#and it just seems so selfish and entitled to me that certain fans seem to not understand that

[sketching-shark]

LMK fandom: Oh, what do we do about this guy who has nothing but hurt Xiaotian, tried to replace Sun Wukong and his crew, hurt Tripitaka and ordered servants to cannibalize a monkey? Oh I know! We’ll turn him into our little meow meow~ he’s so innocent and Sun Wukong is obviously the villain!

What doesn’t help is this idea is perpetuated by multiple fan fic writers and artists for some reason. Especially some aus they make that turn SWK into a bastard for the sake of the story rather than considering cultural context and thinking they should be respectful.

And almost everyone lets them get away with it just because the art or fanfic is good and they get so popular that no one can point what is actually wrong without feeling like they’re going to get attacked.

I'm starting to feel like my blog is the one anons go to specifically to vent their frustrations about the Six Eared Macaque in his lego monkey show form & the associated fandom lmao. But I guess this makes sense, as I’ve had fun quasi-dragging him before & will in fact use this anon submission as an opportunity to have my own, to put it academically, bitch fest about not just this fandom's favorite protagonist-traumatizing meow meow, but about the way villains are often treated in not just fanon, but increasingly in canon works as well. But same policy as with the last anon; I'll post my opinions below the cut, and as fandoms love to say, don’t like don't read if you don't want to see me dunking on the six eared simian & common fandom tendencies towards villains.

Oh man I would say where would you even begin with this but anon you’ve pretty much started yourself with my main gripe with a lot of ways that the Six-Eared Macaque is portrayed in fandom; there seems to be this unspoken agreement that his acts of violence towards Sun Wukong, Qi Xioatian, and Qi Xioatian’s loved ones are either to be framed as somewhat or totally justified, to be immediately forgiven/excused, or to simply & completely be ignored. Like friends maybe this is just me not seeing the proper posts but while the fandom is inundated with art and fanfics of Macaque as a generally decent individual & a true member of team good guy, I have yet to see one person address the fact that this monkey literally kidnapped & mind-controlled Xiaotian’s best friend and father figures & forced them to brutalize Xiaotian while ol’ Six Ear looked on and laughed (X_X). Like this kind of fandom villain treatment is definitely not something that’s solely at work for Monkie Kid, but it is kind of nutty how fandoms will swing between yelling that people should be allowed to like villains without even mild critique, and then will just flat-out not address the villainous behavior, and will even bend over backwards to frame even characters who committed genocide as just poor innocent widdle victims who need a hug. At its worst, I’ve even seen tons of people in a fandom get really angry at other people who don’t like a villain, and will even start accusing those people of hating real-life mentally disabled or abused individuals all because they don’t like the fandom’s favorite literal war criminal. The Monkie Kid fandom is FAR more chill & better than a lot of other fandoms I’ve come across in that regard, but that is an exceedingly low bar, & the tendency to woobify certain kinds of villains-- as with Macaque and the extreme emphasis on his bad boy/sad boy thing--is very much at work.  

 I’ve also talked before about a kind of monoculturalization of certain character interpretations and story beats in fandoms, and one of the more popular ones that seems to be applied to Macaque a lot is the “hero actually bad, villain actually good” cliche, as observable from the general fandom assumption that Mr. Six-Ears he wasn’t even slightly lying or remembering things through a rose-tinted or skewed lens when he gave his version of his and Sun Wukong’s past. Like at this point it seems the possibility that people WILL NOT even consider is that Sun Wukong never did & still doesn't care that much about the Six Eared Macaque (in JTTW they weren’t sworn brothers & in Monkie Kid the only thing the monkey king really said to Macaque before attacking him was a pretty contemptuous "Aren't you ever going to get sick of living under my shadow?," & responds to his "beloved friend" getting blown up with "You did good, bud" to Qi Xiaotian, who did the exploding), or that their original fight may in fact have mostly been instigated by Macaque. After all, to repeat what this anon summarized & what I've said before about their original JTTW context (& in an example of the things that do feel like it's often lost in translation) is that the Six Ear Macaque was a villain not just because he beat up the Tang Monk, but because he wanted to take over Sun Wukong's entire life and identity so he could have all that glory, prestige, and power for himself. To quote the macaque himself from the Anthony C. Yu translation, "I struck the T'ang monk and I took the luggage...precisely because I want to go to the West all by myself to ask Buddha for the scriptures. When I deliver them to the Land of the East, it will be my success and no one else's. Those people of the South Jambudvipa Continent will honor me then as their patriarch and my fame will last for all posterity." And in order to do this, the Six Eared Macaque had apparently made Sun Wukong's "little ones," his monkey family, his captives through either trickery or force, and gotten a number of them to take on the appearance of Tang Sanzang and the other pilgrims. It's also made clear that in very direct contrast to Sun Wukong, he doesn't care about these monkeys beyond how they might serve him. In fact, after Sha Wujing kills the monkey posing as him the Six Eared Macaque not only all but immediately replaces him with another, but also "told his little ones to have the dead monkey skinned. Then his meat was taken to be fried and served as food along with coconut and grape wines." So this monkey is not only willing to risk the lives of a lot of other monkeys for his own personal benefit, but is also a literal cannibal. And yes yes, I know a lot of people have argued that Monkie Kid shouldn't be considered a direct sequel to JTTW & that's fair enough (for example, Sun Wukong probably shouldn't be smashing anyone into a meat patty in a children's cartoon lol). And of course, it needs to be noted that there are a buttload of really out there & really cursed pieces of media based on JTTW & that were created in China. Yet the above description is the oft-ignored in the west original facet of the Six Eared Macaque's character. And it is this selfishness, entitlement, and treatment of other individuals as tools for his own self-serving ends  that is, from where I’m standing, still very much present in Monkie Kid. Like besides repeatedly going out of his way to physically and psychologically traumatize Xioatian, with the last episode Macaque seemed to be going right back to his manipulative ways. I’ve seen people frame their last conversation as Macaque softening to Xioatian a little bit, but personally that read a lot more like that common tactic among abusers where even after they’ve hurt you they’ll dangle something you want or need over your head (in Macaque’s case, the promise of desperately needed training and information about a serious looming threat), with the implication that you’ll only get it if you do what they want you to, such as, in this case, Xioatian going back to Macaque as his student even after having been so terribly hurt by this monkey, which would give Macaque power over Xiaotian and probably Sun Wukong as a result. And it is this violence and manipulation that it seems the fandom at large has tacitly decided shouldn’t even be addressed, instead leaning more towards a (and this is an exaggeration) “Six-Eared Macaque my poor meow meow Sun Wukong has always been bad & has always been wrong about literally everything” reading. 

And while it is the case that I am not Chinese and feel that as such it would be best left to someone who actually comes from that background to provide more context into how common interpretations of the Six Eared Macaque from China may clash really badly with the stuff the western fandom creates, it also must be noted that, as much as we all want to have fun in fandom & in spite of all the out-there versions of JTTW from China, we westerners should recognize that there is a very long and very ugly history of western countries stripping other cultures’ important religious and literary works for parts & mashing them into their own thing while implying or even insisting that what they present provides a true understanding of the original piece. And while I trust most individuals in regards to Monkie Kid are able to step back and think “this is a lego cartoon and not a set guide for how I should understand JTTW” (especially given the insistence that JTTW and Monkie Kid should be considered there own separate works) there does nevertheless seem to be something of a tendency to take the conclusions people come to, for example, about Sun Wukong’s characteristic in his lego form & then assume that’s just reflective to Sun Wukong as a totality. I imagine a good portion of this is due to people not reading JTTW & especially to not having easy access to solid information or answers about JTTW’s many different facets (like geez awhile ago I was trying to get a clear answer on what is considered the most accurate translation of the names of Sun Wukong’s six sworn brothers & got like 5 different responses lmao), but that tendency to take a western fandom interpretation & run with it instead of doing any background research or questioning said interpretation is still very much at play. As such, & as made prominent in the way people have been interpreting the dynamic between Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque in the lego monkey show, tbh it does seem kind of shitty for western creators & audience to sometimes go really out of their way to ignore all of this original cultural & narrative context for the sake of Angst (TM) in Macaque's favor, demonizing Sun Wukong, and shipping the monkey king with his evil twin (X_X).

And speaking of which, even beyond the potential inherent creepiness & revulsion that can be inspired by this specific ship given common interpretations of the og classic's original meaning (again, it's my understanding, given both summaries of translated Chinese academic texts I've been kindly provided with, my own reading of the Anthony C. Yu translation of JTTW, & vents from a number of Chinese people I've seen on this site, that the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China as having originated from Sun Wukong himself as a living embodiment of his worst traits, hence why only Buddha can tell the difference between them & why the monkey king is much more slow to violence after he kills the macaque), I'd argue that in the face of all the uwu poor widdle meow meow portrayals lego show Macaque is, especially if you include JTTW's events, still in the role of “Sun Wukong but worse” as he is very much a violent & selfish creep. Like he was basically running around in JTTW wearing a Sun Wukong fursuit, but there he had the sole reason of wanting to replace Sun Wukong wholesale so he could have all the good things in the monkey king's life without actually having to work as hard for them. But if you combine that with Macaque now claiming that he used to be best friend with Sun Wukong in his pre-journey days (something that's made funny from a JTTW context given that that status actually belongs to the Demon Bull King lol), his original violence has now blown into this centuries long and really unhealthy obsession with the monkey king. Like he's apparently gone from wanting to literally be Sun Wukong to being so obsessed with getting revenge on Sun Wukong that he's got basically nothing else going on in his life. Like he's only appeared in two episodes but...does he have any friends? Any family? A career or even a hobby that DOESN'T center the monkey king? Anything at all outside of his "get revenge on and/or kill Sun Wukong/use his successor as my personal punching bag” thing? Like dude! That is extremely creepy and extremely bad for everyone all around! As I’ve said before, this seeming refusal to see beyond the past or to do something that doesn’t involve Sun Wukong in some capacity is a trait that makes Macaque an interesting and somewhat tragic villain--he even seems to be working as Sun Wukong’s reflection in a mirror darkly, with lego show Sun Wukong pretty clearly not being able to heal from his own past which is hinted to be defined by one loss after another, and with Monkie Kid even kind of having these two characters somewhat follow their JTTW characterizations in that in the latter half of the journey Sun Wukong often gets sad & starts crying in the face of what seems insurmountable odds (& Monkie Kid Sun Wukong does seem to be hiding some serious depression behind a cheerful facade), whereas the Six-Eared Macaque retains a worse version of Sun Wukong’s pre-journey characteristic of getting pissed and lashing out if things don’t go his way--but it’s also what would make any current friendship or romantic relationship between these monkeys horrific. Although to be fair even the fandom seems to recognize this in an unconscious way, in that a lot of the art & fanfic seems to swing erratically between them kissing & screaming at each other in yet another example of bog-standard fandom adulation of romanticized toxic relationships lol.  

At the end of the day, of course, this is nothing new. You'll find versions of this dynamic across a ton of fandoms and now even canonical work. And as such, I can only look at this kind of popularized relationship dynamic with a kind of resigned weariness whenever it pops up, & my frustrated question with the popularity of this kind of pairing is the exact same one that I have for a multitude of blatantly toxic villain/hero ships, given common fandom discourse & the tendency to either ignore or justify the villain's actions & demonize the hero: if you're THAT convinced that everything is the hero's fault, if you believe THAT much that the hero is the one in the wrong for the villain's pain and their subsequent actions, then why are you so set on them not only becoming a romantic pair, but framing this get-together as a good thing? Like I know we contain multitudes but that's waaay too many contradictions for me to wrap my head around. And it definitely doesn’t help that one branch of underlying reasoning behind this kind of pairing seems to be the ever-present “you break it, you fix it” mentality, where the assumption is that if you’re in a failing, abusive, and/or generally toxic relationship (platonically or romantically), if you put in enough time and effort & attempts to compromise, you’ll be able to restore/have the relationship you dreamed of, even with someone who hurt you really badly. And this assumption isn’t limited to fandom: I’d even argue that it’s everywhere in the culture, hence why a lot of people feel like they “failed” if they have to get a divorce or make the choice to leave an unhealthy friendship. Personally, I feel like people could really benefit from more stories about how it is not only the case that the people you hurt don’t owe you their forgiveness & you can still become a better and happier person without the one you hurt in your life, & that while it can be really hard it can also be a good thing to leave a relationship, even if it’s one that once meant a lot to you. 

  But in all honestly, from my own perspective this kind of pairing is starting to read far less like enemies to lovers and far more like a horrible fantasy where you can pull whatever shit you want, even on the people you "love," & never be held accountable for your terrible behavior or even have to consider that maybe you were in the wrong. It's another facet that makes me larf every time I see people insist that fandom is an inherently "transformative" or "progressive" form of storytelling like friends you are literally just taking status quo toxic monogamy & rebranding it as somehow beneficial & romantic (X_X).

But as to anon’s last frustration, it is hard to know what is the appropriate response with this kind of thing...like for my own part I’m keeping my frustrations to my blog & now increasingly to posts that you would have to click on the “read more” button to see what I have to say, but I totally get the hesitation to give even a mild critique to big names in a fandom. Like I've now seen it happen repeatedly where someone who has a big name in a fandom will make something that's kind of shitty for one reason or another, someone will message them with some version of "hey, that's kind of shitty, you shouldn't do that," and the typical response is either to blatantly ignore the issue completely, or more popularly to make a giant crying circus that seems deliberately geared towards stoking emotions on both sides of the, for example, fiction does/doesn't affect reality issue so that something that didn't even have to be that big a deal gets blown out of all proportion, with the big name often framing what often started out as a very mild critique into a long crying jag about how the initial response to their kind of shitty thing was so mean/cruel and they're just a poor innocent & that YOU'RE the true racist/sexist/bigot etc. if you don't agree with their opinion. It must of course be noted that there have also been numerous instances of people taking it too far the other way & sending not just big names but smaller creators literal deaths threats over stuff like innocuous ships which like holy hell bells people that’s a horrible thing to do. But for the big names at least, the end result of all this fighting is usually that once the dust has settled they have more attention/fame/money/power in the fandom than before, and with anyone who might have a problem with their stuff feeling afraid to voice their opinion lest they be swarmed by that person's fans. In that way fandom does often seem to increasingly be geared towards presenting an “official” fandom perspective about various facets of a piece of media instead of allowing for a multitude of interpretations, and with criticism, no matter its shape or form or how genuinely warranted it may be, being hounded out of existence. I feel like a lot of this could be made less bad if there wasn’t this constant assumption & even drive to think that a different interpretation of or criticism of your favorite work of fiction or your fanwork isn’t a direct claim that you are a thoroughly loathsome individual (& maybe also if people cultivated an enjoyment of learning things about important works from a culture outside their own, even if what you learn clashes with your own initial understandings), but I guess we’ll see if that ever happens. 

So these are my general thinks about the Six Eared Macaque’s current fandom meow meow status & some of my bigger gripes with fandom tendencies as a whole. I stand by my idea that the most interesting & beneficial route for Macaque moving forward would be a kind of “redemption without forgiveness from the ones you hurt” arc--as I think was done pretty excellently with the character Grace in Infinity Train--and if for no other reason than gosh dern this monkey really needs to cultivate some sort of identity beyond his “Sun Wukong but worse” persona. 

[viscountessevie]

I appreciate your Penelope hate posts cause holy shit show!penelope is awful and I’m tired of seeing people defend her because “uwu the boy I like doesn’t like me back”

Miss Tessa I already told you on IMs that this is my ABSOLUTE FAVE ASK of mine so thank you for sending this in, it made me laugh and made me feel less alone in the few of us who are Pen haters in this fandom!

Welcome to the club where we love Kathony and hate Show!Pen ahahah!

To a certain extent I understand why her fans project so much on her, I mean I have been that girl but moreso of a Kate who is headstrong and has the weight on her shoulders. While Book Pen is more meek and a wallflower. So I get the relating to her in S1 before the last two episodes! But then, seeing what she does to Marina, calling Colin stupid in the LW sheet and now in S2, completely ruining Eloise's reputation and putting her in danger all because she didn't like her boyfriend and was threatened by Eloise pretending to be LW for the Queen??? How do her fans look at that and go, 'YEah I love this character she deserves the world and the boy she loves"

Like first of all, she deserves JAIL! (This post seems very appropriate now.) Also she isn’t entitled to Colin at all! Her stans honestly sound unhinged when they say Colin doesn’t deserve her for ignoring/not seeing her or villianising him for not liking her. It’s gross and giving incel vibes. He doesn’t owe her shit! Colin @ Penelope:

At this point in the story he just sees her as a friend and that’s completely fine and eventually he’ll love her. That’s the whole point of the slowburn. So I don’t understand why they are so mad about him not liking her. They will literally condone her racist actions towards Marina and selfish actions towards Colin and Eloise in the name of projecting onto her because they would never pull this shit so she also can’t possible be responsible for these crimes. Nonono she’s a girlboss who can’t do no wrong 🙄. Oh please, spare me the mental gymnastics of defending her, it’s so exhausting to read. 

Another thing I despise about her fans, if you rightfully criticise her actions, you’re automatically fatphobic (I do understand there is a small vile part of the fandom who can be fatphobic and mean about all the characters that’s their problem but the larger side of people who dislike her are not) 

That’s the Pens’ great big defence to her being criticised in parts of the fandom. ‘We don’t have to listen to you cos you’re fatphobic and this is a harmful take.” Okay whatever then stfu and just block me or something no need to spread lies about me being fatphobic. I’m literally criticising her actions, not once did I mention her appearance but okay. Also I think Nicola is a gorgeous person, I just hate Penelope and what she did. Even if she was skinny af, I would hate her and criticise her just the same like I do with Cressida Cowper. It literally has nothing to do with her weight so yall Pens yelling fatphobia, please go look up that word and use it properly!!

In conclusion, welcome to the club I love that you loved me reblogging the hate posts lmao and while I understand why they go so hard for her, I’ll never respect them for it oop. 

[strongislandsuperfan]

If "F**k This Job" was a Person

It was the 3rd quarter, in a blistering cold stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. There was a commotion on the sideline during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. NY Jets game. Antonio Brown, one of Tampa's top offensive weapons, was flipping out. He took off his helmet, his shoulder pads and the rest of his gear. Even as teammates tried to walk over and calm him down, there was no getting through to him. Something definitely wasn't right. No one could see what the conflict was about, but the obvious reason, judging from face value, would suggest that maybe Antonio Brown wasn't being targeted enough by his quarterback, Tom Brady, so he could make a play. There seemed a little more to it, if anyone paid attention to the subtle details.

As he walked off, headed to the locker room, he waved goodbye to the fans in the stands and threw up a peace sign, as if he knew this would be his last "hoorah" in the NFL. By the time the Sunday Night Football game was underway, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs, Bruce Arias, announced that Antonio Brown was no longer part of the team.

Monday morning, all the sports analysts and commentators went wild, bashing Antonio Brown's behavior, calling it bizarre, selfish but not surprising, being that he has had issues in the past with the teams he's been on. Some even went as far as cracking jokes, either trying to make light of the situation or make fun of Antonio Brown himself. Of course, social media didn't let us down, as the memes came pouring in.

After the smoke cleared and the criticisms turned from blistering put-downs to intellectual reasoning, then the truth came out. In his first statement since leaving the field in the third quarter of the Bucs vs. Jets game, Antonio Brown said that he was forced to play on an injured ankle that will require surgery. This was the reason why he exited so abruptly. An MRI on Monday revealed broken bone fragments, a ligament torn from the bone and cartilage loss. Antonio Brown also accused the Buccaneers of mischaracterizing his outburst on the field as a "mental health issue" rather than a refusal to play due to pain.

The last part, I respectfully disagree with. An injury, plus the added stress definitely played a roll in all of this. Maybe its just me, but when I see Antonio Brown in some air of controversy, all I can think of is that infamous hit he took in the 2016 playoffs at the hands of Vontaze Burfict, one of the most brutal football players of my generation. It is generally known throughout football that wide receivers are the divas of every football team, due to their fast speed and cocky, brash behavior, but even I know, Antonio Brown hasn't been right since taking that violent hit and I don't blame his diva-like behavior at all. Not to make excuses for him or any other athlete that acts like an entitled jerk, but its clear as day that something wasn't right with him.

Later on, after doing some more digging, it turns out this sideline situation wasn't just about injuries or mental health. It did play a huge factor, but there was a little more to it. There were also some financial factors as well. Being that the NFL season was reaching the end and the Bucs were making a playoff push, that signaled bonus/contract time for most players that were either going to become free agents or needed a dynamite performance to give coaches and office personnel a reason why they should be kept on the roster for next season.

It turns out, that if Antonio Brown made a certain number of catches or held a certain number of receiving yards, he'd get his bonus. Maybe it was the mounting pressure to receive that money, but to be fair, the Jets had a young defensive core that held every offensive weapon at arms length the entire game, until Tom Brady began orchestrating an impressive comeback and eventually won the game.

While I don't know Antonio Brown personally, other than the highlights and controversial headlines he's been in, I could see that the boiling point, which he reached, had more to do with a lack of respect for who he was, in his particular job role rather than a top offensive wide receiver just looking for the quick dollar. Seeing signs of being fed up with the way things are going, especially in a field where you've worked so hard and given much of your time, passion and energy to, just to not receive the same passion, time an energy back, does take it's toll. I've been there, whether it was working odd-jobs or my career in the IT industry or even the friendships and relationships I've had throughout my life. If what you give isn't given in return, you are left with no choice except to throw your hands up and say, "F**k this job!" and walk away.

We've all been there. Antonio Brown has been there, as well as another talented athlete in most recent memory.

Simone Biles. Arguably, the greatest gymnast in Olympic history. Even she had her day of emotional reckoning. Understandably so. The pressure to duplicate the awe-inspiring, death-defying performance that made her a household name in the previous summer Olympic games, as well as National Gymnastics Championship competitions here in the United States was building.

On July 28, 2021, the world was shocked when it was announce that Simone Biles had withdrawn from competition in the Olympics. The reason? Mounting stress and a lingering injury that had been plaguing her for some time. Simone Biles was even quoted saying, “It’s been a long week. It’s been a long Olympic process. It’s been a long year. Just a lot of different variables and I think we’re just a little bit too stressed out, but we should be out here having fun and sometimes that’s not the case.”

Of course, the keyboard warriors and internet bullies came out in droves on social media, criticizing and putting down the beloved gymnast, who just a few weeks ago, prior to the announcement, was America's Olympic sweetheart. Its almost as if performers, athletes or anyone in the spotlight of dazzling the masses, are placed on a pedestal, with an overly-scrutinized microscope, that nobody asked for. While most of us are of the understanding that this is the nature of the beast of fame, it causes many of us, athletes and spectators alike, to lose sight of the one thing that does make us unique. We forget that we are human, with faults that are no different or any better than the next individual.

With the break that was taken, Simone Biles found the strength in her and did compete in some of the competitions of the 2021 summer Olympics, earning a silver medal. This I commend her for, not just for her perseverance but for taking control of her career and coming to this decision on her terms and not the pressure of coaches, fans or the powers that be.

Your health, whether its physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, takes precedence over appeasing the spectators or those who sign your paycheck. Sometimes, it requires a great amount of recovery, strength, reflection, and prayer to overcome. Other times, it requires you to throw your hands up, and just say, "F**K this job!" and take back control of one's dignity, to remind all those involved that we are just human.

While those with a high and mighty attitude will see this as a cop-out or an excuse predicated upon fear and being underprepared, I see it as an old saying I once heard. While I can't put my finger on who did make this remark, I will simply summarize as, "Quitting while you're ahead, isn't the same thing as quitting."

[hotmess-exe]

Spill your thoughts pls✋😩

@lacewing707 honestly, my many thoughts on this can be condensed to some very simple, uncontroversial opinions: if executed and implemented well, love interests getting together with other NPCs can be good. if executed or implemented poorly, it can be off-putting and hard, even impossible, to enjoy. what constitutes good and bad execution will always vary to some degree for readers. and some people prefer their interactive fiction without this possibility at all, whether it's done "well" or not.

what i do not fuck with is the strong sense of reader entitlement coming off of a lot of the sentiments in that thread. frankly, mostly coming from one person, but vocally and repetitively enough that the whole thread has become a circlejerk of either dismissing or coddling this specific perspective and arguments being made from that circle of thought.

like, in no universe am i "giving" my characters to anyone by writing them in a book. this is not me making some absurd claim of ownership over characters once they are made public and people are invited to engage/interact with them. but it is me saying a big FUCK NO to the idea that the decent thing for an author or dev to do is try to cater to every conceivably disliked mechanic or theme in their story Especially since the thread was not being specific to romance games and dating sims. *But more than anything, it's a big FUCK NO to the idea that ROs being given real lives in the form of a romantic relationship without the MC involved is some sort of super jarring, unacceptable thing that writers would only do for selfish reasons and that it subliminally indicates that the MC/player (because honestly, i think that's what the issue is) must be less worthy of an RO's love 🙄 dear god this is so juvenile a take

It feels like there's an elephant in the room. That elephant is that some people attach themselves to fictional characters to such a degree that they take certain writing decisions personally and seem to view authors as responsible for whatever negative feelings result from that personal investment and disappointment. sorry but nah—i ain't yo mommy and either you're a literal child and you'll get over it and find something else to play or you're a grown adult and you NEED to be over it and find something else to play. making character judgments about writers and players who don't see this as a big deal makes me so irritated.

im also glimpsing some very demented (imo obviously) twisting of the concept of consumer/reader interpretation vs. author's intent. i have read every post in that thread but this main point of conceit keeps just boiling down to this to me:

some people get jealous over fictional characters and some people do not and cannot.

as a writer, i am happily in the second camp. and, ngl, having surfaced from the toxic world of online fandom a long time ago, people in the first camp either annoy the fuck out of me or give me the worst of vibes. if i don't even feel this intense ""ownership"" of characters that literally only exist because i conceived of and created them, I frankly don't have much sympathy and certainly not a lick of respect for the idea that readers—who will never have the full picture of my characters because it's literally impossible for anyone who is NOT me—do.

Maybe when I'm dead. idk, the vibe is very fucked in that thread imho. I am very, deeply opposed to treating possessiveness and jealousy like normal, healthy, valid reactions to everyday, does-not-impact-your-life-in-any-way-outside-of-entertainment-or-superficial-fulfillment, bullshit. it's too adjacent to how fans of a medium will sometimes start claiming a weird ownership of creators too. makes me ill.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 138 prt 2

“I don’t think I want to imagine that”

Mami would have rocked it. Keith imagined her sneaking her chocolates with a bottle of vodka giving the double finger to Sendak if she could have. Chocolates and her abundant supply of love were the only two things she zero self control over. Lance nodded, sucking down a breath, tone slightly dejected before levelling then growing wobbly

“Probably safer... but, yeah. I... the family gave me a lot of things that she’d left behind when we moved. I tried to go to the nursing home, you know, to thank them, but Coran made me stay in for observation. Luis cleaned her room out and took her things. He had the nerve to lose it at me for paying for her funeral...”

Lance started shaking again in his arms. Keith rubbing the top of his arm as if he was trying to warm him up

“Babe. Don’t go there. Luis isn’t your responsibility”

“I know, but without Mami... I won’t hear about them again”

That was true. Luis wouldn’t be rushing to call

“Pidge could change that. She can stalk down thin air and pull up all its credit card charges”

“I think Pidge would bite his ankles in real life if she knew. I wanted to... to be able to talk to them at the funeral, but Coran pulled enough magic to get me there as it was... and I wasn’t ready yet. She and Papi are together now. I wanted her buried in Garrison, but she’s in Platt. I’m talking too much”

Lance wasn’t talking too much. He’d held all this in as he waited for Keith to come home to him. He was glad Lance was telling him what he wanted in his own words instead of by letter

“You’re not. You miss your mum. From what you’ve said, you’ve made a lot of good memories”

“I suppose. I mean, I did. I know I’m very lucky I had all this time with her... really lucky considering all things. I wish I hadn’t broken my phone”

“Shouldn’t it back up?”

“I don’t know how it really works. It’s like one of your Blade phones but it’s pin locked instead of iris encoded. Laptop’s kind of the same. It’s a Coran special”

“We can ask him”

“I hope it’s backed up... I need to stop talking about this... I can’t... I’ve been so whiny. Even when I came back from Sendak, through to now, my mental health’s been shit and all I’ve done is worry everyone. Four months isn’t like long for a vampire but it is for a human”

“I literally think you’re entitled to let it out”

“I keep showing... I keep showing the wrong sides”

There were no wrong sides to Lance. Okay. Maybe 4 months wasn’t that long to a vampire but it was a fucking looooong arse four months. They’d barely had three weeksish before he was off to Rome... meaning... it was like 6 weeks he’d had quality time with Mami... and shy of a month since her passing.

Lance was allowed to have feelings. His feelings made him who he was. It wasn’t like Keith didn’t feel guttered over the loss of Mami too. He kind of wanted to just lock Lance away and cry until his head throbbed and the pain was gone

“Because I’m so much better?”

“You are. I haven’t asked you much about Europe. I haven’t asked if you’re okay. I haven’t asked how things went down. I haven’t asked about the court case or this thing about Lotor killing Zarkon. I... haven’t... even asked you... how anyone is...”

“Babe. I only got in last night. This is our first proper conversation. I want to know what you’re feeling and thinking”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking or feeling. Running seems so much easier. But... then there’s all the things I’m waiting to hear back about. Mami’s will. Her accounts. What to do with her things she’a got stored at home. If the nursing home got the flowers I sent as a thank you for all they did for her. If I chose the right clothes Mami. If I did the right thing. If it wasn’t her time to go and I did nothing...”

*

Lance kept telling himself to shut up. To stop talking about Mami. That Keith had been through so much away from him that he was probably more tired than he was letting on. He tried to shut up but he couldn’t not think about Mami. She’d adored Keith. She kept a photo of him on her nightstand. Well, it was him, Keith and an ultrasound photo between them.

When Keith started leading him away from the kitchen, Lance didn’t want to move. He had to have breakfast, have his shot, then have something actual to eat. Instead Keith tugged him along, pulling him down to sit in his lap on the sofa. That Keith had come back was a miracle. That he’d stayed... Lance couldn’t describe how much he’d needed to see Keith. Then he went and ruined things because he couldn’t stop thinking about his Mami...

“You’re overthinking”

Geez. No shit. He’d expected a joyous reunion with Keith. Mami teasing them. Not Keith coming home to this. He wanted to feel happy so badly, but Keith... Keith made it too easy. He’d feared last night they’d never talk again as they had. Now he’d word vomit... after too much actual vomit

“I think I’m... not being strong enough”

He’d cried as he confessed his sins to his Mami. How he’d killed Sendak. His Mami taking his hands and telling him that it wasn’t fair for him to be blaming himself. She went to church with him. Before God he’d prayed. He’d confessed everything, as if it’d offer some absolution for his sins. He did feel marginally better when he didn’t burst into flames. It was hard to accept that the world was safer by taking a life. Mami pointing out that Sendak was the worst of everything a vampire could be, though she got it. She got that he grieved not for the monster he’d killed but at the loss of Sendak ever changing his ways. Vampires didn’t really work that way, but she... she got it because she wasn’t a hunter. She could see that he was worse than Nyma and Rolo, but she could see that he felt worse about the actual ending of potential than killing the monster inside Sendak’s skin. She was a better therapist than Coran.

They’d headed to the beach that morning, after his nightmare. Blazing hot sun didn’t exactly lure vampires out for a spot of sun baking and spontaneous combustion between snacking on the necks of tourists. Setting up the umbrella, chairs and fetching drinks, they’d settled down and Mami had told him about his first time swimming there. Rachel carried him everywhere. Made him a “hat” out of seaweed. He’d screamed and screamed, until Mami took it off his head. The sun had felt amazing. He wasn’t too pregnant looking, so he enjoyed taking his shirt off, only to burn himself for his efforts. Mami had laughed at him as she rubbed aloe vera on his sunburn.

It’d been hard to hear about times when they’d been so happy together. Just kids doing kid things. But a lot of Mami’s stories he hadn’t heard before, and some stories he heard over and over yet didn’t mind in the slightest. She was so proud of her brood. Making all these future plans and laughing over how he and Keith were going to be clumsy parents, but that was okay because no one knew what they were doing at first.

“You’re strong. You’re so strong”

Keith kissed his cheek. Lance knew he was starved of physical affection. He knew because he’d been depriving himself of it. He felt like “King Douche” that his boyfriend came back to this. That he needed to stiffen his upper lip and carry on. He knew he’d been a total dick not contacting Pidge or Hunk, but to begin with it’d been for their safety. He hadn’t let them see him at VOLTRON, though knowing they were also grieving Mami’s loss. Asking for more space on top of so much space already granted to him seemed incredibly selfish. He loved Pidge and Hunk, but it was like with Sendak again, he was scared of losing himself in his grief and hurting them.

He’d never wished he was more human than in the aftermath of that shit with Sendak. Lance knew if it was his friends going through this he’d be telling them it was okay. To let go. To grieve for as long as they needed and that he’d be there the whole time for when they were ready. But that didn’t apply to him. He had... he had o carry himself a certain way... anxiety fed paranoia that if he wasn’t the perfect friend they’d never speak to him again. Keith... Keith just... all he had to do was breathe and Lance was falling more in love with him. He’s tried building his walls back up when he set his mind to Keith never coming for him, but all his walls were sandcastles, crumbling under Keith’s feet as he trampled over Lance’s attempts and wrapped him up in love. He... he’d been so awkward and embarrassed how easily he’d caved into Keith. Now Keith was taking the time to fix his broken bits. His boyfriend hated the tourist masses but that was Varadero’s main source of income.

Placing his hand on his belly, Lance settled his breathing back down slowly. Keith didn’t hate his belly. He’d felt their twins starting to move. Like little has bubbly gas bubbles. When he’d spotted blood coupled with weird stomach pain, he’d thought he was dying but his Mami explained to him about things stretching and moving to make space. Coran was worried about his body not being strong enough to make it to term. Despite brewing in a vampire filled with vampire blood, both their kids returned human DNA. Never did he want another long arse needle in there again. Their babies passed their genetics tests. They just had to put up with him and Keith now

“Babe?”

“It’s okay. You said you wanted to see Cuba?”

“Well I came all this way. I’ve never been here before and I’m already madly in love with my tour guide”

Lance groaned at his boyfriend. If Keith turned that charm on everyone he’d probably be an unstoppable conman of the highest degree. His ego loved the flattery. He and it had many an mental disagreement. Now Keith was fanning it back to life

“You’re a menace. I have to eat. I’ve... been going through the motions but I have to eat before we go out. And... we’ll drive. I’ll drive. I don’t have much to hide this bump”

“I don’t mind it. I think it’s cute”

“The world isn’t ready for a pregnant vampire and his lover. This is Cuba. I’ve got a jumper I use if I absolutely can’t avoid going out...”

“In this heat?”

“You get the boyfriend with a covered outside or you get the boyfriend inside with the bump showing. You can’t have both”

“I definitely want both. I love your stomach. You looked so good bouncing on my dick with that bump showing”

Lance choked on air. Keith was a damn horn dog!

“I’m going to punch you in the dick if you don’t start thinking things through. I’m going to put you in “Horny Hunter Jail” if you don’t settle down”

Keith shrugged

“I can live with that”

[pynkhues]

Why does no one ever hold rio accountable for shooting dean? Like everyone hates Beth but nobody ever talks about rio almost killing Dean the father of her kids. Doing the same thing that everyone hated Beth for. Taking away rio form Marcus. Like rio almost took away Dean from his kids. I think it’s very hypocritical.

I think that there are quite a few things to unpack in that question, anon, and some of it I think is genuinely based on the way the story has played out, and the arcs of certain characters and plots, and how the chips ultimately fell with some of the themes and messaging. I also think personally though that some of it boils down to how some people within the audience feel about Rio, and some selective reading on his character and his dynamic with Beth overall.

So let’s explore that!

Prelude to a Bullet Wound

At the foundation of your ask is a pretty specific question I think about how the story depicts consequences, who it holds to account, and who is deserving or undeserving of those consequences overall. Even more specifically – although please correct me if I’m wrong! – is a question about how those consequences are dealt in the Dean x Beth x Rio dynamic.

And that’s actually a really tricky question, because I think a lot of the time we like to compare Beth and Dean’s relationship with Beth and Rio’s with the expectation that that comparison can ultimately be presented as a sort of check-list of does and does-not, which actually does the complexity of both relationships a disservice.

From history to dynamic to context to personalities to attraction, it’s all so fundamentally different when you’re talking about these two relationships, that when you start to talk about the betrayals within both of them (of which there are many in each), they’re actually pretty incomparable.

So this brings me to my first point.

Consequences, Crime and Punishment

I think one of the big misreads of this series from audiences is that Dean hasn’t been punished for what he’s done to Beth over the course of the show.

Because he actually has! Dean has been shot by Rio, like you said. He was briefly kicked out of the house, he was in a car accident, he was ousted from his own company and then he lost that company altogether, he was mugged and humiliated after trying to order a hitman, he watched his wife slip further and further away from him, had to start from the bottom in a new business, was sexually harassed by his boss then lost opportunities, and is now essentially being used as a patsy in a new criminal enterprise.

The thing is, Beth has never really been the one to punish him. She’s certainly made choices and done things that have humiliated him, but none of it was really an act to deliberately hurt him, more she made choices to be selfish in their relationship in a way she never had been (i.e. taking over Boland Motors, sleeping with Rio), but I’ll come back to that in a moment.

The fact that the story has punished Dean but Beth hasn’t is a really important distinction to make, and I think it’s crucial in unpacking both Beth and Dean, and Beth and Rio’s dynamic, as well as understanding some of the audiences hostility towards Dean’s storyline and why the audience doesn’t hold Rio accountable for shooting Dean in the first place.

It’s further underpinned, I think, by the fact that the show has rewarded Dean narratively with Beth’s forgiveness three times over (the first time being at the end of season 1 before the cancer lie was revealed, the second being the moment before Amber revealed Dean had cheated on her more than once in 2.05, and the third was with Beth’s seeming acceptance of Dean kissing Gayle [although I do think that would’ve come back up had we gotten all of s3]), and then placated him with her pity, fatigue, and the lies she’s told to keep him onside and out of her way.

It is exhausting. Dean is exhausting. The Boland marriage limping on season after season is exhausting. It’s also, I think, painfully realistic for a couple like Dean and Beth, who married at a formative age, and who’s foundation was built on Beth’s subservience, her desperate need for security and stability, and her willingness to dim her own light to brighten his.

A quick personal aside:

When my parents were in the dying days of their 30+ years relationship, their marriage counsellor told them that a relationship’s dynamic is really set within the first year of that relationship. You can change it after that, but it requires a lot of work and a deliberate effort to change that dynamic on many, many levels, and for many couples, it is too much work. It certainly was for my parents.

If you think about Beth and Dean in that context, it means that Beth’s energy with Dean is still somewhat stuck within a shell of being a neglected, private teenage girl trying to look after her sister and Dean being the son of a successful businessman, entitled with the knowledge he’d inherit that successful business one day.  

They are not those people anymore, and they both know it, but their relationship dynamic does play out that way. Dean will never see her as more than his to take care of, and Beth will forever fight the instinct to see Dean as the provider she never had growing up – something the show has addressed explicitly in many ways.

And the thing is, that’s not Beth and Rio’s relationship at all.

The foundations that they have built this thing between them on are both shakier and stronger, built on Beth’s need to survive in the moment and thrive in the future, and Rio seeing not the neglected teenage girl that Dean saw, but a fierce woman prepared to drag him for having the audacity to try and kill her in her own home.

Beth’s relationship with Dean is, in many ways, an essential component of Beth and Rio’s dynamic, simply because Beth won’t let Rio ever treat her the way Dean has and does. Beth holds Rio accountable in a way she doesn’t Dean (although very interestingly to me, she has at points looked to him to provide for her in the same way she’s looked at Dean), and it means she punishes Rio in a way she doesn’t punish Dean. She does this in no small part because Rio holds her accountable and punishes her in ways Dean doesn’t as well, simply because he expects so much more from her.

This is probably best encapsulated in 1.06, where Rio ups her drop (ergo, her degree of responsibility in the crime world) while Dean assumes she’s a victim, but it’s touched on routinely across the seasons.

Beth and Rio ultimately respect each other. Even when they’re deliberately undermining each other (usually Beth, haha) or deliberately condescending and patronising each other (usually Rio, haha), the basis of their relationship has been built on Beth showing promise, and Rio taking a chance, and grown into a complicated dynamic of control and autonomy, desire and fulfilment, want and approval, possession and abandonment, all playing out as some twisting, sexually charged game which, as I’ve said before, they both simultaneously want to win, and don’t want to play at all.

All of this means that where Beth and Dean are within a dynamic of placation and diminishment, Beth and Rio are constantly going toe-to-toe with each other either side of some line they’ve imagined up. It means they do hold each other accountable, that they ensure the other feels the consequences of their actions, that they never release their hold on the other (even if sometimes it looks like they do).

As a result though too, it does mean that that line can be crossed, and when it is, it’s almost always in a big, big way.

Uhhh, Sophie, this is a lot of meditating on Beth and Dean and Beth and Rio’s relationship for a question that was about why no one cares about Rio shooting Dean, but hates Beth for shooting Rio

Right! It is! But I also think it’s important in understanding why both acts had such different responses from audiences, and that namely boils down to the fact that I think most people saw, consciously or subconsciously, the act of Rio shooting Dean as a consequence of Dean’s behaviour, not of Beth’s, and therefore a punishment for Dean’s behaviour in the narrative overall, not a punishment of Beth.

Dean getting shot was a story-level punishment of Dean that felt earned.

It was Rio handling what Beth couldn’t, and it is satisfying to watch, particularly in the context of later seasons, because it does feel like a marked act of narrative accountability.

It’s just unfortunate that it resulted in so much of the fandom ignoring the fact that it was an incredibly harsh punishment to Beth, something that we’ve been dealing with ever since because it clearly made Beth feel like she couldn’t leave him during his treatment, and by the end of that treatment she had, once again, softened.

On the other hand, Rio getting shot by Beth was both a story-level and a character-level punishment that was ultimately unearned on either of those levels.

It’s not that it didn’t make sense in terms of the escalating push-pull dynamic that is so central to Beth and Rio’s relationship and chemistry, but that there wasn’t enough build-up for it – and Rio hadn’t done enough to deserve it – which in turn made the punishment not fit the crime (which is to say nothing of the racist optics of it). It was a damning act that, quite simply, didn’t work in the context of season 2 overall, and as opposed to criticising the writing choice, some fans chose to turn that into a hatred of Beth’s character.

A brief aside

I do always find it interesting that many of these same fans refuse to confront the fact that Beth and the girls have had relentless punishment at the hands of others – particularly Rio – since this show started, but that feels like a whole other post.

Smoke and mirrors

These two acts are interesting to look at in the context of these respective dynamics, but they’re actually not parallel events. In that sense, I actually find the act of Beth insinuating herself into Rhea and Marcus’ life a much more comparable act to Rio shooting Dean than Beth shooting Rio was.

They were different types of violence – a psychological one over a physical one – sure, but had the same underpinning themes of home invasion, involving each other’s families in the fucked-up dynamic between them, and revealing a degree of Beth and Rio’s intimacy to the other’s (ex)partner (Rio through touching Beth in front of Dean, Beth through the pregnancy lie meaning Rhea knew Beth and Rio had slept together). It also puts them both as instigators on similar playing fields. They were, after all, actions that both Beth and Rio sought out doing.

It makes for a really interesting parallel that I wish we all talked about more!

Beth shooting Rio on the other hand was a manifestation of a set-up and a betrayal, a kidnapping gone wrong, an effort to strongarm Beth into killing an FBI agent, and yeah. Not my favourite plot choice on the show, haha, so I absolutely understand why it isn’t others’ too.

A final note

Look, all story analysis aside – at the end of the day, a portion of the fandom woobifies Rio and loathes Dean too, which no doubt plays a large part in some people’s response to these two acts. You only need to look at the volume of Rio x Reader or Rio x OC fics on here and ao3 to see that there’s a big chunk of the fandom out there who projects other fantasies onto his character, which is, of course, entirely fine! It’s just a shame some of them choose to let that influence the way they view canon and publicly treat other characters on the show too.

[archer3-13]

Puttin my finger onto what exactly always kinda bugged me about the loaded [at best] praise of the last jedi bringing the theme of anyone can be a hero and bloodlines don’t matter into star wars is that it completely ignores that was already in the series dna. Han came from nowhere, had dubious at best origins and patterns of behavior and yet his narrative arc was about rising above that past to become a hero and genuinely invested in the empire v rebel conflict as opposed to simply pocketing money from the sidelines. Luke came from dirt farmer origins as far as we knew in new hope and was later recontextualized as being the son of one of the galaxys most evil and despotic overlords and his narrative arc was about rising above that legacy of hatred and evil to become a hero and redeem his father/save anakins soul as it were. 

It was always a component of star wars is me point anyways, of people rising above what their histories suggest of them to do good, or conversely in the prequels case of people failing to live up to what those promises entitle. anakin being the ‘chosen one’ is a bit silly, but its there to emphasize the expectations of people around him and those he holds of himself. That he feels he deserves to be on the council not out of a desire to serve responsibly on the council but because he feels he deserves it for his capabilities and natural talent. Hes Oedipus as it were without the incest, so naturally talented that he feels he deserves to be rewarded and praised but he becomes frustrated when others try to hold him accountable and in check or when he fails and isnt able to live up to his destiny as it were until things finally snap and he falls kicking and screaming. The council not giving anakin a seat on the council and reluctantly giving him the rank of master is thus not the council being dicks to anakin to be petty but because anakin shows no respect for the position itself, only wanting it as a badge to prove how awesome he is for instance.

sorry for the diversion, but to return to the main point and bring this a bite more together i feel when people use the argument that thematically last jedi brings the idea ‘anyone can be a hero and bloodlines don’t matter’ They more so mean that last jedi brings the idea that ‘anyone can use the force and bloodlines don’t matter’ instead. Which i feel is a bit of a silly argument to make because well... it hinges on the idea that the force was inherent to certain bloodlines and thus reliant on inheritance in previous movies which was never the case. Sure its always been stated in the movies that some people can use the force and others can’t, that its not something anyone can just learn and thats a consistent fact. The last jedi breaks this consistency however in order to pretend that the fact ‘not everyone can use the force’ was a lot more stringent then it actually ever was so that its thematic constructs hold more weight in its own story. 

And a part of that is the fault of other movies, as early as a new hope it was effectively established that force powers can be inherited, that since anakin was a jedi luke being a jedi was a natural and not unexpected occurrence. force awakens went a step further by throwing another ‘skywalker lineage’ force user into the mix with ben solo. One who could trace his ability to use the force back to anakin in effect. If all you understand of star wars is the original trilogy in the loosest possible sense then it makes sense to undermine a seeming running theme of force inheritance and bloodlines by making rey have no bloodline to draw her power from. Even more so if as i suspect a lot of the narrative decisions of the last jedi were based upon undermining popular fan theories that arose from the force awakens rather then substantial meta narrative text of star wars as a series.

But then that runs into the essential problem about how rey and the reveal of her lack of bloodline was handled. Because, in effect and in consideration of the history of the series narrative, it effectively makes rey the chosen one in the exact same manner as anakin was. Someone who comes from ignoble origins but possesses immense talent in the force in stark contrast to those origins. Anakin, but lacking the actually interesting narrative subversions of the chosen one that existed in anakins character. Gifted her immense power and capabilities in the force as per the needs of destiny as opposed to working for it like luke or developing a massive chip on her shoulder from it like anakin.

And to clarify, if this was just about her own characters progression no matter how little of that actually exists, about a lonely girl desperate for some form of affirmation in her life about the struggles shes gone through to have that torn away from her cruely and harshly. It would be, theoretically, a similar gut punch as luke learning vader is his father. The revelation that the foundation of his moral or driving principles as a hero being torn away from him cruely and harshly in the reveal that the heroic father he thought he had was in fact one of the monstrous villains tormenting the galaxy all along. But in reys case, thats not really how its framed in application. in reys case its more so framed that the revelation of reys parents being no one is more important then the revelation that they didn’t love her, that she is not destined being more essential to her character then her belief in herself and her moral drive being shattered. Its in effect presented that her sense of self is dependent on her being a chosen hero of the galaxy, of being loved by the masses in and out of universe, rather then her desire to connect with family and the acknowledgement that she wasn’t abandoned callously. 

And putting aside that the defiance of destiny, which is in effect what rey being no one is likely suppose to represent on rians part, is a tricky thing to actually bring across properly, because in most instances that same defiance can in itself be constrained as destiny in motion rather then putting a spanner in the works. So putting that aside, it shows a rather amateurish approach to the narrative conventions present that rian is trying to mock and undermine that that is what he ultimately comes up with. That the horrifying reveal is in fact kylo ren turning to the audiance and straight up saying ‘all your fan theories were wrong. is your mind blown yet?’

and rey being devastated by the notion that she isn’t special is an interesting aspect in itself because its a very selfish motivation and character aspect similar to anakins own sense of entitlement. The notion that she is special, so she deserves good things. But unlike anakin its a selfishness that is goes relatively uncommented on because her search for that meaning and specialness is framed as a positive self affirming thing. The horrifying reveal is uno reversed that the specialness was already inside her all along, that she is powerful and special because she was born to be powerful and special. She deserves good things just for being her. Her might makes her right.

So no, quite frankly i dont think the last jedi introduces the notion that anyone can be a hero and bloodlines don’t matter. I feel, if anything it introduces the notion of the importance of bloodlines and emphasizes that fact well codifying rey as the beginning of a new lineage through casting her as a chosen one in the same manner as anakin but without the baggage anankin was intentionally saddled with. Well simultaneously failing to shock with the reveal in the same manner as lukes parentage did in empire strikes back.

[makingajatpblogfordiscourseohno]

Some of Y’all Need To Stop

Okay, so I made this blog literally because I have a lot of thoughts and I think I need to put them out there since some of you have no chill.

I’ve been in fandom a long time, and I’m fully aware that even if the vast majority of the people in it are cool, and know how to engage with a thing with some self control and tact, there’s always going to be that one group that goes too far.  I hesitate to use the word toxic, because I think it’s overused, like problematic before it, but toxic in certain cases here, might be apt.

Like people finding out an actor’s ADDRESS? Who thought that shit was okay at all?  That’s literally doxxing and I’m pretty sure it’s a crime.

I’m very much aware that most of the people doing this are probably pretty young, but that isn’t an excuse for bad behavior, okay?  Not to get all “back in my day” but I really feel like kids today don’t always understand that when you engage with a thing online, there are still boundaries you need to respect.  Like obviously kids today grew up with the internet being pretty much what it is right now.  They don’t really know any different, and I understand how that can affect how a person views what the internet and its rules are.

Here’s what I mean by that.  Ten years ago, people did not have the same kind of access to famous people that they do now.  The best interaction you could hope for, save running into them at a grocery store, was them, like, retweeting something you said to them.  No celebrities went live on instagram or anything, there was no interaction with fans to the level you can get now.  Plus, most celebrities tended to not put as much of themselves out there online, so there was a clear boundary there.

But now, with a generation that grew up entirely in the age of social media, we’ve got lots of celebrities willing and eager to interact more with their fans.  Which kind of makes some people feel entitled to know every detail about a person they literally do not know.

This brings me to the cast of Julie and the Phantoms specifically because oh my god, I have never seen a cast so willing to go above and beyond to interact with their fans.  The lives, the replying to comments, the TikToks.  These guys are so happy to have a supportive fan base for something they worked really hard on and they really go out of their way to talk to their fans.  It’s the sweetest thing, really.

But, like, it also made me very nervous when they started in the beginning?  Because I had a feeling that being this open online might encourage the bad fans.  You know the ones.  The people who feel entitled to an actor’s attention, or private information, just because they’re a fan.  The people who harass actors and don’t understand boundaries.

I’m fully aware that the people who need to be told to back off probably won’t read this.  It’s long as all hell, I get it.  But seriously, there are things that are okay to do when you engage with a fandom online and there are things that are NOT.

You can absolutely write your fics, talk about the show, do your fan art, and yes, you can obviously interact with the cast.  They clearly want you to!  But DON’T harass them or try to dig into their personal lives to satisfy your selfish curiosity.  This cast is full of young people, some of them are MINORS and they deserve to be respected.  Don’t ruin their online experience, don’t make them feel unsafe (you dicks), and don’t spam them.  They don’t actually owe you anything.  They’re interacting with you because they’re awesome people who are really proud of a great show they made and they’re excited to share it (AS THEY SHOULD BE!).

But understand that if you don’t figure out some acceptable boundaries, members of the cast might be put off by the experience.  Negative voices, unfortunately, tend to be the loudest in situations like this, and it would be really sad to see a group of people as great as the Julie and the Phantoms cast be forced off social media or something because things got to be too much.

In conclusion, fan responsibly.  The internet isn’t the consequence free zone some of y’all seem to think it is.

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: ‘BMO’ (Distant Lands, Ep. 1)

Airdate: June 25, 2020

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, and Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Hanna K Nyström, Iggy Craig, Laura Knetzger, Anna Syvertsson, & Adam Muto

Directed by: Miki Brewster (supervising), Sandra Lee (art)

I just watched a new episode of Adventure Time...

That, dear readers, is a sentence that—after the airing of “Come Along with Me”—I never thought I’d get to write again! And believe me, it feels great to be proved wrong in this instance.

In October of last year, we were all treated to the news that four new Adventure Time specials—collectively identified as Distant Lands—would be airing in the next year or so. For months, the Adventure Time fandom has waited with bated breath for these specials to drop. Would these episodes be good? Would they live up to the series that came before? Would they undo the emotional satisfaction of the Adventure Time finale? These were the questions. And now, the first special—entitled “BMO”—is here. Does it live up to expectations, proving that Adventure Time always bounces back? Or is it toast-bread for sure? Read on to hear my thoughts!

Beginning in media res, "BMO" opens with the titular character on its way to Mars to terraform Mars. After running into an errant service droid named Olive, BMO is transported to a fantastical space station known as the "Drift." It is here that BMO becomes acquainted with a humanoid rabbit named Y5, and together, the two help reveal the insidious plotting of the station's capitalist overlord, Hugo, and his henchman Mr. M (who, it must be noted, is almost certainly Finn’s father, Martin, up to one of his many schemes). After much mayhem, hilarity, and poignancy, the special ends with BMO traveling back to Earth and meeting up with Finn and Jake for the first time—revealing that this entire special was a prequel to the main series, explaining how BMO first met up with his good friends in Ooo.

The first thing I'd like to comment on is the fact that many of the show's former crew members returned to work on this special. In addition to Adam Muto (Adventure Time's hard-working executive producer), this special saw the return of: storyboard artists Hanna K Nyström, Laura Knetzger, and Anna Syvertsson; storyline writer Jack Pendarvis; character designers Andy Ristaino and Benjamin Anders; art director Sandra Lee; and composer Tim Kiefer. I was actually quite surprised (and delighted!) that so many of the show's old guard returned to help out. And while this special also saw several new creative voices helping out (including folks like former OK KO! storyboard artist Iggy Craig, former Steven Universe board artist Miki Brewster, and writer Kate Tsang), the overall product was recognizably Adventure Time. I must admit, this was my biggest worry going into Distant Lands; without folks like Tom Herpich, Kent Osborne, or Cole Sanchez, would this feel like the show I know and love? I’m happy to say that the answer is yes!

BMO really is in fine form in this episode—from their singing the "Potatoes (More Exciting Than Tomatoes)" ditty in space all the way to their hitching a ride to Earth on a space lard. (Indeed, the sheer number of humorous remarks the little robot gets makes me think that many of the shows writers were saving up goofy one-liners following the show’s cancellation, just in case.) I’m quite pleased with how the episode handled the character, and, in truth, somewhat relieved. Initially, I was worried whether the character would be able to coherently anchor an hour long special, given BMO’s unpredictable and somewhat unreliable nature (see: “Ketchup”). Would 45 minutes of BMO’s seemingly boundless goofiness work? Thankfully, the other characters in this special do an excellent job counterpoising the lovable robot’s more, shall we say, unorthodox personality features (Y5 perhaps said it best when she noted that BMO tends to “expend energy for no apparent purpose”). The end result feels remarkably balanced, with BMO’s chaotic, goofball energy complimenting the very real plight of the Drift’s residents.

Speaking of other characters, Y5 served as a workable straight man, whose half-heartedly pragmatic personality contrasts nicely with BMO’s boundless and wacky optimism. I must give the writers and producers credit: it was extremely risky for them to feature a brand new character as one of the main players (rather than one of the show’s many beloved side characters), but for the most part, they stuck the landing. I think much of this success is due to Y5’s voice actress, Glory Curda, whose performance really breathes live into the character, giving her an earnest believability. That said, the fast-paced nature of this special precluded me from developing the strongest emotional connection to the character, and as such, Y5′s “my parents don’t appreciate me” subplot did not resonate with me as strongly as, say, “It Came from the Nightosphere” did. (But then again, not every character can be Marceline!)

Strictly in terms of story structure, "BMO" is not exactly groundbreaking, and the special follows the standard "buddy movie" formula fairly closely (You know, the structure that goes: "Two individuals from different walks of life are forced to work together. Despite a rocky start, they begin to function as a team. Alas, they are split up, but reunite just in the nick of time to save the world"). But unlike Grace Z. Li of Vulture, who wrote that the special plays out "expectedly" and as such "is simply unimaginative in its structure," I cannot say that the standard plot structure torpedoes "BMO"—it simply gives the special a solid story frame that supports the characters while also providing an opportunity for the show to drop some timely social commentary.

Adventure Time has never been one to shy away from such commentary, but I do not know if it has ever been more overt than in “BMO.” As Alexander Sowa of CBR puts it, Hugo—the alien-human overlord of the Drift—is a “futurist reminiscent of Steve Jobs or Elon Musk” who long ago used a spaceship to escape Earth during the final days of the Mushroom War. After “biohacking” his DNA with the genetic material of the grey aliens who flit around the Oooniverse’s infinite cosmos, Hugo and his ilk founded an Amazon-esque empire in the Drift, inculcating its inhabitants with a love for rampant commercialism. As a villain, Hugo really is the wombo combo: a selfish capitalist hell-bent on stealing riches, colonizing new lands, exploiting conquered peoples, and then leaving when the situation looks bleak. It is not hard to see Hugo and his followers as stand-ins for the leaders of today, who refuse to acknowledge the reality of thinks like climate change or income inequality—problems that, if left unchecked, will lead to cataclysmic societal collapse. It is a bleak topic for Adventure Time to meditate on, but at least the episode ends on a positive note, with BMO's actions proving that with the right leader(s) and enough people working together, otherwise powerless individuals can topple oppressive regimes and begin to right the wrongs that have been made by the bourgeoisie (if you’ll allow me to invoke the ol’ Marxist term). Now, "BMO" admits that such reformation is one that will require many sacrifices, but nevertheless, the special does emphatically assert that it is possible. And in the hellscape that is 2020, this is a message of hope that so many need to hear.

In addition to social depth, there's quite a bit of existential nuance to this episode, too. Perhaps the most striking scene in the entire special is the scene wherein BMO is torn apart and—for all intents and purposes—dies. It is a chilling scene made all the more haunting by the return of BMO's rainbow personae (last seen in season seven's "The More You Moe, the Moe You Know"), who urge BMO to accept death ("Now your job is to be dead") and recognize that the robot has failed in its mission to be a true hero. (As pointed out to me on Reddit, the scene stylistically echoes an eerie bit of dialogue from Portal 2, wherein GLaDOS tells you: “I have a sort of black-box quick-save feature: In the event of a catastrophic failure, the last two minutes of my life are preserved for analysis. I was ... forced ... to relive you killing me. Again and again. Forever." Talk about horrific!) Thankfully—in the spirit of the hero's journey—BMO bounces back from the brink of oblivion, proving that even in the bleakest of moments, all of us can be heroes.

Or something like that.

All in all, “BMO” was an enjoyable romp that dropped us back into a magical world we all love. While I wouldn’t say that the special was mind-blowing, it succeeded in its mission of telling a new story in a new place, while focusing on a character whom Adventure Time fans care deeply about.

Here’s looking to “Obsidian!”

Mushroom War Evidence: When it comes to the Mushroom War mythos, this episode was full of a lot of little details. CGO’s monologue reveals that, indeed, Earth was ravage by numerous nuclear weapons; what is more, it seems that some sort of doomsday weapon vaporized part of the Earth, leaving that gaping scar in the planet that has for so long fascinated the show’s mythology-junkies. It is also explicitly state that Hugo and his ilk were humans who fled Earth during the Mushroom War to escape certain destruction.

Final Grade:

Also, while I have your attention: Book update! As some of you might already know, over the last year and a half, I’ve been working on a book all about the history and production of Adventure Time! It’s been an absolute blast, and I’ve been lucky enough to talk to quite a few of the folks who worked on the show (including people like Tom Herpich, Jack Pendarvis, Pat McHale, and Rebecca Sugar). I’m in the final stages of type-setting, and should hopefully have the book ready to go within the next few weeks. Here’s a sneak peek of cover (please ignore the faint InDesign lines; they won’t be in the finished product):

Originally, I was going to publish this work through McFarland and Company, but then Cartoon Network got all pissy (long story short: I reached out to Rebecca Sugar and Adam Muto, got in contact with both of ‘em, and asked some questions about Bubbline. Rebecca responded and and confirmed that Bubbline was intended to be canon when she boarded “What Was Missing” but structural homophobia prevented it from being explicitly declared as such. This revelation made CN PR reeeeeaaally uncomfortable and they threatened to sic the lawyers), so I’m now going to be publishing through the University of Kansas Libraries. The good news is that the work will be free to download, and easily accessible! Yay! That said, if you want a hard copy of the book, I’ll post details about that in a bit. Anyway, keep your eyes peeled!

[deuce-duce]

Am I...?? (Inwardly GASPS)!! Which Part...??

Today is March 2nd 2021 and I got my puter back and went to look at what I had last written on December 16th 2020. When I opened the file, it had been changed… dates had been obscured and certain things had been reworded… So… I have decided to go back through all of my previous posts to ensure the integrity of what I am writing stays that way! During this process I will be putting together a collection of my favorite quotes and post fragments. Which I will dub Rock and Roll’s Greatest Hits, if you live near me go buy airhorns Ill tell you why, When the greatest hits album comes out. What your about to read is primarily from Dec. 16th with a few changes or should I say… restorations?? Probably a little of both to be honest. Everything is still as it happened, I just add better descriptive words and fine tune the analogies so that they are easier to digest… My English teacher always told me that was what I was good at! Along with many others… who have said the same… not only do I understand it… I’m able to explain it in a way that others understand as well. ENJOY

On the seventh of December I woke up not too sure if something had occurred that night or not… as I have mentioned before they use a numbing agent that basically masks the pain until it wears off approximately 12 hours later… When I a woke on this day I was having moments of clarity and for some reason just couldn’t keep them to myself. talking to one of the staff members of the homeless shelter I expressed my destiny that I actually had one, that was going to bring me to greatness… then out of nowhere I just blurted out there is going to be a power shift!!!! And at that very moment I couldn’t believe what it was that had just come out of my mouth. I didn’t even believe it at first because the guy at the desk was like IDK… about… that… but when I went back into my room, the look on my roommate’s face said it all!! It seems as though those who pull strings and orchestrate a lot of this… put all of their eggs into one basket. I don’t know exactly what the terms of thee bet were but I’m assuming it had/has something to do with me not being able to control my compulsivity associated with my dissociation. Unfortunately for them I made a deal with God. It was while I was on quarantine and even though I was in a basement all by myself people kept F$%^&*!> with me. This is when I prayed stating that I would not falter, for my body his temple his craft and his glory. that I need to take care of myself and my destiny, for it is in his hands and I won’t let my selfishness or imperfections stop him from fulfilling his plan. Over and over again I have cried and cried about how fundamental and powerful this is all going to be. EFFIN CRAZY!! And now that I know without anyone telling me and it literally being given to me somehow is what is freaking everybody out. How do I know or how the hell did I figure it out!! I really couldn’t tell you and the only thing that is possible is that our Creator endowed me with such responsibility. Crazy!! (this was before I considered the probability of God being a woman, A mother, A Lover)

Low and behold one of my favorite artists Mr. Kid, Maniac, Rager, Wizard, Pursuer of Happiness Cudi dropped a new album entitled Man on the MOON Three. Ill have to say it’s a wonderfully made album! The album delves deep into who Scott is… I know the Fans are going to love it.

Rewind a little bit sorry for my hiatus just needed to stay focused and well as your aware have been led here not by accident and had some things that I needed to take care of before I started writing again. Not to mention I have been dealing with a lot only to know that I am who I am for a reason Rockstar Knights off MOTM3 has a lot to say concerning who I am and what I have realized as a result to my struggle. The Song is a collab with Trippie Redd and really encapsulates so much, that its hard to describe in words.

I had a very interesting conversation with my mother the other day and came to a pretty profound thought. 1st I was telling her how I was being told that I am too….!!! Smart!! Like WTF!! REALLY!! Is that even a thing?? But I didn’t let it get to me too much as it probably is the reason I face so much adversity, No matter the community I enter into. This is how I have explained it to her and a couple other people in the community as well as the Rasta Man in the PNW. The best analogy I could present is if a plant with a fire burning so big and so hot on one side of the plant, a fire so big and hot that it probably would kill most other plants, but not this plant. This plant had sooooo much drive and will to live that instead of giving up it grew in the opposite direction of the blaze. While the roots could withstand the blazing inferno becoming one with the heat and pain Upon the journey away from the fire (society) the plant developed different characteristics colors and attributes that no other plant had. Essentially that journey completely changed that plants physiology Psychology and possible its genetic makeup altogether. Now that the plant has grown so far from the fire (Society) that its all alone. Now theres a different kind of fire where he once thought was safe. But as he grows back towards the fire to escape the new blaze (tyranny) he realizes he will never be able to be the same as the fire he grew so far away from. Now the only option the plant has with death being imminent is to grow as big and bright as quickly as possible before it is engulfed on all sides.

All this taken into account along with factoring in the two major belief structures in the world one Being Creation or Evolution (The Big BANG) this plant which has defied all odds still shines brightly displaying its colors and unique characteristics no matter how dark the room may be it still continues to bloom! Is this a Divine will and plan or are we experiencing the next step of Evolution??? My honest opinion is its both! For the mere ability to adapt and change and prevail in situations others couldn’t dream of or even have nightmares about is truly remarkable and in my eyes is an act of GOD! Just as any evolutionary step would be. The crazier part is… he has no handle!! Nothing to grab on to leaving no way for anyone to grab hold and control! AYE….

I thought this all might just be me being stubborn or simply an idiot until for some reason I opened up my meme App. Something I never open or even look at and the first thing that popped up was a picture and quote saying that many told Marilyn Monroe that she was only beautiful because of the clothes and dresses she wore. It then concluded Marilyn Monroe did a photoshoot in nothing but a burlap potato sack. The photos and the message she sent were completely opposite of that which was being said by spectators. Now!! As scrolled to the second meme I was expecting something funny!! That wasn’t the case what I saw next was the upcoming alignment of the two largest planets in the solar system Jupiter and Saturn. Not only does their alignment happen only every 20 years but the proximity of this occurrence to the earth as well as the proximity to each other hasn’t been the same for close to 800 years… What does it all mean… IDK but The Christmas Star is what their calling the alignment and if your familiar with the bible is the star that the kings, from other lands followed  to bring gifts to baby JESUS! Who knows what this alignment could usher in.?

So profound thought comes to me on a daily basis now it’s so strange the way that it comes it will just be momentary thoughts that will pass through my conscience and as they go by I latch on to it delve a little deeper and experience an overwhelming amount of… IDK what to call it but it feels very powerful so much so that it brings me to tears… I don’t know exactly what the future holds but I think that is what makes this so great! I just keep my mind open Like apple IOS Systems letting everything come and go as it pleases when something goes by that strikes me, I latch on and don’t let go. Its weird how it all happens.

Steve Jobs once said that if he had never had an acid trip that he would have never of come up with the operating system for Apple and after explaining to you what I do as a spiritual and destiny seeking process I believe was his thought process as well. This in of itself is what I think they mean when they say to keep an open mind. Just so you know I didn’t come up with that little bit about the late Mr. Jobs by plan it just came to me when thinking about how to have, use and keep an open mind.

The reason I explained this to you was because this is how I Pray! After I pray I sit still with an open mind allowing multiple ideas thoughts and perspectives to pass through my brain… until like an IOS operating system, something speaks to me… when I latch on to it, focus on what it means and what it will mean… “I Get Those Goosebumps Everytime” (Goosebumps, Travis Scott, feat. Kendrick Lamar, Birds in the Trap Sing Mcknight, 2016). This is how you know! A little extra for ya, when I went to look up the info for my first Hip Hop citation it was 11:11 lol there they go again… its really a cool feeling!

Can someone tell me if that APA or MLA…?? Ya know what!! Eff IT!! None of my writing is orthodox, besides I kinda like the way I did it haha

Kid Cudi’s new video just dropped and I couldn’t be more amazed with all of the hidden messages that are in there. He is officially the man on the moon. Passion pain and demon slaying like a maniac on the pursuit of happiness. Love that DUDE!!

That’s all I got for 12-16-2020 Five More Days…

LOVE & PEACE

Songs

Heaven On Earth – Kid Cudi

Goosebumps – Travis Scott, feat. Kendrick Lamar

Dirty Heads – Sound Of Change

 Just so you know the only thing I added this time other the cleaning up what I had already written was the praying part. Although I originally remember that being the purpose as to why I wrote what I did looking at it today March 2nd 2021 it wasn’t there… have a great day everyone. Ill post this on 3/3/2021

I've added parts to the story on my business cards and will leave then random places, what you do with them is up to you but I think It would be cool for those who want to stop me to have to work extra hard just like they make me!!  

LOVE

[wunderlass]

Max Evans, King of Consent

For some reason, within the fandom, Max has got a bit of a reputation as a weird, creepy stalker when it comes to Liz. And I really don’t understand where this came from, because that is not what was presented to us on screen. At all.

Let’s examine the evidence, shall we?

tl;dr: He isn’t, you didn’t pay attention to the show and leapt to conclusions

The teen years:

The little we see of Echo growing up, we know Max and Liz have some level of friendship. Max plays a supportive role to her, especially in their senior year. But Liz was with Kyle, and there’s no evidence Max ever bad-mouthed Kyle or tried to get in their way, despite the fact that Kyle was an obnoxious jerk at that point.

Max makes plans for the future that don’t involve Liz. Only after their “moment” at the prom, when Liz is single, does Max make a move. By this point we know Liz is beginning to reciprocate his feelings. Their desert date is sweet, and almost ends in a kiss--but when Liz pulls away, Max’s first instinct is to apologise. He doesn’t push Liz to kiss him when she explains why she won’t, or argue with her plans. Instead, he only expresses regret--as does Liz. It’s clear that she thinks a kiss between them is a significant event and that how she feels may be as intense as how he does.

At this point, Max has everything he’s ever wanted (with regards to Liz) at his fingertips. But he respects Liz’s choices and boundaries. Everything we see of him suggests that if Liz was with Kyle until the end of high school and left Roswell without anything ever happening between them, he’d be okay with that. All he wants, all he has ever wanted, is for Liz to be happy--and if that’s with another man, then so be it.

Then he suggests, tentatively, that he come along on the roadtrip, and Liz is overjoyed at the idea. They make plans. Everything goes to shit, and Liz leaves. Max gives her the space to say goodbye to her family without seeking out one of his own, understanding that if she hasn’t sought him out, she has no intention of doing so. He lets her go and takes the emotional hit in silence. He doesn’t follow her. His reasons for this are complex--he has to stay for his siblings, and he feels guilty over his involvement in Rosa’s death--but it’s clear he doesn’t expect anything further from Liz at this point.

Present time in the season:

In 2018, Max’s understanding of consent has only improved. He refuses to kiss her in the pilot while assuming his feelings are having an impact on her ability to agree to it. He repeats that refusal in episode two for the same reason. Liz is the one in pursuit here, and Max is arguably trying to give her space until any influence he’s having on her has passed.

Also in episode two, she tells him she’s leaving Roswell. He accepts this. He was expecting it, even if he’s not happy about it. At the end of the episode, he’s gutted when she tells him that she doesn’t have feelings for him, but he doesn’t argue with her about it. He accepts it before she’s even finished telling him there will be no kiss. Liz is the one who manipulates him to spend more time together, and when he realises he’s being manipulated, he makes plans to try and move forward with somebody else, under the impression that Liz will be leaving town soon and he can lick his wounds when she’s gone.

Arguably in these early episodes Liz seeks out Max more than the other way around. She goes looking for him to collect his DNA in the pilot (which, let’s face it, is ethically ambiguous at best). She’s going to confront him when he comes to find her and confess his secret. She summons him to the church, and also to the turquoise mines. At the end of episode three they have a big confrontation over Max’s love letter, and he finally confesses the depths of his feelings. He does this to try and answer some of her questions, and because she’s pushing him to explain himself, not because he’s expecting reciprocation. Liz is the one who started this confrontation, not Max, and he walks away from it.

Not all of Max’s reactions are healthy--he blows up the town after this confrontation. Yet this seems to be as much a side effect of healing Liz as it is his emotions. He’s calmer in the next episode, and turns his attention to what he believes will be a strategy to ensure Liz leaves town.

That’s right. He’s so entitled to Liz that he plans to make sure she leaves Roswell. What a foolproof plan to win the girl, right?

There is another Echo confrontation at the end of episode four, where Max asks Liz to tell him how she feels. The question may come across as demanding, but by this point he knows she’s been playing with his feelings. He also knows she’s spilled the secret she promised to keep. His anger here is quiet and non-threatening. He’s asking for the truth, not demanding that she return his feelings. He wants closure but he expects to never see her again after this confrontation: his final words to her are a goodbye.

When he finds out in episode five that Michael and Isobel sent her away in 2008, he does demand to know where she is, because he wants to give her this truth. However, that revelation is interrupted by her being in danger, and he rushes to her rescue. He never does tell her about that himself. Liz comes to his house to make sure he’s okay, and from there the secrets from ten years ago come spilling out. Liz tells Max to stay away from her--and he does. He doesn’t plead with her or try to justify himself. He lets her go, again.

(He is hurt and angry, and that spills out around him in episode seven, but it is not directed at Liz, who he recognises deserves her own anger).

In fact he abides by this so well over the next couple of episodes that at the beginning of episode nine things are noticeably awkward between them. Liz has been working to save Isobel, and realistically this is only because of her own unvoiced feelings for Max, but he continues to give her space. We’ve seen him avoiding her in episodes seven and eight, and now Max is so careful of her boundaries that he misses all the signals she’s giving him. When she’s cold, he asks if he can give her his jacket, rather than assuming she wants it. She approaches him several times over the course of the episode (outside the tents, in the bar), and in the end, she’s the one who initiates the kiss. This is after he has made a grand speech about how he loves her despite her flaws--then turned his back to walk away because he still assumes her feelings towards him have not changed.

The entire season shows that Max is so careful of how he approaches Liz. Consent matters to him (and yes, the healing scene with Michael in the finale is deliberately out of character) and he never expects Liz to return his feelings. Any time she hints that she doesn’t return them, he blindly accepts this because he’s working under the assumption she could never love him. Similarly, he misses the obvious signs that she does have feelings for him. He prioritises what she says over her body language and behaviours, making no presumptions until she literally reels him in for a kiss. His self-esteem is somewhere in the depths of the desert outside of Roswell, and it’s going to take a lot of work to unearth it.

So where has this collective fanon come from? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a combination of a few things. 

Max is a big guy. I’ve talked about this elsewhere, but I think his size and his anger issues in the early episodes (which the show went to great pains to explain were out of character) had people deciding he was some kind of alphahole trope. And once they’d decided that, it didn’t matter what actually happened on the show, they were going to see Max’s feelings for Liz as selfish, his pining as something he was trying to make her problem, her love something he felt entitled to. I also believe there’s a certain amount of “straight white man, let’s hate him because he isn’t oppressed” going on, which completely misunderstands what privilege is. (I believe that because I’ve seen it expressed that way, I’m not pulling that out of nothing).

Also, throughout the season Max and Michael have a slightly adversarial relationship. Michael is something of a fan-favourite and that has led to people siding with him over Max, even where Michael was wrong (see: the end of episode 12/beginning of episode 13, where Michael got himself killed by Noah because he refused to listen to Max). 

You don’t have to love or even like Max. But if any of your critique of him as a character starts from a place of “he felt entitled to Liz” or “he was a stalker”, then I’m going to dismiss you out of hand, because you haven’t been paying attention to what was actually happening in the show.

Let’s give the last word to our leading lady:

“I love him--and he loves me. I wish you had the chance to have someone love you, Rosa. Purely. Without expectation or entitlement.”

See? Liz gets it.

(Also, just in case any of this seems anti-Liz, it’s not. Liz was justified in all of her actions during the show).

[ninasfireescape]

The ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ review no one asked for

I wanted to enjoy it. I really did.

I was one of the people who didn’t dislike The Last Jedi. Sure, I didn’t love it. When I watched it, I thought it was too long and had made certain characters choices I wasn’t too happy with, but overall it was enjoyable and left me feeling satisfied. It was not as good as The Force Awakens however and hearing JJ Abrams was returning, I thought he might be able to restore the final episode to its former glory.

That indeed seemed like the case for the first hour. The gang were back together, it was quick-paced, I had an emotional investment in what was going on (and it seemed like they were taking the Finnrey route I wanted them too). I couldn’t exactly follow every plot specific but does that really matter in Star Wars when it’s so exciting? The bit on Star Killer base was genuinely inspired, I was laughing away at once again what terrible shots the stormtroopers were and at Hux being the spy. Every scene with Lando in was gold.

It was just after they got to the water planet that things started to go wrong. I’m not sure quite what it was exactly that made it so disappointing from this point onwards. Perhaps the gang splitting up or the rather horrifically done Leia death scene. I know they didn’t really have much choice with what footage they had but having watched each member of the original trio died, this death was devoid of emotion and predictable. And she died to make Kylo Ren hesitate for one moment. What a waste!

Then the pointless force ghosts! Seeing Luke was nice but it felt like he was just there to add clunky explanation since the plot made so little sense at this point. And when Han appeared, I actually laughed. It was so inconsistent with the tone of the film and he appeared all while Kylo Ren was standing in the middle of a stormy sea that he could fall into at any moment, right in the most climactic section of the film, just to have a conversation with the son who killed him! It was the most outrageous example of a fan service cameo that just didn’t assimilate with the rest of the film.

I don’t actually have a problem with Rey Palpatine. If anything, I thought it was really cool she was a Palpatine. I really didn’t want her to be a Skywalker because I felt it would be predictable and repetitive. Her being a Palpatine also sends the message to young viewers that blood relations don’t make a family which I think is very important for children to hear. Honestly, the only problem I have with it is that it means some poor lady had sex with Palpatine. I agree that it was a ridiculous retcon of The Last Jedi but then I didn’t like the reveal about her parents in TLJ anyway because of how it was executed. Another thing that bothers me about it is the utter lack of information we get about Villanelle Rey’s mother. Already we don’t know much about her father other than that he’s Palpatine’s son but with her mother, we get nothing. With Rey having wondered about who her parents were for so long, surely it would make sense for her to want to know more about her mother and maybe even take her surname in place of ‘Palpatine’. I also firmly believe Rey’s mother should have been played by Hayley Atwell because she looks so much like Daisy Ridley. And while Jodie Comer is an amazing actress, I think 1. She deserves a bigger role in the Star Wars franchise and 2. Her casting as Rey’s mother exemplifies Hollywood’s fear of casting older actresses as mothers. A twenty six year old as a mother!?

About Zurii, I always appreciate new female characters in Star Wars and I thought she had a great design. However, it is blatantly clear what her purpose in the film was. It was to stop people calling Poe gay, inserting a female character for one scene (she barely spoke in her other scenes so I’m not counting those) with no backstory of her own, just to prove he is attracted to women. Well, first of all, he can be bi, secondly, that’s not going to stop people shipping Finnpoe at all. I didn’t clock until afterwards when I saw people talking about it online, but it was super problematic to make Poe a former drug dealer. Sure, the only Latino character in this trilogy. Also, it in general complicates the little we know about Poe’s backstory so far.

With Rose, all our worst fears were confirmed. She just wasn’t there. She appeared in a couple of scenes and had some lines but you’d think she was no more than another miscellaneous rebel, no more significant a role than Billie Lourd’s character. Did they really give into the white fanboy pressure? How could they erase Rose when she was such a good character? She was tough and fought strongly for her beliefs, but she was also compassionate, sensitive. Now, I never particularly shipped Finn and Rose in TLJ. I thought it seemed a bit of a rushed romance and Finn didn’t seem that invested in the kiss they shared. However, you can’t just pretend they didn’t kiss in the last film. They interacted a few times but there was no sense of any bond between them. Where there relationship stood was unclear. Were they now a couple or had they had an offscreen conversation where they decided they were better off as friends? Who knows?

And now onto the worst part of the film: Kylo Ren and more specifically that kiss. Gross. Okay, to be clear, I wasn’t entirely opposed to a redemption arc for Kylo Ren. Sure, it would be predictable, but it’s not like Kylo Ren’s crimes are any worse than those of Darth Vader and he was still capable of redemption. I liked Kylo Ren as a villain. He perfectly depicted that type of whiny, entitled white man who we see so commonly in real life, but again, he could have achieved some redemption if it were implemented correctly. What we got in the film was not this. He was still committing genocide at the start and carried out one good deed which was saving the woman he had a crush on. For this one good act, he was entirely forgiven and somehow all of the genocide wasn’t his fault. And he got rewarded with the woman! If anything, I’d call that act selfish since he only wanted to save the woman he liked. Adam Driver did the best he could with it but everything about it was awful. And it was out of character for Rey to kiss him and forgive him. She stabbed him little more than half an hour earlier! At the end of the last film, she slammed a door in his face. It makes no sense to me how she could suddenly be so invested in him becoming a better person. There’s also the fact that wasn’t included in the films that Rey and Kylo Ren are related (aunt and nephew to be exact). I wasn’t aware this was Game of Thrones! And according to Wookiepedia, Rey was 18 at the start of the films and is now 20 whereas Kylo Ren is now 30. A ten year age different would be fine if Rey were older but at this point, the age gap is uncomfortable and very borderline.

If they’re going to make the claim that it wasn’t actually Kylo Ren who was doing the evil deeds but some dark force corrupting him, they should have explained how the mechanism works. At least in the prequels, we got some sense of Anakin slowly being corrupted. To me, it reads like in some horror films when the abusive characters are found to have been possessed by demons or something. It trivializes abuse which is something very real, acting instead as if no abusers can actually be responsible for their actions and it is the cause of some supernatural force instead. I suppose the kiss doesn’t have to mean anything. After all, Leia and Luke kissed in the original trilogy and Finn and Rose kissed and apparently that meant nothing.

I firmly believe the series intended a Finn and Rey romance. Lest we forget The Force Awakens, Finn awkwardly asking Rey if she had a boyfriend. That was clear coding for him having a crush on her. In that film, the two developed such a strong bond, and they have so much more chemistry than Rey and Kylo Ren ever had. All the scenes with Rey and Finn (and Poe) were full of light and emotion. The scene at the end where the three of them hugged was honestly the high point of the film. Now, when I left the cinema, what was plaguing my mind the most was that throughout the film, Finn had a secret he wanted to tell Rey. It was first suggested when they thought they were going to die in the quicksand. “Wait, Rey, I never told you!” It had to be that he loved her. What else could it be? Supposedly, it was that he was force sensitive. I don’t believe that for one second. If he needed to tell her that, why couldn’t Poe be included? And why did he never get the chance to tell her? It was a build-up I got invested in with no payoff. It must have been that he loved her. So, if that was the case, that leaves us with two options. Either there was a Finnrey subplot that got cut but they forgot to cut these scenes out (or simply couldn’t be bothered to), or they thought it would be funny to have the black supposed male lead chasing after the white female lead who didn’t love him back because she was instead in love with the genocidal white villain. I ship Finnrey so much and find the second option so horrific but I wouldn’t put it past the writers. Finn played such a significant role in the first half of the film, as he should since he’s meant to be the male lead in the series, but after that, he was dangerously underutilized. At least the ending where no one ends up with each other is compliant with my headcanon that Rey, Finn and Poe (and I don’t mind Rose being in the mix too) all end up married to each other and adopt a bunch of porgs.

And lastly, the lesbian scene. Pathetic. We don’t know the character names and I can’t even find out who the actresses were that played them. Okay, they kissed which is a pretty big deal (even though kisses apparently mean nothing in Star Wars) and it’s certainly a step forward from the Avengers: Endgame ‘’’’representation’’’’, but it’s still rather useless considering the big deal JJ Abrams made about how there would be representation.

[nathalie-sancoeur-assistant]

Emilie Agreste

(Note, I do NOT remember if I have made an in-depth post on this before and if I have my apologies but I want to put this out there)

Okay so I know I say that I hope Emilie is going to be a villain but this is my OFFICIAL post on it, and I'm going to call it right here, right now, in front of everyone, that Emilie Agreste is not only going to be a villain, but she's going to be a force to be reckoned with (I mean, you can't just have the main-bad of the series NOT be ruthless, cunning and hard to beat, right?)

She's going to be charming. How else would she get Gabriel Agreste to fall for her and practically worship the ground she walks on if he's going to not only tear Paris to shreds for her, but risk the life of, most likely, his only friend in the world and one true ally, Nathalie Sancoeur?

Lemme take some time to break this down okay. Now I've spent a lot of time on this, didn't even initially type it out on Tumblr, mkay? I took this baby to sticky notes on my laptop.

First we gotta look at Adriens past just to get a feel for the type of person she was.

Adrien spent his childhood alone, isolated from other people, homeschooled, sheltered beyond whats normal or, even what can be considered extreme and his social life....well, it wasn't even dead, because something that never existed can't die. His only friend was, of all people, the bratty, entitled, snobbish and selfish person we know of as Chloe Bougeoirs (not to anger any Chloe fans out there, she has her pros and cons and I know its a result of a bad childhood as well, but she still uses people, manipulates them and hurts others purposefully to get attention and I don't care how bad of a childhood you've had, that's not okay and she needs to mature because at this rate she's going to stay an ignorant child for as long as she lives). Now, any normal parent might want their kid to have someone their age who was a good influence- and Chloe probably would have benefitted from Adriens present if he wasn't such a...for lack of a better word, a pushover. The poor boy didn't know what friendship was until Nino came about, before that his expectations were probably very low and he had nothing to compare it to. He was isolated for 14 years. Socially, he's dumb as a pickle and it's not his fault. He fits the perfect stereotype that people who are homeschooled are socially inept. So really, his nature as a pushover is a direct result of his upbringing- he doesn't know how wrong it is sometimes.

Now tell me, what kind of decent parent- especially one that needs their child to be able to put on a good image- would be okay with this? They might think "Oh he has Chloe" but I can guarantee you as they got older they could see more and more how bratty Chloe was getting and what a terrible influence she could be on their son- so why did they not attempt to help him socialize? It's not impossible for homeschooled kids to socialize and have a bunch of friends. There are libraries, parks, churches, social gatherings, community events, etc. that you can bring your homeschooled child to for a healthy dose of social interaction with the possibility of making friends- and with how well off these guys are you know darn well they could have gotten him to one at least once a week. Why go to so much effort to keep your kid behind closed doors? It has serious psychological effects that I'm sure people who are smart enough to get so far would know about. Heck you don't even have to be smart to know it- human beings are social creatures, even if some of us are introverted as heck and never want to leave our house, we still need human interaction otherwise we will get sick in some way shape or form. Emilie had a huge say in Adrien's upbringing and could have easily gotten him out of the house- and the reason I say she had a huge role is because, as soon as she was gone, Gabriel started doing what Nathalie suggested. This man relies on the women in his life to help raise his kid, because he knows he's not good at parenting to a certain degree. He trusted that Emilie, as Adrien's mother, would be able to know what was best and likely went along with it because "She'll know what to do. She's his mother and I trust her. If she says it's what is best, then it's whats best and it's what I want." But then as SOON as she was gone, he didn't have that to fall back on and in comes Nathalie, the second best thing. She knows Adrien, she's helped raise him. She's been around for a long time, surely not all her suggestions are going to be wrong. So he goes along with it. (And note while I stated that SEEMINGLY as fact, it was less FACT and more OBSERVATION on my part. I could be wrong! But based off what I've seen and my own intuition, this is how I PERSONALLY have interpreted the situation). But to clarify- no decent mother is going to allow their child to be so out-of-touch. Its perfectly normal to want to protect them but when its to that degree....something just isn't sitting right. (Not saying that Gabriel is off the hook! He could have influence if he wanted too! He has the power to step in and say no- but he doesn't. He does deserve to be shamed for it, just don't forget that EMILIE IS NOT PERFECT)

Now we move on to her personality. We don't know a lot about it, at least we haven't been directly told, but at one point in Simon Says it is insinuated that she had a temper. What a strange first thing to reveal about how she acted, when she's supposedly the ideal mother and woman? (My own personal opinion is that she is going to have that temper, and be bold, intelligent, strong, cunning, charming, and eventually shown to be ruthless, but that is ONLY because I feel that those are traits that accompany a main villain well. I'm not saying that for a fact and I could be COMPLETELY wrong- I thought Duusu was going to be a bitter bipolar ball of sass but from the small clip we've seen she's sweet as a strawberry. So don't take this as fact, PLEASE.) What a strange trait to put any amount of emphasis on for someone painted as ideally as her.

Also- why was she interested in the Miraculous? She knew about them, we know that for a fact, because she gave Gabriel the book. She, I believe, is the one who started this whole miraculous endeavor. I mean, Gabriel by himself I doubt would have any interest in traveling completely out of the country on some off-chance that these so called "magical trinkets" might exist, would he? That doesn't sound like him to me. Not something he'd partake in by himself. Not to mention, we know the miraculous are directly tied to her coma, and without any villains to fight, why on Earth would she be using the peacock miraculous so much? I don't recall it ever being confirmed but we all basically assume it's canon now that Emilie is in a coma because of the damaged miraculous. What on EARTH could she have been doing that required her to use the broken of their two miraculous so frequently? And not even cause any past of sentimonsters in the city (we know that because of how surprised everyone is about the sentimonsters beforehand, how even Ladybug questioned it when we first saw one) And in the end, the book was her last gift to Gabriel. It was hers, not theirs, hers. So that leads me to question- did Gabriel even know about the book until Emilie gave it to him? And if that's the case, why would she wait until she was THAT sick to give it to him? Something just feels off about that.

Now we go on to think about everything Gabriel says when he talks to her. Now there have been MULTIPLE episodes, I can't give exact quotes or even tell you what episodes they were, where Gabriel said something about ruling the world...yeah nah someone like him isn't interested in governing a world of idiots, I've heard that that was simply bad translation and we can also just chalk it up to him getting carried away and less referring to actual world-domination and more just showing exactly how much power he'll have if/when he gets his hands on those miraculous and make his wish. But Gabriel has said things about "promises" they made and "Righting their mistakes"- there is obviously more going on here than meets the eye. There has BEEN more going on here than meets the eye since day one. And we're still in the dark as to the Agreste's full story. Obviously Gabriel and Emilie have made mistakes and his goal isn't just to wish her back, but I'm going to say to potentially wish away the very mistake that caused the miraculous to be broken and Emilie to go comatose in the first place. Perhaps there's more to it but that seems like the most logical route to me. Again, we don't know the full story yet, which just leaves open so many questions and leaves Emilie up to even more suspicion. What was she doing that needs wished away? What broke the peacock miraculous? What did they promise each other?( I think I've mentioned that before and someone said Astruc addressed it or something but I digress, unless I hear something solid and concrete disproving it Im going to wonder about it forever. )

It's been insinuated I believe that the whole reason Gabriel became Hawkmoth was BECAUSE he wanted to bring Emilie back and right those past wrongs. His whole motivation to keep going could be that once he gets those miraculous and changes the past, he will never have had to have even become Hawkmoth in the first place and therefore his current actions don't matter so long as he succeeds and erases that part of his life completely. The ENTIRE REASON he became the supervillain Hawkmoth is because of his wife. And if he succeeds he could potentially wipe it all away and have a clean slate at the expense of someone else taking his place, of course. That may be what he is relying on to keep himself going and justifying his actions for all we know. People didn't know about Hawkmoth before origins, they were all surprised, so that's more proof that...he wasn't really Hawkmoth until his wife fell ill.

Not to mention all the symbolism we see. In Adrien's post on Instagram with Nathalie helping him with his homework, we see Nathalie, working hard to be of service to the Agreste child and fill the role of a mother while his biological mother's portrait, in all its "perfect" glory (Also a picture that clearly idolizes her, making her look almost like some sort of Goddess) sits blurry in the background...watching. That is the best example I have right now but if anyone else has more, feel free to let me know! I'm sure there are plenty of things here I forgot to mention that can be addressed, and if anyone thinks of any, PLEASE, send an ask my way and feel free to discuss it. But this has been my argument, and official "called it!" post on how Emilie is not all she's cracked up to be.

Also a side note- I'm also calling Gabriel succeeding. I believe he's gonna get the miraculous. Its just the twist the show needs, the 'bad guys' for once seeming to win, but they're all pawns in Emilie's game....that last line may be a bit drastic but Im not going to say I don't believe it to some degree.

[overlyemotionalnerd]

An uncoordinated rant about everything, because this show and a certain part of the fandom is starting to get annoying…

Disclaimer: everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I’m not saying nobody is allowed to enjoy the show or certain pairings, I’m just stating my personal view!

I’ve stopped watching Super-Social-Justice, oh, sorry ”Supergirl” early on in the fourth season. I just could not stand the ”character development” of anyone. Sorry, if it’s your favourite season, personally, I hated that it stopped being about Kara. Anyways, all I know about the current events is from what I’ve seen on social media and posts about *ugh* SuperCorp, so feel free to correct me if I make some glaring mistakes. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however, I am not a fan of Lena. I started watching the show because of Katie and Jeremy, so I had high hopes for their characters (and low expectations for the show overall, so I was positively surprised by how much I loved the first three seasons) From the very beginning, Lena was what you would call a ”morally grey” character. I was hoping they would do something like with Morgana, but I just kept getting more and more disappointed. I hate that she constantly gets those ”redemption” episodes when she’s clearly selfish and power-hungry. I don’t like how people say she’s a hero, because every time she helps Superfriends (and gets all of the credit for saving the day) she never does it out of the goodness of her heart. She always has a motive and it’s never good. And the constant play at being the victim is really getting on my nerves. Basically, she seems to believe she’s the only one with a tough life…

Lena: You don’t know how hard it is to be related to someone evil! Of course, I don’t trust anybody and will most likely use or kill you if you stand in my way! That’s because my childhood was so terrible! Kara:… Winn:… Mon-El:… Brainy:…

I like that every character has their flaws. You don’t have to make them ”perfect” to be likeable. It’s those imperfections that make a character more relatable. But there is nothing relatable or cute about a character who keeps endangering everybody else for their own gain and doesn’t ever do anything to make it up for them.

I can’t wait for Winn and Mon-El to come back and see what a mess the past is. ”Seriously, we’ve left you to fight evil AIs and you are this close to completely destroying our world?” And Winn would love to have a long discussion with every single person but he has what is probably the worst case of a time-jet-lag, so he will deal with them after he’s had his nap and a lot of ice cream and pizza with a Disney marathon. He doesn’t want to hear about any more drama until him and Mon-El has had at least three days to rest!

Dear creators of ”Supergirl”, erasing all of the LGBT representation and PoC, only to queerbait with two conventionally attractive white women is not progressive. Refusing to show men as capable yet sensitive and making them into replaceable, straight ”undesired love interest” and not giving them credit for anything, therefore making them bland or just erasing them from the plot is not progressive. Sqeezing women into tight dresses and giving them out of nowhere all of those ridiculous achievements is not progressive. Completely changing a well-recognised female character’s design just to put them into what is basically a copy of a man’s suit is not progressive (seriously, if Kara hated the skirt so much, why didn’t she say so sooner? I don’t hate the new suit, just don’t see how it’s a sign of feminism). You do know that feminism is about equality for all, and not the power of white, straight and wealthy women, right?

[contemplatingoutlander]

OUTLANDER VALENTINE’S 💝 DAY/ WEEK 🎭 DRAMA: PART I: Pragmatism 101 and Hawaii-gate🌺 2019

BOTTOM LINE PRAGMATISM: Conspiracy Theories Do Not Apply to B-List Celebrities

I’m a pragmatist. Always have been. 

One of the pragmatic foundations of everything I perceive regarding Sam and Cait is this:

B-LIST (previously C-list) ACTORS DO NOT INVOLVE THEMSELVES IN FIVE YEAR, INTERCONTINENTAL CONSPIRACIES, THAT INCLUDE MULTIPLE FAKE SOs, THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, FANS AND RESPECTED ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALISTS TO “HIDE” THEIR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP/ MARRIAGE/ CHILDREN.  PERIOD.

Sam and Cait are minor celebrities. They are growing in fame but they are still not known by most people outside of the Outlander fandom. As I pointed out in another POST, Sam and Cait don’t even have Q-Scores yet!

B-list actors aren’t important enough for TPTB to go through all the effort and money involved in ensuring that these actors’ romantic relationships are “hidden,” even if TPTB could legally do so, which they can’t in this day and age (see POST).

Similarly, B-list actors would never put themselves, their friends, families and colleagues through a five year conspiracy for their own private reasons either. And no one in their lives would go along with any such conspiracy for more than a month or two anyway, even for the best of reasons. It would be incredibly selfish of any actor to ask anyone to do so for more than a brief time. 

Fans are entitled to continue to believe in these conspiracies if they want to but IMO they make no logical sense (see POST). 

HAWAII-GATE 🌺🌺🌺 2019

Once again certain SamCait shippers are in a tizzy about something that happened around Valentine’s Day. This time it was Sam being in Hawaii without Cait and with some friends, one of whom was an attractive brunette.

NOT JUST A FISHING TRIP

Unfortunately, Sam appeared on a video aboard a boat where a large fish was killed by the fishermen on board. I myself was very upset by that image and even wrote a POST about how fans are entitled to be upset by seeing that. However, some fans seemed to blame Sam for the distressing video--and I don’t agree with that.

Sam didn’t make the video nor did he post the video. He was not even in a place on the boat where he could clearly see what was happening. Many people go on fishing boats as part of their vacations. I wouldn’t choose to do so but I don’t think it is any fan’s place to condemn Sam for doing so, especially since he did not participate in what happened to that fish.

I believe that certain fans are choosing to target Sam about this because they are upset that he was on the boat with a brunette who isn’t Cait. We still don’t know if the brunette is a friend or a date. But my goodness as far as I know Sam is single and is entitled to be on a vacation with anyone he wants to be.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING PRIVATE AND “HIDING”

No, I don’t think there was any “conspiracy” where Sam set up the fandom so they could see him with this woman. He was in Hawaii for quite some time before the fandom knew who his companions were. Yes, he allowed people to tag him but to my knowledge he has never stopped fans or others from tagging him before.

Sam is being private but he isn’t “hiding.” And yes Sam did post an IG story he took from the Kona Brewing Company (KBC) a couple of hours after the KBC posted some IG stories that included Sam and two friends in the background. But look at the gif above. That is an enlarged part of one KBC IG story that lasted less than two seconds into the video. You had to really look to find Sam in that one. The same is true of the other IG stories (go look for yourselves if you don’t believe me--see KBC IG STORIES). 

I doubt that Sam would have even noticed himself in those IG stories if he looked at them. But even if he knew that certain fans would see him in the KBC IG stories, I don’t believe that he was trying to “lead” fans to those IG stories--he just wasn’t trying to “hide” his life.

Then a fan found another IG story from a person who hadn’t tagged Sam. In order to find this IG STORY the fan had to look through IG tags for the Kona Brewing Company and then look through posts that had recorded the events that happened at the same day and time as when Sam was there. (I’m not even sure that IG stories show up in a search.) The IG story the fan found shows Sam from the back and the brunette from the side. If you didn’t know what you were looking for, no one would think that was Sam.

So no, I don’t think Sam was involved in a “plot” to lead fans to see him with another “fake SO.” I think he was living his life and sharing what he thought was a relatively benign social event at a brewery with his fans.

If fans hadn’t gone digging, they wouldn’t even know this much.

IT’S NOT FAIR TO DIG UP DIRT ON A NON-CELEBRITY

But certain fans didn’t stop at digging up information on who the brunette was. They had to find photos that showed her character in a poor light. I’ve been sent some of these photos. But honestly, I believe they are none of my business. 

This woman isn’t a celebrity. She doesn’t deserve to have her life picked apart.

Those photos are just snapshots of brief moments in this woman’s life. We don’t know what the full context was for any of those photos. We also don’t know about the positive aspects of this woman. She must have some positive characteristics if she is Sam’s friend.

And I don’t care if this woman worked for a production company that had done some production on a show that is on Starz. (According to IMDb the company did some production for Counterpart in 2017-2018 but had nothing to do with Outlander. It also had nothing to do with any of the films that Sam worked on.) Even if this woman works for this company, she doesn’t work for Starz and is not involved in any “conspiracy.”

This is what I was afraid would happen if any woman was seen with Sam again. We don’t even know the nature of their relationship and this woman is being torn apart.

Can we stop repeating the mistakes of the past in this fandom and leave this woman alone?

In my opinion, it isn’t any fan’s job to decide if the brunette woman is someone with whom Sam should associate. If fans feel a need to express a negative opinion about her, I might suggest they do so in DM where their opinions can’t be seen by the world. We all (myself included) express negative opinions in DM all the time about things. 

But expressing negative opinions about this non-celebrity, complete stranger on our public blogs--doesn’t seem fair to me. 

Sam is a big boy. He can be friends with or date anyone he wants to without the approval of the fandom.

Because it is his life--not ours.

NOTE: This is just my opinion as a fan, nothing more. If you respond to this post please do so in a civil manner. Thank you.

[edited]

sources: 01, 02, 03

[putschki1969]

Hi Sarah! I was so glad to see Kyoichi’s nice post about Wakana & her album/tour. Thanks for sharing it. But why is that the only support her former partners have tweeted for Wakana? Compare that with the Keiko announcement. We saw immediate reactions from Kajiura, Hikaru, Kaori, etc. Why can’t they say 1 nice thing about Wakana instead of tweeting about boba or the weather? Wakana probably can’t talk about Yuki or Hikaru/Keiko because of Space Craft, but they don’t have that restriction. ??

Hi there!

Oh boy, I hope I don’t come off as too harsh but I feel strongly about the topic so please bear with me. I am sorry it took me so long to reply, I needed a while to gather my thoughts.Well, without further ado, let’s get going…

I would like to be honest with you, I do not really like the tone of this ask - simply because it sounds quite judgemental. It might not have been your intention but it’s this kind of mentality that causes unnecessary drama in the fandom. You are fabricating tension where there is none. By asking this question you are insinuating that Hikaru, Keiko and YK are not acting “appropriately”, you expect them to act a certain way and when they don’t you automatically come to the conclusion that there has been some sort of falling-out or that they have somehow turned against Wakana. It was the same when the “disbandment” was announced and everyone complained about Wakana not commenting on it. Suddenly it was Wakana who was the traitor that dared to stay with Space Craft.

All these made-up stories, all this negativity, it is so tiring and frankly, quite toxic. Do people not realise that this kind of thinking is borderline ridiculous? We are not in high school and this is not an episode of Days of our Lives, this is real life and we are talking about real people who are mature and who have been in the business for ages. Why is there such an unhealthy need for drama and conspiracy? Why are fans so keen to pick a certain side? Why are you so desperate to vilify one of them, why are you looking for someone to blame? Is it really so hard to imagine a scenario where everyone is more or less content with the current situation, where everyone is supportive of each other and no bad feelings are involved?

We only know what’s presented to us and that’s not a lot. We do not have any insight, we do not know what’s happening behind the scenes. But just because there is a lack of knowledge doesn’t mean we get a free pass at filling in the blanks with dramatic, tabloid-level stories. As little as we know we really aren’t qualified to judge their actions. You are talking about restrictions but truth is, we have no idea whether or not any of them are bound by some sort of restriction.The Japanese music industry (and Japanese society in general) comes with lots of complex politics and I am not even gonna pretend to have an understanding of them. What I am trying to say here is that there could be countless explanations for their actions. We do not know what motivates them to do or not do certain things but I am sure they have valid reasons. All we can do is trust them and try to respect their decisions.

And please, you have to be aware that just because something isn’t posted in public for everyone to see doesn’t mean that it is not happening. They can love each other, they can support each other, they can interact with each other BUT they are not obliged to make any of that public just to make fans feel better. And yes, there is no doubt that it feels amazing to see some proof of interaction. As fans we are craving for that sort of content. Just take one of Hikaru’s most recent tweet where she talks about meeting up with Keiko. This kind of tweet (as insignificant as it may seem to outsiders) means the world to us but we have to realise that it is a privilege, Hikaru is granting us insight but she doesn’t have to, it is not something we are owed.

I am just human and like many of you, I am a hardcore fan (probably more obsessed than the majority of the fandom XD) so at times I am guilty of being frustrated, of wanting more. But then I remind myself that I have no right to make any demands. Instead I focus on being grateful for what we have and I have faith that everything that’s happening is happening for a good reason. Just take Keiko’s disappearance for example. Yes, the year wasn’t exactly easy for me, I did miss her a lot but I had faith and as you can see now, having patience paid off. The majority of the fandom was constantly asking for updates, there wasn’t a week going by without anyone messaging me whether or not I knew anything about Keiko. Fans were needlessly making themselves sick with worry, they demanded explanations, they desperately wanted her to return and they certainly weren’t shy to voice these thoughts over and over again on every imaginable social media platform. Of course I understand these feelings to a certain extent but at some point it just becomes a bad case of fan entitlement. I could write an entire book about fan culture and how being a fan of something has become synonymous with wanting one’s own selfish needs to be met. It’s not about what your favourite creator, actor, artist, singer, idol, etc wants, it’s about what fans want. Maybe it has always been like that, I don’t know but the internet has certainly enabled people to be a lot more vocal about it. But let’s not dwell on that, this would go way beyond the scope of this little discussion here. I just wanted to illustrate that fans tend to be quite self centredand if things don’t go the way they want, they cause drama.

As for YK, Hikaru and lots of other people reacting to the announcement of Keiko’s comeback. I think you cannot really compare that to them not tweeting or otherwise posting about Wakana. Wakana hasn’t been gone for more than a year. I would say it’s quite a special thing for someone to return after such a long time. It’s no surprise people are more vocal about that.

Last but not least I would like to point out that YK has in fact voiced her full support of everything the girls want to do from now on (in her message posted on her page). She might not have mentioned Wakana by name but that doesn’t really matter.

Okay, that’s it…hope I made sense…