#and lots of these criticisms ignore the story telling that goes into character design

[emblemxeno]

Rant ahead.

Honestly part of my confusion at people trashing on Engage's designs for either being too out there or crazy is that this is the same fandom that venerates Pantsless Marth, Dong Armor Alm, Pegasus Knights with short skirts and thigh highs, mages who don't have armor or practical clothes most of the time, the very existence of the dancer class, etc.

These things are classic and funny to poke at, but they were also things that happened 30+ years ago. Do you not think that Marth going commando and Jagen having eye gouging shoulder spikes in 1990 wasn't just as ridiculous, gaudy and impractical as Hortensia's cupcake circus dress in 2023? In Engage's immediate predecessor you had classes with tit separaters, characters with drill hair, Dorothea in opera garb during war time, Hilda's timeskip fit which looks like a prototype Hortensia fit, Petra's timeskip fit, Kronya's existence, and Female Byleth in general.

Impracticality and overdesign is the weakest criticism you can give FE designs. I get it, we long for the GBA era, but let's be real: those designs were made to complement class design in part to compensate for having character mugs and game sprites as the only constant presentation of the characters. "Crazy" designs and high fantasy armor and clothes started with the more decadent characters in the Tellius games because they had models and didn't have to strictly adhere to class design elements anymore.

[ieatpastriesforfun]

r/daggerheart is toxic AF...and I love it

Note: This is just a rant about the subbreddit and their inability process any critique of the game that goes against their narrative of the game. The game itself has a lot of good parts, which I really like. But this post isn't about the game, but the subbreddit.

So you know, I am a nerd that like to nerd about games and probabilities. I've been interested in Daggerheart for a while because I am a fan of Critical Role, and the beta playtest rules recently came out. I was super excited, so I read through the PDF as soon as I got the chance, also started a game with my partner.

And honestly, there are some great parts to the game. But there are also some design decisions that made me scratch my head. So I shared some of my thoughts on r/daggerheart.

Oh boy did I poke a beehive. That subbreddit is pretty hostile toward anyone who dares to criticize the game. My first post critiquing the complexity of the damage system got down voted to oblivion. They told me I shouldn't have opinion on the very things I can read because I haven't played the game. So when I played the game and posted my feedback, these folks dismissed my criticisms because I was suffering from "new system syndrome."

Oh, and the comments. They were something else. The sub is dominated by a group of people who are pushing the narrative that Daggerheart is "rules-light" and "very easy" and "less math than DND."

Yes, Daggerheart is a rules-light game with a 377 page rulesbook. Because this is still beta, it is missing a ton of rules, not to mention artwork. But sure, it's a rules-light game. Because what is page count if not just a number?

Yes, Daggerheart is "very easy" if you ignore the fact that every character has HP, minor damage threshold, major damage threshold, severe damage threshold, stress, hope, and armor on top of your abilities and backstory and everything else you are trying to juggle.

Yes, Daggerheart has less math than DND because instead of just subtracting the damage from the HP, you compare the damage to each of the thresholds to decide whether or not you want to reduce the damage by armor, then determine how much you lower the HP by, unless it is below the minor threshold, in which case you take stress, but if you are filled up on stress, you take 1 HP. Oh, and you know, if you also ignore the fact that you roll two dice, add the numbers, and check to see which one is bigger to decide which one is bigger every single time you want to do something.

So yeah, if you ignore all of those very obvious things that I can see with my very own eyes, my own experience of running the game, my experience having played a rules-light RPG like Candela, they are right: Daggerheart is a rules-light game that is very easy to play with less math than DND /s.

Seriously, these folks will fight you tooth-and-nail to tell you that what you can see is wrong. They will gaslight you, tell you about how 11-years can play Daggerheart, their 73 year old mother can play Daggerheart, tell you that you are playing the game wrong, DND has taught you bad habits, and that your critique doesn't matter because all you want is the game to be more like DND.

And I love it. I love seeing the cognitive dissonance. I love going at it with these die-hard fans. And it's pretty easy on my part. I don't need to get mean—all I need to do is point out very obvious things. And you know, no foul no harm—we keep going until one or both of us get sick of arguing about whatever specific thing we are arguing about.

Anyway, enough of my rant.

I want Daggerheart to succeed. I really do. I think Matt Mercer and friends are pretty good folks, and I find their story inspiring, and I would love to see them succeed. I hope that Daggerheart developers listen to the critical feedbacks, make the game better, and not try to push any weird narratives (like they did with Candela vs FitD).

[scarletofhufflepuff]

Personal Thoughts On “Batman: Caped Crusader”

As the title suggests, I will be talking about my thoughts and personal opinions on the newest Batman show. Mostly the things that confused me ngl.

Now I’m no Batman expert nor a film critic. Just a casual fan of Batman and the Batfam(as well as Dc comics in general). Wanted to preface that before moving onto the main point of this post. So I ask to not take I what I say too seriously. Again, I simply wanted to express the thoughts I had after just watching the show.

Warning: This post become longer than I thought it would, a lot of words were typed out. Became more of rant of my various thoughts than anything constructive, I think. Lol sorry about that.

Stuff I Liked About the Show

The art style! I just really liked how everything was drawn and colored. The animation itself was just fantastic. I’m no animation expect though so honestly there may have been flaws that went over my head, but still!

The show itself I found I enjoyed watching. I was interested in each episode’s story, despite some things that confused me(more on that later).

Character designs were also something I liked. My favorite being Harley’s jester costume. I just loved its pattern and colors.

Character personalities were also interesting to watch. The contrast between Bruce’s playboy persona versus his attitude as The Batman has always been interesting to me. Same goes for Harley. As a therapist/psychologist she’s cheerful and always wearing a smile. Telling her friends the best way to endure the hardships that are Gotham is by laughing. Versus her demeanor when it’s shown what she does with her greedy clients who refuse to see the error of their ways. The voice she uses as she talks to them is just really neat to me.

Things I Didn’t Like/Confused Me

Unnecessary changes to the critical details of well established characters have always bugged me slightly. Gender, for instance. The Penguin has always been depicted as this short chubby man who uses a club as a front to his criminal organization. This depiction of the character has been well established in my imagination whenever I hear the name Penguin in reference to the Dc villain. So imagine my confusion when this show introduced this big female character with two sons as the Penguin. I just have to ask, why? It just seems unnecessary. I’m willing to ignore it and excuse it as maybe it’s the result of the show being an alternate timeline(or universe). Either way it was a bit weird. Also her name? “OswaldA”? That just doesn’t seem like a real name honestly.

Moving on, another thing that confused me in terms of changing well established critical details of well known characters were the changes made to Commissioner Gordon and Barbara. Specifically their ethnicity. Why the heck are they black? Now before you raise your pitchforks and torches, I have my reasons for this change to the characters to confuse me. Historical accuracy. This show is set in the 1940s, a time when segregation and mistreatment towards people of color were very well present. Yes there were black police officers, but they were not treated equally nor given the same amount of power in their jobs as white officers. I’m no expert on the subject and will not act like one. But I still I think I know enough to be confused at Gordon and his daughter to be black and yet have no problems working in the positions they do. Again, maybe it’s because the show is set in an alternate timeline/universe? Maybe they didn’t have racial issues in their world like we did irl? Personally I have no qualms to such changes to the characters in other scenarios, I’m just confused/curious how things work in the world this show is presenting us.

Speaking of historical inaccuracy, Harley and Detective Montoya’s budding relationship being so open. Again, it’s the 1940s. If queer people were struggling to be accepted in the 60s, then they definitely were having a hard time being accepted in the 40s. Honestly I don’t hate these characters falling for each other. It’s kinda cute and honestly I wish it had a chance to be fleshed out more. What I’m confused about mainly is the lack of reactions from background characters and the fact Harley and Montoya aren’t being secretive. Again, I’m no history expert on this subject so correct me if I’m wrong. I’m just confused as a casual viewer of the show who’s heard how queer people had to be really secretive in times when they were heavily looked down upon. Again, I’m willing to overlook this in the sense the show may just be in a different timeline/universe where such issues possibly didn’t form. Who knows honestly what the history of the world this show has created is like.

Other than all of that, Harvey Dent’s characterization. Now I want to preface by saying I don’t know a whole lot about how this character has been generally depicted in the past. But from what things I have heard in passing; wasn’t Harvey originally a really good lawyer with a likable personality? Anyone who knows more about him, please correct me if I’m wrong. The way this show depicts Harvey before his transformation into Two Face just seemed off. Like, is he supposed to be that pretentious? Also why kill him off not so long after his change into Two Face? Is he going to be brought back somehow?

Okay last thing I’m confused about; Bruce’s estranged relationship with Alfred. Now I get it when Bruce insists on shooting down Alfred on talking about his personal issues and insisting that he’s fine. Bruce is stubborn on that front and personally that makes sense to me. But in this show he’s depicted as not treating Alfred like family? Am I describing it right…? It just confuses me a bit that he doesn’t seem to be treating Alfred as kindly as I’m used to seeing in other shows. Alfred basically became Bruce’s step dad by raising him as best he could after Bruce’s parents died. Maybe it’s a result of Bruce becoming overly focused on perfecting being Batman or something. Who knows. I’m just a bit confused by this, understandably.

That’s all pretty much it. Despite not liking the changes made to certain characters and stuff that had confused, none of those overall ruined the show for me. I generally liked it and will be waiting patiently for season 2. Especially to see what comes from that cliffhanger that’s shown in that last episode of season 1. Also I personally think it was missed opportunity to make the flashbacks in black & white. It would’ve made a lot of sense to do so.

[sillyguyhotline]

like i don’t really even hate abby as a character that much i just think she’s a symptom of a lot of the greater issues the game has. i think it’s structured very poorly and in general i think it allows itself to cut a lot of corners in favor of shock value because it believes that it’s telling a story nobody has told before (and is incorrect in that assumption). abby’s character suffers from the fact that you are designed to hate her at first and then warm up to her as the story goes on, except the ways she’s humanized are not all that relevant to the rest of the story and seem to be more of a justification for her existence as a whole and her inclusion in the story rather than a justification for the actions she takes. ellie’s character arc is about how violence and revenge are unsatisfying and not a reliable means of getting closure for yourself, and this is posited to be a revolutionary message because of how rampant violence is in the game’s world. however, it ignores all of the precedent set up with ellie’s character (namely, the fact that everything she’s loved has always been taken from her and she’s never had a lasting victory) and instead the story can just as easily be taken as someone who’s always been powerless in the face of their grief trying just once to take control of their own life and being spat on for it. a story about how violence begets violence does not hit nearly as hard when the character responding to the violence has been a victim for their entire life and the violence they take represents a final breaking point for them. and then there’s the idea that a video game condemning violence is a new thing (it’s not lol). the game does not take player agency into account in the slightest. many other games that take a critical lens on violence are resonant because they give the player an option to choose whether or not to kill the npcs they’re faced with. tlou2 gives you no such option. it forces you to kill dogs, it forces you to be the one to swing the pipe at nora’s head, it scripts all the violence and then expects the player to feel uniquely guilty about it when there’s no choice to do anything but. it’s so exhaustingly angsty and meanspirited toward the characters it’s built up and all of this just feels like a means to an end

[yougoodfredd]

FNAF Movie Thoughts

(relatively non-spoilers?)

Some people have been expecting some sort of revolutionary horror development. Now I seriously don't understand that. I feel like fandom expectations (especially after such a long wait) have made too much room for the collective mind to run wild with possibilities, and ignore the basics of the series.

Critics saying that it's 'too lore heavy' - it's really not. This could just be me thinking that it's straightforward and not properly being able to view the movie from a non-fan perspective, but I just can't agree with those claims entirely.

It's the bare bones of plot from the games, with more than enough nods to the games for fans to be pleased with. 'Bare bones' is not at all a negative statement, the simplicity of the plot was enjoyable, and I feel like everything was explained in a way that would make it easy for people who aren't aware of the depth of the franchise to watch, understand and enjoy the movie.

This movie doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. This isn't a revolutionary horror film that pushes the bounds of modern cinema, or try to be a decade defining horror - it doesn't need to be. It simply has to tell it's story, one which succeeds in being clearly conveyed throughout it's runtime.

It's a solid story, with the typical 'protagonist learns a heartfelt lesson' and 'villain receives his comeuppance'. It is satisfying, and not at all too convoluted, despite what others might say.

Some have shown disappointment at the film's PG-13 (M for Aussie folk) rating, which I personally have found bizarre. This goes back to the fandom expectations I mentioned earlier, wherein a large proportion are expecting a bloodbath (or the more scary possibility, the people who only think that horror movies are worth their fanfare if people are constantly being torn to shreds), but the games are not that gory in and of themselves. The story that is revealed throughout the series run, yes, may conjure horrific images in the mind's eye of utterly deplorable circumstances, but a large majority of the games gore and violence is implied, or shown through the lens of 8-bit videogame scenes. I understand that with this movie being a live action, people may have expected the filmmakers to push the envelope and go all out with realistic depictions of a character's gruesome demise, but I personally find that to go a little against the atmosphere that is established within the original media.

Also, one must consider that a lot of children would want to see this movie, and how that must have affected the rating. I know that a large majority of people who grew up with the games are now adults (myself included), but this series has had such longevity within horror and gaming communities, that it has continued to make an impression on audiences - and yes, that includes children/tweens. This is a good starting horror for that age group too, not too graphic, but scary enough. For some, I'm sure this is their equivalent of (for lack of a better equal) the Goosebumps series.

That being said, I found that the implied nature of the gore to be great. In one particular scene, it is conveyed wonderfully due to fantastic sound design and acting, which really sold the scene.

There is one other scene, which without spoiling, was incredibly surprising, and is probably the closest to the expected gore as the movie ever gets. Still, this is only one scene, and doesn't necessarily speak for the rest of the movie.

Overall, it's a movie made for the fans, and also serves as a good entry level bit of media for people who aren't into the game series, but are curious about the lore.

There are plenty of easter eggs to be found throughout the film, which I'm sure will become the subject of a YouTube video which points out every single one with eagle eyed precision. I found the animation during the opening credits to be a nice little nod to the 8-bit style parts of the games, and an interesting way to imply, if not outright state, backstory.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#5: The One With Astruc's Self-Insert

In my introductory post, I said the main inspiration for this blog was @hypocrisyofandrewdobson​. For those who don't know, Andrew Dobson is an infamous webcomic artist known for drawing webcomics that tend to demonize people he's come across in public or people who disagree with him online (either critical of his art or his political views), while portraying himself as the victim or wise man calling them out on their differing beliefs.

If you want to learn more about this guy who I consider to be far worse than Astruc, check out the blog in question. And no, I don't know why he draws himself as a blue bear.

Why am I talking about this? It's one thing for some schmuck on the internet to use his work to respond to criticism, but the creator of a popular animated series dedicating an entire episode to attacking his critics and trying to get others to feel bad for him is another story.

The second episode of Miraculous Ladybug's third season, “Animaestro” served as a wake-up call for fans (myself included) to make them realize how immature Astruc could be. The plot centers around the premiere of a movie about Ladybug and Cat Noir directed by Thomas Astruc, who voices himself in the original French dub.

And this isn't just a brief cameo like what Stan Lee did in the MCU. Astruc is the Akumatized person this episode, so there's naturally a lot of focus on him. Throughout the first half of the episode, Astruc portrays himself as this timid man who nobody recognizes or respects, like this idiot who doesn't know what animation is.

Doorman: This is a private event, sir.

Astruc: Huh? Excuse me? I'm Thomas Astruc, the movie director.

Doorman: You filmed Cat Noir and Ladybug? What are they like in real life?

Astruc: Er, it's an animated movie. It's all cartoon characters. We don't actually film anyone. See, there's this whole team that draw the chara—

Doorman: Whatever. Who would want to see Ladybug and Cat Noir as cartoon characters?

Get it? Wasn't that meta joke hilarious? This is how much I was laughing:

And Astruc continues to get about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield when he interacts with other characters like Jagged Stone and Chloe.

Jagged Stone: Ladybug is one of my best buds! I can't wait to see her movie!

Astruc: Well I—I'm the director, so actually it's more my movie, so to speak.

Jagged Stone: Oh, so you're the one who created the story?

Astruc: Well, technically the screen writers wrote the story, inspired by Ladybug's exploits.

Jagged Stone: Oh, okay. So you did all the drawings?

Thomas: No, no. The animators do all the drawings.  

Jagged Stone: So what do you do then?

(Later on...)

Chloe: So you're the one responsible for this movie?

Astruc: Yes, yes! Exactly! That's me!

Chloe: Then you were the one who left Queen Bee out of the trailer. You're lame, utterly lame.

I can't believe Astruc had a scene where he interacted with Chloe and didn't insult her at all.

The episode is determined to make the audience feel bad for Astruc. Nobody respects him and what he does. Isn't that saaaaaad? Nobody cares about animated film directors like Walt Disney or Tex Avery anyway. Not even these stupid children understand how hard Astruc works.

Several Children: Ladybug! Where's Ladybug?

Astruc: Hey there, kids!

Teacher: Ladybug isn't here children. We came here to meet the director of the movie. Children: (frowning in disappointment) Aww.

(Astruc looks visibly disappointed.)

Way to insult your primary demographic, Astruc. I thought you said kids have a better understanding of these stories when people criticized the writing of a certain episode (It's that scene in “Puppeteer 2” if you're curious/don't value your sanity).

It's almost like you're using that as an excuse to half-ass your work while still getting to claim this show is so groundbreaking.

In case you can't tell, “Animaestro” is one of those episodes. The ones where the showrunners decide to dedicate an entire episode to attacking critics of the show in a blunt fashion. Whenever a show addresses criticism, they either create an obvious strawman character to parrot the opinions of fans who don't like their work, or have someone defend the show and insult the critics directly.

The problem isn't that they're ignoring criticism. It's their show, and they aren't obligated to listen to critics or fans who don't like the direction the show is taking. On the other hand, they aren't obligated to fight back like this and treat their audience like crap. Any show that does something like the three clips I showed you usually comes off as petty and immature because they dedicate so much time to insulting the critics. 

Even during the Akuma fight, Astruc has to call out Ladybug for having problems with his movie in-universe, obviously representing critics of the show Astruc claims have no right to criticize the show while it's still airing.

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Astruc/Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Cat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

Yeah, how dare Ladybug be angry that this movie is portraying her as a powerless coward dependent on Cat Noir as opposed to a confident and brave superhero. She just doesn't understand the genius of Thomas Astruc!

And of course the character Astruc claims is “perfect” is the one to take his side.

And that's another problem with this episode, the metatextual references. Before he gets akumatized, Astuc says he spent three years of his life working on his movie. I get that time in this show is weird (we somehow had episodes taking place on the first day of school, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the first day of Summer), but how did Astruc's self-insert work on a movie based on a superhero who has only been active for a year? Meta-wise, it's an obvious reference to the scorn Astruc has gotten from fans after working so hard on his show, but the only people who would get that reference are the ones who are aware of Astruc's reputation online.

Self-Insert aside, I actually think the titular Animaestro is one of the more visually impressive Akumas featured on the show. Animaestro takes on several forms based off several different forms and eras of animation, like flash, anime, rubber hose, and they all stand out. Granted, some of them are obvious parodies of other characters like Goku or Sailor Moon, but the actual Akuma fight is fun to watch. According to the Mexican Miraculous Ladybug Twitter account, this episode took two and a half years to create, and it shows. It's too bad the story behind it is completely insufferable, almost like the cartoon equidistant to Pixels.

But then comes the part that honestly makes the episode worth it, mainly for how unintentionally hilarious it is. Do you want to know what Animaestro's weakness is? Do you really want to know?

Animaestro is physically incapable of moving unless someone is watching him. I am not making this up.

Ladybug and Cat Noir literally defeat Animaestro by getting everyone to stop paying attention to him.

I could make so many jokes with this, but I can guarantee you're already thinking of something just as good, if not better, than whatever I write.

And there's the end where Astruc gives Marinette his ticket to the movie, which prompts Marinette to kiss up to him for no real reason.

Astruc: Sorry, I guess you don't know who I am either.

Marinette: Of course do. You're Thomas Astruc, the movie director!

Astruc: She recognized me. Somebody actually recognized me!

Nothing happened to make her change her opinion on the Ladybug movie, she didn't really say anything to him earlier in the episode that connects to this exchange, and outside of a few lines Animaestro said, she doesn't even know why he got akumatized (even though ironically she and Chloe accidentally contributed to it because of the awful subplot involving Kagami I talked about last time). If anything, it comes off less like she actually appreciates Astruc's work, and more like she's stroking his ego just to keep him from getting akumatized again.

So yeah, this episode is awful, and the fact that it came out right after the controversial “Chameleon” only proved to show what kind of direction the show was taking this season.

But honestly, even if Astruc still wanted to make about how he doesn't get enough respect the episode could have potentially. All he had to do was make a simple change: Instead of making it about validation for Astruc as a creator, make it about validation for animation in general.

It's a common misconception that animation is only used for shows and movies aimed at children, so the episode could reflect it. Instead of the huge turnout where several celebrities appear at the premiere, instead, the turnout could be a lot smaller, with the media dismissing it as some stupid kiddie flick. Instead of getting akumatized because he gets humiliated in public/getting no respect from anyone else, Astruc gets akumatized because he sees the audience didn't go wild for the movie after the premiere. All he can hear them say is that it's just “kids stuff”.

So when Astruc is Animaestro, he goes on about how important animation is. How it's helped produce propaganda since World War II. How it helped improve special effects in big blockbusters. How the medium is used to create movies that simply can't be filmed on a physical set.

After defeating Animaestro, Ladybug shows up to talk to him. She had seen the movie earlier, and actually enjoyed it. She had a few problems with the story, but they were just minor nitpicks and inaccuracies Astruc wouldn't know about, and she was blown away by the animation. She tells Astruc not to be deterred by his critics, and continue to do what he does. As a designer in her civilian life, Ladybug knows the joy creating brings her, and both she and Astruc want to spread that joy through their work.

Back at the premiere, Astruc thinks about what Ladybug said to him when he sees some kids reenacting a scene from the movie. Astruc walks over to them and asks what they thought of the movie. They said they loved it and how energetic it was. When he tells them he is the director, the kids' faces light up and they say they want to do what he does when they grow up, bringing a smile to Astruc's face.

Isn't that a much more humble approach instead of what we got? It would have helped Astruc come across as more sympathetic, especially with animation fans. But instead, we got an entire episode of Astruc whining about how misunderstood he is.

And you know the footage used for the movie at the beginning? Remember that, because I have a huge rant about it saved for a later post.

For now, here’s an example of a creator appearing in his work done right.

[opinated-user]

A little off topic but one of the things that infuriate me the most about LO is that she acts like a high authority on Art related subjects (and i know this is an ongoing trend with her and other topics)

I mean she's so far stated that MO was gaslit by the Art community into doing semi realistic proportions. Has criticized a characters color composition, is the high authority on Art quality. And keeps saying "you don't need to be an artist to tell you a picture looks bad" and disregards all the knowledge that goes into the creation process. (1/2)

Like no shit. I can tell if I DON'T LIKE the design of a house but I could never understand how much skill and knowledge goes into making a design that at the end of the day doesn't collapse. And LO just disregards ALL of that. It's like those people who claim modern art is meaningless even if a lot of pieces have such depth to it that you only know when you learn about it but that would mean you'd have to appreciate the medium and LO just doesn't care about art AT ALL but still wants to have authority over it!

her contempt and ignorance about art truly hurts her works as a cartoon reviewer, and the proof of that is how refreshing it was to hear ginger talk about colors, palletes and the visual part of this visual medium that LO just never bothers with. of course she doesn't need to if she just wants to talk about the story or characters, but it's just a wasted opportunity because, especially right now, there are coming out so many beautiful shows and movies that not talk about how they're beautiful, to not appreciate it's visuals is just sad. visuals can't compensate for a bad story, for sure, but it can totally help to enhance it, to elevate it into something else and LO just refuses to even engage with that thought. for no good reason.

[anti-endings]

I’m fairly sure at this point that Naruto is more or less fascist propaganda. There are so many things that we as a fandom want to turn a blind eye to yet when SNK was called out for being fascist, we had no problem boycotting it because it wasnt an anime that we’d come to love throughout our childhood. Unfortunately Naruto was a lot more subtle and pulled a fast one on us towards the end - 14/15 years after its initial release. 

Theres a lot of intricate reasons as to why I’d call it fascist but I’ll list the general points to be made that everyone can easily recognize. 

• Genocide for the good of the nation. This one is pretty obvious but I thought I’d get it out of the way. Slaughtering possible defectors of the state is apparently an honourable and justified choice. Even if some members of the oppressed minority were completely unaware of their leaders planned coup or had no desire to revolt against the system, each and every single one of them apparently deserved death. 

• Brainwashing children into military violence goes completely unquestioned by the narrative. The only people who challenge this idea are portrayed as “hateful.” The best example of this is how the narrative feels the need to emphasize that Itachi murdering his clan was his own decision. I just find it awfully strange that we’re expected to believe that a 13 year old, who was sent to fight in a bloody war for his country when he was just a toddler and was shown to suffer from severe PTSD, apparently wasnt brainwashed with threats of war on his impressionable child brain when he was already completely numb to the concept of killing people. Itachis history details the story of a brainwashed child soldier yet goes to great efforts to brush it aside and give Itachi the autonomy that he never actually had. On a meta level it’s pretty messed up that Itachis actions as a result of his brainwashing, was praised by Hashirama Senju - the ultimate force of “peace” who founded the village and “the will of fire” that were so expected to admire. 

• Consistent denial of blatant military violence. In the manga, the truth about the Uchiha massacre is covered up by Naruto, Sasuke and eventually Sakura to “maintain honour of the Uchiha.” This makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. How is it more honourable to say that a clan was slaughtered by a rogue criminal of their own (further perpetuating the selfish, bloodthirsty and power-hungry stereotype) when the truth is that an oppressed group of people were slaughtered off by the government? How can an act of genocide be prevented by a future government when the truth is actively censored by the governemnt? Neither Naruto nor Sasuke did anything to implement some sort of bill of human rights, laws or Geneva conventions in honour of Uchiha to prevent more innocent bloodshed at the hands of the state.

• Ultranationalism at every opportunity. The village is literally gated off. No one enters or leaves without permission from authority. The unification of the village under the statist military + the slaughter of any and all potential defectors is pretty telling. Its scary that “the will of fire” and protecting the state is the only honourable and good goal/ideology to have in this series as shown by Sasuke only ever being seen as “not evil” when he is beaten down into conforming to the government.

• Evil is in the genetics of the oppressed. This was pretty unsettling to witness and I’m surprised there havent been more people speaking out about it. Ideologies are inherited not just by fate, but by your genetics. The Senju-Uzumaki obviously have “The will of fire” which is known to be the supreme ideology. It consists of uniting and enduring the hardships of the world under the totalitarian government but NEVER pursuing revolution or change for the better. “The curse of hatred” is its counterpart which has its origins exclusively to the Uchiha. Its explained to be Uchiha culture to some degree. The narrative very desperately tries to paint the pursuit of revolution to prevent more violence as evil, bloodthirsty and selfish. This, in reality, makes no sense. Why are the Uchiha hateful for trying to fix a situation for the better of their family yet somehow the senju arent characterized by hatred despite openly hating the Uchiha? Simply put, the Uchiha are GENETICALLY undesirable and their push for equal rights are characterized as hateful, selfish and lonely. In reality, Madara Uchiha would not become a rogue ninja who decides to attack the entire village including his own family with Kurama because he could not get equal rights for the Uchiha. This doesnt add up with why he was so angry in the first place. Non of the “bloodthirsty” actions of any Uchiha do. They’re a fictional race of people that are only evil by the design of the author to portray oppressed people as selfish and aggressive. Towards the end of the fourth war, the story of Ashura and Indra is told to Naruto and Sasuke. Indra is apparently the original Uchiha who was influenced by some deranged evil spirit to pursue power over unification for completely selfish purposes. This is very unfairly equated to Sasuke and the rest of the Uchiha clan to explain to audience that the Uchiha are inherently evil and selfish detractors. 

• To be a revolutionary is to be lonely. This ties into my last point. Sasuke is constantly referred to as lonely by just about everyone in the cast, Naruto especially. This has always been bothersome because Sasuke wouldnt have been lonely if his entire clan wasnt slaughtered by the very same people that Naruto stands by. This point is incredibly simple yet its overlooked because the anti-uchiha propaganda is so successful in what it sets out to do. To add onto this point, what if Naruto had simply said to Sasuke “I believe you have every right to bring the murderer of your clan to justice and I’ll stand by your right to justice every step of the way” instead of physically fighting him and screaming at him all the time? Sasuke isnt inherently lonely exclusively by his own means, he is alienated by everyone around him. The narrative acknowledges Sasukes emotional unfulfillment, IGNORES the real reason why hes lonely and then states that the only way that Sasuke will find a sense of family through the acceptance of his peers is if he conforms to the government and adopts the hegemonic ideology…. after “repenting” for ever daring to get justice for his clan in the first place. This eerie emotional blackmail is completely normalized and unquestioned by the narrative. It sends a harrowing message to the audience that it’s more desirable and fulfilling to conform to the government despite their poor treatment of your people and should you question otherwise, you must repent for forgiveness. 

• The leader of the village is the most powerful member of the military, who is chosen exclusively through nepotism by a rich man who owns the land instead of the people, and is in power for an indeterminate length of  time. Again with the military obsession! Not even necessarily the best military commander or anyone with experience in any leadership position at all. This is partly fascist due to the fact that theres no limitations on what a Kage can do to their village, they’re selected through nepotism and not democracy and they’re in power for as long as they please no matter how the public feel. The leader is not necessarily someone who is shown to be compassionate, responsible, trustworthy, intelligent or reliable. In fact, you could be a known, unpersecuted war criminal like Danzo and still get the position. 

• To add on to that, war criminals in the Government or Military go completely unpersecuted and often unpunished - as shown by Danzo and the village elders. The village elders are still in the same position during the events of Boruto as they were in over 20 years ago when they conspired to execute the Uchiha massacre. Naruto and Sasuke know of their involvement yet havent held them accountable in any way. 

• Child soldiers are sent to die for the government. It seems that only Obito notices this when Rin dies. The second he becomes critical of the fact of this reality is the second he becomes “hateful” and “evil." 

Theres plenty more but I’ve already spent an hour typing this up and checking over every little detail. Generally speaking, much like SNK, the theme of Naruto is to just simply ENDURE hardship, stay loyal to your government at all costs even if they cause the hardship and NEVER revolt. Naruto as a character serves as the purpose of being as reductive as possible to every single character that faces hardship with "I too was lonely and oppressed but I coped by worshipping the government for a sense of emotional validation and you can too!" 

[citadelspires]

Ducktales AU Concept Because My Brain Runs On Concepts I Can’t Finish:

Dewey actually waits for the signal to start the boat and they actually leave for Cape Suzette without Donald finding out. He believes they’re ready to be left alone for small periods at a time and while he is still hired on with Glomgold the obvious complications there happen and he simply just goes back to whatever he was doing, because Scrooge wasn’t reinvigorated by the kids and never ended up going to Atlantis in the first place. Cut to the ambiguously set point of over a year later, and we get the return of Della from the moon, but to a drastically different world than the one she comes back to in the show. (For the sake of the au I’m just gonna say the moon invasion doesn’t happen cause the point of this is to focus on the characters and the imminent and impossible to stop moon threat would actually be impossible to stop in this au). I’m just gonna go through the characters and where they’d be at in this setting.

The first, and arguably one of the most affected is  Scrooge: He never got back into adventuring due to the absence of the kids pushing him back into the business. He continues to be profitable and avoid Glomgold’s attempts on his life but he’s generally less cheery and interested in the world than he is in the show. He cares about money and he only cares about money. Everything and everyone else are a second thought to him. Like she does in canon Della makes for McDuck Manor immediately upon return to earth only to find that the only one waiting for her is Scrooge. He opens the door to find her and his initial reaction is joy at seeing her but a secondary reaction he feels poking at the back of his mind is one of shame that this is the state he’s in for her to return to, particularly when she asks him where her kids are and he just tells her he doesn’t know. There’s a look of betrayal in her eyes when she realizes that he just abandoned everyone and cut off every aspect of the life he used to have and she doesn’t even try to hide it. Scrooge wants to offer to come with her to find them but something holds him back and he doesn’t. She runs off to find them herself and despite everything he wants to the contrary Scrooge just goes to his office like he would any other day, knowing that the person he’s been missing for over ten years now is finally returned after he thought she was dead and here he is acting like nothing is different.

Launchpad is fun because he never has any reason for Scrooge to find out he’s a pilot. He tries to mention it to Scrooge occasionally, like we see in the first episode, but just like in that episode he’s always ignored. Not that Scrooge would have any adventures for Launchpad to take him to anyway. So Launchpad continues being nothing but Scrooge’s driver. And that’s enough for him because he’s Launchpad you know? And he still looks up to Scrooge a lot, but he’s never given the opportunity to grow close to him, or anyone really. Fittingly enough for Launchpad, he’s just been living life on autopilot for a couple years, not really expecting anything to ever change.

Webby has two distinct directions you can go and I chose to go for the sadder one. She continues to be shut in the mansion. I choose to take her speech in the first episode about how she hasn’t ever left literally and say that Beakley kept her there her entire life. The possible other direction I mentioned is one where she only grows more anxious and hopeful to see the outside world and she’s basically just even Webbier than she already is. But that’s less angsty and enjoyable for me to mess with so instead I’m gonna go with she hit this wall at some point in the year or so between when she would have met HDL and when Della comes back from the moon. The weight of being alone starts to get to her and she starts to wonder if all her optimism and hopes are just a poor defense system put up to let her pretend she’s gonna have a better future than the life she’s got. She also makes continuous attempts to interact with Scrooge but the more he lets age settle in and distance himself from adventures the less she feels engaged with his existence. He starts to feel to her not like an idol or a model to live her life by but like a living, breathing symbol of how her hopes and positivity are shallow and baseless. Cause Scrooge McDuck was the only thing that kept her going for years and this is nothing like the hero she read about. But that’s the thing. She’s only really read about him. As far as anything heroic goes. So she reaches the final breaking point of all of this and decides that Scrooge is a fake and leaves behind her signature bright, bubbly attitude on life. This is the state she’s in when the story starts, to the point where a scene happens at some point after she gets drawn into the plot where she’s been outside of the manor now and Dewey offers her a hamburger and she says it looks disgusting.

Lena never got the chance to become friends with Webby and get her route into McDuck Manor. But that also means she never got the chance to learn about being good from the literal goodest person in the universe. She isn’t interested in doing the right thing and not hurting Scrooge or anything she’s just following Magica’s orders cause that’s what she’s being forced to do. But as part of the whole thing where she hasn’t got an in route into the manor she also hasn’t gotten any means of being successful in really any capacity in this endeavor. As a result Magica has... not. been kind to her. So while she isn’t evil she’s been living as magica’s meat puppet with the witch constantly in her head tormenting her for her failures for months on end and she was already morally ambiguous to begin with. So she’d take out Magica in a heartbeat if she could but there’s nothing that says she wouldn’t just explode afterwards.

Mark Beaks never had his B.U.D.D.Y. contested because Launchpad was never told about the self driving car and even if he had been he didn’t have the standing with Scrooge to make a difference and he didn’t have Dewey to help him make the declaration. As a result the product went up without any hitches. It was a massive success until BulbTech kicked in, turned evil, and suddenly it wasn’t. Anyone who could afford a B.U.D.D.Y. was using one, and the results were catastrophic. Not even Beaks had enough good press and money to pay for all that. He narrowly avoided prison but he was never taken seriously or given any chances to build up a company again. He still lives his life stealing technology and messing with inventions as he always did but now he does it a lot more illegally, a lot more dangerously, and a lot less sanely. Most devastatingly though, he gets like, no good press. People won’t even be caught dead following his twitter. He’s living his worst nightmare and he’s going to do whatever it takes to change that.

Gyro fires Fenton for leaking BulbTech on the internet and never looks back. He continues the work that Scrooge wants him to do and Fenton never drives him to push the envelope or do anything even close to what Gizmoduck becomes. He continues with his own dangerous projects and ideas but he does play it safe for some time. He’s content to just be making stuff, and Scrooge is content to just have stuff made for him. But he also never really gets to unleash that, well, part of Gearloose where he’s got a gear loose and it seems like he might just snap and make something really wild any day now.

Fenton never had to become Gizmoduck that iconic first time, so he just. Didn’t. The armor was left in its development phase as it was, and Fenton was never even considered to be the man in the suit when it reached testing. And it was only used for the menial tasks Gyro originally designed it for, as Fenton was the only one who had come up with the idea to use it for Gizmoduck at all, and he’s not there anymore, not that Gyro would listen to him anyway. Though it wasn’t as if Scrooge was in any state of mind to be hiring any superheroes in the first place. So Fenton continues trying to find some way to make a difference in the world with his intelligence but it... never really pans out.

Drake gets the role in the Darkwing movie, as in canon, as Scrooge is still interested enough in money to listen to the proposition for the film and try it out. The visit Launchpad has with Jim goes as his visits always do, and the fact that Dewey isn’t there to assist with Launchpad and attract Jim’s attention means Jim just gives up and leaves as soon as Launchpad faints, not even listening to what Drake is trying to tell him. So Jim never finds out about the movie until it’s already released, and Drake experiences no opposition in the filming, barely even remembering his one interaction with Launchpad at all. Scrooge cuts the budget for the finale but lets the movie go through anyway, despite his better judgement, mostly because he already spent the money. It’s a commercial and critical disaster and Drake’s acting career never gets off the ground, and he never has the inspiration to become Darkwing for real.

Donald continues to live just as we see him in the first episode, doing his best to support his kids while bouncing from job to job because he just can’t hold one down for any length of time. Life is hard for him but it’s the same as he’s always known it for the past ten years so he’s used to it, and having the kids with him is always enough for him.

Huey continues to make a name for himself in the Junior Woodchucks (i.e. robotics champion four years running) but he never really gets the chance to light the fire under his curiosity and love of knowledge. He learns as much as he can but it’s only as much as he’s ever been told he can. He learns within the boundaries of school and the Junior Woodchucks and that’s kind of enough for him because he never considers how much he could learn beyond the boundaries of how things have always worked. 

Dewey is as desperate to be famous and appreciated as he always is, and Dewey DewNight is most certainly still a thing, but it’s even less viewed and interesting than it is in canon. He’s not letting himself get disheartened but he looks at the way Donald lives on a boat and can’t hold a job and wonders if that’s what he’s gonna be someday. If despite all of his efforts and aspirations he’s going to end up falling at every turn and there’ll just be nothing he can dew about it. He doesn’t let it weigh him down too much but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t keep him up at night sometimes.

Louie is actually doing amazing. He’s living his best life. He’s lazy and scheme-y, still doing things like plotting that venture to Cape Suzette we see in that first episode, but he never has to wonder about his usefulness or place in the family, cause it’s just him, Dewey, and Huey, along with Donald. Donald is unemployed half the time, Huey is gonna be some big genius scientist guy sure, and maybe Dewey’s gonna get big someday but right now they’re just kids, and there’s absolutely nothing that makes Louie feel like that’s not enough. He doesn’t do as much here, there’s not any schemes that will make him rich or any Louie Inc, but the seeds of those ideas are still in his soul somewhere, he’ll find them when he needs them he’s pretty sure.

And that’s all the characters that I can think of to get into off the top of my head. I really just did this for fun so I don’t know if I’ll ever be doing anything else with it but these are all the ideas I got. Feel free to ask me about them or anything I’m just havin fun with it.

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explosion #6

Asks answering previous posts:

Oh, okay! I’m glad, thank you!

(the post this anon is referring to)

Ohhhh.

And fjbgjnfkjgfg thanks >////<

I don’t think there’s much wrong with liking the design itself; I prefer Riposte personally, but that’s just me.

The best way I could put the “insensitive” part (I’m sort of dumb when it comes to this stuff and I talked about it before when I was working on that 3D model of Marinette) is that it’s so heavy on Japanese. I mean, they already have Kagami constantly wear what looks like a school uniform and Tomoe is just like--super heavy Japanese. It’s like the show doesn’t know how to balance “can’t tell at all” (with Marinette) and then “okay this is WAY strong” (with Kagami+Tomoe+Kung Food).

That makes sense! I guess the only problem then would be that the kwami can’t really act as mentors of any kind because “you’re saying this just because that’s all you can say” (like Sass, hypothetically, always willing to give someone a second chance, no matter what; I know that’s not what his power specifically entails but it’s just an example).

I would however definitely lean towards kwami being very strict in one alignment, so Tikki would always be on the path of pure good and thus never want to take/steal/whatever, whereas Plagg is always on the path of “bad,” but there are times where Marinette will have to ignore Tikki while Adrien will have to listen to Plagg.

And yeah, the guardians existing and the kwami not having so much control... not a huge fan.

Someone asked about Chat Noir’s flirting and he claimed that it was “on purpose” (you know, while throwing episodes like “Felix” at us but okay) and then he followed up with this:

There was also this other comment he made a while back when someone tried to make a suggestion to him:

Except he’s missing the point completely. When he talks about constructive criticism, he acts like it doesn’t matter, especially not anymore now that they’re working on Seasons 4 and 5:

(I mean, personally, I don’t think I need “engineering knowledge” to know when a rollercoaster I’d ridden nearly tossed the cart off the tracks and had questionable design decisions, but you do you, Astruc.)

Yes, constructive criticism is mainly for seeing a product improve, but that doesn’t mean ignoring it because, “well you haven’t seen the full product.”

“Animaestro” even has a bit of commentary on it:

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Chat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

(firstly, of course Chat Noir bows to Astruc on that one because he’s Astruc’s sunshine boy, ugh)

Ignoring the fact that a movie/printed book is usually a “full product,” criticism is also to say “you did this thing wrong, don’t do this in the future.” It doesn’t have to be referring strictly to the show. It’s just, “you did this thing wrong and here’s why, try to catch yourself if you accidentally do it again in the future, whether in what you’re working on now or otherwise.”

(He’s also talked about “unsolicited critique” before and I don’t know what that means? Like, dude, this isn’t someone’s fanfiction where I’d actually agree that you can’t go after them for their work. This is professional work.)

Anyway, remember “Chameleon”? When everyone saw the trailer and absolutely flipped out over it, then there were people who were like, “Wait for the full episode!!”?

Guess what? The full episode came out and people were either just as mad or even madder than before.

Astruc wants to have his cake and eat it to. He wants to say that his episodes are “stand-alone,” and that the order isn’t that important, but when people start pointing out issues, it becomes, “No! You have to wait for the rest of the episodes to come out!” and when people do that, it’s gonna be like, “Well, we already did the whole show so it’s not like I can change anything. *shrug*”

Also, just blaming it on “the industry” when everything else has been exhausted:

(He’s literally brought up before that the New York special was meant to have subplots about other characters, so it’s not like he can never say anything when something didn’t fit the “original vision”; I’m not asking him to get on his knees and say he’s sorry - plus, I do recognize that a lot of influence comes from the industry and people like Jeremy - but I expect a little more than the “whoops” he gave when people pointed out that “Weredad” contradicted his statement on Miraculous Ladybug.)

I think the reason people see it the way they do is because of Fu’s line in “Robostus” seems to imply the exact opposite thing happening.

Master Fu: Universe must always stay in balance. For every action, there is a reaction. For every wish, a price to pay in return. Had your robotic friend asked to become a real boy, someone would have lost his humanity in return.

New Asks:

Marigami is acceptable. I’m not crazy about it but it’s likable enough.

Lukadrien though... no, absolutely not. On a conceptual level, because it’s such a slap in the face for Marinette, and on a fanon level, because most of the jokes around it is Luka going to Marinette like he’s about to ask her out and then just asks for Adrien’s details. It’s just... ugh. I hate it (throwing Marinette into the ship still doesn’t help for me though because I’m not into the love square).

Bi erasure is my least favorite thing.

And yeah, it’s like--they set the love square ship(s?) out onto the water, then the Lukanette ship later with the plan to either sink it or just kinda... return it to the harbor if they don’t make a huge fuss about it?

Meanwhile, the love square ship has been in piece this whole time, and instead of letting it sink, they put it on a raft to keep it floating.

Depends.

In LadyBugOut? It’s already written and I haven’t posted it.

For canon? Like, Marinette being super disappointed at her view of Adrien being shattered or? :P

That’s accurate. I dislike about a fourth-ish of Season 1,then about half-ish of Season 2, then like... almost all of Season 3.

So we’ll just have to see what happens in Season 4.

I like Adrimi, but I’m not crazy about it and I don’t really write for it unless Lukanette is already the main ship (making Adrimi just a background ship). Adrien tends to dismiss Kagami a lot (like in “Frozer” and then “Miracle Queen” with him not committing) and I don’t want to see Kagami hurting like that (I agree with the anon completely that Adrien is more at fault than she is). They’re both emotionally-stunted so I usually have them wait it out or something to have them get together.

My ideal endgame is Lukanette while Adrimi is more like “let’s wait, let’s work on ourselves (especially Adrien; Kagami at least has on firm crush and wants to commit to it), and we’ll see where we go down the line.”

I don’t know if they really have the guts to arrest Gabriel. I also think that Lila might pick up the butterfly at the end of Season 5 or something after she’s been “dealt with.”

Chloe also is the mayor’s daughter so even if the law was that strict on teens, nothing would happen to her unless Andre got replaced.

Big yikes.

Maybe that the thing forcing Marinette away from Adrien and causing things to go wrong is the part of the curse trying to prevent the ladybug and cat miraculous from coming together?

So, close enough to be attracted and want to work together, but forcing the ladybug away from the cat to prevent the miraculouses from being used to make a wish?

I CHOKED ON MY DRINK.

ugh

ugh

ugggggggh

I’m 100% sure that Marinette wouldn’t be as uncomfortable around Adrien if Alya hadn’t constantly intervened. She’s the enabler of both Marinette’s anxiety and her crush on Adrien.

I went back and looked at the scene and it does kinda look like it, yes, because it basically goes from the intersection Marinette is in to another intersection that looks very, extremely similar and I don’t see Marinette in that intersection.

It was just a really, really bad transition. I remember being thrown off for a second too so I don’t blame you, anon.

I think Bob Roth’s intent was to scare Marinette away from showing that proof? He probably knows very well that Marinette has all the evidence she needs to make a case and already had a story planned for the press about how “the young talents they found didn’t measure up and the people deserved better.”

He just needed enough pressure on them for them to believe that he had enough authority to silence them.

And then Silencer tried to silence him instead. :3

I don’t think Marinette’s relationship with her parents would change too much. Like, they already let her just go out whenever she wants which obviously Plagg approves off, although Marinette might become more numb to the idea of being grounded because Plagg just teaches her, “hey lol Ladybug isn’t grounded tho,” so Marinette sneaks out all the time.

Yeah, Tikki would probably justify Gabriel’s behavior, and she wouldn’t really be able to get on his case for flirting as Mister Bug because she’s not aware of it.

lol it helps no one to have Tikki I guess.

Adrien overall and then honorable mention to Alya for Winny’s comment about her being Marinette’s conscience (which is probably why they almost never nail Alya for stuff she does).

KHNJFDNGFD THE LUKANETTE QUEEN MONIKER RETURNS >///<

And ugh, the absolute level of bias in that. Even if the video was made in, like, Season 2 (don’t know, didn’t see it), Season 2 still gives examples of why Adrienette isn’t making Marinette happy at all (and has some of the love square failings too).

The name and the fact that they gave it that name tells me everything I need to know.

Goodness gracious.

Yeah, people can talk about character’s flaws. I mean, we talk a lot here about Marinette’s struggles in getting over Adrien (partly brought on by a lot of outside factors but still).

Also, sure, Luka is a “pushover” because he’s one of the few characters who understands Marinette’s tunnel vision and isn’t bothered by it, okay. :P (Interesting that the topic of Chat’s entitlement towards Ladybug but Luka respecting her choices and just enjoying being around her makes him her punching bag).

Every time I hear, “Adrien needs more spotlight!!!” I lose a part of my soul. How people can’t see that Marinette is the show’s true punching bag is beyond me.

[opbackgrounds]

As many of you noticed, the other day I posted Part 1 in what has become a series on my thoughts on sexism in One Piece. If you are somehow seeing this post first, I would recommend clicking the link as I’ll be adding to the foundation I built there. 

I already had some pretty strong thoughts on this topic before receiving the original ask, but in the spirit of not wanting to sound like a douche academic integrity I decided to do a little cursory research into what other people meant when they said that One Piece is sexist. Here’s a collage of some of my favorite hot takes

As much as I’m...confused? Unsurprised yet somehow disappointed?...I don’t want to mock or belittle the people who feel this way. I think one of the most dangerous things in our modern internet age is that discussions only get surface deep before they devolve into shouting matches, and when the other side is vilified as ignorant or immoral or whatever it only serves to divide people into groups that grow evermore hostile to one another as the shouting matches get louder. It’s a short jump from your opinions are stupid and bad to you are stupid and bad for having them and I really don’t want to go there. 

Tl; dr: I don’t care if you disagree with anything I’m about to say, but if you send me harassing messages please know that I will laugh at you for presuming to think that I care.

Dropping the S Bomb

So first things first, a couple definitions. Sexism is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against a certain gender, in this case women. Chauvinism is excessive or prejudiced support for one's own cause, group, or sex. Misogyny is dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.

I start with definitions, because there are an astounding number of people who misuse these terms when making arguments. When talking about things like character design, Oda’s typical hour-glass figure is leaning into a stereotype that leads to the objectification of (fictional) women. An argument could be made that One Piece is sexist in that way. 

But it’s not that cut and dry, and I am always of the opinion that context matters. I argued in my previous post that there would be a wider variety of female character designs if there were more women, and the exaggerated aesthetic of the series lends itself to the exaggerated busts and butts typical of One Piece ladies. 

There’s an interview that came out around the time Strong World was released that I think is helpful when talking about this sort of thing. 

I approached it thinking that since I’m drawing for a boys’ comic magazine, then it’s my job to make sure they enjoy what they’re reading. When you actually do become a professional you’ll start getting fan letters and other things and you’ll soon find that the overwhelming majority of them are from girls. Boys just aren’t the type to pick up a pen. (laughs) They don’t have things like stationary or stamps and they don’t think about going through the ‘grueling task’ of writing someone just to say, “That was cool.” Boys are a life form that enjoy something but won’t bother to tell you that they actually do.

So I learned that girls will flood you with their opinions and when I took at step back and looked at the world of manga, I realized that there are a lot of people out there that made me think, “This [author] is really just going along with the girls’ opinions.” And ultimately, if you’re considering those opinions as the ‘needs of the customer’ when you write the story, you’re just left with a girl’s manga. (laughs) It’s like, if you do that, you’re only writing to entertain girls, and that’s just wrong.

Oda writes for his target demographic, pre-teen and teenage boys. He doesn’t seem to care much for the opinions of his female audience, which again could be perceived as sexist.

And to an extent maybe it is, but I also think it’s smart. You only have to look at the mess that is the new Star Wars trilogy to see what happens when a storyteller tries to appease a fan base. The end result is that everyone goes home from the theatre miserable. 

Humanity has been telling stories since time immemorial. They’re so ingrained into into the collective psyche that we have developed certain metanarriatives, types, and archetypes that have in turn been refined and distilled and applied to certain types of stories meant for certain types of people. The “rules” for telling a “boy’s story” are different than the “rules” for telling a “girl’s story”, just like I would not expect a romance to be told in the same way as one of Shonen Jump’s battle manga.

Incidentally, this is part of the reason why I think many romances in shonen fall flat. Stories best suited for fighting, camaraderie, coming of age, and growing into the best version of yourself are forced to try to include tropes and story beats that just don’t fit, and the end result is often just...bad.  

And, yes, these rules are arbitrary. They can and do change. Just look at shonen battle manga of the 80s vs the titles that were popular when One Piece started in the 90s vs what’s running today. The fact that Oda maintained an audience for over two decades while writing for a demographic that ages out every few years is nothing short of incredible. He clearly has a pulse on what his audience wants while maintaining a clear vision for the direction he wants One Piece to go.

Nor is this an individual effort. Oda works with his assistants and editors when it comes to making these decisions. It’s impossible to say how much he’s been influenced by these other voices, both in the past and now, even if he is ultimately the person responsible for what does and does not get put to paper.

What’s more, society changes. What is considered sexist now would not be thought of as such a generation ago. Our descendants will shake their heads at all the crazy, backward, terrible things we think are normative, and that’s not even taking into consideration differences in culture that not only exist between generations, but nations. America is going to have different ideas of what is and isn’t appropriate behavior than Japan, which undoubtably influences Oda’s sense of humor, which in turn influences the sorts of gags he puts into his comic.

I want to walk a fine line here, because I think there are objective standards that people should be held to regarding sexism while also acknowledging that getting people to agree to those standards are is impossible. If people truly feel as strongly about Oda’s character design and fan service as they make it seem online, then by all means comment on it. It’s not going to change Oda’s mind, but maybe with increased awareness the next generation of storytellers will be better. 

At the same time, I think that the indignant masses need to take a deep, hard look at what they’re calling sexism. Are you really going to claim, as I’ve seen, that all fan service is sexist? Are you really going to say that Robin and Nami are weak characters because they don’t get fights? Are you really going to say that Oda’s the most sexist mangaka out there, using, Fairy Tale as an example of female characters done right?

Because if you are, you’re setting yourself up to be thought as just as vapid and uniformed as those who are only reading for tits and ass. There are legitimate criticisms to be had, but just because you don’t like a thing doesn’t mean it’s bad storytelling. Just because Oda puts something out there that you don’t approve of doesn’t make it sexist. Audiences need to be better at thinking critically about the media they consume and learn to look past the sensationalism of click bait articles to truly explore the issues at hand. 

This is getting long again, so I think I’m going to split this into another post where I’ll dive into some specific examples within the series itself. Once again, thank you for your time. I promise I’ll wrap this up soon and move onto other, hopefully more positive, things.    

[sagamemes]

critrole sentences starters  ---  shadow of the crystal palace.   under the cut, you can find a total of 137 lines of dialogue from critical role’s call of cthulhu one-shot. as this contains both in and out of character sentences, there are options for modern and old timey or more eloquent muses alike. themes of the paranormal, heists, secret missions, light and darkness are sprinkled all around this sentence meme, but a good chunk is also usable by just about any muse. oh, and a lot of cat talk. as always, feel free to alter to fit your muse!

❝  good luck, may light and knowledge prevail.  ❞

❝  consider your words heeded, sir.  ❞

❝  hopefully, you can carry it.  ❞

❝  i didn't have time to have it actually translated. if i recall, that's a review of the latest sailor moon musical.  ❞

❝  she just wished me goodbye a minute ago in a text, i don't know what it means.  ❞

❝  i want you in constant communication with us if you feel anything untoward, anything out of the ordinary at all.  ❞

❝  we're not alone.  ❞

❝  i imagine no one really wants to stay to hear the end of this speech.  ❞

❝  could you try to enjoy this a little less?  ❞

❝  are you?  /are/ you getting it out of your system?  or are you just getting started?  ❞

❝  i'm more like a... tuning fork.  ❞

❝  there are definite... bonuses to this little adventure.  ❞

❝  what am i gonna do to you?  ❞

❝  you're a good scientist who follows data.  ❞

❝  most things that die in here, they never really leave.  ❞

❝  perhaps we should try to get the thing that the rich guy wants?  ❞

❝  i think we're doing more than just delivery.  ❞

❝  i am a little worried about us getting discovered sneaking about here, though.  ❞

❝  man was not meant to live within glass.  ❞

❝  i'd say it's been fun but i'd be lying.  ❞

❝  i suppose that's just a loss on the champagne then, isn't it?  ❞

❝  poor [name]. i picked you especially for this.  ❞

❝  we may be able to walks around unencumbered tonight.  ❞

❝  my pants are exciting, just in the wrong way.  ❞

❝  is there anything you /can/ do?  fight?  run?  be prey?  ❞

❝  you like to lead---after you.  ❞

❝  it happens, you know. sometimes you shatter... artefacts.  ❞

❝  i am so delighted that you are stuck here trying to find a lightswitch.  ❞

❝  my kanji is at about second level.  ❞

❝  bless your ignorance, child.  ❞

❝  i do love a good poker.  ❞

❝  have you ever tried to pull the sword, the excalibur sword, from the stone at disneyland?  it's got just enough give to irritate a child for hours. i say---definitely not from /experience/.  ❞

❝  i am here to make sure we're safe from threats on the other side.  ❞

❝  it is for people such as ourselves to know. and then we protect the general public.  ❞

❝  jesus, why am i following you people?  ❞

❝  you can make the story a little less about him and a little more about you.  ❞

❝  he's been very good to me.  ❞

❝  i'm here to make sure this car stays on the rails, as it were. and to assist, of course.  ❞

❝  i was concerned when i first met you.  ❞

❝  is it pictures of all of our possessed bodies?  ❞

❝  grant me my wish, make me big.  ❞

❝  we're just gonna go to the cat room and we're just gonna hang out there for the whole time.  ❞

❝  i believe it's better for the general public to believe your [writings/stories/tales] are fiction.  ❞

❝  i'm beginning to think i'm the only one with any sense here.  ❞

❝  i may be requesting your services again in the future.  ❞

❝  it's just a little trinket from my country.  ❞

❝  you need to know when to cut and run!  look, i've got debt across europe but it's not worth dying over!  ❞

❝  it's like a script you keep reciting from.  ❞

❝  they wish to talk, in their own way.  ❞

❝  care to place a wager?  i'm feeling very confident.  ❞

❝  nobody knows the value of a good redshirt anymore.  ❞

❝  oh, fuck a duck, where are we going?!  ❞

❝  i'm so confident, i will put 10% of my earnings from this job on the line.  ❞

❝  i had my suspicions, you fraud.  ❞

❝  what did you do to the light?!  ❞

❝  mirrors are liars. they only show us what we expect to see.  ❞

❝  i have some contingencies if things go wrong and will be waiting for your signal.  ❞

❝  i mean, if you're looking at it from the right angle, you're just taking it back.  ❞

❝  i fucking love cats, let's go.  ❞

❝  did you learn /that/ at the [institute/school/etc]?  ❞

❝  nothing to worry about, just go about your business!  ❞

❝  [you're/he's] a shower away from pretty again.  ❞

❝  they've never hurt me.  ❞

❝  i've had a string of bad luck for a while.  ❞

❝  we've been speaking to the other side for thousands of years. and our understanding evolves and changes with the passing of the years, but the core remains the same.  ❞

❝  there's so much sexual tensioooon...  ❞

❝  no one ever goes to a museum and reads the labels, it's really frustrating.  ❞

❝  i would ask you to leave and never speak of this again.  ❞

❝  oh, you fucking brilliant bastard.  ❞

❝  you're not really a cat person, are you, [name]?  ❞

❝  i know how that sounds, i know what i saw.  ❞

❝  i got it the last time i went to russia.  ❞

❝  mommy and daddy don't need to know about the necklace, though.  ❞

❝  and i do hope we meet again sometime, [name], before the next time world needs saving.  ❞

❝  wouldn't you agree that there are dark corners in this world, easier to find than the light?  ❞

❝  well, /i/ don't like to toot my own horn, but if [name] will, i can't forbid him.  ❞

❝  we're gonna take a moment to collect ourselves and have a stiff drink of something.  ❞

❝  god, you look like a ghost, [name].  ❞

❝  i may be the one non-believer in the group.  ❞

❝  it was certainly someone who looked like her. could've been anybody.  ❞

❝  i was so looking forward to murdering the rest of you.  ❞

❝  i didn't go to medical school, /period/. ph., not m.d.  ❞

❝  just don't make too much trouble, alright?  ❞

❝  you've been hand-picked for your skills.  ❞

❝  i've actually read it as well. i think you sell yourself short.  ❞

❝  your pants are more exciting than mine right now.  ❞

❝  i feel like i should be haunting a house right now.  ❞

❝  he was a problematic mess even by the standards of his time.  ❞

❝  oh, you know, just little things you learn at finishing school.  ❞

❝  you're not a useful doctor, are you?  ❞

❝  honestly, i feel quite ignorant that i didn't put it together myself.  ❞

❝  i'm an archivist, not an adventurer.  ❞

❝  just repress!  that!  shit!  ❞

❝  oh, no, i'm just so enamoured. we very rarely have the ability to socialise with such esteemed guests.  ❞

❝  we might've fucking killed ourselves.  ❞

❝  i think i'll have a nightlight for the rest of my life now.  ❞

❝  i love a good potato clock though, i almost bought one.  ❞

❝  my mum said i'm the most handsome boy is school.  ❞

❝  [chuckling] that's a little mythology joke for you!  ❞

❝  there's minimal security as long as you don't go into the upper floors.  ❞

❝  what have they done to you?  have they hurt you?  ❞

❝  this is getting a bit rich for my taste. [insititute/workplace] does not pay /quite/ that well.  ❞

❝  i believe you are more spot-on than perhaps you even realise.  ❞

❝  we will come up with a good excuse for your back. there's shattered glass in there.  ❞

❝  it's a bit... dizzying in here. does anyone else feel that?  ❞

❝  you do not know what this has cost me.  ❞

❝  he stole it. so i punched him in the face.  ❞

❝  i'm a book doctor, not a blood doctor.  ❞

❝  the idea of walking home in a mist without another living human being there nearly gave me a heart attack.  ❞

❝  i'd like to thank you for your discretion.  ❞

❝  it's a little less of the killing of the dragons and a little bit more of running for your bloody life.  ❞

❝  some of us are just so sharp we could cut ourselves.  ❞

❝  one more pitch to run for the fucking door.  ❞

❝  he's a charlatan, isn't he?  ❞

❝  the trouble with sacrificial magic is it requires sacrifice.  ❞

❝  there's something about you they really don't like.  ❞

❝  the only way we can protect ourselves is to know what we're protecting ourselves from.  ❞

❝  it's a bit of a lark, isn't it?  that's why i agreed.  ❞

❝  i know about this. this is my design. and some /asshole/ put his name on it.  ❞

❝  never owned a cat in my life.  ❞

❝  i say this with as much honest and relative humility as i can:  do i look like the sort of person that they would tell where the champagne is hiding?  ❞

❝  he didn't go into medical school for you to call him /mister/ [name].  ❞

❝  you have an honest face.  ❞

❝  it never hurts to be prepared, and i'm a big believer in being prepared. and i'm willing to spend on it.  ❞

❝  look you were very worried about this chest;  we opened it, it's fine!  ❞

❝  we will never see each other again.  ❞

❝  we're all just reaching for the same truth and describing it in different ways, i imagine.  ❞

❝  the things i've seen you wouldn't want to wish on your worst nightmares.  ❞

❝  take a lantern, you piece of shit.  ❞

❝  he wrote some very, very nice reviews of the best gay brothels of japan when he would walk around. and a pamphlet on farting.  ❞

❝  [suggestively] well, if you're looking for a /heat source/...  ❞

❝  few things in this world are not somewhat haunted. this, i believe, is very.  ❞

❝  do you know that they invented an electrical device in japan in 1776?  ❞

❝  i would really run.  ❞

❝  i'm sorry, did you say  ' paid off the judges ' ?  ❞

❝  it burns like acid.  ❞

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I like HPMA so far (not a huge fan of the frequent duelling though) but it’s really lacking in terms of a backstory for MC imo. I mean I think the only thing the game’s said about their background is that they’re muggle born? But I’m pretty sure that’s it. Like we know more about Daniel & Ivy than MC & that’s kinda weird considering we’re literally them so we should know stuff about our character. At least it leaves a lot of room for HCs I suppose. Also the story isn’t really focusing on them from what I’ve seen so far which is also weird. The plot mainly focuses on Daniel & Ivy & their backstories & arcs. I’m not saying everything needs to be about MC but it’s meant to be our story & experience so they could get at least a little more focus. Right now it feels like we’re just a side character. Hope that changes a bit.

I think that may be the entire point, and it may be an intentional gap. What we've got to remember is that HPMA is not Hogwarts Mystery, and while Hogwarts Mystery was a very personal story about a lost kid trying to find their lost brother, and thus heavily revolved around the protagonist...Magic Awakened is telling a completely different story and MC may not be the central focus here. Which, depending on what people look for in a story, may be something that is a turnoff for them. It just depends, but I don't think this means the game is going to be bad. The original books heavily revolved about Harry, but by contrast, Newt is a very small piece in the unfolding story of the Fantastic Beast films.

Actually, if I had to guess, I'd speculate that the creators of HPMA are well aware of HPHM and have been observing the potter fandoms reactions to the game. Our praises and criticisms. Not to get too deep into conspiracy territory here but it wouldn't surprise me if HPMA was, to a certain extent, designed with the fandom's reaction to it's predecessor in mind. The devs may not want HPMA to be considered a successor to HPHM, but that's just a reality they're going to have to deal with and I suspect they know this. How a large potion of their players are going to be ones they inherit from Hogwarts Mystery.

Because of this, I think we can answer the question of why HPMA is unfolding the way it is, by taking a look at HPHM and the awkward conflicts that arose from the way Jacob's Sibling was integrated. See, HPHM was advertised as "your" Hogwarts adventure. This, my friends, was a lie. It is not our adventure, it is the adventure of Jacob's Sibling, a pre-designed character. Yes, several aspects of who they are were left blank, for the player to fill in and project onto. But so much of MC was pre-decided, and their story is a linear one. This is why a significant portion of the fandom have started to ignore aspects of canon and replace them with head-canons. This is also why fans are frustrated with the lack of agency and choice that MC has. After all, this was supposed to be "their" Hogwarts adventure, but it was never going to be.

I believe HPMA is trying to make good on the promise to make it "our" Hogwarts adventure. But as a consequence, as a side-effect, MC is not going to be the guiding force. They can't be, because what if the game goes in a direction that the player disagrees with? Every time we learn new things about the protagonist, or they make certain decisions, they will conflict with at least one person's headcanon. So I think it's very possible that the developers decided to leave MC's story up to the player. Everything is fair game, naturally, but MC might very well be written to be as much of a blank slate as possible. That's an opposite extreme and there will always be people who are likewise not happy about this. Maybe it will change, that remains to be seen. But if it doesn't, we can try to make the most of it.

[aggrobot]

On the nature of historical fiction

I have been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, as I have been writing/researching my own piece of historical fiction. However a recent ask on @the-archlich​‘s blog, as well as playing Ghost of Tsushima has made me want to get out my personal opinions on this subject. I will be ignoring concepts like historical fantasy or alternate historical fiction in this discussion and be focusing on the overarching category. 

By nature of its design, historical fiction tends to fall into rigid categories. To elaborate, this is because it is based on an actual period of time. In my view tends to fall into a grid with two axes, which I will broadly refer to as accuracy and scale.

Accuracy is (as it implies) how true it is to the actual events and the history. You can get a very rigid historical fiction on one extreme and a very loose telling of the events on the other. 

Scale refers to how involved the story is within the events of history. Are you telling an epic tale with hundreds of characters sprawling across a decade? Or is your story a personal one, which mainly uses setting as a backdrop? It would be the difference between a war-epic like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and a naturalist story like A Doll's House.

While this seems like an easy dichotomy to understand there is a factor I neglected to mention: cultural memory. 

Cultural memory is how events are popularly interpreted. This can (and ususally does) cut against the recorded historical events. While this usually ends up creating inaccurate fiction, leaning on already established ideas can create a feeling of authenticity. 

This is where something like Ghost of Tsushima comes into play. Ghost of Tsushima  probably sits right about here:

Ghost is probably one of the most historically inaccurate games I’ve seen in a while. The swords are all wrong, as is the armour and the narrative goes entirely against what happened during the Mongol invasions. However, it feels authentic to the cultural memory of not just the Mongol invasions, but the samurai period as a whole.

It must be remembered that Samurai fiction and the cultural memory of samurai has largely been shaped by jidaigeki storytelling and chanbara film. So when playing Ghost the reason it feels authentic is because of how embedded it feels within the cultural memory of the samurai.

Cultural memory however, is a double-edged sword. It is the main reason why the narrative of Romance of the Three Kingdoms has prevailed for so long, and why much of the fiction of the Three Kingdoms Period feels stale. You have to really try to find something like DW7.

So the question becomes "What is the ideal place that your historical setting should target?" This is gonna differ for everyone, but what I personally like (and what I am personally writing right now) targets here:

I definitely have a preference for personal stories than epic stories. It's probably why of the Four Classics, I actually like Dream of Red Mansions the most. Moreover, a lot of chanbara and jidaigeki (and Japanese storytelling in general) fall into this category as they use the (rather broad) Edo Period as a backdrop to tell stories. This comes in part as a result of censorship within the Tokugawa bakufu. People were not allowed to tell certain types of stories that criticized the government, and in so doing developed a type of naturalist storytelling.

As a Historian though, I am fine with some historical inaccuracies if it serves a purpose in the narrative. In my storytelling, this is why I prefer to create characters that are analogues to actual people and try not to get the historical figures too involved in my story, which is a benefit that more personal stories and most jidaigeki use to their advantage. However this does not mean I wipe away the historical figures completely. They need to be actively involved in the larger events of the story, and can interact with your characters for important reasons. But what I want to avoid is that fan-fiction feeling of "Liu Jiao, secret cousin of Liu Bei teams up with Sima Yi to bring down the Cao Wei dynasty. (Looking at you, Ravages of Time).

Of course there will be exceptions to my personal standard and times when I break it. Part of writing generally is knowing when and how to break the rules. But make sure you carefully consider what you do before you do it.

[la5t-res0rt]

this was written several weeks ago in response to asks i was receiving i am posting it now it is very long the longest i have ever made and it is not very well edited but here it is in this final essay i talk about how shitty rae is about black people in her writing as well as just me talking about how her writing sucks in general lets begin

hello everyone 

as you may know i have received a lot of anons in the last week or so about issues of racism in the beetlejuice community both just generally speaking and also within specific spaces 

i was very frustrated to not be getting the answers i wanted because i typically do not talk about what i do not see but in an effort to be better about discourse i went looking through discourse from before my time in the fandom and i also received some receipts and information from my followers and from some friends

keep in mind that the voices and thoughts of bipoc are not only incredibly important at all times but in this circumstance it is important that if a bipoc has something to add you listen and learn and be better

i admit that when this happened i wasnt aware of the extent of what occurred and im angry at myself for not doing more at that time and i want to work harder to make sure something like this doesnt go unnoticed again

im a hesitant to talk about months old discourse because i have been criticized for bringing up quote old new unquote but this is very important and i am willing to face whatever comes from to me

lets talk about this

content from our local racist idiot that may be months old but its important

putting my thoughts under a cut to spare the dash but before i begin obviously this is awful

lets fucking unpack this folks

right out the gate op states that she supports artistic freedom but then within a couple words she goes against that statement

being entirely canon compliant isnt artistic freedom and even so if this person has so much respect for canon they wouldnt be out here erasing lydias obvious disgust for beetlejuice in the movie or ignoring lydias age for the sake of shipping that shit isnt canon either 

also we love the quick jab at the musical there hilarious we love it dont we because god forbid a licensed and successful branch on a media have any standing in this conversation but whatever

now lets scroll down and talk about the term racebending

the term racebending was coined around 2009 in response to the avatar the last airbender movie a film in which the east asian races of the characters were erased by casting white actors in the three leading roles of aang sokka and katara 

whenever the term racebending is used in a negative light it is almost always a case of whitewashing like casting scarlett johansen in ghost in the shell or the casting of white actors of the prince of persia sands of time instead of iranian ones

this kind of racebending erases minorities from beeing seen in media and is wrong

all that being said however racebending has also been noted to have very positive after effects like the 1997 adaptation of cinderella or casting samuel jackson as nick fury in the marvel movies nick fury was originally a white guy can you even imagine

i read this piece from an academic that said quote writers can change the race and cultural specificity of central characters or pull a secondary character of color from the margins transforming them into the central protagonist unquote

racebending like the kind that rae is so heated about is the kind of creative freedom that leads to more representation of bipoc in media which will never be a bad thing ever no matter how pissy you get about it

designing a version of a character as a poc isnt serving to make them necessarily better it serves to give new perspective and perhaps the opportunity to connect even more deeply with a character it doesnt marginalize or erase white people it can uplift poc and if you think uplifting poc is wrong because it tears down white people or whatever youre a fucking moron and you need to get out of your podunk white folk town and see the real world

the numbers of times a bipoc particularly a bipoc that is also lgbt+ has been represented in media are dwarfed by what i as a white dude have seen myself represented in media is and that isnt okay that isnt equality and its something that should change not only in mainstream media but in fandom spaces as well

lets move down a bit further to the part about bullying straight people which is hilarious and lets also talk about the term fetishistic as well lets start with that

this person literally writes explicit pornography of a minor and an adult are we really going to let someone like that dictate what is and what isnt fetishistic

similarly to doing a positive racebend situation people may project lgbt+ headcanons on a character because its part of who they are and it helps them feel closer to the character and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

depicting lgbt+ subject matter on existing characters isnt an inherently fetishistic action generally things only really become fetishistic when the media is being crafted and hyped by people who are outside of lgbt+ community for example how young teens used to flip a tit about yaoi or how chasers fetishize trans people

but drawing a character with top surgery scars or headcanoning them as trans is harmless and its just another way to interpret a character literally anone could be trans unless if their character bio says theyre cis and most of them dont go that deep so it really is open to interpretation and on the whole most creators encourage this sort of exploration because it is a good thing to get healthy representation out in the world

as for it being used to bully straights thats just funny i dont have anything else on that like if youre straight and you feel threatened and bullied because of someone headcanoning someone as anything that isnt cishet youre a fucking idiot and a weak baby idiot at that like the real world must fucking suck for you because lgbt+ people are everywhere and statistically a big chunk of your favorite characters arent cishet sorry be mad about it

lets roll down a bit further about the big meat of the issue which was when several artists were drawing interpretations of lydia as a black girl which i loved but clearly this person didnt love it because they have a very narrow and very racist and problematic view of what it means to be a black person

and before i move forward i must reiderate that i am a white person and you should listen to the thoughts of poc people like @fright-of-their-lives​ or @gender-chaotic it is not my place to explain what the black experience is like and it certainly isnt this persons either

implying that the story of a black person isnt worth telling unless if the character faces struggles like racism and prejudice is downright moronic 

why use the word kissable to describe a black persons lips now thats what i call fetishistic and its to another extreme if youre talking about a black version of lydia on top of that

the author of this post says herself that shes white so clearly shes the person whos an authority on the black experience and what it means to be a black person right am i reading that right or am i having a fucking conniption

how about allowing black characters to exist without having to struggle why cant a black version of lydia just be a goth teenager with a ghost problem who likes photography and is also black like she doesnt have to move to a hick town and get abused by racist folks she doesnt have to go through any more shit than she already goes through and if you honestly think thats the only way to tell a black persons story you need to get your brain cleaned

you know nothing about the complexities about being a black person and i dont either but you know wh odo black people who are doing black versions of canon characters they fucking know 

lets squiggle down just a bit further 

so the writer has issues with giving characters traits like a broad nose or larger lips if theyre a woman but if theyre a man suddenly its totally okay to go all ryan murphy ahs coven papa legba appropriation when approaching character design like are you fucking stupid do you hear yourself is that really how you see black men like what the fuck is wrong with you

none of the shit youre spewing takes bravery it takes ignorance and supreme levels of stupidity

do you really think you with your fic where a black lgbt+ woman is tortured and abused where you use the n word with a hard r to refer to her like that shits not okay its fucking depraved and yeah we know you love being shitty but like christ on a bike thats so much 

can we also talk about this

what the fuck is this fetishistic bull roar garbage calling this black character beyonce dressing her up in quote fuck me heels unquote are you are you seriously gonna write this and say its a shining example of how to write a black character youre basically saying ope here she is shes a sex icon haha im so progressive and i clealry understand the black experience hahahaha fuck you oh my god

on top of that theres a point where this character is only referred to as curly hair or the fact that the n word is used in the fic with the hard r like thats hands down not okay for you to use especially not in a manner like this jesus christ

oop heres a little more a sampling for you of the hell i am enduring in reading this drivel

oh boy lets put a leash on the angry black woman character lets put her in a leash and have the man imply hes a master like are you kidding me are you for real and what the fuck is with calling her shit like j lo and beyonce do you actually think thats clever at all are you just thinking of any poc that comes into your head for this 

also lydia fucking tells this girl that she shouldnt have lost her temper like she got fucking leashed im so tired why is this writing so problematic and also so bad

hold up before i lose my head lets look at some of her own comments on the matter of this character and what happens to her

hi hello youre just casually tossing the word lynch out there in the wide open world as if thats not a problem that is still real like are you fucking unhinged there have been multiple cases of this exact thing happening in our firepit of a country in the last five months alone like how can you still have shit like this up for people to read how can you be proud of work like this in this climate

and also what the fuck is that last bit 

what the actual fuck

i dont speak for black people as a white person but you do!? im sorry i had to get my punctuation out for that because wow thats fucking asinine just because one black person read your fic and didnt find the torture and abuse of your one black character abhorrant doesnt mean that the vast majority of people not only in the fandom but in the human population with decency are going to think its okay because its not 

i started this post hoping to be level headed and professional but jesus fucking christ this woman is something else white nationalism is alive and well folks and its name is rae

if you defend this woman you defend some truly abhorrant raecism

editors notes 

in order to get some perspective on these issues more fully some of the writing by the author was examined and on the whole it was pretty unreadable but i want to just call back to the very beginning of this essay where the person in question talked about holding canon in high regard but then in their writing they just go around giving people magic and shit and ignoring the end of the movie entirely like are you canon compliant or nah 

the writing doesnt even read like beetlejuice fanfic it reads as self indulgent fiction you could easily change the names and its just a bad fanfic from 2007

also can we talk about writing the lesbian character as an angry man hater like its 2020 dude and als olets touch on that girl on girl pandering while beetlejuice is just there like here we go fetishizing again wee

i cant find a way to work this into this already massive post but

im going to throw up

okay so thats a lot we have covered a lot today and im sure my ask box will regret it but this definitely should have been more picked apart when it happened

please feel free to add more to this i would love more perspectives than just my own.

[midnightrooftops]

Don’t Blame it on the Kids

Drabble #2

Story here

Summery: Shouta talks with All Might.  Drabble.

Characters: Shouta Aizawa (Eraserhead), Yagi Toshinori (All Might)

MANGA SPOILERS: ch. 303 (well past season 4 of the anime) post-war arc

TW: mention/referenced abuse, mention/reference character death, canon-typical violence, PTSD, amputation, hospitals, panic/anxiety

“Oh, this is a cool one,” Mic says, holding out his phone for Shouta to see. “I think this is what Rumi is getting.”

Aizawa is ignoring him as he looks over the file in front of him. 

“She’s getting an arm, not a leg.”

“Yeah, but I think this is the designer.” Mic goes back to browsing. “You think about that fake eye yet?”

“I’m not becoming a cyborg,” Aizawa says, too tired to put any malice in his voice. He rubs his eye from the mention of it and holds back a flinch at the image he sees. He’s getting used to blinking and seeing the fight, really, he is. It’s annoying as hell, though.

“But it’d be so cool,” Mic continues. “Matching glowing eyes. Tracking system to lock on your prey.”

“And yet, I still wouldn’t be able to see 3D movies,” Aizawa deadpans. He’s grateful for Mic, though. The first few days were tough, but Hizashi has gotten better about downplaying it all and Shouta is thankful for it. He can handle losing a leg and an eye. He can. But he didn’t have to weep about it.

“You don’t even go to movies,” Mic says and he’s back on his phone again.

There’s a soft knock on the door, so soft it doesn’t even register to Aizawa until he hears Mic get up.

“Hey there big guy,” he says in his friendly DJ voice. It’s still softer than normal but Aizawa owes that to it being a hospital more than Mic’s sense of comfort for his friend.

“Hello Hizashi,” All Might says and Aizawa looks up and past the curtain to see the skeleton of the man in the door frame. “Could I have a moment with Aizawa?”

“More secrets?” Mic presses but he’s only teasing the old man. All Might, for his worth, looks ashamed by it. Mic laughs, pats him on the shoulder and offers Shouta a wave. “I’m off to refresh the playlist,” he says. “Text me if you want anything from the cafeteria.”

“Thanks,” Aizawa says and watches Mic leave. 

All Might closes the door. Not all the way, but enough to imply privacy. He shuffles slowly across the room to the chair next to Aizawa’s bed and sits gingerly.

“When are you getting out?” All Might asks.

“Tomorrow,” Aizawa says, pushing the papers back into the manilla folder. 

All Might nods. “They expect Midoriya can leave by the end of the week.”

“That’s good.”

“Indeed.”

The silence settles between them. Aizawa let’s it. 

“He hates the hospital,” All Might says and Aizawa almost lets out a real laugh. Of course he does. The poor kid spent more of his first year of high school in the hospital than actual classes. But the reason why that’s the case dries up Shouta’s amusement. 

“He doesn’t say that, of course,” All Might continues. “He wouldn’t talk back to a nurse or doctor. He’s not like me. I fought them tooth and nail any time I ended up here.” A smile creeps onto his face. “No, but I can tell. He gets anxious as soon as he has energy back in his body. He’s desperate to leave, even now. After telling you, I could see how eager he was to go home.”

“Was it his decision?” Aizawa asks, knowing why All Might has come.

“Yes.” All Might looks at Aizawa and his eyes are heavy but honest. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you.”

“I know.”

“It’s a big responsibility.” It’s an excuse.

“Too much for a kid,” Aizawa says.

All Might nods. For his worth, he seems to sincerely agree. “In my retirement, I’m beginning to think it’s too much for anyone to bear.”

Aizawa sees the way his shoulders hunch, the way his spine, even through the suit, is still visible. He sees the skin pulling at the man’s face and hears the rattle of blood in his breath. For all the times All Might has been in his natural form around Aizawa, he never wanted to see the hero. It was a painful sight. 

He thinks, for all Shouta’s criticism, he can agree with that. Which begs the question…

“Why him?”

Why Midoriya? Granted, he knew now he knew nothing of the kid. He’s been pouring through Midoriya’s records, trying to figure him out, trying to make sense of what he was just told.

A smile crosses All Might’s face and his eyes aren’t looking at anything in the present anymore, they’re seeing the past.

“He asked me, once, if a quirkless kid could be a hero. And for all my honor and duty, I told him no.”

Quirkless? Quirkless?!

“And then, when a villain was attacking his friend and no other heroes, including myself, could step up to save him, Midoriya ran straight into the fight.”

Aizawa knows about the sludge monster incident. Mostly from Bakaugou’s file but he knew Midoriya was involved. Jumping in without permission. It was a red mark against the kid.

But not in the version All Might told.

“Put simply, that boy reminded me why I was a hero. He has that power inside him, the one we can’t teach, the one that has nothing to do with One For All.”

Aizawa knows what he’s talking about. Usually, it’s the reason why Midoriya is the problem child of the problem class. But it’s a spirit he’s seen in the best heroes.

“I know you don’t agree,” All Might says. “I thought All For One was dead. I thought he had more time. Time to grow and develop...” All Might bows his head. “It’s no excuse.”

It’s not, but it explains some things.

“You said he was quirkless?”

All Might nods. “I should think that’s his part to tell,” he says and again, Aizawa can agree with that. 

But…

Damn. Midoriya being quirkless makes sense. Aizawa remembers the beginning of the year. He remembered the entrance exam. 

Midoriya wasn’t a lazy kid. He wasn’t just overusing his quirk to get attention or try to impress people, like Shouta originally assumed. He literally had no control. 

“Who else knows?” All Might looks confused and Aizawa supposes this was one of the things he missed in the discussion earlier.

“Nedzu,” he says and Aizawa has to hold back a groan. Of course he did. At least All Might wasn’t the only one at the school to blame. “Chiyo. Mirai did. Detective Tsukauchi and young Bakugou.”

Aizawa nearly chokes on his own spit.

“Bakugou?”

“He’s been helping Midoriya train,” All Might says and… yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Aizawa can probably put a date on exactly when Bakugou learned. 

“The after-hours fight?”

All Might nods and there’s a smile in his eyes. 

Of course.

“He respects you,” All Might says. “It’s one of the reasons why he didn’t tell you. Not just because I asked him to keep my secret, but I suspect he didn’t want to influence how you saw him. From my time knowing him, he hasn’t shown the least interest in fame or admiration. He wants to be the best, but not for the title. He wouldn’t want you to judge him based on my quirk.”

“He’s going to have serious issues,” Aizawa says and All Might coughs, spitting blood. Aizawa doesn’t let go of his glare. “You gave a quirkless child the perhaps the most powerful quirk in the world and asked him to carry on your legacy. These kids are under enough pressure at school.”

All Might had the good sense to look ashamed but then he smiled.

“I know it’s unfair to ask it of Midoriya,” he says. “And, to be truthful, part of keeping the quirk a secret is so that he doesn’t have to carry on my legacy.” All Might’s eyes twinkle and Aizawa doesn’t know if it’s tears or just how he looks when he’s inspired. He’d believe either. “When I gifted young Midoriya my quirk, it was to give a quirkless child a chance to achieve his dreams. He was never supposed to face All For One. I thought I had ended that monster. On my life, I thought he was gone.”

It was the closest to hatred Aizawa had ever seen from All Might. The tone of his voice, while still constrained, seethed something Aizawa never heard from the hero. He couldn't tell if it was directed at the villain or the hero himself.

Shouta sighs, his head pounding with this new information. Not just that Midoriya was supposed to face this horrible threat but that Bakugou knew about it and that, perhaps, some of the other students. He wasn’t even focusing on Todoroki yet and all the news about his life out there. 

“It’s not my business,” he says. 

“I’m respecting Midoriya’s wishes,” All Might says. “He wants you to know. And I’m glad you do. Without you, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to him.”

What would’ve happened to Midoriya? It was Midoriya, Bakugou and Todoroki who had saved Aizawa in the fight. For all the pro heroes there that day, those three showed up and beat the villain back. He could scold them. But when had that worked before? And, as he was currently down a leg and eye, he couldn’t fault them. 

Even when it was Midoriya who, after identifying the threat, had run and led the villain away from civilians. While he could scold Midoriya for returning to the fight, Aizawa would be dead if the boy hadn’t returned. How do you explain that to an up-and-coming hero sworn to protect others?

Even so, all three of them had gotten so close to unlucky. That’s what it was, really. He could preach all he wanted about talent and skill. But in the end, sometimes it was pure luck. Sometimes, it was just him who got picked up over another hero and that’s how he’d survive. Sometimes it’s self-sacrifice, sometimes it’s just luck. Sometimes he thinks-

“Aizawa?”

Shouto looked up, unaware how long had passed since their last exchange. He couldn’t remember the last thing they spoke about.

“I suppose I should let you rest.” All Might moves to leave.

“All Might,” Aizawa says, then corrects himself. “Toshinori. Thank you for telling me. I’ll teach him everything I know.”

He doesn’t think he sounds desperate, he hopes he doesn’t. He doesn’t know why his heart is beating so fast. He doesn’t understand why he’s suddenly so upset.

But All Might, Toshinori, gives him a small, soft and warm smile and nods. 

“I wouldn’t trust him to anyone else,” All Might, former number one hero, says. He leaves the room.

Aizawa doesn’t know why the room is spinning. He doesn’t hear when Hizachi comes back. He hears his ridiculous excuse of a joke bring him back to the present and settles back in.