#This isn't trying to be critical of anyone

[thatscarletflycatcher]

We tend to think of the Victorian era as this complete cultural monolith, and of course that isn't true. Yes, sensation fiction was a Victorian phenomenon, but it surfaced later in the period. Jane Eyre was published in 1847, when the Victorian novel as we understand it*, was in its infancy. Like, yes, Dickens had been writing and publishing since the 30s (basically taking over from Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth), and had already published The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839) and A Christmas Carol (1843), but all his other major novels you can think about? David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861), Our Mutual Friend (1865); all written from the 50s onward. Think other huge Victorian novels or novelists... Thackeray's Vanity Fair? 1848. Elizabeth's Gaskell first novel, Mary Barton, came out that same year. George Eliot's first novel, Adam Bede came out in 1859. Wilkie Collins, widely known as perhaps the biggest name of early sensation fiction? His first novel was published in 1850, and so was the case with Anthony Trollope.

What I'm trying to say is that yes, of course this kind of plotting existed in late 18th century Gothic literature, and people wouldn't have gotten the vapors over it, but whether you take the side that Jane Eyre was lambasted for coarseness or praised for its force (there's some debate over this, even after the publication of the critical heritage), the general consensus was that of it being a strikingly fresh and original novel. Unscrupulous publishers tried to present Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as being written by the same author of Jane Eyre, that was the level of crazy popularity and impact of the novel (which, btw, makes pretty ridiculous the theory that Charlotte tried to suppress her sisters' work out of jealousy).

So, no, of course Jane Eyre didn't kill anyone of shock, but also, yes, it WAS something shocking and new for its audience. It's worth mentioning in this context, that out of the three Brontë novels coming out that year, Jane Eyre was generally the one considered the tamest. The violence of Wuthering Heights made it definitely more controversial, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by uniting "coarseness", violence, and a heavy controversial political matter at the time (coverture and the rights of married women), was the most controversial by far. This is something a contemporary reader tends to have a hard time wrapping their heads around (cfr. that comic about how Anne was the only normal Brontë sister). There's a balance between understanding the general continuities between Victorian culture and our own, while being aware that in other respects it is a very foreign country to our own.

*yes, of course there was transitional literature of all kinds, silverfork novels following Austen but in the style of Bridgerton in terms of the taste for luxury, excess and dukes, early industrial novels where you can find someone like Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna or Frances Trollope, and newgate novels, which are in a way the predecessors of both detective novels and sensation novels. But all these were, fairly or not, considered very minor literature, general predecessors of the penny dreadful.

There are few delights in the world like having a friend start to read Jane Eyre for the first time and then as they are commenting on it you slowly realize that they don't know. They don't know Rochester's deal.

This is like the literary equivalent of meeting someone who doesn't know Darth Vader is Luke's father.

So they go "I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with this relationship! Yeah he's older and there is a class/power difference but he clearly respects her as a person and it's so refreshing!" and you just cackle, cackle, cackle behind your screen until the inevitable day you get this message.

Everyone congratulate my friend @anonymoustypewriter, they just found out one of literature's biggest 100+ year old shock twists authentically without anyone spoiling it for them.

[lumoakes]

A lot of people don't quite seem to understand queerplatonic relationships at first glance, because at their core, they are designed to be undefinable. Their existence is inherently critical of the pre-established idea of what relationships and attraction means, which is why people seem to think they don't stand up to scrutiny.

Several people intuitively insist on trying to fit queerplatonic neatly in between "friendship" and "romance" in the relationship hierarchy. As if they're inherently something "more" than a friend but "less" than a romantic relationship. However, from my understanding, this is the exact thing the label of queerplatonic is actively trying to fight against.

I'm not saying that this isn't what some queerplatonic relationships are, in a sense, but it's certainly not all of them. Queerplatonic relationships come in all shapes and sizes, and do so by design. There is nothing you can't do in a queerplatonic relationship and nothing you can't feel. Once you start venturing into the community you will find queerplatonic relationships where people have sex, queerplatonic relationships where there is romantic attraction involved on some level, queerplatonic relationships that are prioritized less than friendships, people who have romantic relationships, but are more actively committed to their queerplatonic partner, and plenty of other variations.

Queerplatonic partners are not inherently a "leveled up" version of friendship. They are not inherently a romantic relationship but without the romance. "Queerplatonic" is a word that exists in defiance of the way mainstream society views relationships and their hierarchies altogether. The point of it is not to lie on a sliding scale between friendship and romance, but rather to acknowledge that the widespread understanding of relationships doesn't include us. We have made the active decision to carve out our own space for this reason. Where we set the expectations, feel the ways we feel, and do the things we do, without anyone telling us it's not correct or enough.

That's why they're important. That's why it is a useful label, especially to aspec people, who have often felt alienated from relationship definitions and specificity in feelings. And I think it's important to acknowledge that.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

Fandom Whataboutism

Well, it's been a fair bit since I've written a rant, but this one has been growing inside of me for a while, so I'm going to get this off my chest. To flag, this is an issue I've mainly been seeing on TikTok, but it is starting to creep into other fandom spaces, and I'm more comfortable posting on Tumblr, so here we go.

For anyone unfamiliar with how the term 'whataboutism' is currently being used on TikTok, it essentially boils down to people in comments bringing up random things in regard to someone making content to either discredit them or to make the original post about themselves (e.g. the infamous bean soup idea where someone has a recipe for bean soup and someone in the comments says that they don't like beans so how can they make it, or someone saying that they like dogs and immediately get hit with a 'so you hate cats?').

From what I've seen, the phrase has essentially expanded to encompass a growing behavioural trend where people seem to think that everything they see should be specifically catered to their personal taste and that, if it isn't, they need to speak up about it instead of using critical thinking or realising that they can move past content that doesn't apply to them.

And that is something that has also been rife in multiple fandom spaces that I've been in.

One general issue I have seen is people commenting on art/vids/fics and demanding that people recreate them with their fave character, or make something of their fave character/ship/fandom. This just seems rude to me. People are not obligated to create content for your favourite things. If they've created something, it is usually because they wanted to put their passion into it and share it with people who also like the same things as them. They don't owe you anything, so if their content isn't of your fave, it's best too move along as you will.likely be able to find similar content that's more to your preference elsewhere or, if you want to see your own fave reflected in it, maybe reach out and ask if you can do a version with credit to the original.

Now on to some specifics.

I'm going to use some examples here to illustrate my point, but I already know that some people may get heated if they see this post so, general disclaimer, I am not bashing anyone for having any of these characters/ships as their favourites.

I just want to highlight a certain type of behaviour, and these are some of the examples I have personally been seeing lately.

First is the TMNT fandom, which will surprise absolutely no one familiar with this account. I may be going over old ground here but, if you see content for a version of the TMNT you don't like, you don't have to engage! And swooping in with a comment about how much better your preferred version is is annoying. Why would you feel the need to say something snide about one version to big up your fave? Rise fans are especially notable for doing this, but they definitely aren't the only culprits.

Last Ronin fans are another large example of this. When someone is comparing the strengths of the turtles in a particular version, jumping in to say that Mikey is the strongest because he is the Last Ronin is irritating as all hell. Last Ronin is an entirely separate thing (and Mikey living longest is more due to luck/coincidence than him being so much better than his brothers anyway, but that's a rant for another day). And making these comments on a post about a specific turtle is a whole spit in the face. There was a cool edit of Donnie in 2012 in some of his angry moments, and so many comments were about how either Mikey or Leo were so much better than him when angry. To be blunt, if you do this, you're an asshole. There is no need to be so incessantly vocal about your personal fave on a post that is entirely unrelated to them, except to be self centred and you come across as an antagonising prick.

And then there is the Bat-fam fans who are notorious for using fanon to try and make everything about their faves. I saw a post the other day that was an animation of Dick Grayson interacting with the JL, particularly Wonder Woman that had in the description that it was about Dick Grayson. The way it was drawn and the behaviour of everyone in the vid clearly pointed to it being Dick. Yet there were a flood of Jason fans saying that it must be him because of how much he loved Wonder Woman, which is fanon? It got to the point where the poster had to update the description to say they supposed it could be Jason because his fans were being so aggressive.

Or the amount of people who try to say that the Teen Titans cartoon Robin or first season Young Justice Robin are Tim rather than Dick, despite ample evidence otherwise? And then they say that they are characterised more like Tim, as if the two don't share traits? As if Dick can't be angry, or snarky, or good with tech, so if he is, then it must be Tim instead? I've also seen people saying Teen Titans Robin is Damian, even though Damian wasn't even properly in the comics then? It doesn't hurt to do a little research, yet I've seen people try and blatantly argue against canon facts, or the words of the people creating the fan content, to try and make everything about their fave.

Last up is Shadow the Hedgehog. This bit will discuss the wider fandom, but will have some spoilers for the third movie, so please skip to the conclusion or turn back here if you don't want to risk spoilers.

It is not hard to see that Shadow is a popular character, and I can understand why he is. He's cool and he has an interesting back story and interesting powers. But some (key word, some, definitely not all) of his fans take it too far. I watched a great edit of Knuckles from the SCU and, when I opened the comment section, one of the first comments I saw was someone typing in all caps asking why no one was talking about Shadow dying. This was an edit entirely of Knuckles, yet someone was still screaming about Shadow, as if A). the majority of the fandom aren't constantly talking about him, B). Shadow wasn't completely irrelevant to this post and C). Shadow wasn't actually dead.

Likewise, there was an edit of SCU Tails, Sonic and Knuckles to Brother by Kodaline, and people in the comments were asking why Shadow wasn't included. As if Shadow hadn't been an antagonist to them for most of the film. As if Shadow had had a genuine conversation with any of them bar Sonic. Honestly, how did they think he was going to be included in a sweet montage around brotherhood when the only current clips of him are of him fighting/scaring/being a dick to them, with the Robotniks and/or Stone, and then one nice scene with Sonic and a fight montage before he sacrifices himself? He's not their brother. Frankly, I don't think it would make much sense for him to be adopted by the Wachowskis as he's always been his own separate thing, and is more likely to end up with Team Dark if they are introduced rather than having another bed crammed into the attic like he would be crammed into the Team Sonic dynamic.

Or whenever someone talks about how strong Knuckles is, and you get the 'erm actually' bros out in force to talk about how Shadow is the most powerful as he is the Ultimate Lifeform and yadda yadda yadda. And it's just, like, give it a rest already. I'm on a Knuckles post to talk about Knuckles. If you want to hype up Shadow, you genuinely have no shortage of spaces to do so.

There's also the whole matter of shipping. I feel I need to reiterate this, but I don't mind people shipping whatever they like. But I also would like to see that same courtesy extended to others.

For example, there was a post talking about canon Sonic love interests, and half the comments were saying 'what about Sonadow?' I was genuinely concerned that these people didn't understand what the term 'canon' means.

It's the same with any Sonknux or Knuxouge posts, there is always an influx of comments under them saying that they prefer Rouge or Sonic with Shadow. And I'm stuck thinking, that's great, but why don't you use some of that love you have for them to interact with posts about them, rather than engaging with content you don't like, which will inevitably end up with you seeing more of this and upset the people who do like it, especially the creator who worked hard to make something that you feel the need to shit on because it's not exactly to your tastes?

Another issue that I've seen, that isn't related to a specific fandom, is the rise of 'oh, that's just like my OC!' (And this is done with canon characters as well tbh). Although OCs aren't usually my cup of tea, I have enjoyed many stories that have OCs, and I am obviously happy for people creating content about their own characters outside of fandom spaces as well. And I have no issue with people saying that songs/memes/character dynamics etc remind them of their OC.

It is when people jump on a post of someone talking about their personal issues, or an issue that is harming people, to associate it with their OC, that it becomes insensitive. I saw a post the other day about a person who had been affected negatively by a very real issue, and one of the comments was about how this reminded someone of their OC because their OC had experienced trauma in their past. Like, do you not see how this maybe isn't the right place to bring up your fictional character?

I get that some people project their own trauma onto characters, but a post where someone is describing something that is still having a massive effect on their life because of how horrible it was for them to live through is a terrible place to bring up a character, and shows a disturbing lack of empathy or understanding of etiquette. If someone posts about something traumatic and your first thought is about a character if any kind, that's fine, but if you then hop into the comments to type about a character, you need to understand that this is how you sound: 'oh, your horrific experience and daily struggles remind me of a very not real person. Sucks to be you, but my character got awesome powers out of this situation, and the thing that scarred you physically/mentally makes for a great tragic bakstory for them. Doesn't my character sound cool guys? Let's speak more about my character and not the very real person whose story I am completely talking over in order to make everything about things I like to talk about.'

There is a time and a place to talk about your OCs, and when people are trying to educate on a topic or find a community of people who understand them, that is not your place to interject. If you are giving your character these issues in order to raise awareness/education, make a separate post.

There is definitely more I could say on this topic, both in general and in fandom terms, but this is already a pretty long post, so I am going to call it here for now.

Thanks to anyone who stuck around until the end!

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

And remember kids, the next time someone tells you, "George R. R. Martin wouldn't make Jon Snow the typical fantasy hero because that's cliche".....

Oh yes he would!

One viewer wants to know what character would you play (on the show)? GRRM: If I could magically clap my hands and become a different person, it would be cool to play Jon Snow who's much more of the classic hero. Everybody wants to be the classic hero! ABC Interview, 2014

GRRM: And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Meduza Interview, 2017

In fact he already has ☺️

[air3d3lalm3na]

Okay, but coming at it from this angle refuses to address the elephant in the room. -- And I'm saying this as someone who saw it develop online for years and rejected the major trend of it around 10 yrs ago and got massive flack for it, so I clearly don't think this is healthy behavior. Just getting that out there.

But it's not based on individuals' personal urges. For the past good few years, young people with generally good intentions have been exposed to concerning online circles which literally utilized cult tactics (directly using the BITE model here and not exaggerating) to mentally manipulate us into complying with really sick ways of interacting/being interacted with and looking at the world.

I was initially one and felt the massive pressure of it for a time before rejecting it. And I'm a very stubbornly independent individual at that, and still went through that.... Most people in general aren't, and they crave and feel a deep need to "fit in" and "be normal + accepted" in a group and these tactics worked precisely on that factor.

This particularly targeted young LGBT people and anyone in a similar situation, ie seeking community with members of some minority group you're part of, online.

We know disinformation targeted minority groups (here; here).

A few (though not enough) people have thoroughly criticized the cultlike nature of specifically this site. But in the end it always went back to posts like this one -- expressing judgment in some supposed personal moral failing. Which, considering that that sort of peer judgment was always the cudgel being used in the above interactions, heavily shaping these perspectives... It's ironic to see the same social tool being used to criticize those mired in this worldview.

Missing the forest for the trees, here. Fingerpointing won't get people out of this/deradicalize; and, if that isn't a goal, well -- it isn't even a particularly accurate or realistic way to discuss what's happened here, period, even while "just venting"/personal blogging.

We tend to feel comfortable addressing the way that this has gradually happened to the MAGA/QAnon crowd, and the open fact that it's clearly not grassroots/organic and is a top-down influence with right-wing think tanks and money involved. But people seem to be much less comfortable acknowledging that the same has fully been done on the left/generally-left-leaning crowd.

Getting ahead of the black-and-white-minded accusation of conspiratorial thinking that naturally comes when trying to have this discussion: Obviously, there have been tons, realistically much higher numbers actually, of genuine people who have been exposed to this rhetoric, involved in it personally, repeating it, and generally being its "useful idiots" -- which was always the point. The point was to plant specific deeply harmful ways of engaging socially with others in such a widespread way as to make the actual left/left-leaning movement(s) ineffective. Many (most?) people having at least centerist-conservative psychological behaviors in their social upbringings just increased the effectiveness of this (i.e. the desire to follow a leader, hero worship, clique/groupthink -- on a larger scale as well as small, again the black-and-white thinking, "us or them", needing the comfort of simple ideas, etc).

Until any of this is properly addressed, we won't get anywhere, or even have the dignity of knowing we're having this conversation honestly.

I think my patience for people who wanna say radical things that have no hope of ever accomplishing anything and don't serve to do anything but signal they are the maddest angriest has done dried up

[genericpuff]

hello 911 why are all the LO volumes classified as grades 6-12 except for the newest volume which is more appropriately categorized as grades 9-12

please no

[sergle]

(re: sssniperwolf and jacksfilms) It's laughable that she escalated it that hard. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure stalking him like that is illegal and it's terrifying regardless, but Jack said in a stream (can't remember which one) that he wasn't about bringing up past controversies of hers or cancelling. And now she shows up outside his house (wtf!!!). Like he was willing to only call her out for stealing and freebooting but she's gone and stalked him and Jack doesn't seem like the type of guy to take that shit. Actual WTF moment from her part. wild

omg long post below bc apparently I have opinions: YES!! THAT'S WHAT'S SO INCREDIBLE ABOUT THIS... Jack has been genuinely diligent about keeping things on-topic in his streams, and hasn't brought up any of her other Stuff, or anything Personal. Despite the fact that she kickstarted the whole thing by making it INCREDIBLY personal and attacking his physical appearance... His goal has been to call out and bring attention to content theft, and he's stuck with it. Dude's also cared about this for years, and she's not the first content thief he's criticized. He just hates the way that freebooting has become so accepted-- to the point where youtube praised her for "coming up with such creative video ideas"? Hey! Ew! Dude wasn't trying to get her cancelled though, there was no smear campaign of her character. He's been rallying to get her to CREDIT the creators that she relies on for all of her content. It would set a precedent for all other "react" channels on the platform for one of the biggest channels on youtube to actually give credit where credit is due. Or, god forbid, get permission first? It's not hard. It's already done the job of making some other people who do "react content" self-analyze whether or not their content is transformative, and to maybe care about crediting the creators they rely on for their genre to work. There is a way to make this kind of video that isn't so slimy. And making fun of her lackluster-at-best reactions is so far from even being a big deal. Bc she literally does just sit there and say nothing. Plus, his goal has a clear End built into it: if she started shouting out the creators she takes content from, and put links directly to their pages in her video descriptions, the job would be done! That's what he's asking her to do. Real bare minimum stuff. It legit would have been easy to steer away from the content theft and to also talk about her history of lying to her audience! her ghosting a dying kid with cancer who was a big fan of hers! the fact that she's been arrested for armed robbery! her history of transphobia! He would also get more clicks that way, which is what she claims is his sole goal- to get more clicks. I'll bring it up though! She's been a terrible person the whole time, and has kept a steady course of manipulating her audience of young children and/or, let's be completely honest, simps- into thinking that she's a Wholesome creator. (And now, into thinking she's an innocent victim.) All of the actual effort put in by her has gone toward optics, not the content she puts out. A carefully constructed online persona, for one, but also literal appearances. Jack totally can't say this, bc she already went off the handle and said the only reason he doesn't like her is bc he Hates To See A Woman Be Successful. But I can! That was a cheap shot for her to use that argument when, for once, it's not applicable! Much the opposite, even! Dudes online wouldn't go to bat for her if she didn't look the way she does. And it weakens any case she'd have against him by making baseless claims like that. She banks hugely on being an attractive woman to get her clicks/following. A massive amount of effort is put into her appearance. The makeup, the lip fillers, putting her hair in little pigtails, the chokers and tube tops, the big non-prescription Nerd Glasses, the thumbnails where she has her mouth open in That Expression?

I don't even have to say anything. But making a weird facial expression and putting your hair in pigtails aren't moral failings. Showing up at someone's real life home (whose address you shouldn't even have access to), filming the front of their house at night, doxxing them to your audience of millions of people? Because you were mad at them online? That is fully scary! Yeah girl I'm pretty sure that Jack can press charges! There is absolutely no way to take the moral highground now that she's literally stalked him, and doxxed his home. She tried to goad him and Erin (Jack's wife) out of the house, also, which creeps me out even more-- because what was she planning to do? The fact that she's been arrested for violent crime before does pop into my mind! lmao! Jack was streaming a game at the time that she was outside his home, and these clips of him, his friends, and Erin reacting in real time to what is genuinely a scary situation have been taken down in case he needs to use them in legal action. Shit is legitimately serious!

[newtwithinternet]

TDP S7 ending really said "If the world faces a great crisis, the most important thing you have to care about is not resolving it, but keeping your hands nice and clean. no, we aren't saying that there IS a way to solve the crisis without dire methods, we are saying that someone else (who is conveniently stained already) will eventually show up to do the dirty work INSTEAD of you. and you'll be good for letting them do it."

[the-prima-vista]

I can't get over people going on about Solas' redemption ending as though it's the best outcome, like... he only agrees to "atone" because he's LOST. If he had won that fight, he would have gone ahead with exactly what he wanted. At no point has he ever considered what he could actually do to help all the people he's wronged, he just wants to fix his own mistake (the Veil).

And to say that his is the best redemption in Dragon Age? When Blackwall is right there? Blackwall gets less content and has a much better redemption arc than Solas could ever dream of. Blackwall makes the decision himself to accept the consequences of what he did, even if those consequences mean death, and he's angry with an Inquisitor who takes those consequences from him. But if he is allowed to live? He then spends the rest of his life making up for his actions. Solas doesn't even consider other options until Rook's holding a dagger to his throat.

[brionysea]

for the record I'm keeping my #arcane and #arcane critical tags separate because 1) it's rude to go into a show's main tag to complain about it and 2) this way I can still go into the arcane tag on my own blog to enjoy season 1 stuff without being perpetually disappointed by season 2

[alianoralacanta]

Unless you are suggesting this started before 2006, the swearing definitely came first. Scott Speed was fined $5000 in Australia 2006 for swearing in a stewards' office. (Granted, the political neutrality rule existed since before I started following F1 in 1993, but as far as I can tell, that was caused by having to meet French regulations for an organisation of its type, rather than because of an incident in motorsport). For the most recent pattern of GPDA rising and falling: the GPDA took off in 2020 at Race For The World (not for the first time - it's cyclical). Like it or not, the fact there were people standing as well as kneeling as part of what enabled that rise to continue through the early part of supporting the rights of Black people. The reason the GPDA weakened when drivers were getting reprimanded for talking about queer rights is simple - because the FIA had made it clear that anyone defending talking about queer rights was going to be treated the same way or worse. The silencing action got a huge amount of criticism at the time, and alienated some fans enough that they left F1 altogether. GPDA took off again the moment it could (the jewellery overreach of 2022), so nobody should be surprised that it again took off during the swearing. The FIA's regulation change is another try at the "reprimand for talking about queer rights".

Since the GPDA is in an awkward position of having to negotiate with its biggest opponent for the ability to exist in that space, it's feasible that the changes will weaken the GPDA again - until the next unsupported FIA overreach. The swearing thing isn't just about activism, though it definitely is partly about that. It's also about F1 and the FIA's ability to exist at all. People tend not to care about the ethical stance of organisations that have ceased to exist, which is why the number of people who care about the FIA's disregard for minorities is and can only ever be a subset of the number who care whether they exist in the first place.

no but genuinely… why are people more upset about drivers not being able to swear then not being able to publicly make “political statements” as if said “political statements” aren’t just code for supporting minorities because it’s clear the fia had no problem or shame when inviting trump to miami

where was all your anger when lewis was told by the fia that he couldn’t/shouldn’t talk about blm 😐

it’s not about keeping the sport “unpolitical” it’s about silencing drivers (by that i mean asian drivers, lewis, and seb) when they speak up about racism, homophobia, and misogyny

sure it’s stupid they can’t swear but let’s get our priorities straight

[some-pers0n]

I'm really sorry for Hazbin posting again but godddd because this one clip of Alastor and Bill Cipher has been going around late on Twitter reminds me so much of how utterly lame it is when Alastor swears. Like the whole thing that makes him unnerving is how well-spoken he is. I don't even like him saying "fuck you" to Lucifer. Him saying "I'm about to end your fucking life" sounds so lameeeeee he sounds like an elementary schooler who just learned the fuck word

The part that makes him fun and interesting is how well-spoken he is. It kinda plays on the gimmick of radio hosters being kind, chipper fellows and how they don't swear or do anything. It acts as a contrast. I literally don't understand why Viv is allergic to making characters not swear. Him not even swearing would probably be better when it comes to threatening Adam. Like I don't get it. Why is this show's writing like this. He's so uncool and unthreatening when he swears

[cybershock24601]

Not to say Veilguard's writing is perfect or doesn't have any problems because it does but I feel one of the biggest reasons people don't like it is because it treats the dragon age fandom like it is, stupid and reactionary.

When Inquisition dropped in 2014, those were some dark fucking days. People were coming out with the most wild hot takes and ready to start putting heads on pikes over differences of opinion. I totally get why the devs choose to file down some of the rougher edges and not put some of the darker and more problematic elements of the setting into such sharp focus because if my memory serves me right, people were pissed the fuck off that bad things were depicted at all in Inquisition. There were pages and pages of discourse over every little thing so trying to side step the stuff that made people start frothing at the mouth probably seemed like a smart move to the devs especially since the way the fandom talked about a lot of the stuff was like they didn't want to see any of it onscreen at all. It's not like Veilguard doesn't have fucked up stuff going on but its more in the background now and I can see how that decision was made considering fandom sentiment over the years. Also a lot of people who like to roleplay oppression don't get to do that in Veilguard, not saying that's the reason for all the push back on the shift in tone in Veilguard, there are a lot of legitimate criticisms, but there were definitely people that took rping as a fictional minority a little too seriously back in the day.

The other reason people can't stand Veilguard is because it definitely holds your hand sometimes when it comes to the narrative which people get upset about because it makes them feel stupid because duh, its so obvious I didn't need the game to treat me like a child but is it just obvious because the game is explicitly spelling it out? Considering some of the horrendous fucking takes I've seen whenever the writing has some nuance or requires some critical thinking, yeah no shit the writing team decided to be a lot more explicit when it came to certain aspects of the game because oh boy does a whole lot seem to go over people's head. Things go over my head too sometimes since I'm usually more focused on playing the game then analyzing it especially on a first playthrough, but my god do I get why the writing is a lot less complex in Veilguard. Some of it is definitely a result of rewrites and budget and time constraints and EA doing what EA does but there is a reason Veilguard can feel like Dragon Age for babies because when the game does choose to treat people like adults, so many people seem to completely miss what the game is trying to say when it isn't hammering the point into directly into your skull. There are things Veilguard could have done better on but I've seen a lot of common complaints that just seem to be the result of people refusing to do any deeper thinking about what the game is saying and doing very surface level readings.

[butterfly-ribbon]

i'm not really into mizurui so i try not to pay it too much attention but something that has always bothered me is that the majority of their ship art i've come across features mizuki in middle school/pretranaition, which i guess i understand to a degree bc this is when they met and when they were closest to each other before drifting apart and doing their own thing, but i'm not sure how i feel about the implications of that being romanticized considering 'boyhood' is explicitly framed as a prison for mizuki?

[blankticket]

Even with his face turned away from Vash, hands visibly tense as he draws his knees closer to himself. Shoulders square in, tense, shake, go still. There's only so much he can do to hide the hurt.

" … You still wanna call yourself the worst now?"

A half-beat of consideration. Then the hooded figure's shoulders shake again, head lifting up, but it's more of an impression of laughter than anything.

"Sure. Gotta be, if I'm bringing all of this outta you." It's the same principle as always: whatever pain he was feeling must be negligible compared to what his predecessor had obviously endured for decades on end, alone. And despite all the lecturing from just now, his own pain still felt unimportant. If anything, all that ire justified the thought. It's this line of thinking that prompts the predictable brick wall into continuing, anyway:

"The point of talkin' about it with me earlier than this isn't about how I would've felt about it, whatever I'd have to say about it. Of course I'm not entitled to that."

The point was that Legato Bluesummers would have been important to anticipate, should he arrive to Spirale. The point was that he wanted to be there for Vash, because he cared about how he felt. He didn't want to leave him alone in that suffering; not when it's his responsibility to understand him. But maybe—oh—maybe the other guy really never felt that way. Never needed him for any of it.

A mitten clumsily comes up to the opening of the hood, only to fall back into hugging at his knees instead. "And no, I didn't think you'd have all the answers. I just thought you'd wanna…"

Want to find them together? So what, the other Vash wouldn't feel alone? So that they could fool themselves into thinking they were doing others right, "protecting" them from problems caused by them to begin with?

Why would he want to do that, with someone who's so eager to die, someone who clearly doesn't know what he's talking about?

The younger Plant lapses into a silent trance then, quietly letting all the accusations soak in deeper. It'd do them both good for him to quit talking and pick himself apart for once, and to quit from putting any more words in the older Vash's mouth. Maybe it'd encourage the other guy to lay into him some more, while he was at it.

What the hell was he thinking, pretending to do all of this for Vash's sake, for everyone's sake? He hasn't helped one bit; worse than doing nothing, he's evidently only reopened old wounds and wasted time. Chosen to be dishonest around everyone he'd promised to keep true to. He's forced Vash to relive memories he wasn't ready to handle, feel things he wasn't ready to share; been unfair to him, over and over again. How could anyone look at what he's done now, and stay fooled into thinking it was to protect anyone?

God—how stupid could he get? No wonder Vash hated him this much.

He was right to air out every bit of criticism now, to look at the wrong Vash's insistence of humility and vulnerability, and see it for what it really is: childish embarrassment in getting caught for all his incompetence, trying to do things nobody asked him to do, and not even getting that right. Vash would've been better off if this worthless edition of himself had just…

"I'm sorry." It's said softly, but even then, he feels disgusted at the way he has to steal the other's voice to say it. "I should've known. I'm sorry for hurting you this bad."

★ --;; "Talk like what?"

It comes out bitter, mean. An angry old dog protecting the wound in its side. "Like I don't have all the answers?" He still sounds just as tired and wrung out as he feels, as though the nervous energy had all at once seeped through the soles of his feet down into the freezing pavement. All that's been left in its wake is the simmering pain that's been there for years, the anger that lies draped across it. " 'Cause I don't know how or when you got that in your head, but I've never had them."

Even without the denial of space, Vash wouldn't have gone to sit back down. There's a wall there, now; maybe one that had always been there. Had definitely always been there in some capacity, its corporeality shifting in and out of existence. Playing pretend that it hadn't helped either of them.

"And now you're here puttin' words in my mouth 'cause it's what you wanna hear again. That's never what I meant!" The more he talks the more that misplaced resentment and shame sits hot at the back of his neck, behind his ears, burns in his chest. At come point his fists had clenched at his sides.

"I'm mad 'cause you keep doin' stupid shit on my behalf and brushin' it off, 'cause god forbid I try and care about your wellbeing! You told me you don't wanna die, but you sure as hell don't know how ta' show it!"

"And then every time I try an' get it through your head it's either like talkin' to a brick wall or you gettin' mad at me for tryin' ta' help you in the first place! Mad at me for not carin' and then mad at me when I do! And I know I messed up by not talkin' about it! I know!"

The words coming out his mouth, the accusations being thrown— they don't make Vash feel any better. All they do is make that horrible feeling churning through him feel that much worse. But it's like a dam's burst open, the flow impossible to stop.

"No, I didn't want you to resent me for not talkin' about it— but even if I had, what would you have said? That I shouldn't have done it? I *know* that! I live with that every day! But he wouldn't listen, I couldn't just let him go and kill Liv after Nick had just—"

The words catch in his throat. At some point his entire body had tensed back up, muscles held in place so tightly even though the one who had made them that way wasn't physically there to keep then locked and frozen. It takes a good few moments of silence, steam rising up from heavy breaths, before his jaw and throat finally loosen enough to start croaking again.

" ... You still wanna call yourself the worst now?" he asks quietly. " 'Cause I'm tired of pretendin' to go along with it."

[cemetery-circus]

Why do you keep putting specifically Caine in situations

Because he is my favorite character and I'm only going to have him for eight or nine episodes so I need to squeeze him and shake him around in my mouth like a dog toy as much as I can before The Amazing Digital Circus is officially over (not that I would stop loving him afterwards)