#and isn't that just what a monster deserves

[murfpersonalblog]

Castlevania Nocturne S2 Musings - Drolta, Erzsebet, Annette, & Cultural Heritage

Well. Well. Well. I reckon Netflix heard everyone cussing up a storm in S1 about how some random white woman was gonna be allowed to just steal an African goddess' power; like, what in the actual cultural appropriation is this crap, Netflix?! 🤨

So S2 flipped it--DROLTA was the nincompoop who found Erzsebet, and GAVE her Sekhmet's power, OML she deserved to die. 🤦

Annette: "I know why the scales are out of balance. Your High Priestess Drolta has betrayed you. She desecrated your tomb and mummy. Fed your Ba and Ka to a murderess vampire. " Akh!Sekhmet: "Humanity found ways to betray their gods as much as they do each other!"

Drolta got the fleshed out backstory Nocturne SORELY NEEDED for its villain, cuz Erzsebet was bringing NOTHING to this series. She was a TERRIBLY uninteresting villain, compared to Dracula & Carmilla. I hated S1, and S2 was getting on my nerves, too, cuz I was like WHAT is the point of all this!?

human!Drolta: For every suffering, a wisdom is gained.... Show me how to be stronger, Daughter of the Sun! Tell me what I must do, and I will do it!

Drolta was a healer & High Priestess of Sekhmet--who was an old AF goddess/vampire(?) that...died? And was mummified...HOW? Wtvr. So her mummy got stolen by foreigner(?) vampires & eventually sold to the Louvre in France. Drolta was almost killed, but drank the blood of the vampire she fought & killed, to become "stronger" as a vamp.

Invader!Vampire: You think you can make yourself a vampire!? You're not strong enough. You're a feeble woman, serving a feeble goddess. A goddess merely of HEALING! human!Drolta: Sekhmet isn't only a goddess of healing. She is also a goddess of WAR!

Instead, Drolta clearly lost her frikkin mind, and became a zealot. So she spends the next 200+ years making a whole blood cult/coven of vampire fledgling priestesses, looking for the one strong enough to become Sekhmet's vessel/reincarnation & always failing. I think it's cuz the Squad mentioned that the mummy was stolen and Drolta was tryna go hide that. So I guess she NEEDED someone to become the next goddess and restore HER shaken faith. So she wandered the world unsuccessfully looking for the right vessel, until she heard about the crazy Hungarian serial killer Erzsebet Bathory killing kids & whatnot, "the most evil woman in the world, which makes you perfect~!" 🤦 And Erzsebet's evil AF already, so ofc she's like You can make me a GODDESS!? Say less! 😈🤦🤦

So for "170 cycles of the sun," Erzsebet's a vamp guzzling Sekhmet's blood, but she's not becoming a real goddess, cuz she only has the Ba & the Ka, not the Akh. So I guess this explains why she's so flat & hollow, cuz she really has no goal--she wants to be worshiped, sure, and blot out the sun, and kill humans, and ofc she wants Alucard dead cuz he killed Drolta, but other than that she has no motivations--she has a soul (2, in fact), but she's INCOMPLETE without the Akh making her whole, as a REAL goddess. She was already a monster as a human, but as a vampire/"goddess" she's.... Pointless.

Like, Nocturne mentions that she killed kids, but not WHY--but ofc IRL Bathory was apparently tryna stay young bathing in their blood cuz she was vain AF. This Erzsebet has zero motivations whatsoever. But like I said b4, she clearly has a soul. But I ALSO said she was giving me slavemaster vibes, and yep, frikkin called it.

Erzsebet: "You are my servant! Obey me.... I am Sekhmet! YOU are my SERVANT! OBEY ME!"

So I'm glad Drolta turned on her and took the power for herself; I was tired of this heifer since S1. AND she got the tastebuds kicked out of her--so much for being "Invincible~!," LOL.

It serves as a nice parallel for how the French Revolution was also a coup where the lower classes rose up against their weak useless effing rulers, and took power for themselves--only for the Reign of Terror under Robespierre to reveal that absolute power ALWAYS corrupts absolutely, turning people into the very monsters they tried to destroy--a la Maria vs the Abbot.

(So Erszebet wasn't redeemed by love at all--nor was the Abbot. The only one who was "redeemed" was Maria--though I don't think she has anything to be redeemed for; god forbid girls do anything, LOL!) But I digress!

It also has a racial message about how some Black folk really do put their trust in people they think/hope can lead them, who just constantly disappoint & let you down--giving away our power FOR WHAT? Effing idiots voting for evil effing Trump, like wtf is wrong with y'all? But I digress!

Then we come to Annette, who borrows Akh!Sekhmet's power to purify Erszebet & Drolta & reunite the 3 parts of Sekhmet's soul.

I'm especially relieved that Annette wasn't able to become Sekhmet's vessel either. Cuz it's like what Akh!Sekhmet said in the finale:

Akh!Sekhmet: This vessel is weaker than ever. But I must retrieve my souls from this new obscenity. Richter: Where is Annette? Can you send her back? Akh!Sekhmet: She is an interloper in a place where she does not belong.... But so am I.

And what Ogun said to Annette earlier:

Ogun: Gods do not cross into one-another's realm.

Ogun: Old gods everywhere are being forgotten, or misused by worshipers. By priestesses, vampires. Corrupted souls are causing chaos across the realms.

Cuz the ONE who COULD have been the BEST vessel for Sekhmet SHOULD have been human!Drolta, as Sekhmet's original priestess in Egypt--if she hadn't become corrupted by her anger & trauma when the foreign vampires attacked her temple & killed her people.

Drolta: I did this for you! All of this, I did it for you! Akh!Sekhmet: Made yourself into this unclean thing. Filled my temple with atrocities. Fed my soul to a disgusting walking corpse! Drolta: So that you could live again! I thought it was what you wanted! I thought it was what you wanted! Akh!Sekhmet: It is time to balance the scales. Drolta: I thought it was what you wanted.....

IMO, this is actually a WILD message Netflix is sending about the importance of retaining your cultural heritage, esp. for us Black people, who've been so effed up by foreigners & invaders & interlopers in our lands/cultures, that we've completely gone astray--look at that culture vulture Drake making a effing MESS of hip hop right now cuz morons let that fool in.

Cuz unlike Drolta, Annette is not Egyptian, and she doesn't worship Egyptian gods. That's not her religion; it's not her culture; it's not her realm. Granted, she shows far more respect for Sekhmet than Drolta (who'd been led astray from her own birthright, and GAVE IT AWAY to Erzsebet), and definitely more than Erzsebet. But Annette CANNOT be a permanent vessel for a goddess she doesn't actually have in HER soul. For balance to be restored, everyone & everything needs to go back to their proper places--Sekhmet needs to be allowed to go back home to Egypt. Her people/culture's dead now--Drolta was the last one keeping her cult(ure) alive. Duat is where Sekhmet belongs, in the afterlife--NO ONE can be her vessel.

And Annette said in the finale: she's going back to Haiti, to her people--her ancestors/gods. And Sekhmet would have no place there, if she'd stayed in Annette, who's trained in Afro-Haitian Voodoo/Vodun instead.

Cuz like, here I was, being stupid, thinking Papa Legba was Annette's patron god--but he was just the guide pointing her the right way, to the Orisha, Ogun. I assume the 3-headed figure is cuz Papa Legba's the loa of the crossroads--so he looks scary cuz Annette had a choice to make, and feared the unknown. But once she follows Papa & finds the right path, he's a friendly grandpa and fades away.

The parts with Ogun are my freaking favorite.

Annette wields the machete & the shield Ogun made for her, cuz she's been HIS vessel/avatar the whole time, as the Remover of Obstacles. We've BEEN seeing all of S1 & S2 how her magic is power over metals & magnetism; she can turn metals into anything she wants, esp. weapons.--just like Ogun.

And Nocturne doesn't explicitly mention this, but Ogun is ALSO a god of war, just like Sekhmet. But Akh!Sekhmet was RELUCTANT to take Annette as a vessel, while Ogun was EXPECTING her the whole time, and readily blessed her with his protective shield.

Annette & Drolta are mirror images--the right & wrong way to love & serve God. And I frikkin LOVE the poetic cinema of human!Drolta having been an Egyptian priestess highly adept with the khopesh, while Annette's a Haitian priestess highly adept with the machete.

So I'm not surprised that Annette's body was incompatible with Akh!Sek, and almost burned up. The way she absorbed Akh!Sek was violent & scary, unlike the peaceful & loving way Ogun accepted her.

So I'm just glad Sekhmet didn't destroy Annette when she purified Drolta & got her 3 souls back; and went back home to Duat on her own, to rest in the afterlife finally in peace.

[nonightingalesinberkelysquare]

Seeing people outside of the good omens fandom attacking random people in comment sections isn't something I'd expected to see after the horrendous allegations against NG came out.

But it's also something that I can't understand!

Whilst it's never okay to be sending hate over to people who simply still want to enjoy Neil's work (without supporting him financially or as a person), seeing an influx of people who are just.. doing it to say that they've done it..?

Surely if they REALLY cared for what they were fighting so desperately against they'd be out advocating for some sort of change? Donating? Volunteering? Campaigning? ANYTHING aside from sitting on tumblr all day hating on people because they believe they have some weird moral high ground by doing it!

Of course this isn't to say that what neil did isn't absolutely HORRIFYING! He genuinely is THE worst type of person and he deserves exactly what punishment is, hopefully, throwing itself in his direction. But attacking a fandom for trying to find comfort beyond that terrible man is WRONG.

You're allowed to feel sad, angry, disappointed, ect. In neil and in the fandoms that you love/loved ever so much. Nobody should be making you feel as if you don't care for the victims enough. The reality of it is that if you're no longer a neil supporter, YOU. ARE. BEING. SYMPATHETIC. TOWARDS. THE. VICTIMS.

The simple fact of it is that neil gaiman is an EVIL monster of a man, but his work and his characters have stuck with many many people, whether that be through tough times or through life itself. It's not something you can just let go of. You shouldn't feel pressured to just let go of it.

If it comes with time, that's perfectly okay. If it never goes away, I understand and that's also perfectly okay. Just be mindful, that's all. :)

In reality, you just have to find joy in whatever way it presents itself. Have sympathy for the victims, donate to charities, support in whichever way you can. But at the same time, don't deny yourself happiness.

Some people choose not to separate the art from the artist. Some do. Either way it's valid.

In conclusion, LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE

PS: I know this is a long post so I can't help but feel the overall aim could've been lost on some people. I DO NOT SUPPORT NEIL GAIMAN. But I also don't condone bullying towards people who are doing NOTHING wrong. I hope neil gets THE worst kind of punishment allowed within the modern legal system (although in this case I wouldn't object to some sort of medieval contraption to chop his dick off). I do NOT care about a show more than I do the victims and that man won't be getting another PENNY off of me.

TLDR; Neil gaiman is an awful man who deserves nothing but the absolute worst, however, people outside of the fandom bullying others for seeking joy in separating the art from the artist never has been, and never will be, okay. At the same time, enjoy what you want to enjoy whilst being considerate and respectful of all those harmed by gaiman.

[riddle-me-ri]

Jojo asks huh?~ how do these characters handle jealousy? Like their crush being flirted with by someone who is very touchy feely and reader being a tad overwhelmed and flustered. It can be the boys you think would have the most amusing reaction if you want or all of them if you want~ thank you very much:)

a/n: YESH FIRST JOJO ASK LETS GOOO and wee jealousy headcanons to boot lets gooo! Thanks so much and congrats on being the first! I hope I did everyone justice, still getting a grip on them all but having fun while doing it! The list isn't in any particular order…just the order they're in on my masterlist lol and also I didn't quite do all the characters I have listed because I was worried about being repetitive or it was hard to see them jealous, hope you guys enjoy!

Content Warning: small mentions of fighting and threats, nothing explicit or detailed.

How (some) Male JJBA Characters Handle Jealousy

Jonathan Joestar

- He's a little naive at first before he feels any true jealousy if that makes sense?

- Plus even though he does adore you…

- If someone was to get to you first, it's his fault for waiting, and you deserve to be happy…

- But surely you can't be happy with this stranger occupying your personal space so…rudely.

- Jonathan knows you well enough to know when you're getting uncomfortable…

- His skin crawls the way the person is clearly undressing you with their eyes…

- Jonathan tries to maintain his composure…not to embarrass either of you…

- As he calls you over to help you get away from the stranger.

- Jonathan can't conceal his small grin as he sees the look of relief on your face as you dashed toward him.

Robert E. O. Speedwagon

- Speedwagon doesn't believe he has a chance in hell with you anyway-

- He feels kind of guilty for even getting jealous…it's not like he owned you or you two were a couple.

- Speedwagon just…knows you deserve better than him…and most other slimy gents he's crossed paths with-

- Such as one that kept getting a little too close when you went to visit Speedwagon at a pub.

- Speedwagon grits his teeth as the patron attempts to wrap an arm around you-

- You try to be polite, give a laugh, and smile

- Maybe…he's overreacting…no he definitely is…

- It doesn't stop him from keeping an eye on you, though, in case the guy gets too comfortable and takes advantage of you.

- The relief on his shoulders when he sees you heading back toward him, leaving the random dude in the dust with a defeated look on his face.

Joseph Joestar

- Joseph tries to hide but is absolutely shit at it.

- He's the loud, brazen, confident type that can take it or leave it, unless it pertains to family or something/someone he cares about…

- And he really, really does care about you, just isn't sure how to show it.

- But Joseph, sure as hell isn't going to let someone whisk you away while he figures it out.

- If looks could kill, anyone that's even dared to tell you a pickup line would incinerate on the spot…

- It wasn't even a good line, Joseph has a far better one (its not, but it makes you laugh, and that's what counts)

- Some guy tries to wrap his arm around you, oh lookie there, I don't think an arm is supposed to bend that way~

- Joseph rarely ever feels bad…only when you berate him and tell him to cut it out, does he feel some guilt.

- I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of these discussions on his jealousy that he finally confesses his feelings (would be down to write that scenario if they're any takers 👀)

Caesar Zepelli

- It takes him longer to feel that gnawing green monster of envy.

- But when it gnaws it leaves marks.

- Caesar tries to remain composed…who could blame anyone to try and steal your heart away?

- However just anyone wouldn't do, not for someone special like you…

- Caesar challenges the offending person to a battle of wooing~

- In which Caesar shows how to truly win your affections in front of the person interested in you.

- Caesar of course wins this battle…

- Either by true deep feelings on Caesar's part OR because the person trying to flirt with you was utterly ridiculed and withdrew from participating…

- The former is most likely, but Caesar would deny it.

Jotaro Kujo

- Definitely the least jealous out of this bunch…

- He's more annoyed than anything?

- Like can't the dude tell you're not interested…

- Good grief, it's so obvious.

- Jotaro can tell a fake smile and forced laugh of yours from a mile away.

- Jotaro doesn't understand why you don't just kick this asshole to the curb-

- But he also knows you are too kind for your own good..

- If he’s got to come give you back up, he will~

- Jotaro has a way of leaving an intimidating impression on people…

- So maybe just maybe one look at him, and they'll know not to mess with you (cause you're his…neither of you know it yet)

Jean Pierre Polnareff

- Epitome of “do you wanna go, bro?”

- I swear this Frenchman is always aiming and ready to fight for your honor and peace.

- A knight in shining armor if you will.

- Onlookers can't help but assume you two must be a couple…

- Which makes your face even redder from getting so flustered.

- Polnareff gets rid of the “pest” easy enough, and now its back to courting you as usual~

- Polnareff doesn't nor did he ever hide the fact he has a major crush on you-

- These moments of vehement jealousy just further cements that fact.

- Please talk to this Frenchman and get him under control for your sake and others.

Hol Horse

- Hol Horse has no reason to be jealous…he loves all women and well, most women love him…

- He isn't clingy or belonging to anyone…

- You're cute as hell. Who wouldn't want to chat you up anyhow?

- Hol Horse can't blame anyone for trying, Lord knows he's tried and even got you to smile and giggle for him.

- However, he doesn't appreciate you giving that same sweet smile to the fellow at the other end of the bar…

- Hol tries to shake it off, you didn’t belong to him, y'all weren't a couple…should be no issues.

- He can tell you're just being polite to the guy. He's no smooth talker, but at least the guy's got some confidence…

- Hol Horse really has no reason to be getting up from his bar stool and walking over to you-

- It's rude to interrupt, really, and truly, but he can't really find it in his heart to care when you turn your attention towards him.

Josuke Higashikata

- cough cough like father like son cough cough

- He's a hot head, I can see him getting frustrated and irritated quickly.

- Just who the hell does that student think they're doing? Pinning you to your locker like some cheesy romance anime protagonist?!

- Koichi and Okayasu's efforts to restrain him are in vain

- But they're relieved to see you escape from the other student, which slowly dissipates Josuke's ire.

- Josuke is still upset at the idea that he almost lost you…

- Not that you were his to lose, but he really does care about you as more than a friend.

- If he comes across the student later, he's still very likely to tell that student to back off “or else”

- It does make Josuke come to the conclusion he needs to confess to you, and soon…

- (not that you two being a couple would cure his jealousy any better, but at least you'd help him calm down faster)

Rohan Kishibe

- Oh, please, him? The Rohan Kishibe, jealous?

- Of who? Oh, you conversing and smiling widely with that individual at an outside table at a cafe?

- Pfft please, why would he care?

- You're your own person, free to see and talk to who you pleased-

- Acts very nonchalant, but deep down, he's agitated.

- Why would you want to spend time with them and not him?

- Rohan tries to dismiss the thought and carry on with his day

- But the image of you clearly enjoying yourself lingers in the back of his mind~

- He'd like to be able to create such a moment, but for the both of you…

Bruno Bucciarati

- Honestly, Bucciarati is sort of ashamed whenever he feels that green monster on his shoulder.

- He tries to conceal it with the notion that he's just protecting you-

- Which is true, everyone knows how protective Bruno is, the same goes for you…

- However, the motivation to protect is slightly… founded on a different basis altogether.

- Which leaves room for jealousy to fester..

- Bruno is quick to pull you away when a random man gets a little too handsy-

- He's quick to push a man back if he finds the man far too close to you to whisper something…

- Bruno does get rather embarrassed for how brazen he acts…

- Perhaps he needs to take some inventory on his emotions towards you

- (please just accept this man's feelings and love him for the love of GOD-)

[crescenthistory]

hi darling carina! all the congratulations and love and hugs to you <3 can i request an explain for this concept — remus and reader with scars !! i thought it was so beautiful and i’d love to hear your thoughts on it :) thank youuu

my lovely lovely san<33 thank you so much darling! big hugs to you too 🤍🤍

✶・•・✦・•・✶・✶・•・✦・•・✶

i will EXPLAIN this post about remus and reader with scars

carina's 2k celebration

✶・•・✦・•・✶・✶・•・✦・•・✶

unfortunately, one of the key aspects of remus is immense self-loathing, specifically for his lycanthropy

i personally wouldn't necessarily call it insecurity, because it is less so about him being uncertain and anxious about his worth and more him being adamant that he is inherently bad

he's not unsure of it, remus knows that he is bad

(as readers, we know of course that he isn't; but this is his belief)

and his scars are the permanent physical manifestations of his affliction, so remus has felt nothing but hatred and shame for them his whole life

some of them were from the night he was attacked, but most were self-inflicted from his many moons where he lacked self-control and adequate care and support

he believes they are "proof" he is a monster

he will try to hide them and make them go away, while simultaneously not wanting to be too gentle with his scars either because he doesn't think he deserves it

scars being scars, any rough treatment will of course only make them more prominent

and so the evil cycle continues

however, as with most of what remus dislikes about himself, he would be confronted with his own mistreatment of himself if he loves someone who is scarred

if reader is also littered in scars in whatever capacity, he would never want to make them inadvertently feel the same shame he does

because you have nothing to be ashamed about?? (remus take your own advice)

there are so many ways to become a rather scarred individual, so this applies to many different readers

these can be scars from accidents, skin conditions, surgeries, mental health struggles, scarification, etc.

the last thing remus wants to do is harm the people he loves, whether that is directly or indirectly

(if your scars are somewhere only visible to a partner and he finds out a bit into your relationship, he would be kicking himself for not having been more sensitive and careful)

so when he is around someone else who is heavily scarred, especially if he loves them as deeply as he would you, he will have to catch himself

he will have to bite back cruel jokes on his own expense, because it will no longer just be his; he will have to quit rubbing them angrily in your presence; he will have to stop verbally or visually equate scars with monsters

to him, you are beautiful through and through

he is able to separate whatever trauma may have led to your scarring from the scars themselves and just see them as decorations on his ethereal partner – this is the point where bells may begin ringing in his head

if you are in a relationship, remus will do his best to help you with your own scar care, applying aloe vera, sunscreen and any specific medical creams you may require

and when you insist on putting some on him too, well, he has never been good at denying you anything

it would be a gradual process, but by loving someone with scars, remus would eventually be made to accept his own

to care for them, to not bash them at every opportunity, to look in the mirror and not see them spelling out "MONSTER" in white lettering

in general, i believe this is how remus begins his self-acceptance and self-love journey – he tries to shield his loved ones

lily hates her freckles? remus has to embrace his own, maybe even compliment them. james is insecure about his laughter? remus will make sure he laughs loud enough for him to not feel alone. sirius thinks his poor relationship with his family makes him unlovable? remus will learn to separate his father's beliefs from who he is and allow himself to be loved

you have scars? remus loves them with the same ferocity he loves you, even if that means being kind to his own

slowly but surely, remus is "tricked" into being kind to himself by being kind to the ones he loves

gods, i love him

[sunsetconcert]

Y'know what? I was going to write a longer post. I was. But I'll own that. I'll own Black and White with a smile on my goddamned face. I can't believe I entertained this for as long as I did, especially seeing as how I fucking despise N. You want to know where I stand? You want to know why people think N is a hypocrite edgelord piece of shit? Fine, here's my goddamn manifesto.

He talks about Pokemon liberation. He believes that people use Pokemon as tools and that they will become perfect beings once seperated from humanity. Of course, N will still have Pokemon because he knows better, because N isn't like the rest of those humans, he Understands better than any of them. Thus, he will still have his Pokemon to use as tools when he enforces worldwide segregation.

And it would be segregation. While N is stupid enough to believe that people would willingly do as he says just because he's on a dragon, this won't work on everyone. So many people will resist out of basic morality, out of hatred for Team Plasma, or even just for the sake of a good fight. So eventually, N will be forced to lay down the law. Can't have people using Pokemon as tools, right? He's got to stop them. And when he does, people will be seperated from their Pokemon at - effectively - gunpoint.

And yes, it would be worldwide. You think N would stop at just Unova? You think the sort of person who would enforce his worldview by force would stop after just one country?

Hey, let's talk about those Pokemon, shall we? Most media in this franchise shows that people treat Pokemon as family. Some people treat them as pets, sure, but it is clear in many circumstances that people outright adopt Pokemon into their family unit. As children. As siblings. As parents. N wants to destroy this, tearing families apart on a whim because he thinks you, as a human being, do not deserve to have them.

He's Ghetsis in a fancy coat. He has the exact same plan as his father, to disarm the populace and then enforce his opinions and politics on people by means of force. The only difference is that N will do it for "the right reasons", even though it's fundamentally identical to what his lunatic father would do.

I am opposed to this. All of it. I refuse to accept ANY excuse for it. I am opposed to anyone anywhere in all realities who thinks that any of this is okay in any capacity. N is a monster for even considering this as a plan, but the fact that he goes through with it marks him as beyond redemption. I don't give a shit about what he's been through. He isn't Giovanni or Cyrus in some distant office apathetically plotting out how to achieve their goals, N looked people in the goddamned eyes and saw how much they loved their families and friends and decided that he had the right to hurt them.

He's a bad person. That's black and white.

That's my goddamn stance. I won't debate it any further, not with you and not with fucking ANYONE.

Wow, I can't believe some of the old message boards for Pokemon gen 5, especially for the characters. It's full of people saying stuff like: "All the characters are so awful. N is a preachy hypocritical little neckbeard just like everyone else in Team Plasma, the guy just watched Death note once and thinks he is so edgy", like, you're free to not like gen five or the characters, but these comments just seem like they come from people who haven't played the game in ages and are going off incredibly fuzzy memories, or did the whole story of being raised by wild animals and then being taken in and lied to, manipulated by a cult to be groomed into a puppet leader and the inherent pain and complications that come with it just completely go over their heads? As I've heard, N acts a lot like real people who were raised in cults and them got out of it eventually. Not to mention Bianca standing up to her overbearing father or her and Cheren's issues in general, or Hugh's entire reason he is so abrasive despite being a genuinely good person. I just really don't understand what could have been missed here or why anyone would think there's any reason to genuinely hate these characters?

[yashley]

[lord-squiggletits]

Y'know I kind of feel like when Megatron killed Tarn and said 'I want you to spend your final moments thinking of this: that everything you've done has been for nothing' he was kind of self-projecting onto Tarn? Mainly because at Megatron's statue, M and T had a conversation where Tarn explicitly asked if all the Decepticons in service to Megatron died for nothing, if HE did everything he did for nothing. (And I think M even gave an answer along the lines of 'idk I think we basically did'). And then after Megatron killed the DJD and Rodimus teleported in to rescue him, there was that silent moment where Megatron just stared at Rodimus not moving at all before he finally took his hand at the last moment.

It honestly feels to me like for a while, Megatron fully intended to murder-suicide himself. Murder the DJD, his monsters and his creation, and then take himself out alongside them, because he is also a monster. Because he also feels that everything he's ever done has been for nothing.

Goddamn it's no wonder I liked that scene so much LMAO, as someone who thinks villain Megatron > Autobot Megatron, literally one of his key traits is that Megatron basically took his pain/trauma/worldview and used it to lash out at the universe and try to subjugate it to his vision. So the fact that he took his own pain and brutally murdered the DJD while telling them the very same thing that puts him through so much agony is so very deliciously ironic. And a return, however brief, to the Megatron characterization that I know and love.

[supercantaloupe]

What is the antisemitism in TUC season 1? Does it have to do with Wally the golem?/gen

[ID: an ask from an anonymous tumblr user that reads "would love to hear more about the antisemitism in unsleeping city! was a while ago that i watched it and can't remember what you might be referencing but definitely want to be aware of it.]

no, it's not about willy the golem -- i actually think willy is a great addition to the season (even if i wish we got to see more of him), and an indication to me that brennan/the showrunners were definitely trying to be sincere and inclusive. i want to make it clear that i don't think anything antisemitic in tuc is there intentionally; i think it's there out of simple ignorance, which is also why i think fans don't frequently see/comment on it either. but i don't think that's an excuse, either.

my grief with tuc1 is largely centered around its portrayal of robert moses as the villain. especially by making him a greedy, power-hungry lich working en league with bloodsucking vampires. (also his mini is literally a green skinned skull man in a suit. yikes.) here's the thing; i know robert moses was a real life horrible person, who actually was racist and powerhungry etc etc. and i know that robert moses, the real actual person, was jewish. my grief with tuc1 is not that they chose to use robert moses over literally any other person (real or fictional) to be their season villain (though i'd be really curious to know what tuc1 would have looked like with a different villain), but that they chose to take a real jewish person, turn them into an antisemitic caricature, and then only barely add other portrayals of judaism to balance that out.

like, tuc isn't completely devoid of other jewish representation. as you mention, there's willy the golem -- and again, i really like willy, and i love that it's a portrayal of a golem that's faithful to jewish folklore (ie as a benevolent, guardian construct rather than a mindless destructive monster. i am not a fan of how 'golem' is so frequently misused as a generic enemy creature in other fantasy and ttrpg spaces, including other seasons of d20). but as i said earlier, i wish we see more of him in the season, because he's not around very much, and feels a little more like worldbuilding than a full character to me. also, he's not human. jews are people.

the only other human jewish character in tuc1 is...stephen sondheim. which, again, yeah, that's a real person who really was jewish. but i really wouldn't blame you if you had no idea of that when watching tuc1. maybe from the name you could guess he might be jewish, but i don't think people ought to make a habit of trying to 'clock' someone being jewish by having a 'jewish-sounding' surname. as he's portrayed in tuc1, you'd never know he's jewish, unless you happen to already be pretty knowledgeable about the man in real life. it's far more likely you'll know him as a theater legend than anything else (may his memory be a blessing).

now i'm not saying that brennan or the showrunners should have played up the jewishness of Real Person Stephen Sondheim to counterbalance the depiction of robert moses; that just feels weird to me, especially considering that sondheim was literally alive when tuc1 was filmed and released. it's a tricky thing to portray real people in fiction alongside made up characters, especially when they are contemporaries, and i don't think 'outright caricature' is the way to go about that. nor do i think that moses' jewishness should have been played up at all, because again i don't think that would have been particularly true to the person/character, and also Fucking Yikes. but, c'mon, if you hear the names 'moses' and 'sondheim' next to each other, which one do you associate more with judaism?

and as it stands, these are the only representations of judaism in tuc1. one admittedly nice but very minor nonhuman character; one human character you'd never be able to tell was jewish; and a third human character who, while never explicitly referenced as jewish, plays into some really hurtful antisemitic stereotyping. and it was a choice to not include anything else. maybe not a deliberate one, probably more likely one made out of simple ignorance than anything else, but a choice nonetheless. in a city with one of the largest and most visibly jewish populations in the country, and a culture that is inextricably influenced by that jewish population. a jewish population which has been and continues the target of rising hate crimes for years. i know that nyc means different things to different people, and everyone's nyc is their own -- but my nyc is jewish, and it sucks that that its jewishness is referenced directly in only one very minor way, which is greatly overshadowed by its, in my view, really insidious indirect references.

i don't know exactly how to go about addressing this. obviously, the show can't be changed by now. even if it could, i think the final product would be very significantly different from what it is now if the villain was something/someone else. i think including more references to jews in new york, more (human) jewish characters, hell, even mentioning hanukkah celebrations and menorahs in windows (it takes place in late december, after all; depending on the year it's not at all out of place for hanukkah to coincide with xmas!) would help. having literally any more positive jewish representation in tuc1 would, i think, help balance the bad stuff that's there. because, yeah, robert moses was real and he was terrible and he was jewish. but he's one jewish guy in a city with over a million jews, the vast majority of whom are just normal people. i don't want him to be the only vision of us that people get, in tuc1 alone or in any media. i'm not saying that jews can't or shouldn't be villains in fiction; but especially if you are a goyische creator, you should be really careful in how you're portraying us, and if there are other contrasting depictions in your work, too, in order to not (even accidentally) demonize jewish people as a whole.

[necarion]

Thank you for all the quotes! I was wrong about how fucked-up John was about how he dealt with Harrow. God, god is such a miserable, terrible, manipulative asshole.

I 100% agree that Harrow is a traumatized person who needs help and care, and above all, love. She has reasons for all the trauma she has been through. Everything about her home life was awful, and then she was gaslit by God. Her only friend upon ascension is another hot mess.

I do not dispute any point of what you are arguing.

And yet, it remains, Harrow is a terrible person who makes everybody around her miserable. She isn't a monster and has limits, and she absolutely has a chance of becoming better. This is one of Muir's great strengths, showing a traumatized character struggling to overcome it.

But Harrow is fucking awful and made Gideon's life a living hell and pushes everybody away who tries to bond with or help her.

We sympathize with her because Muir has decided that she is worth sympathizing with. And I do agree that she is.

Fucking awful people deserve sympathy and love and a chance to become less fucking awful.*

But then Muir and the fandom give none of this consideration to Ianthe. Who has led a much more privileged life than Harrow, to be sure. But is there any character in TLT who has not lived a deeply, profoundly fucked up life? In this story, in this universe, the odds that Ianthe came out of her upbringing entirely un-fucked is exactly zero.

But, we don't sympathize with her because Muir loathes Ianthe. (Oh, she loves writing her, but she wanted to write a Draco who was worse than Draco, and Rowling clearly found very little redeeming in Draco.) Ianthe does not get because she is an awful person who does will not receive redemption. We are not supposed to find anything particularly redeemable about Ianthe, including her, admittedly very ham-fisted and self-serving, attempts to bond with Harrow. She's going "full-throttle", apparently, by seeming vulnerable (I guess, we're supposed to read it as entirely manipulative?)

Ianthe is a traumatized child, just like Harrow.

But Muir has decided that Ianthe will continue to get worse. Has repeatedly stated that, despite the evidence of the text of a traumatized child struggling with herself, her choices, her inadequacy, her profound loneliness, she is just an awful person who is awful. She does reinforce that in Nona, and I have no problem with a character failing to get better and getting worse. I just have a problem with this attitude that there isn't anything good, anything worth trying to help in her. That her actions and behavior in Harrow weren't a traumatized (and admittedly monstrous) child needing help.

Of course, I'm also delighted to see the next deeply-fucked thing Ianthe is going to be doing, and Harrow maybepossibly being a better person than she was before.

* Note: I believe that every person is redeemable, although I think that not every person will redeem themselves. John could come to understand the harm he has caused and devote the next myriad to making things right. He won't, of course. I do not believe that someone like John, who has had 10,000 years to realize his faults and the harm he has caused, will become better than he is. Harrow, shown a little love and tutelage in kindness and decency? Harrow I believe will become a truly good person, who spends the rest of her life fighting to stay her instinctual cruelty. And Ianthe? Ianthe will be shown opportunities to become better and fail to take them. Ianthe is a tragedy in the classical sense, and I am here for it.

A big reason I ignore all the meta from Tamsyn Muir about The Locked Tomb is that her values system about some of her characters seems deeply at odds with their characterization in-book.

Muir clearly loathes Ianthe, and yet HTN shows an Ianthe who is deeply insecure, scared, and desperately lonely. Yeah, she killed her Cav and a few other people. This is quite bad. I do not think Ianthe is a good person. But I don't find her irredeemable like Muir says.

Hitting on Harrow isn't ideal, but also Harrow is her only friend and flirtation is one of the few ways Ianthe knows to show her companionship. Throughout HTN, Ianthe seems to be trying to make friends, to be helpful, and is rebuffed at every turn by Harrow.

In contrast, while Harrow is less evil than many of the other characters, she is clearly a profoundly horrible person. She is mean and cruel to those around her, she has made Gideon's life absolutely miserable for 16ish years, she rebuffs basically every single offer of help and friendship anyone but Gideon ever shows her in either of the two series (and quite meanly; basically anything anyone ever gets from her is some verbose equivalent of "go fuck yourself".)

But we spend all this time in her head, so we know it's because she's scared and insecure and doesn't know how to handle it. So very much of her behavior is forgiven by Muir and by the audience because of this. A sizeable portion of the fanbase seems to be mad at John for trying to tell her to get more sleep, or to try doing something relaxing (make soup), or even to ask other people for help. Yes, you cannot will your way out of depression, but "try to get more sleep" and "do soothing things" are basically foremost of any serious advice for how to deal with it.

John doesn't know why she's been not getting enough sleep. But he's also a deeply fucked-up person. And yet he's trying with Harrow. Badly, clumsily, but trying. He doesn't really know why she's been on such edge and miserable. But Harrow never tells him. She has John and Ianthe (and probably Mercymorn and Augustine, although they're even more fucked up) she could have tried asking for help, and refuses.

But, Harrow is the protagonist, and we see inside her head, and she's not willing to actually murder Gideon, and she thinks murdering 200 children was bad, actually. So we're expected to sympathize with her.

Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with her. I want her to be better. I like fucked-up protagonists who aren't great people.

But do not, for one second, suggest that Harrow is not one of the worst human beings in this series (behind John, Cytharea, Mercymorn, Augustine, and Ianthe, in roughly that order). She brings an untold amount of her misery upon herself by being deliberately, not prickly, but just so. fucking. awful.

[margindoodles2407]

blame @seeking-elsewhither for this one. it's echo time and i'm having thoughts (tm)

[pagesofkenna]

i wanted to make a post about a thing but the more i think about it the more i want to say and it's just going to end up being a big ramble essay, so instead i'll just give the thesis statement, thusly:

as the #1 Ratgrinders Apologist (self-appointed), of course they're the final boss fight to the death. i expected nothing less and the people trying to make discourse about it are ignoring the entire context of this being a Dungeons and Dragons game

[chryseis]

happy saturday evening besties

[asordidbarwere]

first valentine's day in a long time that I have someone worth doting on and I'm wasting it feeling like shit about myself and my identity and everything else

[coinsweepermaster]

Bela should have either came back in the finale (15x19 was the finale what are you talking about) and saved everyone by shooting Chuck in the back with some magic gun she "procured" or came back in Season 12 by breaking into the British MoL facility to stop Lady Bevell from brainwashing Mary. Either way, it should have involved her shooting someone and one upping the Winchesters as usual

[txrks]

Tag Dump 1

[lennonhead]

so, now that I can type without getting super dizzy, can we talk about Hachiware turning into a monster