#and I don't CARE about chosen one stories I think they really suck.

[llycaons]

just got off the phone with my oldest and dearest friend and we had a great talk bc she's engaged! and then she recommended me carry on 😭 girl...there is literally nothing appealing to me about a rebranded drarry/destiel fanfiction im sorry

[doggytail-duck]

Watched the MLB movie finally! While I had a few Notes, all in all I enjoyed it, the animation was so pretty and I was really impressed how they condensed so much stuff into one movie

[goldenhickeysandramen]

Evolution of their narrative

I admit it. I also get confused as to what kind of couple Tae& Koo is supposed to be to their shippers.

When I first joined the fandom they were the “hidden couple”, and jikook was “fan service”, cause is what the masses demanded from BH/Bang PD.

It didn't take me long to realise that the "masses" in this fandom are actually the taek00kers (humaluvre is bigger than the majority of the most famous JK's focus accs) … So I've never really understood who the masses-asking-massively-for-"jikook"-content were 🤷‍♀️

Then, I read them that the big proof that taek00k was real was, precisely, that they couldn’t do all the things that jikook could do so well (you know, travel together only the two of them, stare at each other in rapt attention, sucking ears and necks, treat each other as a married couple, support each other to the fullest, holding hands whenever they have the opportunity…). The reason of them not doing all of these things was South Korea, since it is an homophobic country.

That’s why the company edited the content and didn't let them interact. It was all cuts and so on. Everything they did was private, and that's why there was no evidence, other than some witnesses of people with telescopic sight and facial recognition (maybe they were androids?)

I had more or less understood the narrative, until the LOVEGRAM era started, and that's when it all blew over!

Their insta accounts were no longer professional accounts (like twitter or weverse), but personal… and from then on, their selfies were some short of engagement pics or couple confirmation and their funny comments about boxing hooks were actually whipped messages of love.

Btw it seems South Korea was no longer homophobic at that time.

INSTAGRAM WAS THE LAW

When JK closed his Instagram account (forced by the company 😌) we were already in chapter 2. The lovegram didn't matter anymore…because Jungkook hanging out sometimes with Tae and wooga became the confirmation of what Instagram -in reality- failed to confirm. Never mind that their hanging out concentrated during some months when they both had more free time or that they actually just did what good friends do: having fun at the movies, bowling or skiing together with other friends… but hey, those tiny details don't matter in the great love story that is told.

And from there we move on to the part where the CHAOS really started, when the COMPANION SYSTEM news dropped

And guess what? Korea became homophobic again

Some said that they were forced to part ways (the company, the government, themselves because they wouldn't last a second without f?….). Gays dont enlist together they said.

Another line of argument was that Jimin had asked JK to enlist with him… I guess because he was going to be terrible at the military. LOL

But we all can sense that the most extended opinion was "I can't understand this plot twist for shit".

(Maybe the problem is they never understood their favs but that’s for another post)

And in the midst of CHAOS it was no longer possible to think of a new narrative...that's why the strategy became "attack". If they can't prove that their favourites are a couple, they'll go and debunk the rest.

At this point they don’t seem to care if ta3k00k is real or not… they simply choose not to surrender and ignore some facts. If they freaking ignored Jennie during a year, they will do the same with jikook being glued for 18 months.

So in the next months, we'll probably see part of fandom (solos and tkkers) attacking jikookers, and another part trying to ignore us. I fear the chaos will continue… pretty sure some toxic ones will watch the travel show just to diss jikook..

But we shouldn’t care too much because as we have seen, Jimin and Jungkook will never stop taking their decisions and behaving with authenticity

The boys have chosen their own path this year, not to please the majority of their fandom (jikookers are not the mass), but because they wanted to.

At the end of the day, they care about their fans, but we don’t own their lifes and they have shown us. And I applaud 👏 them

And yes, maybe their country and the careers they have chosen dont allow them to be fully free…. but they dont prevent them to stay one next to the other. They know how to choose the battles worth fighting for.

Don't you think it's beautiful and says a lot about the quality of love and respect that Jimin and Jungkook have for each other?

I think so

"standing in the fire next to you"

💜💛

[decepti-thots]

☕️ trans girl verity :33

Verity as a trans girl is one of those headcanons where for me, it really makes the text as we are given it more coherent. It provides a lot of implicit motivation for things the comics kind of don't bother exploring her feelings about, I think. We have all that stuff in the early phase one stuff where she is nebulously "troubled" and constantly running away, happier to live as a young teen on the streets despite obviously knowing the risks inherent to that. There's her extremely glossed over (and very deftly executed so the reader doesn't question it) decision to leave Earth entirely to go hang out with Ultra Magnus. There's her reluctance to go back to a mother she was taken away from because doing so is scary, even if she now can.

And it's hardly as though "the foster care system Fucking Sucks" etc is not adequate for explaining that, to be clear, but I feel like Verity feeling invested in staying in this new world where everything is incredibly dangerous but also where she meets all these people with no context for who she might be in the "real world", who she gets to take control of how she presents herself to them... that's a narrative that works really well for exploring through a trans lens. What her association with these people offers her, despite the danger, despite all the traumatic experiences, despite how clearly negative so much of it is, boils down to a sense of agency. (And agency is really important to Verity; everything about how she acts in SotW boils down, by her own admission, to wanting that sense of control in the face of something she can't escape.) It offers her an opportunity to decide who she presents herself as to people with absolutely no way of questioning a lot of things her fellow humans might question her on, and viewing that through a lens of trans self-determination is really interesting in how it adds additional framing to that arc she gets. Sure, running off with the big scary alien robot embroiled in active warfare as a tiny squishy young human does not sound like a great idea- but if the tradeoff is that you can really truly reinvent yourself and nobody even knows that they could question it, well. Especially in contrast to how it makes her ostensibly 'peaceful' life she could otherwise return to in fact one that isn't uncomplicatedly peaceful at all as someone facing very different kinds of fear in that "normal" life.

There's also the fact that as you move through SotW and RotW, her arc converges with Springer's about what self-determination looks like. Springer's arc in the latter two-thirds of Wreckers is about making active choices to decide who you want to be in the face of cycles that try and force you into being a specific person you find that you do not like very much. People have a very specific idea of who you were supposed to be for them; resisting that because you do not want to is hard. Choosing something else is hard. That has a lot of resonance for a Verity who had to make that decision because she is trans, I think, at an exaggerated scale.

And the great thing is: it works. Verity gets to choose, as an adult, to meet her mother again on her own terms. She conquers all her nightmares and gets through it and reenters the world as an adult woman who is confident enough to assert herself and take what she wants. She can go back into that human world and assert who she has chosen to be there in a way she couldn't before. It works that way with or without the trans element, but the trans element just fits in smoothly, I think. It really adds to my love for her character to think of it as a part of that story about developing a sense of self.

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

I think i've finally decided on what I would want to see from a hypothetical novel starring a marines malevolent and a lamenters astartes. not a story where either side tears the other down, nor a story where a lamenter 'changes' a marines malevolents mind or vice versa or anything really.

what i would want to see, is a story where a marines malevolent becomes angry on behalf of a lamenters marine.

on the one hand they both represent in many ways opposing dichotomies of imperial dogma.

What people tend to forget and mischaracterize the marines malevolent as, is that the MM aren't wantonly cruel their pointedly cruel. Which is to say that the MM when being dickbags always have some form of a point in mind as to why they do what they do. its not quite pragmatism mind, though they very often are pragmatic, but rather calculated cruelty to achieve their ends. to use the most well known example, they aren't just blowing up the refugee camp to get their rocks off [though captain vinyar certainly is] but also as a means of sending a message to their allies. we [as in the imperial guard and space marines forces] are here to do a job, and that job isn't to ensure the safety of the civilians its to fight the orks and wipe them out. therefore, if you don't do it, we [as in the MM] will do it. and tu'shans right that it very much does betray the idea that the space marines are here to protect the civilians. But the thing is, the marines malevolent don't view it as their job or duty to protect the people of the imperium. They view their job as being a weapon of terror to keep the people of the imperium in line. hell thats very specifically the job they were chosen and brought along to do in the iron kingdom novel by the torchbearer fleets commander himself. to be a weapon of terror. the bloody hand of the imperium.

by comparison, the lamenters are embodiment of the martyrdom the imperium expects and enforces on its subjects. sure their lives suck, pushed around from campaign to campaign, experiencing disaster after disaster, but the important thing that distinguishes them is that they do it without complaint. their compassion is marked by an almost reckless disregard for their own lives, and not even particularly because they have a martyrdom complex or deify the concept any more then any other space marine chapter. they do it because they regard it as duty, whats expected and whats demanded from them by the imperium. being martyrs burning within the mountain of martyrs before and to come after, all in the name of preserving the rotten husk of the imperium just one more day. the perfect victim for the imperiums exploitation.

and I want a marines malevolent to see all that, to identify it within a lamenters marine, and in that weirdly emotional manner in which marines malevolent can get when they actually care about something, I want the MM to get angry on the lamenters behalf. Because he sees a fellow dog of the imperium, a fellow tool pushed around to do the bidding of a dying imperium and its worst jobs, and instead of getting upset at the hand being dealt the lamenter instead smiles and barks even as shits being smeared on their face. and that upsets them more then anything else, even if as a brainwashed violent tool of the imperium they can't articulate why.

[a0random0gal]

Let's talk about hotd's deleted scenes

Soo hotd has a lot of interesting scenes that were deleted. Some people love them, others believe that removing them was for the best.

Today I'll check em out and tell you how I feel about them, and how I think they could have benefited the show if kept in.

1. The infamous Daemon hug scene

Uhh I have.. feelings towards this.

And I already hear you go:

"How could you not like this, it's so wholesome!" Yeah I know I know, trust me, I think this is adorable, just a weird scene.

From what we know this shot was completely improvised by Matt and it shows.

Cause almost all of his character's nicer scenes that make people think "maybe he isn't that bad" were ideas Matt came up with. We can see throughout the show how the poor guy does his best to not make Daemon look like a psycho and it's nice on paper, but the contrast between his improvised scenes and the scripted ones is jarring.

I mean we go from him violently beating his first wife to death with a rock, to him tenderly breaking the news of Luke's death to Nyra or picking up Vizzy's crown and gently crowning him.

It does work more with his book characterization though so that's cool.

It's cute, it makes casual viewers go awww, but it's a bit inconsistent in the grand scheme of things.

I guess some people will interpret it as the softer spot Daemon has for the people he truly cares about, but knowing how he also treats them in other scenes...

Cough cough Rhaenyra choke scene cough cough.

I'm just left a bit confused.

Overall, I like it, but there's better.

7-/10

2. Criston taking his Kingsguard vows.

God I wanted this to make the cut soo bad.

It's just that in the past I've already talked about how dirty Criston is done in the fandom, and I truly believe he deserves more screentime, he's a very interesting character.

So getting a scene like this would have been awesome, and by showcasing the pride and happiness Criston felt at achieving his dream thanks to Rhae, her eventual treatment of him would have hurt even worse.

Personally I'm not sure if it could have swung more people to feel for him and criticize Nyra, but it would have generally enriched his character and relationship with the princess and I would have looved it.

Only point against it is that it's probably one of the least important deleted scenes.

It sucks to say it, but I didn't really feel it's absence, you know?

If I had to cut a scene, I too would have chosen this one, but with a veery heavy heart.

Really solid idea though.

8+/10

3. The Rhaenicent fight at the end of episode 2

Finally, we're moving onto Alicent related scenes.

And this... is my villain origin story.

I can't believe it was cut, wtf!

I get that maybe they wanted to stay loyal to the rule "show don't tell" cause it was already obvious that Rhae was mad at Alicent when she ran out of council meeting room after the announcement of her father's betrothal, but like... The possible angst!

Alicent crying, trying to explain the situation and appealing to their friendship to try and get Nyra to calm down while she screams at her and calls her names for not revealing the truth sooner, god this would have destroyed me even further!

The missed potential drives me insane, I would literally pay money to see how this scene was supposed to play out.

10/10

This awesome interaction would have also perfectly set up the hostility and tention that would characterize the next deleted gem...

4. Rhaenicent preparing for Ali's wedding

Godd, this is another one of those scenes that, in my humble opinion, should have stayed in the show.

Not only because of the possibility of more Rhaenicent angst to break my heart,(Yeess) but also because this is one of those scenes whose absence is really felt in the story for me.

We go from Ali and Viserys's betrothal to them being already married with a toddler and another baby on the way and even though I'm aware that hotd has a lot of time jumps, I do feel like we should at least have seen the wedding celebration before moving onto the future.

This event being glossed over really left a bad taste in my mouth.

9,5/10

I can just imagine the sad and awkward silence during that scene, poor girls.

5. Viserys testing Daemon regarding Aegon's prophecy

Soo, time to talk about the most incompetent targ king and his very problematic bro.

This scene had a loot of potential.

Apparently it was supposed to be about Viserys toying with the idea of revealing the Conquerer's prophecy to Daemon, but ultimately choosing not to after his brother showed little to no interest in what he was saying.

It would have been great to set up Daemyra's fight in the last episode

(honestly it would have been quite funny to see Daemon have a meltdown after hearing of the prophecy that he thinks his brother didn't trust him enough to tell him of, when he literally had the chance of knowing about it but threw it away lol)

And it also would have showcased how unfit Daemon is to rule, and given Viserys yet another reason to pick Rhaenyra as his heir over him.

9-/10

In conclusion:

Yes I know there are a lot more deleted scenes to discuss, but I really don't want this post to get too long, so I'm going to end it here.

Personally, I think all of these deleted scenes were good, and there genuinely wasn't a single one I would have hated to see on screen.

But what were your favourites? Please tell me, especially if they weren't featured in this post, I'm super curious to find out about more cut scenes to learn what we all missed lmao.

[class1akids]

I know this is like, a grievance that’s waaaaay past the point of not mattering since AM did give Shouto encouragement during his fight, but man does it suck that there was no words to Shouto from AM afterward! He was such inspiration to him in his childhood (of course I know the origin trio boat is long gone and the recent chapter showing everything wrong their relationships with each other/themselves and the story) as he was abused constantly. I know the scene w/ Shouto showcases him (most likely) not being in the mood for any congratulations, but I guess it would be out of character for AM now to do that for someone who actually planned and executed saving a villain instead of killing him. ¯\_(ヅ)_/¯

Though Shouto did help Midoriya with his finishing move (just not as flashy as Bakugou), but did Shouto even know Midoriya wanted to save Tomu Tenko? (<- absolutely NO criticism to Shouto since he must have trusted Mido to know what he needed do and I don’t remember who Mido told). If he didn’t, how would you imagine Shouto’s reaction would be if Midoriya did and this was the final result?

Also, I think not being part of the “weirdo” convo w/ Uraraka and Midoriya actually makes Shouto’s win the best of the group since (as you pointed out) he was actually there seeing Touya as a kid (though only through a window) and still wanted to connect with him as an angry adult. He worked around Touya’s quirk (w/o any bs quirk power ups) and had a plan (though his family *not Endeavor helping Touya must have been a scary surprise) with a non lethal take down. There was some sort of connection between Toga and Uraraka, but there’s still a lot issues with Toga being saved (Twice (and now Tomura/Kurogiri’s) deaths being done by the heroes being one of them) that hasn’t been addressed and we all know what happened with Midoriya. Yeah, Endeavor took up a lot of the screen time and I wish he was handled differently in relation of being a father vs hero, but all we need is a good conclusion with hot udon (and some consequences for Endeavor for almost killing himself and Touya)! 🤞🤞

Sorry for such a long text and you might not agree with some of these, but what I wanted to get across was tldr:these last chapters suck but Shouto is still a silent star who deserves better credit than what he got (hopefully this next chapter won’t be a third strikeout)

To be honest, I don't really care about All Might praising Shouto anymore.

I expected him to support somehow Shouto post-PLF War when the Dabi reveal happened, but that just never took place. The Ch 386 talk was a decent alternative: he gave Shouto encouragement and a push to go to his family (I think without All Might, Shouto would have chosen to make a stand against AFO), which in the end allowed Shouto to save them (it would have been awful for him if his family and hundreds of strangers died from the move he made to save Touya and which Touya copied) and save a bunch of innocent by-standers and fellow heroes.

All Might's praise is only important if you buy into the propaganda - but that doesn't make someone "greatest"; their actions do. And I think what Shouto achieved with very little help during this arc is really amazing. I couldn't have seen him smiling in that room while his brother's fate is in limbo (plus Rei may also be in critical condition).

I'm more worried about whatever Todoroki family closure we get does good balance between Shouto, Touya and Endeavor (and not end up like this Bakugou, Deku, All Might scene which worked overwhelmingly as a Bakugou highlight - though i guess Deku will get plenty of scenes still).

I also don't think that Shouto is a pacifist per se and would pass judgement on Izuku for killing his villain. Shouto is plenty capable of murder to protect others. But he would be able to empathise with wanting to save someone and still not being "enough". While I doubt it would happen, so angsty tddk bonding would be brilliant.

[thesamoanqueen]

This episode of Smackdown REALLY showed Cody is not interesting at ALL. With Roman back and the bloodline in full swing, it's more clear then ever. Three people had bigger pops than the "face of the company" (even though Roman is actually advertised on everything) he's cutting promos that make him not sound so great and taking credit for things he really shouldn't be. If that man wasn't so insistent on being a babyface, I'd swear he was turning heel (he'd make a fantastic heel w his current character). I mean, he was getting bored around Roman! Plus this weekend, I don't know if you saw, Bron made a kid cry so Jey brought the kid into the ring. If that was Cody every right piece he runs to would have a story about it and would have been on the Tik token because that man doesn't have sn authentic bone in his body, but it's silent for Jey because he didn't do it for brownie points. That promo was so terrible and the difference between when we see Roman and when we see Cidy truly exposes his weaknesses

Cody is one of those people who you find in big positions but who really don't deserve to be where they are. I'm going to sound like a hater, but I don't really care... the fact is that he hasn't improved one bit from years ago: it didn't happen in NJPW, it didn't happen in AEW, it didn't happen now after his return. Cody is the same hungry boy as always, what has changed is WWE's vision of him because he negotiated his return and found himself in the right situation to fit in when everything changed in the company. New boss new top guy, simple.

The fans perception is something I consider not always reliable. Whether people like it or not, the companies have effective ways of selling products and with him they have chosen an unbeatable marketing strategy on their market (the american hero, well dressed but with principles, a dog for the kids, old values, tragic family story). But strategy alone doesn't cover everything and it's situations like this one with the Crown Jewel match that prove it.

They built nothing after his win (good matches don't make a good run in WWE, sorry) because in fact they had nothing ready for him except a match with The Rock which they are still not sure, for obvious reasons, and the feud with Randy. Unable to push the first agenda, they left him in the wake of the Bloodline as a catalyst and only now that Roman is back, they are hinting at Randy and the evolution of their feud helped by the great wrestler that KO is. And that's because they knew when Roman would be back he wouldn't take a back seat. It's what Roman does... he pushes forward. The confrontation at Summerslam and after was in fact harsh, because if they don't tell Roman to hold back like they did for WM, Cody disappears sucked into the vortex of the mainevent machine that is Roman with his storyline. The champion vs champion fight at Crown Jewel is a tragedy now... everything is wrong, the idea, the belt, the moment, the people involved because nostalgics will say it's a throwback, but neither Cody nor Gunther are attractions that sell the match when Roman is out there taking the opening, closing and backstage segments every week with a story that draws 3 million viewers on social media alone in just a few hours after SmackDown ends.

I don't like Cody, I never liked him, but I know he can be a champion now, just not THAT level of champion they're trying to sell and he think he is. He doesn't have the qualities to compare with what Roman has become and the drama is having both of them on the same show playing the same top role when they're not on the same level of aura. The confrontation is continuous and Cody has too much power for his abilities: he messes up interviews, talks about issues he shouldn't, continues to tease fans on social media, doesn't make an effort to change his approach and is lulling himself into the idea of being on top fomented by a company that is playing all possible cards to prove that they made the right choice at WM. They won't always be able to justify with the help of journalists on Twitter why after his win the views collapsed and the weekly sold out ended, why the Bloodline storyline still attract more attention and someone built organically like Jey Uso outsells the champion or have bigger reactions. But the damage is there and they can't go back because they invested and pushed too hard now. It's a problem that will only be solved when Roman retires and the company is forced to abandon its life preserver, will it work? I don't think so, because I know how it works with Cody and I don't trust him in that role, but we'll have to deal with it.

[fandomlovingfreak]

By The Cliffs (Ch 2/?)

Paul Lahote x Female Reader

Prev. Chapter

Wattpad I AO3

Rating: Teen+ (for Swearing)

Word Count: 1000

Summary: It was supposed to be a vacation.

A time to relax after Graduate School and unwind the pent-up tension I'd built up in the years of juggling school and work. Finally, I'd have the chance to breathe. Craving the serenity of mother nature's caress, I'd chosen Forks, a four-hour drive from the University, based on the stories I'd heard from Washington locals I'd known in school. With its endless trees and rainy weather, it seemed a perfect sleepy dream spot.

In retrospect, my belief that it was solely my decision to visit and not the Universe's mystic call pulling me there was mortal ignorance. But who besides a creature possessing the gift of predestination could have anticipated what awaited me by the cliffs?

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of Meyer's Characters. This work is not created for profit or financial compensation, and is a transformative fair use work in accordance with Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act.

Notes: Meet Paul! Reminder that characters have been aged up. See Prev. Chapter for more info! Thanks for reading

Warnings: This fic overall includes imprinting, I've just cut out all the weird shit SMeyer included. Like no children are imprinted on in this fic and will not be<3 That's weird as hell<3<3

Enjoy!

I am starving.

"We're aware. You've mentioned it one-thousand times now," Jacob grumbles. He snaps his teeth at me as he flies by.

"Let's finish up patrol. Emily's got dinner ready," Sam's voice fills my head.

Catching up to Jake, I growl, tackling him to the ground for the hell of it, "You're gonna hear it a thousand times more, Black. Deal with it."

We wrestle briefly, and I get a few good bites in before Sam breaks up the fun with a harsh "Knock it off!" in his Alpha voice.

We separate at once, unable to disobey our Alpha's command.

"Act like adults," he growls at the two of us, "I don't want to be out all night because you two can't take patrol seriously."

"Yeah, Jake. Act like an adult."

Jacob flashes his teeth, "Well, isn't that the kettle calling the pot black."

I chuckle, "Close enough."

"God, you're annoying!" Jacob laughs, running off in front of me.

"I try my best!" I chase after him, snapping at his tail.

The wind blows through my fur as the three of us race through the woods. These were the moments I lived for, the super-speed running, being with my brothers, and complete blissful freedom. As we grow closer to Sam and Emily's house, an unfamiliar scent overwhelms my senses.

"What's that smell?" I speak without thinking.

"What smell? Smells like barbeque to me."

"Barbeque? Have I ever told you I love Emily?" Jacob jokes.

"Must be the food..." I trail off, ignoring Sam's sharp reply to Jacob, too hypnotized by the smell to care about their spat over Emily.

We phase back at the edge of the tree-line, Jacob and Sam talking about some truck Jake bought.

"--I just bought it last week. It drives pretty good; I was surprised. Really only needs a tune-up and--"

I can't pay attention, half because I don't care about the newest truck he's fixing up, half because I'm curious about the fragrance. It never smelled different around here; I wasn't sure I liked the change.

Jacob pushes me, "What's got you all... quiet for once?"

I brush him off, trying to scowl convincingly, "Nothing. Just hungry." Yeah, that's convincing enough. They seem to buy it, and I try to blend into their pre-dinner roughhousing.

Our laughter stops as Quill and Embry exit the front door, meeting us halfway across the yard.

"What's up with you two?" Jacob asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

They glance at each other before Embry drops the bomb, "There's something we have to warn you guys about before you go inside."

  "Listen, we--"

Embry stops me, "No, no. This is all you, Quil. I was an unfortunate bystander sucked into your idiotic decisions."

"Fine," I roll my eyes, "We brought a girl here."

"You did what?" Paul snarls. Sam puts his hand up to stop him from getting in my face.

"What do you mean you brought a girl here?" Sam says sternly, "You know that isn't allowed."

Embry steps into the conversation, "We caused her to fall and hit her head. On accident."

"Why didn't you leave her--"

I can't help the disgusted laugh that leaves me. Leave it to Paul to act like a heartless jerk.

"Do you really think we should've left her there in the middle of the woods?" I ask, already knowing what he's going to say.

"Yes!" Paul screams back, "She wasn't your problem! How stupid are you two?"

Embry shakes his head, "We weren't going to leave the girl in the middle of the woods, Paul. She was hurt, and it was our fault."

Paul inhales sharply, the shaking of his shoulders familiar to all of those who know him.

"There's no need to wolf out, Paul," Jacob rolls his eyes, looking annoyed.

Of course, this is exactly what pushes Paul right over the edge of anger into rage. The clothes on his body explode into fabric ribbons as the wolf overcomes the man.

"What the fuck!" A woman's voice yells over the commotion. All eyes look over at her, including Paul's.

  The rage that had previously boiled in my chest extinguished into nothingness as my eyes trained on her.

Her.

A new boiling replaces the rage. No, it couldn't be described as boiling. Boiling sounded harsh; whatever this was was warm like sunlight. Dazzling, the kind of warmth you wanted to bask in forever.

The feeling I would bask in forever if she'd let me. I had to tell her and explain that everything that was me was reaching out to her. Would always reach out to her. She was the center of my universe, the only thing to keep me grounded for however long I lived.

"For fucks sake!" Jacob screams through my thoughts, our telepathic connection telling him everything he needed to know about the situation, "A second ago, you didn't care if they'd left her in the forest; now you're imprinting on her?"

Quil's delighted thoughts ring through next, "Oh hell ya! See, you're happy now, aren't you? You're welcome, Paulie."

"Shut up!" I snap, gnashing my teeth at the two. I hated that nickname, and I hated that they could see and feel everything I'd just experienced. That moment should be mine and mine alone.

"What're you gonna do, loverboy?" I hear the teasing in Jacob's thoughts.

I growl, "I'm going to get some fucking pants so I can talk to her without freaking her out anymore than I already have."

I watch as my imprint sprints back into the house and listen to her yells of panic, warning Emily of what is happening outside.

The big bad wolves.

"Good plan!" Quil does a little hop, his tail wagging like a brain-dead dog, "I don't think she's taking the wolf thing so well. Probably, shouldn't try to talk to her butt naked. At least not right away."

"Do you ever shut up?" I snap at him again, chasing as he disappears into the brush.

End of Chapter Notes: Thank you for reading! Please, if you enjoyed this chapter, consider reblogging and/or leaving a comment! I love to hear from readers<3

[caitlynnrosespn]

I'd love to say this is a recent update but it's not:)

Long story short I had until this Thursday to find a place because my Bi-Polar mother decided she didn't like me hanging out with other family and possibly saying a word about her and her boyfriend (note: she said this like a week ago).

I only just recently found a job, I really have one place to go and it is by far not the best option, and I may have just had my whole mother's side of the family turned against me through lies, and what sucks is I actually really liked them.

This is not me having a pity party, this is me reminding ya'll that you don't know me. You don't know my pain. You don't know my family. You don't know the struggles I go through to make it work. I've had people stab me in the back, go and shittalk me to others, and try to ruin me. Did you know while you sat in your house, typing away shit about me on your phone, I was crying to my friends because I was scared I was gonna be homeless in the middle of December?

I don't care that you don't like me. That's fine. You don't have to give me a reason. I'm not entitled to one. But the last thing you want to do is go bash me to my friends and try to divide us. They're my backbone, my chosen family, the bond stronger then blood. They're not going to break because of personal beef, and I won't either. I'm much stronger then you'd think.

[teiasviago]

i have to laugh bc i saw someone say mystra "was done so dirty in bg3" like LMFAO the last mystra literally had wizards duking it out with each other to become her chosen or whatever and then it got so bad that eventually one of the mystra's was like "alright this sucks ass now nevermind". and then there was the time mystra possessed a mortal woman and had seven daughters as her with the woman's husband and that fucking killed the woman and the husband abandoned them bc he'd had no idea and then mystra saddled elminster with the youngest three. the wizard fights was how azuth became mystra's chosen and then mystra's daughters (who aren't aasimar like aylin, just very powerful wizards/sorcerers) are also her chosen, though i think two of them are dead now. and she ALSO put elminster through a bunch of bullshit tests and started like right after his whole family was murdered or whatever so like that man can have his cheese from my camp, i'll chew him out later. and like yeah all that was from the first mystra but one of the first things this new mystra has done is wreck gale so i don't think that speaks highly to her character nor is out of line with previous incarnations. she may be "neutral good" but only as it pertains to her portfolio, in my view - she is "good" for protecting magic and the chaos of some actions cancel out with the lawfulness of her stringent rules for the use of magic. AND even if she was basically dead for most of gale's life and they only met "face to face" thirteen years before the events of the game and started dating then, when gale was already an adult, i would still consider it grooming. he was raised in a society - especially in waterdeep bc it's a center of magic - that venerates "good" aligned gods because they're literally irrefutably real. gale was obviously taught to value the weave and hold great respect for mystra, he attended one of the most prestigious academies of magic, and he was mentored by elminster himself. he was in a unique position to be used by mystra as wizards before him had been used - notably elminster himself, but also literally azuth, the patron lesser deity of wizards. (and the letters elminster sends to gale in his origin and if he becomes a god speak to the guy holding so much guilt for being party to the abuse gale faced - that he should have done more to prevent gale's downfall, especially bc he is one of mystra's survivors.) and then azuth's last line in the series of books in bg3 about the gods is literally about forever yearning for mystra. so then gale wasn't even pulling the idea of getting more power out of his ass or anything, someone else was given power/allowed to obtain it to the point of becoming a god in service to mystra. he disobeyed mystra's boundaries for using magic/gaining power, yes, but in his origin when you talk to mystra and say "i just wanted to be worthy of you" or w/e she says that gale was already worthy and just lacked patience. so again he wasn't even told a solid no it may have been more of a "no right now" no. (i say maybe bc atp mystra might just be gaslighting gale, trying to pretend that she hadn't been 100% forever and ever denying him, i wouldn't put it past her.) of course what's taken into account for deciding godly alignment is going to be a bit different than for beings without a godly portfolio. like!!!!! mystra can be dead in my eyes and still have neutral good alignment as a goddess bc for her most of all it's fucking complicated, seeing as she is like... the lifeblood of the realms or whatever. anyways. to end this... long-winded rant. part of what make's gale's story and romance so compelling is that he's completely correct when he says that the gods don't truly care about mortals, that they just cower behind ao. they can't really care bc they forget what it's like to be mortal, they depend on having mortal souls. they are just dressed up devils, dealing in souls. no good is wholly "good." they all have the power to save lives, to change lives for the better, yet squalor remains. it's an imperfect universe. compelling!

[peony-pearl]

"someone PLEASE dare me to talk about the writing of Ursa's story from the comics"

This is your sign, child. Tell me all you've got

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

A bit of a foreword to anyone reading: I am going to be speaking about the writing of Ursa's trials from the comics in a critical light in the ways that her story was chosen to be written this way. If you find any kind of comfort or catharsis in her story, this post may not be for you. I am not here to be an anti, I am here to look at changes made to a character that I think could have been a lot more interesting if she had been allowed to keep her original backstory.

That being said:

Ursa's story of being plucked out of a happy home to marry 'the bad guy' could be interesting!

My problem with it is the inconsistencies it creates in it's own narrative... and the fact that it's such painful woobification of a woman who was willing to commit a high crime to save her son in the way that her circumstances create an issue where she is nothing but a martyr. It also continues the whole 'good lineage vs bad lineage' idea that completely undermines the power of Zuko's arc.

Ursa, in the comics, is presented to us as this bright eyed hopeful actress, in love with a man named Ikem when Azulon rolls up with Ozai, unlike some earlier lore where she was born into royalty and was the perfect match for Ozai. Now she's subjected to a wretched life which I can only imagine they put her through to make her completely sympathetic, because otherwise she would have been just like the rest of the royal family - EVIL.

Which I really hate that train of thought, but this is a family friendly show and as good as atla does with it's good vs evil nuances, I often remember I have to cut it some slack... but then I get a bit more frustrated because of the whole 'just because it's family friendly means they can simplify things' which I also don't care for but again... eh. I can't be too picky at times. (I was also raised on Gargoyles which did a great job on showing villains in sympathetic moments and heroes having big major flaws so I'm already a little biased)

Regardless; completely rewriting Ursa's backstory to the point that we no longer see her view of the war (or Ikem's! So they're good people!! We promise!) just comes off as almost manipulative and middle-school fanfiction-y. Ursa is a good person to sympathize with because she's being forced into these situations :C

And as such, she's a good person because of Roku!! And so Zuko is a good person because his mom loved him so much!!

And such, they don't have to show any changes on Ursa's part. No moral failings, no her and Zuko butting heads once they reunite to show how much he's grown... his morals come from her and Roku, because Avatar lineage = good.

And that grinds my gears so hard because then just like Ursa, that's robbing Zuko of his autonomy to make bad choices.

When Iroh tells Zuko in The Avatar and the Fire Lord that his legacy is the good and evil within him, it sucks because Zuko's legacy should solely be his own choices (I have my own issues with Zuko's view of the crown). Not the bloodline within him that he can't control. THAT'S A MAJOR POINT OF THE SHOW. People aren't born evil.

and yet Ursa is GOOD because she is Roku's GRANDDAUGHTER. That's really it. Yes, I can understand that she was raised in the moral compass left behind by him. But Ozai is only really good/charming to Ursa right up until their wedding when suddenly he's just EVIL and he's like 'you're MINE now hehehehe' like there's no in between, you just have to show Ursa in this miserable predicament which then also doesn't allow for any interesting development in our Ozai, aka previous big bad which could have been him following his father's orders to marry some woman and maybe he legitimately TRIED to make things work because NO ONE IS BORN EVIL. Ozai is such a shadow of Zuko that he would try to appease his father, and he might take this marriage on in the hopes that it would start building a bridge between them.

And we're not even getting into the fact that we don't learn that Ursa is the Avatar's granddaughter until the final season, JUST IN TIME for Zuko to learn this while he's locked in his self loathing and is utterly directionless. Again, this takes away the importance of his own choices. The boy who started the series completely devoted to returning home, willing to put himself and others through constant danger and misery just to appease his father is given a free ride card of 'oh you're actually good on the inside! Just do the good thing!'

Because he's Ursa's son, the woman who didn't want to marry Ozai because he was so so awful that his bloodline is OBVIOUSLY why Azula is the way she is (ugh).

Like this could work in more fairytale/simpler story settings but atla has gone so far out of it's way to continue to say 'no one is born evil' and 'people can change'; but when it comes down to it, they're really restricting the moral compass.

In the end, Ursa is good and suffered. Ozai is BAD because VILLAIN. (which yes he is but... ugh).

I don't know if I've made sense. I had a more cohesive idea when I wrote those tags but this is more or less my views of Comic!Ursa.

I don't hate her. But I hate that they just kind of shoved her on the misery train and kind of went 'wow that sucks right? This makes you want to see Zuko find her right?'

And then he does and all is well. Because Ursa is a GOOD WOMAN unlike that EVIL OZAI.

[archivalofsins]

You know what I'm about to do rent lowering gunshots.

I'm tired of feeling like I'm being held to some higher standard than the average fan just because of how I communicate my feelings on the series. It's tiring to feel like your words are constantly being scrutinized because of how they may impact or sway how the series goes. It's not a fun atmosphere to theorize under.

Plus, the Milgram fandom has a way of rewarding individuals that do less work and devaluing those who do more. Framing them as taking things too seriously, being harsh, or just not knowing how to have fun. While at the same time expecting those same individuals who put in that work sometimes spending days or weeks on a post to explain in depth why their favorite character or that one they hate should be Innocent or Guilty for them.

Yet these same people at other times really need to watch what they say because their words have more of an impact they should try to be kinder to the character or add more nuance to their discussion. Even if doing so compromises their genuine opinion or even how they process information.

It sucks to say because I do enjoy when people like my posts. I do enjoy when I get to talk about Milgram with other people and interacting with the fandom. Yet, I write the way I do in order to process my feelings and thoughts on a piece of media I care about. Milgram isn't special. I have a lot of things that I enjoy just as much and interact with in the same way.

Because I love stories. I love the characters in them. The process in which I digest information is starting off critical to get an objective view of the information and then looking into the emotional implications after. That's always been how I've looked at things. Even if I look at the emotional implications, there's no saying if I'll come out feeling the character is any less or more justified in their actions. Because even if that contextualizes what was done, it does not justify it in my eyes.

I care more about how the character feels about their actions than how it makes me feel. I can't tell others how they should live their life. If their circumstances are happy or sad. Just like I don't do that in my real life, I don't do it with media. I'm happy just letting the characters be the characters, whatever may come of that. That's how I have fun and I can have an opinion on that, sure.

Yet that opinion will always be malleable.

Not just because people have the right to change their minds but because characters in a narrative have the right to develop. They can change for better or worse. Even if the character is static, when more information is revealed about them, the audiences opinion of them can and may change. That's only natural.

At the same time, how the audience engages with a character can impact how said character is perceived and received on a larger scale. This fact heavily impacted the trials of Mu and Kotoko during the second season of Milgram.

It certainly wasn't the only reason that they received such high guilty percentages. However, it played a larger role in it than most people are willing to look into.

Let's talk about

Guilt By Association

Merriam-Webster: Moral guilt or unfitness presumed to exist on the basis of one's known associations.

the doctrine of guilt by association has on occasion been used to brand as currently disloyal persons who at some past time had been members of an organization not known to be or considered subversive at the time they were members

Dictionary: The attribution of guilt to individuals because of the people or organizations with which they associate, rather than because of any crime that they have committed.

Guilt by association has been alluded to through Mu already and is highlighted more heavily through her answer to question eighteen trial two.

Q.18 Do you regret anything?

Mu: I think maybe I should have chosen my friends a bit more carefully.

Through this statement Mu shows that she believes her affiliations are why she wound up in the situation she's in. This is also supported by the line,

"If you want to betray from jealousy."

Something that implies the people she knew were envious of her status and out to take her spot. This is illustrated to be the case in After Pain as well through imagery like this,

Showing her friends, not her victim, icing her out. Along with the flipping of the hourglass, which can allude to her going from being on top to being on the bottom. As we see in It's Not My Fault, Mu's position in the hourglass has switched from drowning at the bottom to being at the top.

Now, getting the room to breathe that she wanted and escaping from that glass.

It's also shown through the board that her association with her victim before she died is weaponized against her after the victim passes away. As it's filled with speculation about how Mu is the reason her victim died and she's only getting away with due to her parents,

"Just benefits from her parents"

Another association she's implied to be taking advantage of.

Kotoko is the same way relying on groups and the support of weaklings to get things done. All while saying she has everything, she's the solution, she's got it all figured out. She just needs the weaklings around her to shut up an let themselves be protected by her.

You see that, though?

She needs weaklings to let her protect them. She needs to make a deal to feel special and necessary. She needs this dichotomy more than the weaklings around her do. Just like Mu needs those she views as lesser to constantly feed her ego.

They need associations, for those around them to see the merit in their existence, and validate them being here just like Shidou. Because they can't figure that out for themselves. They need to grasp through actions the things that they can solidly do and provide.

"I overheard, I found out How much I’m not needed."

22/07/05 (Mu’s Birthday)

Mu: Hey~~~ Isn’t everyone a bit gloomy lately? I get that this situation isn’t ideal, but you’re really bringing down the mood for my birthday.

Yuno: Haha, surely even you can tell now’s not really the time for something like that right. Nobody’s really in the mood, or rather nobody has time time to deal with something like that.

Mu: Boo, how boring. You seem to be free, you can celebrate for me. Go on, celebrate.

Yuno: Wow, what a pain. I’m reading the atmosphere properly and keeping quiet. Well, you just go and have fun with Haruka. In the corner somewhere so you’re out of everyone’s way.

"There’s no special meaning, I got the short end of the stick."

"Tock-tock… tells me, the reason it’s ok to be here. Won’t disappear even if I stop-"

"The love that won't perish."

"“Throw down” connecting you with me, to keep you alive, you are still living." - "Lying, replacing with hope."

"“Throw down” it’s ok, that’s enough. Can’t stay away. Please don’t forgive me. That’s why I want this to end “Throw down”."

"The person that can’t be saved, is now understanding the abnormality."

"It’s ok to dislike, right? Losing it, losing it, what should I hope for?"

"“UNDER” Doltish, a codependency of the weak. “UNDER” Obscene, pulling all cords to stay warm."

"So ridiculous, isn’t it ridiculous? Bringing back the cocky hero again? How embarrassing."

I think it's very telling that while these lines are sung the only one reflected or shown in the scene is Kotoko herself and these are all lines that can be applied to her. She has a codependency on the weak because she needs to save them to validate herself and they need saving by her in turn.

It's the same dichotomy that she attempts to enforce with Es as soon as she gets to Milgram. Something she clearly attempts to get more out of later without putting much more in. As she doesn't give Es more information on Milgram, the prisoners, or even attempt to be on good terms with the others enough in order to uphold her end of the bargain she made despite assuming the deal was accepted.

Along with citing the deal as the reason she's totally allowed to jump people because that is the offer she made Es actually and there was never another one,

"Guard-san. No... Es. Don't you want to join forces with me? I think the two of us would make good partners."

Join... forces with you?

"With you, in the role of prison guard with the information you gather from interrogations, and me, in the role of prisoner with the information I gather from my daily life here... Working together and sharing our findings what do you think?"

Your hand...? What are you trying to say?

"Let's shake hands. We will become companions."

The two of us...companions?

"When the time comes, Es, let me be your fangs."-"Come on, rely on me, go on."

"I want a reason for judgment execution, I want it."

"So make yourselves my reason."

Mu, Shidou, and Kotoko all use others to fuel their actions. To tell them it's okay to be where they are and act how they are. Sometimes even to the point of blaming others for how they respond in certain situations.

"[GIGGLE] It's your fault for doing horrible things to me."

"You're in my way...hurry up and die."

"From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

They push themselves through their associations and the connections that they form. To the extent of it being detrimental their own Achilles hill. Because if they're validated by those around them they'll just start leaping over boundaries. Even if they weren't validated by that much.

We see that with Mu here after her verdict,

21/07/05 (Mu’s Birthday)

Mu: Yuno. Don’t you have something to say to me?

Yuno: Huh? To you? Me? ……ahh, uh? Your birthday, right?

Happy birthday~

Mu: How mean… Since it’s my birthday, I really wish you’d said something before I had to come and tell you myself.

Yuno: Right, right, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in future~ Later! Haha… things have become even more of a bother… ……so was that Mu-chan’s real personality, then? It’s probably because the guard did something, right?

Q.11 Which of the other prisoners do you get along with least?

Yuno: I wonder- The ones that are painful just to watch are Haruka and Mu-chan.

20/06/04

Yuno: Huh, so you go to that high school. So you are from a rich family then~! I mean, you already gave off that vibe, though. What year are you in?

Mu: First year…… Kashiki… san…… you’re older than me, right?

Yuno: Yeah, I’m in third year. But you can just call me Yuno, I don’t really like the stuffy formalities. It doesn’t really matter who’s older and who’s younger. If you squint, we’re basically the same age anyway.

Mu: ……fufu, what’s with that? But ok…… I’ll call you Yuno from now on.

"I won't be bothered...."

Just like the characters can get annoyed with each other for being annoying the fans can get annoyed with each other for the same reason and act on it with their votes. If fans of a particular character are being obnoxious, harassing others, being dismissive of or belittling the feelings of others within the fandom then some fans will decide to use their votes to do something about it instead of engaging with bad actors in good faith.

This is how individuals who went around parading like they were the only true fans ended up ruining their favorite characters reputations more. Because no one needs to explain to another person why their behavior is wrong or hurtful when they can just do something that will tangibly and passively enforce that belief anyway.

No one has to decide to vote based on the character alone when said characters fans have done something to hurt that individual personally. Milgram allows fans to vote for any reason and that includes to spite other fans who have wronged them personally. No one has to go high when others continually go low.

Personally I was waiting for the end of the trial to really discuss this facet of Milgram voting as not to impact how others decided to behave. Because yes Milgram as a series doesn't say anything about the people who consume it. It's a neutral piece of media. However, the way individuals choose to treat people in real life because of Milgram does reflect on them.

The series is not forcing anyone to behave towards other people in the ways that they have and a difference in opinion on a piece of fiction isn't an excuse to treat anyone as less than someone else. People can disagree with someone without diminishing their personhood or making assumptions about their character or values.

Just as people can just not talk about something if they don't wish to hear other people's opinions on it or have a genuine discussion about it. People could have actually engaged with the stories of Mu and Kotoko in an authentic way. Instead of making in poor taste jokes, victim blaming, racially motivated remarks, xenophobic statements, mass reporting people, and sending emotionally manipulative dms to people they quite frankly don't know enough about (or even the ages of) for that to be appropriate in any way- Though even if they did that would not have made responding in that way anymore appropriate but they probably might have thought a bit more before speaking.

The behavior of certain people in fandom is honestly why the phrase,

"You forget yourself." Exists.

And I'm speaking about across all platforms through every demographic that Milgram has reached not just Twitter, or any specific nationality of fans. Some of the behavior I've not only seen but been subjected to makes me miss talking about stuff with people in high school.

I'm American there should never be an instance considering how much shit other nationalities like talk about Americans online (most warranted) that I'm sitting here like naw this shit is out of fucking pocket I gotta go to a comic book store or find an anime club talk to some other people in my area about this. Fucking even just call a friend.

Like one of the comforts I've personally gained from experiencing Milgram is knowing full and well most of the populaces of other countries aren't as different from Americans as they like to believe they are and these two trials really embody that and were so sobering really.

Mu's actions could have been contextualized without framing her victim as doing something to deserve to die, headcanoning them as half black for laughs, using right-wing buzzwords, or even the amount off people specifically going people outside of Japan shouldn't be allowed to vote this is because of those westerners.

It's not a difficult thing to contextualize what happened without doing all that. The people who discussed this in those ways were just bad communicators. They didn't know how else to articulate themselves and hell, maybe some even thought they were actually being so funny really. Because it's fun to make fun of the very real plights of bipoc individuals and conservatism when it doesn't impact oneself personally right.

Yet associating that with Mu would only do more to damage her reputation, not help it. Because now some people may not see it as disagreeing or agreeing with Mu but the bigoted tactics of her supporters. Then we're right back at guilt by association. It's bigger than her at that point. To some people, it's not even about her or what she did anymore.

The same thing impacted Kazui's trial.

Since people wanted to highlight him speculatively being gay as a moral failing and one person was bribing people and creating superstitions in order to get him guilty. It was no longer about his trial in Milgram but more so about what it represented in reality now. The sort of message it would support if he was guilty and how that personally impacted fans.

It was the same with Amane.

They managed to scrape by an innocent verdict because these issues mattered to the people who were discussing them, and they treated them like they should matter. Neither of those were easy feats they weren't simple sweeps like any of the other verdicts this trial. They tested convictions. There were some things to discuss there.

Yet with Mu, she was treated as though there was nothing to discuss. It was game over before the starting bell even rang. So, people joked about it, threw tantrums, reduced the entirety of feminism to the idea that actually women can never do anything wrong ever, actually so there. It's not surprising that no one really wanted to engage or cared enough to try to push the verdict in another direction.

It definitely didn't help that Haruka was voted Guilty earlier in the trial and a lot of people really framed giving him that verdict as creating a circumstance in which we could vote Mu at our own discretion later without the threat of him hurting himself over our head because he'd be restrained. She was set up to fail by people more concerned about how dangerous Haruka could be to her, himself, and others if he was validated again.

People who used the idea of Haruka being guilty to go if we do that then we don't even really have to worry about making Mu innocent. Something people ran with even though they had no evidence he'd be restrained. But then, when people tried to cite Haruka's threat as a good reason to vote Mu innocent later.

Guilt by association and spite came in again. People cited the first level of restraint and him being guilty as reason enough to vote however you want. Hell, I was one of those people.

Mu was at the least fifteen when she committed her crime. It was a heat of the moment thing. She clearly and consistently has shown remorse over it. Still a good deal of her fans would rather make fun of the real societal ills that some people in the fandom face on the regular basis in a haphazard attempt to be funny than actually try to make a case for her. How can anyone be surprised she was that guilty?

Now, I feel a certain way about Kotoko's "real" fans.

The environment wasn't right for her to be innocent, and the people who liked her the most contributed to the atmosphere that ultimately led to her fall from grace. Leaving her with a guilty verdict only rivaled by Kotoko's.

That can only be explained by the knowledge I've been looping the song Not Like Us for several weeks and feeling more catharsis than I've felt in a while. Like an excessive amount of catharsis. Like it's fucked up because I really listened to every track involved in that entire beef, have been watching analysis and reactions to it and literally went yeah I did need to hear a guy get verbally obliterated really bad this year. Fucking that song and Euphoria oh my god needed that.

Tell me how the fuck a fan base of one character has several months in advance to make a case for that character and still fails? Make it make sense.

Real fans? I'm sorry real fans show up- As soon as that voice drama dropped and she said she hit kids y'all gave up. Just like a good bit of Mu's fans never even wanted to consider that she was a bully a good deal of Kotoko's fans took the I do not see it approach.

I only had a fucking snippet of Mikoto's voice drama and wrote ten speculative paragraphs on it. Her fans had the whole fucking voice drama, translations, the cover, the song, the instrumental and what did they do with it?

Alright, how'd did not talking about that work out for them?

Oh yeah they GATEKEPT it! Tag it this way, tag it that way, spoilers, spoilers, that's a leak not an official release. Milgram gives you the advantage of a several month release difference between the cd, the mv, and the official start of the trial and Kotoko's real fans did nothing with that time I guess.

They went we don't see that shit. That's a leak, that's a spoiler, don't talk about it.

Where'd it get them-

Damn girl, your fans let you have a verdict that low- What you do?

I didn't even know verdicts got that low. My god- Kotoko had it so fucking bad that Mu fans were gunning to make her more guilty than Mu. They started going she can't be more Innocent than Mu that'd be ridiculous. Bro how?!

Like I understand the reasoning, but again, several months that none of the fans of any other character had. Everybody else here that was a fan of a certain character had to get to making a case for said character the day the mv dropped. Without a translated voice drama at times.

Getting slapped with translated voice drama facts mid trial. It's ridiculous she should not be this guilty with the fucking clear advantage she very much was given. No damage control, no attempts to contextualize or even speculate on her behavior until like the middle of the trial really?! And then not even on their own just mostly passive aggressive responses to the points of other people. They can't make their own points they can only combat and rip off others.

Oh, and then the mass insinuation that people who don't understand Kotoko just aren't traumatized enough. Real good way to continually lose allies while showing people how unserious and inconsiderate others are willing to be. Oh, or victim blaming the child what did the fucking kidnapping victim do to betray Kotoko.

Because safety of children only matters when it can be used to support Kotoko's actions but the moment she's yelling at useless weaklings it's suddenly what did that child do? Just like the Mu fans trying to find a way to go well this is why her hypothetical victim deserved to die actually.

At least with Haruka a lot of what went into his verdict was genuine concern for the character and other characters safety. For Mu and Kotoko it's difficult to tell if their verdicts were even fully about what they did in the narrative or the fanbase just being fucking annoyed with the actions of others who labeled themselves as fans of the theirs.

That's the power of Guilt by Association.

Yuno: I wonder- The ones that are painful just to watch are Haruka and Mu-chan.

I don't gotta like your fucking friend because I already know I don't like you! I'm not going to like them because fuck them and fuck you. Plus vice versa what a good friend/associate you've got there. I didn't know you hung around those type of people I'd personally never hangout with people like that. All fucking things Yuno and Jackalope said to Es about their partnership with Kotoko.

Let me highlight this again for the people that don't get it in the back-

What did Haruka do other than hang out with Mu and through association he's annoying Yuno just as much. Sadly, that's just how it works. Another person can ruin someone's reputation simply through associating with them. I know some fans have been assuming certain individuals who theorize about Milgram all speak to each other and have simply been blocking individuals that seem to be on good terms with each other or vice versa (following people in the fandom who are on good terms with each other).

So, the last thing I'm personally going to do in a situation where what I want to happen is dependent on more individuals than myself working together towards that outcome is create an us vs. them environment. That's kind of counterintuitive to what I not only personally want to accomplish long-term but how I want to live in general.

The only thing behaving that way does is diminish the chances of anyone understanding another persons point, taking said point seriously, or believing that the person speaking is a considerate and respectful individual. As the person doing this usually creates a circumstance where people know full and well that this individual doesn't like them, what they are working towards isn't for them, and the person doing this probably believes that anyone else's feelings aren't important and views others voicing said opinions as a threat.

So of course when met with that sort of hostility I'm going to choose not to write anything that will help, placate, or support the ideas or views of people that are treating other real people poorly.

Oh, why was the fandom so mean to Mu and Kotoko?

In response a good few others may simply ask,

Why were some fans so cruel while still expecting others to not only make their points for them but change their mind after taking their feelings into more consideration? Despite them not once taking into consideration the feelings of others.

The level of entitlement some of the full grown adults in this fandom have to other people's ability to express themselves properly instead of working on their own communication skills.... Well, some people never see mirrors is another thing I've learned from this experience.

I'm gonna be straight with people I don't give a fuck about what the characters do in Milgram. Milgram isn't real. I do and will continue to care about how people in the real world treat others. I will get annoyed and upset when individuals in any fandom start making what I'm doing for my own personal enjoyment more difficult or the lives of others I care about worse.

All because they have no respect or consideration for anyone outside of themselves.

That's not being a true a fan that's just being a cruel person. If I or anyone else uses the only means the audience is given to interact with the series/have their voices heard to be spiteful that's just as much a part of Milgram as any other reason people have to vote. The series has always let fans choose how, why, and if they vote on the prisoners. Regardless of if it has to do with the character personally or not.

Kotoko and Mu's trial are the perfect example of this in my opinion,

In the trial two commencement notice Jackalope implied this trial would in a way be testing the cooperation skills of the fanbase. Mu and Kotoko both foreshadowed and highlighted this the best in their second voice dramas and before them. They knew that in order to succeed in Milgram they needed help. They needed the favor of others, comrades, people that valued them enough to stand by them and take into consideration their concerns over anyone else's.

When that was shown to be at risk Mu tried to work with everyone by suggesting Es just vote everyone Innocent. Then no one would singled out and her safety would be secured as well. Plus, forgiving everyone now would set a precedent of well if I was able to forgive the last thing how is this really that different. At a point, the audience would just be in too deep. In a cycle of if I can excuse this than I can really excuse anything- Does it really matter let's all just have fun and not think too hard.

It sets a mood of if it didn't matter then than it doesn't matter now.

While Kotoko on the other hand was just being like trust me be concerned with me and my feelings. Not the others. They're not like you and I Es we're,

"Let's shake hands. We will become companions."

A crime is a crime, sin is sin that's not going to change. You and I aren't like the others here though.

Just hate their evil behavior for what it is and rely on me. We're the only people we've got in here the prisoners don't like you and they don't like me. Placating them would be a waste of everyone's time. Just leave these tough calls to me.

At the end of the day, Kotoko and Mu both recognized that as much as they say, they have everything and can do it on their own... They cannot they need packs and swarms. Then their fans gave us a perfect example of why the fuck that's the case.

Yeah, I feel bad for Kotoko and Mu fans but I'm not going to mislead myself into believing how some of them publicly and privately behaved towards others within this fandom didn't put them where they ended up.

I could defend Kotoko and Mu publicly. I really could. I do so in private just fine. However, a good deal of their fans made it clear that's not my fight because they labeled me as the person they're fighting against. Unlike Futa I know how to only mind the business which minds me. No, thank you that's none of my concern. Because I've been shown through the actions of others my feelings wouldn't be given the same consideration I extend to the feelings of others.

So, why bother?

I'm not saying this to rub anything in. I'm saying this to go how people in this fandom behave impacts how the characters they openly like are treated. That too is a part of Milgram. That too is a bias that we should all take into consideration before trial three.

It's a common bias as well. It's only natural that if one has a friend that's like a certain character and they trust and care deeply about that friend then they'll probably be more inclined to vote that character innocent. If an artist you follow really likes a character and is lamenting that their verdict isn't going how they want you may feel inclined to change your verdict or if you really can't agree with changing your verdict you may even stop following that artist or fan.

These are just natural reactions.

However, the things we do as fans- The way we treat others will impact how this experience goes for all of us. Regardless of if we personally think it's fair of people to let those interactions impact how they vote or interact with the media itself. Others may still take that into consideration when making their decision because all of us are human. Yes, objectively, these should be two different things. People can like something and still dislike the fans of that thing for one reason or another.

Still it's reasonable and natural for someone to begin having muddled feelings about a idea or character when the way they interact with said idea is continually scrutinized by people who also claim to like it. At a point it may just become easier to for some to go I can't be the sort of fan this environment is expecting me to be but I can still be the sort of fan that I am and makes me happy personally. If someone has been bothered by other fans to egregious extents then they decide to vote a character guilty to get back at those fans that's a personal choice and I honestly believe it's a fair and valid thing to do.

Even without Milgram supporting any reason the audience votes. Spites honestly a great motivator. So, people can fuck around and find out I guess. Oh, wait people already fucked around I suppose we're at the find out part now huh?

I personally have never cared if things don't go my way in any of the media I'm engaging in. I'm here for the experience. I know it sucks to not get ones way. For things to turn out differently from how one wanted them to. Yet, honestly some of the people in this fandom need to calm down.

Especially if the people behaving like this are over the age of eighteen. Bro I like Terra from Kingdom Hearts a character that gets far more flack than anyone in Milgram. I'm a Damian Wayne fan. I read comics, I'm a comics fan. I've seen worse takes it should never get so serious that people are going the extra mile to harass people after they're blocked.

This is a genuine warning; please stop doing this.

I would have liked for Kotoko and Mu's verdicts to have been more of a battle. However, they were both the most disappointing trials of season 2 to me. No one could even defend them without stooping to emotionally manipulative and silencing tactics. None of the discussions around them were even a fraction of as thought provoking as the other characters trials to me.

I left feeling like Kotoko at the end of this interaction,

20/06/06

Futa: Ahh…… This is really pissing me off. I can’t believe they won’t let us have computers or phones here…… Don’t they understand our human rights? I’m gonna ask them for better treatment.

Kotoko: Human rights for murderers, huh…… Well, it’s not like there aren’t facilities that are like that. For example, in Norway, the Halden Prison allows its prisoners access to computers. Not only do their cells not have iron bars locking them in, but apparently they’re even allowed to return to their houses and go out shopping. Even compared to this place, it’s very lax. But as a result, the rate of second offence in Norway is the lowest in the world……

Kotoko: ……I’m the idiot for expecting to get a reasonable debate here.

Futa: Ahh. Yeah, Norway! The famous thing they have there! It just shows they respect their prisoners’ rights. On that point, you can really tell Japan is lagging behind the rest of the world. Because all our politicians here are just idiots.

That's the worst part of it- all that hate for something that wasn't even entertaining. Well, that's how Milgram is... Losers exit stage left indeed.

[leojurand]

another part of the lymond chronicles's approach to sexuality/queerness that i'm fascinated by is how lymond reacts (or how he doesn't react) to the attraction men feel for him. and the attraction he feels for men, which is much harder to perceive, i think.

you could say the lack of homosexual romance in the series is due to the fact that 1. it was written in the 60s and 2. dorothy dunnett was an heterosexual woman, and that's probably all there is to it. but also i think it makes sense for lymond as a character?

we see throughout the series how lymond struggles to let people close to him because he wants to protect them, and his loved ones usually get hurt. but there's another reason, and it's that there's a power imbalance between himself and the men he commands. so, as much as those men come to care for him, there's a self-imposed barrier that lymond always keeps up in his every interaction with them. not every man in the series is under his command, tho. lymond thinks in checkmate:

In the wreck had died Diccon Chancellor the English navigator, who had been more than half-way towards becoming the friend he had never quite managed to find and keep, in terms of equality, except sometimes, in passing, with women.

so it makes sense if lymond wants to avoid, or even doesn't allow himself to have romantic feelings for the men around him, but he can have that deeper, more intimate connection with women, because he sees them as his equals.

jerott is a partial exception to the rule because, i think, they were childhood friends (or 'boyhood acquaintances' as jerott himself puts it. i love him so much) first, before jerott was under lymond's command. they were the same age and soldiers in the same army, and that created a connection before lymond had power over him, and so he shows jerott a more intimate part of himself he usually keeps hidden from most people. and he's open about his feelings to him on more than one occasion, too, which is rare.

and there's another male character who isn't under lymond's command and who is attracted to him, which is míkál. lymond notices míkál's beauty, and is very clearly flattered by míkál interest for him. the fact that lymond didn't want to have sex with him never was about lymond's lack of attraction to men, or that he doesn't have sex with men if he doesn't have a reason to do it, in my opinion. i always thought it was because of what happened with the aga, and because lymond just wasn't in the mood to have sex with anyone in that journey.

(yet another male character who doesn't work for lymond and is attracted to him is robin stewart and lymond was seconds away from letting that man suck him off, so you know. there's that lol)

i think i saw someone say that dorothy said lymond "would have chosen heterosexuality for himself" (paraphrasing and i haven't seen the actual quote tho!), and i don't exactly remember the context but i think it was something like, if during his time as a galley slave lymond hadn't been approached by or even sexually abused by men, he wouldn't have known about the attraction they can feel for him, and therefore wouldn't have had sex with men as a tool to get what he wants. i don't exactly know if that's what she was trying to say... and though i think that's interesting, i also don't really care? i admire and respect dunnett and i love seeing her thoughts about the story and characters she wrote, but i will always prioritize my own interpretation of the events of the series over whatever she said. so:

tl;dr: imo the lack of romantic homosexual love from lymond in the series could be because he distances himself from the men who are attracted to or have feelings for him because he can't ignore the power imbalance between himself and those men. and also, as is always the case with lymond: sexual trauma

[sp-growingpains]

📎💎

Aaaaaaah~ you guys are spoiling me! Letting me talk about my stinky! Imma kiss you.

💎 - Chosen family (including warband)

Jean's bio family is sort of lost to her. Besides her mom and dad, she didn't really have anyone else. So that means she values friendship to the point that she considers most of her close friends' family!

For the Canon part, it's the Marsh family that she's the closest too. First it starts with Stan, then Sharon, eventually Shelly when she's older. It takes her a bit to warm up to Shelly, mostly because she's afraid of her.

Unfortunately(?), she never really warms up to Randy. I know I've said in the past he's probably the only person she's gotten angry with, but most of that stems from her need to protect her little family. This group of people who love her for her.

Of course she cares a lot about the Broflovski family. I've had thoughts about them inviting her over for the holiday like the Jewish New Year! Sheila probably taking pity on the poor girl and how she can't cook to save her life, trying so desperately to teach her something.

She adores Ike with all her heart. As far as she's concerned, that kid is the coolest kid in South Park!

As for Gerald, honestly, I hate to say it, she probably doesn't get along with him too much either. As she gets older and more emotionally mature, the more she sees how he's kind of pushed that "Suck it up and get over it" mentality onto Kyle and Ike; that doesn't sit very well with her.

And she'd never forget about Kenny. Kenster holds a special place in her heart too. Him, his brother, and his sister will always have a place with her should they need it. What's the point of having a big house to yourself if you can't hide your friends away in it! I can almost see her inviting Kenny and Karen to move in with her when they're in their last year of high-school, letting Karen stay longer!

I don't think I need to talk too much about how she feels about his parents. I think she avoids them because she knows she'll get into it with both of them.

📎 - Siblings/close family

Sooooo for a hot moment there, I thought about giving Jean a twin. His name would also be Jehan, but he'd call himself Jean (like the French name). It stemmed from a drawing I did where I gender-bent Jean. (See how this gets confusing, they're assholes.)

But uh...honestly? It kinda got rid of her character development.

Jean's story is about growing up and understanding that change will happen with or without you. That sometimes the people you love will leave, and you've gotta accept that. That it doesn't mean they're gone forever, but it's your job to emotionally grow!

That her struggles come from the fact that she doesn't want to be alone. That she doesn't want to mess up and lose it all again.

Jehan kinda...got in the way of that. So he's forever banished to the:

"Hey maybe one day I'll make a comic where some real South Park shinangens happen and I'll have Male!Jean appear!"

Other than that, she sees Stan as her brother! And Sharon as her mother!

[gartenofbanny]

The author had to kill off SOMEBODY the audience knew and cared about so it would have any impact. People like Funk Man, Eel Boy and Crust had no character work done on them. Midnight was chosen, but it could have been anyone from UA. But he wanted to keep using Mic and Eraserhead, so here we are. I think her death was absolutely pathetic because her supposed two best friends didn't even talk about her death! But we can devote loads of panel time to Kurogiri's situation, when they knew the guy for a small amount of time before he got died and resurrected. Think about it. The time he was their friend is barely a blip on the radar compared to the amount of time he's been dead to them. But Aizawa didn't want to talk about Midnight's death, and so he and Mic shut up about it forever. What's funny is that Midnight was also a complete nothing character outside of Vigilantes, which most MHA fans never read. She wasn't built up to be the Aizawa to anyone's Shinso. Even when Mina talks about her, it's about how she liked her classes. Absolutely nothing about knowing her as a person. She's avenging an acquaintance because the story didn't build any bonds between these characters!

I'm not even gonna lie, Midnight in the War Arc has been disrespected. She was never brought to visit Kurogiri despite Midnight and Shirakumo (Kurogiri before he became a Nomu) were best friends and Shirakumo even had a crush on her, it was just Present Mic and Aizawa who visited Kurogiri. You are right Midnight was never mentioned again by the students or her best friends, hell bringing up her death to Kurogiri might cause him to change. I'm pretty sure Midnight is just a fanservice-y character, but Vigilantes actually gave her depth which is why I prefer Vigilantes over MHA. Midnight in MHA mainly helped the students with their hero names, and ultimate moves, and was really just around before striking a smexy pose every third time she's on screen. When it comes to teaching Midnight mainly acknowledges and compliments the students' success. The last paragraph is without a doubt true, we don't know much about most of the cast aside from Deku, Todoroki, Bakugo, Aizawa, Iida, and Ochaco. Either some of them already had an arc and they're just around or some of them just didn't need one. That's the problem with having too many characters in one series because once their mini-arc is done, they're done. We don't know what their relationship is like with other characters, Horikoshi just has them be cool with each other and admire the Big 3. God knows how many times these characters suck the dick of Deku, Todoroki, and Bakugo.

If any of the characters would've died, it should have been Gran Torino. He trained Izuku and taught him everything, he's still powerful but not as powerful as he was before, and he even had a nice speech saying that "Death can be another form to save someone" after Izuku gave Torino, Nana's regards.

Gran Torino's entire arc was basically done and he's severely injured and old, I don't believe he's capable of fighting again. So what's the point of keeping him alive?