing one more person.

So Zhu Yan was trying to stop Li Lun from indiscriminate killing, which would surely get him in trouble, and Li Lun saw it as Zhu Yan putting humans over demons and protecting people who had hurt demons...

Oh SHIT!! Oh wait! That flare of power when he stopped him was NOT intentional! It was the ever-burning fire branch that was absorbed into Zhu Yan.... and Li Lun is a fucking tree demon! He accidentally kinda set him on fire?

He didn't mean to hurt you Li Lun, just to stop you from killing!

Shit he killed the clinic patients, not even the bad guys who imprisoned the demons. As I said, indiscriminate killing. But as far as Li Lun is concerned, all humans are the same, all are guilty...

Okay point of order, how come Li Lun calls him Zhao Yuanzhou in these flashbacks? Cos I thought he only got given that name by the Baize Goddess, and I thought he only started spending time with her later on, when he was mired in sadness? The Zhu Yan in these scenes is still young and (relatively) carefree?

Uh, your Zhuo Yichen fanboy is showing Zhu Yan...

Ayyy gang to the rescue!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! What the fuck did you do to my baby boy?!!!

Divine power?! Is Bai Jiu part-god? Is he like Ying Lei and half-demon, half-god?

Ugh, Zhu Yan telling the others to get Bai Jiu to safety and confronting Li Lun alone... except he is NOT alone because Zhou Yichen stayed with him!

Oh dang. Well, she wasn't wrong that Li Lun would want to torture her in front of Zhu Yan.

Ooooh so he WAS trying to curse her and control her into hating Zhu Yan.

Another thing I love about this drama is the realism... which sounds daft to say about a very much fantasy drama but what I mean is bits like this... when the script/story calls for a character to get wet/be submerged in water... they actually DO it. There's no CGI/fake underwater scenes, and no actors with hair and clothing that has basically just been spritzed so it is barely damp... they actually get them properly submerged and wet.

Yes boi, use that ice water power!!

Damn boy, you so fucken cool...

Oooh he cut him with a blade coated in his own blood... and therefore malicious energy...

"I now carry blood with malicious energy"... meaning.. he didn't before? Or just... his malicious qi levels weren't previously high enough that it infected his blood too? I mean... Li Lun obviously knew about him absorbing malicious qi, hence the whole blood moon plot...

Oh fucking GO Wen Xiao!!

Took that fucker by complete surprise and swiped his weapon right out of his hands!!

Smash it! See how he fucking likes it!

Okay that was dumb, you decided to try and use it instead.

Oooh we saw that earlier when he escaped after the seal was broken - the skin on his arm is turning woodlike...

Yup... as I had surmised... Zhu Yan accidentally damaged him with the ever-burning fire back then... and because he is a tree demon... the fire of that burn has never gone out. He's been burning in agony ever since.

Aaaaaand that's another nice helping of guilt for Zhu Yan, who no matter how he tries seems to keep hurting people due to things that are out of his control...

Oh shiiiiit so being sealed by the baize token actually controlled the fire from the ever-burning wood. Otherwise he would have burned to ashes.

So if she hadn't sealed him, he'd be dead. And now that the seal is broken... he is burning again...

Wait up is he actually burning up right now? Like he's gonna die now? With 13 eps left?

Jfc give Hou Minghao ALL the fucking acting awards!!

So... the big bad is dead and gone? And we're only just over half way through.

So... am guessing the plot will now revolve around how to avert the two impending disasters of:

the wilderness collapsing if the baize token cannot be repaired; and

Zhu Yan destroying the human world when he inevitably loses control of the malicious qi.

Oh and here comes Chongwu fucking camp to join the party...

Oh so the bowl had the Yao water in it? But now it's polluted with blood...

I wouldn't necessarily believe what Li Lun said dude...

Yeah keep telling yourself that babes....

Oh wait, I hadn't realised it was Chongwu Camp AND Demon Hunting Bureau together?!

And let me guess, the purpose behind this unprecedented cordial entente is... to kill Zhu Yan?

Oh, arrest him is it? So your guy can then kill him and take his core.

Pleeeeeease tell me Demon Hunting Bureau isn't gonna sign off on this shit?

Since when is Sijing the Prime Minister's representative?

Also, Wen Xiao, sweetie, you should NOT be relying on Sijing to back you up... she's a fucking mole for Chongwu Camp!!

Aaaand there it is.

Uuuuuh okay... so mum is not dead? And yeah... there sure is a lot to explain to your kid fella... like how the fuck he's got divine power?!!

Can't see how Chongwu Camp's prison could hold Zhu Yan any better than Demon Hunting Bureau's if he really wanted to leave? (Am not seeing any demon-power suppressing charms). So I guess for the moment he doesn't want to leave...

Oh my, has our boy Yichen finally managed to acknowledge that things aren't quite so simple as black and white?

He sure fucking is!

I'm... starting to wonder if the dude behind the mask is gonna turn out to be... said prime minister?

Ooooh I stand corrected, they did put a bunch of suppressing tokens in his cell....

(Ngl my whumper's heart is still kinda hoping he will get injured/tortured whilst his powers are suppressed.... come on Chongwu Camp... do this one thing for me... )

Oh shiiiiiiit the Prime Minister is the "scholar" who attacked the dragon mountain god. He's had it out for demons since the start!!

Uhhhh that's a new look for Wen Xiao?!! I'm gonna guess this is a demon pretending to be her? Perhaps the same one that was doing the same in Li Lun's dream world?

Oh MAN, he were go again with flashback city!! And Zhu Yan has fucking known from the start that Sijing was a Chongwu spy and has used it against them!!

Oohhhh those fuckers lied to her that her brother was still alive and tried to use that as leverage - not knowing that she already knew for certain he was definitely dead.

So she's been pretending to be their mole all this time... to help Zhu Yan find out what they are up to.

Ahhhhh fucking epic!!

So Chongwu camp has been using demons for research... just like the clinic Li Lun and Zhu Yan busted all those years ago?

Okay wait I am CONFUSED. It was only 8 years ago that he and Li Lun busted the clinic? And that's what Li Lun was sealed for (so he's only been sealed for 8 years?) and that's when Zhu Yan wigged out under the blood moon?

So... Zhu Yan had already been hanging out with baize goddess long before that? And been given her brother's name?

But was also visiting the mortal world with Li Lun, seemingly carefree? So this hairstyle...

and this....

were a matter of maybe days apart? Was the grey hairstyle just something he used for visiting the mortal world with Li Lun? But we also saw him with that hairstyle being reprimanded by Ying Zhao for visiting the mortal world when he hadn't fully mastered malicious qi, which I had assumed was when he was much younger? Which is why I had assumed the grey plaited hairstyle indicated younger Zhu Yan? But I guess not?

Oh damn... mystery mask dude is... Xiao Bai's master? Ngl I did NOT fucking see that coming!

And he's been experimenting on demons all this time?

Has... has he experimented on Xiao Bai? Is that why he has divine power and was worried when asked if he was a demon? Have this fucker used demon/divine blood on him?

Oh FUCK and that's why he wants Zhu Yan's core! For his experiments!! A great demon's core!

Ohhh fuck that doesn't sound good...

I think this might be a trap...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

WHAT

THE

FUCK?!!

NO! Noooooooooo!!! Not my baby Xiao Jiu!!

I AM NOT OKAY!!!

[haytsun]

i gonna said is some misogyny written over it, the male character such as sokka and zuko do have a most perfect arc and plot then others character, the worst written part not really harm the plot

but most female character, even have the most written like katara, it seem like she has her own arc such as how she learn waterbender, but she get to learn wasn't how she hard working, it was because her grangran necklace, altho in the end her waterbender skill is how hard train to success, her arc of plot most are just about of helping aang(about the whole avatar stuff and love), sokka(a compare with non bender and smartbass brother) and zuko(to prove that zuko is worth to forgive while everyone forgive and just katara haven't because he doesn't know why later on being forgive to complete zuko arc)to get over their problem because the other like suko or toph in the gaang are not suitable for the places

but sloving the male character problem doesn't help to complete katara's arc, it just help to build katara characteristic such as the yonrha stuff, like she forgive who had killed her mother, how she struggle with the hate and anger and she remember what aang said, this always makes me think after this how she think about ozai and azula

i wonder if yonrha were a female character would the whole plot change hmmm

What exactly were everyone's character arcs supposed to be?

This is an interesting question for ATLA, and one sometimes without a clear answer. Some characters have reasonably complete character arcs, and others simply don't, to a degree which is often not acknowledged today. A few are in-between. This not necessarily a function of screen time. Jet and Yue have reasonably complete character arcs despite only briefly appearing, while others with far more screen time do not.

Without further ado, I'll go through the characters one by one and try to give an answer:

Yue, as I said, has a story which feels complete with a beginning, middle, and end. She's a very duty bound person committed a political marriage to help her tribe, a person who was saved by the holy symbols of it in the first place. Then she falls in love with Sokka but refuses to break off her engagement out of duty. And finally she sacrifices her life out of duty to save everyone.

Jet also feels like he has an arc. You can take issue with how it was written and how it plays out, since he really got the short straw, but it's an arc. From being orphaned by the Iroh-aligned Rough Rhinos, to fighting the Fire Nation and going "too far," to trying to make a new start in Ba Sing Se, to correctly getting suspicious about Zuko and Iroh, to being brainwashed by the Dai Li, to dying fighting against Long Feng. It's not nearly as coherent as Yue's arc, but it's something.

Suki, by contrast, doesn't have much of an arc. I've heard before the concept of "character arc" being defined as "either the character changes or the audience's perception of them changes." Neither of those things ever happen with Suki. She remains unchanged, and we learn nothing really about her. The only meaningful character change which happens is that she and Sokka fall in love.

Aang quite obviously has an arc: grow into the position of Avatar, defeat the Firelord, befriend Zuko, and the end the war. And, of course, get together with Katara.

Zuko also has an arc, which the show probably spends more time on than with anyone else: change sides, become friends with the Gaang(although that bit was very poorly written), and reject his abusive father and instead start worshipping his uncle. And I suppose grow strong enough to beat the crap out of his sister, like he's always wanted to do.

Iroh, by contrast, couldn't have less of an arc. Any attempt to read an arc into the mess of extremely incoherent writing he was would require extreme charity. In the end, we're supposed to both accept he "changed" offscreen before the show(that his arc was already mostly complete?) but also that he was "always good" anyways.

Toph doesn't have an arc. 90% of her character development, such as it was, is confined to her first two appearances. After that, she's merely a hanger on to the Gaang. As much as people love her, there is so little to her story. Her character is better defined than Suki, but her story isn't.

Azula is supposed to have an arc. It's supposed to be about falling apart, going insane, and being lain low. But it was extremely rushed and shoved unconvincingly into the last few episodes, and the writers were uninterested in explaining what actually happened to make her fall apart, so I struggle to say she has anything resembling a coherent arc.

Ty Lee also doesn't have an arc. Her arc, such as it was imagined, was supposed to "betray Azula." Yet none of the character development she gets over the series leads in that direction, and we have every reason to believe she would have acted the same at the beginning of the series as she did at the end. And of course there was no "redemption" aside from switching sides for her.

Mai has slightly more of an arc than Ty Lee, but that's only because it involves her getting together with Zuko and eventually sacrificing herself to protect him. Otherwise, it's about as coherent as Ty Lee's arc.

Sokka's arc is an interesting one. I would say that there are four things they experiment with as the basis for his arc. First, there is his distrust for Aang, which is rapidly resolved. Second is his sexism, which is equally rapidly resolved. Third is unease over being a nonbender, but that's only rarely referenced over the course of the series, and is fully "resolved" in the truly awful episode "Sokka's Master" early in Book 3. Finally, there is the issue of his daddy issues and his desire to prove himself as a warrior. That is something his story keeps coming back to over and over again. However, it is almost entirely resolved in the Day of Black Sun episodes, where Sokka leads the SWT in battle, despite a couple weird later references in the Boiling Rock episodes. Thus, I would Sokka has an arc, but it's resolved well before the series ends.

Finally, we reach Katara. I don't think Katara really has much of a coherent arc in the series. In Book 1, it was all about her trying to become a master waterbender, but she achieves that by the end of the Book. After that, her character lacks clear direction. What's her story supposed to be about after that? Getting together with Aang? "Forgiving Zuko"? The daddy issues which show up for exactly one episode? The conflict with Toph which shows up for two? "Accepting that ordinary Fire Nation people are people too," even though she was always shown to be compassionate to ordinary Fire Nation people not actively engaged in genocide? The "mommy issues" which she often brings up but which are rarely taken seriously by the show, and are ultimately used to get her to forgive Zuko (two separate times!)? All of these seem completely unworthy of hanging her arc on, and I have to say, I don't think Katara has much of a coherent arc past Book 1.

If we had to order these characters in terms of coherence of arc from most to least, it would probably go something like: Aang, Zuko, Yue, Jet, Sokka, Katara, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Iroh, Toph, Suki.