#and gaslighting people to believe the movie is about forgiving abusers over and over again because of blood

[aquaaquila]

"and this leads him to finally realise that he has to stop giving them second chances and cut them out of his life for good for his own sake. "

Or how about you stop projecting your own issues into Branch's situation? Because you really just excused actual toxic influence while framing Brozone as those "terrible abusers that should never be forgiven 😫😫😫".

Like I'm really sorry dude if this beginning sounds harsh, but it starts to get a bit ridiculous with how much you villainise Brozone. You yourself don't have to like or forgive them if you don't feel like it, but misconstructing and twisting the events and narrative of the movie and bashing it for not going according to your likings is just wrong.

For starters: Branch didn't actually lead beforehand, so don't know where that came from. And sure saving your brother from certain death is oh so selfish of them 🙄. As if the other 3 weren't already far away from the twins' grasp by the time of Better Place, and if they truly were selfish, they wouldn't get themselves caught.

And now onto the twins because really it shows your double standards: just because Velvet and Veneer were together for the most part does not mean their dynamic was healthier. Heck, V&V are teens younger than Brozone, their own break-up happens about the same age Brozone's break-up did (no babies involved though). Let me tell you that living with an abuser who gaslights you about it is way more damaging than you give it credit for here.

Veneer didn't mind the privilege he had, but it was not what he wanted. He wanted to have a good time with his sister and work for their popularity. But Vel always shut him down and refused to listen to him. She also refused him to ever express anything that didn't align with her own goals. Veneer does not want to torture Floyd, and his first and most important reason why he doesn't go against Vel is because he loves her and is just scared. But that's not healthy in the slightest. Heck, Velvet immediately manipulates Veneer by telling him what he wants to hear while also proving Floyd "wrong". Vel knew very well what happened, that Veneer caught Floyd and Floyd tried to reason with him, so she specifically decided to play on his good side just so he would do as she told him. And it's not the first time she tried to twist the narrative just to appeal to him. And I'm sorry but Floyd didn't get into Veneer's head, he literally was trying to open his eyes.

Coming back to them being the same age when Brozone broke up: V&V are the main antagonists of the movie, and the antagonists' role and purpose is to oppose the protagonist and they do so by being the dark reflection of them. The "protagonist if they made a bad decision in the end". That's why the protagonist has to overcome them, as an extension of overcoming their own flaws and learning the lesson the story tries to tell. V&V represents what Brozone used to be and how it would end up if they didn't break up sooner. Making them healthier than Brozone just doesn't make sense, especially since it's not the Brozone who's the villain.

Really, I start to think the reason you're so pissed at Brozone while even saying V&V are somehow better siblings is that you might struggle yourself with abandonment issues (and I'm very concerned for you because of this 😕I can tell your family is abusive but how comes Velvet doesn't bother you more than Brozone), hence it doesn't bother you how Velvet actually treats Veneer because at least she still didn't leave him. But there's a reason why Veneer cutting off Velvet is more triumphant than Brozone cutting off each other. Ultimately, Velvet is incredibly selfish, and when Veneer admits their faults, she'd rather act as if she doesn't know him.

Now onto Branch because I keep seeing the "Branch has to stop making excuses for them" Branch never fucking excused them through the entire movie. Heck, during the movie he essentially refuses to forgive his brothers until the very end. Even when they got Clay you could say he didn't forgive them but was looking forward to it, only for the rug being pulled under his feet once it's clear the Brozone doesn't intend to change. He calls them out on it and actually rejects them when this happens, so I'm surprised you don't glorify this scene at all when it's precisely what you wanted. Guess it's about the fact that it's not final in hindsight, but Branch was there and then made the decision you wanted him to make.

However, this decision would not heal Branch or help him move on. Branch was hurt because his brothers left him alone. Choosing to be alone is not the answer though. Isolating yourself when you are rejected doesn't help you. It only further hurts you. Branch at the end of the day wanted his family back, so for him to not get it back and just reject it is not a triumph, it's a loss. Branch doesn't forgive their crap over and over again either, he pretty much doesn't ever forgive them at all until he too has to work with them. But I guess a healing family being happy is actually a crime.

But once Branch does call them out, they in fact do change as once again, they still went to Mount Rageous when they could've just left if they were ever so selfish. Both Bruce and JD still helped save Clay even when trapped in diamond prisons, even though they could've just stayed behind or even run away like that. But they didn't. And the "suddenly decided to play the ball" playing the ball was the plan right from the start my friend.

The message of the movie: embrace that family is composed of individuals who are flawed and will never fit the perfect image of a family

Your message for some reason: cut family off once they wrong you once, be alone and angry, and never make mistakes or you're more irredeemable than obviously toxic people who made plenty of other mistakes but the very one you made.

I seriously advise you to maybe step back, resolve your own issues in a healthy manner, and then look back at the movies because you're warping the actual movie's message into indeed something very trashy, something that is also not real.

opinion time Bro zone are no Better than Velvet so the film having Veneer cut her out of his life at the end is weird and Hypocritical.

okay to start with

Bro zone agreeing to let Branch lead in the Harmony isn't some big character changing moment for 2 reasons 1. they literally let him lead on the Bro zone's back song earlier in the film.

and 2. their lives were literally in danger and they had no choice also notice how they weren't able to achieve when it was just about saving Floyd but when their own lives are in danger suddenly they are willing to play ball wow my heroes 😅😅😅😅

so yeah the movie uses that as the big moment to show the start of Bro zone healing since afterwards all we see is them all being pitch perfect with each other again.

but it just is not enough hell it doesn't count for anything imo its the same logic as Creek saying he was selling out Poppy for her lol.

Bro zone had to literally be forced to do something decent and even then it was in part for their own selfish interests.

and afterwards they didn't show any more regret for their past actions or anything of the such so the film doesn't tell us they are sorry and have changed but it doesn't show us that with their actions either.

so can the people who defend the film by saying that it didn't need a scene of them explicitly saying sorry because actions speak louder than words please stop saying that because the film didn't do what your saying it did either.

leaving aside their crimes Velvet and Veneer are less toxic siblings imo because well for one their actually family in the ways that matter they grew up together have a bunch of shared life experiences.

and presumably been there for each other through loads of good and bad times unlike Bro zone who were absent Branch's whole life.

and in present day their actually on the same page a lot more they don't fight as much as Bro zone and even in the scenes where they present Velvet as mistreating Veneer she still isn't as vile as JD and Bruce were in that argument scene.

plus despite the film claiming that she's an abusive monster to Veneer she doesn't seem to have had much effect on him he seems pretty comfortable being himself around her until Floyd started getting in his head telling him that Velvet is mistreating him.

unlike Bro zone leaving Branch with severe abandonment issues to the point he even questioned if Poppy was going to leave him too.

so yeah her actions of torture and kidnap are horrible don't get me wrong but in terms of what the movie tries to say about her as a sibling I find it arsed backwards tbh.

her and Veneer seem to have a pretty normal bit of Brother Sister Banter that's deffo no where near the toxicity of Bro zone.

if anything the film's message would have made more sense if it showed that even as they were getting arrested at the end of the film V and V were somehow still able to have a more stable relationship than Branch's brothers were with each other.

making for a sad irony that these two terrible people could make their family work but Branch's family couldn't.

and this leads him to finally realise that he has to stop giving them second chances and cut them out of his life for good for his own sake.

and that being okay given he doesn't owe them anything simply for being his "" family "" and even Poppy who Despite Viewing the idea of family through a Rose tinted lens at the start after the films events finally sees things in a more fair light.

and supports Branch in his choice to end things with his Brothers who could have just started arguing again straight away after Floyd was freed and V and V were arrested.

and Branch finally tells them he's done with them not even in an angry way just a somber disappointed way.

would have made more sense as an overall message with how the film presents the Brothers as it is because the message of "" family being flawed but still a good thing "" does not work with Bro zone imo.

they ain't just a little flawed they are toxic and selfish and did not show enough good to warrant the happy family ending so the message of "" it being okay to cut toxic family out of your life for your own sake "" would have been a hell of a lot more healthy.

than the message of "" just forgive crap over and over again simply because some stranger happens to share blood with you "" that crap's toxic.

and does not make for a satisfying story the ending just feels empty to me and honestly depresses me a bit I was a Big fan of Trolls before this film came out and I was very excited for TBT.

but this film has honestly left a black mark on the franchise for me I've never had a films story bother me on a personal level as much as this one's did.

it basically felt like it was telling me to forgive my abusive family and give them another chance despite them showing no meaningful change or remorse for their past behaviours.

😕😕

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[ghosthan]

what would you say are the differences between 616 Tony and MCU Tony? 🤔

Hi anon! Many people have talked about this and I'm certainly not the authority on the topic, but I’ll try my best to explain some of the major differences that I have noticed! Thank you for asking and I’m sorry it took me so long to answer you.

Important to note: neither version of Tony has had a totally consistent characterization. Depending on who you ask and which comics/movies they've consumed, they might give you a different answer here and not be wrong.

616 Tony is even harder to put into one box because his character has been around since Tales of Suspense in the 1950s. That’s a long time. Things have changed over time, under different writers, changing political atmospheres, and outside pop culture influence (including influence from the MCU, unfortunately, in recent years.) You get the picture. So I’ll be making some generalizations and try to be clear about which eras I’m speaking when I make these comparisons, but ultimately, if someone wanted to be contrarian, you could probably refute a lot of what I say here if you cherry pick canon. Which is fair enough! That’s sort of the fun of comics, there’s so much to choose from and something for everyone.

So here are some observations from me, under the ‘read more’.

1. Physical Appearance

This is sort of an easy one, but worth mentioning!

MCU Tony does not look like 616 Tony. RDJ is great, but he would not be most 616 fans’ casting choice on looks alone. MCU Tony is tan, a Malibu man, with brown hair and brown eyes, and RDJ has sort of round facial features (a funny sloped nose, big, round eyes, round forehead, not a particularly sharp or classically “superhero masculine” face.) As you may know, this lends well to certain fanworks and tropes, such as Tony having Bambi eyes.

Or Tiny Tony. He is not actually canonically small, but he's smaller in the MCU than in 616 and from what I can tell, a portion of fandom has latched onto that. He’s a grown man, but RDJ is pretty short, and of slighter build than 616 Tony. RDJ is 5′9, but they make him act in heels, and I believe his canon MCU height is 5′11. Another popular trope I’ve seen is shrinking Tony in fanfic/fanart for a dramatized height difference with Steve, making him weak or fragile; this is fine because everyone has their own taste, but for the official record, he’s a capable, strong guy! Especially in earlier stages of the MCU, in which he’s a bit younger. Tony isn’t just a brain; he carries out his plans with his own two hands! He builds his armor, he remodels his lab, he survives hand to hand combat when he doesn’t have the armor. Muscles!

616 Tony is 6′1 without armor and 6′6 in armor (making him taller than his 616 Steve counterpart in armor and very close to the same height out of armor!) 616 Tony is generally paler with black hair (sometimes the classic blue-black I love so much) and blue eyes, and it obviously depends on the artist, but he has a pretty typically ‘masculine’ face and build. Generally he is drawn with a squared jaw and a high bridged nose (such as in the Extremis storyline, or drawn by Marquez), but again, this varies from artist to artist! Here's some examples of 616 Tonys.

Wait, you might be saying, but I have seen comic panels where Tony has brown hair/brown eyes!

Yep. Due to a combination of forgetfulness, inconsistency, and the MCU bleeding into the general consciousness of the comics, sometimes Tony is randomly depicted in the image of RDJ, or if not in his image, at least visually inspired by the MCU-- hair color and style, eye color, dialogue, etc.

616 fans don’t typically love this; he’s very handsome when drawn this way, of course, (look at him!) But it isn’t really the same character.

Also, MCU Tony has (at least for some of his movies) a reactor built into his chest. While 616 Tony has, at times, been more or less physically connected/dependent to his tech, he doesn’t have the built in reactor (most generally speaking, there are times in comics when he temporarily has the tech built in, but this isn’t really the status quo.)

2. Relationship with parents/ family history

While it is definitely implied in the MCU that Howard was not a good father to Tony, (such as in Iron Man 2 when Tony says “You're talking about a man whose happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school” and “He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me”), Tony has a different sort of attitude toward Howard in MCU than in 616. It’s kind of weird, and hard to discuss. To me, it seems implied that MCU Howard was emotionally abusive to Tony based on what Tony does say about his childhood, and yet, the films kind of randomly give Howard weird moments of “Well, he tried his best and deep down he loved me the whole time!” forgiveness. MCU has a Howard kink and I'm very cringe-face emoji about it.

For example, Iron Man 2 shows that old film reel of Howard talking about how Tony is the greatest thing he ever created, and in Endgame, when Tony goes back in time, he meets Howard and has a very weird interaction with him in which Howard declares he would do anything for his son, (to his deeply damaged son who is a new father himself.) Yet, for all his talk, it's his actions that speak, and his actions left Tony damaged, traumatized, and emotionally inept at forming healthy relationships. So.

Sorry. I’m a little bitter. I'm just uncomfortable with how they sort of set up an abuse history but then treated it kind of lightly and Howard gets off the hook as "well, he tried his best" without really acknowledging the hurt he caused.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

I won't go super in depth into the abuse stuff because it's a little touchy and could take up a lot of this post. But.

I’m not against any reconciliation and I do appreciate the fact that a lot of times, victims of abuse feel a desire to forgive and reconnect with their abuser-- my issue with the MCU depiction of Tony and Howard is that Tony never really gets the vindication of his abuse being recognized for what it was before he forgives Howard. To me, that’s not forgiveness as kind of... gaslighting himself that it wasn't as bad as he remembered his own experience being, because of a sense of nostalgia and grief. It’s not the same, and I have issues with it.

However, a lot of my opinion is based on subtext and it is just my opinion; with depictions of abuse, different people are going to react differently, and other people may have found these scenes touching and gotten something positive out of them, and that's totally fine too!

It’s also a bit difficult to talk about Tony’s relationship with Howard in 616, for a few reasons: shifting timelines, lots of canon that I have not read all of, and the fact that it really is difficult to sum up such a complicated relationship.

Right off the bat, I’ll address the basics. I used the same scene in another ask, and I think it's frequently cited in any meta regarding Howard, but in Iron Man Vol. 1, we see more into Tony’s childhood and see Howard verbally abusing his family, drunk, at the dinner table.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #285

We get this scene with adult Tony’s retrospective commentary on how his own issues that he blamed himself for were actually a cycle starting with his father, the insecurity and abuse and alcohol, and that he realizes how much this has influenced him. Both MCU Tony and 616 Tony have some form of “stop the cycle of shame” arcs, but I don’t really see how this works narratively in the MCU because Tony makes excuses for Howard and continues to blame himself for a lot of his own personal struggles, whereas I think there’s just a bit more nuance in 616.

But uh. This isn’t totally true, and in recent years, things got real weird. I choose to ignore this chapter of canon, but in the Dan Slott run, Tony Stark: Iron Man, Tony’s whole backstory gets imploded. For one thing, the little of Tony’s childhood it shows in a flashback is uh. Uh. Well, it’s certainly out of character compared with previous 616 material, depicting Tony as an overly confident poor sport.

Basically, Tony is adopted. Tony has an evil brother. Tony’s biological parents make an appearance, as do his ‘classic’ parents, Howard and Maria. It’s just weird. It’s kind of out there. I’m honestly not a huge fan of this and ignore a lot of it, but it is certainly a difference between MCU and 616.

3. Personality

I’m going to be very general. Both Tony’s have an outer self which they present to the public and an inner self, but they’re a bit different. Both Tony’s have struggled with self loathing, but I think MCU Tony’s actual self worth is a bit higher, even just at some points in time. Even if his ego is part of his facade, I think he does believe some amount of the “I’m awesome”, even if just when it applies to his own work/inventions/saving people. Not to say that these moments of fluctuating self esteem make him egotistical, but this combined with his egotistical act and snarky, non-stop sassy dialogue, he’s quite different in general personality from 616 Tony, who is much more reserved.

Some more recent iterations of 616 Tony have been adapted to reflect the snark of the MCU, but he’s not so snarky and he tends to approach things more seriously. This is not a dis on MCU Tony; I think MCU Tony uses false ego and excessive sassy jokes as a means to deflect and control, which I think is very interesting and it’s nice to see this explored more in depth in fic where you get to see the thought process behind the bravado. MCU Tony is a partier, a good times guy, especially during Iron Man 2, in which he really does disregard consequences to have fun (driving his race car, partying drunk in his suit, letting pretty  girls play with the armor, shooting off repulsor blasts for fun in a crowded room); I’m not bashing MCU Tony-- I think he had psychologically understandable reasons for behaving this way, the man was dying-- but 616 Tony really doesn’t act this way generally, and I think it’s a personality difference more than a difference of one being “better.”

616 Tony handles his stress differently, and they just have different psychological patterns, I think. I’m coming up kind of blank trying to think of a good comparable 616 arc, (sorry, I’m brain dead) but a less-than-perfect  example might be Tony’s brain delete arc; he’s “dying”, like in Iron Man 2 he  knows his expiration date, (circumstances are quite  a bit different), but he throws himself more into work, into a cause, and as he really fall apart, we  see him spiral into self doubt, remorse, fear, and insecurity, sort of falling into  himself with lots of manly tears and calling himself pathetic.

(Some things happen in this arc that a lot of people find Gross. I also find these events gross. But. I don’t count the sex in “World’s Most Wanted” as partying to cope with personal mortality, because I think both character involved are in “end of the world” mode, and it’s more seeking intimacy for comfort than partying to numb the hurt. Does this distinction make sense? No? Perfect, moving on.) 616 Tony is generally much more humble.

Whereas MCU Tony, I think, tries to outrun those feelings via parties or making dozens of new suits, or seeking comfort by comforting others! Gifting things to people, building things for people, highly personalized individual living quarters, teaching Nebula games and trying to show her a fun time when they were in peril together.

They have some traits in common, for sure! But canon being inconsistent both in the MCU and in 616, my observations aren’t the rule, because I’m kind of cherry picking and going based on limited memory. But off the top of my head, they’re both extravagant gift givers! Recall Tony gifting Pepper the giant bunny in Iron Man 3, and compare this with Tony carrying a mile high pile of Christmas gifts after shopping with Rumiko in Iron Man Vol. #3.

I would say that while both Tony Starks are considered humanitarians, this is much more fleshed out and supported by canon in 616. Some examples of his philanthropy in the MCU: Tony makes charitable donations of art and money, Tony has an organization which provides disaster relief/cleanup which is referenced in Spider-Man Homecoming, Tony has an MIT grant for students and staff members. But to be honest, a lot of his MCU philanthropy is only mentioned in passing, or is largely handled by other people on his behalf and on his dollar.

In 616, we see Tony using charity almost as a means of therapy: it’s something he does very privately, not in the public eye (at least, not always), and it’s something deeply personal to him. One example that immediately comes to mind is Tony’s home for disadvantaged girls in Iron Man Vol. 3, and we see scenes of Tony basically driving the streets at night, picking up underage prostitutes, feeding them and listening to their stories before bringing them to a home he’s established where he knows all the residents, and provides educational opportunities and protection.

Another more recent example in canon that the Tony fandom loves is that Tony canonically holds babies at an orphanage. Sorry I don’t have panels for all of this, this section got long and I have been working on answering this ask in a very scattered way for a very long time.

Both Tony’s are romantics, I literally could write a whole other post about their canon love life similarities and differences, but I will briefly say that while MCU Tony does the long on and off, and eventual ultimate commitment, to Pepper Potts, 616 Tony is a serial monogamist; he is always falling in love, and he’s definitely not a playboy, but the hero-ing, self loathing, and lifestyle make it very hard for him to keep anyone in his life, and most of his partners fuck his life up and betray him. Needless to say, 616 Tony is not married, and certainly not to Pepper Potts.

Oh, and I guess this is so obvious I almost forgot to include it, but a huge similarity between both iterations of Tony is that they both constantly use their own life as a bargaining chip, and will pretty much die for anything. Or be the bad guy for a good reason (at least, in his own mind... see Civil War, or Hickmanvengers; 616 Tony, especially, does not shy away from making the hard decisions, and this leads to a lot of guilt and tension in his  relationships-- often with Steve because 616 Steve/Tony angst fans are well fed, I guess)

Remember that time Tony had Steve’s mind wiped because Tony felt that Steve’s inflexible morality might hinder the Illuminati’s ability to save the world? And it eats Tony up inside and erupts into a homicidal fight when Steve finally gets his memory back? Me too.

Tony Stark as a character is defined by sacrifice, both of his own life but also of his own happiness and reputation and conscience, I think, in a lot of ways, and we see this in many universes. I could go on about Tony’s propensity for sacrifice in the less obvious ways, because I think in terms of heroic sacrifice, Tony has done a lot that other heroes wouldn’t be able to do because of moral inflexibility and conflicting philosophical schools of thought; Tony really is the “whatever it takes” type, and often believes the ends justify the means if he deems a threat worse than the potential wrong that could be done in preventing the threat. We see this a little bit in the MCU in the creation of Ultron, and in Civil War with the Accords. But there’s a whole lot more going on there I don’t want to get into.

4. Alcohol

MCU Tony’s alcoholism is never really explicitly explored. He is shown drinking in Iron Man 1, and in Iron Man 2 he drinks a lot and makes a fool of himself publicly, but MCU Tony doesn’t get any specific narrative arc focused on his drinking, and if I recall correctly, I don’t think he ever refers to his drinking as alcoholism in the movies? Also, while his binge drinking and embarrassing behaviors ostensibly stop after the events of Iron Man 2, he is shown drinking on screen at least one other time after that which I can remember, and it wasn’t a “falling off the wagon” moment, and an alcoholic in recovery such as 616 Tony would not take a drink casually. This article sheds a little light on some decisions made about Tony and alcohol in the MCU.

Alcoholism is a huge part of 616 Tony’s personality, which I went a bit more into depth about in this post, so I won’t repeat myself too much.

5. Their relationships with the Iron Man armor

A few points here: MCU Tony is famous for the “I am Iron Man” line being repeated throughout the franchise after he blows his own secret in the end of the first movie. MCU Tony sees himself as one with Iron Man, and the suit is the tech that enables him to be this version of himself. He sees Tony Stark and Iron Man as inextricable: you cannot separate them, and his identity is public. He, as Tony Stark, is an Avenger.

You may remember MCU Tony’s induction into the Avengers; in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury is forming the Avengers and tasks the Black Widow with going undercover to assess Tony to be a part of a hypothetical initiative. “Iron Man yes, Tony Stark no” and the comments about Tony as a narcissist may be funny, but the fact is, the snark and erratic personality of MCU Tony at the time of the formation of the Avengers in the movies is not at all like the Tony of the comics, at the time of the Avengers being formed. 

In 616, things are quite a bit different! Tony invents the Iron man armor to save himself (like in the MCU) and uses it for hero-ing, but in secret. He works very hard to protect his identity as Iron Man, and for a long time, as far as the world is concerned, Iron man is a mystery man piloting armor built by Tony, hired as Tony’s personal body guard, (hence the 616 Steve/Tony fandom’s proclivity for identity porn as a trope!) When the Avengers form, Iron Man is the Avenger, close friends with the Avengers, (particularly Steve!) and Tony Stark is just the benefactor of the Avengers, providing them with a place to live and finances with which to operate.

In the very early days, Tony did not have the “reactor” like in the MCU, but his chest plate did keep him alive, leading to some very dramatic shots of Tony charging up using a wall socket, lamenting the plight of a secret hero.

616 Tony, generally, and especially in some of these earlier comics, was quite reserved, rather serious, and very angsty, (in private of course.) He may be wealthy, but speaking generally, he’s much less ostentatious than MCU Tony, less of a show off, less into flashy things and grand gestures. Of course, this isn’t always true in the comics, and some iterations of Tony are more like this than others, but MCU Tony is showier, sillier, and more of a fun-times guy. Any MCU fan would find those panels quite contrary to the Tony Stark you know:

Iron Man 1

Iron Man 2

I think I would say that while MCU Tony sees himself and the Iron Man identity and the  armor as all being inextricably connected, we see a bit more compartmentalization with 616 Tony, who pretends that the armor is a whole separate person for years when his identity was private, and we see instances in older and newer comics, in which Tony  is uncomfortable with some aspect of himself as Iron Man (for instance, during the second drinking arc, Tony temporarily swears off being Iron Man entirely, or for another example, when Tony is in a comma and Tony AI exists during Secret Empire, Tony “lives” in the Iron Man suit, and I think this could be interpreted as a meta parallel to Steve during this arc; Steve has had some core aspect of his character inverted, Captain America becoming Captain Hydra, so Tony experiences a similar inversion-- Tony Stark and Iron Man are forcibly merged, in a way that Tony seems deeply uncomfortable with, if his digital drinking relapse is any indication. But I digress; sorry for the tangent.)

Okay this post is inexcusable long, and very, very tangential, and I don’t feel like I’ve really covered everything I wanted to. But it has been sitting in my inbox for too long and if I don’t post it now I never will, so I hope this long, rambling thing has been a little bit helpful to you! Thank you so much for asking, I had a lot of fun rambling about this.

If you want to read a similar post, but well written and organized, with other insights, this post by Sineala answers a similar question!

[aces-to-apples]

Your Reputation Precedes You

A response to “On Fandom Racism (and That Conlang People Are Talking About)” because lmao that cowardly bitch just hates getting feedback from people that she can’t then harass into oblivion

i.e. God I Wish I Could Use The Tag Fandom Wank Without The Titty Police Nerfing My Post

-

To be frank, I'm not here because I think you or any of your little cronies are going to change your minds. If the 'name' wasn't a giveaway, your group of ~likeminded individuals~ have quite the reputation for espousing ableist, antisemitic, and, yes, racist views under wafer-thin the veneer of "calling out racism." I think we both know that what you're actually doing is using the relative anonymity of the internet and progressive language to abuse, harass, and bully fans that you personally disagree with. You and your group are toxic, hateful, and utterly pathetic, using many peoples' genuine desire to avoid accidentally causing harm and twisting it into this horrid parade of submissiveness to You, The One And Only Arbiter Of Truth And Justice In Fandom. Never mind that you have derided autistic people as lacking compassion and empathy, that you've used racist colonizer dogwhistles to describe a fictional culture based heavily on real live Maori culture, that you've mocked the idea of characters having PTSD, or that vital mental health services are anything more than "talking about your feelings with friends uwu." Let's just ignore that you have ridiculed the idea of adults in positions of power exerting that power over children in harmful and abusive ways, that creating transformative fan-content that doesn't adhere to the spirit of canon or wishes of the original author garners derision and hatefulness from you, and that you've used classic abuser tactics in order to gaslight people in your orbit into behaving more submissively towards you in order to avoid more verbal abuse.

Let's toss all of that crucial context aside in favor of only what you've written here.

What you've written here is nearly 3,000 entire words based on, at best—though, admittedly, based on your previous behavior, I am actually not willing to extend to you an iota of good faith—fallacious reasoning. You posit that a constructed language, to be used by a fictional religious group located in an entirely different galaxy than our own, is othering, racist in general, and anti-Asian specifically. This appears based in several suppositions, the first being that a language unknown by the reader will, by nature, cause the reader to feel alienated from the characters and therefore less sympathetic, empathetic, and caring towards the characters. That idea is patently ridiculous and, I believe, says far more about your ability to connect to a character speaking an unfamiliar language than any kind of overarching truth about media and the human condition. New things are interesting; new things are fun; the human brain is wired from birth to be fascinated with new things, to want to take them apart, find out how they work, and enjoy both the process and the results.

The second supposition this fallacy is based upon appears to be that to move away from the blatant Orientalism of Star Wars is inherently anti-Asian. While I find it... frankly, a little bit sad that you cling so viciously to the Orientalist, appropriative roots of Star Wars as some form of genuine representation, that's really none of my business. If you feel that a Muslim-coded character bombing a temple and becoming a terrorist and a Sith, a white woman wearing Mongolian wedding garb, a species of decadent slug-like gangsters smoking out of hookahs and keeping attractive young women chained at their feet (as it were), a species of greedy money-grubbers with exaggerated features and offensively stereotypical "Asian" accents, and an indigenous people wearing modesty garb based on the Bedu people and treated by most characters as well as the narrative as mindless animals deserving of murder and genocide are appropriate representation of the many, varied, and beautiful cultures around the world upon which they were "based," then that is very much your business. Until you pull shit like this. Until you accuse other fans, who wish to move away from such offensive coding and stereotypes, of erasing Asian culture from Star Wars. Then it becomes everyone's business, especially when you are targeting a loving and enthusiastic group of fans who are pouring their hearts and souls into creating an inventive and non-appropriative alternative to canon.

Which leads into the third supposition, that a patently racist, misogynistic white man in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s, intended his universe to be an accurate and respectful portrayal of the various cultures he stole from. I understand that for your group of toxic bullies, the term "Death of the Author" holds no real meaning, but the simple fact of the matter is that George Lucas based his white-centered space adventure on Samurai movies while removing the cultural context that gave them any meaning, because he liked the idea of swords and noble warriors in space. He based the Force and the Jedi Order on belief systems such as Taoism and Buddhism, but only on the surface, without putting any real effort into into portraying them earnestly or accurately. He consistently disrespected both characters of color and characters coded to be a certain race, ethnicity, culture, or religion, and likewise disrespected and stole from the cultures upon which he based them. He was, and continues to be, a racist white man who wrote a racist story. His universe has Orientalism baked into its every facet, and the idea that fans who wish to move away from this and interrogate and transform the text into something better than what it is are racist is not only laughable, but incredibly disingenuous and insidious.

As I said, I am not writing this to change your mind, because I truly believe that you already know that "cOnLaNgS aRe RaCiSt" is a ridiculous statement. The way you've comported yourself in fandom spaces thus far has shown to me that you are nothing more than a bully who knows that the anti-racist movement in fandom can be co-opted for your benefit. If you tout your Asian heritage and use the right language, make the "right" accusations and take advantage of white guilt and white ignorance, you can have dozens of people falling at your feet, begging for forgiveness, for absolution. And I think that gives you a thrill. So, no, none of this will change your mind because none of this is genuinely about racism—it's about power, it's about control, it's about fandom being the only space where you have some.

So I'm writing this for the creators of this wonderful conlang, which has been crafted by multiple people including people of color, who don't deserve this nonsensical vitriol, and for the fans reading this manipulative hate-fest, wondering if they really are Evil Racists because they don't participate in fandom the way you think they should.

Here it is: fandom has a lot of racism, antisemitism, misogyny, queerphobia, ableism, etc. baked into it. Unfortunately, such is the nature of living and growing up in societies and cultures that have the same. The important thing is to independently educate yourself on those issues and think critically about them—not "think critically" as in "to criticize" them, but to analyze, evaluate, pick apart, examine, and reconstruct them again in order to come to a well thought-out conclusion. Read this well-articulated attack on a group of fans who have always welcomed feedback and participation, are open about their backgrounds, their strengths and weaknesses, and wonder who is actually being genuine.

Is it the open and enthusiastic group who ask for the participation of others in this labor of love? Or is it the ringleader of a group of well-known bullies who have manipulated, gaslit, and then subsequently love-bomb people who did not simply roll over at the slightest hint of dominance? The ones who spent hours upon hours tearing apart, mocking, deriding, and falsely accusing authors of fanworks and metatextual works of various bigotries and -isms, knowing that those evaluations were spurious and meant only to cause harm, not genuine examinations of the works themselves or even presumed authorial intent. The ones who made their own, quote-unquote, community so negative and toxic that even after the departure of a large portion of them, including this author in particular, that community still has a reputation for being hateful, toxic, and full of mean-spirited harassers who will never look critically about their own behavior but only ever point fingers at others. The ones who are so very determined to cause misery wherever they go that as soon as their usual victims are no longer immediately available, they will turn on each other at the slightest hint of weakness.

This entire piece of (fan)work is misinformed at the most generous, disingenuous at the most objective, and downright spiteful when we get right into it. The creators of Dai Bendu, along with various other works, series, and fan events that these people personally dislike, have been targeted because it is so much easier to harass, bully, and use progressive language as a weapon against them, than it is to put any effort into making fandom spaces more informed, more positive, more respectful.

As someone rather eloquently put it, community is not a fucking spectator sport. You want a better community, you gotta work at it. And conversely, what you put into your community is what you'll get out of it. This author and their friends have put a lot of hate into their communities, and now they're toxic cesspools that people stay well away from, for fear of contracting some terrible form of harassment poisoning.

Congrats, Ri, you've gotten just what you wanted: adoring crowds listening to you spout your absolutely heinous personal views purely to live out some kind of power fantasy, and the rest of us staying well away, because fuck knows nothing kind, helpful, or in good faith has ever come from Virdant or her echo-chamber of petty, spiteful assholes.

No love, bad night.

P.S. Everyone actually in the Dai Bendu server knows your ass got kicked because you didn’t say shit for a full thirty days and ignored the announcement that inactive members would be culled. You ain’t cute pretending like it’s because you were ~*~Silenced~*~ after ~*~Valiantly~*~ attempting to call out racism. We see you.

[surejo]

( victoria pedretti, cis woman ) hey ! have you seen JOSEPHINE “JO” CORMAC around ? SHE works at the HOT COCOA STAND at big bear resort, but they must be off their shift by now. well, if you do see them can you let me know ? they’re 24 years old & they’ve been working here for TWO YEARS. they tend to be +OPTIMISTIC & +EMPATHETIC, but can also be -IMPRACTICAL & -PASSIVE. the other employees have labeled them THE IDEALIST. thanks a lot ! ( the few nights the stars can be seen, books worn down by dog-ears and marks left throughout the years, the first crisp breeze of autumn, the duality… of t.s. eliot ) 

OK. a few notes before i get started:

1) i hope everyone loves how i literally j copied my ivan stuff. url format? ‘sure jan’ lives on. theme? too lazy to find a different one that’s easy to work with. luv that for me. 2) speaking of this theme i forget if i addressed this on ivan’s blog but tabbed bullets don’t appear tabbed.... so if anything seems like it doesn’t make total sense.... it is supposed to be tabbed™. 3) get ready for drama!!!!! you may ask yourself “but the app looks so tame! there will be no drama!” but you are wrong........ because she loves cats. the t.s. eliot book......... the musical........ even the movie.

ok jo,, is also a resurrected character,,, hence how i already kno,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, that she loves cats. anyway ! let’s begin ! (listen,,,, the intro format will at least be a little different from ivan’s ok im evolving)

QUICK FACTS:

full name: josephine “jo” rose cormac

date of birth: march 6, 1995

*does not perfectly reflect the below big three zodiac chart because that’s too much math

zodiac big three: pisces sun, gemini moon, cancer rising

gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her

sexual orientation: bisexual ( preference for women bc we luv that for her but we also luv leaving things open to chemistry )

education: bachelor in english - literature that she is doing nothing with

enneagram: 2w1

mbti: infp

various inspirations: eleanor crain ( the haunting of hill house ), dolores price *as a child and towards the end of the book ( she’s come undone ), fox 8 ( fox 8: a story ), “why try to change me now?” - fiona apple (cover), “be still” - the killers

BACKGROUND INFO:

triggers: verbal/mental/emotional abuse/gaslighting, very slight implication of spousal abuse, brief mention of car accident/death & drowning

( ivan and jo’s breakout pop-punk single: “fuck happy backstories!” stream it on spotify ! )

jo......... was born into the wrong family, let’s get that out of the way.

it was pretty clear she was a ploy to save the marriage of her parents ( who have names: lucy and benjamin, luv that for them ). it didn’t seem like they’d ever picked up a parenting book, gone to a parenting class, rly prepped for being a parent at all...... in their entire lives.

that being said, her mom was actually decent at parenting. her major flaw, though? ok, so you know how kids usually have that one bedtime story that they love and want it to be read to them over and over? well lucy complied ! but y’all wanna know what that book was ?

t.s. eliot’s “old possum’s book of practical cats” whfeiuldjkn

anyway ! when jo was seven, after many failed attempts and simple threats, her mom was finally divorcing benjamin for realz. due to his volatile nature, it was becoming very clear that she was the more fit parent and she almost got sole custody ( the only reason benjamin was motivated for it in the first place was the power so?? )! how exciting!

but the keyword is ‘almost’!

alexa, play ‘my heart will go on’ but the off-tune flute version

just as the proceedings were going through, jo’s mother was hit by a drunk driver on new year’s eve. the car skidded onto some ice, minimal damage done... then the ice broke.

jo and benjamin both devolved after that. jo withdrew more into herself and pretty much coped by..... just reading old possum’s a LOT (hate that for her). all mopey, benjamin became much less outwardly violent. the keyword is ‘outwardly.’

ya, instead of j bein like “i will just chill” he was like “i will just make my rage more subtle because in this house, we love intimidation, manipulation, hostility, the blame game, and gaslighting! uwu” managed to convince jo that her mother’s death was somehow her fault, that he was the only person she could trust, that she will never be able to live without someone else, etc., etc.

a few years in and a cycle of many impromptu sleepovers began. luv that for her. hate that for her, but luv that for her. 

there is a lot i cld talk abt here, but it all seems like it cld j be tl;dr’d as: “basically became the surrogate daughter of a bunch of other people”

as for things that r not tragique™, jo was v much a drifter when it came to friends. managed to make a fair amount bc she does not seem like she will put a tadpole in ur hand like ivan. also j a people-pleaser but that’s starting to get into her personality which is another section.

did go to college. luv that for her. has NO CLUE what she’s going to do with her degree, but she can make some really sick niche william faulkner jokes. 

began seasonally working at big bear during the winter break of her last year in college because bitch needed some money!! wound up loving it and was like “i think,,,, i will continue to do this,,,, the people here,,,, r cul,,,,”

still visits benjamin every once in a while. not a way to say that uwu you should forgive ur abusive parent(s) uwu rather that jo.... still has slight belief in him. just to end on something emo.

THE REST IS HISTORY!!!!

TL;DR:

started life out as a saddie, not a baddie. still not a baddie, but no longer as much of a saddie. loves “cats” and there is no irony to that statement. can make good niche literary jokes, but that’s about it.

PERSONALITY/MISCELLANEOUS INFO:

a child. a literal child. a child to the point that she should have supervision when she goes on grocery trips because she falls for marketing ploys so easily. can’t believe she hasn’t fallen into a pyramid scheme yet.

an absolute dumbass. again, can make some great niche william faulkner jokes, but ask her the order of the planets? “...well mars is somewhere in there.”

unironically LOVES cats - both the musical and movie. thinks jennifer hudson’s grizabella is the best. will start sharing random facts about it or old possum’s book of practical cats if she runs out of things to talk about but feels pressured to keep talking. was broken when she first read a different t.s. eliot poem and realized he was actually super dark. the only thing that got her through it was a comparison to batman :\ bruce wayne is old possum’s, batman is everything else.

to take a brief break from fun personality facts, v down on herself bc benjamin’s words rly!! stuck with her!! convinced she is an absolute idiot and does not trust her own memory. v indecisive bc of this and always longs for someone to help her figure things out. tries to distance herself from memories of her mother because, again, benjamin got to her. her love of cats doesn’t help that, but... can you believe that’s her coping mechanism? makes up for it by giving all of her love 2 everyone else!! we love tragedy!! and needing to go to therapy!!

secretly knows her love of cats is weird and dumb. a part of her knows why it’s considered one of the worst musicals ever. but LISTEN. we luv rly weird coping mechanisms!

big dreamer. will develop the most impractical goals. she usually knows they are impractical, but still..... uwu

has decided everyone is good until proven bad! except for,,,, like,,, murderers and rapists,,,,

is #StraightEdge for the most part,,,, literally has a drink maybe three times per year

says “like” a whole lot for someone who majored in english with a concentration in literature and should therefore be more eloquent.

i am not great at these sections!! feel free 2 j refer to her zodiac, personality tests, and character influences!!

literally fox 8. i put the others there bc she’s similar but wow,,,, if u read fox 8 (it’s a short story i recommend it i luv george saunders u can find a pdf online),,,, she is fox 8. 

here u go here is a sample that doesnt need context: "Fox 4 woslike: No ofense, Fox 8? Your ideas are not super praktikal. Dreem, dreem, dreem, said Fox 11. Fox 41 woslike: Fox 8, does this honestly never get old for you?"

OH ALSO. she has a slet. a cat,,,,, named asparagus,,,, whom she calls “gus”,,,,, and y’all know WHY.

recent development: has downloaded tor so she can get on the dark web. why? because she thinks there will be more funny animal videos on there. is shockingly good at navigating it.

CONNECTION IDEAS:

close friends bc we luv that –– roman (nuanced), aylie (nuanced), hazel (nuanced), cleo (nuanced), vic (nuanced), marco (nuanced)

childhood friends whom she possibly had impromptu sleepovers with bc that is v soft and,,,,, y’all i left the city blank for a reason. –– hazel, marco, 

on that note, the person who was like “wait,,,,,,, u know that book was turned into a musical right,,,,,, like,,,,, a musical literally everyone knows” and shook jo’s world

good influence / bad influence –– cleo, vic, 

~*confidant*~

roommate

exes –– ian,

reciprocated pining

unreciprocated pining

someone..... who has accepted..... that she likes cats.... in a way that is not ironic. will see the movie with her. –– aylie, 

an enemy,,,,,, aka this person was like “cats is literally the worst thing in the entire world” and now they r on jo’s very short hit list –– riley

idk!!! im also obvs up for brainstorming!!! luv that!!!

** descriptive connections page is here ( only people who i’m messaging are on it, but i ?? would love to plot w everyone ?? so don’t make the short list make u think i’m trying 2 limit it 2 these ppl auhfoeidla )

LIKE THIS OR HMU TO PLOT !

[migleefulmoments]

Let’s unpack some cc nonsense

Anonymous asked:

Not that anyone can at this point but if YOU were representing D, how would you get him out of the mess? The damage that has been done to him is horrendous but the man has talent. Surely D believed there was “light at the end of the tunnel” or he never would have agreed to this??!’ Curious? If there is a plan, would do you think it would entail?

cassie1022 answered:  Nonnie, I woke up to reading about this giant shit storm his team has created getting worse (shitstorm? really? it was a GAY website talking about all the straight actors who have played gay characters and gay actors who played straight and gay characters. The website post was not judgmental or cruel- in fact this is what they said

Films are an important voice for a lot of LGBT people as they offer vital representation in society. Actors do an important job of starring as our favourite characters in films. However, very few LGBT roles are filled by openly LGBT actors. Actors who are open about their sexuality are struggling to carve a successful career path for themselves – a fact that is not helped by their heterosexual counterparts filling up roles that some might argue should be reserved for them.PinkNews has compiled all a list of all the Hollywood stars who have gone “gay for pay” on the big screen. We’ve also explored the gay actors who have made a name for themselves playing it straight.

Then they listed along with each actor-most of them A-listers-the movie they were in. That’s it. Hardly career killing.)  They completely crossed the last line they had left with this latest nonsense. Make no mistake, this is a deliberate and vicious attack on D’s character, (is it though? he has said he is straight for 10 years) and it’s being perpetuated by people that are supposed to be operating on his behalf and helping him shine (He just won 4 awards and has his own show in the works which allows him to write, write music, sing, act and produce so I don’t know how you can argue they are not helping him shine) So, the question is, why are they coating him in mud instead? (No the question is why do ccers NOT understand that these stories are written by writers-in this case Joseph McCormic (X)- who create content for the specific website. It is the same as Vogue.com, Just Jared, The Advocate, Bon Apetite, Tasty, Buzfeed, and all the other speciality websites that create content for their readers. Writers pitch stories and then do the research or interviews and write the content. If they had to wait for teams to destroy their clients out of revenge, they would never have enough content to publish regularly and if Ricky sent this info to destroy Darren then Meryl Streep and Benedit Cumberbatch’s teams did so as well) THAT strongly suggests to me that they know their time is drawing to a close and they want to break and damage not just his career, but him, as much as they can. (This is a completely illogical idea that Abby started several years ago. Today @ajw720, @Cassie1022 and @Notes-From-Nowhere mentioned it.  Obviously there is a coordinated attempt to gaslight their readers with this trope. Did Abby sending out “cc talking points” this morning like the gop  always does?). The age old, if I can’t have you, I’m going to destroy you so no one else wants you, prophecy. (”Prophey: noun a prediction of what will happen in the future”. Not the right word here, Cassie. “I’m going to destroy so no one wants you” is abuse, plain and simple. If Ricky was actively and methodically destroying Darren, it would be grounds for Darren to break their contract and pursue legal options against Ricky. Let’s talk about Ricky’s contract- RICKY signed it, Darren didn’t because Darren HIRED Ricky. As a manager, Ricky is legally required to work to further Darren’s best interests.  He is not allowed to use his POA to sign anything that Darren wouldn’t sign himself. That is the law. Also you have been claiming this for the last 4 years-either Ricky sucks at destroying Darren, he is doing the world’s slowest destruction or it’s all bullshit). 

As for attempting to fix this mess? Well, I have to believe that there is some type of plan in place (again you have said this for 4 years). Clearly, he needs to clean house on his team and start over. (Here is where this gets interesting because Cassie lays out a plan for Darren to STOP being Darren and turn himself into Blaine Anderson once and for all) He needs to seek guidance from members of the LGBTQ community that have successfully come out and have the right people working for them (He isn’t gay). The replacements need to be thoroughly and meticulously researched and carefully selected. D needs to shed the dude bro douche image (that IS who Darren is) and get back to being the quirky, loveable goofball (Blaine) that makes you (ME) fall in love with him (because it is HIS job to be the fictitious character you fantasize about?). I suspect he knew exactly what they were planning and that’s why he hasn’t sought more career opportunities on his own.(He just planned a wedding, produced a StarKid reunion, is writing scrips, writing music, producing, acting and singing in Royalties and producing Elsie. He’s very busy). Let’s be honest, D himself is the one that secured his most successful career opportunities.(This isn’t something you know anything about. If Darren finds Ricky’s work lacking then he needs to fire him.) The things his team has gotten him are few and far between and generally only agreed to so their bank accounts grow and they get swag (Again a trope that Abby made up and you all just mindless globbed on to but that you would have NO idea who did what)  

The good news is that people, that are not fandom fanatics, won’t hold a grudge (Actually the ccers are the only ones who hold grudges. The rest of us understand that the healthy adult reaction would be to just find another celeb to like. Getting angry, raging and holding grudges when a celeb doesn’t do what you want them to do is what immature and mentally unwell people do) . Sure, he may take a hit with those outside the fandom, but memories are usually short and people are generally forgiving. He may take a bigger hit within fandom, but I believe he’s charming and sincere enough to rebound (and yet you claim he lies to us now every time he speaks so being sincere isn’t high on your list of criteria for being a fan) . Any fans that walk and don’t come back won’t be missed. I also believe he has a strong support system within the LGBTQ community.(Why? Why would the LGBTQ community strongly support him when he has outright lied about his sexuality so many times over the last decade?  He didn’t just avoid questions or give evasive answers, he spoke at length about his being straight, he even brought it up on his own quite a few times. He refused to be honest about who he is in 2019. That’s fucked up. As pissed as you -a gaggle of straight women- are about the Pink comment, imagine how the gay community will feel when they find out that he lied for 10 years about his sexuality and married a women to keep his secret while he was with Chris and he did so simply to keep his career afloat. The LGTBQ community is writing about him in their  “pay to gay” article, imagine the articles that would come out-“a decade in the closet while married to his husband cuz he wanted  to be an A-lister ” or  “Gay but married his Beard to stay relevant in Hollywood: 2019 edition”. According to cc theory, he isn’t closeted because of concerns about his safety or his family disowning him but because he wanted to be an A-lister....he stays in the closet in exchange for not being blacklisted in Hollywood, that is what you guys tell us. But he could come out and still perform- he could act, write, and produce StarKid, he could pursue music, he could do Broadway and be out and proud. He could likely do Royalties.  In fact, once Royalties is up and going, the “He’s closeted” trope is going to have a hard time standing because there will be no reason for him to be closeted).   So many people that identify as queer LGBTQ genuinely love him (Really? How does a straight women with no connection to the LGBTQ community know that? if you are speaking about Ricky Martin, Justin Trantor,  Elivs Duran, and Chris Colfer, you aren’t speaking about “many people”) and that speaks volumes and will be one of the key components of rinsing the mud left on him by team stupid off and helping him regain his brilliant light. If they believed the nonsense his team is spreading about him, they wouldn’t be friends with him (l don’t think any of his friends real CDAN or PinkNews) . The LGBTQ community is a loving, supportive group, but they won’t tolerate people that use them (exactly why they would not support a closeted Darren). If they thought that was the case with D, they would make it known.

All of this makes me so sad for him. He doesn’t deserves the character assassination that’s happening, especially as it’s at the hands of people he’s paying.

ajw720 @cassie1022 well stated. Completely agree.(Of course you agree, these are your tropes -you wrote them all)

notes-from-nowhere. I believe the plan is to discredit him as much as possible. This will make him less believable once he will be able to say his truth.

People is scared, what D may say once free is making them nervous (if that was true then Darren would have all of the POWER and could blackmail them. They certainly shouldn’t antagonize him even further, that isn't how you keep someone quiet. God, this trope is so stupid) and what we are seeing right now is an attempt to do an earlly damage control. Basically someone is trying to take him away his voice. If they successfully make him look like a liar (what have they done that makes him look like a liar? You guys, on the other hand, say he lies every time he talks about himself), an opportunist and a selfish dick, no one will ever take what he says seriously.(That isn’t how it works. Everyone in Hollywood is an opportunist and a dick- nobody in LA would bat and eye)  It’s maybe their lowest and lousy move since the beginning but as I’ve said earlier, none of them is better than this (huh?). This is how they play this game, the difference from before is that now that the end is near, D forced them to show their moves because he is no longer bending (and yet they have been playing this game for10 years now, they can only play it if Darren lets them...why is he letting them?) .

ajw720. @notes-from-nowhere that’s one of the reasons the sham mockery had to happen (more illogical logic). Because many that know the truth think d is choosing this. And that’s how it will appear in the surface when he is able to tell the truth. They want him to take the blame completely. (HUH? Did you have wine before you wrote this? It makes NO sense at all “Many who know the truth believe d is choosing this”???? YES BECAUSE HE DID CHOOSE MIA)

I won’t let that happen. Their sins are well documented.(Oh Abby, please let us know how you “won't let this happen” and please share the “documented sins”. We all know you believe they are sins but I would love to see how you have documented them.  I’ve read your master posts of evidence and they are all the rants of a mentally unfit person. You have NO power in this so claiming you “won't let this happen is utter nonsense. You sound like Trump)

cc-still-going-strong  Don’t forget he still has C and C’s friends. They are a great ally if D ever wants to win back the LBGT’s hearts. And LBGT community will understand the difficulty he has at the present.(This cracks me up- Darren has never been seen in the same vicinity of any of Chris’s friends in the 9 years we have been following them. He never mentioned or Tweeted them- even back we he wasn’t so cautious on sm.  This is pure fantasy- complete made up nonsense. I’ve already argued why the LGBTQ wouldn’t be thrilled to welcome Darren into their community with open arms) 

There is also a lot of his fans love him for who he is only, so that they will absolutely understand when his dark stage is over. 

The only harm he will ever gets would come from Mi/arren stans, but mostly they are love M because of D, not the opposite. 

There will be light waiting for him if he decides to be free from this BS. After all, he still has us and C (Thank god he has you, I love that Chris comes second in that comment).

ajw720. @cc-still-going-strong I think that the fact that C is still solidly by his side, speaks volumes for D’s character and makes an incredibly strong statement that I think many of the LGBT+ community in hollywood see.  (and what do you see Abby that indicates “Chris is still solidly by his side”? I'm super curious because over her in sane-world, we don’t even see a the most basic of indications of a friendship anymore). 

cc-still-going-strong Absolutely. I believe people who did corporate with him and/or know about C and him, will totally understand and support him.

And I strongly believe that C is still has D’s back. When the vid “Gay for pay” outed, C immediately update his Instagram and Twitter, as a distraction - with a video about a caterpillar in its ugly shape, but one day it will turn into a beautiful monarch. He only said #Savethemonarchs as a way to show his support for HIM. (Proving that the tinhatter are not sane. I cannot with this comment. It’s so ridiculous.... I just can’t. Literally WHO was so distracted by a caterpillar video that they forgot Darren was listed in a “gay for pay”? I also love how she totally wrote an entire story behind the post because that is what ccers do- see a caterpillar tagged #Savethemonarchs? It’s not about the plight of global warning and Monarch butterfly survival NOPE is really about HIM and the caterpiller will turn into a beautiful butterfly just like Darren, gag me) 

ajw720. Could not agree more (of course she agrees). That video was so intentional and such an interesting choice to not show the butterfly. Just the caterpillar.(blah blah blah blergh) That’s d and his current state. And d is going to emerge as a stunning monarch.

leka-1998 I’ve always liked that song but (Leka believing life is just a big episode of Glee)

“Don’t let them get you down

You’re the best thing I’ve seen”

is probably my favorite part.

cc-still-going-strong Not only the video but also the song choice.

Still going strong, guys.

[ignoranceisthispodcast]

1# Artist’s Corner: Colossal and The Dangers of Empathy

Hi, so this is the first Artist’s Corner where I talk about my thoughts and opinions about movies that weren’t covered in the podcast. I'm going to start with Colossal by Nacho Vigalondo, which true to the Ignorance is This style – I knew nothing about going in. All I knew was that it “flew under the radar”, the premise was unique and the cast gave me high hopes.

It did not disappoint.

While slow to start, Colossal has a strong fantastical narrative that answers budding questions in a satisfying way. More importantly, the characters are well-developed and believable. Even when they behave erratically or unrealistically revelations in the narrative justify their behaviour with an enormous payoff. I couldn’t praise the development of the narrative more, especially in relation to the themes of abuse and toxic relationships that Colossal explores.

Which drives me to my main point about Colossal, which is how it handles empathy as a feminine device. Often in media women are expected to use empathy as a method to resolve violent confrontation. A women's love or forgiveness can often heal or guide a man down a more righteous path, often at great detriment to herself. An example of this is Padme’s loyalty to Anakin even after he proves to be violent, resulting in her death at his hands. Women in film are also expected to accept their male friends and families controlling behaviour for their “benefit”. This trope is played straight in Blade Runner through Rachel, whose happy ending is only given to her when she lets Deckard take control of their relationship. They become a couple when he pushes her against a wall and forces her to repeat a confession of love to him. This is framed to be positive because it guarantees her survival in the story.

What elevates Colossal from a great story to a masterpiece is how it’s story beats work with its themes to defy these tropes and unveil how toxic and abusive this kind of behaviour is. Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) in the beginning of the story comes across as a friendly everyman that is very generous to Gloria (Anne Hathaway), helping her start her life again. He brings her furniture for her empty house and gives her a job in his bar. And although his reaction to Joel almost kissing her is overly aggressive, the viewer is positioned to see him as an ally and is less likely to question it. Since at this point in the story Gloria has been her own enemy (being self-destructive and just plain destructive!) the audience does not question Oscar’s motives. However, when the narrative starts to shift from sci-fi rom-com to psychological thriller Oscar’s behaviour suddenly comes under scrutiny.

The times he told her she forgot their conversation while she was drunk, become evidence of him gaslighting her. His generosity to her now becomes a means to indebt her to him, and the job offer becomes another way to lord power over her. His aggressive outbursts become characteristic rather than seeming out of character. Suddenly the inclusion of the sci-fi plot makes sense as it becomes symbolic of the main character’s toxic relationship. Oscar threatening to destroy parts of Seoul if Gloria doesn’t comply with his desires, becomes reminiscent of the real terror abuse victims with children face leaving their relationships. The film pointedly follows the usual trope of having Gloria visit Oscar and accept his apology even after he physically harms her. Specifically, Gloria empathises with him, relating her own self-destructive habits to his violent behaviour.

However, reality ensues, and unlike other counterparts that might’ve been “saved” by Gloria’s empathy –  Oscar continues to torment her. He maintains his control over her, forcing her into a corner when she is given the chance to leave so that she to stay. And although she does leave, it’s only to go straight back to him – as a monster in Seoul. It’s at this point that Colossal teeters between defying the trope and playing it straight. Gloria takes control of her monster in order to stop Oscar from threatening Seoul. When she has him in her grasp, he attempts to manipulate her into sparing him and there is a moment where it seems like she will comply, playing the trope straight. But then Colossal defies the trope because although Gloria empathises with Oscar she recognises that her empathy can’t save him. This is punctuated by Oscar lashing out at her, pushing her to literally throw him out of her life.  

Colossal recognises that toxic relationships like this are dangerous and debilitating. Unlike in other films, it does not promote a martyr complex to save the abuser but shows that cutting dangerous people out of your life is important to reclaim yourself. The film does not deny the difficulty of this, an end scene showing Gloria breaking down after her trials, but makes it clear that it was the best possible action she could have taken. The way the movie utilises genre and the narrative beats to convey this message is outstanding, making it well worth the watch.  

[cchie]

Dear future me- Dear best friend- Dear person I hate- :)

Dear future me,Normally, I’d say something like “God, I hope you’re happy”. But where I’m at right now, I don’t need to. I know I’m going to be happy. That in itself is huge progress I never thought I’d make. You’re ideally married to Daniel, have a house, and are working a job you don’t hate. You also probably have a cat or a dog (whether it’s Ziggy or not). I hope you’re back in school. I hope you’ve been doing well for yourself. Don’t forget to communicate with old friends, new friends, and family members that you don’t hate. I hope the ghosts that haunt us have quieted a significant amount. I only wish I could fast forward, but a part of me is super content living these days out. All I can say is, don’t forget these days.Dear best friend,You suck. Jk. You are my very best friend in the world. Without you by my side all these years, I don’t quite think I’d make it. You’ve been there for me in times where nobody else has. We’ve both lived through some of the hardest times in our lives together, both being there for each other and being each other’s escapes. The long night drives, the places we’d eat, the midnight releases of movies we’d go see. You understand me on a level almost nobody else can. Without you, I would not be who I am and where I am today. And for that, I am eternally grateful. I am so proud of everything you’ve overcome, everything you’ve worked hard for, every day you’ve survived. I had never admired someone the way I’ve admired you these past years. I cannot tell you how lucky I am to be so close to you, to see you grow and only continue to grow, and share parts of your happiness. You mean the world to me and I love you. I’m so happy that you’ve found who you’ve found. He’s a fucking weirdo but, he’s your fucking weirdo. And you two work so well together even when it’s hard as shit. Even when he says the stupidest, funniest things, I see how it makes you smile and laugh. And I see the way you two look at each other and it is absolutely unprecedented. I’m so goddamned happy for you that I’m actually tearing up right now and that’s gay. You two belong together. And I’m so glad you two are finally getting married. Dear person I hate,I cannot stand you. I cannot stand seeing you in pictures with my friends. It makes me so fucking sick. What you did to me for those almost 2 years, I will never forgive you. Your trauma and abuse does not excuse you for how you treated me. I was so weak back then and you trampled all over me. Throwing things, punching walls, yelling at me, telling me I’m the reason you’re unhappy, leaving me crying in an argument because you couldn’t “handle” my depression and anxiety, how you jerked off to any other woman you could find or to ads in Craigslist about couples looking for a 3rd person to enter their bedroom, your complete disregard to who I was as a person and your sick infatuation with who you wanted me to be (your manic pixie dream girl), your cheating and your constant lying, your gaslighting, your manipulation, your condescending tone, your forcefulness, how you couldn’t understand the word “no”, your inability to empathize with anything I ever felt, how you lead me to believe you were a good guy with an asshole front, your temper tantrums, your guilt trips when I was already depressed and anxious, you said one time that I would “ruin the wedding” that I already told you I didn’t want to go to because you slept with her, your complete lack of motivation to better yourself and instead wallowing in self hatred and pity leading towards your hatred towards me, when I told you the love I felt for you was no longer romantic or how I imagined love was supposed to feel and I wasn’t quite sure it was something I could even call “love”,  the way you left me crying when I broke up with you and you partied with your friends all night like nothing had happened, the drunken texts you’d send after we broke up, how you hated Josh and Daniel because that meant I wouldn’t sleep with you again, how you desperately tried to make me jealous by reconnecting with your ex, how you tried to make me feel lesser for realizing my worth and being able to move on and find happiness. God, there’s so much hatred in my heart and I fucking despise it because I try my fucking hardest to be a good person and be filled with love and forgiveness (even though there are some people I just can’t do that for). But you are the reason for many of my issues today and out of spite and love for myself, I am overcoming them. So fuck you and everything you ever said and did to me. I hope you rot in your self hatred forever.

[softedgeworth]

Buttercup (3 of 4)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: F/M

Relationship: Miyanagi Chinami | Dahlia Hawthorne/Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright

Characters: Phoenix Wright, Dahlia Hawthorne, Iris, Larry Butz

Additional Tags: Epistolary, Gaslighting, Abusive Relationships, all that stuff dahlia is so good at, Feenie, Letters, letters to Miles, Hurt with eventual comfort I promise you, i couldn’t bear to do otherwise

Summary: I’m her boyfriend, so I should do anything in the universe to make sure she’s never sad ever. That’s what I should do, right? I’m going to show her my love, and save her from sadness. I hope she can trust me someday, because I trust in her. Your friend, Phoenix Wright

Read this chapter on AO3 here.

3. January

Miles,

Dahlia had to go home over winter break. She didn’t call me before she left. I hope she's all right. I called her dorm to ask and make sure she was okay after I hadn't heard from her. They told me she had gone home for the month but wouldn't give me a home number, I begged them and said I was her boyfriend, but they hung up on me. I started crying, but I know you wouldn't be happy if you knew I was crying over something so silly, so I stopped myself as quickly as I could and went on a walk, and decided to write you again.

It is so beautiful outside. The campus is so silent and still, and the snow looked so otherworldly. There were big, beautiful clouds in the sky, but you could still see the stars behind them. While I was out there, I saw a shooting star. Don’t tell anyone, but I wished for you. I should have wished for Dahlia to marry me someday, but I guess I didn't think fast enough. You must be on my mind, apparently.

I know I spend a lot of time talking about my Dollie, but I haven't forgotten about you, Miles, and I never will. I always check the paper for some mention of you, but, I want to hear your side of the story. How are you?

Your friend,

Phoenix Wright

Miles!

She was so happy to see me when she came back! When we met just outside her dorm, she had such a big smile that my heart could have burst! She walked up to me shyly, and I asked her if I could hug her. She said no, not in front of everyone in her dorm, and giggled happily. I giggled too, and we went to dinner. I tried to tell her a bunch of crazy stuff that I saw and heard happened on campus while she was away, but just looking into her eyes would have been enough for me. She is so beautiful and perfect, no wonder I felt so lonely without her over break! I almost couldn't bear to see her go afterward, but I held her necklace tight to calm myself as I watched her leave.

We stayed up late, it's almost 11, so I'm going to bed. I'm so happy she's back with me!

Best,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

I know it's been a while. I've been busy preparing my ten minute one-act for the show we just had. I think I'm getting better, but sometimes it's so hard to tell. We just had the last performance this evening, but...

Miles, she didn’t come to the performance. I let her know about it, and it's been the only thing on my mind this past month. I bought her a ticket. But I didn't see her at curtain call. And when I asked her where she had sat, the part of the theater she told me she was in was completely different from the one her ticket was for. She lied to me.

But I forgive her. I wish I knew why she felt like she had to lie. If she forgot the time or didn't feel up for it, I would forgive her still. She must have lied because she was afraid I wouldn't believe her. I want to tell her that whatever it was, it's all okay and I will always believe her. But what if it was something else? I don’t want to make her talk about something that will just make her sad. Maybe she can come to the next one.

Your friend,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

I asked Dollie on a last-minute date today, just because she was on my mind. After some thinking, she said yes. But when we met up for dinner, she kept talking and I could hardly get a word in, even when I did have something to say. She was really distracted and kept looking around. I tried to tell her a funny story from rehearsal that day, but I could only get a sentence in before she would go on a tangent about what I had just said. It was really strange of her, I almost never see her like this. She must be stressed about her classes already, poor Dollie. I'll have to do my best to support her. I'm really worried about her.

Sincerely,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

I saw Larry today. Larry, his new girlfriend, and I all went to the new pizza place downtown. I'll have to take Dollie there sometime! Have you tried it yet? It's not far from the courthouse.

Larry was talking about how they'd  met, and she asked me if I was going out with anyone. I said yes, and told her how I first met my angel, Dollie. Then Larry asked how we were doing. I guess I must have taken too long to answer. Larry said that he'd love to date someone as sweet and beautiful as Dahlia is. I told his girlfriend that she was just as beautiful (even though no one is as beautiful and perfect as Dollie!), but it was too late. She got up and left so angrily that her cup of ice water spilled all over the table. Larry was laughing at the spill, but I couldn't help feeling bad for her.

Larry is a good person, he really is, he's just...he can be very selfish at times. Maybe one day he'll grow up, but in the meantime, I don't always like to be with him. Do you understand?

Oh, I hope you don’t think I'm a bad person. Larry is my friend. I could never hate him, and I could never hate Dollie or you. You are all good people, and I believe that you just need the chance to show it, whether that means growing up or being protected by a boyfriend or

Anyway, I have some reading to do. School is going fine.

Sincerely,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

Dahlia found out what I told Larry and his girlfriend. She's so modest and pure, she reminded me that we are a secret. She told me to apologize to her and I did, I love her too much and I can't help it if I go blabbing about her. Dollie just shook her head and told me not to show my necklace to the world. I mean, I do show people, but I don’t tell anyone anything much about her. You’ve read my letters! You know I don’t. Right? I never tell anyone anything about her, except of course that I love her and she's beautiful and sweet.

Oh, I guess I tell you. Sorry about that, Miles. I know you're a real person out there somewhere, but I

I'm sorry.

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

I know it’s been a while, because I've been a little busy that I hardly have time to do much outside of sweet Dollie and my classes. Which are going okay, by the way.

I had such a strange day with my Dollie today. She was sad and quiet, in a way that breaks my heart. She seemed distant, so I tried to help her. I asked her if she could help me learn my lines for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is coming up here for midterms. I'm going to be Tom Snout, but I've been chosen as an understudy for Puck! She was really sweet and agreed. It was so nice to hear the lines spoken to me in her refined manner. Sometimes, with her beauty combined too, it's almost otherworldly. Once, she caught me looking at her, and she reached over to touch my arm so gently. I could hardly say a word after that, I kept feeling like her hand was still there on my sweater she made for me, and my arm felt numb. I thought it was a moment worth sharing.

Your friend,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

My Dollie was mad at me today, but I don’t know why. She said I acted stupid on our movie date. But after I got back to my room, she called and apologized. I'm not really sure what I did. I didn’t ask to put my arm around her or hold her hand and I didn't talk to anyone, since she asked me not to do those things. Sometimes I laugh at parts of the movie no one else laughs at, but that couldn’t be it. Could it?

But when she called, she really sounded sad and worried about my feelings. I felt so bad, I started crying. Dollie must be so stressed to snap at me like that. I hope her family isn't giving her trouble. Maybe we'll be able to talk about it sometime.

Sincerely,

Phoenix Wright

Miles,

Larry says hi. I saw him this weekend at one of the parties he throws. Dollie doesn’t like parties, so I went by myself. But I didn’t even look at any other girls, I swear it! I felt her necklace hot on my skin as I went around talking. But I didn’t tell anyone anything about her, just like she asked. I can keep my Dollie's secrets safe.

Larry asked me how things were going with her, and I said we were great. He told me he wishes he was still going strong with such a beauty. I think he's proud of me. I gripped her necklace extra tight, thinking about how much I love her.

When I got home I called her right away like I'd promised. I told her how much I love her. She told me all about a poet she was studying that I'd never heard of before, I can't remember the name, but she told me all about them until it was time for bed. I asked her to read me a poem, but she said she couldn’t find the book. My Dollie is so smart to remember all that! Maybe she'll write a poem for our 6 month anniversary.

Anyway, it's time for rehearsal. Dollie promised me she would come to this performance. I'm sure she'll see the handsome, talented actor she knew was inside me all along. Wish me luck!

Your friend,

Phoenix Wright

///

 Please don’t ask what's on my mind

 I'm a little mixed up but I'm feeling fine

 When I'm near that girl that I love best

 My heart beats so it scares me to death!

 She touched my hand, what a chill I got

 Her lips are like a volcano that's hot

 I'm proud to say she's my buttercup

 I'm in love

 I'm all shook up!

[the-magicians-daughter]

I need my best friend

Im losing a soulmate

I’m too late to save it.

He’s moved on.

I don’t know what to do.

He’s gaslighting me.

I want things to go back to normal.

I hope she is worth it all.

She will leave. She has a partner.

You said you won’t change. But expect me to change.

You won’t work on your projects without me holding your hand

I can’t criticize you but you can criticize me.

You are an alcoholic and abusive.

How did you go from kissing me and wanting to learn how to love someone with bpd to becoming this angry man who wants a divorce.

You’ve become your father. And mine.

You fell in love with another woman and abandoned me when I was down.

She has a partner. She will stop hanging out with you. Her partner expressed that. And then you will be alone. And you will fall in despair and come back to me and I will not accept you with open arms.

I’ve been in lust before and ruined my relationship and never regretted anything more.

Your not supposed to fall in love with your mistress. You have sex with her.

You wanted to work things out a month ago. What happened?

I wanna finish fixing up the house. And the garden. And more teardrop trips.

I don’t want to move Charlie again.

I feel like I’m dying.

You said you would love me forever. That you would never get a divorce. That we have to die to end it.

I remember feeling like how you must be feeling when I was with Armando. The lust. The fun. And it was. But it wasn’t worth ruining my relationship in the long run. It was simply a quick fix for being sad at the time.

Karma.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

YOU ARE NO LONGER MY CONCERN

I don’t want to take care of you.

You’re not my friend

I don’t trust you.

I guess this is where our story ends

I don’t think I even like you. I find you boring. We have no common interests. I don’t enjoy having sex with you. So what was the point?

Our story ends here.

I will never forgive you.

I pity you. You don’t understand how people or relationships work in the real world.

I don’t think you’re a good person. I don’t trust you.

All I wanted was for someone to love me unconditionally and appreciate me. I wanted my happily ever after.

But that, again, was a lie.

I’m not lonely.

I don’t miss you. This feels just like before.

I think I hate you.

How quickly you chose to abandon your home. Your family.

I hope you’ve never been happier.

I wish you would just kill me. Get this all over with.

You’re acting like you want to be 26 with no responsibilities. It’s immature. Are you going through your midlife crisis?

Switched one vice for another. Lust.

I’ve thrown my relationship away in lust once. It wasn’t worth it.

I was ready to make the house a home. Take your last name. Become a true married couple. Start the teardrops. I was sooo fucking ready. It hurts that that isn’t what you wanted at all.

I’m sorry I didn’t show you more gratitude. I’m working on that. I wish I said it out loud more

Rolling in the deep.

You no longer have control over me. And you never will.

I think you’re a bad person. You’re ruining TWO relationships.

We could have had it all. But you ruined it.

Have you changed your mind because you see I can be happy without you.

I’ve felt single for a while. Even with you.

Is it going to last or will it fade like all things shiny.

All things fade unless you polish them.

I don’t think I want things to work out.

You will never change. And you will never accept me.

What’s the song you have listened to on repeat for this chapter.

“Was it obvious to everybody else?” “Yes” wow.

I’m fine with you going to jail.

Gone girl you?! Ha. I didn’t fake 10 years of journals. They were all factual.

What have we done to each other?

We’ve come undone.

You never fought for me. You were never on my side. Ever.

I don’t feel anything when I see or touch you. I don’t desire you. The flame has disappeared with the trust.

To Kathy: I understand now why your mother and your daughter hate you.

I think I’m going to burn the house down.

I don’t love you. And you don’t love me. Why force it?

I hate you with every cell in my body. You make my blood boil.

You’re impossible.

I hope you burn in hell.

You’ve never been single. You overlap your relationships.

You’re sick. You’re insane.

This isn’t going to work. You just miss how you controlled me.

Im happier without you and it’s killing you.

You can’t destroy me. I am the queen.

I went to aa. It was incredible. The support. Please go. Please go. At least once.

I want to hold you. I want to kiss you. I miss your smell.

This next chapter will be hard. But I believe we can make it. I believe in us.

I still love you.

I’m feeling so many emotions. I don’t know how I’m still standing.

You gave me a record. You’re ruining my life.

Wish we could go to all the biff parties and shows together.

Why do you hate me? Why do you want to ruin my life? Is this all about control? Why? Please tell me.

I feel like this is a movie. I’m just acting in it. It’s a role. And I’m waiting for them the say that’s a wrap.

If we’re going to make this work. You need to put effort into. Just as much as i will.

At the film fest on Sunday. They showed a film about suicide. I stood bravely and kept my cool. But afterwards I met up with them and told them my story. They were proud I’m standing and that they need me here. I need to tell my stories. They’re from philly too. Small world. I don’t know how or why I’m still standing. Why I’m being so strong. But I am. And I will only keep getting stronger.

I want to go home. I want my life back.

Are you ready to be real?

I want paradise.

You set me up.

Is control that important to you?

I feel so betrayed. What did I do wrong?

When did you stop loving me? Was it recently or was it awhile ago?

Dido - hunter

You raped me. You raped your wife while telling her that SHE is the cause of your problems. Then you set me up. You put me in jail. You tortured me. And you will probably just continue.

Why didn’t you just kill me?

At least I can see you in my dreams.

What’s next in this betrayal? You actually kill me?

Why am I being punished? What did I do wrong?

It’s time for you to grow up. Stop blaming other people for your problems. Make friends. Stop calling mommy and daddy for everything. Grow the fuck up.

I truly hope she was worth it all.

Are you happy now?

Is this what you wanted all along?

You ruined my life. I want it back.

I think I might just end my life. I won’t be a burden to you. You will finally be free.

You killed me.

This self isolation is the perfect time: sand and paint kitchen cabinets, spiral lamp, jewelry, make crowns, bread baking. Backyard! The router! If you’re not working on the router I’m going to sell all the parts and buy six shih tzus.

I will be divorcing you and suing for emotional distress.

I hope you understand what you did. I hope you learned your lesson.

You ruined my fucking life. My suicidal thoughts are so strong. What did I do? Why are you doing this to me?

I hope your parents die. And give everything to dawn.

Maybe I will kill you. You’re a waste.

I wish I stabbed you. I wish your parents had to set up a funeral for no one to come to.

Fuck you. Fuck you. FUCK YOU!

I’d don’t feel like a person anymore. This all feels like a nightmare.

You’re narcissistic. You’re a gaslighting. You won’t accept you’re a bad person.

You killed me.

I hope you’re happy now.

Go to a new therapist and talk about you. I’m not in your life anymore and never will be.

We’re never getting back together. I don’t love you.

Why would I even choose to be with someone who doesn’t love me, respect me, or cares for me?!

You’re shitty therapist told you to get a divorce. Well you’re getting one buddy.

It’s funny. My therapist tells me to stop talking about you if I do and that you’re not my concern or focus. It’s a shame your shit therapist doesn’t go that.

You have no friends. Go back to nj. Just die.

[emperor-nasch]

On Why I Left the YGO Fandom

I was going to put this under a cut, but read more’s never do what they’re supposed to do on my page, so I’m forced to leave it as-is if I want to post it at all. Apologies in advance because it’s a very, veeeery long post and contains abusive experience and behaviors. And the url of my abuser (I left his accomplice out because she’s a fucking whiny bitch and would manage to yet again verbally attack me for once again putting this fat fuck’s name out there as an abuser).

Also, please don’t reblog. If you have something to say, reply or ask/im me.

So, as promised, I finally got my thoughts collected and I guess?? Somewhat organized?? On what’s been plaguing me for several months now. I know I’m basically beating a dead horse because, by now, I should be over this (because god forbid something happen to me that actually affected me long-term, I’m just being dramatic for attention, right?) but this is something I feel needs to be addressed, for my own peace of mind. So, no better time than the present I suppose.

It’s probably far from obvious, but I’ve been part of the ygo fandom for a decent while - 2011-ish? I watched the original as a kid, but was reintroduced by my now-ex through the abridged series. Along the way I’ve been blessed to meet some fantastic people, no doubt. People I wish didn’t have to see this kind of bullshit coming from me. But some of those people turned out to be…anything but fantastic.

I’m tired of not naming names, out of fear of being accused yet again of starting a witch hunt (since apparently that’s something people reaaaallly like to do these days whenever you have a problem with a nasty creep they consider their best bud and refuse to hear your side of the story) but it’s to the point where I really don’t care what happens. I’m not popular in the fandom, so it isn’t like what I say matters.

There are two-faced, evil people in this fandom and all I wanted (and still want) to do is protect others from ending up in the same situations that I found myself in.

I’m the victim of two long years of mental/emotional abuse and manipulation. My abuser is someone a lot of people probably know of, if not know well, especially those of you from the Chicago area part of the fandom. He does (or did, idk now that it’s airing Wednesdays) livestreams of new episodes. He is an enormous, loud-mouthed pervert and not-yet-convicted pedophile. He enjoys reading, writing, defending, and sharing child porn. He is narcissistic, so deeply in love with pleasuring himself (both literally and figuratively) and taking nobody’s wants and needs into consideration but his own. He is a chronic gaslighter. He fetishizes wlw and objectifies women in general (like any typical misogynistic slob). He think no means yes, and “stay away from me, I don’t want to talk to you” means “please keep trying to contact me, I actually do want to talk, I’m just being silly uwu.” He is someone whose actions have been defended by people who think “he’s just dense” instead of an abuser. His actions and the actions of those who love and adore him are ignored or justified by people who are obviously as like-minded as he is. And he hides behind the ruse of being an all out card game whiz and aficionado so people will never know what he does behind closed doors.

He goes by voices/of/chaos (slashes on purpose, btw), and I know it’s going to either be a surprise or sound like a lie because of how well liked he is here.

Primarily, he’s the reason I’ve made this choice. Him and the people who, despite knowing the kind of shit he’s done to me, still refuse to acknowledge him as the abuser that he is and choose to stand by him and support his actions. The same people are people I thought - and really, truly had hoped - were my friends, people I poured my heart and soul into and let my faith rest upon. Instead, I was given that trust back and basically told to choke on it.

It started when I’d asked to be part of the ygo panel he runs at acen. I thought it would be fitting, with how passionate I was at the time about the latter spinoffs and about things in general. However, I was told flat-out that I was “not good enough” to be on HIS panel because of my biases toward certain series and dislike of others (biases and dislikes he and I shared, mind you). Basically, because I’ve never seen gx and don’t like dm, my knowledge base was not adequate to host a panel. Yet, his gf, who now hates ygo and is stongly biased about certain series (like me), who sits up there pouting, angry, drunk (she was last year, anyway) in complete and utter silence, is definitely qualified for the job. Ok. Sure. That sounds about right. He refused to see how ridiculous the situation was (he was told this by more than just me, for the record) and instead accused me of only wanting a discounted badge - “I can’t give discounted badges to just anyone” emphasis on anyone. That was a low-fucking-blow and was the single thing that made it impossible for me to ever forgive him.

Of course, that was a more recent issue. Going back to the start, our friendship started off with me being almost duped into a poly relationship without my consent or knowledge. I was told they were breaking up and that she knew about it. I was told it was ok. That she was ok with it. What I wasn’t told was that no, they weren’t breaking up, she didn’t know what he was doing, and that his plans were to date me while he dated -and lived with- her. I didn’t find out any of that until way after the fact. To top it off, he went behind her back to try to accomplish this (she was on vacation at the time). I was then blamed for their relationship problems (that existed years before me), for making her hate ygo, for ruining their relationship, and so on and so on. He made sure to tell me this constantly, telling me my name was a ‘trigger’ for her. So now I’m a homewrecking bitch for ruining their 7+ year relationship.

And despite all of this, he actually fantasized (his words exactly, I shit you not) about me and his gf bonding over our ‘hate’ towards him. Like, excuse me? Back the fuck up mate.

If I had a nickel for every time he told me how “important” I was to him, I’d have millions in the bank. But for as much as I was told I was important, I never actually believed him. Our friendship was kept a secret online. No interactions on any social media, up until the end where he got very childish and asinine about it, and then those were only meant to shut me up. I’d asked hundreds of times to at least be tagged in things, at least mentioned half as much as he talked about the other girls in his life. He never listened. I continued to be a secret.

When confronting him on my feelings (because he only ever talked about his feelings) I was always met with rage, destructive anger, denial, unnecessary profanities being hurled my way, utter disrespect. One can only take that shit for so long. Being told how you changed someone’s life for the better in one breath, then being shit on and screamed at and told you’re not good enough in the next, being kept a secret, being denied any sort of important places or duties that he bestowed upon his other girls.

In the end, I was told I was making it all up. “I don’t know where the fuck you’re getting this.” “You must be messed up in the head.” I was told I just hated him and wanted him to suffer. Everything that went wrong became my fault and my fault alone. Actions once considered ‘gross’ and ‘awful’ by someone I considered a friend were now just a result of him being dense. DENSE. Because knowingly fucking with my head, saying I’m messed up in the head, yeah that’s just the density speaking. How didn’t I think of that before??!!

This friend put herself between us, on her own accord, then acted as if I asked her to do it. She claimed she didn’t want to speak to either of us for a while. Of course that actually meant just me because she had no problem joining him for the stupid movie that came out in January or being up his ass on the chat that Sunday. Sure, the movie was pre-planned, but at least try not to make it obvious you’re only upset at me by making sure he’s in the pictures you posted.

I was told I upset her because I ‘guilt-tripped’ her with fears of abandonment. My hands were slapped for daring to upset her, but when I mentioned how bullshit it was to see her out having a good ol’ time with the fat fuck, my concerns were passed off as nothing. As always, my needs and concerns must be pushed aside for everyone else’s.

When I finally got sick and fucking tired of him, I asked him to leave me along and to not speak to me, ever again. Funny, that was followed up by half a dozen messages all lovey-dovey (and passive-aggressive, toward the end). I thought he would have stopped after I didn’t answer the first few. But his persistence (or should I say d e n s i t y ) was incredible. Each message got sappier and sappier. The last one, though, was bitter and angry, after I once again told him to leave me alone for good. “I thought talking to me would be better than talking to no one.”

A few weeks go by. I begin to tell my story. Tell what happened. I’m accused of starting a witch hunt by someone who once tried to help me. She threatened to leave the chat - which stirred the pot big time, everyone freaked out. I threatened to leave, no one gave a fuck. So, yet again, I was made out to be the big bad guy because I upset the ygo princess by talking about the guy who abused me to the point of exhaustion. I didn’t threaten him. I didn’t ask people to go out and attack him. I was simply sharing my experiences with people who genuinely wanted to know what had happened. All it took was one wailing princess to change everyone’s demeanor.

So I did what I should’ve done after this all happened in the first place - I left. Told everyone they could have their safe space back that I was accused of ruining. And ever since, I really haven’t been too emotionally invested in anything ygo.

These people took something that once felt like a niche I belonged in, and made it hostile and unwelcoming. They say the ygo fandom is a fandom full of mentally ill people who are finding solace in something wonderful. For a while, I believed that. I know better now.

For every person that is genuine in that fandom, there’s ten others who are shitty, who make other fans fucking miserable. I was abused, my spirit beaten and broken, and all I got was several kicks in the ass and everyone turning their heads away from it all. This fandom is toxic. This fandom is littered with people who manipulate and abuse and puke their social justice bullshit over something that’s supposed to be enjoyable. It’s a fandom where popular people are exempt from being called out on shitty behavior. Where if you have enough followers, enough of a fanbase, you’re immortal. I can’t change that. The only thing I can do is remove myself and go somewhere that I consider a safe space. And this fandom isn’t it.

There are…exceptions, of course. Those characters I fell in love with prior to this shit hitting the fan are characters that will forever mean the world to me. Characters who I don’t have to associate with these people. I’m pretty sure there’s only one, but one is enough. He’s been my safe space, my heaven, the one thing that for six years hasn’t changed and has always been there for me.

But the rest? Y’all can have it. I don’t want any part of it anymore. All thanks to two rotten ass people who can’t even admit to their own wrongdoings.

As a final note to those of you who I continue to follow here, I promise you aren’t the ones at fault. If anything, you’re the ones who have kept me grounded. I’m going to continue following you guys regardless of my feelings toward the fandom. Thank you for being decent human beings. I couldn’t ask any more of you.