#and in ways that are realistic

[1eos]

its really funny you say the author drew from real life bc recently one of her negative reviews got a lil bit of attention on tik tok for that book & it just tears into her for basically writing a self insert among other things.

i got this ask a few days ago and didnt quite get it but finishing the book and reading the reviews i get it now......it seems that the more you know of rfk the more you'll hate yellowface 😭😭😭 which is interesting....the main valid criticism ive seen so far is that she's been accused of colorism and her self insert was too and it was hand waved away....like that's weird....that's suspicious. and i get what ppl are trying to say...rfk uhhhh poking fun at her critics is annoying and i guess i could see it as trying to change the narrative or point the finger in a different direction but the themes in yellowface aren't wrong? and i don't think an author having a self-insert is inherently bad? at least not in this case....

like. at the start of the novel athena is propped up to be a saint after death even tho no one liked her and then it was revealed she leeches off pain. not good. but she also was a victim of the singular minority thing in publishing but she also didnt go out of her way to uplift other asians in writing. she's a complex character with a lot of faults its not like rfk made her a mary sue that was confirmed to do no wrong. so ppl are mad that she drew from real things and is probably putting some of her real feelings into the mix but i feel like every character gets a HEALTHY dose of reaming and what's 'hand waved' away is real life. like? 😭😭😭😭 cassandra clare is a freak and a half and had a booming career. idk ive read ego inflating self inserts and this didnt really feel that way to me bc EVERYONE is painted as in the wrong you know? the critics are right but they also thrive on negativity. the writers are often awful ppl but theyre also victims of hate mobs. twitter hate mobs are trying to uphold morality bc theyre stupid and twist moral causes into reasons to be hateful. etc. its hard for me to say that rfk was poking fun at anyone specifically just the industry itself...and it is a fucking goofy racist mess lol but i guess it can be seen as hypocritical to critical of the system you're a part of even tho thats the only way u can get critique

scrolling thru more 1 star/2 star reviews i see ppl saying the quippy more fun writing isnt for them which is fine. totally valid. but im seeing a lot of ppl be like 'the characters are ridiculous' and l i think a lot of ppl hate that june is like obliviously racist towards asian ppl the whole way thru and doesn't 'learn'. but i mean that's real life. a lot of white liberals are racist and never want to admit it bc they believe they're good. i dont even think rfk went TOO overboard. that rambly compliments turning into racism thing is just what white ppl do 😭 i saw a few other ppl be like 'why is this book so confused w twitter spats' like?????? are u aware of how writers are now????? they are terminally online and they do weird stunts and actually a yter i like has a series called authors behaving badly and a lot of them are....terminally online white women

anyways reading the negative reviews has been interesting.............theyre REALLY mad abt the self insertism kalgklgkagklglkakglaklkglkgak like damn y'all better not lift from real life for a character or the readers WILL be mad. personally as long as its not egregious or playing the victim i don't mind bc im messy LMAO

[wanderingibon]

anya deserved so much better

[ink-the-artist]

whats wrong with my dog bruh 😂😭

[romtoss]

squilf

[thereweredragonshere]

Idiot moron dumbass forgets to eat and sleep for like three days. Passes out like a stupid fuck

[captain-flint]

Crowley literally fighting for his life here looking like he's about to throw up and pass out trying to 'hold that thought'

[sysig]

Permission to headbutt: Granted (Patreon)

[mohntilyet]

illario as the grandchild that is most like caterina is something i'm loving to chew on. the grandson that took her lessons to heart the most. kill anyone who sees your face and knows your name, "we are not revolutionaries", the first out of the two to prioritise the contract. power at any cost, and the only one to lean into the unnecessary abuse that their grandmother told them was tradition. why is anyone surprised he allied with the venatori? and then there's illario's considerable skill in infiltration and manipulating any mark, he has always had the charisma that lucanis lacked. illario isn't attached, he has/can/will use someone and immediately drop them; "that does free me from promises i don't intend to keep". he can lie about how much he cares so well that he fools a magister into believing he loves her. he kills zara without hesitation to cover his own tracks, meanwhile lucanis blindly promises a young girl in the middle of a siege that he will help her find her father. even the lessons about family stick with him, and in this entire messy power struggle, he never actually orders anyone to directly kill caterina or lucanis, not until he's backed into a corner.

and even after all that. despite even lucanis believing illario should be first talon, lucanis is still the better killer. illario is not strong enough to be the brutal assassin caterina needs him to be. so when lucanis seems to fill the role his mother left, grief and love for her dead heir apparent remains, and any of the other qualities caterina needs in her next talon doesn't matter. whatever his mother was, lucanis has to be. what illario does doesn't matter, because he will always be second best to caterina's memory of her favored daughter.

[corpocyborg]

BTW, if you've never had both Loghain and pro-templar Hawke at the same time, there is some FANTASTIC unique dialogue... I wish I could remember the exact wording because I can't find it anywhere... but it starts out with Hawke talking about all the things that Loghain has done wrong in his life and then Loghain says, "I see. Atrocities are your purview alone? You killed every mage in Kirkwall."

[fawfulydoo]

dunking on ai by looking at something it made and going "yeah i could do that but better and tangible" and doing so by exhibiting my artist powers. im gonna add flocking to him so he's fuzzy

[skunkes]

reunion

[gossippool]

so dramatic

[witless-winion1]

A day before the Ithacans leave for war

Eurylochus: My dear sister, may I have a word with you in private?

Penelope: yes, of course, Eurylochus. What did you wish to speak with me about?

Eurylochus: Would you do me a favor...please, can you look after Ctimene? I know we leave for Troy soon, but I’m worried for her health- recently, she’s been very unwell in the mornings, and frequently tired, and if neither me nor Ody are here to take care of her, I fear…just please watch over her, would you?

Penelope, realizing: oh

Eurylochus: …what are you thinking? My queen, you seem pale-

Penelope: it’s nothing, forgive me. Yes, of course I’ll look after her. But thank you for alerting me to her…condition.

(inspired by @notsolonedesert, aka the queen of Eurymene- Aha that rhymes- anyways the comic)

[trans-axolotl]

saw a post the other day that said that psych survivors were overexaggerating and fearmongering for saying that people should be aware that having diagnoses on your record can be a danger + impede your life. and the more i think about it the more annoyed i am. because i think people need to know that there are exceptions to health privacy laws that can make having psych diagnoses and psych hospitalization history on your record risky depending on your circumstances. diagnoses follow you through your health interactions-you do not have to consent to have your information shared between providers. judicial proceedings are also an exception to the HIPAA privacy rule, so for things like custody battles, guardianship, getting orders of protection--the court can petition for medical records. there's so many other situations where even if they can't legally access your information without your authorization, people will require you to disclose diagnoses, records, previous hospitalizations and refuse to give you services/hire you/whatever unless you share that information with them. for example in many states anyone (a provider, a cop, friends and family) can disclose that you have certain psych diagnoses like bipolar to the DMV which then might require that you undergo drivers license review as frequently as every 3 months. my university is actively trying to kick me out right now because i had to disclose my medical record, psych diagnoses, and hospitalization history to them as a requirement to stay enrolled.

and i don't want to scare people or make people think that having a diagnosis on their records is automatically going to mean that it is weaponized against us. because i do know plenty of people who have never faced issues with their records. but i do expect that the community supports the people speaking out about the ways that we have been harmed by diagnoses creating barriers to accessing necessary parts of our life. instead of attacking us or saying that we're lying about things we are currently experiencing.

[nokkiart]

As a long time httyd fan who has been heavily involved in the fandom since the first movie and who has spent years working in the animation industry, I’d like to share my thoughts on the new httyd movie. Keep in mind, this is just my personal opinion and it's completely fine if you disagree with me. I just want to say a little something about all this that really bothers me.

The core reason that Dreamworks and Universal made this film is that it’s a quick and easy cash grab for them. Thats it. They don’t care about telling a good story or making a “better” version of the original movie for fans or even having an accurate portrayal of the characters/story. It’s purely about money. They know that fans of the original film will go see this movie, whether it’s good or bad. And those guaranteed ticket sales are all that matter to the studios. And with Universal, it has the added bonus of being a cheap promotional and merchandising opportunity for the new HTTYD land in Orlando that opens around the same time that the film is premiering in theaters.

And to help the studios make even more money out of this, they are using non-unionized VFX companies around the world to make this film, so that they can get cheaper labor and push the artists to do more that would be against American union standards. The same thing has probably happened with the costuming and fabrication for the filming, hence why the costumes look un-weathered and the sets look cheap. They don’t want to pay for the extra time and effort that it would take to make the practical bits of the production look good.

On top of all this, Dreamworks has already announced that they’re shutting down all their in-house animation projects in favor of using AI and outsourcing projects to cheaper international non-union studios.

With all this in mind, I just can’t support this film and I will not be seeing it in theaters. And I hope that others will do the same.

The only way to stop all these horrible “live action” remakes (which are actually just realistically animated remakes) is to not buy tickets to see them. Money is all that matters to these studios, and if they don’t make any money off of it, then they will stop and try something different. Maybe they'll even go back to focusing on original stories!

That’s the power that we hold as audiences. Our wallets help drive the decisions that the executives make. So support unique storytelling and gorgeous cinematography in movies. Support indie films. Support animators as they're fighting for fair pay and better contracts. But don't support a mediocre shot-for-shot remake riding on the coattails of an already successful film.

And I just want to wrap all this up by saying I have absolutely no hate towards anyone that has worked on the new film. Toothless looks incredible and I know the artists and creatives involved in this project did the best they could with what they were given.

But I also know that those same artists have so many more brilliant ideas that they would’ve loved to be given the creative freedom to do. I just wish hollywood would be willing to take a chance and let them do it.

[vaguely-concerned]

on the one hand I think inner demons could stand to have a bit more romanced rook specific content, but on the other hand the underlying in-built implication that 'yours is the one true voice of comfort and safety in my inner world' is a sentiment and intimacy so way beyond the romantic or the platonic or any secret third thing you could care to name that it makes me lose my entire poor little mind a bit. it's so big and fundamental — near-existential — that in that exact moment at least the distinctions kind of seem irrelevant.

all the people lucanis' mind conjures up along the way are relationships he has that are unavoidably mixed and fraught in some ways even when they're also full of love (they are fraught BECAUSE they're full of love) — the good in them inseparable from things that hurt him at the same time. (it's about: the basic disorganized attachment patterns this poor guy is dragging around with him. careful with those, they're dellamorte heirlooms. what you love also inevitably hurts you and you won't be allowed to have one without the other, you have to surrender parts of your soul to hold on to what little you have left: this is the story up until now.) and the idea that rook isn't that to him — that beneath the fear of wanting them when romanced (which is more its own separate thing because within this psychology, actively wanting something and not just clinging on for dear life to even a meager status quo lest you lose it is in itself dangerous bordering on catastrophic), this is a relationship where there isn't resentment, or guilt, or shame, or dread, or rage, or self-hate, or any of the other emotions that keep him paralyzed, unable to move this way or that. no debts, nothing owed of yourself and your soul's substance except what you can freely and safely and happily give. love and freedom don't coexist — but, I mean, you're almost starting to make me think........... unless...👀👀👀. the unconditional and undramatic 'you are here and I am here with you, you can be exactly how you are right now with me and it's safe for us both even though you're afraid it won't be, I'm not going anywhere' acceptance rook shows him here that he returns to them in the big romance scene, when it's rook who needs it. the way he's just. standing there in the center of it all, like a child desperately helplessly waiting to be found, hiding in the place he hopes you'll know to look first. (rook does know. it's one of the first things they say in there.)

in short the most important room in his little mind palace for the romance is the very first room — the one where rook isn't. where, in fact, rook cannot be, because they disprove the entire structure of the place with their existence and presence in his life. with everyone else he's putting words in their mouths about what they think of him, and rook is the one who actually gets to come in to speak their own words to him — and have him listen. ('he'll listen to you, he always listens to you', 'your voice is a comfort'.) of course rook isn't present anywhere else in there — at the risk of stating the obvious to a tedious degree, they aren't one of the locks, they're bringing the key. in the very finest 'the messenger and the message' sort of way.