#and how many people just assume because the cops say this guy did it that means he did it

[kariachi]

The dichotomy of true crime is that while one chunk of fuckers involved in it at licking boots like fucking fudgepops, harassing victims' families, and making accusations of people with no evidence, another chunk is sitting there minding their own business aside from going further and further down the 'fuck cops' rabbit hole with every other story they learn.

[sinisterexaggerator]

OK, my main issues with the Bane arc are as follows, while some can be explained away with headcanons or critical thinking skills, lol. Still. They bother me because it left US to do the work and did not properly elaborate on the how or why, or the who these people are even?!

Bane takes his style from a mentor who we don’t see his relationship with him at all yet are supposed to believe he cared about him within his five minutes or less of screentime. Cared enough to take up his hat and his mantle. I get he was left in charge of the gang, but they didn’t show that either, yet his guys come to pick him up once the transport arrives?? Then it’s straight to the Police Station? I have no doubt Bane would look up to someone who gave him a roof over his head when he was homeless and was starving, but I just wish we had seen more. Why he cared so much about his passing.

He ditched his friend right off the bat for a guy he just met. I mean, I guess it makes sense he could do that for his love of credits, and his fear of the cops, but that was the first betrayal, and it was Bane betraying Niro and not the other way around.

Arin was cool enough in her own right but the very first scene we see her she is already holding her stomach like she preggo. She was worried from the outset about telling Bane she’s knocked up, and that’s all she was there for—to serve as a plot device between two men.

The fact she leaves Bane for his best friend turned enemy after they meet one time. Did you even love Bane? And of all the people to marry, why Niro? Is it because of closeness to Bane you chose him? Is it because you didn’t want your child to grow up a bastard and fatherless? Smells like teen pregnancy and a shit situation for a girl caught between a rock and a hard place.

Thug / cop / good guy / bad guy trope with a love interest caught in the middle so cliché and overdone and did not like, tbh.

Why was Bane so delulu about Arin wanting to see him after being in prison for so many years and no one heard anything about her or seen her? Yeah, we can say he didn’t get messages in prison, but really?? No one told him anything??

Niro says she died a few years ago—did she die while “giving birth?” Did passing that huge ass egg kill her?

WHY DID THEY HAVE TO KILL HER OFF SCREEN?

Colby. I cannot get behind the name Colby, I am sorry. I see people’s reasonings for their acceptance of it and just no, not for me.

Why was he already called Cad? Why no backstory as to why he renamed himself Cad Bane? Shouldn’t there have been a lead up to that? It’s literally just a nickname he goes by? How unoriginal. I expected more.

They did not show how he got so good with blasters. Did Lazlo teach him offscreen somewhere? I suppose we’re supposed to guess or use inference here, but not all viewers are that smart HAHA.

Where did he get the accent from all of a sudden? Did he steal that from Lazlo too? Kid Bane didn’t talk that way but all of a sudden young adult Bane does.

The whole “you took everything from me” bit is still kind of a weird thing to say. I know fandom is explaining it in different ways. I just have to assume he means his freedom, his girl, his right to vengeance, his right to choose in terms of Arin stopping him from another duel and that it was stolen out from under him. But that’s not Niro’s fault??

They never explained “why” Arin couldn’t tell Bane. Was it because she was afraid of what he would say? Again we have to assume here. Of course the man would be conflicted, and he’s a known hothead.

Why did they say he got off on a technicality?? Are murderers not given life sentences in Star Wars?? Why not a prison break scene—much more fitting. Lazy writing, imo. But. They only had so much time I guess.

What the fuck was the point of making him a dad?? Are they going to revisit this in the future? Is he going to have—god forbid—a redemption arc?? Is he going to have to face-off against his own kid, and maybe show just how much more of a bastard he is ( hope so )?

This story in and of itself did not convince me of why he is the way that he is. If anything it showed he does care about people, like Arin, and even briefly his “son” before he is turned away. So how does that explain how he is so ruthless, coldblooded, a baby kidnapper, etc? Of course I guess that is up for us to decide, and decide we will. I can only imagine it erodes his psyche overtime, what with regret and all, and that lingering knowledge of fuck I have a kid out there—unless yeah, no big deal. Didn’t actually give a fuck about his girlfriend beyond her being some kind of prize to be won, and he just … writes him off. We can INFER it is for the best; he thinks he would be terrible as a dad; he knows he couldn’t raise the boy for the lifestyle he chose .. but again. Why. Just why. This wasn’t needed.

WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE BOBA VS. BANE ARC. IT WAS RIGHT THERE.

AND IF HE CAN'T EVEN TAKE HIS OWN KID UNDER HIS WING, WHY WOULD HE TAKE UP JANGO'S?? Because he owed him a favor?? So he didn't owe Arin anything then?? HmMMmMM

[no-charity-case]

Let's briefly discuss Crutchy/Crutchie's experience with polio.

Firstly, how do we know that Crutchy/Crutchie had polio, as he doesn't speak about it in Hard Promises, the movie, the novel, or the play?

Well, we don't. The reason for Crutchy/Crutchie's injured leg varies between productions. There are many theories, interpretations, and possibilities out there, but today, we'll focus on polio.

Andrew Keenan Bolger, who plays Crutchie in the musical ("Hi, I'm Andrew Keenan Bolger and I play Crutchie in Newsies"), believes that his 'bum leg' came from a battle with polio.

I've inserted an image of his trading card below: (Yes, this is the highest quality I could find. Just in case you struggle to read it, I have typed out what it says on the image description).

But when did he get polio?

Well, he very well could have got it at any point in his life before Newsies takes place. But, if I were to take a guess, I'd say 1894.

There was an outbreak of polio in Boston in 1893 and a recognised epidemic in Vermont in 1894.

Vermont was an epidemic, so more people would have got it. Just statistically speaking, it was more likely that Crutchy/Crutchie would have contracted it in an epidemic (132 reported cases) than a breakout (26 reported cases) because of his age (children under 5 are most vulnerable to the illness, so he likely got it when the disease could grow better in larger numbers).

It is possible that he caught it before 1894. After all, polio largely affected children under 5 (but people of every age can contract the disease). It was also very rare for polio to develop into paralysis like it did in Crutchie's case.

From the World Health Organisation:

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5–10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilised. Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age. However, anyone of any age who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.

Assuming Crutchy/Crutchie is 15 in the 1899 strike, he would've been 10 during the Vermont epidemic, much older than those at high risk of contracting polio. But, I believe that Crutchy/Crutchie led a loved, nurtured life before joining the newsies (as he doesn't seem to be constantly 'on guard', especially compared to the others).

For him to remember this life, he must have spent a chunk of his childhood living it. Yes, studies suggest we can recall memories from when we were 3 years old. However, Crutchy/Crutchie must have spent a lot of time with his parents to be so positive and, in the movie's case, naïve.

Evidencing this, Crutchy (in the movie) is caught up in the excitement, so he is slow to act (only leaving when Race calls out to him), which leads to him being caught and taken to the refuge. He even greets the Delanceys friendlily: "hey fellas, how you doing?". And he is shocked when they take him away "hey, guys, don't. Hey, what you doing?"

However, Crutchie from the musical is far more cautious during the fight. He tries to save Les and retreats into a corner before the cops come. He then tries to escape but is grabbed by the Delanceys, but he doesn't trust them and attacks them (I will do a longer post in the future analysing Crutchie's experience in these fights).

So, I'd say Crutchy/Crutchie grew up somewhat sheltered (as he is less on guard than the others), but is scarred by the five years he's spent as a newsie. This nicely merges both observations from the fights and could (even though it's a reach) support that he had parents for the first 10 years of his life.

So, where are his parents?

Well, he could have either run away from home (probably scared they'd watch him die) or been abandoned.

I prefer the abandoned interpretation because Crutchy/Crutchie doesn't once reference his family, so he likely regards them as dead (in the metaphorical sense that he'll never talk to them). Of course, they may have actually died (from polio), but we'd be dealing with very unlikely odds.

The most he talks about parents is to say he doesn't need his.

CRUTCHIE I don’t need folks. I got friends.

And he cares very much about the concept of families (referring to the 'newsie family') sticking together. This could perhaps stem from being abandoned by his biological family.

On the rooftop you said that a fam'ly looks out for each other So tell all the fellas from me, to protect one another!

With Crutchy/Crutchie being abandoned (I'm not saying this is actually what happened, as we can only make educated-ish theories on Crutchy/Crutchie's backstory), he could have travelled from Boston or Vermont, as they are both close-ish to New York (y'know, it'd probably take a few days, especially back then, but what did Crutchy/Crutchie really have to lose).

However, I think it was more likely that Crutchy/Crutchie was dropped off in the large city by his parents in hopes that he wouldn't find his way back home. It's quite grim, but it's an interesting thought.

After all, they may not have wanted to let him go, but had to for the safety of younger siblings he may (or may not) have had (in fear that he'll spread polio) or for financial reasons (it isn't free to look after a sick child). They also could have done it from the stress of caring for Crutchy/Crutchie, or for fears that they might catch polio from him.

Crutchy/Crutchie may have attended school (he's definitely literate as he makes his 'strike' cloth-sign thing, and he could be writing with the paint too, although that's not really hard proof he was formally educated). But, someone taught him how to write, and it may even have been his parents, or the newsies, I have no idea when he learned to write.

I mean, if Crutchy/Crutchie was in a low-income or poor household, he likely would have worked himself, thus not going to school. It would definitely support that his family abandoned him because caring for him was expensive. It also adds to this by implying that they may have abandoned him because he no longer financially contributed, so his parents may have grown to see him as a burden.

I also feel that Crutchy/Crutchie must have caught polio before joining the newsies, as they only call him Crutchy/Crutchie. My theory is that he must've lost usage of his leg either very early on or before he started selling, as we know the first name of some other newsies, but not for Crutchy/Crutchie. So, they may have assigned him this nickname at first glance, and he felt so betrayed by his parents that he preferred it to his 'real' name.

This would also imply that he had his crutch before becoming a newsie (although many theorise that Jack saved up to get Crutchy/Crutchie his crutch). But both can be true. He may have initially used someone's lost cane or a deserted wooden slab before the newsies could get him a proper disability aid.

So, to conclude, Crutchy/Crutchie was 10 when he got polio (during the 1984 Vermont epidemic). He had a poor but loving family, and he had to work throughout his early childhood because of this. His polio, as is common in most cases, initially presented as a mild flu, but when he began suffering the rare complication of paralysis, his parents knew it was serious. They couldn't afford to lose the little income Crutchy/Crutchie brought, and they definitely couldn't afford to provide care for their son. As time went on, they saw him as a burden, so they decided to abandon him in New York, hoping he wouldn't find his way back home. Crutchy/Crutchie was heartbroken by this betrayal and didn't want to return. He'd lost the use of his leg by now, so he struggled to move. His parents had deserted him and left him for dead, so he quickly got to work crawling, dragging himself around the city and hopping (swapping his method each time his arms/functional leg got tired) to find food, water, and shelter. He eventually found something he could use like a crutch (like an abandoned cane or a deserted wooden slab), and walked until he saw boys his age who were equally filthy, looked equally homeless, and often joked about having no folks. So, he made his way over and introduced himself, and they took him under their wing and nicknamed him Crutchy/Crutchie. He preferred Crutchy/Crutchie; he was proud of his early quest for survival and felt hurt each time he was reminded of his parents. Eventually, he and the newsies put enough money together to buy him a sturdy crutch.

Again, this is fully theoretical; I have no idea what Crutchy/Crutchie's experience with polio is. However, this is a researched interpretation/suggestion of what could've happened.

I thought this might be useful to writers or those interested in the newsie's potential backstories. I'm always up for a good discussion, so feel free to share your own thoughts.

[slothkittfunsies]

Deep Dive into the issues on Alastor.

CONTENT WARNING: Racism, Aphobia.

Now that I created a blog specifically for stuff like this, It's time for the dive.

Alastor is a character that resonates with me, because this guy is supposed to represent me and my people (aspec/aroace community) and I liked his pilot personality. (That went to shit)

This man got so many issues, that i have to take the pen myself and scribble what Vivzie has wrote. So, Let's start, shall we?

THE DESIGN

The first time I saw the Hazbin pilot, I got confused about what Alastor was supposed to be. I thought he was just a grey human wearing some kind of animal ears until the fandom said he is a deer.

A deer. Let that sink in.

(Images for comparsion)

As someone passionate about the arts, this upset me. Sure, I haven't been to art school, but even I know you need to put the backstory and features in mind when designing a character.

Character design is NOT throwing things at the wall and seeing which sticks. It needs actual critical thinking. If your audience is confused about your character's species, it's time to go back to the drawing table (unless you have a reason for making it mysterious.)

Second, the overabundance of red is awful in terms of color theory. This guy is in Hell, which is also red, causing an eyesore. I got a headache when trying to focus on him on a red background. And also, colors have meaning. People associate red with danger, so the fact he even managed to get victims to kill makes me puzzled.

Also, the fact he's supposed to be mixed/black makes this design even worse. Why is he grey instead of brown, perhaps? Vivzie has a pattern of making POCs grey-skinned, which is, again, awful.

I think Vivzie only made him a POC due to the voodoo issue. I mean, just remove the symbols and you are done. But nah the symbols are too "aesthetic" to remove. So gotta change his race.

She could have used another symbols, like THIS for example:

Since, you know, he's the "Radio Demon"?

THE BACKSTORY

Ok, this where I'm very confused.

Alastor is a radio host, and also a serial killer. He was born in the USA, got killed by a deer hunter by mistake, and lived in the 1920's.

This is what I gathered from being a superfan back then, and it sounds unorganised/cluttered. And the years he lived in make his design even worse. (Again! His clothing doesn't speak the 1920s!)

The fact he's from an old era, and yet speaks in modern slang is weird. He's supposed to hate anything modern, and yet he does it anyway? His saying "fuck" multiple times is so out of character for him. I guess the "If made by Vivziepop" memes have some truth.

Putting the fact he's mixed, makes the backstory more confusing. How did he manage to be a popular radio host at the time before the civil rights movement became a thing? He will have been put down like the rest of the POCs in America. Either that he's white-passing, or it's VERY difficult. Adding the fact he's a serial killer makes me think how the cops didn't get to him (the mere fact he's black should have got him questioned in 1920s America)

Now, for his identity. I'm mad he's the only aroace character in the sea of gays and bisexuals. (I'm not saying gay men and bisexual people should not have representation. I have to say that due to tumblr's piss poor reading comprehersion)

which made me go through on why Vivzie made him aroace in the first place. I don't know if this is true, but I heard she made him aroace because "he only loves himself"

Um. Here we go again with allos assuming we are non-empathic psychopaths for our lack of sexual or/and romantic attraction. I hope that's not true at all, but knowing Vivzie's past, I wouldn't be surprised.

Alastor would have been a great character if another person took care of it instead of Vivziepop. What I'm gonna say is, wasted potential.

[mamawasatesttube]

Sorry, I know you don’t really like people bringing up Jason but I’m very curious. I read Straight on Till Morning several times before really joining Tumblr and I was surprised by how much you seem to dislike him compared to how nicely he was written in said fic. Is it cuz it’s a future fic so he can be more chilled out than in current comics or something?

Feel free to ignore me if you want. Curiosity does not owe me answers.

no worries, i don't mind polite questions! :P

so there's two things. a) sotm was written when the only real comics i'd read were sb94, yj98, tt03, batgirl (2000), and nightwing '96 (iirc - i might be forgetting one or two but the point is, when i was pretty new to comics). at this point wfa had tricked me into thinking jason actually had a consistent character arc that i simply hadn't read yet, and i assumed it would be weird to write a fic where dick, tim, and cass were all around as kon's friends + damian was there being jon's friend in the background, but jason didn't get mentioned, so i worked him in bc i thought that was like. gonna be weird if i didn't, even tho i didn't know what he was doing in postcrisis yet. i mostly just wanted to write about kon and did not yet have the strong "actually i do not care for 99% of post-rebirth comics" feelings i have today. if i were to do the sotm rewrite in my mind, jason would actually still be in his villain to antivillain era because that's my actual favorite era of him. i think it's fun when he's hanging around being like... a vengeful ghost who's just determined to make his problems Everyone's Problem. i'm not really interested in soft angsty daddy's boy jtodd or whatever sdkjfh and that seems to be the most popular version of him i see. it's either soft angsty daddy's boy jason or it's power fantasy cop-adjacent jason who has never done anything wrong in his life and is completely valid in every decision he's ever made. neither of these interests me.

which brings me to b) it's not so much that i dislike jason todd as a character so much as that his fans are so fucking annoying to me. that chapter of sotm? multiple people in the comments were there ONLY to talk about jason, even though the fic is literally about kon and not about jason and he just happens to appear for PART of one scene that chapter. it made me get sick of hearing about him. like theres soooo many jason todd fics out there can you go read those. i want to talk about kon! and i've had people bring him up on my completely unrelated fics too like he doesn't even get MENTIONED like one fic is about clark kon and tim, and someone was in the comments like "omg i bet clark was thinking about jason here" and i was so ... dude. read the room. or the fic even. it is not about him.

but even more than the way a lot of jason fans have this apparently compulsive need to make him the main character of the entire universe, i really can't stand how many of them i've seen spout literal straight up copaganda and/or defense of the death penalty. like they will bend over backwards so hard to defend why he was right to put 8 heads in a duffel bag or why it's morally correct to kill rapists that they start spewing right-wing talking points. and the constant need to make him the perfect imperfect victim ("he's angry and loud unlike GOOD victims--") and all of that just... it really turns me off of 99% of fan content about him that i've seen. it makes me genuinely kind of uncomfortable. like if you think there's a category of criminal that it's okay to execute (without a trial, even) i want nothing to do with you. can you guys just say it's sexy when a man is covered in blood after murdering a room full of people without having to be like "and he was right to do it too!!" because i promise he was not. and if you SAY any of this people will come up with a whole thing about how you must hate victims and/or poor people or some shit. its... really something.

all of that being said - i think there are interesting things you COULD do with his character. i think he can be a fascinating character! with stories worth telling! the family tragedy, the horror story, the vengeful ghost! but at this point with how rancid i find his fanbase i just really only want to see jason takes from people i know will not start spewing copaganda at me + people who i know appreciate tim kicking him in the balls (bc he kicked dick in the balls and tim is a bitch).

anyways. bring back tentatodd 2k25 who's with me

[hekateinhell]

get to know your mutuals ✨

Tagged by @wicked-felina, who I have never seen a day in my life. 🥸

What’s the origin of your username?: Idk tbh! It just came to me when I was making my ao3 account before I ever had a Tumblr. And when I did make a Tumblr, it wasn’t under this name lol I think it was bijouxinthesky. I did recently find a list of ‘alternative’ names for baby girls I made years ago that I had completely forgotten about, and Hekate was one of those name 😭 Let us all give thanks baby Faye never became a young mom.

OTP(s) + ship name: Lestat/Armand, Armand/Louis, Armand/Lestat/Louis aka Lesmand, Loumand, Loumandstat from TVC! I can work with any Armand ship and find something to love in a canon context or just a fun, kinky context separate from canon but those are my ride or die ships that I will always fight for! 🥰

Favorite color: Pink and green, all shades! I want to be in a rose garden all the time!

Song stuck in your head: Work Song by Hozier. It’s one of my all-time favorite love songs!!! (and a Loumand/Loumandstat song TO ME)

Weirdest habit/trait: you tell me Becca :catgasp:

Hobbies: Fandom, writing. I used to bake a lot and it was nice bc I’d have leftovers I could give to my friends and neighbors!

If you work, what’s your profession?: I’m not telling the internet lol but you can do a lot of things with my degree!

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: I wish to not need a job.

Something you’re good at: It sounds funny but I’m weirdly good with babies. I never met a baby, no matter how young, I couldn’t settle. We vibe, babies and me.

Something you hate: There’s so many possible answers to this and most of them are extraordinarily nuanced and complicated so I’ll stick with the simple: roaches and fandom cops—one and the same to me anyway. 

Something you collect: copies of TVC. 😭 If I see a cover or a printing I do not have at the used bookstore or the thrift store, I will buy it immediately. 

Something you forget: too much lol it’s a combination of ADHD and long COVID rest in fucking pieces

What’s your love language?: words of affirmation, I think! I’m very mushy gushy and sentimental with my friends, I don’t ever want you guys to doubt that I love you and I appreciate you. Gift-giving! I love spoiling my friends as much as I can, which isn’t MUCH much, but I try my best and picking out a perfect present that I know will make them smile makes me so happy! Overall, a little bit of everything though! Like I do so much acts of service for my friends in real life like asking them if they need something when I’m going to the store in the area and I know they’re busy, giving them cookies I made because they deserve a treat, taking care of their kids for free, etc. It takes a village, you know? And you build your village by showing up for others. We all take turns.

Favorite movie/show: The Sopranos, Psych, Monk, Goodfellas, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Women, The Godfather

Favorite food: We would be here all night, but let’s just say a good Lebanese lamb shawarma!

Favorite animal: Cats. Hedgehogs. Birbs.

What were you like as a child?: Anxious. A great reader.

Favorite subject at school: English/Reading

Least favorite subject: Math lmao

What’s your best character trait?: I assume the best in people until proven otherwise, it takes a lot to fuck up with me. And I’m extremely protective of those I love and I’ll always worry about them and do whatever I can for them.

What’s your worst character trait?: Related to the first point above lol I do tend to give people too much leeway to the point that they get comfortable taking advantage. There’s absolutely a middle ground to be had between empathy and understanding and lack of self-respect. Aside from that I’m too self-critical, I feel things too deeply to a point where I don’t think it’s healthy (but on the plus side that means that when I do feel good, I feel REALLY GOOD :D). When I get fed up, I do get Fed Up. Executive dysfunction 💀

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?: Every answer I can think of seems so trite 😭 I wish I could meet my parents as little kids to understand what made them the way they are. I’ve also been thinking about the ‘I met my younger self for coffee” trend, and I really like it because it’s a good reminder of how far I did come! I would tell that little girl that one day she’s not going to go to bed afraid. She’s going to have her own apartment with two perfect cats. She’s going to make friends that are like family and she’s going to be an auntie. She’s going to meet a community of the funniest, most beautiful and out-of-pocket creative people that love her and accept her for who she is, and guess what? They also love those vampire books where men kiss each other that we hide from mom! That she might be sad sometimes still, really sad. But it’s not so bad. It doesn’t last, one day she’ll realize that. She can go outside now. And the sun is shining.

ASKSJSHD SORRY THAT ENDED HEAVY but I enjoyed writing it so I’ll leave it, it’s positive anyway 🥹

tagging (absolutely no obligation): @monstersinthecosmos @johaerys-writes @rainbowcarousels @madeofklay @uncivilcivilservice @butchybats @hallowedhaunting !!! 💖

[batsplat]

casey's story breaks my heart. im reading your post about amatriaín and jorge now as well and i just........ these were only kids :( this isn't to assume that all parents/caregivers/people in their lives are negligent and/or abusive but i always wonder who is protecting child/teen/younger adult riders and drivers esp when they are in the highest levels of their sport at such a young age. it seems like, especially in years gone past, there was just so much scope for these kids to be abused. although i remember a couple years ago that clip of a young rider getting hit by mechanics so that kind of stuff isn't even in the past rly.

yeah not much to say really, I mean honestly it's... I'm not going to say every guardian of a professional athlete is abusive because that'd be a crazy thing to say, but I would say that the process that makes these kids so good at what they are does also in many, many cases not reflect particularly well on the parents. tbh a lot of the safeguarding has to be taken more seriously way before these kids even get to a grand prix paddock, but that also isn't easy to do... I can only speak to my own experiences, but as someone who spent a lot of my teenage years hanging around tennis clubs, it is pretty horrifying how normalised parental abuse is in sports circles. it's just something you see all the time - and this is obviously still only the public stuff, the gossip you hear, where you can read between the lines. though honestly, a lot of the times you really don't need to be reading much between the lines. the most extreme example was when a father of a kid I trained with went so far he had the cops called on him when they were at a tournament, but again. obviously this is only the extreme. even a lot of the public abuse is tacitly accepted, and there's a lot of parental behaviour that might not qualify for the 'abusive' label but sure isn't in line with what I view as acceptable. and that's just the parents - you essentially get a lot of cases of them outsourcing this stuff to the coaches, who often get a carte blanche to do with their kids what they please. obviously I'm only familiar with this stuff personally on the juniors circuit, but unhealthy coaching relationships is also a recurring and troubling talking point on the pro circuit. especially in women's tennis you get some pretty horrifying stories. the whole thing just feels pretty rotten

ideally what you've got to do to at least TRY and stamp this stuff out is having a zero tolerance policy - whether it's in clubs or in paddocks. a system of consequences in place where physical or verbal abuse comes with repercussions... I know the risk is you just take this stuff behind closed doors, but to me the starting point problem is that it's also the culture of juniors sports - where if anything treating your kid like absolute shit is almost celebrated at times. you have to make this stuff more shameful. I have no clue to what extent motorcycling juniors clubs look like what I was accustomed to, but in all honesty I reckon you'd see a lot of the same behaviour from parents/mentors - and that at least you've got to address. but obviously that doesn't just like. fix the problem. with someone like jorge, you very obviously did need someone else to step in... but if you don't have very visible, obvious abuse, then how do you enforce that? talent spotters like amatriain have immense power within the system - jorge's father was practically begging this bloke to take jorge on, jorge wouldn't have thanked you for getting rid of him until towards the very end of their partnership, he very likely wouldn't have the career he did without the guy. and it's one of those jobs that (like sports parent) tends to attract the exact type of person you really don't want to give power over kids. again, I'm not saying they're all like that, I wouldn't know, but so many of these managers just have so many stories that raise an eyebrow... even when it's not actively related to how they're treating children, but the fact that so many of them have a history of being aggressive to reporters? the thing is, if they're being awful to these kids in all likelihood we'll never hear about it - but reporters are obviously way more likely to tell people about it. which means that every time I read one of those stories, my main takeaway is that these managers are blokes who will get aggressive when things don't go their way. also not ideal

and below that is a layer that becomes increasingly impossible to even begin to address. I mean, look at casey. I have no reason to accuse his parents of being abusive towards him. I'm not trying to make it sound like I think they're horrible people. and I do think we do always need to be clear here - like yes, I'm talking about a general concern I have here about the relationship between mentor figures and the kids in their care, but obviously that covers a very wide variety of sins. I am not drawing any equivalences between them. there's 'being a bad mentor' and then there's 'having a restraining order filed against you'. so with that massive caveat in place... I agree with you, anon, that I also feel sad about casey's story, and yeah, it makes me uncomfortable

casey does think his parents pushed their dream onto him and ensured that his future would always lie in motorcycle racing... which, I mean. god. if you read him saying it was always his parents' dream side-by-side with him saying they always put pressure on him to work for his dream, then it's just one of those parental dynamics that read as achingly familiar - kids who have been convinced they're doing this for themselves and are then made to feel guilty when they're not living up to their parents' standards. we've sacrificed everything for you, right, you need to make it worth it... casey was told that this was his dream, and the stakes for success and failure were horrifyingly high. he had his entire family's livelihood on his shoulders from age fourteen... his family invested everything into him, told him it was all for his sake- and ensured that he would feel like he was letting them down every time he didn't perform. by some miracle, he had the talent to make it through the system, but think about how precarious his journey was despite being perhaps the most talented motorcycle racer in the history of the sport. how many turning points in his career easily could have gone the other way. for every casey, there are so many more kids who won't make it, and will somehow have to live with the consequences of that failure. and these dynamics... again, I'm not going to label them outright abusive, but think about the kind of stress they place on the parental relationship. idk. it might be a reality of professional sports... parents do often have to sacrifice a lot for their children's career - and given how early kids need to start out to succeed these days, inevitably quite a bit of that desire and drive will come from the parents. but it isn't a reality that sits comfortably with me

so, what do you do about any of this? well, again, I do think you need to do the bare minimum and not tolerate clearly abusive behaviour in sporting environments. which feels like stating the obvious, but this is a low bar that often just isn't being cleared. and yeah - that recent example within the motogp paddock of a rider being assaulted by a team member... definitely not going to be a one-off. just feels inevitable that this will be happening behind closed doors, especially when you get to the lower rungs where the competitors have less power and are less likely to be willing to risk anything (+ are also generally younger)

there's other safeguarding measures you could put in place, but it probably won't happen because people just don't care enough. first off, you need a riders' union - an organisation that's there solely to listen to riders' problems and act on them, advocate on their behalf etc. a big reason why young riders simply are not going to report any abuse is that this will almost certainly cost them professionally. you are essentially asking them to cut off their already limited support network, often the people providing them direct financial support or even employing them. if you cannot build up trust by having the mechanisms in place to take action against the abusive party (through cooperation with the series organisers), as well as provide support to the rider, then the reality is that basically none of them would ever come forward. secondly, you simply need stronger regulation of the career ladder. there's too many of these big name talent spotters who just coast through the paddock by having accumulated influence over the years, with zero reason to believe they have their charges' best interests at heart... often former riders themselves, but that's not exactly a pedagogical qualification. look, it's tricky to regulate because the exact roles these blokes play in riders' lives is so malleable and comes associated with all kinds of job titles - maybe you're a rider coach or manager or team boss or something else entirely. but ideally you want a system where certain privileges - like even entry to certain areas of the paddock - has to come along with accepting a certain level of regulatory oversight. make these blokes directly accountable and force them to uphold a professional code, in line with what you'd expect of any other professional who hold power over a vulnerable population. make it clear to them that they're being watched. I also don't think it's crazy to suggest that if you let minors race in a grand prix paddock, you should have some sort of system in place where the series organisers directly and regularly check in with the minors in their care. there will be a lot of behaviour that children do not themselves see as abusive - obviously it's very plausible that they just won't tell you the truth, but you have to start somewhere. motorcycle racing does actually have an advantage over many other individual sports in how centralised it is, how everyone is constantly going to the same location. they would have the power to enforce some of these standards

thirdly, and this is even less likely than the others to gain any traction. ... man, you've got to make sure these kids have options. this is becoming worse and worse the more professionalised sports become, the more they all chase their youthful prodigies... but, y'know, think about how early so many of these children drop out of school, how it's increasingly unlikely they've had the time to foster any sort of other interest (another theme of casey's account, "I don’t know if I was allowed to have any other attraction"). how motorcycle racing is the only thing they've ever known, how it's their whole world. you're raising a group of young people to whom leaving that world would basically feel like dying. it makes the stakes of everything so enormous, it twists these parental relationships, and it also ensures that certain figures have so, so much power over these kids. obviously nobody is forcing them at gunpoint to race - but in reality, it feels like they don't even have the option of walking away. again, this is obviously a massive problem to address that no sport has entirely sorted out, and the series organisers can rightly say it's not their responsibility to make kids go to school. honestly, my first step would be to just... do something about these age limits. they're too low! too many of these kids are too young for grand prix racing! a starting point is to try and make it so that kids aren't being actively penalised for attempting to pursue an education. this feels another area where you'd really want to have an actual union - even to just have someone to talk to. and again, as long as the series organisers let children race, then I do think it's actually also some of their responsibility to look out for them. realistically, a lot of these kids don't actually want to walk away from racing - however you get to that point, it is also very much their dream. but anything you can do to lessen the influence of the worst people in their lives, anything you can do to at least remind them they can walk away... idk. it's the right thing to do. especially for the kids who aren't succeeding, help them on their way out

now look, this isn't a detailed manifesto. I do know that some other sports have implemented similar-ish measures to the ones above but I couldn't give you a breakdown without some research. I'm not an expert on preventative measures for child abuse, and I'm sure some of these could come with unintended consequences I'm unaware of. I also know all of these things range from 'desperately unlikely' to 'never going to happen'. and even if you did, it's really only taking a pickaxe to the tip of the iceberg. or something. to reiterate what I said at the top, I don't want to make it sound like I think all parents of athletes are abusive. I also don't think the mentors are either. I do think a lot of them are... and even beyond that - the way sports is structured, the way the ladder to professional sports is structured, you are going to see a lot of unhealthy dynamics involving very young people in vulnerable positions. and I don't think that's in any way easy to address... but y'know. sometimes it'd be nice if somebody were at least trying. the sport is doing less than the bare minimum. and for every story we hear, there's going to be so so many more where we'll remain entirely ignorant

[scratchpad-sagas]

Daredevil: Born Again -- thoughts on ep. 3

(Note: this has all been written between the premiere of ep. 3 and today, March 21st. Thanks ADHD, for feeding into my procrastination and distraction!]

Episode 3 was pretty good, but it didn't leave me with as many thoughts as Heaven's Half Hour or Optics. It HAS been a minute since I've seen the episode, though, and I haven't had time to rewatch it, so this'll be a little jumbled.

Firstly, I've gotta say... Vanessa? Girl, if Wilson isn't doing it for you anymore, just. Leave. Him. You do NOT have to stay with his ass! *You* have the crown now, girl, YOU run this business! I'm bummed that the villainous power couple from season 3 is going down the drain, but dang I like it that Vanessa is heading the underground show these days! Slay, sister! Get it!

Secondly, I can't recall when exactly it occurred, but... the show started out Wilson and Vanessa's therapy scene with their therapist, Heather, *coming back* from something else. She said, "I'm so sorry, please continue" or "Where were we?"... that's a BIG red flag in my book. Lady, what is SO urgent that it took you away from not only your JOB, but two of the most important patients you will probably ever have? I know that "importance" shouldn't matter, but come on! It's the freaking mayor of NYC and his wife! The Kingpin and his Queen! It's your JOB! What in the world could have been so important as to interrupt an appointment, and NOT be shown on screen?? Idk guys... I'm suspicious.

Oh! I'm even more suspicious of Heather for another reason! Idk if maybe that's just how she is, but when she and Matt were chillin' at his place, the way she talked just... idk. It set me off. She sounded super ominous. Implicative. Like she's hiding something, or has a hidden motive behind her words... but, hey, that could just be me. I've noticed I'm super put-off by new characters, especially love interests or people-of-interest, so it might be that. Or maybe Heather just holds herself like that! Maybe she just talks like that.

Idk though.

"May God hold them in the hollow of his hand"? Maybe I'm just too young, but I've NEVER heard that phrase before, and it also sounds SUPER ominous. Especially given who "them" is. Especially!! When Heather said she wondered when Matt would mention his "old partner" (Foggy)!! The way her voice kind of pitched lower when she said that, "I wondered when you'd mention that", it really just tipped me off! Literally, my first thought was just: lady, choose your next words VERY carefully.

She's cool for now, but I'm still keeping an eye on her. 👀

On a different note, the return to legal drama was refreshing!! It always gets me so excited and happy to see the dudes (or... just Matt, now) in their element, kicking metaphorical ass and taking literal names! It's always AWESOME!! Yes!! Use your knowledge and education to take down those in power, who use their power and loopholes to abuse others!! (Another thing I will forever quote, "How dare you underestimate our Foggy!"; Matt, episode 1. Perfect.👌)

I feel for Nicky, though. I know I'd also be terrified making a statement, or taking the stand, or literally anything, in front of an entire precinct of cops! It's scary, whether or not I know they're shady, or in some freaky, Punisher fan-cult (assuming my assumption about the weird flag-skull tattoos is correct).

However!!

Matt!! Ohmygod!! That is NOT ok!! I can't believe he pulled that shit at Hector's trial! He (basically) outed him as the White Tiger when it wasn't his secret to share! Not only did he just potentially stir up a whole new shit storm for Hector *after* the case, but probably put his family in danger too! Dude... I get it, it was a last-ditch effort to help Hector, but will it be worth it? And did Matt make that move solely because it was to help win Hector's case, or was he also being influenced by his... let's say depression spiral after episode 1?

Damn.

Damn, damn damn.

Until next time, I guess. Can't wait to see where this train is going...

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON POWER RANGERS PRIME:

So Rita gave Lauren her own Red suit. Not THAT Red suit, but another one. To fight the VR Troopers. Yeah. But why stop at just Lauren when ALL of her friends can have their own Ranger suits! Like Orion! but he can't have THAT suit. And the only reason I'm not more annoyed about that is because I don't want people to think I agree with homophobic Facebook users.

It's Power Rangers Prime #5!

= Don't worry Orion - if BOOM's handling of Crueger's whole "I was the last of my kind" thing is anything to go off of, there are definitely some other Andresians running around in the most random places

= And yes, that's probably Piggy. No, he's not named. No, he doesn't do anything important. Yes, kind of weird to put him in the "racist against refugees" scene when his show counterpart had a whole scene where he taught the SPD Rangers to not be racist. Alternate universe, I guess. Moving on!

= Something important to note here is that Valentina's the daughter of the mayor of Angel Grove. At least I'm assuming it's important, though we'll see the framing of her issues with the Rangers prioritizes her boyfriend specifically over other aspects of her life

= But don't worry honey you're still my favorite no matter how much the books try to frame you as the most antagonistic of the team <3

= That was a good one, Kaitlin

= LALALLALALALALA IGNORING THE "wow Ryan would make an excellent Ranger" COMMENT AND FOCUSING ON HOW ORION HAS A MACE YET ISN'T AN ANKYLOSAURUS. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING THERE GUYS

= Jun.........man........come on. What did you THINK your cop friend's job was if not arresting people.

= And oh, hey! Look! Yeah! Ranger artifacts! Like the solicits from like...three issues ago said! Please ignore how this raises so many fucking questions about this world, especially when we're not going to elaborate at all at how these things got here or how they exist in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

= God, I think I'm starting to dislike the show cameo stuff even more here than I did in Ranger Academy. Like both show cameo stuff made their respective series' lore more confusing for the sake of a "look, it's that guy/thing you know!" moment, but Ranger Academy's felt easier to brush off compared to how something like WHAT ARE THESE RANGER RELICS DOING IN A MUSEUM feels like something that should be a more major deal than the characters act like it is.

= Valentina is it too early to say you and Ryan can break up now

= Also here's our first really good look at Valentina's insignia, though the specific type of bird being used still isn't confirmed yet. Technically none of their animals have been properly named, even if they're obvious (though I'm still waiting on the explanation for Mark's unicorn)

= Rita: this is what happens when we enforce DEI

= Oh boy, guys, the VR Troopers are coming to the comics for the first time since the 90s! And they're uh [checks notes] committing police brutality and wrongfully detaining refugees

[chevelleneech]

Gonna die on the hill that people are against the possibility of Qimir being an honest bad guy, because he’s not white.

Why? Because Kylo Ren was instantly accepted as misunderstood and secretly caring for Rey, despite there being no brewing romance in their first interactions, and him being a visible dictator and killer. Meanwhile, Qimir hasn’t been confirmed in canon as lying about much of anything.

He didn’t tell Mae who he was, but that doesn't mean he is lying to Osha. He’s seemingly omitting just as much truth from her as Sol is, but more to my overall point, there is no unbreakable law in storytelling that says all antagonists must be liars and abusers

Qimir being honest about what he wants from Osha may be a form of manipulation, but it’s not on the same level as mind control or abuse. He’s telling her what it is or at the very least what he believes it to be, and it’s up to her to decide if she believes him.

As well, his potential attraction to her is being undermined, because again, people can’t seem to believe that a villain feels desire. Despite him saying it is one of many emotions which allows people to use the Force without being Jedi. So given Osha is beautiful, and has a strong power she knows not yet how to use that is clearly enticing to him… why can’t he be attracted to her?

Yes, it’s reasonable to assume he’s done evil before and killed people in the past, but we do not actually know that. And if he were white, I sincerely think more people would be willing to take that into consideration. Yes, Manny is gorgeous and that fact is helping drown out a lot of negative-for-negative-sake complaints, but if Kylo’s behavior can be overlooked so he can continue to be thirsted after and sympathized with, why is no one pointing out the canon evidence that Qimir is being viewed as a villain, yet hasn’t done very many villainous things?

The extent of his crimes, factually, are: impersonation and murder (of one person). Every other murder was a result of what he said in ep6, which is that he did it out of self-defense. And there has yet to be any proof that he forced Mae to kill Indara or Torbin. He pretended to be concerned for her life if she didn’t do it, but only because The Master would drop her as an apprentice. I don’t recall them saying he’d kill her if she failed. At least not until she said she was turning on him.

So all I’m saying is, while Qimir might be framed as the villain due to his preference of using the Dark Side to tap into the Force, that doesn’t mean he is a remorseless character only capable of lying and abusive-leaning manipulation. He might very well just want a pupil, and is hoping to find one in Osha, whom he may also be attracted to.

And disclaimer: I’m not saying people can’t like Kylo or ship Reylo. I’m just saying, he was much more of an evil person, established almost immediately, and still people ship them and feel sympathy for him. Much like they do with almost any white male villain on screen. So Qimir technically not yet being half as bad, should allow him much more grace within fandom, but it’s not. And that reason usually stems from racism.

And I guess I’m pointing this out now, because if my theories are correct and he isn’t the ultimate big bad who wants to cause Osha harm, I already know how that’s going to go down. It feels obvious to me that he isn’t, even though I’ll gladly be wrong because I’m enjoying the show either way. But I know that won’t be the case for most people who’ve already decided they hate the show. They’ll take it as a cop-out to instead focus on an “unnecessary” romantic arc, but again… thus far it’s not a far fetched theory to me. I think Qimir is an antagonist, but not the villain. Which doesn’t make him a good guy, but it also doesn’t make him abusive and irredeemable.

[azrielgreen]

Ok I’m literally just writing down every random thought I have as I progress through the chapter.

1. Eddie the deepthroating king

2. The ENTIRE honeymoon period was just so fucking sweet. They love each other so much I wanna die. I think one of my favourite things about your writing is how obsessed Steve and Eddie are with each other in every single story.

3. Eddie and Steve swapping secrets. Hearing their pasts, especially Eddie’s in more detail was everything to me. My heart just broke for both of them. Obviously what Eddie had done in the commune was wrong but the kid was 14!!! And clearly brainwashed. Neither of them should have ever gone through what they did.

4. Every bit of Jonathan content has me so curious. Not shocked he was dealing. But saying Billy is his friend? Did Eddie make him do this? Was this all part of Eddie’s greater plan? Did he WANT Billy to be all psycho on steroids and hurt Steve??? God I really need to go back and re-read the whole story.

5. I need to know what happened to Chrissy. And with Eddie. With Chrissy AND Eddie and WHO did he stab to get into prison? Again, I need to re-read this whole story cause my memory is shocking so idk if this has already been mentioned.

6. I know it’ll be part of his greater plan but Eddie telling a junkie about the prostitution of Steve probably knowing it’ll get back to Hopper???? (I’m assuming that’s why he did it???)

7. When they were talking about who has dated who I was holding my breath half expecting Eddie and Nancy to confess or something. Maybe I’m crazy for thinking it.

8. JORDAN BEING MISSING??? Eddie you PSYCHOPATH

9. When steve meets the six is he going to notice the lip scar?!?!?!

10. Reading this Billy compared to SS Billy is WILD

11. I spent the whole chapter wanting Eddie’s POV and then when it happened I was so nervous. I’m always just so nervous for whatever bombshell he’ll drop. But no we got the SWEETEST tattooing scene I’ve ever witnessed

12. Wait DID EDDIE ORGANIZE FOR JONATHAN TO MOVE?!???! Did I miss that?? Is that new or am I misreading?

13. Eddie knowing when Little Steve is about to make an appearance!! 10/10

I don’t know what else to say. The way you write is so beautiful. I love every bit of this story. I am most likely going to spend the next few weeks (yes WEEKS cause this story is fucking LONG) re-reading the whole story cause I think I’ve forgotten a lot of details and need to start putting together the pieces of the puzzle

Also is it new that you added a final chapter count of 30 for this on A03 or am I just noticing that now? Cause 30 CHAPTERS??? Are you telling me we’re just a bit over half way????

Ok bye, have a nice day

Sarah??!!😭😭😭🌈✨️this is so so lovely!!! Thank you!!!

Yes, it's 30 planned chapters total now.

Eddie is behind the move to NY for Jon, yes! There's a deleted Prism scene where it's Jon' POV (set after the restaurant scene with Nancy's fancy people and then Steve being wine drunk at Nancy's place) that shows a little more insight into this but its Eddie behind wanting Jon to move away!

The lip scar is a prosthetic Zachary wore to throw Robin off and guide the description towards Jordan.

Eddie let it spread about Billy selling Steve because he knew Hopper would interfere and bend the rules for him, the way Hopper had done many times in the past for Jon. Eddie has Hopper's weaknesses well and truly clocked.

The Chrissy/Eddie story is revealed in Part Three!

Eddie got into a bar fight and stabbed the guy, landing him in prison the first time. It's just an unknown guy whose brother was a cop (or IS he??!)

The Jon - Billy stuff was really fun to seed and there's still a little more to unravel there but essentially Jon was selling steroids to Billy of his own volition because he sort of *was* low key friendly with Billy at the time, but was reporting it all to Eddie ofc. Eddie then knew about the steroids, Billy was the one who wanted the steroids, though, he's been on them since he was 17 so he could be strong enough that no one could ever hurt him again but it's also a source of HUGE shame for him and he'd never admit he used them.

And finally yes, Eddie Munson's non existent gag reflex, we love you!!

Thank you SO much again!

❤️🌈✨️

[marshvlovestv]

I recently witnessed my mother watching the most disgustingly ableist/saneist cop show I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what it was called but it made me sick to my stomach and if I did I honestly might have tagged the title to shame people who watch this shit.

So where I jumped in was a convicted serial killer having supervised visitation with his two daughters. The older daughter hates him so much that she pulls out a smuggled knife and lunges at her dad. In a later interrogation scene, she admits that she wanted to kill him.

Cut back to the father in his cell having a conversation with the big good hero cop guy played by a famous actor who I can’t be fucked to google the name of. The father is begging the cop to get help for his daughter, because she reminds him of himself at her age. First red flag pops up when the father says “She’s too young to be diagnosed but signs can show up even before 18” which… diagnosed with what, writers? You’re describing the diagnostics for personality disorders but what you seem to think you’re describing is fucking… automatic serial killer disorder? Which is not a fucking thing. It’s fucking not a thing, but okay, assuming it is, let’s see how the rest of the scene progresses.

The father implores the cop to help his daughter, to put her on the right path before she *sigh* develops murderer disease or whatever. And how does this asshole cop respond? He says, in this heartless tone, that he’s not going to help the girl. He’s going to wait until it’s too late and then he’s going to “hunt her down, like we hunted you down.” He doesn’t care about stopping her from hurting herself or others, he doesn’t care about reducing harm. He just cares about playing the hero and stopping the bad guys, even if that means knowingly letting the bad guy come into existence first.

(There was then a scene with her mother and another cop lady and they said some misunderstood bullshit about epigenetics and how a loving environment can stop the evil evil serial killer disease from taking over, which fucking duh, TV writers learning about the biopsychosocial model for the first time, but I was so mad at this point that I left)

I actually had to ask my mother “Who is supposed to be the villain in this scene” and she looked at me incredulously like “The serial killer, obviously.” I wish she would stop watching cop shows and true crime and all this ableist Criminal Minds bullshit, I’ve asked her to so many times and explained how harmful it all is but she doesn’t listen. To my mother’s credit I do think she tries to watch these things critically now but what horrifies me is how many people don’t, how many people really think there is such things as mental illnesses that make you irreparably evil right out of the womb because their favorite TV supercop told them so. It’s sickening.

[lordcryosrealmoftrash]

Hi I just watch Companion 2025 and have Thoughts

Cause I watched on a streaming service I went in knowing Iris was a robot, still didn't change the impact in my eyes

Sergey as a person sucks but unfortunately the fact he is an aggressively Russian stereotype you'd see in like the 90s is very amusing to me. The man's first fucking line was PRIVET, you cannot make this shit up

Also it makes total sense for Josh's character to just assume Sergey was a mobster, not just because of how over the top Sergey was, but because Josh is dumb enough to think that means he would be a crook

The difference between how Eli treats Patrick and how Josh treats Iris is insane. Like at the beginning you might not fully realize Patrick is also a robot. It seems like Eli is ACTUALLY USING THE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT part of the deal. I do not doubt that Eli loves Patrick however I firmly believe Eli does still see all other robots, especially Iris (mainly because of how Josh uses her), as lesser

I truly think Iris is seen as lesser because of how Josh is with her. Like the fact Kat likes Patrick but not Iris is telling. She sees Patrick as valid because she can see that he is actually well loved, he is not just Eli's slave. But because of the way Josh uses Iris, she is lesser. By no fault of her own, Iris is lesser because Josh is a gross guy. It actually makes me "understand" the whole body count thing. Not that I support judgment by body count but it's made it easier to understand WHY so many people do care

Iris' reaction to Josh saying that the world is against people like him is so funny. Like girl has only had independent thought FOR A DAY and has already been able to determine that he's full of shit

I'm kinda upset how they ended Patrick's story. Don't get me wrong, I love a good "the being who is supposed to be devoid of love does remember their love" but the way the movie was going it made it feel like a cop out. The whole film was about the genuine issues with Iris and Patrick's programming, how Iris had to effectively work with and against her programming to survive. Her being able to get through to Patrick because of "true love" just didn't fit with the vibe

Also Iris describing real human emotions and Josh waving it off as programming vs Patrick doing so and Eli being so touched is further evidence that ELI DID LOVE PATRICK

Early on, when Iris was tied up and Josh was telling the true story of how they met, for a moment, before finding out what really caused her to do what she did, I genuinely thought "oh Josh is literally so dumb because he was trying to reset her earlier in their room" because he'd cupped her face. I truly had such low expectations for the guy and he somehow was worse

[hellostarposts]

Episode 50 - Foundations

Sampson Kempthrone (That sounds very fancy)

George Gilbert Scott (Three first names, can’t trust him)

Another letter statement from 1841.

Okay but the description of Jonah’s townhouse sounds cozy.

A New Zealand trip in 1841? They’re mega rich.

Henry Roberts? Also an architect?

Oh yes, workhouses! If you work 20 hours a day you’ll be too tired to commit crimes.

There’s next to no difference between prisons and workhouses.

This episode is going to send me into another history rant.

This guy can go fuck himself. Rich fuck.

Turning people into slaves is not making them better. Unions and workers rights did that.

Goerge has a cursed book, because I don’t remember when Litner books were started. Only way to explain the speaking in tongues and sweaty appearance.

An architect being stressed about drawings is lowkey normal.

“An architect’s job is to draw ideas and an engineers job is to tell the architect what is actually possible”

Are these the tunnels that we saw before where they kept measuring the width of the tunnel? And I believe that Gerard sucker punched a guy?

Millbank Prison tunnels^^

Goerge cannot handle criticism.

Sir Robert Smirke mentioned.

Robert has an agenda, and you are simply a footnote in it.

OH Sampson is also an architect. Now that makes way more sense.

September of 1836, is when it happened.

Clack of the cane, made to sound spooky.

Dude just had a hat man encounter. Nothing that bad.

The Governor? Is that the name of the hat man in the 1800s?

Who is Harry?

Paranormal construction methods officially sent me while at the laundromat.

George Gilbert Scott was involved in many of the important buildings in London(?), I’ll admit I have little geography knowledge of the UK.

Supplemental??

Basira came to talk to Jon.

Tim saying that he doesn’t trust Basira while sleeping with other cops is iconic.

NOOOOOOOOO

Omg now Tim is going to gossip that Jon is hooking up with Basira.

Tim did not let Jon get a single word in after. Jon has a corrupt cop girlfriend now, at least according to Tim.

I love how we are not getting into the paranormal architect plot now. All I can assume is going on is that there’s secret cult tunnels underneath all of London. But I would like for it to be more like the tunnels are acting as energy arteries. For like a massive supernatural being. The lack of information on Robert Smirk is not that surprising because records that old are incredibly rare and like if he was just an architect he wouldn’t have been deemed that important. Finally, Tim is iconic as per usual. Also, I can’t wait for angsty Martin because we all know that Tim is going to RUN with the assumption that Jon is hooking up with Basira (possibly in the archives).

An aside, is it actually Smirke? Sometimes I genuinely hate the spelling of names in this.

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

How good of a parent is George Stacy?

Okay, this was going to be part of another post, but it got so long that I decided that you know what? Let's give its own.

I want to make one about Miles's parents and a bit of a preview: 1) Rio and Jeff, while not perfect, LEAGUES better than George, and all things considered they almost deserve a medal for how patient they are about the situation and 2) Part of the reason that post hasn't come out yet, is because I had been trying to get dig some sources about some cultural differences between America vs Latin America, as well as Puerto Rico and the importance of family (because I am not from PR, just to make sure instead of assuming is similar because our countries aren't that far,) and how diaspora also impacts this.

As you can imagine, that's a lot of things to consider, unlike this, that is the equivalent of not-so-well adjust adult in their mids twenties screaming about adult parents because hey, I am bitter and I think Gwen deserves better.

This also will talk a bit about cops, implied childhood neglect, nothing would get too graphic but take this into account.

Let's go!

There are many reasons why I think this, but let's start with the biggest one: Peter's death.

Now, I can't say this is entirely George's fault; if you see things from his perspective, it all makes sense in his eyes.

In his eyes, you need to have a public face when you do this type of job, you shouldn't hide. That sounds dumb, especially when taking into account the type of villains spider people fight, which usually is the type that will try to go to your loved ones to hurt you.

However, he kind of has a point. If there is damage, if someone else gets hurt, even by accident, the person who did should be able to face consequences.

Do police do this? Not really, at least not in most places I had lived, maybe is different somewhere else, but let's not dig too much into politics here. Perhaps in Gwen's universe the police system works; this is a work of fiction with super senses that can travel past dimensions and time, this isn't the craziest thing.

Going back to the point.

In George's eyes, SpiderWoman, at least at the beginning, should give a name, since you shouldn't hide with that amount of power. The guy doesn't realize the fine print because either he isn't aware of it, or thinks the bad guys can be stopped easily enough that the vigilante in question shouldn't worry.

Then, the next time you see her, she is with the corpse of your daughter's best friend; and for how she behaves later; the last friend she has to his knowledge.

Sure, he doesn't have any idea of what happened, but as far as he knows, she killed him. This also checks out with the fact that he believes you shouldn't hide, and go by the book; he probably believes that if she truly didn't do anything, Spiderwoman would have cooperated with the police because is innocent; so if she is running, is because she is guilty.

Could all this be fixed if she had talked to him at some point about this? While she was hugging Peter's corpse, while grieving him, before this all happened? Maybe, maybe if he could have known what was at risk, why she was doing it; and emotions weren't running high, this could have been better.

There is some blame on both sides in this situation, however-

This, is a good indicator of something.

Look, we don't have an exact time of how long has been since Peter died, or when exactly this conversation happened, we aren't even sure how much time has been since ITSV in this instant either. We only know this conversation happened a few months before ATSV, and that's not much.

However, I can't believe this is too recent, anyone feels free to bring me the evidence; but until we have something set in stone, I believe Peter died not so long after Gwen became Spider Woman, if only because the bite and the death of someone close to them are fairly close. And by ITSV, Gwen already has been SpiderWoman for 2 years.

(I don't think it was a matter of days, personal headcanon is a few weeks, since Peter had pictures of SpiderWoman and everyone close to her knew about it, which meant she already gathered a bit of a name in the area. As well as enough for Peter to want to be more like her.)

All of this is to say: It has to be a while, and Gwen is clearly not interested in this topic.

Considering the possible timeline, it has been a while since Peter died; I don't think this is the first time they have had a similar conversation, maybe not with Gwen shouting, but with her preferring to not talk about it, or move on.

Is not that odd; sure, partially because Gwen doesn't want her dad to hate her alter ego, but the fact of the matter is this: Gwen is telling her dad that she doesn't want revenge, she doesn't want to continue chasing anyone. Even if Gwen and Spiderwoman were different people; Peter was her best friend, she was the one who suffered the biggest loss, and she has the right to mourn her friend as she wants.

I understand that George needs to do his "job," and that a lot of people feel relieved when the murder of a loved one is captured; but Gwen is telling him that is not going to her grief, and he clearly hasn't been able to help her with that.

I didn't want to put that image because this post is going to be long; however, when Gwen says she quit the band, he looks a bit unsure at first, and then breaks the news that he feels they are closer to capturing Spiderwoman.

George is trying to bring good news, but the fact that she commented on quitting the band, and this was his first idea to how "cheer her up," shows how much he doesn't know how to help her out.

Can't he help her because she isn't telling him the full story? Yes, but that fear comes out of nowhere? Nope!

I try to do one pic with multiple scenes for this one, it's a trial; hopefully, Tumblr doesn't mess up the quality too badly.

George says "I have a job to do," when Gwen says Spiderwoman may be innocent. Not only this is the truth, George doesn't have all the facts; Spiderwoman was cradling Peter's body when he came by, and she ran away after he pointed a gun at her and has been hostile. The fact that anyone would be nervous at that doesn't come across his mind, let alone; the position she was in with Peter wasn't anything close to lethal. Not to mention that the other students should at least have mentioned, that the lizard try to attack them, and probably that regardless of what happened to Peter was voluntarily or not, as far as everyone is aware, no one knew Peter was the lizard. I doubt they didn't examine his body to figure that one out, considering this is supposed to be attempted murder so they probably checked stuff.

I bet this happens often. Look, I get it, both of my parents are alive but I grew up mostly with one parent for most of my life, and this parent had a very time-consuming job, as well as energy-consuming. I understand that even if we don't know how long Gwen's mom has been gone (though you can guess a while considering she isn't mentioned at all in either movie.) George has a job to do. That being said...Gwen has probably suffered from this; you can see it later in her face, in the fact that her color changes (she was blue as sadness, got warm when they hug, and then went back to blue when he left her.) She probably has to spend a lot of time alone for this, perhaps for a while she was terrified that she would lose her dad forever in a job, considering how dangerous is his line of work. And while it may be the right thing to do for your work/duty, it definitely means he is prioritizing his job over her; Gwen said it more than once, her dad is all she has, and she probably doesn't have an uncle Aaron, even with other living relatives, they are clearly not close enough. If he dies, Gwen effectively becomes an orphan, and goes to the house of someone she isn't close to, blood or not. (Sidenote, hey how are the chances Miles also had the same fear, and both becoming heroes partially, to ensure they can be there for their respective fathers?) Let me tell you a painful truth; even if George has good intentions in doing what he does, none of that eliminates Gwen's pain. If a kid loses a parent in a fire-related accident because the parent was a firefighter and they risked their life, it doesn't mean the kid doesn't grieve a parent just because said parent didn't abandon them like a deadbeat; in fact, if it is for a noble reason, it may make those feelings more complicated and difficult to deal, especially without professional help (that I doubt Gwen has gotten much of.) And I am sorry, but there is a difference even in my hypothetical scenario, because is one thing having a risky job when you have another partner, and in case you have family or friends that can be there for them in case something happens to you. As far as we can see, the closest they had was Ben and May Parker, which is nowhere to be found in the present time. I am sorry, but in my eyes, that's failing Gwen, especially because she is suffering from needing to deal with sudden absences, possible wounds, and scares.

She is giving her big speech as to why she needs to do this after he attempts to walk on her for being salty (which I still feel annoyed at, I think he should have groveled, but WHATEVER, not the point.) And he is trying to justify this as "you need to obey the law no matter what." Look, I understand there are laws for a reason, but laws can be fallible, and in this case, hurt the wrong people. Both in real life and in this moment, if they try to go by the law, things would get worse; Gwen would have her identity leaked, and even if proven innocent, more people would be at risk for it.

The last two pics show the same point but also illustrate the gravity of the situation in different ways. First, George refused to listen to Gwen, despite her trying to explain the situation to him. And btw, the second? that's not when she is masked, that's when she has already revealed her identity, just before Miguel shoots a trap at him. Sure, he may not have pulled the trigger, but that's EXTREMELY close to pointing at her, and let's remind you, he didn't stop because he remembered she was his daughter, he didn't have to point directly at her because Miguel threw a trap to him before it happened; maybe he wouldn't have pointed at her, or truly pull the trigger; however, do I need to say how absolutely HORRIFYING is for him to do this to her?

I know, all of this is happening in a specific timeline of their lives, and doesn't necessarily need to reflect their reality the rest of the time, much less that maybe things were better before Peter's death, or before she became SpiderWoman.

To that, I said: that may be an argument for real life, but this is a movie, normally, you try to show often, things that show you how a dynamic works so you have an idea of what's going on in the character's lives.

(For example, in ITSV, we see in the beginning Miles being late for school, barely getting ready, and talking to a bunch of people before his dad picks him up. While this is a new day for him, it also gives us an idea of what's normal for this family and their dynamics on a semi-regular basis.)

George, repeatedly puts his job over Gwen; there are even other hints in moments I didn't bother to show. And this is not new; as I pointed out, which really is a bad look.

Now, do I think is the worst? No, of course not; I had seen way worse before.

To be fair, this is the defense.

He is interested in what she is doing, and being his idea ask her how the practice went and check on her. Yeah, he didn't know what to say about her quitting, but aside from the guy not being the best emotionally wise (which he looks like Gwen inherited from him, not shocking considering the very likely scenario that the mom kicked the bucket early and may have also had the same issue for all we know,) but he is trying to ask about it and isn't mad for her leaving like that.

I know what you are going to say "WAIT, didn't you put this as a negative earlier?" Yes, and I still think is a negative, however; there are nuances in everything, and if I brought up the bad in that scene, I need to recognize the best. Do I think he should take the hint and drop the topic, at least? Yes, but I say this earlier: He thinks this would help, and in most cases, it does help; a big part of the reason is not going to do it in this scenario is because it makes more messes than anything else, yet if the scenario was exactly what he thought it was, perhaps it would have helped. As far as he is aware, Gwen just wants to drop the subject because she may be disappointed this hasn't been solved already, and the fact that even if it isn't, it looks like the real reason she has become so much angry and solitary.

This one kind of addressed both images, and none of them are big talking points, however, I need to say it: 1) It was HIS idea to ask for a hug, and mind you, asking; maybe is because I am someone who can't hug people they aren't comfortable with, but I prefer people ask me, especially when I am feeling emotional. 2) See how he looks at her, he clearly loves his daughter.

Gwen went to hug him, if he was that much of a horrible father, she wouldn't have done this, let alone as quickly.

I know this one carries controversy, but yes, I believe Gwen is a trans girl, and probably has been out for a while (nope, I don't have sources or similar, just hc based on other clues.) I don't think I can say anything that someone else didn't say already, so I will not analyze why I think this is the case. I will say this; yes, I am aware there is no hard proof in the movie. Yes, I think is okay if other people think her dad is trans, or Peter was, or maybe everyone is just an ally. My only issue is people saying is IMPOSSIBLE to happen, or that is not the case because (insert theory with no hard proof, meaning is okay to believe it, but not to push it down anyone's throats.) With that out of the way; as someone who is trans, I can't say enough about how having a parent supporting a transition is MASSIVE. Especially early on.

He QUITS. Did he wait at the end after doing something absolutely horrifying to her, leaving her in a very vulnerable position that technically, lead her to be in a dangerous position? Yes, it took a while all things considered? Also yes. I consider those factors important, HOWEVER, he decided to quit. While the emotional wounds are probably still there, he is finally listening, and deciding to change for Gwen. Mistakes or not, he is doing the right thing, and is up to Gwen if she can forgive him or not. And she does, which should show something.

Again, it needed a very serious experience, but this was the wake-up call he needed. I didn't show it all, but he says how his job as a Captain doesn't matter anymore, because ultimately he loves her more than his position, and she is at the end of the day, the best thing he has ever done. Not becoming captain, not detaining a dangerous criminal or anything, her. I believe it would have been valid for Gwen if she decided to not forgive her dad, or that they still have a long road to recover; nonetheless, I think when you aren't the one who was directly affected, you need to take into account when someone decides to do the right thing, and turn a new leaf. Is one thing to not be able to move past a betrayal for someone really close to you; and another is hearing someone you know to some degree made mistakes and then fix them. It took me a while (in fact, almost 3 hours; there is another post that is half-done since this was part of something else, but yeah.) While I believe George Stacy did mistakes, he is turning a new leaf, and working to be better. And that's amazing in itself. If anyone thinks that the bare minimum or some of my points were the bare minimum, I think that's fine. My baseline for parenting and judging parents is kind of off, and that's as much detail as I want to give about it. One way or another, I think George for a while, wasn't able to support Gwen in all the ways she needed; he was trying his best, and a few things aren't his fault considering the circumstances. However, Gwen definitely needs more than him. Next, Gwen's possibly wanting a mom, and the role Jess plays in all of this.

[trollprincess]

Who wants to hear more town council drama?

(Before I start, I should note both of these people are Republicans. That is not why they are assholes, it’s just a symptom of them being assholes.)

Okay, SO. First, the awful woman we all hate. She’s making her plea next month, not this month, and part of that plea is she has to resign from council. I asked my mom if she’ll have to give a resignation speech during the council meeting prior to the plea and she said maybe. I assume it’s going to be like the speech she made where she said she’s so important that everyone is out to get her, but whatever.

Anyway, my mom wants her to go to prison (she DID commit a federal felony, God knows, and a previous town employee who embezzled a a similar amount years ago got six months); I don’t want *anyone* to go to jail, I just want her to lose her job on the council and maybe whatever other job she might have. Oh, and maybe not show her face in public. Have some shame for a change.

Speaking of, one of her teenage sons got in trouble for beating up a queer kid at the high school, so apparently we’re just carrying on THAT asshaberdashery into the next generation.

And then there’s the town council president. Well, the new one.

This is the guy who threatened my mom in email. She’s got the email. She could sue, but it’s not worth it. And because she’s got the evidence and he knows it, he isn’t crying slander. It turns out he also threatened ANOTHER council member as well. Now, I don’t know how many people on the council knew or if they knew before they voted him in to be president, but I am shocked - SHOCKED I TELL YOU - that a former NYPD cop is threatening people and getting away with it.

Anyway, my downstairs neighbor is an older guy who does a lot of stuff around town - helping clear snow after storms, cleaning up after parades, volunteering as a firefighter - so he’s dealt with the town council for decades. He stopped me the other day to say he’s sorry my mom had to quit, but he totally understands why because this is the worst-behaved the council’s ever been. So it’s nice to know we’re not exaggerating anything, they really are this terrible.

But it doesn’t matter anymore, because my mom’s more relaxed and painting stuff on rocks for fun and SO happy not to have to deal with this crap anymore.

Small town drama! It’s … yeah.