#also the fact that this show has So many problems and this genuinely isnt in the top 5 is SAYING something

[poisonousquinzel]

I cannot express to y'all how much I hate this show and the fact that they did this whole part So Fucking Well and accurately in season one makes it all the worse because it just shows that they don't Care to take Harley or her trauma as an abuse survivor seriously.

They treated him like the abuser he is until they no longer needed too for that specific plot thread. He had to be a dickhead for her to leave and to have that arc, but not because they view him as the catalyst for the horrors in her life and in her mental health.

He was just the character that was used for specific moments in the plot when an antagonistic ex was needed rather than as a character who's actions affected the plot and Harley as a person in universe.

But He Was. He was the root cause of this. That's not some shameful thing and frankly I'm tired of content pretending like abuse victims having visible trauma that is caused by their abuser and acknowledging and putting reasonable blame on said abuser for that somehow takes away their agency or something. It doesn't make Harley a weak person (or character) to have been greatly negatively affected by years of severe domestic abuse. That's just realistic. PTSD exists, especially in cases involving abuse (I say as someone who's literally been diagnosed with PTSD since I was like 13. I have a fucking laundry list of mental/physical health issues and they are like All my father's fault. Abusers ruin lives and they deserve to be held responsible for that.) and it's not the victim's fucking fault or some weakening aspect of characterization that needs to be fixed under the pretense of it being sexist or something. Absolutely there's content that uses Harley's status as a victim in uncomfortable or grossly sexual / sexist ways, but that doesn't make the realistic trauma that she should have any less realistic??? It's just bad writing. That's obnoxiously common for female comic characters. It's just people, similarly to those who don't know fuck all about idk education?? who try to claim it's possible for her to sleep her way to a Medical Degree, who know next to nothing about trauma responses, DV, PTSD, esc.

That's a writing failure.

I'm sorry but I don't view some of the media going out of it's way to make her a horrid person pre Joker as some sort of Girl Boss rewrite that gives her back her agency and control (cause wow it's actually all better now cause he didn't push her into the acid! She jumped! It's fine! Now it's a Girl Boss Moment! 💪) as some sort of positive shift in writing.

Abuse affects people. Manipulation affects people. Love Bombing affects people. And it just feels like some writers have used this characterization for Harleen as a reasoning to bit by bit chip away at the responsibility Joker holds for what he did to her and the path he purposefully led her down under the guise that she Was helping him. That she's the only one who's ever listened and understood, that she Was saving him. He did that. He chose every step of the way what he was doing and what he was leading her to believe. He's not a fucking idiot, he's a canonically master manipulator who spent years doing just that, let him be held responsible for the actions she never would have taken without his heavy influence and manipulation lingering against her neck.

And HQTAS proved that was the way they viewed him the second they had the chance. They brought him back, made him a reoccurring Humorous character that's supposed to come across as No Longer The Abusive Ex Just A Foe Sometimes But He's Changed<3 He Has A Family Now<3 He's Mayor:D

also,,, Idk, but there's something to be said about how it comes across like well he was just abusive in his relationship with Harley cause lol after all

"violence was a hallmark of our relationship too"

and once he found a good woman who's not so damned clingy and Harley Like he was able to be the man he always was underneath. He was only like that because he was with Harley, she brought it out of him.

And that's a really fucking nasty vibe for your telling of an abusive relationship to have.

Abusers don't just change. And certainly not ones who don't view their abusive actions as abuse.

Abusers cannot mentally decide to better themselves and stop their abusive actions if they don't even acknowledge or view themselves as abusive. Maybe he was better before he got his memory back but then he was Back. He was the exact same man who shoved her out of that plane with a grin and maniacal laughter.

And that man went on to fondly think back on his abuse of her while witnessing what (in his eyes) is an entirely unprovoked attack from Ivy against his ex.

"violence was a hallmark of our relationship too"

"HQTAS not having the balls to permanently kill Joker off continues to be one of its biggest faults and I will not forgive them for that."

Their biggest fault is causing the upsurgence of casual pro Joker posts in Harley's tag in light of episodes showing him being "normal" and "based" and "wow look at him! being a socialist! and wanting healthcare!"

wow! it's almost like I don't really give a shit what political stance this domestic abuser takes in this show called Harley Quinn, ya know, the name of the ex he violently and graphically abused throughout the entirety of their relationship?

But oh! Whatever! if he's turned over a new leaf, Who cares! The past's the past's and the writers would rather redeem him! For some stupid ass reason! (Spoiler alert: It's because he's popular and they're cowards)

So let's forget how he literally murdered Poison Ivy!

& forget how he tortured her crew! And planned to have them publicly executed ! Lol!!

He's a cool dad now! He's hip! Whoo!!

Forget about all that abuse in the first season haha! It wasn't plot important anyway!

What's PTSD?! That's not a thing lol Harley would totally not have PTSD from him, they're buddies now! just ignore the little bits of obvious lasting trauma like her flinching

he's taking over her twitter! so sorry if you happen to follow this account and find him triggering or anything lol cause he's hijacking it for his run for mayor! & now he's all over your timeline,, isn't he quirky

He makes jokes about limber she is-- while her private sexual encounter is being broadcasted to all of Gotham WITHOUT HER CONSENT-- and how "violence was a hallmark of our relationship too", cause he's just such a fucking peach now y'all

That was last season.

In episode 12.

While he had a Girlfriend.

He has not owned up to his own actions.

He's not some Reformed Domestic Abuser who's long since changed, shown he's changed and is sorry for what he did because he has not even taken accountability for the fact that No, violence wasn't a "hallmark of their relationship." It wasn't some quirky occurrence to look back at with a sigh of fondness.

Abuse was the staple of their relationship. Abuse that was inflicted by his fucking hands.

The Joker is a monster.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series version of him is one just as well.

Even just from the part of the cycle we saw from Season 1, he was absolutely at his worst. It's not even like they toned it down for this, they built him up to be the monster that he is and then tried to backpedal and are now pretending he's just a completely different dude now that he's not with Harley.

News Flash, but Harley wasn't the first woman Joker's manipulated into helping him while simultaneously leading them to believe they were mutually falling in love

She's just one of the only survivors.

Because that's what she did. For years. Survived.

And sorryyyy, but I ain't exactly known for looking past The Joker's abusive transgressions and I'm sure as shit not starting now just because he's had a pitifully rushed "redemption" arc with some poorly iced He's A Socialist frosting on top.

Or am I supposed to pretend like in Season 1, Episode 8 he didn't put his manipulation skills to full use and, to add insult to injury, knowing he was going to push her out of the plane, he still kissed her.

Multiple times.

He initiated the kiss. He moved down her neck.

There was no fucking reason he needed to do that. It was just another thing he knew he could do to hurt her.

He pushed so many lines in that episode and then immediately shoved her out of a plane.

He relished in it.

Knowing how much trust she'd just put in him, how much she'd let her guard down and trusted him. She just admitted she dreamed of these moments, of escaping with him.

Because he had abandoned her so many fucking times.

Harley: I used to dream about this moment.

The Joker, laughing amusedly: Oh, Harley, I couldn't leave you on the boat.

I need you.

And then he kissed her! He fucking kissed her!

The Joker: For this.

He pulls her in and repeatedly kisses her.

Harley, making happy noises of approval and giddiness as she kisses him back.

The Joker, quietly as he kisses her neck: That's it.

Batman appears next to them, but Harley's none the wiser as she's gazing happily up at him.

The Joker: And this! Aha Ha Ha Ha!

He violently shoves her through the door of the plane into open air, cackling maniacally.

And she trusted him.

Harley trusted that this time was different. Because she wasn't his henchwoman anymore, she wasn't Her anymore. This was different. She'd escaped with him! They were on equal grounds now...

He respected her. She was important. She was a part of The Legion of Doom. She was a big shot now.

And that's exactly what he meant to do. Because he knew he had to this time, he had to lure her deeper. He had to slather the love bombing on thick to get her to drop her guard.

He had to pretend he was fine with them being equals.

So he did.

He pretended and he acted and he played her. He was cruel.

The mask did have cracks, it absolutely did. It angered him having her correct him and it angered him having to pretend he found her to be a master equal to him.

The Joker: No, I believe it's the student becomes A Master equal to the original master, but not with more mastery than that master.

It was something he couldn't pretend for a moment to believe. He couldn't even lower his ego enough to say a quote correctly "The student becomes the master." because he does not value her as equally.

And after love bombing her all evening long, after watching her drop her guard.

After she admitted she'd dreamed of these moments of escaping with him. After he kissed her.

He shoves her out of a plane once Batman has caught up with them.

Grinning like a maniac.

He knew, he always knew. He enjoyed what he did to her and he's never owned up to anything.

Hurting her is a game to him. He enjoys it. He's always fucking enjoyed it.

He murdered her best friend. Happily!

He captured her remaining friends and tortured them. He planned to hold a public execution.

He wanted to entirely isolate her so she'd have no other choice but to return to him, cause there's no other options if he kills them all.

And, then this part.

This is the entire reason this post isn't a reblog because I don't think just making gifs of this scene does it justice in terms of how sinister he sounds so:

The Joker, chuckling: I want you to put this on.

Cackles darkly before throwing it at her.

Come on, remember how much fun you had in that costume?

Harley: No... I didn't have fun... You were the one having fun. It wasn't till I got away from you that I realized how deeply unfun being with you was!

So I would rather blow myself up and take you with me then go back to being your sidekick and wearing that fucking costume!!

The Joker: So, how about you make this easy and put. The Outfit. On.

"violence was a hallmark of our relationship too"

all of this happened in Season 1.

He says that in Season 2 folks.

Again.

Abuse was a hallmark of their relationship. On his part. He was abusive.

That's not what he said. And he said it with a sigh of "ah, good times" vibes

He looks back on his abusive actions with fondness.

He found humor and pleasure in hurting her and thinking back on it is a good memory for him. It's not a Bad Thing he did that he's remorseful for because all those memories are things he views as good moments.

"violence was a hallmark of our relationship too"

Hall-Mark

noun noun: hallmark; plural noun: hallmarks

• a distinctive feature, especially one of excellence.

He didn't do any of this because he had beef with Poison Ivy, or any of the members of her crew individually.

It all had to do with hurting her.

To get one up on her.

He knew Ivy was important to her.

He knew Ivy was a threat to him when it came to achieving his end goal of erasing Harley completely. So he killed her.

He knew hurting her crew would hurt Harley, he knew that having them there would be a failsafe because while he will hurt them, she won't.

Which means her suicide mission of blowing herself up and taking him with her wouldn't work. He knew that when he let her upstairs. The second she was in that room he had essentially defused the bomb.

Cause he knew she'd never take the crew down with her purposefully.

And then when he gets what he wants, she puts on that fucking costume, he doesn't just end it there.

No.

No.

He decides "let's try n break her heartstrings for old times sake" and pulls the love bombing shtick once again.

She doesn't fall for it, but pretends she does so she can get in close to stab him.

The Joker: You were always so unoriginal, stealing my ideas!

But

He was fully going to kill her even if she did fall for it.

Even if she was completely on board with his bullshit, with all the horror he'd done in the past few episodes towards her friends. Even if she was happy to overlook all of that cause he said the right thing, he plucked the right strings and had her swooning.

He was going to stab her.

It didn't matter.

He was going to do it again.

The Joker had no reason to try and woo her back in (What He Believed To Be) the final moments of her life.

He did it because he thought it would be funny to see the tears in her eyes as she realized he had hurt her again.

As she realized he had stabbed her in the stomach.

That's why he did it.

He wanted her to love him again because he wanted to kill That Harley. The one who would feel the most pain from this, emotionally and mentally. He wanted to watch That Harley suffer.

Because he thinks it's funny. He finds pleasure in hurting her.

And this was going to be the final time, the last hurrah.

So he wanted to have her go out with a bang. A shot in the heart.

Because The Joker is a cruel, manipulative monster who gets off on seeing her in pain that he knows he caused.

"violence was a hallmark of our relationship too"

The Joker is not remorseful for the trauma or suffering he caused her. And his political stance doesn't mean fucking shit to me. His rushed redemption doesn't mean anything, it doesn't change his actions towards Harley and his complete disregard for the truth of the matter. He's a fuckhead and he deserved to stay dead.

[aokuni]

i saw your rant and i agree with you alot.. i am just disappointed. i think the finger isnt a threat anymore like yuuji stated and it just there in original place since sukuna is gone and chose a different path.. i know sorcerers die and move on but like i am upset that we didn't get atleast get an acknowledgement , reminiscing ir a funeral to their beloved sensei friend and comrade in their lives even after using his body ik he said he didnot mind but still- I see we got a reflection from yuuji from his flashback with gojo but man what about the adults including shoko and the other students. BTW KUSAKABE the bum NEEDS TO STFU. What happen to gojo body? ig we will get it answered in his fanbook. To me it is kinda ooc to why they reacting like that and it is ruining my perception of them a little bit like i just want to see the acknowledgement to gojo. Sukuna got a nice conclusion. What do you think change in jujutsu society ? What do you think will happen? they seem happy in those panels and the mission. i wish gojo embraced the future too and wanted to see some growth in him and strengthen his interactions with everyone i see he had something with ichiji but - ig gojo was truly the happiest in his youth that why he stayed in south and he died without regrets. Maybe the anime in certain scenes would do better but ughh. Overall the story has flaws and sure they have nice moments but is it a masterpiece like what people glaze and claim? imo no. Also another question what are your problems with jjk overall and what is your interpretation gojo's character since many people have their interpretations. Alot of people have been saying its narratively beautiful and we do not get the meaning behind the ending, gojo's death and the flashback with gojo and yuuji.

omg my first ask;;,,,

the fact that its known that every sorcerer dies eventually (not even from old age most of the time) is known, but it’s absolutely not right that the one who had the highest and most important contribution to defeating sukuna, we don’t see ANYTHING of. in fact, gege’s just going like “forget him hes not important anymore” yeah like anyones gonna listen. you kill him off after hes taken straight L’s the entire series. hes trying to play him off as “hes all happy and no worries haha” but NO. I Refuse To Accept That. he was supposed to move ON.

also about the yuuta body thing, to me, he sounded like “uhhhh sure buddy, i mean, that won’t happen in the first place anyways so knock yourself out” he clearly wasn’t planning to lose. and he seemed a bit off put by the idea, but he still said okay since whats the point, he’s just a corpse now. it hits him that even when he’s dead, he’s just a weapon. and he was genuinely upset with shokos nonchalance of the idea, like as if he’s saying “you’re just gonna let my corpse be used like that??? no respect.”

anyways, getting sappy for a moment, i wanna see the adults reactions too. because shoko, ijichi and utahime are the only ones left alive now who were very close with him, and for gojo who was always a constant to just be gone?? imagine ijichi sitting in his office getting a call or text message and he thinks its from gojo but its not, and will never be again; and then shoko never bar hopping with gojo ever again, or, utahime never seeing, nor being teased by gojo, ever again. like dang its a little too quiet here….sob

moving on, it is definitely out of character for everyone to act so relaxed or simply not acknowledging what the hell happened with gojo. what about yuuta and the fact he’s gonna live with the notion that he used his sensei’s corpse like a puppet (and didnt win)? What about yuuji who obviously would never want to forget gojo. he was literally both him and yuutas live saviors. it also shows that gojo is gojo and his ‘the strongest’ title does NOT make him for who he is. they need GOJO.

SCREW KUSAKABE. why would you say that in front of YUUJI????

i dont think anything will really change in jujutsu society. gakuganji will take over, and idk make jujutsu society a little better. In the end, nothing changed. Everything is back to square one, and all the sorcerers will die, like a sorcerer. their lives didnt change for the better, or for the worst. but hey this means that yuuji really will kill mahito when he reincarnates.

gojo is like eren, “move forward”. he was, like i said, supposed to move ON. he is supposed to see that the future ahead could be bright and he could be able to change jujutsu society with gakuganji and anyone else. but no. gege decided the worst possible choice to leave him there with his dead friends who, by the way, DONT even understand him either. nobody ever did, not even geto. (seriously, who gives their best friend an existential crisis for the rest of their life because theyre jealous of their power?) buut, sukuna could’ve, theyre both not even seen as humans, because one is not, and the other is just a weapon. theyre both just stepping stools of power if you could defeat them. (sukugo!(&:$;8/!9 stop it gege.)

my main problem with jjk is that its very rushed, right from the very beginning, and straight to the end. none of the characters are even super fleshed out. i couldnt tell you something as simple as gojos favorite color. because we dont know. or other things nobara likes to do besides shop and try out new things. i cant say ANYTHING. its all left in the air, ripe for misinterpretation and misinformation to rot it if it stays open for too long.

my interpretation of gojos character? hoo boy…hohohoh;..,,, so i see him as a very emotionally distant man. he keeps to himself, and doesnt like to let others in, because he thinks “what does it matter? whose going to really care? they wont understand me anyways.” and also because if he shows vulnerability he will get exploited from it, from people who have things against him. just like how kenny sealed gojo. he took advantage of him mentally. he’s a very cocky man and he uses this arrogant facade to hide himself in. he also takes peoples opinions of him to heart. like it genuinely hurts him to hear someone have a low opinion of him, like with ijichi. and he also listens to what people tell him, like with shoko and the wallpaper. he really cares about people, he just cant bring himself to open up at all. also he is just very confident, FOR A GOOD REASON. It tends to reassure people too in battle. Like with yuuji when Gojo got jumped by jogo in season one.

“narratively beautiful” get a load of this guy, whoever says that is just a gege stan. what he wrote in terms of story couldve been amazing if he actually knew how to write. the gojo and yuuji scene, is gege just self inserting into gojo. how could gojo, the oh so arrogant man, just tell someone to forget him? he would be like “if i die, which wont happen, you BETTER NOT forget me or i’ll haunt you…” or something along those lines. it was very out of character, even yuuji acknowledged it. nonsense.

thats all, very long rant awawaaa

[phasewashere]

dutch van der linde thoughts and feelings and the human condition,,,

like. i think that dutch being a good guy who is capable of compassion and kindness can like. coexist with his skewed view of the world and his place in it. hes just as capable of saving and cradling those less fortunate than him as much as he is at using them for his own gain.

and like. the facade to me. is more in his psyche than anything else

its a mask of strength and intelligence for his own sake

and his relationship with molly is meant to show you how negligent and mean he can get. it also shows you that hes insecure and lashes out whenever somebody tries to help him

he doesnt like being wrong or being ridiculed in any sense because it reflects back on what i think he feels he is at his core. a nobody. a two bit outlaw. and when thats pointed out he gets defensive

i want to be able to explain that yes. he wants to help people and he wants a better world but that wanting has become twisted over the years and now that hes backed into a corner that thought becomes second place (and micah encourages this) and hes willing to throw people under the bus

he thinks everyones out to get him and that he can only trust himself

i also think that stems from the fact that hes so scared of everyone leaving him or everything going wrong that hes come to the conclusion that nobodies really sticking around for him

and i think this can also exist at the same time as his moment of narcissim cus. thats how mood swings and especially bpd (whether or not he has it) is like. part of him being all over the place is because of this

he can be a kind man while also being a hypocrite of all sorts. the human condition allows this

his words and his actions do not always match up for good and for bad

and i think thats like. the core of it all is that hes meant to show a part of the human condition which allows for so many possibilities and shows how these choices can go beyond what you think or what you feel. dutch was going to get backed into a corner no matter what happened. but he jumped the gun and assumed (in actions rather than words) that he was already doomed and acted accordingly. throwing people under th bus and assuming that he had been duped

he was so caught up in looking for the problem he couldnt see it righth in front of him

because by his perception why would someone manipulating him be kind to him?? why would they encourage him and soothe his fears and inflate his ego?

also him and molyy are such like. a good relationship. writing wise. obviously in game they are terrible for one another but

molly and dutch are similiar to me. in a psychological way. they are easily consumed by the idea of love and being wanted but. molly isnt a conman or a killer like dutch is. and i feel like molly doesnt hide behind the mask as much as dutch does. i think its still there for her. but to a lesser extent. mollys kind and caring nature always struck me as being given much more freely than dutch's. and in such a way it feels more genuine. whereas dutch has the intention but must make it flowery and grand even though hes capable of the smaller goods

ansd the tragedy of the both of them is that all molly wanted to do was help him

she loved him. i dont think dutch loved her the same. dutchs love was quick and dependent completely on how he felt at the moment. dutchs mode was survival and her comfort or him caring for her wasnt top of his priority. i dont think he loved her in the way molly loved him

molly thought she had found true love in him. dutch wanted someone to woo. someone to care about him for the brief amount of time. it was fleeting. and conditional

also dutchs whole deal with the wapiti tribe is the real killer for him morally. the whole point of helping them was to prove a point. and not for the tribes benefit but for himself

sure it was a "distraction" but he gave no plan for it afterwards. he wanted the rush of it. he was hurt and scared and therefore angry. he recognized eagle flies righteous anger and eagerly encouraged him into a death trap and when eagle flies dies. he backtracks. says that it was all according to plan. at that point he's grasping at strings. he's chewing off his own leg to escape the trap and that leg is all he is as a person

he's casting off the ideals and the dreams because he has convinced himself they are obsolete. he has nothing left to lose and to him nobody wants him anymore. and he's violently bitter about it. the way hes so shocked that micah was duping him. the vulnerability of his ignorance in that moment. the realization of his failure in that moment was destroying for him. he did all that for nothing. threw away everything he had known and tied himself into a knot trying to escape the trap he was led into. and then he was forced to reckon with the only leg he has left and the fact that he's bleeding out

but even more fascinating is how adamant he is that he was betrayed. admitting to his failure is too much for him. it would make everything they ever said about him true and he can't handle that. but also the way he runs back to micah for revenge. he cannot let go no matter what. he drags the trap along with him in a spiral of bitterness that quite literally lasts until his dying day

he kills micah for himself. to soothe the failure of killing his son

and then he goes on to create a new gang. with the people he admires. people who are full of righteous anger. it feels as if he's attempting to relive his life through all of this. this time he's not going to fail. this time he won't take any chances

dutch's greatest malady is that he cannot let go. but he also cannot look

he cannot obtain his redemption because he can't face down nor let go of what he's done

he's stuck in limbo fighting for the sake of figthing

he says it himself. all he's ever done is fight and he continues to no matter what. in the littlest of ways like snapping at the hand that wants to help him to killing men by the droves to slay the unseen enemy thats in his mind

it all circles back to the vicious cycle that red dead redemption is meant to be

it's meant to be a cautionary tale. and dutch is the prime example. he doesn't want to look at he what he's done but nonetheless cannot let go

even if he never wanted to continue the cycle he continues it anyways through never facing it

and he would rather throw himself from a cliff rather than seeing it. dutch was tired of fighting. but he never stopped running

[eastereggie]

woohoo !! didnt except to respond to this whole essay (for more context, im talking about the document jay made about the drama in the kaeloo fandom lol) considering the fact that its basically just 222 pages of insults towards random (and especially her mental state -who tf do you think you are btw) and then pretending to be a saint by randomly saying "b-but ! i dont h-hate you guys 🥺". i knew that this whole "call-out post" would be bullshit, but thats just low. really, really low. i figured that you and your little friends (or should i refer to yall as a cult too ? since we're going in the extremes :)) were mostly just here to insult people and play the victims, but i didnt think it would be that bad. i wont say much about whats in the document because i think its randoms place to do so, since its basically just a long ass diss to her, but i still wanted to write a short response. am i allowed to though ? i mean, as a teen (even if im 18 in a few months, ive been called underage in your document so ill go with that) i can draw and read explicit content to explore my sexuality 🥺🥺 but i cant think for myself right ? :/ thats too bad. i cant agree with my friends because that would also mean that im a yes-man and that im being manipulated or wtv helps you sleep at night lol

this is just to respond to the little part that has been directly adressed to me: if my answers are short when the drama is brought up its because...i actually dont give that much of a fuck about the drama itself. do i think that you guys are gross for writing and drawing porn of children and animals ? yes, i do. would i care if you just stayed in your own server to share that shit to your "safe place" ? absolutely not. you do you. that is none of my problems if you dont bring it up in a space you share with KIDS. thats the whole problem with you. you posted your disgusting content in websites where kids will obviously find. as an adult, you must be really naive to think that they will just read your warning and think: oh yeah !! ill just move on to a new fic :3 !!

they are kids. this is a kid show. obviously, you are sharing your fandom with kids, and you have to be careful about that. that is your responsibility, whether you like it or not. you cannot except to be appreciated and respected when you write porn about kids, in a fandom full of kids. if you genuinely, truly believe that everyone should accept you for that...then man, theres nothing i can do for you. but you know, you could share your things since you cherish them so much in patreon or in your discord server if its too explicit, but ao3 ? wattpad ? the stm ? those are FILLED with young teens. i can't believe you're whining about having to respect rules to coexist in a fandom of a show about kids with kids...wild

again, this is my OPINION. i cannot force you to not like...well, the things that you like... but i can definitely call you out if you're sharing that to kids, even if its indirectly and that you put warnings or whatever. you need to be cautious about the members of the fandom. if you're unhappy about this, then leave the space that isnt for you.

as i said, this happens in many fandoms filled with minors: bunch of adults are weird. they're being called out for being weird. they cry about it and create a group. they call people who call them weird, weird. its really common. thats why the center of the drama isnt new or interesting to me. thats why i dont write essays whenever it is brought up in the main server, or when nsfw fics were posted there. creeps exist in EVERY FANDOMS. do i still think its good to call them out ? totally. but that explain why i:

1. didn't really say anything when jay were posting their fics. since they agreed with us on the topic of kaeloo fics with nsfw but still were posting them, i figured out that there was not point in arguing. i just ignored the weird parts of the stories or simply didnt read anything. i dont like conflicts, and had a lot going on (still do), so i didnt speak about it before. thats my bad though: even if jay wouldnt have cared because they have a different opinion than me about aging up characters apparently, i shouldve said something whenever i had the chance and not only when the subject of fics with porn was brought up, and i take full responsibility. but you must know that i do not support those type of works and never have said that i do. whenever we spoke about it, i made it very clear that it was gross and that i dont agree with it at all. to tlak about jay's fics again, i mostly was enthusiastic about all the parts where sex wasnt involved (about the ss of me talking about jays fic about pregnancy, i loved seeing how mr cat and kae would act as soon-to-be parents ! i think its cute !! do not mean that i agree with writing full scenes about how that child is made).

jay has great ideas, thats why i liked their work so much. i will never pretend that i hate EVERYTHING that they do. theyve wrote and drew great stuff, and just because i dont agree with them as a person doesnt mean that ill ignore that or the compliments that ive given to them. i admire a lot of their work and didnt lie about any nice things ive said to them. this is not all white or all black.

2. didnt write really big responses in the STM. this is a server about kaeloo. the drama isnt really brought up there, except when its important or at the start of it. with college, job, family issues and the start of adulthood soon, i do not have time to be on discord in the first place. either im here for a brief moment, or i can be active when everyone is asleep so they already said everything i had in mind and all i can say is "yes" to messages i agree with and "no" to messages i dont. you do not know me, and if you genuinely believe that this is all i think about what is happening, then you're just extremely stupid...obv i wont talk about everything i think in details in the STM, or rub it in your face.

the only reason why im involved is because you're harassing my friend and i do not want her to suffer alone. its as simple as that. i will always support my friends in public, and correct them in private if i think they did something wrong. is random perfect ? do i think that she does no wrong ? ofc not. i'll always tell her if i think that she's not doing something right, the only difference is that i'll tell her in private, not in a discord server. how do you except anyone to listen to you if you already don't respect them enough to confront them privately and privately only ?

i think ive spoken for my part and i will not speak for any other people involved in this ridiculous drama. i think this is all really a personal issue with random (and also khamil apparently) and i do not believe that it's my place to speak for any of them. as i think your friend said, which i think is true, im not relevant in this drama, and again im just really here to support random but also to express myself when i think that its a general matter.

so ill conclude this by saying that this is a really disappointing document. posting the insults that have been told to my friend, for no reasons other than hurting her, giving her a few really serious and uncalled for diagnosis, posting her vents from when she was a teen to make her feel vulnerable, posting hateful and ableist comments about her publicly, posting comments of people insulting vulnerable members who need to vent and more...that is so, so petty.

jay, i didnt know you for long and we weren't super close, but i still liked you a lot (/p ofc). i know you'd love to think that you're the victim and that we are all just shit talkers who hated you or whatever, but that is not the case. reading the messages of the drama after the drama has been shocking. reading your tumblr posts, reading what your friends said to my friend, reading your document, all of that have been so disappointing. not here to play violins and act dramatic btw, this is just a fact i wanted to share.

theres a lot of things unsaid, but i think that it's really random's place to speak about it, not me or anyone else. id like to respect her opinion in all of this, so ive only really spoken about what i generally think :] !! that being said, i wont post this seriously about whats going on anymore except if i need to, thats why im blocking a few people too. i want to enjoy my post without child porn being rubbed in my face. i really feel like all this other part of the fandom wants is attention, so i wont focus my whole tumblr on them lol, but calling them out is still important to me. i dont except them to change their ways since they look so sure of themselves, but anyone can dream, right ? sorry about how disorganised it is, or if my english is bad and also for my spelling mistakes lmao 🤸🤸 ty for reading this far though !! please check out random's response when it comes out !!

[yanderefairyangel]

I do think that she can change as a person. F!Alear sockpuppet person I mean. But having people push that they think she cannot change won't help the situation. She probably has trouble changing cause of the pushback she is getting from people. Those non anonymous comments on her fics being examples of people pushing against her and insisting she can't change.

I still want to try and help her since it seems like no one else wants to

Anon, you got the situation completely wrong and it shows

No one is saying she can't change

what we are saying is that SHE DOES NOT WANT to

That's the problem. We all know she can change, anyone can, the issue is that she doesn't want to

Also no, I don't think that's because people "push she cannot change" that she isn't trying, the reason is because she has proven many times again and again she isnt interested in changing because to her, she is in the right, the people criticizing her are in the wrong

Not once did she seemed to actually have reflected on her behavior, heck even when she did her mea culpa admitting that she did steal fanfics, she still tried to justify herself in a "yeha but I still came up first with any way soooo"

We all know she can change, but her attitude and actions make it clear she isn't interested in changing

No one is gonna force her, if she doesn't want to change, then we will just avoid her because that's the only thing we can do, we can't force her to change or to stay the same, it has to be her who decide to make the first step which would actually require her to admit her mistakes and make an apology

Yes some people would probably think it's past the point, but the reason why people are still angry is because she didn't even do this simple act and instead went trippling down

Which again, she already did stuff like that and worse in other fandom she was in, she clearly doesn't want to change

"Those non anonymous comments on her fics being examples of people pushing against her and insisting she can't change."

I checked and... they aren't non anonymous, one of the person commenting is actually trying to reason with them and debunking their whole sob sob woe is me giantically long author note longer than the fic itself, in fact MOST IF NOT ALL of the non anonymous person commenting are providing further context as to what they mean by "I dislike Alearcryst and Lapicryst because people shipped them in a sexist way"

The meaner comments and even those defending her are ...from guest accounts... GUEST

And you know what it reminds me of ? That type I saw her being constantly receiving mean anon, getting worried, chekcing on her to see if everything was alright and if she needed help, only for her to delete her account, pretend to be another person, steal fanfiction and discover that she used to send to herself mean comments to pretend she was being harrassed... so naturally, my brain is wondering i those are actually real people or if she didn't just created those account herself to send herself mean messages

Why ? Because she already did it now trust is broken, I can no longer believe those, especially when most of the non anonymous and no guest account weren't being hateful and only providing further context

(also reading this note especially the Bernadetta and Alcryst part made me genuinely feel sick)

"I still want to try and help her since it seems like no one else wants to"

That's very charitable of you Anon, go ahead, do it and we'll see how that works, if she will not just ignore you like what she did when I tried the first time and then continue to steal fanfics and all that

What you have to understand is that as long as she view herself as the vicitm in this situation she will not change, it doesn't matter how many hands raise to help her, she wont take any as long as she doesn't understand that she needs to change

But she won't because in her eyes she did nothign wrong, she is the victim and all that

You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped because they don't view themselves as the problem but as a victim

The best you can do is just leave her alone and I think everyone should just do that now but given how she also mispread informations about people which could actually ruin their reputation, the best you can do is just to avoid her but try to deliver your side of the story whenever she talks about it

[cinnachaos]

Gjdkskaqk man, idk what else to ask I feel a little lost

So how bout you give me fun facts about ur ocs' pokemon? Can be just their main

you can also ask about my nonpokemon ocs!!! i can send u some posts about them :3

again 🩷 for rubie and 💗 for cacao (fun fact their names are based on ruby chocolate and dark chocolate because rubie is very sweet vibrant and interesting while cacao is more worried about the casual/romantic (not love, just romantic as like the ideology) aspects of life but is still very sweet and has his fields of expertise :3)

goood help whoever reads rhis

🩷 has armarouge (flare), garganacl (depos like deposits of salt!!), zoroark (miasma), skeledirge (apple fritter), vaporeon (reef), and tinkaton (lychee)

flare is MILDY haughty but generally very nice. he tries his best to help others and unlearn his bad behaviours from childhood. hes a trans guy btw!!! he also is a little bad with physical touch from new people but will show mild forms of affection so rubie feels loved.

depos is a gentle giant and very overprotective. they have a cat demeanour and love helping rubie with his homework!! he often needs a body double so depos will do research while rubie studies. very physically affectionate.

miasma is a little charismatic yet tricky bastard. he loves pulling pranks but has a hard time telling when someone genuinely doesnt like what hes doing so he tries to make sure they tell him if he does upset them. very cuddly with rubie and has a special bond with depos, often mirroring them!!!

apple fritter is a big baby /pos. shes such a cutie pie and is so nice to everyone despite her loud and rambunctious personality! she would never do anything to intentionally harm ANYONE. she will flop on rubies lap or lay down near other team members so they can lay on top of her. she has to be scrubbed often so her scales dont get crusty from her playing in mud :)

reef is extremely cunning and smart. he can come up with complex strategies to lots of problems within minutes and spends lots of time researching moves with depos. he isnt good at battle strategies but is learning !!! he likes to be the heavy damage taker, with many moves and an item healing him, to stall for rubie to figure out a plan.

lychee. oh dear god lychee. the kind of girl who will drink a monster energy, half drank, left out for hours, without a second thought. shes extremely strong, able to hold up all of her team members with ease. she loves teasing miasma and pulling tricks on him because she has very thick skin. she goes feral when someone upsets any of her team members, and specifically tries her best to be understanding with flare about his touch boundaries.

💗 dear god here we go. cacao has two teams, a travel/casual team (second team he built) and a powerful/overleveled team (first team)

first team members: squeaks (noivern), stinky (kingler, shes a girl tho so i call her queenler), jasper (cinderace), socks (boltund), expresso (thievul), and marble (espeon).

second team members: bubbles (dragonair), turaco? i believe (togekiss), kasib (scolipede), kingfisher (archeops), saffron (lilligant), and fanta (toxtricity amped form)

squeaks is shy scenemo rave kid and has a platonic crush on stinky, adores marble

stinky is big burly lady and gives big bear hugs. and is not actually stinky i just named her that cus she was a pain to catch n she beat up my team badly

expresso is kind of a wild card and pretty mysterious, but reaally loves cacao and seems to like socks

socks is literally golden retriever but gets tired out emotionally and physically easily. likes expresso

jasper is very hot cold with his personality, can be very energetic and loud one day and the next is very calm and tired. he mirrors his trainers personality which is why they get along so well!!! will give any team members cuddles if needed

marble loves any clothes that are comfy and fluffy/soft!! kneads stuff like a cat, indulges in scenemo stuff with squeaks and makes kandi bracelets w them

SECOND TEAM

fanta is a dramatic theatre kid with autistic burnout. love the college student sleepless gender, go boy give us nothing. he absolutely LOVES saffron to death

turaco is constantly worried about the fellow dumbasses (/aff) on their team and is constantly holding something healing on their person

kingfisher is super clumsy and verbally stims super frequently with cacao or turaco if cacao needs quiet no stimulation time. has a sibling like bond with turaco (hence their names both being birds, and their colors being similar! both flying types too :3) prone to echolalia

bubbles is very timid and quiet but loves cuddling with cacao and wrapping around him. bubbles tries their best to soothe cacao when hes having issues sleeping. bubbles has a sleepy mark so theyre extremely tired a lot of the time!!!!

kasib is always sticking her nose out at people and is very curious. she loves learning new things and stomps her feet (positive stim) whenever cacao infodumps to her!!! kasib is almost always watching anything interesting, but doesnt say anything so we'll never know if she ever has any thoughts behind them eyes/j

saffron is the team mom. she listens to everyones concerns and vents, sings lullabies for anyone whos having a rough bout of insomnia. she knows cacao has complicated feelings towards familial stuff, so she takes on the role of mom for him so he can feel loved. will definitely bring u your favorite food/plush/drink to calm you down

[literaphobe]

man i will forever think gabe was selfish and everything but for like. 2 seconds i saw the love in him when he said he just wants to be with her and also especially when he hugged her, like there was no kiss or anything but the way he pressed his face against her and smiled like i dont think i have ever seen his forehead relaxed like his body language in that scene was done so well and it made me, even if it was for two seconds, think wow it is all for love. and then ofc i remember everything stupid and horrible he did in the name of it later but for those two seconds wow it really hit me

i was in the kitchen doing dishes thinking about this ask and also all posts ever and the show and things people have said etc etc. and im thinking of. 'the power of love always so strong' and ive seen people like oh scoff at that and im sure its been dissected to the moon and back but i was thinking about 'love' the way you mentioned it and 'power' and how power corrupts and how the power of love they speak of is not always. a positive strength. love can corrupt you like it did gabriel and. the two seconds where he looked very happy in his decision to essentially die to avoid all the problems he created. to leave his son fatherless in this world, without even a proper message or apology to pass on....................... (thats for another post). he's horrible for that. but he's also.... at peace? in love? and that doesn't change. his love for emelie isnt a fabrication. but it has done nothing but hurt everyone else around him. even emelie, in a sense, because if there is a proper interactive afterworld in the mlb universe, and emelie knew about everything he did...? bro is getting dumped beyond the grave

and well im also thinking about the love that adrichat and maribug have. and the strength of their love does not also immediately correlate to. happiness. in fact even if they don't mean to? even if they want to do what's best? they help to hurt each other. like with the secrets being kept. marinette genuinely wants to keep adrien happy. and in doing so she's making decisions that will hurt him in the long run. without even trying to, adrien's given marinette trauma because in some erased timeline his head was filled with far too many truths and he was betrayed by someone who was supposed to love him and she is still reeling from the memories, the nightmares................ and yet they are the only ones who can make it better somehow. only ones who can fix it

[fabaceous]

"it's not like shauna never shows signs of loving jackie even before she eats her ear. " "shauna is fucked up and selfish but she's not a monster and she does love jackie!!" Could you do an analysis on the signs showing Shauna loves Jackie? Would absolutely love your thoughts on them. There are more posts analyzing how Jackie loves Shauna but not much about Shauna loving Jackie. I think a lot of the audience thinks Shauna resents Jackie until she dies, then it's all guilt and just guilt.

it would be my absolute pleasure and honor!! you're right - theres a lot of time spent unpacking how jackie loves shauna, how shauna resents jackie, and of course how shauna shows her love for jackie after her death, but not so many on how shauna shows she cares about jackie before her death. to be fair, it's kind of slim pickings because i think that for the sake of the plot/characters, the show had to explicitly establish the resentment shauna has for jackie and the ways shauna goes behind her back, while they could sort of get away with leaving the love and friendship implied and not showing every single detail and example of their friendship on-screen. (do you get what i mean? like, they introduced shauna and jackie as very close friends and because we as humans know what friendships entail, we do the rest of the work and fill in the blanks for them. it makes sense narratively, although of course i wish we could've gotten a whole season's worth of their actual friendship!)

so here's a sort of grab bag of things that are occurring to me, in a very loose order of least-to-most-convincing (in my opinion at least).

shauna begging jackie to eat while jackie is depressed/losing interest in food/losing her will to live/etc. i mean, sure, this could be shauna just being a team player and making sure everyone's well-fed. and if you really wanna be cynical, her busting out the nickname ("jax") and saying "for me🥺" could just be very clever manipulation to get jackie to cave. but... im choosing to believe that shauna really just didn't want her best friend to starve to death. sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer!

going along with the whole seance idea. shauna clearly isnt super sold on it and i think it's a little awkward because she just gave jackie this big pep talk and she knows a seance could go wrong but feels obligated to stand by jackie now, but regardless, she also clearly recognizes that jackie needs a win. so she backs jackie up, not necessarily because shauna wants to do a seance, but because she knows it will make jackie happy. and although this kind of situation (i.e. shauna doing something she doesn't "want" to do because she knows jackie wants to do it) can definitely lead to resentment and im sure it did lead to resentment at various points throughout their friendship, it seems to me from this scene that in this instance, group politics aside, shauna genuinely did care about making jackie happy and - maybe even more importantly - making jackie feel useful. ive said this before but ill say it again - shauna can be more astute than people give her credit for. she seems to understand that if jackie can feel useful, she will feel better about herself and treat everyone else better, and if jackie can be useful, everyone will treat her better, and if she can do both, it'll all be mutually beneficial. so here and in the next one on my list, shauna tries to make that happen bc she knows itll improve jackie's situation.

trying to teach her survival skills. it's another great example of shauna reading the room and looking out for jackie by way of trying to help her fit in. granted, this one isnt as successful as the "i just need my best friend right now" scene (will get to that in a minute) because jackie is not cut out for butchering things and is also extremely not interested in it, but i still think it was smart of shauna to be able to pinpoint why jackie is getting flack, and the fact that shauna tried to solve that problem shows that she cares about jackie and doesn't want jackie to be ostracized. of course, obligatory disclaimer that if you have a really uncharitable read on shauna you could say again that it was purely self serving because if the team is getting along then everyone has a better chance of survival blablabla...but. personally i think this was simply her being a good friend.

the "i just need my best friend right now" scene. ive already written about this one so ill refer you 👉here👈 for the post i made a while ago but will summarize again real quick - its one of shauna's most emotionally intelligent moments imo. she recognizes that jackie is feeling vulnerable and upset, and instead of tackling it head-on by trying to directly comfort jackie (which could have just made jackie feel worse) she does the opposite, and opens herself up and lets jackie comfort her so that jackie can a) feel useful and b) feel close to her best friend again.

shauna's little pep talk after she tries to teach jackie how to butcher - which i just rewatched literally right now so that i could be ~well informed~ while making this post lol. and shauna kinda flops at her pep talk but i think honestly that's kinda the whole point, and shauna knows it, and jackie knows it. because then shauna segues into reminding jackie of how she's useful (i.e. she's a morale booster, not a butcher) and she even says "we need you" (lol does anyone else still hold their breath every time waiting for shauna to then say "...i need you" or is it just me and jackie?). and i think this scene contains what might actually be the most genuine and direct display of verbal affection that we ever see shauna give jackie: "you taught me how to be like this, you know." i think it's maybe shauna's equivalent of "you're the best friend i've ever had. you know that, right?" which is to say it's the closest she'll get to outright saying she loves jackie. and then dont get me STARTED on the necklace. the fricking necklace the talisman of love and good fortune and protection that jackie imbued with symbolic significance when she gave it to shauna on the airplane. i feel like theres also something to be said about how shauna puts it on for jackie, but idk what exactly. i mean its just a very tender and sweet moment of shauna physically taking care of jackie, and i get the impression that physical caretaking really resonates with jackie (because it also seems to be the way that she cares for/comforts people, so shauna is kind of "speaking her language" there). and then shauna echoes jackie's own words back to her - "i mean, you're basically the best" - and you know what guys? i think jackie LOVES a good callback. exhibit A she gets all "teehee" when shauna says that, and exhibit B (sorry) of course there's her dying dream where shauna says "you're the best friend i've ever had." the way to jackie's heart is through callbacks!

anyway thats all ive got for now, im sure there are things that i've missed but hey it's a start! as always if anyone's got anything to add please do, id love to hear it!

[winns-stuff]

Something I think should be more talked about (aside from the plotlines in LO dropping like flies) is that one plotline with persephones red eyes.

So, I think that red eyes are typically used to symbolize "ones baser instincts" such as anger, libido, etc urges of the id (like ego, superego and id - where id is akin to impulse. Superego can be seen as 'law and order' to id's choas and ego is the middle management of those two principles) And also its commonly used to show if a character has a split in personality (which lends to the trope of having an "evil alter"). So persephones red eyes can be seen as her "baser instincts" or "undesirable" instincts that show up from time to time where she commits acts of wrath or is horny. And again, this is yet another damaging way to show mental illness. If Persephone is supposed to be kore's "bad side" it falls into the evil alter trope which isnt great. Cause RS set it up that Persephone could have DID (dissociative identity disorder) with kore being her "good side" and Persephone being her "bad side" .. That along with how she handled minthes bpd just... Doesn't look great. And then the red eyes thing falls off thr face of the planet until random intervals when their included.

Like we had a scene where Persephone is basically dissociating and talking to herself in the mirror (with the red eyes) and she has a conversation with herself and then... It went nowhere. We never see her do that again, its just the red eyes which show up and a sort of change in personality occurs (she becomes angry and kills people / is "turned on").

And with Minthe being villainized and Persephone sort of having a "split" in personality - both are not good accounts of mental illness especially if this is how people are first exposed to said mental illnesses (like seeing people with bpd as abusers because Minthe was supposed to narratively be one).

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense I'm sure someone else can articulate why this is a problem far better than I can.

No I understand what you’re trying to say, the whole red eyes thing is pretty weird because like you said it felt like in the beginning it was made to be like “evil Persephone” and in the first season it really did feel like Kore and Persephone were supposed to be two different people but I guess Rachel scratched that either because of (possible??) backlash or the fact that it wouldn’t look good on Persephone who’s supposed to be a sweet cinnamon roll.

It’s genuinely annoying how the comic has just boxed Persephone into this “I’m cute innocent and sexy!!! everyone wants me!!” trope and let it stunt her own character. Rachel wrote Persephone in hopes of showing people that you can be cute and soft but still stand your ground which could’ve been a likable character if she wasn’t morphed into less kind and soft to manipulative and defenseless. Like I’ve said before, it’s annoying how many people equate kind and soft characters to being weak and defenseless, it’s just pushing this stereotype that you have to be completely ruthless in order to be strong. There’s way more ways to be a strong person than just being a brute force though and I wish people would explore that more it’s irritating and genuinely tiring.

Anyways back to the red eyes, I really hope she wasn’t trying to go for DID to be presented in the comic with the whole red eyes thing. I don’t have DID but I’m close friends with someone who does and it’s really frustrating for me to witness people spread such terrible information about it. I don’t feel like it’s my place to really get angry or to talk about so I’ll just leave this statement as is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Rachel did go this route with mental health.

Trauma in this comic is literally a stereotype honestly, and if you don’t believe me just look at how it’s placed. The characters who do suffer from trauma make everything about it (Hades), everything gets excused because of it and the person gets to run away from all accountability while blaming their trauma on their disgusting actions (Hades.), no one can suffer more than another person especially if the trauma isn’t physical which in that case it is deemed invalid because duh in order to have trauma you have to have proof of it happening!! (.. Hades, y’all sensing a theme here?) The last part was sarcasm but the comic makes it it’s mission to use every single statement people who don’t view trauma as a big deal say to those who suffer through it every single day. There’s no difference.

[noisytenant]

rant on places that have policies of “no cis men” or otherwise similar things. not complaining about cis man feelings idgaf abt that

i kinda think events and groups that are like “we include everyone except cis men” are lame as fuck. but lots of times they’re doing cool things, which sucks.

i understand how many people are surrounded by idiot guys who impose their wills onto whatever scene, act as chasers, drive the cool people out, and take all the credit. i think it’s fair to exercise caution and to want to prevent that from happening, and in small settings i think it’s not a big deal—even if the same criticisms apply, it has very few consequences. i especially think this policy catches on because it offers a simple comfort that is rarely afforded to people, and arguably being able to breathe a sigh of relief is worth something, even if that relief is illusory.

but i think that the problems this paradigm raises arent worth it on any larger scale. theres a lot of obvious things from the simple fact that “being a cis man” isnt a verifiable trait, but also it comes across to me like someone has done half the work of thinking about social justice but just stopped there.

i understand that power dynamics are complicated so it’s not that social dynamics are wholly reversed just because you have a position of authority, but if you organize events or operate a space YOU RUN THE SHOW! the idea that cis guys will be an invasive species that predates upon your queer utopia falls apart for the simple fact that you are not a prey animal, you are the administrator of a social club. you can distribute authority among trusted individuals in your group to protect more vulnerable people. you can do the work to cultivate a safer space by setting explicit conduct guidelines, having a clear mission statement, having policies around investigating grievances, etc.

and it will be much harder than turning away cis guys at the door—but i think if you aren’t willing to understand what it actually takes to prevent abuse, then you can never successfully cultivate meaningful community. you’ll exclude people who deserve, maybe even need what you’re offering more than some of the people who fit the bill. and, i’m not likely to trust you to genuinely keep me safe if you operate on this kind of baseline.

it feels like playing house, living in a fantasy where you can just leave the bad guys at the door. and as i said before, i simply think that is lame!

[vera-yaps]

something i’ve shared before on the subreddit is how andre’s bpd coded. now i recently ish got my bpd diagnosis and so am i projecting in trying to cope with it? maybe (definitely) but also hear me out

So i’m glad andre and cal dont have official diagnoses aside from cal being add simply bc the whole idea that is stressed is there is no reason for what happened having happened. plus bpd was even more stigmatized in 2002 than it is now so it wouldve defo been some weird glamorozed shit

(i was gonna go symptom by symptom but it FUCKING DELETED so cope with mindless yapping)

he goes from fine /neutral to angry within seconds. and its over the stupidest shit too. he sees the world as for them or against them, he goes from seeing himself as gods to genuinely showing hopelessness, unstable self image is massive in bpd. we see cal have interests, some sort of life outside the plan while to andre hurting others is genuinely his purpose in life. cal sees it as a way out, andre sees it as a way of living.

UNSTABLE RELATIONSHIPS. thats a big one. people see andre’s character as one-note compared to cal. i disagree—the fact we dont get andre talking to us *alone* is telling in his character as is. his relationship with cal is not a normal relationship. something coccio has said before that sticks with me is that the main character is their friendship—In 94 minutes they tell us nothing even if all they do is talk.

This leaves openness to interpretation beautifully to be frank. many people observe it as queer attraction and i definitely agree thats a valid point—However keeping it ambiguous gives more wiggle room for interpreting their friendship as no two people in the fandom describe it the same. that in itself is relationship instability because well…it is.

the way he and rachel describe each other is also interesting because if you notice rachel, in being an outsiders source which we rarely get in the movie until the security cameras come on, is wary of andre, agreeing when cal described him as violent even if he gaslights her afterwards. however when he describes rachel, its a matter of, “idk what her problem is, i didnt do anything”. this is another instance of instability, also a big thing with bpd is needing to be right and the victim which ngl mecore.

Also—He doesnt see what he’s doing as wrong. people with bpd dont tend to see themselves as doing anything wrong most situations. and if theyre questioned, it could trigger anger, as seen in the suicide note tape.

Abandonment issues. holy hell. is that a big one, andre’s biggest fear imo is cal abandoning the plan, while cal honestly is the embodiment of “fuck it we ball”. cal can definitely be interpreted as andre’s favorite person. cal gives no signs of abandoning him or the plan, yet andre thinks he is anyway. tbh the poem scene sells it for me even more because he saw that as reckless and involuntarily abandoning the plan. ZD wouldnt have happened without cal, abandoning the plan is abandoning the friendship. i saw the scene in the car as textbook splitting. he went to anger and implying that his best friend was stupid, acting like he was a pawn rather than a friend imo. within minutes. hell, the camera in itself is a character in its own right and he goes fromteaching us, the audience, how to pull off what they eventually pull off, to threatening us like we’re his victims (“59 seconds is all it takes for me to hide this sucker and come after you”)

that also feeds into the paranoia because the whole movie he’s so concerned that cal would give them away even in minor instances. like bffr a poem isnt gonna put yall on a watchlist lmfao. also dissociations a big one and when he lays on the ground looking into nothingness post egg scene that felt very dissociate-y.

self destructive behaviors

Arguably, planning this in the first place is self destructive among other things. also a minor detailin the shooting scene is him putting a gun to his face but dry firing it multiple times without seeing it it was loaded.

also two teenagers lighting fireworks when i know damn well neither of em got licenses is impulsive if i ever seen it.

also identity disturbance—

so essentially, cal and andre balance each other out in every possible way. from physical appearance to dynamic, but something else is their perception of themselves. cal knows who he is. he has interests, he has actual close friends outside of andre, he simply wants to hurt, and take himself down in the process. zero day is a suicide mission for him but andre really doesnt see himself with a purpose. he’s canonically going to college, in all these activities (that are vastly different if you ask me) but is obviously not fulfilled. i definitely see this in the scene with his dad. he *sees* more for himself but really all he sees for himself is zero day. to do it as a living. cal sees it as his end but andre to some extent sees it as his existence. he latches onto that for identity.

i’ll prolly add more to this if i think of more lmfao

[videostak]

I have no idea where this lying thing started with my mom. Like idk alot of the problems began to become rly bad around covid til present and its hard to think of the exact moment but its just insane i have no idea what to do w/ someone who is so comfortable constantly lying. And its not like a lying in specific situations type scenario she will just constantly lie w/o any shame even if we're all telling her we know shes lying. Like a therapist is def the only option that could help but i dont even know how much help it will do since shes so comfortable lying to people right to their faces that idk how many sessions shed need to tell the truth even once. I hate that i feel invested in this again mainly cause i dont want my sister to feel as awful abt it as i kno she does and also will make the situation w/ my dad and mom worse very badly and i dont want my little sister to continue to be raised so badly. My mom used to be genuinely a good hearted person since both me and my sister turned out respectful n stuff its just heartbreaking how much she just worsens our relationship w/ her and the lying is honestlu worse than the drinking cause it makes any communication impossible. She told me the following day after we talked that she wasnt gonna drink and is gonna change and less than two days later already bought two wine bottles. I hate having this fear knowing theres only so much she can drink b4 she gets into an accident and at this point i just pray it doesnt happen when she has somebody else in the car. Its insane how much she just totally disregards so much of what she taught us as kids. Lying isnt a problem for her nor is drunk driving and she constantly gaslights us when we show concern. All she does now is beg for forgiveness whenever she gets caught. Rn u feel saddled w/ trying to make a change but i cant even look at her. I hope a breakthrough can happen soon just incase i get that thrift job cause if i do get i know things are gonna get worse w/ no one home. I just rly cant stand her and it drives me so mad. A week ago i was able to be unfazed by it but now i feel involved again since if nothing changes she could end up srsly hurting family members that i do care for. Like i hope therapy can make some change buy thatll take a very long while but the fact that shes doing it shows she atleast wants to try but idk it just is fucked. I am a happy person tho its not getting me down cause i am v optimistic abt this thrift job. And just trying to be at peace. W/ my own life.

[salorade]

Mask, bound, break

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!! Asks of tumblr are/were always my favorite most indulgent thing online. >:D

I have NOT done a good job info-dumping (if any at all!) on tumblr about my OCs-- and i have too many to tell-- so I'll use this time to answer about Maso since he and gang are the OCs i havev spent a considerable amount of brainpower thinking about(he is a deepseaprisoner fan oc) -- and also do a double and do Blorbo, who has nothign to do with maso and friends but he is a guy in my icon.

mask: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?

Maso: Not quite figuratively-- as in, he puts on an act but at the same time he doesn't really put an act on. I wouldn't call him genuine, but I wouldn't say he's hiding a truer self. When he's sad, he'll try to escape it with substances and jokes. The two people who do see under his pretense would be his right-hand demon whom he has spent a considerable amount of time with (unhealthy coping mechanism), and his god whom he used to be in love with (they're a bit of the 'two sides of the same coin' in a very metaphorical way, they can't stand each other anymore but without the other all would perish)

Blorbo: A mask hiding a mask hiding a mask hiding a mask hiding a mask. Figuratively, though if you'd cut his face open there would probably be a hole instead of a skull.

bound: Has your OC ever been imprisoned or captured? What happened? How did they get out? Did the experience leave any scars?

Maso: No. He wouldn't be unkind to it though. In the canonical universe, he and his good god broke up because (NoT quite because, more like it was what broke the camels back) maso's demon named Laplace ate sado's head and most beloved angel (laplace had. social anxiety and he wanted to be friends). Sado punished Laplace by putting him into a deep slumber / dream. and so on and so on, maso gets mad at that's almost about it. -- In An Alternative Universe, if Sado were to kill Laplace instead of sleep, Maso would be violent. He would attempt at some point to imprison his god in fits of broken revenge. Sado would say nothing during this time, and would be let go only when maso breaks down further to realize what he is doing.

Blorbo: Ok. I've never really thought about it, but a guy who looks like anyone's favorite character must have been captured at least more than once. Have you seen those One Direction wattpad fics? I didn't but I'm pretty sure one would include kidnapping. Blorbo can probablly receive some damage in slapstick senses, but I don't think he can truly get wounded. When he dies, he teleports all brand-new to another part of the world/universe/whatever. What a guy.

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

Maso: If his god would get beaten up he'd be really upset. Similarly, he often gets genuinely upset at the words of his god even if sado says something anyone else would say and wouldn't be a problem. I'm blanking out on the exact specifics of how you could get him to break down completely. he has things that gets him mad but they get him mad in a passive aggressive way where he still has control over the situation. I think it really is all reliant on his god, for something like a complete breakdown. I know in a Roleplay , Maso fed his heart to someone. I dont remember why but I do remember Sado almost died due to getting beaten up (IN RP, where these guys interact with outsiders -- they're so weak compared to others. roleplay isnt really canon for their universes except some times). Uhmm has anyone ever seen him at his lowest... yes the same as the mask question, good Othello and dear Sado would be the only confidants to know. I do think Maso (and mr. Sado too in fact) would hate being in his lowest or showing real weakness.

Blorbo: I think if you would push him to have his own identity or strip him of what he is, he would break down because he is in fact nothing outside of his looks (sexyman) -- OR that is how he would feel, adding this as i think about it more. I think he would also get frustrated if the pressure rises about how he's doing. I wonder if he would glitch like a video game! maybe somehow has seen him at his lowest. He'd probably explode and revive somewhere else.

[oceanic-sunsets]

an analysis on Mike's feelings progression, and the Love Confession Epiphany trope

i've read many, many analyses about mike, his feelings [for will, and in general] and whether he's aware of them or not, and one very common, popular interpretation is that he's always had feelings for will, making byler fall into the "it's always been you" trope. and while i LOVE this interpretation, i want to offer my own perspective.

s1-s2 mike

i think at the beginning of the show, mike is truthful when he says they're all his best friends. they're all unique, and different from each other. mike has different dynamics with all of them, but they're all his best friends.

then, with will's disappearance and his later possession, mike realizes something: Will is special, and he IS different from the rest of his friends. we can see how he's aware of it by his shed monologue when he tells possessed will that asking to be his friend was the best thing he's done.

and, honestly? i STILL think that up to this point, all mike feels towards will is a VERY strong friendship, but, of course, people grow up and nothing ever stays the same.

s3 mike

oh, this is a complex one. we know mike spends most of his time with el, and we can interpret his behavior in a lot of different ways. there's ONE thing i know for sure: he's not doing it for "romance" or because he's so in love. We have to look at the events that took place in the previous seasons: in s1, el "died" saving everyone, and in s2 mike felt so, so guilty, so he spent so much time thinking about her and calling her. he wanted her to be safe, he began considering her one of his friends (a friend is someone you'd do anything for), and also, the fact that he was a 12 year old boy who just saw a girl sacrifice herself and vanish.

s3 mike, now going through puberty and entering his teenage years, is glued to el's side and he's doing it for two reasons:

he's scared to lose her again. as simple as that. she is his friend, who he thought he lost before, and he wants to make sure she is safe (sounds familiar?). one of mike's character traits is that he feels the need to protect other people, and this, of course, includes el.

it's what he's supposed to do: isn't it the natural progression of the story? el is the first girl mike has befriended. everyone around him started assuming he liked her simply because he was nice to her and cared. they started teasing him. and mike thought "yeah, it makes sense", because why wouldn't it?? it's what they see in the movies, tv, and comics all the time. However, i dont think by this point he's aware he's following societal's expectations. Mike genuinely enjoys spending time with el. they have fun together, find comfort in each other (mike gets a reminder that el is there, safe, not in danger anymore, and el has the company of one of the first people that showed her kindness and friendship) this is really undeniable. he doesn't particularly like kissing, but he doesn't dislike it either: he's a teenager, kissing is fun, makes you seem cool, and hey, if you run out of conversation topics you can just kiss and problem solved! i dont think he spends time with her out of pity, as a cover, or anything like that. he's just unaware he's hurting and sidelining his friends in the process, too. the context here matters, of course, because this isnt the modern world. this is the 80's, a time where being gay in a smalltown could be extremely dangerous, and the media spread misinformation about the aid's epidemic. so i dont think mike is aware of anything, but i can see this easily being one of his fears*: he and his friends (specially will) have been bullied by homophobic kids, the people in household doesnt seem particularly accepting, and it's a common experience for lgbt+ kids to feel this feeling of guilt, wrongness, not 'normal' from a young age and not understanding why.

...but then, of course, stuff happened, and said stuff involved one of the most important (see: s1-s2 mike) people in his life: will.

Will, hurt because it seems like his friends don't want to spend time together like they used to, tells mike he's ruining the party. so mike projects his fears* onto will:

and mike immediately regrets it, realizing he's wrong. he gets, again, this feeling of guilt he's felt before, but a thousand times worse because it's his best friend he's talking to. and it's unfair, that's why he rushes to try to fix things.

next thing we know, mike is telling the entire room he loves el and that he can't lose her again. Sounds familiar? yeah, we went through this before, which is why i dont think it was a lie: of course he loves el and doesnt want to lose her. she's his friend and he has lost her before. this interaction here is what leads me to believe mike is STILL unaware, still fully believing that what he feels for el is romantic love..

up until the famous s3 finale, at least.

this, this is when confusion starts to kick in. when he starts questioning things. El, his girlfriend, just told him she loved him and kissed him. But he's confused, as we can confirm by the script. because isn't he supposed to feel.... happier? more excited?? by his girlfriend telling him i love you? is this really how being in love feels?

and this right here is where the path towards his character grow REALLY begins. mike is sad, and confused because nothing is turning out how it's supposed to. his best friend, who he spent so little time with thanks to his desire to grow up and trying to be who he was supposed to, is moving away. his girlfriend, who just told him 'i love you' (and isn't he supposed to be happier?) is moving away too, and he has no opportunity to try to discover what all of this means because they're moving away.

so he enters this phase of repression, bottling up his feelings and isolation. and mike ends s3 AWARE that things arent as it seem, that there's something that hasn't clicked yet, because despite his awareness, he doesnt understand why. after all, he did everything he was supposed to, didnt he??

enter: mike and s4. by this point, i'm convinced mike is starting to realize a couple of things: he can't say i love you to el, and will DEFINITELY falls into a different category than the rest of his friends. his absence wights on him more than ever: hawkins isn't the same without will.

he's also hyper-aware of this difference and doesnt even want to THINK about it, so he falls into his perfect boyfriend persona again (failing). This is what gives us the awkward airport hug and the rink-o-mania fight: mike is trying really hard to ignore his feelings, but by ignoring them, they start becoming more and more obvious.

he tried to reach out to will but it didnt work. will didnt reach out. He's hurt, because will, who is special to him is apparently ignoring him, and suddenly will is in front of him asking "what about us?" and mike panics, because that is too close to his fears* and the list of things he doesn't understand and are better left alone, untouched.

and this is also one of the reasons he feels so self-deprecating and insecure: despite trying so hard, he can't be the person who he wished he was: a better, more loving boyfriend who can say i love you and truly mean it. a better friend, who doesn't get confusing feelings and cares maybe a bit too much, someone who doesn't overcompensate and ends up coming across as emotionally detached.

but hey, apparently there's a light at the end of the tunnel, because suddenly will is delivering his endearing, loving speech about all these feelings El has for him and it's exactly what he needed to hear, and for the first time in a long time, he feels loved, special, wanted.

and isnt it amazing?? he's finally hit by such intense emotions: this is how you're supposed to feel about your girlfriend!

but, hey, wait a second. why is el ignoring him after his big love confession? why does it not feel right, despite how he felt back in the van?

these are thoughts he can revisit later, tho, as there are more important matters at hand: the end of the world is about to begin.

so mike ends s4: A) aware he cares too much about will, thinking that maybe more than will cares about him (because he didnt reach out), so he should pretend he cares less...? but wait, no, he still wants his best friend back, despite everything. B) even more confused. why did he felt so loved by el back in the van? but why is she ignoring him now? shouldn't his speech bring them closer??

i believe mike has all the puzzle pieces right in front of him, he just hasnt put them together yet. But. But. That's why Will's lie, his painting, exists. It's the key, it's finding out the truth about the painting what mike needs to understand himself and what those around him have been feeling.

when mike started developing feelings for will is up to interpretation. Personally, i believe there were hints that there might be something else by the end of s3, but they didn't fully develop until s4, because a glimpse of a feeling is easier to ignore when the person involved is across the country. And despite projecting his fears* onto will in s3, it's only in s4 that he starts acting different towards Will, behaving awkwardly. it's s4 when he feels undeniably loved by someone. it's s4 when he admits Will is different from the rest of his friends, to the point of not considering Hawkins home because Will is not there. It's s4 when we REALLY start seeing their friendship change into a more intimate, yet tense dynamic.

So, yeah, Will has always been it for Mike, but his feelings weren't always romantic, and that's the beautiful thing about it. We watched him develop feelings for will on screen. we watched their friendship change, evolve, and slowly grow into something else.

One of the reasons why i think mike is not fully aware yet, despite NOW HAVING romantic feelings for will, is the simple fact that he has NEVER considered it. Finn wolfhard himself said mike is clueless. he's unaware. He doesn't even see it as an option, but once he learns the truth, it'll become one.

This is where the Love Revelation Epiphany trope comes in:

The Truth about the painting is Mike's Love Revelation Epiphany. He already had feelings for will, he has had them for a while, but for Mike, it was something confusing, something he couldn't understand. It's only the truth about the painting and the meaning behind it that makes him realize them. It'll be his clarity, the moment where it starts making sense.

When, where, and how is something i don't know and i wont try to predict. But Will's painting isnt only about him. It doesn't only portray his truth, it's also a representation of Mike's truth, the culmination of his character arc, the progression of his feelings throughout the show, and the key piece we need to understand both of them and their actions.

[writingwithcolor]

Avoiding Anglocentric Bias with a Universal Translator, Writing a Magic School on Indigenous Land

@king-ofconfusion​ asked:

So im writing a fantasy story that mostly takes place on an island between canada and russia. The magical community is hidden from everyone else and their main land/school is on this island, and even tho there are smaller places all over the world this is the main place. Theres some sort of translation spell so everyone understands eachother but i dont want it to seem like american washed or smth? race isnt a problem plot wise but i also dont want it to be so background that it seems all white?

I’ll focus on the part about the translator, as when you say “American washed” I assume you mean the Anglocentric (English-centric) bias that could arise with the concept of a universal translator. Mod Lesya will talk about your...choice of location for this school.

As a bilingual & linguist who thinks in a quasi-combination of languages, I think I’d like to see an idea of a spell that translates to that individual’s unique linguistic interface; if your story has multiple closed POVs, you can show hints of that by having different POV characters hear dialogue differently—maybe language-unique lexemes (vocabulary) are being borrowed! Maybe there’s code-switching! If your story has a more omniscient POV then you might have a part that explains how the spell works, or show through ambiguities in dialogue that shows that characters are hearing dialogue differently depending on what languages they understand. 

As an example, think of how a character who speaks German, an agglutinative language, might create new vocabulary by stringing together morphemes, and a character who doesn’t speak an agglutinative language would hear that via the spell as a literal-translation-of-words-strung-together. 

Think of semantic differences/ambiguities that the spell might not (or might! Up to you!) catch—I give an example on the differences between answering negative yes-no questions in English vs. Japanese here. 

You might even get cases of characters who speak languages that may name borrowings with prototypical labels (English does this, but other languages like Spanish do too). An example is referring to masala chai as “chai tea.” What happens if a Hindi or Urdu speaker hears this? The translator may either literally translate and return “tea tea,” or it might apply context and return “masala chai.” Here’s some more food for thought on borrowings & prototypes! 

Assuming you’re writing this story in English, there will unavoidably be some bias towards English as the basis for your translations. But hopefully this approach gives some ideas for challenging English-as-default by representing forms and meanings that don’t exist in English, and not assuming English is necessarily the prototype for these translations.

~Mod Rina 

Here’s the elephant in the room Rina tapped me to answer: you’ve chosen Indigenous land for a magic school, without acknowledging any Indigenous peoples in your worldbuilding or ask.

The arctic is not uninhabited. That stretch of land between Russia and Alaska (Canada does not go that far West) is the region of Yupik peoples, both on the Russia and Alaska sides (it’s the only language family that is found in both the old and new world), and the Iñupiat peoples, just on the Alaska side (as far as I’m aware).

If you do mean Canada, then you’re getting onto the polar ice cap… and this is also not completely uninhabited. This territory would belong more to Inuit peoples.

In short: you’re at a pretty large risk of having this school be on Indigenous lands, and whether or not it’s a colonial outpost or simply a safe haven depends on how they go about it.

It is possible that there is a genuine, respectful relationship between the Indigenous peoples and the school. The school would have to surrender its land ownership to the people local to the region, respect hunting grounds, not muck with the ecology of the place, and help the people of the region. They would, essentially, acclimate into Arctic life, creating a cultural hybrid between their old customs and what is required to be in the Arctic.

But if you start to have this school try to recreate European ideals, foods, and have them insist their way of life is the only way that can exist, then your magic users have become colonizers. It’s, unfortunately, that simple.

The thing about this island is: Indigenous peoples would’ve known about it, probably before these magic users did.

Arctic peoples also crossed between Russia and Alaska “late” (after the land bridge sank), and very well could have found this island in the time they travelled by water between the two countries. Late is relative, because it was still at least ten thousand years ago.

That land could very well have been inhabited before the magic users got there, which means they would have had to be extremely respectful to not colonize that land. As I said above, it’s possible to be respectful, but requires the magic school default to Indigenous voices when it comes to how to live there.

If it’s uninhabited, then it’s likely known about. These magic users probably don’t have enough magic to completely alter the wave patterns of the ocean, which an ocean-navigating Indigenous people would absolutely know how to use in order to find land (this is one of the ways many peoples navigate at sea).

The other option is the school is actually Yupik or other Arctic peoples founded and uses their belief structure, which would require an intense amount of working with the peoples in question to inform your worldbuilding. 

To be clear: you still need to account for Indigenous peoples and research/talk to members of the peoples I listed above. It’s just going to be less work if you stick with a European magic system and have them be visitors working heavily with Arctic peoples, instead of having the magic system be based in Arctic peoples’ customs.

I’m not from the Arctic. The Arctic has a unique colonization history that I’m not very well educated upon, beyond the fact it’s unique, recent, and suddenly devastating. I cannot advise you on this any more than saying you are on Indigenous lands. I would strongly suggest you look at all of the other “remote, uninhabited” compounds you’ve created to see what Indigenous peoples live in those regions, as well. 

The idea that the earth is mostly barren and unused and lacks meaningful human presence is a colonialist myth that is used to perpetuate the concept (white) Europeans can move in without consequence. Many harsh climates have Indigenous peoples living there, and any magical communities need to do similar practices to the ones I outlined above.

Make sure they’re not taking land, and make sure they learn how to respect it the way the local peoples do: sustainably. That’s the bare minimum.

~ Mod Lesya

[shkspr]

hi. on your post where you may or may not have ended on 'moffat is either your angel or your devil' did you have maybe an elaboration on that somewhere that i could possibly hear about. i'm very much a capaldi era stan and i've never tried to defend the matt smith era even though it had delightful moments sometimes so i wonder where that puts me. i'd love to hear your perspective on moffat as a person with your political perspective. -nicole

hi ok sorry i took so long to respond to this but i dont think you know how LOADED this question is for me but i am so happy to elaborate on that for you. first a few grains of salt to flavor your understanding of the whole situation: a. im unfairly biased against moffat bc im a davies stan and a tennant stan; b. i still very much enjoy and appreciate moffat era who for many reasons; and c. i hate moffat on a personal level far more than i could ever hate his work.

the thing is that its all always gonna be a bit mixed up bc i have to say a bunch of seemingly contradictory things in a row. for instance, a few moffat episodes are some of my absolute favorites of the rtd era, AND the show went way downhill when moffat took over, AND the really good episodes he wrote during the rtd era contained the seeds of his destruction.

like i made that post about the empty child/the doctor dances and it holds true for blink and thats about it bc the girl in the fireplace and silence in the library/forest of the dead are good but not nearly on the same level, and despite the fact that i like them at least nominally, they are also great examples of everything i hate about moffat and how he approached dw as a whole.

basically. doctor who is about people. there are many things about moffats tenure as showrunner that i think are a step up from rtd era who! actual gay people, for one! but i think that can likely be attributed mostly to an evolving Society as opposed to something inherent to him and his work, seeing as rtd is literally gay, and the existence of queer characters in moffats work doesnt mean the existence of good queer characters (ill give him bill but thats it!)

i have a few Primary Grievances with moffat and how he ran dw. all of them are things that got better with capaldi, but didnt go away. they are as follows:

moffat projects his own god complex onto the doctor

rtd era who had a doctor with a god complex. you cant ever be the doctor and not have a god complex. the problem with moffats era specifically is that the god complex was constant and unrepentant and was seen as a fundamental personality trait of the doctor rather than a demon he has to fight. he has the Momence where you feel bad for him, the Momence where he shows his humility or whatever and youre reminded that he doesnt want to be the lonely god, but those are just. moments. in a story where the doctor thinks hes the main character. rtd era doctor was aware that he wasnt the main character. he had to be an authority sometimes and he had to be the loner and he had to be sad about it, but he ultimately understood that he was expendable in a narrative sense.

this is how you get lines like “were the thin fat gay married anglican marines, why would we need names as well?” from the same show that gave you the gut punch moment at the end of midnight when they realize that nobody asked the hostess for her name. and on the one hand, thats a small sticking point, but on the other hand, its just one small example of the simple disregard that moffat has for humanity.

incidentally, this is a huge part of why sherlock sucked so bad: moffats main characters are special bc theyre so much bigger and better than all the normal people, and thats his downfall as a showrunner. he thinks that his audience wants fucking sheldon cooper when what they want is people.

like, ok. think of how many fantastic rtd era eps are based in the scenario “what if the doctor wasnt there? what if he was just out of commission for a bit?” and how those eps are the heart of the show!! bc theyre about people being people!! the thing is that all of the rtd era companions would have died for the doctor but he understood and the story understood that it wasnt about him.

this is like. nine sending rose home to save her life and sacrifice his own vs clara literally metaphysically entwining her existence w the doctor. ten also sending rose with her family to save her life vs river being raised from infancy to be obsessed w the doctor and then falling in love w him. martha leaving bc she values herself enough to make that decision vs amy being treated like a piece of meat.

and this is simultaneously a great callback to when i said that moffats episodes during the rtd era sometimes had the same problems as his show running (bc girl in the fireplace reeks of this), and a great segue into the next grievance.

moffat hates women

he hates women so fucking much. g-d, does steven moffat ever hate women. holy shit, he hates women. especially normal human women who prioritize their normal human lives on an equal or higher level than the doctor. moffat hated rose bc she wasnt special by his standards. the empty child/the doctor dances is the nicest he ever treated her, and she really didnt do much in those eps beyond a fuck ton of flirting.

girl in the fireplace is another shining example of this. youve got rose (who once again has another man to keep her busy, bc moffat doesnt think shes good enough for the doctor) sidelined for no reason only to be saved by the doctor at the last second or whatever. and then youve got reinette, who is pretty and powerful and special!

its just. moffat thinks that the doctor is as shallow and selfish as he is. thats why he thinks the doctor would stay in one place with reinette and not with rose. bc moffat is shallow and sees himself in the doctor and doesnt think he should have to settle for someone boring and normal.

not to mention rose met the doctor as an adult and chose to stay with him whereas reinette is. hm. introduced to the doctor as a child and grows up obsessed with him.

does that sound familiar? it should! bc it is also true of amy and river. and all of them are treated as viable romantic pairings. bc the only women who deserve the doctor are the ones whose entire existence revolves around him. which includes clara as well.

genuinely i think that at least on some level, not even necessarily consciously, that bill was a lesbian in part bc capaldi was too old to appeal to mainstream shippers. like twelve/clara is still a thing but not as universally appealing as eleven/clara but i am just spitballing. but i think they weighed the pros and cons of appealing to the woke crowd over the het shippers and found that gay companion was more profitable. anyway the point is to segue into the next point, which is that moffat hates permanent consequences.

moffat hates permanent consequences

steven moffat does not know how to kill a character. honestly it feels like hes doing it on purpose after a certain point, like he knows he has this habit and hes trying to riff on it to meme his own shit, but it doesnt work. it isnt funny and it isnt harmless, its bad writing.

the end of the doctor dances is so poignant and so meaningful and so fucking good bc its just this once! everybody lives, just this once! and then he does p much the same thing in forest of the dead - this one i could forgive, bc i do think that preserving those peoples consciousnesses did something for the doctor as a character, it wasnt completely meaningless. but everything after that kinda was.

rory died so many times its like. get a hobby lol. amy died at least once iirc but it was all a dream or something. clara died and was erased from the doctors memory. river was in prison and also died. bill? died. all of them sugarcoated or undone or ignored by the narrative to the point of having effectively no impact on the story. the point of a major character death is that its supposed to have a point. and you could argue that a piece of art could be making a point with a pointless death, ie. to put perspective on it and remind you that bad shit just happens, but with moffat the underlying message is always “i can do whatever i want, nothing is permanent or has lasting impact ever.”

basically, with moffat, tragedy exists to be undone. and this was a really brilliant, really wonderful thing in the doctor dances specifically bc it was the doctor clearly having seen his fair share of tragedy that couldnt be helped, now looking on his One Win with pride and delight bc he doesnt get wins like this! and then moffat proceeded to give him the same win over and over and over and over. nobody is ever dead. nobody is ever unable to be saved. and if they are, really truly dead and/or gone, then thats okay bc moffat has decided that [insert mitigating factor here]*

*the mitigating factor is usually some sort of computerized database of souls.

i can hear the moffat stans falling over themselves to remind me that amy and rory definitely died, and they did - after a long and happy life together, they died of old age. i dont consider that a character death any more than any other character choosing to permanently leave the tardis.

and its not just character deaths either, its like, everything. the destruction of gallifrey? never mind lol! character development? scrapped! the same episode four times? lets give it a fifth try and hope nobody notices. bc he doesnt know how to not make the doctor either an omnipotent savior or a self-pitying failure.

it is in nature of doctor who, i believe, for the doctor to win most of the time. like, it wouldnt be a very good show if he didnt win most of the time. but it also wouldnt be a very good show if he won all of the time. my point is that moffats doctor wins too often, and when he doesnt win, it feels empty and hollow rather than genuinely humbling, and you know hes not gonna grow from it pretty much at all.

so like. again, i like all of doctor who i enjoy all of it very much. i just think that steven moffat is a bad show runner and a decent writer at times. and it is frustrating. and im not here to convince or convert anyone im just living my truth. thank you for listening.