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not-so-plus-ultra · 2 months ago

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Okay, maybe unpopular opinion time, but I started watching DanDaDan (ADORE it so far) and some of you are starting to become the meme of "that one friend who is too woke" about what happens in the first episode

TW for sexual assault + CW light DanDaDan spoilers if you haven't watched it yet. Its gonna be a bit ranty

First of all I wanna preface this with saying that, if Momo's scene with the aliens impacted you and / or you found it triggering, that's extremely valid. I am not claiming it isn't, specially for people who have any kind of sexual trauma. What I'm gonna say is not about that

What I mean is; I think we have gotten so used to a very big number of anime using sexual assault as a "funny" gag, having characters violate other characters' physical boundaries, or having a token perverted / incestuous / p*do character, all in the name of terrible "comedy" or fanservice, that we have started bracing up for any mention or showcase of sexual assault to be treated as a gag or as a "sexy" thing; specially when it comes to female characters, because sadly they're the victims of this 99% of the time. This, without going over the sexualization of characters in general, even when mundane things are happening

It's a sentiment I understand and share. I hate all of these tropes and "jokes" and it makes me really sad when a series I otherwise like has to include something like that. I actively criticize these kinds of things no matter how big a fan I am of a work in question

However, I think because of all this, we have forgotten that media can choose to use scenarios like that as an actual Bad thing to show. A bad and unfortunate thing that happens to a character that isn't used as comedy or as fanservice

I had heard about the sexual assault scene in DanDaDan prior to watching it, and I had decided I was gonna skip that scene, as I am someone who is both disgusted by these things and has trauma related to them. However while skipping quickly through the scene I thought it didn't look as bad as I was bracing for, so I decided it was something I could stomach. I was really surprised when I saw that the scene was strictly being handled as a bad thing happening to Momo, and that it also ultimately ended up with her escaping her assaulters before anything truly scarring happens

No jokes about the situation per se, no compromising shots other than the fact that she was in her underwear - and regarding that, the fact that she was built like a normal girl, her proportions and physical features weren't presented in any objectifying or exaggerated way, and through the whole scene she was fighting against it and being uncomfortable instead of submitting to the situation or being made to blush and get flustered about it like you can Disgracefully see in many other instances of other shows

DanDaDan is ultimately a horror / paranormal series. It's not as dark as others and it seems it doesn't pretend to be, but bad things are bound to happen. I think that, as long as you do it tastefully, almost any subject can be used for those bad things. Sexual stuff is sadly EXTREMELY misused in anime, and tbh in media in general, but I don't think it has to be a taboo thing to have your characters go through as long as youre not being weird about it

Furthermore, I think it's pretty clear that, at least the parts that have been adapted of this manga so far (I am not a manga reader btw, I have only seen the 5 anime episodes that are currently out, so if the manga later proves me defending it wrong, I'm sorry, and I'd like to hear it), are in part talking about bodily autonomy

Our mcs BOTH get assaulted, but nobody online ever pays attention to Okarun losing his genitals as him also having been assaulted simply because it's presented in a more unrealistic way. His initial motivation in the series is to retrieve his genitals, and even when he seems to have gotten them back the first time, something is still wrong (another part missing) and he can't just go about his life normally again as if nothing had happened, which I think is a clear metaphor of a victim's feelings after having been assaulted; and what is more, our first arc ends with the revelation that the ghost who did that to him seems to have done it to protect the place she's bound to, a tunnel, from men, for we get told that many girls have gotten sexually assaulted, killed and dismembered in it

About Okarun, I DO get that his situation is shown in a bit of a silly light because haha penis, but I am also afraid that people would have reacted a lot more if he was a girl losing his genitals instead even if it was painted in the same light. Both Momo and Okarun got out of the situation fighting, both of them were brave and as nonchalant as they could to their assaulters, but it's only Momo's situation which gets treated as the bad one. Both get terrible things done to them ! And both of them are being shown as bad things !

None of this means you personally can't be uncomfortable with any of the mentioned scene; after all, they're portraying something horrible that happens in real life. And again, I get that in Momo's case, although unrealistic elements are involved, the situation she's put in can look closer to a real life assault, and thus, it can be more triggering. But the fact is that the sexual assault of both characters is being used to showcase a terrible thing, it's not there just for a gag or for people to put their eyes on the characters' bodies, and I personally just think it's silly when I see people lump in the situations in DanDaDan with series like Undead Unluck, when the former is portraying assault as not only a genuinely bad situation but also as part of the many points I think the first act of the series makes about bodily autonomy, and the later uses it as a reocurring "funny" gag (I have seen people say it gets better later, but still, it's still used as a gag at some point)

This is brought to you by me seeing people on Twitter compare DanDaDan's assault scene to incestuous characters from other animes like Yuri from Spy x Family, Makoto from Saiki K., and Lance from Mashle. I am a big fan of two of those three series and let me tell you: those characters can fuck themselves, I don't find haha incest jokes funny or necessary in any piece of media

#dandadan

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harukamitsuki · 2 months ago

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(spoilers ahead)

honestly, i think one of my biggest issues with my hero is how horikoshi is really good at setting things up, but fails in the execution of basically anything and everything. especially when everyone wants to see it prosper.

a world where everyone has quirks, except for our main character, who strives to be a hero despite that

the number two hero is anything but when behind closed doors.

the number one hero comes off as endlessly joyful, yet is more tired than anything

a world where your worth is based on your quirk

a world that is so obssessed with heroes that hidden crimes are just forgotten

a boy who was so hurt that he could only hurt in turn

a girl who was so restricted that she can't understand personal space

a boy who was neglected for being weak so he strives to become stronger and in turn only hurts himself more

a boy hated simply for looking different so he rejects the world for the world rejects him

and a boy hurt by everyone around him, but uses that to make the world a kinder place.

all of this is present within mha, but none of it is expanded on, or if it was, it felt like lip-service at best, and downright insulting at worst.

the powerless mc gets an incredibly powerful quirk and forgets he was ever quirkless.

the number two hero is abusive but it's totally okay because he regrets it and his abusive scenes are treated lightly later on

the number one hero goes back to his old ways when he finally gets a chance to be himself

there is no commentary on quirkless discrimination, and we barely see the impacts of having a 'weak' quirk

hidden crimes are explored, but there isn't anything regarding how the future generation will solve this issue

that boy who could only hurt after he was hurt so much? yeah he dies despite the mc wanting to save him so desperately, and there is no satisfaction in it. because he still didn't want to be saved

that girl who was so restricted that she couldn't understand personal space and boundaries? yeah, she never learns what they are, and nobody directly calls her out on this

that boy who was so neglected for being weak and only hurts himself the stronger he strives to become? well, it's actually his fault because he couldn't forgive his abusive father. his misplaced envy towards his abused brother is never delved into

that boy who rejected the world that hated him for being born? yeah, he's never shown any kindness from the people who should be showing it. instead, he's taken down while he's lost his mind and becomes a massive hypocrite

that boy who was hurt by everyone around him yet still wants to save others? yeah, he's still being hurt by everyone around him and is never praised for helping people, only scolded by others. he loses everything and isn't even allowed to work for it again.

the set-up for everything is so good, but the pay-off and the execution is just not.

i feel like horikoshi was winging it half of the time, hence why he forgot about the traitor plot point. something fans were speculating about for years, horikoshi just forgot. it's like - he set it up as early as the usj, forgot to build up aoyama's character, and speedran it. because of this, it didn't feel earned.

'you can still be a hero,' does not feel earned at all. why should we care about aoyama when the creator himself doesn't? the traitor could have been anyone, and it wouldn't have changed a thing, because the set-up was gone. by the time he'd remembered there was a traitor, everyone else forgot about it.

the same goes for the deaths.

i've seen people commend mha for killing people off, but, the things is, do we really care about who was killed off?

nighteye? he was a dick, and it was clear horikoshi was trying to do a whole 'redemption in death' thing, but let's be honest. we only care about the impact it had on mirio, which wasn't even much. it could have been anyone. nighteye surviving wouldn't have changed anything.

midnight? we did not spend nearly enough time with her to give two shits about her death. maybe if she were 1-a's homeroom teacher, as was originally planned, it may have meant more. as it was, who cared? she didn't even die on-screen. it could have been anyone.

native? i don't even need to explain. nobody cared.

star and stripe? did anyone really get attached to female all might? no, because there were no dimensions to her.

stain? what did his death serve? what would have changed if he survived? nothing

like, if you kill someone off, it has to mean something. what was learned by nighteye's death? heroes die? we learned that ages ago with the water hose heroes, and with stain's mini-arc. maybe it was to show, yeah, we're not afraid of killing people off.

but it didn't mean anything! at least have nighteye learn something. make it a proper tragedy - maybe he wants to apologise to all might but all might arrives too late. maybe he finally acknowledges that it was never his right to dictate who gets ofa and really apologises to izuku. maybe he can't even say goodbye to mirio.

maybe, in trying to do something, his sacrifice means nothing... until, when he's already dead, it's revealed that it did.

killing a character off to show how serious you're getting is fine... if it weren't already clear that it was serious.

people say killing off so many was mha being realistic, but they don't understand two things.

one: if you want to be realistic, kill someone off in the usj, because a bunch of kids just starting school should not be able to hold off against actual villain. if you want to be realistic, have the kids be shoved into counselling after the usj. if you want to be realistic, have aizawa die against the noumu. that's realistic

two: NOBODY GOES TO ANIME FOR REALISM!! seriously, if you want realism, go watch an indie movie or something. not anime, where everything is drawn and people have superpowers and tripping over means you accidentally grope someone.

the thing about killing characters off is that it has to mean something to both the characters and the audience. if we do not care if a character dies, it does not need to be there.

example: (spoilers for one piece ig) whitebeard from one piece. even now, people still quote his dying message. 'the one piece is real'. both this line and his death have a massive impact in-universe, and we the audienced cared, despite the relatively short time we go to know him. his death actually mattered. had whitebeard not died in marineford, i guarantee that nothing would be the same.

fishman island wouldn't have been taken over by big mom. marco and izou would not have appeared in wano, or if they did, the entire whitebeard alliance would have shown up too. there would still be a balance in the emperors. sengoku would not have retired.

there are ripple effects from whitebeard's death, and everyone one piece fan still remembers it clearly. and the same goes for every other death in one piece: ace, bellemere, kuina, hiriluk, tom, the rumbar pirates, rojer. every death had its meaning and affects either the world as a whole or specific characters who would go onto impact the world anyway.

mha just doesn't let you care about the characters it kills off, nor do their deaths have meaning, because there isn't a pay-off.

the set-up is there. the pay-off is not.

and that, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, is my biggest issue with mha. horikoshi's execution.

#anti mha #mha critical #bnha critical #horikoshi critical #anti kohei horikoshi #anti horikoshi #fuck horikoshi #i went on a bit of tangent but you get me #hopefully #the set up is the biggest reason i read mha fanfics #because these beautiful authors take one look at the plot and execute it in such an amazing way that horikoshi could never #the fanfics are the best thing to come from mha

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franki-lew-yo · 1 month ago

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Mouthwashing and fandom discourse as a whole.

So I recently explored the tag for Mouthwashing after watching two no-commentary lets plays of the entire game. I'm seeing a lot of posts pointing out how annoying it is that this game has a fandom and that this fandom is doing fandom things and stanning/"uwu-ing" characters from this incredibly nuanced, raw and not-fandom friendly piece of art. To paraphrase someone I just saw "you don't want mouthwashing; you want Among Us ocs but darker". And

for a moment I wanna talk a bit about how I absolutely agree with this statement while also talk for a moment about how and why fandom and catharsis fan fics exist and shouldn't be shamed inherently. Or, I guess, not in theory.

The "come on! Stop trying to make everything shippable/cutsey/memey/have a happy AU and face unpleasant emotions someone's trying to tell you about!" is SUCH a vibe with me. I felt this way in the 9 fandom a lot as a kid and that was just 9. Mouthwashing is like 9 on bathsalts emotions and theme-wise. It's a game where you play as both the flawed but caring captain of a doomed ship who's life becomes a Johnny Got His Gun-nightmare, and also a deplorable, hateful piece of garbage who got himself and his friend in that nightmare situation to begin with. Both characters, moreso Jimmy but Curly too, are the causes of their own misery. They're complex dealing with one of the two committing SA and doing nothing really about it/dodging the responsibility and humanity needed to support the victim whom they've wronged.

I fully admit it's groan-inducing seeing people be shipped up Anya with anyone on the ship considering what happens to her. On a pure pr level I think it would be illegal even since romance between coworkers in a workplace is considered conflict of interest/harassment as it so often is. (NOT that what Jimmy did to Anya is 'romance'. I'm talking about the shipping of Anya with the other three guys. I know there's people out there who do ship Jimmy/Anya; you don't have to tell or show me I believe you and also I already hate it.) It's ALSO groan inducing to see people ship Curly and Jimmy considering all Curly does to him- and just the fact that this incredibly tragic, toxic one-way-gone array friendship is reduced to "toxic yaoi teehee". It's annoying AT BEST.

I get the hostility towards fandom-tastic stanning and fandom behavior in general...the issue is it's still hostility and I wish some of you guys got that. Like it or not (you don't have to like it) fandom culture is inevitable to some degree. You can and should complain about your hangups but that's all you can do besides avoiding tags and just not engaging with that side of the fandom at some point. Save your call-outs and rage for when you see active deplorable bs being committed that people are excusing for dumb fandom reasons, like lolicon, hatespeech or harassment. I'm sorry but you can not actively go after and try and take down the innocent people involved in your trigger that aren't directly hurting you by liking the thing that triggers you; ie. people who get all shipping and fandom-brained about Mouthwashing's characters which you find offensive to do at all.

This type of convo is the crux of most 'antifandom' v profandom discourse in general; for Antis I think there ought to be a difference between the people that set you off bcuz of fandom nonsense vs sociopathic 'got mine'-creepiness. There's a difference between someone who draws r34 v Shadbase. For profandom types you out to face the fact that yes- maybe NOT EVERYTHING is meant to be shippable/memed. Maybe try practicing that a bit. Yeah it's most harmless and makes you feel happy, but considering how people outside of your hyperfixation-of-a-hyperfixation is a thing. The thing about the "don't like, don't read" argument is it goes both ways. If you're truly a "good fan" like you say you are than you have to realize that people will not like your problematicisms. Learn to interact with characters and stories without the possibility of shipping sometimes- or at least understand that that's the crux of what makes a story like Mouthwashing engaging, even if you also partake in the fandumb and AUs on the side. You can call Curly your babygirl and ship him or make him happy all you want but PLEASE acoknowledge that the game doesn't woobify him or excuse what he did to Anya as well. You can make some kind of AU scenario where Jimmy gets out somehow and becomes/is a slightly better person for all I care...so long as you PLEASE remember that he is canonically a r@pist and awful. Also, even if I'm okay with your fan decisions, note that myself and others are still going to be critical and be upset that you wrote it at all because of what kind of character Jimmy is. 'Critical' =/= declaring something evil.

Fandom behaviors are not souly a destructive parasocial outcome of brainrot; they're also a natural reaction to what happens canonically and the emotions you have to experiencing a story. It's normal and rational to sympathize and love Curly and despise and hate Jimmy. You can love/like/enjoy a problematic-to-DEEPLY DISTURBED-character based on their complexity in canon. They are fiction. They are not real. The reason you are so invested with them is because of that complexity and yes because they are fiction they are your 'toy' and you can doll them up in any kind of speculative AU crap you make. That's fanfiction, baby. Make yourself a fixit fic if you really want

BUT-

remember: it stays as a fixit fic. DO NOT cross the streams, or insist that your active misreading of the text is the same as the text itself. EVER. You should care about your special interest's escapism as a means of self-care. What you shouldn't do is demand that EVERYONE ELSE LOVE your coping mechanism and that any complaints by people on their own terms on their own blogs is #badfaith or an inherent attack against you. It isn't. You'll know when it is an attack against you and that's when you, the profandom-type, need to be prepared and save your call-out posts and blocklist for.

To me that's the fragility to fandom debates and fandom as a whole. You can not/should not police or control an entire group of people and how they perceive or interact with media. That's not fair and it's definitely not sporting or decent of you in a community. You have to share your community -your fandom- with people who hate ur fav and people who love your least fav. Agreeing to disagree means not tagging your nOTP as their shipname or by tagging your shipname loud and clear. It means filtering out posts with those topics but enjoying and/or reblogging the fandom takes you do share with your fellow fandom-mite that obviously posts abt those topics.

When schmit REALLY goes down and some assface reviewer/fan/SOMETHING is being an assface or doing something amoral under the guise of fandom-ing, that's where you out to put your foot down. Callouts and complaints are for people who did an egregious thing and refuse to take responsibility(lol) for it. They're not for "soandso likes the thing that triggers me, kill them"/"so and so is hating on the thing I'm kinning because it triggers them, kill them". Be an adult.

Your DNI lists should consist of "lolicon defenders" not "proshippers", as those ARE NOT one in the same. Same goes the other way around. List off "bigots, purity culture bs", not "antis and critics". These positions ARE NOT interchangeable. If you make them interchangeable than you're making things a lot harder for yourself.

-sincerely, a message from autistic ADHD/OCD woman who likes horror and media analysis as much as she loves popcorn fanfic schlock.

We don't all have to be friends and buddybuds. I just hate us hurting each other over being different kind of fandom-folk rather than for when someone sincerely mucks up and does something bad. Can't we all stick to our guns and just boycott Harry Potter like god intended?

#franki's features #mouthwashing #mouthwashing game #wrong organ #curly mouthwashing #jimmy mouthwashing #swansea mouthwashing #proshipping #anti anti #fandom discourse #shipping discourse #fandom problems #shipcourse #fandom wank

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cosmicjoke · 27 days ago

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What people seem to constantly misunderstand about what Akimi Yoshida said regarding how Ash couldn't have just gotten away scot-free from his life of crime is that it ISN'T Yoshida saying Ash "deserved" to die. Yoshida frames Ash as a hero from beginning to end. He's shown to be a genuinely good and kind person, that goodness remarked upon again and again by multiple characters, and his death is seen as a tragedy. That should be enough to convince people that Yoshida didn't hate Ash or think he deserved to die. The fact she frames him in such a positive light shows she understands that Ash is a good person that was forced into doing terrible things for his own survival and the survival of others. So this insistence that she thought he deserved to die because she said in some fan-translated interview that he couldn't just walk away from his life of crime, or that there's a price to be paid for murder, is ridiculous. It relies on nothing but assumption about the character of the author.

It's also a problem in fandom, in general, where interviews with authors, in which they're often giving on the spot and half-baked answers to random questions without any prepreation, are given greater credence in interpreting the author's intent than the actual, published work itself. How about letting the work stand on its own and interpret it as is? I've seen so much hate lobbed at Yoshida for supposedly hating Ash or thinking he deserved to die, when the actual story itself does nothing but portray Ash as deeply sympathetic and tragic. Again, no one could read "Banana Fish" with any level of reading comprehension and come away with anything but the impression that Ash is the hero and a good person who's life and death was deeply unfair and unjust. That fact alone should override any answer Yoshida gave in any interview, especially when it's obvious how much Yoshida hates giving interviews and very obviously, intentionally gives half-assed answers that she doesn't put much thought into. It's clear from the work itself that Yoshida has a great love for Ash as a person and as a character. She based his design off of River Phoenix, her favorite actor, she shares her birthday with him, and again, the way she frames Ash and his actions is as that of a hero, from beginning to end. I don't know, maybe it's because she sees Ash as a hero herself?

Ash dying only demonstrates the point further about how child abuse ruined Ash's life. He was led into a life of crime because of the abuse he suffered, and the fact it was that life of crime that led to his eventual death, with it basically being a gang dispute that got him in the end, only further drives home the point of how devastating and ruinous child abuse is. Ash wasn't a criminal because he was a bad person, he was a criminal because the abuse he suffered drove him to become one, and then, eventually, that life of crime he'd been forced to lead came back on him in the form of Lao stabbing him, which is what I think Yoshida actually means when she says Ash couldn't just walk away from the life of crime he'd lived. That inability to walk away further demonstrates the tragedy of the abuse Ash suffered, because it shows how it forced him into doing things which eventually came back to haunt him, things which he couldn't "escape". Lao stabbing Ash was in consequence to his being a gang leader, and his being a gang leader was a result of the abuse he suffered. The two things are interconnected with one another. It's not about Ash deserving to die because of the lives he'd taken, it's about how the life Ash was forced to live as a result of his abuse eventually led to his death. That's where the whole notion of "you live by the sword, you die by the sword" comes from. It's not necessarily a moral condemnation of the person committing acts of violence, but an acknowledgement that violence begets violence. That violence is cyclical. But the fact of Ash's death as a result of his life of crime only further demonstrates the true devastation wrought by the abuse of children, and that's the ultimate point of "Banana Fish's" ending. It's meant to force us to face, through the tragedy of Ash's death, the tragedy of his life in turn.

#Banana Fish #Ash Lynx #akimi yoshida

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blackbullet99 · 5 months ago

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Why SOME Zutara shippers personally disgust me (as a Person of Color).

⛔️WARNING! I’m gonna get into some pretty heavy subjects.

This should go without saying, but I have nothing against most people who ship Zutara. I take no issue with Zuko, I love him, I love his story arc, I love his an Katara’s relationship and if they did become a couple at the end of the show, they wouldn’t be toxic IMO, they’d be crazy rushed and forced, and it would be a prime example of the writers giving into fan-entitlement, but Zuko and Katara don’t have a toxic relationship, at least by the end of the show.

No, what really pisses me off the the racist, sexist, genocide downplaying, colonist supporting stuff some of the loudest Zutara shippers say, and for one anyone who says “it’s just a cartoon”, yes that’s true, but to things depicted are very serious issues, genocide, abuse, imperialism, colonization, slavery, these are issues that I feel strongly about, a majority of the reason being that as a PoC my family, my ancestors went through a lot of this stuff and seeing people online dismiss and downplay these issues all for the sake of a ship is pathetic and can easily reflect their issues of subject matter in real life.

Additionally, I’m aware “Bryke” are white, they have also done plenty of problematic things (and even some episodes), but that’s a story for another time, I’m not here to defend THEM specifically. ZKs always defend Zuko, even though they created him and did a good chunk of his story, so it is what is.

The main issue here, are the Zutara shippers, who claim to be Pro-Katara, the people who whine about Katara deserving better (even though to them Better=Zuko) and act like Aang was a horrible abusive 12 year old misogynist who never respected Katara and sexually assaulted her. Looking at you the-badger-mole / Miss Anthropy.

I’m all for criticism, the issue is, almost none of the criticism regarding Aang are valid, and even the one’s that have some validity grossly villainize the character. What’s even worse is some of these people downplay the effect of Aang’s genocidal trauma, they straight up act like it didn’t effect him, or it shouldn’t effect him, these people blatantly downplay genocide can effect someone all for the sake of some lame-ship.

It isn’t real-life genocide yes, but the issues and trauma that come from genocide are all to real and effect people in real life in many different way. Aang generally tries to enjoy life and remain positive despite what happened, but it effects him regularly, it’s comes up multiple times, he has survivor’s guilt, it something he has to live with for the rest of his life, it’s why he was generally so crestfallen when Appa was stolen, why he tries to preserve his culture. He’s 100 years removed from it, but to him it’s all to recent. If you generally don’t understand the effect of his trauma, then your stupidly braindead, if you dismiss it all for the sake of hating on Aang for some dusty-@$$ ship, your a heartless scumbag, no debate about it.

And despite what these people say they don’t care about Katara at all, they literally only care about her if she’s Zuko’s accessory, Zuko’s prize. Her whole story essentially has to be tied to Zuko, they don’t care about her otherwise. Without Zuko, she’s nothing to these people and they clearly don’t respect her, or value her.

They adultify her, they sexualize her, the create this false narrative that she let people walk all over her and never expressed herself, they invalidate her trauma, they invalidate her accomplishments later it life. They invalidate her canon feelings towards Aang and her initial hatred of Zuko and the Fire Nation. They straight up call her a baby-maker.

The worst of it all, the stuff that gets me the most is how, the act like a dark-skinned girl, becoming an accessory to the nation that colonized her tribe and killed her mother is a positive empowering thing.

The think THIS would be an impactful ending for Katara.

People like sokkastyles actually think imperialist propaganda supports Katara, because it means Zutara.

People will say the Water Tribes were never colonized and once again downplay genocide because it means Zutara.

People will write a young person of color becoming a slave to an imperialist nation and falling in love with their oppressor if it means Zutara, what the heck is wrong with these people?

They think Katara should’ve married Zuko solely because of what Zuko would have to gain, even though he already has a father figure in Uncle Iroh (how do you miss a plot-point that major) and ignoring that fact that Ozai would essentially become Katara’s father in law, and Azulon her grandfather in law, these are literally the people who colonized her tribe and killed her mom. I know you shouldn’t judge people by their parents, but they’re making such a big deal in-laws that Zuko would gain and bathmouthing Mai because of her relatives (even her infant brother) that this just screams hypocrisy.

And of course the racist colonizer supporters are offended that people don’t like this stupid-@$$ take. longing-for-rain actually dismissed a legit indigenous person and called them racist. F*ck these guys.

They can’t handle any acknowledgment that the Fire Nation was an imperialist nation, to the point where people like this spider guy and “lie about Aaron Ehasz Araeph” actually believe the nation that committed mass genocide is more altruistic and innovative than the nation that suffered from genocide. Araeph, the guy on the right even says Sokka and Katara would gain more from Zutara because Fire Nation looks to the future, but the Air Nation is frozen in time. The Fire Nation’s idea of looking to the future literally cost Sokka and Katara their mom and is the reason why Aang’s Nation is sadly “frozen in time”. Sure you, you imperialism supporting dicks

People who downplay very serious issues such as genocide, colonization, trauma and slavery all for the sake of some lousy Wattpad self-insert ship are pathetic loser scumbags. They’re not real fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, they don’t care about the themes or story, just Zuko and Katara being his accessory, the fact that they downplay and ignore all of Zuko’s actions and villainize Aang is beyond stupid and media-illiterate. I love Zuko because he was both antagonist, but also a sympathetic, he’s often temperamental and imature, but gradually matures and becomes kinder, he perpetuates the violence and colonization of his nation, but learns that they were wrong and HE was wrong, he makes a genuine effort to change himself, the world and his nation. If he knew you actively supported the colonization and violence of his nation he would torch your @$$€$.

So all in all, if you wanna downplay genocide and support colonization and slavery just for the sake a of mid non-canon ship because you haven’t matured since middle-school, you’re a dumb@$$ racist b!tch plain and simple, no debate about it. And if any of you toxic idiotic ZK come across this post, go f*ck yourself.

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bibibbon · 6 months ago

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Not Aizawa's old student showing up to kiss his ass again 😭

She really just said "Who cares that my classmates and me will have this expulsion on our permanent records, which will ruin our careers? He had good intentions!!"

Aizawa was really given ZERO character development, and his fans have eaten it up.

Hi @nutzgunray-lvt 👋

The whole oh I expelled them because I didn't think they were ready type of bs annoys me with aizawa especially because it's so inconsistent!

Like he expelled the entirety of his last class and that must of caused a lot of issues for everyone. Especially after learning that a black mark on your record in Japan is a very big thing then why did hori do this? Like he could of easily made it so that aizawa transferred all the kids to general studies or basically put them on another type of system where he didn't teach them anything practical but only theory🤷‍♀️.

Also if you think about it every problem revolves around AFO and his existence so the only excuse that aizawa has for his behaviour is already invalid AF as we only have like one or two characters who died that wasn't directly or indirectly due to AFO. Also if the guy hates teaching so much then why the hell did he become one?

Personally I have theories on what hori wanted aizawa to be and somewhat of a post addressing problems and what could be done to solve them here. It's such a shame aizawa had potential and chapter 419 made me believe that we would get more since he literally apologised to izuku and called him by his first name which in Japan is a huge deal yet we get nothing. The most emotional he has been is either with kurogiri or bakugos death and that's it.

Also when it comes to fuwa she personally thinks it's a good thing that aizawa expelled them but I don't see how it's a good thing. Whenever I think of this it's almost like hori was trying to do something similar towards what kishimoto did by having kakashi reject any team who didnt pass his test but in my opinion this fails due to the points I stated above. Also Iam so confused because it seems like fuwa is actually close with aizawa but I barely get that feeling with his own class. A lot of the time eraser is helping shinso and not students in his own class who desperately need help. Aizawas expelling technique is also invalid due to his own biases and how he didn't already expell students like mineta.

Yeah in conclusion hori ruined a character with potential by making him a mouthepeice

#mha critical #bnha critical #mha #hori is a bad writer #horikoshi critical #bhna critical #bnha #aizawa critical #anti aizawa #aizawas wasted potential #ua critical #ua sucks

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mywitchcultblr · 6 months ago

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I find it amusing how some anonymous users call you a hater and a child throwing a tantrum (as if sending hateful messages wasn't). How can they be so blind to this?

The DLC writing is dogshit at best, and I am being generous. FromSoftware not only butchered Miquella's character but other things too. What happened to him wanting to cure his and Malenia's curse? There's no mention of that. The Haligtree—supposedly a home for the shunned and mistreated? Nothing. Granting Godwyn a true death? Nada. The Eclipse? Pfff. The Outer gods and the unalloyed gold? What about him being Torrent's former master? (As the promotional art implied) And the steed choosing the Tarnished? If I recall correctly, wasn't Torrent meant to pick lords? So this means Miquella trusted Torrent enough to let it choose him a consort, yet our role there is practically non-existent. Besides that, as far as I'm concerned, for one to become a god, one must be in contact with the Elden Ring, such as Ranni did, yet we don't see that in the DLC. And the thing that bugs me the most is Miquella abandoning parts of himself, like his love. Like, yeah, "Age of Compassion," but there's something you need for that and it is, y'know, love??? Where's the sense in that? Wasn't the whole point of him become a god and fix Marika's mess in the Lands Between? Not following her steps.

I'm not even going to mention Radahn because his presence here is as irrelevant as in the game.

THANK YOU ANON! Finally someone with sense! People who are saying "Oh you are just angry because the DLC doesnt confirm your headacanon or expectation." The expectation exist because of hints and lore that already exist in the base game, of course you will want to see the big pay off in Shadow. Imagine if you are Dr. Who fan and seeing 13th Doctor turned into a weeping angel but then in the next episode it doesn't go anywhere and she's immediately fine again

I will list others things that aggravate me about SOTE

The battle between Malenia and Radahn: In the base game, their battle is implied to be over runes, and because he was halting the stars and thus Miquella's fate. Malenia invaded Caelid to get Radahn's rune and solving the halted fate business, while general boi also wanting to accumulate more power so he can be Elden Lord with taking hers. Simple but effective.

But now its over a marriage with Miquella?

While it made sense for him to ally with the Haligtree so Radahn can get into the fast track of becoming Elden Lord through marrying Miquella, there's 0 build up anywhere in the base that will led us to believe Radahn even got to do anything with Miquella.

Also while he is a warmonger and certainly not a good person (I dont care what chuds on reddit said, just because a guy likes his horse that doesnt make him nice, I don't even hate Radahn or anything) he genuinely cares about HIS OWN HOLDING.

Now from what I gather from the DLC, he will agree to become Miquella's consort if he got an epic battle first. So now the motivation for Malenia vs Radahn iconic battle is... It was a deadly sparring ritual before the groom settle down? Radahn can you at least do it in a neutral zone so this battle wont destroy your OWN LAND?! There's no way Radahn didn't know that sparring with Malenia could endanger Caelid, especially with the fact that she has ROT. Radahn might be a brute archetype but he's not stupid, yet this DLC made him looks like an absolute oaf who doesn't care about whatever Caelid will survive or not...

2. Mohg: I always thought he will return, he gives me the vibe of a villain who say "I'll be back!" and I thought there's no way the Formless Mother will allow her champion to die just like that. Yeah he's back but in the worst way possible that will make his fans despairing and his haters say "I hate Mohg but he didn't deserve this."

His arc in the base is good, it is conclusive and it made sense.

A guy who was born hated, abused, and shunned by his own mother decided to say FUCK IT and created his own order, cavorting with an Outer God, committed heresy left and right, then kidnapped his half brother so he can force/convince/manipulate/doing blood ritual whatever so Miquella will make him a consort. Then the Tarnished ruined his plan, killed him. It was a well-rounded arc. Its good enough. I always admired his tenacity to give a middle finger to his family. But now? This weird over engineered brainwashing-kidnapping thing undermined the authority of both Mohg and the Formless Mother. Did she even care about Mohg? Why the Formless Mother didn't try to stop Miquella or at least warned Mohg about it?

And what the fuck Mohg is actually doing down there? What was his plan to elevate his order and replace Marika's? How he will do it if he never wanted to become Miquella's consort? With his drip alone? Maybe there are things that I missed about Mohg's plan in the DLC?? But this DLC narrative now undermined his arc and the Formless Mother.

3. Mesmer: While he is still intriguing and judging from youtube (No i havent reach him personally, because you know I'm busy but I spoiled myself, I always do for something as big as BG3 or Souls) I thought he would play a bigger role in Shadow, but not really? He's kinda overshadowed by Radahn who is not supposed to be there

Also Rellana's existence sounds like a sitcom level plot twist? Its kinda funny LMAO "Oh you think Renalla's boss fight sucks and you think she is weak? HERE WE HAVE HER TWIN SISTER RELLANA! ITS THE UPGRADED VERSION OF CARIA 1.0!" (I do like the expansion and exploration of the Carian's family tho)

4. "What about him being Torrent's former master? (As the promotional art implied) And the steed choosing the Tarnished? If I recall correctly, wasn't Torrent meant to pick lords? So this means Miquella trusted Torrent enough to let it choose him a consort, yet our role there is practically non-existent." : THIS YOU ARE SO RIGHT ANON, Torrent chose the Tarnished and Miquella asked Ranni to give the spirit calling bell to whoever Torrent chose. THAT'S MEAN THE TARNISHED ALREADY HAS A CONNECTION WITH MIQUELLA, I'm willing to bet over my right arm, this Promised Lord that Miquella/Malenia mentioned is either supposed to be Godwyn or THE TARNISHED THEMSELVES!

Look Miquella need a lord strong enough to back his claim and help him to change the world right? Why insisting on chasing after Radahn (that never mentioned to have any connection or alliance with Miquella) WHEN YOU CAN HAVE THE GUY WHO DEFEATED RADAHN AND MALENIA THEMSELVES! The Tarnished is already strong enough to challenge MOTHER FUCKING GODFREY and won! It make 0 sense for us not able to become his consort. What do you mean you can make the dream of a guy who is literally called THE DUNG EATER came true and subjugated everyone into a world of pain because shit eater is an edgelord who thinks omens and their suffering are totally cool, but not MIQUELLA'S? Its so bullshit. In the grand scheme of things, Dung Eater is as relevant as a random Tibia Mariner.

I'm still hoping we can see Miquella's ending, I hope its gonna be added. I saw someone mentioned that there's actually Miquella's ending but not implemented? I hope it can be added and at least some aspect of the missing story/plothole fixed, because Elden Ring 1.0 was quite different than what we have now...

This guy on reddit also echoed my statement

5. Godwyn: I don't care what some people said "Oh Godwyn is not supposed to be there, its just your headcanon." Brother... This DLC is about Miquella and Mesmer (even though sadly Mesmer's role seems to be diminished :/) there's should be any mention about Godwyn because Miquella and Malenia loves him very much.

There's a statue of them hugging each other, and if I'm not mistaken there were people who data mined and found tidbits about Miquella trying to resurrect him and there's stuff about Miquella giving up his throne

Show us Miquella failed to resurrect Godwyn, show dont tell! (so it wont impact Fia's ending) or please give us a mentions about him by Miquella, or knights who used to serve pre-dead and rotting Godwyn appearing in Lands of Shadow, something, anything! its like his own family, doesn't give a fuck to solve the problem that his rotting body caused.

6. The gloam eyed queen and Melina: I thought GEQ will be mentioned, since this DLC also delved into Marika's past, I mean GEQ was her rival and she's nearly becoming THE God instead of Marika. But eh nothing about her or Melina :/ Tho I do like tidbits about Marika's past and her village

There's other things... But eh I'm tired of typing lol. I do enjoy Elden Ring, I really do, and I had such a high expectation for SOTE :/ so yeah I became loud about my disappointment because I'm invested

#elden ring #sote spoilers #shadow of the erdtree #elden ring spoilers #queen marika #starscourge radahn #malenia blade of miquella #godwyn the golden #mohg lord of blood #miquella the unalloyed #mesmer the impaler

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aurora-313 · 1 month ago

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Hi there.

I do wish to share a hot about certain events and characters in Bleach.

I don't think Rukia should have been the captain of squad 13. Here me out, she is qualified to be a captain and has bankai. But not for the 13th squad. We didn't see her interact with squad 13 as much as she did with squad six (Renji and Byakuya). The only significant interaction she had was with Kaien who later [redacted] in her hands.

We didn't get to see the relationship between her and Ukitake as captain and lieutenant duo and...generally really. Meanwhile we have seen great relationships with other squads like Shunsui and Nanao, Byakuya and Renji heck even Komamura and Iba had their moments together but not Rukia and Ukitake.

It upsets me as an Ukitake fan that she gets to fully admire the same people who tired to kill her in their first introduction instead of her Captain who not only said fuck you to C46 but also went against the Head captain (whom he has generated respect) to save her life🥲

Plus they didn't even get a flashback moment in tybw anime before Ukitake performed the ritual. One of the reasons I detest tybw. And she even said his line from the manga'we all feel the same way as the court guard' like come on! It would have been an emotional moment if Kubo expanded on their relationship more😤 I prefer to just ignore tybw as a whole sometimes

I apologise for the rant but I don't hate her. I hate the way Kubo handled her character as well as others sometimes. What do you think?

Well. I despise TYBW, period, so you're already starting off on a good foot with me.

I categorically reject its existence in favour of FB functioning as an epilogue and an imagined ending scene where the next year they visit Masaki's grave, Isshin strikes up a conversation with Ichigo, asking "Hey, did I ever tell you how I met your mother?"

I'll just say for the record, you don't need to redact any words, mate. We're all adults here. If one word sends someone into a foaming fit they mash keys incoherently, they have bigger problems than a random stranger on the internet.

Anyways. That aside: I will say I agree with you. To a point. Rukia's arc was about overcoming her own isolation, either self imposed or imposed upon her. EG. her talents with reiatsu in Rukongai isolating her from her adopted siblings, her adoption into nobility, her perceived role as a 'Captain's pet', her guilt from killing Kaien (when you can tell he regained control and threw himself on the blade rather than hurt her, plus her orders to do it.)

Rukia achieving Captaincy is meant to be the thematic conclusion of that arc. Overcoming her isolation to become the leader her division need her to be in the wake of tragedy. We do see it a bit in the story.

Thanks to Ichigo, Rukia was able to form bonds with the humans in Karakura; she was able to rediscover her will to live; she was able to rebuild a bond with Renji (though I'm confused how the fuck her first adopted brother became her husband, or how she forgave him for literally trying to kill her the first time they met in 40 years. Maybe Rukia's got some twisted kinks) and form a proper siblinghood with Byakuya; Rukia was able to look in the face of the man she believed she wronged most (Aaroniero!Kaien) and tell him 'I'm sorry but until I've achieved my goals, I can't give you my life'; she was able to muster the courage to go against Soul Society's laws and spearhead the effort to give Ichigo his powers back, ultimately roping in everyone up to the Yamamoto to help.

As inheritor of Kaien and Ukitake's legacies, captaincy was absolutely in Rukia's future. But to my mind, it should've been an achievement she gained well beyond what the source manga covers. If Bleach was ever cursed with a 'next gen' series, Rukia should be in that line-up. (which, I will concede, she is. But I despise everything to do with TYBW and the epilogue, so I categorically reject its existence.)

I will also agree we absolutely missed out on anything that showed why Ukitake chose Rukia as his new Lieutenant outside nepotism and being Kaien's former student. We saw nothing of their working relationship. We didn't see Rukia coping with the extra duties of being basically pseudo-Captain all the times Ukitake gets laid out due to illness. We don't get to see her working with Kiyone and Sentaro as their superior or any connections with the 13th before she's elected Captain. We're in complete agreement there.

Thematically, its meant to be a triumphant end for her character journey. In practice, screams of nepotism and a desperate need to back fill ranks because everyone is else qualified is dead, exiled or a traitor.

I'll be completely honest with you: The kamikake is bullshit. The whole plot point is bullshit. It positively screams of Kubo realising Ukitake is the golden bullet in the war against the Quincy, given Sogyo no Kotowari's power is literally catching and sending objects back at a foe, empowered several times over (ridiculously overpowered against foes that use exclusively energy projectiles, no?). The whole plot beat is Kubo deciding, "I need this character to die because he's far too broken for this war. How can I justify it? Oh, lets make him a part-Soul King."

TYBW's adaptation is middling to mediocre. I gave the first cour a watch. Not only was I mind-numbingly bored, the amount of character content cut that gave us vital context to character reactions.

My first warning sign was the first episode: 2/3rds of the episode wasted on two plebs we'll never see again. Who really gives a damn about these two idiots? Really. Sure, the manga set them up to be Ichigo's new apprentices. Which would've been a fantastic dynamic. Ichigo's the veteran teaching the impressionable young rookies how to fight and survive (honestly a far better story than what we got) but Kubo quickly punted that idea to the curb and shat all over it, in favour of a war with absolutely no stakes nor reason to care, really.

The death knell for me was the second episode: Ichigo going on patrol after hearing about Sasakibe's funeral.

In the manga, Ishida and Ichigo have a conversation about it where they agree the only reason they were allowed to overhear that phone call - or rather, the only reason the random blebs of the week received that phone call - is because Soul Society was going to tap Ichigo for help. Ichigo went on patrol to calm his nerves because the anxiety of waiting was eating him alive.

Additionally, we had a scene with the Lieutenants discussing the disappearing souls in Rukongai, then promptly freaking out because they thought their comrades had turned traitor (again) and turned their blades on Rukongai residences.

Instead the anime would have us believe Ichigo sad over a guy he'd never officially met died. A guy whose only interaction was Ichigo shattering his entire ribcage to protect Rukia and Renji's escape from Sokyoku hill. And the Lieutenants' investigations/findings are cut entirely.

That told me everything I needed to know about how this adaptation was going to go; relentlessly hacking away anything worth paying attention to, replacing it with meaningless fights, jingling keys, more filler fights, shoehorned ""shipping"" (its not even that, let's be real), infusing boring characters with artificial relevance and pushing a worse narrative than anything the manga provided.

Don't even get me started on the bullshit they've done to the Soul King.

I didn't know how TYBW could get any worse or any more illogical, but congrats Kubo, you've managed to crawl under my expectations.

To sum up: I agree with you to a point. Rukia and Ukitake absolutely should've gotten more scenes together (maybe if Kubo stopped adding characters and built up the ones he already had...), Rukia's Captaincy should've been a future/next gen plot point, and uh, yes. I hate how every character is handled in TYBW.

(You're fine ranting. I've given you a rant in kind so I think we're even. lol)

#rukia kuchiki #jushiro ukitake #bleach #my writing #asks #tybw #anti TYBW

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unabashednightmarepizza · 1 year ago

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𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑀𝑒

Summary: Remus loved Defence Against The Dark Arts, even though every year, he would have to listen to his class and their hateful words about werewolves. What they said was right, and he was getting worse, everyone was worried but they didn't know what to do.

Who knew, all it took was a kind spirit reminding him of his homeworks and bringing him chocolate?

Warnings: General hate about werewolves, self-deprecating thoughts, mentions of thinking of "unaliving"

Inspiration: this, this

A/N: Tiktok should be banned for me, really. Every time I see a cool pov video, I get inspired and that's why I have a bunch of unfinished works but still start a new one *sighs angrily*

Remus Lupin was your rival.

That was a fact almost everyone one in the whole school knew.

It wasn't an unpleasant one that would make everyone cower in fear, or get uncomfortable around you two. It wasn't the kind of rivalry which would end with pranking the other one or scare the hell out of you by suddenly appearing beside you.

It was a sweet one, where you two would sit together in the library with candy and chocolate covered lips as you both studied and made bets who was going to get the higher grade.

Remus, naturally, was someone friendly and even cute, dare you said. With the mop of brown hair and big eyes that twinkled with mischief- not many knew but he was actually the mastermind of the best pranks they did- you knew, because he often explained those pranks to you in the middle of your study session in which you had to stiffle your giggles because how much chaotic the school would become sooner and unknown to you, he would try to hide his blush at your cute reactions too.

The first time you noticed him, was when you both answered one of the questions of Slughorn at the same time. You looked at him with squeezed eyes and a slight hmph, a playful smile over your face as you made a mental note to talk to the boy who was way too shy to look you in the eye after class.

But the first time he noticed you was the very first day of coming to the Great Hall and staring at you laughing to your heart's content at one of Sirius' corny jokes. The sight made him blush slightly, something that would become more intense through the years, but also remind him that he would never be the reason of that laugh.

After all, seeing his crush laughing with his bestfriend who every girl had a crush on and would giggle and blush at wasn't an ideal sight for an insecure boy like him to watch through the years. He never blamed Sirius, though he often wondered how he was able to get all the girls of the school around him even with that flirty, Casanova persona of his.

And, as the self-destructive boy he was, he often pushed aside his friends' teasings about how you always eyed him and stared longingly, so sickly in love at the scarred boy.

"No way that she is looking at me, Pads. She is looking at you." He pointed to where you were sitting as usual, reading, without even looking up, making James whistle teasingly at him.

"And how do you know that, Moony? You didn't even look up~" James smiled as Remus sighed out tiredly and lifted his head to answer the boy...

But instead was met the shining eyes of yours catching his own across the Hall.

"Aaand just like that, we have lost our Moony for good, mates." Sirius teased him as he leaned back like a proud mother but soon found himself falling, pulling James with himself when he wanted to grab him for balance, and made both of them fall on their butts.

"Dude, not cool! What if I broke my glasses and my precious lilyflower saw me and..."

But Remus didn't even listen to them, their words becoming blurry as he stared at you with his own shining eyes.

He was impressed, and a little bit bashful, at how intensely you were looking at him and how... in love you looked. His heart started to beat faster and harder, his sweater suddenly became too much for him and he had to fan himself quietly. He wasn't even doing anything remotely different like Sirius who often winked at the girls and blew kisses at them with a charming smile!

He was the same boy who chose to read his book as his friends goofed around, the same shy boy who couldn't look a girl in the eye- especially his longtime crush who was also a "rival" at this point-, the same boy who studied and then gave a last-minute lecture to his friends so that they could pass...

But also the same boy who thought himself to be a monster who deserved nothing good in life.

You frowned when his eyes downcasted and he didn't even nod his head at you. No smile, no acknowledging.

Nothing.

You nervously shuffled on your seat as he continued to read his book, though his eyes stayed fixed on one page and you were sure he wasn't reading but instead was pretending. Though you were saddened by his actions, you were also proud of yourself for being able to hold eye contact longer than the last time and got a reaction out of him without bursting into a fierce blush yourself, you were worried about Remus.

You knew how smart Remus was, you saw it firsthand at Slughorn's test or the Charms lessons when you both answered the question at the same time. Or that when time in Minnie's class when you both were the first ones to achieve performing Evanesco and then later Vera Verto in the same lesson, and earned praises from the stern yet soft you two's favourite teacher.

A rare occurance by itself.

But he wasn't just as academical smart. He was also emotionally smart too. You weren't sure if it was about him being silent and often watching around himself, but for some reasons, he always knew what mood people were in.

He always knew when you were feeling overwhelmed, for example. He would come with your favourite sweets and some water to keep you hydrated since you often forgot, and though he used to scowl at those times, you knew he cared for you.

His worry and wide, caring eyes gave it away even if he tried to hide.

He is really so pretty, so handsome, so caring is what passed your mind as you sighed out lovingly. You knew he was insecure of the scars decorating his face and body, you knew he often stayed away from you or didn't touch you in fear of disgusting you with his touch. How absurd, you thought while eating your dish. He doesn't even know how smart he is, how lovely his smile was and how elegant he looked under one of the trees near the lake, hand holding his book gracefully-

Oh, you were so in love with him it hurt.

But then again, you two were nothing but friends, friendly rivals. Besides, talking to the Marauders took a huge toll on you by how... intense they could get, especially if pranks are included, so you kept your distance most of the times but instead spend time with the calmer one in the quiet confines of the library.

But lately... He had been sadder than normal, more quiet and kept to himself, he fiddled with his hands more than usual, picked on his nail more than he did and made them bleed painfully. You always carried cottons and bandaids for him solely for that reason and had they not run out of stock, you wouldn't even realize it.

And it worried you, not being enough to comfort him.

Because you were obviously at that state where you were more than friends but below lovers. You couldn't exactly go up to him and demand answers but also couldn't leave him to suffer. Maybe it was the secret he kept from everyone, or something concerning his family... Why were you so concerned anyways? He wasn't anything to you, though the soft exchanges between you, the shy touches of hands under the table and stares you gave to each other, the way he hugged you close to himself whenever you fell asleep accidently on the table said other wise...

A few more days, you thought bitterly as you collected your things and left the Hall in hurry to go to your next lesson.

A few more days, and if things don't go for the better, I will talk to him...

As his group of friends watched you walk away silently, they angrily turned to Remus and put a pause to their bickering- which said enough about the importance of the situation at hand- as they exclaimed how he could do that to his future spouse and their sibling-in-law.

Which they deserved to be hit with a bludger, and then hang upside down on on the ole of course, right straight in their skull for.

This was for the better, he thought painfully as he slowly put his books back in his bag with a frown. With slow steps, he would make you dislike him enough to stay away and save yourself from the misery that was him.

Remus never let anyone know about it, even though his friends already did from how fond he grew of you, but to him...You were a miracle.

A miracle that lightened his dark and empty life.

All his life, especially after his condition, he had come to make a peace with the fact that he wasn't and would never be normal in people's eyes. He knew how people viewed werewolfs, how they despised and even feared them and he didn't blame them.

He also feared himself and what he was capable of doing.

He had seen what he could to in his wolf form, to both himself and those who deemed as family. When he turned, he wasn't the same kind boy everyone thought him to be. He wasn't the same boy you had come to have feelings for, both of you laying your heads on the hard surface of the table in the library and dozing of together, though he secretly watched you with an easy mind and peaceful smile.

He was a monster that could end your life in less than a second.

Therefore, he pushed and pushed everyone away to protect both himself and others whenever the Full Moon came and he was turned to a bloodthirsty, carnal monster. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the only people who he cared about, the only people who knew his biggest secret but still chose to love him and stay next to him.

The Marauders and above all you, were the most important thing in his life. They were already deep in this mess anyways, but he wouldn't taint your happiness and innocence with a disgusting person such as himself. For the longest time, he pushed his friends' teasing remark about how he was smitten by you- even though they never said your name bir he still knew it- and how you also felt the same for the boy beyond that academic rivalry.

Making friendships was already hard enough for him, he needed months to just to open up to them about normal, mundane things! You and him didn't talk that much outside of those "Study Dates" as Sirius and James called it with wiggling brows, even if he wanted to talk to you about anything and everything like any other person.

Like, your favourite hobby, or movie, perhaps music band? Or what kind of books you wanted to read, places you wanted to visit or simply, what you wanted to be when you were out of Hogwarts.

But he... destroyed all of those chances when he burst out at you right before the full moon. He already felt awful, like a total and royal douchebag, and it was no excuse for him to act that way when you both were finally able to land on a playful and friendly "friendship" but the teasing of his friends had become too much alongside the stimulation he felt.

He knew he could never be a decent boyfriend you deserved, this accident proved enough, someone present and whose emotions didn't change depending on the moon. You definetly didn't deserve someone who kept secrets, someone who was scarred badly either.

You deserved someone who would be your rock when you needed, someone who would hold you without any fears of ever hurting you. You were so adorable, so pretty and he could never taint it.

So, if he needed to be turned into a douchebag for you to hate him... He would do it, even if hurted him more whenever he would see your frown after his mean word and draw back to your shell.

The loud, cheerful, bubbly and teasing person was gone and instead... A shy and silent one came, in fear of irritating Remus more than usual even if you were worried for him.

But, that was also the end of your "friendly rivalry" since you two no longer talked... Which concerned even the teachers.

"Moony, I'm sure they would understand... Just, why don't you give a chance to-"

"I said no, Prongs, and that is final. I'm not gonna talk to them."

"Even if it makes you and them miserable when they don't even know what they did wrong?"

Remus groaned at his friends from where he laid on his bed, face buried in his pillow in a pitiful attempt to hide away from the truth reflecting in their eyes. To be honest, his day was already shitty and his misery of treating you harshly 2 days ago added salt to his wound. His body was aching painfully, and his own mind and body was restless. The usual quietness of the common room and even their dorm was nothing but suffocating, like water slowly rising in level and coming closer to kill him mercilessly, in fake comfort. He planned to retire to his bed to sleep, the assignment he was supposed to be working laid all by itself on the table in the common room.

One that he was supposed to write with you.

Instead, he buried his face deeper into his pillow, tears of frustration escaping his thightly closed lids as he tried to find some sleep. The reason of his yet another meltdown was... Everything piled on his poor heart and mental state.

The harsh words spoken about him, inderectly or not, in the class... How he felt the immense guilt crush him slowly whenever he looked at your face, still smiling at him kindly with a hint of sadness... How his friends' pitying eyes turned to him before Sirius and James almost threw the desk at the people who uttered all those... insults.

"Monsters, that's what they are!"

"They all should be kept away!"

"They would kill you the moment they see you!"

"To be honest, they only deserve death."

He didn't do anything except making a cacoon of some sorts with his arms, burying himself there with tears stinging his eyes and without listening to the rest of the lesson as the teacher scolded both sides for it and continued as if everything was fine.

It wasn't.

Because as Sirius comforted him, or at least tried to, Remus' mind was in a frenzy. Maybe what they said was true? Why did he even think that somehow he could have a happy life? What did he do to deserve it anyways? All he ever did was hurting people...Maybe he should come closer to the cliff next time and...

Your eyes, even from the first rows, didn't leave Sirius and Remus, as you and Lily tried to make what they were doing and feeling. Sirius supported a frown on his face, lifting it only to shook at you with sad eyes as he let Remus be with a single pat to his shoulders but still sat close to him.

The sight of him all miserable, at the verge of tears made your heart clench painfully as your hands bundled your uniform anxiously. You were blaming yourself for not speaking up before, not confronting him because of your crush on the boy and the "rivalry" between you two.

Even if his outburst at you a few days earlier, not showing up to any of the sessions or book readings said enough to you: He didn't care about whatever was happenig between you two, or in other words, could have happened.

Besides, the reason of your absence had a logical explanation in your mind to you, and it was utterly understandable when you didn't want to irritate someone and therefore stayed away.

You thought you were alwasy disturbing Remus, by how he would glare at you silently with a frown (not knowing it was one of the many times he was considering to just blurt everything out and let you hate him freely in his mind) even if your intentions were good. You were only worried for him, especially after DADA lessons, much like this one, or whenever he didn't show up for classes after full moons. James and Sirius often tried to play it off by teling you to not to worry and that he was just having... A bad day, a headcahe that just wouldn't leave poor Moony alone, or how he was having the flu that made his body ache slightly.

They assured you that he would be fine and come back to your "library dates", looking at you cheekily as you blushed and grumbled at them before slipping away, head and heart full of worry for the kind and soft boy.

Because, even if you two were "academic rivals of some sort"... You knew what was going on with him.

Yes, maybe they thought of you to be an idiot or not, but it was plainly obvious what Remus was, by how he disappeared the night before the Full moon, during the Full Moon, and the next day of it. At first, you weren't sure about your suspicions, after all it could be something else.

But when it became regular, and he would come back with more scars visible on his arms and face, and when you saw Madame Pomfrey comforting a crying Remus wrapped in bandages, was how you knew it.

And it did nothing to change how you saw him.

To you, he was the same boy who always offered you a piece of his chocolate under his friends' shocked eyes, he was the one who would land you one of his jackets when it was colder than normal, he was the one who knew where to find you whenever you cried, he was the one you always found in your usual spot just to irritate you and watch fondly as you lost it, he was the one who hugged you when shit went down and you needed someone to believe in you...

But above all, he was the boy you loved.

Even if he hated you, or didn't want you near him... You had to help him, confront him if needed. This could go in two ways: You leaving with tears as he kicked you out, or achieving your goal successfully.

And you made sure that the second one would be the case as you brought your notes from today and the books he had forgotten in the class, knowing that if he was in a good shape enough to talk to you, he would let you in with all these.

As you walked towards the boys' dormitory with an anxious biting of your lips, you were sure that you would make it all clear.

How you didn't see him as a monster, how he deserved good things in the world and even more, how there would be people loving him unconditionally even if he pushed them away...

Maybe not immediately, but through time.

James already made sure that none of the Marauders would enter or disturb you both, silently cheering for his ship that was about to sail as Sirius watched from next to him while biting on his fist with proud tears in his eyes. You could still hear their choked cries as Peter mumbled a surprised what the fuck, giggling to yourself as you slowly knocked on the door and let yourself in.

You already guessed Remus would be out for good, sleeping as he recovered from the night of Full Moon, so you quickly took a look around and sighed to yourself at the messy state of the dorm.

Boys, you sighed affectionately yet still tired. Putting everything together and tidying up didn't take much time and soon you were seated on Remus' bed with a thundering heart, silently cooing at how cute he looked with his mouth slightly open, face smushed to the pillow he held it thightly to himself.

"You're really pretty..." you murmured softly in admiration and love softly, heart flipping inside your chest as you swiped his slicked with sweat hair back, feeling the slight burn of his forehead under your finger tips. All this time, you always stared at him from afar and everything was fine, you could control your body's reaction from that distance but now that you were so close to him, eyes raking through his half-naked upper chest and back, you didn't know what to do with your shaky hands and heart full of love for the boy laying before you.

Watching him sleep, laying prettily was probably a good idea but you were sure the boys would be able to hold back anyone entering only for so long.

And even if no one entered, Peeves would, since the ghost loved drama and "peeving" into students' lives.

"Rem, wake up." you shook the boy slightly to not alert him suddenly, giggling when he mumbled a groggy five more minutes Sirius when his eyes snapped open at your next words and he stood up on his hands shakily, still not quite out of the clutches of sweet sleep.

"Wow, Sirius wakes you up with swiping your hair back and so softly?"

After the initial shock wore off at seeing you right in the middle of his dorm, smiling down at him with a soft smile as he stared at you... He didn't know how to feel and just blurted out whatever was in his mind as he leaned back on the bed frame.

"Why are you here?" he internally cringed at how hoarse and rude the question left him, hoping that you weren't angry but you only shrugged your shoulders noncholantly and smiled at his obvious confusion.

"I saw you in the infirmary and offered the boys to help them with their assignments for 2 weeks to leave us alone."

"That one was one big deal you got yourself, love." he couldn't help the sweet name leaving his lips, so naturally that he didn't realize it at first but soon flushed as soon as possible, looking at anywhere but you with his ears tinted red on the tips.

"Well, it was worth it. Besides, I needed to talk to you. And you forgot your books and I brought you the notes of today's lessons." you tried to hide the blush covering your cheeks at how the word warmed your insides sweetly and lifted your eyes to gaze at his confused ones. This was the only time he wasn't irritated and you had to make the most of it. (Remus would never be that asshole to you again, not when you came here even if you didn't have to and he had become calmer at your presence.)

"Then... What's the problem? If it's about the infirmary, you don't have to-" he immediately started to ramble excuses as to why you should never be worried about him, as if it was something forbidden which made you sigh tiredly and take his hand between yours, thoughtfully rubbing circles on his much larger ones and shutting him up immediately at your warmth coursing through him as his eyes widened.

"Why don't you accept that someone could care for you because they want to, Rem?"

Well, why would you when he was a bloodthirsty monster?

"I'm not that good of a guy as you think of me." Remus spitted angrily, venom towards himself visible to you as your heart once again broke for the boy, and felt anger at the injustice and harshness he was met all his life. You had a good guess that his sour mood was a product of those comments from before, as normal as it was, but still... Remus was never this affected, this sad and... gloomy.

It was something else, but for now... You wouldn't comment on it.

You hummed thoughtfully to yourself. Of course, it was normal for people to have different sides that they didn't show to everyone but yet again... Remus was like an open book to you, whether he tried to hide the biggest secret of his life or not.

"Why? Because you are a werewolf?"

Your question made the boy freeze in shock and fear, mind suddenly running with questions and trying to find a way to dodge your "assumption".

But as soon as he saw your understanding and kind eyes, he crumbled and a single tear rolled down his eyes.

"Who... Who told you that?"

" No one, I figured it out a few months ago when you started to act weird with me but waited until you came to me with your will... I wish I came myself though, maybe you wouldn't be miserable right now." you wiped the tear softly and craddled his face as if he was a delicate doll, the harsh skin of the scars running his face. To think that he thought he was ugly and disgusting...

If only he saw himself through your eyes...

"I see you for who you are. Doesn't matter if you turn into a wolf every month for a day, I want to be there for you to take care of you..."

"Besides, the boys don't know shit about taking care of a sick person." that made the tension disappear in a second as you both stared at each other for a few seconds and soon burst out laughing. Maybe you wouldn't be able to confess your feelings today, and Remus wouldn't actually talk to you about the probelm he has, but as you two hugged thightly just like you used to...

Everything felt right.

And, without you knowing, you saved Remus from committing or doing something he would regret later, from ending it all in one transformation day... It was you reminding him of his homeworks every day from that day on, always being there for him through thick and thin with your soft touches and kisses, coming to his dorm with a bunch of books and his favourite chocolate...

And accepting him for who he was.

"By the way, I know you knowingly did the last question wrong on the last week's test."

A deep chuckle as he hugged you thighter.

Yes, maybe he deserved happiness.

#remus lupin x y/n #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin imagine #remus x reader #remus x y/n #remus x you #moony x reader #moony imagind #harry potter x y/n #harry potter imagine #harry potter x you #harry potter x reader #fluff #angst #remus lupin x you #remus lupin fluff

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iiapple · 2 months ago

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do you hate knife as a character or what the fandom/his relationship with suitcase has turned into /genq

both

theres aspects to him i enjoy though usually its paired with another character's interactions with the general juvenile violence in season 1 - early season 2. knife and trophy's whole deal is so ridiculously stupid its laughable but in an enjoyable way where im kinda entertained. it can make for a lot of funny interactions that are just jabs at one another (and trophy getting the short end of the dick which is always funny). he and pickle are fun too even without the romancey shippinf component, they can be at a base just stupid gay bros that chill. while he was caught up in mic's business and did lend a hand in her arc, i do prefer how it is now where again, its just slight jabs and non melodramatic fun (add in soap to grill his ass, soapmic knickle video game sesh and soap is crushing everyone at it like hell)

however its the push of him needing to be this "philosophical deep guy who analyzes everyone correctly and its soooooo interesting how much hes changed" that really irks me. because i honestly dont buy it and just see a man who self pities under the guise of "learning and growing i help others now because ive changed". hes like balloon to me in that sense except hes able to keep it composed and together without becoming outwardly desperate. its honestly irritating how much of an involvement he has now and again, how much of a push there is to him being in the top 2 after "all his growth". i just dont give a fuck. why should i give a fuck about a man who burnt and harassed and bullied and tortured a woman in season 1 for fun, and had others try to join in on it too? and the GALL of him to even apologize to marshmallow for it too LOOOOOL... "ohhhh poor me im sorry marshmallow for hurting you before" pussy couldnt even state what he did to her, weak ass self fellating apology im SO glad marsh didnt accept it and was NOT kind about it in front of him. she shouldve start throwing rocks at him. all this "change and teaching" i will never forgive that man for what he did to women

not to mention, how practically of little to no help he was towards suitcase who, was dealing with bigger issues than he was as if hes fuckin get it. such bullshit advice and "lessons" hed tell her when its like dude, shut the hell up!!! youre saying the dumbest shit and still pinning it all against her somehow when shes been tossed around her supposed alliance because those 3 idiots couldnt get shit together for once. that AND her psychosis coming onto the foreground of it all of course shes not gonna talk about it further because you keep pushing in shit that she has no fault in, as if shedve trust you with that. its sweet that theyre working now against everything now but god lol, i just dont buy their newfound ammends and friendship of sort personally

what the fandom has done is REALLY hyopcritical. now im not gonna say its every single person who does this, nor am i a fan of monolith-ing (?) a group of people because of a common pattern, but its just really REALLY funny seeing people going after pairings like lairy or whatever saying its "proship" while shipping a man who has a history of violence on women with a psychotic woman who he has offered piss poor assistance to in the name of his own weird beliefs of changing and helping. idgaf for discourse around a bunch of pixels over trivial shit that really isnt THAT big of an issue (lairy discourse), especially because well, theyre wrong as fuck, but how are people gonna say one thing then turn around and do The Same Shit under another flavour. knifecase is such a kick in the balls to women and another example of how fandom greatly prefers men over women WHATEVER the situation is. theyll fawn over a man whos done shit and think "yeah hes my poor onglydoople poop. only HE suffers in this work of media" while greatly ignoring the issues the women in the same piece of work deal with by writing (misogyny) and circumstances (misogyny again). this world is founded immensely on misogyny and we're never getting the fuck out of it and while yeah im ranting about object character violence being sexist/misogynistic, you gotta get that its all a repeated pattern of these behaviours these mentalities this culture. you can argue one thing about writers intentions and beliefs, we dont know these people well enough to point fingers and label. however, how are YOU digesting it? shitting it out? what is your overall take and without using gay fandom buzzwords and misogynist thinking describe the women in the show (rhetorical)

#asks #ii neg #good morning

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clarabowmp3 · 6 months ago

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hate brigade? I'm sorry but joe alwyn is directly responsible for a lot of the mental hurt that taylor will have to deal with for the rest of her life. I don't understand how people can hear sll, half the songs on midnights not to mention the anxiety ridden lover album and not see the emotional gaslighting joe was putting taylor through! Like that takes a toll and fans qnd the general public alike has a right to call that out. Now he's saying ish about tayvis when none of this concerns him?? Like if that's not manipulative, my name is Bennett cuz he's literally re inserting himself into the ex he resented' life. Unhinged if you ask me. So I don't think it's fair to characterize people as doing the most in this case. Alwyn could have just kept quiet and ate and ate food but now he deserves the dragging. Peace.

wowww wow okay so a couple of things:

we don't know much about their relationship. all we have is speculation based on taylor's lyrics, but we have to remember she is an unreliable narrator, so at best we can take them with a grain of salt. that is excluding how she might have modified certain things to present herself in a favourable light. I'm not saying she did or didn't, but it's a possibility. I say this because of how she's written music about her cheating. She very obviously focuses on how she was feeling and what led her to cheat, rather than her considerations of how it would affect her partner, which I think is yet another manifestation of how she perpetuates her victim narrative. I'm not saying all cheaters are villains, there's definitely some complex emotions involved, but she writes in such a way so as to encourage the reader to root for her by default.

This plays into her desire to be seen as the underdog or hero that everyone wants to support. She did this with Miss Americana too where she spun this whole standing up for women and other marginalised groups narrative, which I think contributed to being a swiftie becoming a trend, along with her whole 'relatable' schtick, fostering personal relationships etc.

There is nothing wrong with liking her music (I'm not gatekeeping), my issue is with people who treat becoming a swiftie as some girl scouts patch to earn by ripping into her 'enemies,' most popularly her exes. Naturally, he has been put through hell on social media since the break-up, up till ttpd dropped and the attention shifted to matty instead.

I agree that many of her love songs from as early as lover are anxiety-ridden, but I think that speaks more to her personality rather than his actions. Certain events may have transpired and he might have acted in a certain way which made her feel insecure etc but we have no reason to think he did it maliciously. What we do have is reason to think this is extremely unlikely. 2016 was rough man, no one knew if she would ever recover from #taylorswiftisoverparty, and yet he still stuck around. To me I think that shows he genuinely cared about her, something taylor has also thought.

Could you elaborate on the emotional gaslighting he has done, (and hence the "mental hurt" he has caused her) keeping in mind all those other reasons why her music is not an accurate source of info ^^?

getting more specific with sll, I don't see how he did anything wrong? I don't want to get too much into it but I know what it feels like to be burdened by someone else's mental health issues, and I do feel irritated by it at times, even though at the end of the day I know it's something they can't control. There's nothing wrong with creating art about difficult emotions, but I think she did not need to release it for the whole world to hear, knowing that they know who she is talking about. The song itself isn't too egregious, she just expresses her frustration with the whole situation ("you'll find someone," "I'm not the one" -> even she doesn't blame him for anything let alone the emotional gaslighting you're accusing him of anon what are you on 😭) the main problem is when people like you use it to villainise joe. like explain to me what part of it shows his gaslighting

For context here is what the whole deuxmoi thing is about, taken from this post:

You can clearly see that he was expressing an opinion on what he thought was a private enough setting. How could he have known he was going to be overheard and it was going to leak to the internet and eventually reach taylor (if any of this ie even true)? She is his ex of 6 years and it's only been a year since their breakup, I think it's fine that he's still somewhat emotionally occupied with her. We don't know if he obsesses about her every day and since the London travis thing is pretty recent, maybe it was just on his mind that day? Also why does he have to keep quiet? taylor can write whatever she wants in her songs, I think he is more than justified to have a conversation in public. We have no reason to think he meant for this to get out or to "[re-insert] himself into the ex he resented' life," as you put it.

to end off, anon I really think you should touch grass (and I'm not trying to be condescending here) because it feels like you're blowing up select details out of proportion to fit the narrative taylor has created through her music. We don't know how accurate that narrative is.

#had to retype all this when I was almost done 😭#hope i didnt miss out anything #anon #ask #joe alwyn #tayvis #taylor swift #discourse

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louhilainen · 4 months ago

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I just finished King of Scars...

...Can someone tell me, what on earth did I just read?

This book is such a mess, that I don’t even know where to start. Well, let’s start with the obvious.

Zoya.

I actually liked her in the trilogy as I’m a sucker for “the mean girl bullies FMC but then they become friends” trope, but I don’t even recognize her in KoS. Yeah, she was always full of herself, and she wasn’t sweet or anything like that, but she definitely wasn’t like this. It’s like her whole personality is to be as mean, spiteful and angry as possible.

And boy, is she angry. She just loses her temper all the time. ALL. THE. TIME.

Nikolai actually has to warn her to keep her temper in check. Then she later attacks people and Nikolai has to order her to stop. What on earth is this ticking time bomb doing as a general? Being a high ranking officer doesn’t mean you can solve everything by violence, you also need to know when to keep your mouth shut and use only force when necessary.

And that’s not even the worst thing. The worst is that Nikolai, who wanted nothing more than to sit on the throne and make Ravka a better place, thinks Zoya would make a great queen as she has shown great leadership (When in the hell did that happen???).

No. Just. No.

What on earth happened to you, Nikolai? Almost the whole book, he’s just given up and seems to wish for nothing more than to yeet the throne to Zoya.

…I hated the three saints and how they messed up the whole magic system. Oh jolly, Juris is a Zoya-simp too.

By God, let the Darkling already rest, Leigh Bardugo. You need to take Inej’s words and just let him go.

I don’t understand why Nikolai criticizes the Darkling for killing the Grishas who sided with him and Alina. They were on the opposite side of the war, of course he would do that.

I don’t get how Zoya got the impression that the Darkling was manipulating her. She was probably nothing to him.

I hated all the main characters (not including Nina). They were just soooo righteous.

Bardugo is superb at making the reader see the world through the character’s eyes and I enjoy how easy her writing is to read, but the characters, the plot… Even though I personally didn’t enjoy SoC duology, I can say its plot, relationships, and characters were way better than this mess. It’s weird, the author can write something very good and then write whatever this is.

Just to make sure, this isn't an attack to anyone who liked the books or is a fan of Zoya or any other characters. This is just my opinion, others' are entitled to theirs.

#grishaverse #king of scars #anti leigh bardugo #anti zoya #anti nikolai trilogy

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alexanderwales · 4 months ago

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Concert Review: Weezer's Blue Planet Tour

I'm not a music guy. I blame my dad for that: he was an orchestra conductor and music professor, and obviously I needed to set myself in opposition to him by not listening to music or learning to play an instrument despite the prodding of my parents.

There were only a few exceptions to my general abstention from music when I was growing up, and one of those exceptions was Weezer's Blue Album. So I still would not consider myself a music guy, but I did go to this concert, since it's one of my favorite albums of all time. Top five, definitely. It's only the second concert I've ever been to, unless you count classical music, in which case it's the 213th (number not exact).

The first opening act was Dinosaur Jr., who I had not even heard of until the day of. I had no idea what their music was going to be like, and decided that maybe I would become a fan after hearing them live.

Look, I don't normally like to talk bad about things that I can tell aren't for me.

Dinosaur Jr. made me question whether I had ever actually enjoyed music. The guitar sections sounded like a cat yowling, in a bad way. I was far enough away that I began to wonder whether they were playing an angry cat rather than a guitar. I hated every song they played, and one of us misunderstood some of the fundamentals of what makes a good song — which I will freely admit might be me. I thought that maybe live concerts were just like that, and I had made a horrible mistake. I feel obligated to go seek out some of their very best songs and listen to what they sound like professionally recorded outside of the arena, for the sake of fairness, but I actually just want to never hear anything from them again. I wondered whether warm-up acts were like the first pancake, a sacrifice necessary for what follows to be good. I might say "not for me" but what I feel in my heart is "I despised listening to this".

Then the Flaming Lips came on and made me realize that I do, in fact, like music. I'm not a huge fan of the Flaming Lips, but they do have a dozen songs I like, and I must have good taste, because all the songs they played were my favorites. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Do You Realize, the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, She Don't Use Jelly ... it made me want to listen to more of their discography to see whether there's more there I've overlooked, even if I've listened to a lot of the Flaming Lips. And all the songs came with cool lighting that added to the experience, sweeping shafts of light that swept over us, timed to the music, and none of that seemed like it was all that difficult, but I did appreciate the vibe. There were also props, which I loved: when they played Yoshimi there were two giant inflatable pink robots that swayed back and forth to the music, and during the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song there were two inflatable eyeballs standing on either side of Wayne Coyne, who had inflatable lips. The dancing eyeballs turned from side to side, making it look like they were following the crowd, it was great. Wayne Coyne is great at all the showman stuff, though I think he asked me to make some noise one too many times. I obliged him, and howled like a wolf.

As much as I enjoyed the Flaming Lips, it was Weezer is was there for, specifically the promise that they would be playing the Blue Album from start to finish. This was their very first concert of this tour, so I didn't know what to expect, but they emerged from a spaceship that rose up into the ceiling, and had a charmingly dorky space theme going on, with visuals behind them showing the journey to the blue planet. They played mostly the hits, though a few songs from deeper in their catalog too, and I sang along to all of them. Pork and Beans, Beverly Hills, Island in the Sun, Pink Triangle ... there was a whole Pinkerton section, which I appreciated, because I'm fond of Pinkerton. There were a few references to this space theme they had going, and it was dorky, because Rivers Cuomo is a dork, but I liked it, because I too am a dork.

But when they started the Blue Album it was like the real concert had begun. The crowd got louder, there was more energy in the arena, and the Blue Album is one of those rare albums that's just all great songs, one after the other. The performances were very close to what was on the album, and I do wonder about that, because it's been thirty years since it's come out, and ... does Weezer feel beholden to it? Does it not feel suffocating to feel compelled to go with the choices you made when you were in your 20s? Do your tastes not drift? But of course the fans want what they remember, and though the music is live, the band is playing music that's long since crystalized. Whatever my thoughts on the thirty year gap of time, the Blue Album is still just full of songs I love and deeply relate to.

My one problem with the Blue Album has always been Only in Dreams, which is eight minutes long, and that's just too long. It feels eight minutes long. By contrast, Bohemian Rhapsody is six minutes long, and really earns that six minutes. Here though, as the final song of the concert, I thought it worked. The extended song felt like it's supposed to feel, like the album doesn't want to end, and by extension, like the concert doesn't want to end.

The big takeaway for me is that I should go to more concerts. There's something hard to put into words about what it feels like to sing along to a song with ten thousand other people, what it feels like to have the bass thumping through your body and have the full sensory experience of the light show in a dark room.

The small takeaway is that I really hate Dinosaur Jr.

#weezer #the flaming lips #reviews

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