#Which is interesting but it's not very sympathetic-

[melrosing]

about what you wrote. i hate tywin/littlefinger/joffrey. tywin is one of my least favorite characters because not only he is evil but also he is dishonest. but even tywin has goodness in him. he seems to be really in love with his wife. cersei has nothing good in her for me. there are evil and incompetent male characters george wrote, but there are also evil and competent male characters he wrote. the thing is cersei is the only female villain in the series (i can think of). and george wrote her as both sociopathic and incompetent. and that's my issue. it seems like in george's mind evil woman are inherently evil and can't be admirable and smart. maybe my assumptions are wrong.

if you think Tywin Lannister has more goodness in him than Cersei i don't even know what to tell you lmao. for one thing, love is not redemptive, and it does not equate to goodness. for another, we have no real idea what Tywin's relationship w Joanna was really like, but in any case, why would we give it more weight than Cersei's love for Joffrey?? you can twist yourself into a pretzel arguing one was more pure or honest than the other but you wouldn't have any real evidence with which to make your case.

and yes, Cersei is the major female villain in the series, but I don't agree that she's the only one. Melisandre surely qualifies in some sense, and she's been given a POV as of the last book. she's done horrible shit but you come to understand her reasoning, and she's written empathetically. there's also the Green Grace, who is certainly smart and I'm pretty sure about to be unmasked as ADWD's true villain. and there's Asha, who not many people would consider a villain, but she doesn't exactly begin ACOK on the side of the Starks. and that still leaves out interesting characters like Lysa and Barbrey, whether they meet your standards or no.

there are certainly more male villains - not exactly surprising given this is set in a hyper-patriarchal society and they're going to be the ones with more power to act as such. but to say there no other female villains, or that they're all incompetent, is not true to the books.

and on this:

it seems like in george's mind evil woman are inherently evil and can't be admirable and smart.

this argument just feels all over the place to me lol. based on Cersei alone, who is one (1) of our female villains, you think that GRRM is only capable of writing inherently evil women - even though it's plain from Cersei's story that she's very much a case of combined nature and nurture. and then how many of the male villains are admirable like?? for all that Theon is sympathetic, is he admirable? is Littlefinger? are Roose/Tywin/Ramsay etc etc? I find it so frustrating that female characters are expected to be everything at once where male characters can be literally whatever and ppl will call them complex. who cares if Cersei is 'admirable' or not lol she's a villain why is that any of your priorities

[supernovafruit]

I think from Bad's perspective, it's like, why should it have been a 3v1 from the beginning? Why should they turn on Red or show them hatred and fight against them? Bad has expressed that from his perspective, even though Red was introduced as hostile, they still had a choice on whether or not to be friendly or neutral to Red or make enemies out of them and he doesn't understand why the answer had to be enemies.

Now, most of the server did bully Red on the first day, but I don't think that means killing them should come with no consequences. It ultimately comes down to how people feel about it, and if they're upset about it like Pili was (in character of course) then there are going to be consequences that come from that. That kind of goes back into the other point about viewing Red as an enemy, which I do completely understand based on how Red was introduced, but it doesn't mean it was fair for Red. To be clear, Bad did somewhat join in on the initial bullying, but he very quickly decided to treat Pili with neutrality until they got closer and became real friends. He also saved Pili's life very early on, so Pili viewed him much more positively. It is also worth noting that while Bad kind of talked with members from Yellow about peace between them to they could focus on Red that first day, the very next day Clown, Ros, and Tango came to the cathedral looking to kill him. He wasn't mad about it, but he also lost interest in working with them against Red.

I'm trying to think of when Pili killed someone even though the quota was already filled. I think it was with Tubbo and then Ros? Iirc Tubbo kind of initiated his think with Pili and then they fought each other so I don't think it's really the same as just seeking someone and killing them but with Ros he did just kill her, and also he was very aggressive in general and talked a lot about killing others so I understand why Sneeg wouldn't have sympathy. It just obviously won't ever go well with Pangi because Pangi doesn't really care about the people Pili hurt. He just cares about his friend. And of course he and Bad are bad people who both love violence and to start things, so they're always gonna be less sympathetic to what Yellow's been through.

To be clear, I'm most speaking from how I've perceived Bad's perspective and the way I think Green views things. Obviously, things will seem very different from Sneeg's or anyone in Yellow's, which is completely fair. It is interesting to see how completely different people's understanding of events can be.

So I was watching the VOD of the duel and found something very interesting, the difference in perspective for the chats of Sneeg and Pangi

I will preface this by saying that the only povs i consistently watch are Phil, Fit and Sneeg, sometimes I watch other povs on certain vods (pangi, aimsey, tubbo, etc). But I do have a bit of a bias, and my conclusions are probably innacurate since I don't keep up with the other povs.

One thing I found interesting was the heckling during the fight, Pangi said that if the fight was so boring they could just not watch, while Sneeg said he had to. This is because: 1-It's content, the Arena was built for a reason, people want to watch something that's happening 2-This is a bit of spoilers for Sneeg's pov, but he wanted to kill Pili as revenge for Ros, but Clown wanted to kill Pili himself, so Sneeg was invested in seeing the result of that.

On the thing about Pili being disrespected, I only found out people think that when watching Pangi's pov??? When people said stuff like they would prefer if the battle was 2 mins, they were not saying that Clown would win, they were just bored after waiting for the battle to start, and since minecraft fights are not that visually impressive, they were ready for it to end when the first armor broke

Another thing on the confrontation post-battle, Pangi wanted to kill Owen for disrespecting Pili, but the kingdom did not seem to get that, they thought it was the same old Pangi, Bad and Pili picking fights with the kingdom for no apparent reason again (no apparent reason to the kingdom btw, they probably had reasons). Sneeg in particular is very confused by those three, since he's usually farming levels far from the kingdom, he only hears about their shenanigans from Ros, he also knows that Bad likes to start stuff for fun so he applies that to all three since they hang out together.

Sneeg, despite being confident on his abilities, doesn't want to fight for no reason, the only times he engaged in pvp was to protect a member of the kingdom. The point made by Owen there was that Pangi's capacity to kill Owen wasn't worth anything if Owen did not care about dying, but Sneeg does care about dying and doesn't want to risk a death over something silly.

Idk if this post made sense, I just wanted to write down my thoughts about trsmp, cuz I'm thinking a lot.

If someone who watches a lot of the Honeybadgers sees this, could you comment why they start stuff with the Kingdom and why they feel justified in doing so?/gen

Sneeg does very little lore so i feel very out of the loop

[inkperch]

consider: Cornelia/Cleo adopting Kronya (but being the worst mother ever)

Funny you mention Cleo!

An aside I didn't really have chance to slip in: Cleo and Calliope have been bitchy, gossipy besties for literal centuries at this point. Cleo's the first one Calliope went to when she realised she was pregnant, and they hatched a half-decent scheme together to slip Kronya beneath Thales attention... that Cleo chickened out on, and has spent nearly the past two decades convincing herself she wasn't scared of Thales, she just... saw an opportunity to advance her own position and ruthlessly took it, yes-

Like don't get me wrong, Cleo/Cornelia is still very much The Worst, but I like my villains with a little moral nuance at least- and deeply buried regrets about a truly unforgivable betrayal to the only true friend she ever held motivating her to go out of her way to actively be The Worst because the alternative is being a coward sounds just about suitably tragic enough-

[flowersandfashion]

sorry let me rant about downton abbey 10 years later

Thomas's conversion therapy plot pisses me off so much. firstly, it's incredibly out of character. he never wanted to change to conform to society, he wanted the world to change to accomodate him. the man who said "it's not against the law to hope is it" and "I'm not foul, Mr Carson, I'm not like you, but I'm not foul" would NEVER

secondly, from a storytelling perspective, the only 'problem' is that he used infected needles. did we forget that Thomas was a sergeant in the RAMC? he knows how to sterilise needles and how to recognise and treat infection. this also shifts the blame to Thomas himself for getting sick and implies that the conversion therapy itself is harmless (Dr Clarkson says it's just saline solution)

thirdly, it's not historically accurate. I'm not an expert but conversion therapy was not at all common in the 1920s, even Sigmund Freud was against it. hormone therapy and chemical castration were barely developing let alone available to the public (I can't imagine what else the 'treatment' was supposed to be). the only practices that I can find evidence of were psychoanalysis and electric shock therapy

Thomas also mentions that he did electric shock treatment - if you really want to make a point about homophobia in the 1920s (and make Thomas suffer as much as possible), show that instead. watching him be literally tortured for his sexuality would have been far more impactful than him just... looking sweaty for a few episodes

[transmascutena]

thinking about how akio sees his younger self in utena and wondering if there's any fondness there. doesn't change the horror of what he does to her obviously but i do wonder

[thebreakfastgenie]

The really wild one is Christmas in Fallujah which no one knows about because he didn't record it himself but it's the only time he actually wrote lyrics of his own accord after 1993. Turn the Lights Back On had Freddy Wexler involved and All My Life he wrote because the 23-year-old he married asked him to. He wouldn't have done those on his own. The fact that Christmas in Fallujah was recorded by a young, fairly unknown artist and is still super obscure just goes to show how much it was not about any kind of promotion, he just wrote it because he wanted to.

[cluescorner]

Randomized Robins AU - Ages + Worst Trait Exercise:

Steph (25):

Says her worst trait is her murderous rages (she is exaggerating for dramatic/comedic effect, she’s killed 3 people tops and for very good reason)

Thinks her worst trait is her spitefulness (one of the few traits she definitely got from her father + one that prevents her from fixing her relationships and living her best possible life. She’ll refuse to interact with someone she dearly loves after an argument (happens significantly less after Tim’s death) or will say things she knows are hurtful just for the sake of having the last word. This trait will worsen in some ways as the list of people who have wronged her and those she loves grows, but will also ease up as she matures and realizes the harm it’s doing to her relationships with those she loves most.)

Her worst trait really is her spitefulness

Cass (26)

Says her worst trait is her self-righteousness (she believes that her goals are righteous and, as a result, she is righteous. Cass becomes very defensive whenever someone questions the mission and often does not second-guess herself. This is a trait she only develops later in life as she grows closer to Bruce/learns to understand herself more/starts to love herself more. But she knows she isn’t perfect and when somebody she trusts criticizes something she is doing she is willing to listen. She just usually isn’t the one to START the introspection.) 

Thinks her worst trait is her self-righteousness. 

Her worst trait actually is her obsessiveness (she gets it from Bruce and, while not as bad as him, she will easily become preoccupied with her night-life and the mission if someone isn’t there to pull her back. She will do this to the point of self-destruction and it hurts her relationships with the people she loves, especially Steph.)

Tim (24)

Says his worst trait is his spitefulness (he actively rejects the idea of mending his relationships with the older members of the family and this causes him to also lack good relationships with the younger ones)

Thinks his worst trait is his obsessiveness (similar to Cass, if he gets fixated on a task or idea he will neglect everything else in his life in order to dedicate more time to it. Unlike Cass, he will almost never be dragged away from it unless Pierrot snatches control of the body and forces them to take care of themself.)

His worst trait actually is how manipulative he is (the KING of guilt-tripping and using people’s emotions against them. He’ll do whatever he needs to do to get what he wants, he’s not above crocodile tears. And he will do it to whoever he needs (or wants) to with little care for how his actions impact others.)

Pierrot (Insists: “Age doesn’t apply to me! And even if it did, I'd probably be the oldest. Or the youngest! I’d never be a middle child, though.” Mental assessments by the Bats have put him around 21, with a margin of error of 3 years. Pierrot has called this “blatant character assassination by my eternal rival!”)

Says his worst trait is that he is an irredeemable psychopath without any regard for the wellbeing of others (this is a lie and everyone who's important to him understands this). 

Thinks his worst trait is his parasitic nature (he literally would not exist had Tim not suffered the way he did. Plus he is a living reminder of one of the worst things that happened to many of his loved ones. He is a parasite injected into a functional person's body and contributes to his continued suffering. This is also a largely incorrect judgement of himself, caused by his actual worst trait.)

His worst trait actually is his limited sense of self (he doesn’t really know who he is outside of ‘inheritor to the legacy of the Joker (a man he despises yet also views as a father)’ and ‘chip in Tim’s brain that became sentient’. He slowly develops an identity over the course of his life and relationships with other people, but he lacks the foundations of identity that most people have. Pierrot will often almost become a caricature of himself and what others perceive him to be because it's the only person he knows how to be. This causes wild swings in how he behaves and relates to others, sometimes to the detriment of himself and others.)

Dick (17) 

Says his worst trait is his clinginess (he is a very extraverted person who likes to be around others, which mixed with his fear of abandonment after his parents died means that if he goes a few days without seeing/talking to a friend he will get very anxious.)

Thinks his worst trait is his anger issues (he gets ticked off very easily and will explode on people. He’s kind at his core and is usually very nice, but he has a temper that can escalate significantly. Spoiler (and later Twist) help him channel this anger into something positive.)

His worst trait actually is his anger issues.

Barbara (18)

Says her worst trait is her disability (internalized ableism, she thinks of herself as less valuable than the other Bats because she cannot be out there in the capes like they can. She will grow out of this as she matures and as she learns how invaluable her support for the team is.)  

Thinks her worst trait is her disability 

Her worst trait actually is her overly-independent nature (In an attempt to overcompensate for everything she can no longer do, she has resolved to do literally everything that she possibly can without any help from others. This results in many instances where she either takes on too much and winds up not being able to fully realize any of her tasks or where she makes her life and the lives of others significantly harder by refusing help when offered/not asking for it when she needs it.)

Damian (16)

Says his worst trait is his perfectionism (he is overly critical of both himself and others, taking any flaw or problem and amplifying it to an absurd degree. This is due in part to his life with the LoA (where even a brief misstep could lead to death), in part to how others treated him initially as Spoiler (any flaw was fixated on and used as a reason to either mistrust him or portray him as unworthy of the mantle), and in part due to the fact that he is Bruce’s son (the only person with worse perfectionism problems than Damian). Gradually, Damian has improved in this regard but it’s still a massive barrier to both his own happiness and his relationships with others.)

Thinks his worst trait is his perfectionism 

His worst trait actually is his perfectionism

Duke (16)

Says his worst trait is his definitely-real secret evil side (says this as a ‘my dad is a villain so who knows??’ joke)

Thinks his worst trait is his impulsivity in his words (Sometimes he will crack a joke or say a remark without thinking it through, leading to a LOT of hurt feelings and drama. He’ll say something without thinking it through and wind up seeming insensitive. This isn’t done because of malice, rather because Duke is someone who’s quick to act and speak. But while the mantle of Insight and his awakening powers have helped him with his actions, they do not always help with his loose tongue. As such, Duke gains an unfair reputation in the media as an instigator and will accidentally cause family drama through what he says.)

His worst trait actually is his impulsivity in his words

Jason (14)

Says his worst trait is his bad manners (he grew up on the streets and has no idea how rich-people society works, which he’s pretty insecure about considering he’s now the youngest kid of Bruce freaking Wayne). 

Thinks his worst trait is his reactiveness (Jason never got the privilege of planning ahead for various events in his life, so he instead needed to rely on being swift and harsh in how he could react to situations. It’s saved his life on multiple occasions and helps significantly in his role as Spoiler, but it can also lead to extreme overreactions (accidentally causing kidnapping scare after Jason ran away following a fight with Dick) and a struggle to plan things out ahead of time. As he grows more secure in his place in the family and in life, this trait will lessen but never fully dissipate.)

His worst trait actually is his reactiveness

[wonder-worker]

are there any books you'd recommend for Isabelle of Angouleme?

Hi! I’m really not an expert on Isabella of Angouleme so I'm probably not the best person to ask for recommendations for her. Here are some I've heard of, though I haven't read all of them:

"Isabella of Angouleme: John's Jezebel" by Nicholas Vincent (King John: New Interpretations). I haven't read it myself but I've heard good things!

“Maternal Abandonment and Surrogate Caregivers: Isabella of Angoulême and Her Children by King John” by Louise J. Wilkinson (Virtuous or Villainess? The Image of the Royal Mother from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern Era). It focuses more-so on Isabella's tenure as queen, the period shortly after John's death, and her decision to leave England. Despite what the title may imply, it's sympathetic to Isabella and analyzes her situation in detail.

“Co-Operation, Co-Rulership and Competition: Queenship in the Angevin Domains 1135-1230” by Gabrielle Storey, her PHD thesis which collectively focuses on Isabella of Angouleme along with Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Berengaria of Navarre. You can read/download it here, it's an excellent piece for all four women.

Sally Spong has written/is writing:

Isabella of Angouleme: The Vanished Queen (Norman to Early Plantagenet Consorts). You can see her conclusion here. It's nuanced and sympathetic, though not without its issues and pre-conceived notions.

Isabella of Gloucester and Isabella of Angouleme: Female Lordship, Queenship, Power, and Authority 1189-1220 (PHD thesis University of East Anglia).

“Isabelle d’Angouleme, By the Grace of God, Queen” by William Chester Jordan. You can read it online here, though I will say that it's ... very very questionable, accepting the sensational claims of lot of unreliable sources (including the idea of John abducting Isabella in a fit of uncontrollable infatuation) entirely at face-value.

“The Marriage and Coronation of Isabelle of Angouleme” by H.G. Richardson, available here on JSTOR.

Isabella has also been the subject of two complete French biographies till date:

"Isabelle d’Angoulême, reine d’Angleterre" (Aquitaine: 1998) by Sophie Fougere.

"Isabelle d’Angoulême, comtesse-reine et son temps (1186-1246)" [Actes du colloque tenu à Lusignan, 8 au 10 novembre 1996] by Gabriel Biancotto, Robert Favreau and Piotr Skubiszewski.

There are also a few blog posts about her (here and here) which may help if you want a brief overview of her life, though they can get a little sensationalistic sometimes.

Hope this helps! If anyone knows any others, please feel free to add on!

[indi-glo-archive]

the young royals fandom is so fucking weird about sara and i hate them for it

[gay-artificer]

I feel like I see much more complaining about innocent sad mom girlboss fandomized Artificer than i actually see innocent sad mom girlboss Artificer. Past like, jokes about them being a girlboss. Which don't count.

[screechingsandwichhologram]

my uninformed american opinion is that i will be calling it derry not londonderry because im american and therefore will always support ireland if its ireland vs the british.

(i wasn't even going to post this but i wrote a whole essay in the tags so i don't want to waste that)

[angelsdean]

ohh i love when a random gilmore girls rerun comes on and i'm reminded how annoying dean gilmore girls is skdfjkdg always throwing a tantrum over rory being anywhere near another guy and jumping to conclusions and yelling at her in public and embarrassing her. but no he's the 'nice guy, boy next door, first love'

[agnesandhilda]

hello tumblr user agnesandhilda have you read the isagi light novel? if you have, what are your thoughts on how his full backstory contrasts kaiser's backstory?

I read it last month!! I didn't draw any parallels bc kaiser's backstory hadn't been released then lol 😅 I guess if I wrote something off the top of my head I'd talk about how big the difference in parental treatment/support as well as in overall class status is between them, especially wrt to how they relate to football (isagi whose passion for football was supported by his loving parents from an early age, vs. kaiser secretly buying a ball with his own money and going to great lengths to hide it from his father based on a correct assumption that he would forcibly take it from him).

I was also struck by just how... cartoonish the emphasis on how bad the collectivism of isagi's previous teams is was (the most sinister thing that isagi encounters pre-blue lock being that his friends peer pressure him into doing karaoke is hilarious), but I'm well-known as a blue lock libertarianism truther so I don't think that's very surprising for me to say.

that being said I am interested in how they developed such similar thought processes wrt to success and competition from such different backgrounds. like with kaiser you can argue that his hostility and desire to "crush" other players is a (deeply maladaptive) defense mechanism but by all accounts isagi is just..... like that? which I don't count as bad writing (honestly I like that his perspective is considered "important" enough to follow/to demand sympathy even though he lacks so many traditional signifiers of protagonistdom, one of which is having a sympathetic backstory. it's unusual and part of blue lock's commentary on the sports manga genre!) but is still fascinating nonetheless

[iammissingautumn]

it’s me and Maisie Peter’s’ “Villain”, “I’m Trying (Not Friends)”, “BSC”, and “You’re Just A Boy (And I’m Kinda The Man)”

[erabundus]

i  just  think  it's  very  fascinating  how  scara  likes  to  adjust  his  approach  when  he's  trying  to  figure  out  the  most  efficient  way  to  gain  his  desired  OUTCOME.

[mariocki]

Night Key (1937)

"Now, listen, Steve. Twenty years ago you robbed me of the patent rights of the system that you're now using. Perhaps there was some excuse for that: because it gave you wealth, success, position, all the things that tempt one man to rob another. But now that you have everything and I have nothing, what possible reason is there for you to do this to me again?"