#and the way the fandom either..... simplifies her or reduces her just.

[fightaers]

sometimes i think abt how sakura's become so widely-spread and misinformed in that mass-production that she's almost become this caricature of the third female member in a trio who is a 'girl-boss who is so cool and is so sexy or so confident etc' when, in fact, she's actually a character with believable flaws and unique characteristic pertaining specifically to the experiences she's endured, and she's beyond someone everyone mass-ships or mass-hates, and in this essay i will—

[princeescaluswords]

White Fangirls: "Quit trashing female characters for being in relationships and having sex! Stop reducing them to body parts and degrading them for the sake of men!!!"

Braeden: *exists* *has flirtation with Derek Hale* *has sex with Derek Hale*

White Fangirls: "That bitch is just a fucking bed warmer, nothing but tits and ass, go away so Stiles can be with Derek bitch!!!"

Before I get into my analysis, I want to present two points of information, easily verifiable from AO3.

There are 97 explicit works labeled as Sterek published between August 15, 2011 and June 3, 2012 (506 overall).

There are 111 explicit works labeled as Draeden on AO3 in total (594 overall).

With this information, I can start to draw the conclusions.

One of the arguments I've always seen is that the romance between Braeden and Derek felt rushed. Of course, most people when they say often forget that Derek and Braeden met formally in More Bad Than Good (3x14) at the beginning of Season 3B, so an entire season passed before they even began to flirt. (Braeden checking Derek out doesn't count, as at least that's an expression of desire, and one that the fandom is extraordinarily experienced with.) The Hales knew about her, because in Muted (4x03), they contacted Braeden for help, so they obviously knew how to get in touch with her and that she was trustworthy.

It is enlightening to think about that in relation to the number of fandom authors who imagined Derek and Stiles being intimate after the six or so weeks that comprised of Season 1, where Stiles was mostly threatened by Derek and felt attracted to Lydia, when he wasn't trying to get Scott to let Derek die. Rushed? What's rushed?

You and others have talked about how fandom simplifies minority characters -- and very, very, very specifically black women -- into character which are either hyper-sexualized or desexualized. The term 'rushed' is a clever and subtle way to frame the relationship in those extremes because its implication is that either the black woman is written for no other purpose but sex (an accusation if leveled against Braeden is transparently absurd) or that the relationship did not hit the proper milestones and is therefore cheap (usually described as the woman 'deserving better' without saying what that is). In either extreme, the relationship is rendered invalid because it wasn't done 'right.'

Guess what relationship is seen as done right in the Teen Wolf fandom? You guessed it -- the relationship between two white men who spent the entirety of the first season hating/using/plotting the other's destruction. As you can tell from above, they didn't seem to have a problem with the 'rushed' nature of the relationship back in 2011-2012. These authors didn't seem to have a problem jumping to sex immediately when they 'transformed' the story into their own version and they didn't seem to worry about whether the story would be fair to the fragile participants, did they?

Now, I know what you're thinking -- but Escalus, when they describe Draeden as 'rushed', they're talking about the show, not fanfiction! True, but they're more than willing to create scenarios that meet their definition of 'rushed' as long as it includes two white male characters, even during the period of the show where they had little to no use for each other.

I'm not talking about individuals -- I'm talking about trends. They were able to conceptualize an entire relationship from twelve episodes with just as much gusto over ten months than the entire eight years since the culmination of Season 4. They could argue many reasons why this could be, including chemistry or any othe reason.

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.

[thattimdrakeguy]

I Think They’re Wasting Timber.

Ech. I don’t want to be more negative, ‘cause like, I don’t normally have that kind of energy in me anymore most of the time, despite making several negative posts the past couple days. But I am genuinely disappointed in the latest Tim special. I haven’t read it, but I seen enough already to know that it was just a pandering mess. Like you don’t really have to read the whole thing sometimes when you’re main worry can be seen within like two or three pages so much so that it’s actually depressing.

Fictional or not I thought Timber was going to be more than what it’s shown to be. I really only think Travis Moore put any meaning into the Timber relationship to give it any depth. That and of course the fans.

Like I want them to just stop pretending that Tim and Steph’s relationship was more than it was. Like they didn’t get along. They been doing it again and again for ages now. It’s not like it’s good for Steph either to be reduced to Tim’s love interest that’s ‘quirky’. They are two separate characters. It comes off as ridiculous after a while. They didn’t have a healthy relationship, just writers that would pretend like it. Let them fucking move on already. Not everything needs a cutesy, softie, happy ending, at least not when it feels so ignorant to their own past. Like regardless if people think it was Tim or Steph that was worse, it seems like most people that read more than just what the fandom usually knows (’Cause, comics be hard to find, and some people don’t wanna pirate) can agree that they weren’t a good couple.

4 stories and only one of them actually focuses on them as a couple, and it wasn’t written by the usual writer. That gives me a bad feeling.

And something about the way they wrote Bernard just made him feel so trivial. Like they don’t try to draw him to look like himself at all, like you’d never guess that’s him unless you saw how the same artist drew him before, he has no importance, they definitely aren’t writing him to have a personality, he’s just a generic civilian. And the way it’s written...it seriously doesn’t feel like Tim gives his relationship with Steph any actual weight compared to how the writer wrote Tim and Steph. Something about that was genuinely heartbreaking to me. A few lines and it made it feel like Bernard was just a test he was using to see what his sexuality was. In a fucking pride special no less. It sort of made the whole fucking thing feel pretty little.

And Steph’s mostly just portrayed as “quirky”. Like I’ve talked a lot about why I don’t like Tim and Steph’s relationship, and how I don’t like Dixon’s weird shoving her in treatment. But I do like her character. She has angles, and edges that make her stand out. They’re just never used, that’s why I sound so upset whenever I talk about her, she’s been wasted for over 20 years. Even when she got a solo they didn’t bother using much of her character to do anything interesting. They make her so typical it gets on my nerves. Her issue in Y.J. was the best content of her in years because it actually showed more sides to her, and made her feel like what made her compelling to begin with. And she doesn’t need to be mad at the time. But this constant portrayal of her, feels condescending. It is not her. Literally just let them move on, and let her do stuff that doesn’t feel like they never paid attention to her before.

Like who wants a story that feels like it was written by someone who only heard about the characters?

I know people will like it ‘cause it’s fluffy and queer content. Which I get, completely. The fans, they care. Care so much they’ll take anything, which isn’t a bad thing. People will simply like what they like, and don’t like what they don’t like.

But I don’t think this upcoming story is very well-crafted or well-done content. It’s so simplified and dumbed down, that it’s condescending too. It felt like a lot of it was spent trying to validate the writer’s ship over making anything resembling a compelling story. It was honestly like a lazy fan fic. Which really sucked, ‘cause I thought Sum of Our Parts, despite a part of it being so unnecessarily edgy out of no where, was actually a well-done story despite how short it had to run due to the formatting of Urban Legends. And fan fics have proven you don’t need a lot to have a lot of space to have a lot of character and depth.

Travis Moore’s story was super well-done too, so maybe I got my hopes up too much. I have no interest in one dimensional fluff, that doesn’t give a damn about it’s characters, past cutesy stuff that didn’t land the mark characterization wise. When his story when it was cutesy, worked, because it felt right. It had character in it that felt right.

I’m still into Timber, but I was really hoping it’d actually BE something. There’s fan fictions that only last a single chapter with more character work that represents Tim and Bernard WAY better, and it’s literally amateur writers doing it for fun, they’re not even allowed to get paid for it.

Like I’m so annoyed with how little Bernard matters. It honestly might as well have not been Bernard at this point. It’s not even really him. It’s a puppet with his name. And that’s making me so upset. I’m genuinely not mad really. I’m a bit frustrated, but honestly I’m just sad. Not like, crying sad, but I feel so lowly after seeing the spoilers. Tim mostly managed to avoid the lifeless fan service sort of stuff, but now that he’s stuck in it now, it has me bummed beyond belief.

There’s been FOUR stories with Bernard as Tim’s boyfriend now. Only one got his character right, and he had like 3 lines in that story. That’s so stupid. I’m beside myself right now FOUR STORIES, and he’s mostly a NOTHING CHARACTER. The most depth their relationship had WAS IN THE TRAVIS MOORE STORY. It’s like he’s the only one of the two writers that actually gave a shit beside both feeling like Tim was queer, which is cool, he’s definitely had that energy. But I’m not even convinced it was for the reason’s everyone else saw. I think it was just done ‘cause of shipping and not actually seeing many of the signs.

Like you feel like it’s Bernard in his lines. It captures the tone, his expressions capture his personality. And he’s drawn to look like himself and not a stereotype. You can feel a genuine love between two characters, that make it work. Not the coldest of it feeling like it’s a background thing that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Of only dating him to figure yourself out--which I don’t think is the total thing they wanted to come across as in the latest story. But when Tim’s ex is presented with more importance despite their history, and Bernard for two stories in a row by the same writer is tucked into the background doing nothing but--well, not even being drawn to resemble himself. It’s hard not to feel like it.

And I’m still happy Tim is queer. But it’s honestly the fans giving it any meaning beside Travis Moore so far. It feels pretty meaningless in the comics themselves, and it’s making me sad now. Like the person who’s going to be Tim’s main writer going forward so far as gave no actual shits about the queer relationship beyond it starting. It’s just a thing Tim’s involved with. It feels weightless under her writing.

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

When I first played Mass Effect 3 many years ago, I enjoyed it despite the flaws I could see. But when I replayed the trilogy with Legendary Edition this year, my opinion of the game has gone way down.

The writing has such a huge drop in quality from the first two games (which make sense because a lot of the writers left before ME2 was released, and the drop in quality is even present in some of ME2's DLC). The dialogue system was extremely simplified (every option is either "good" or "bad"), and morally grey issues were also reduced to good or bad (the Genophage, the quarian/geth conflict). I felt like I had way less control over my Shepard, too, partially because of the dialogue simplification and partially because of story elements that just don't fit the way I roleplayed her in the fist two games. (returning to the Alliance, being overly concerned with a random kid, etc.) I have a lot of other complaints (plot points from 2 being dropped, the ending,  Kai Leng), but I feel like those are talked about more and I don't want to make this longer than it should be.

But I think the absolute worst part is how the ensemble cast was treated. Mass Effect 2 was able to give you 10 squadmates with extensive dialogue trees, all with their own unique personality and relationship with Shepard, and for the most part I felt like all the companions were treated equally. ME3, however, put all of its effort into Liara and Garrus (but mostly Liara), while turning most of the other companions into glorified cameos with only one quest or singular purpose. Jack had huge character development but only had a role in one quest, Miranda's quest was just rehashed from her loyalty mission in 2, and Grunt and Samara were barely in the game. I romanced Thane, and he's easily my favorite character, and I honestly thought it was insulting that his only purpose in the game was to die and instantly be forgotten about. Meanwhile, the game heavily tries to push a Liara romance on you, and even if you don't romance her, the game treats her like your best friend and sidekick even if you actively try to avoid her.

This opinion has alienated me from a lot of the ME fandom, who constantly praise 3 and in some cases even act like it's the pinnacle of the franchise. I've been called entitled for simply expressing that I wish the game hadn't almost forgotten about some of my favorite characters. (and I feel like the fandom always neglects the characters that didn't have a huge part in 3) Don't get me wrong, I don't hate everything about the game. The combat is solid, the music is beautiful, and I'm happy with the development of some characters like Kaidan. But I really wish I could somehow go back in time, convince all the old writers to stay, and let the game have a proper development time, because now all I can see when I play ME3 is a rushed mess that has little resemblance to the series I fell in love with.

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (March 23rd-31st)

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow: If Marinette gets akumatized, she will be presented as too strong for Chat Noir to even try to fight back. The narrative of this episode will focus on Chat Noir blaming himself for "failing Marinette" (of course, the narrative in the episode will say that it's not his fault but Marinette) and Akumanette herself will have a basically negligible role in the episode. After some time, he decides that he must "stop running away from his problems (or something similar)". This time, he will somehow defeat Akumanette without any effort, using plan that wouldn't work against basically anyone, especially someone so inteligent and cunning as Marinette. After Marinette deakumatization Chat Noir will try to apologize to her for failing her, and Marinette will say that she didnt need to apologize and that it's her fault for being akumatized.

Alternative “bonus” that Akumanette is defeated with the power of the love square because Adrien/Chat is her weakness and her life would be better without him.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: The episode where Kagami is akumatized would probably be the Adrimi/Adrigami breakup episode. Kagami would either be conveniently absent from the rest of the season or be reduced to the crazy ex trope (and blame Marinette for the breakup); she might get a new love interest (bonus points if it's Luka) or support the Love Square.

I’d bet on Luka getting more appearances than Kagami post-Adrimi break-up (outside of Kagami being annoyed at Marinette) since Luka is connected to Marinette and she’s the POV character.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: The New York special is not mentioned at all despite happening after Season 3.

To be honest, that’s kind of what I’m hoping for. I don’t want Marinette’s suffering and Alya’s meddling to be canon.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: Lila, Chloé, and Mayura/Nathalie would be absent throughout the season and would face no repercussions for their actions.

Addition to Nathalie: Adrien’s schedule will not get anymore hectic despite Nathalie being bedridden now (if the New York special is hinting at her being MIA).

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: The new Bee Miraculous holder only exists to show how "horrible" Chloé is. Bonus points if her personality is the opposite of Chloé's and befriends everyone who hates Chloé.

Sounds accurate.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: Love Square would be rushed and/or forced after the Lukanette and Adrimi/Adrigami breakups. Both Adrien and Marinette would say that they "loved each other from the start" despite dating other people.

The love square has been forced for the whole show so--

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: There will be episode, where Chloe will be akumatized into Antibug rehash named Scarlet Lady, it will be also full of references to Scarlet Lady comic.

I would honestly like to see that just so I can laugh at it.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: We will get another Love Square reveal/dating tease only to have any development and/or memories reset at the end.

We had two+ in Season 3 so it’s basically expected at this point.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: Adrien/Chat Noir will be coddled by the narrative while Marinette/Ladybug will be punished (whatever they did {or didn't do} doesn't matter.)

I’d be about as shocked as rubber.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: Adrimi is still not acknowledged as a couple by people other than Marinette (basically, New York Special 2.0 but Marinette has to suffer more.)

Yeah, so Adrimi dating but no one else knows so Marinette’s friends can meddle for the love square.

mindfulmagics said:

Didn’t Need Burrow: Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square

Let me fix that for you:

Marinette’s feelings are invalidated/ignored

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: The show keeps giving reasons why the Love Square shouldn't get together or would not be a healthy relationship; these reasons would conveniently disappear once the ship is canon.

Relationships fix all problems.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: We don't get a Lukanette and Adrimi double date to show how far everyone has come from Frozer. Alternately, post-breakup Marinette becomes a third wheel for an Adrimi date.

Both are super likely.

Anonymous said:

Didn’t need Burrow: Lila's backstory isn't revealed until the show gives her a "redemption" arc. Bonus points if Lila becomes a Chloé 2.0.

"Felix” was the only one who actually got his sympathetic backstory from the get-go. *sigh*

Anonymous said:

Don't need Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come Marinette's fourth rival for Adrien's heart.

is2g i will riot

(the bee pun made me smile though so thank you)

Anonymous said:

Didn't need the Burrow: Marinette *does* tell Alya that she is Ladybug. Alya laughs in her face because she thinks this is a joke.

I hate how likely this is.

“Bonus” if Marinette has to transform in front of her for Alya to believe her.

Anonymous said:

Didn't need the burrow: However Marinette tells or wants to tell her identity, Chat will be mopey. Either around Marinette because she tells "obviously false" stories about his lady or around LB because there are rumours of people knowing her identity.

I had a hard time fully understanding this one, so I’ll simplify it to, “No matter who Marinette tells her identity to or even if she just considers it, Chat will be mopey about it.”

neyla9 said:

Didn't Need Burrow: If Lila and Felix become the new wielders of the Butterfly and Peacock miraculouses, they won't get a five minute time limit, because reasons

rEaSonS

Anonymous said:

DIDN'T NEED BURROW: Worst case scenario, Marinette suffers from depression(they probably won't say the D-word out loud, though), and possibly tries to hide it, but fails. Her "friends" are convinced that her depression is entirely caused by her unrequited love for Adrien, and do everything in their power to get him and her together. Yay.... Also, Luka and Kagami are conspicuously absent from this episode(and it only lasts one episode). And yes, I'm sorry for making you cry in advance.

I don’t actually think you’re sorry, but yes, I’m sorry.

Anonymous said:

Don't Need Burrow to know that the show will address the fandom's "Marinette Deserves Better" in a mean-spirited way, by having Marinette try to explain WHY she's not to blame when she's once again blamed for things that aren't her fault(or it is partly her fault so she takes responsibility but also points out what the other party should've done) only for the characters blaming her to go "No, it IS all your fault, Marinette. Just apologize already!" Which she will, taking all of the blame again.

“Animaestro” caused so much internal fear about “address the critics” episodes and I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened.

[mc-critical]

Something I can never bring myself to understand is the MY fandom’s seeming obsession with *proving* Mahidevran or Hürrem as the more morally correct, more noble, more respect-worthy etc sultana. Or measuring whose actions and beliefs were the most justifiable or who suffered the most unfortunate circumstances. It seems to completely ignore the fact that most characters in the franchise, sans a small handful of characters, fall into the category of morally questionable or ambiguous. I feel like both Mahidevran and Hürrem are both victims to the same terrible circumstances and the enviornment in which they both lived and were forced to adapt to was a catalyst to a lot of their deplorable actions and beliefs. They both came to the palace as concubines with no family nor money to their names (I can’t recall if this was held consistent in the TV series for Mahidevran’s case or not but I know this is the case for her historically as well), both of them had their worth and their livelihood tied to their ability to produce princes and please the Sultan (who will take any opportunity to remind these women that they are a mere piece of property to him anytime they attempt to assert themselves in any way.) Then there’s the looming threat of the principle of fratricide that basically haunted them throughout the entirety of their motherhood. I’m in no way saying the immoral decisions they made was justifiable or somehow okay (Mahidevran killing Mehmet, Hürrem killing Mustafa, etc.) I just feel that there’s a lot of black-and-white thinking at play whenever the Mahi/Hürrem discourse comes up. What do you think?

Thank you for bringing this up, because it's probably the thing that bugs me the most about this fandom (outside of Tumblr currently). You voiced my overall thoughts into words so well!

I think these double standarts come from many places that can be both the only reasons for a person or just one of the many. In my experience, this "black or white", "all or nothing" attitude stems from the absolutist belief that people should pick sides and root for only one character (usually the protagonist) in a narrative. They're using the standard, superficial narrative roles of the protagonist and the antagonist in terms of Hürrem, thinking that for some reason the protagonist is always morally right in all she does, simply because she's the protagonist and we're supposed to unconditionally root for her. And if they don't like the protagonist, they choose root for "the other side" instead. They're better than that anyway, so of course, we should root for them!!

To be honest, the earlier seasons of the show make an attempt in justifying this assessment, with them having the narrative voice be rooted in Hürrem's favor, despite of all possible problematic actions that tell a different story altogether. MC Hürrem was given very understandable and sympathetic motivations, thorough character exploration, gradual character development and the privilege of far too obvious Plot Armor (make no mistake, every historical figure in the show has Plot Armor, but with the many attempts at her life, Hürrem's in particular, was way too glaring at points, sometimes to a ridiculous degree.) and the writers making her enemies doom themselves by their own failings, with her seemingly only enduring the "charade". (Valide's flanderization post-E38 is the most egregious example of this.) People I've encountered that are excusing Hürrem's behavior, are citing precisely the first episodes to present their arguments, often refusing to go beyond that. Mahidevran's motivations, while as nuanced as Hürrem's, don't seem as delved into in comparison at first (the origins and backstory of MC Mahidevran are shrouded in ambiguity, and while this is thematically appropriate for her character arc, as I explained here, it definetly doesn't help her case in bringing in more vocal sympathy.) and it could seem that her character is simply antagonistic to Hürrem, doesn't go anywhere and later revels in the depths of her ambition and wounded pride earlier than Hürrem began that similar development of hers. Some Mahi stans could see that probable difference of treatment in narrative and support her simply because of that, as well.

Assessing moral ambiguity isn't all that easy in the grand scheme of things, but it especially falls short when the narrative voice seemingly doesn't support it at first. But many miss that there's a very thin line between the actions and the narrative voice, that only turns into a very deep incongruity as the series progresses. I don't know, perhaps determing the moral ambiguity is indeed so complex, confusing and conflicting, since the whole story could get too complex and many might wonder who they'll root for now when everyone is so problematic. And that's a show that began as a simple soap opera, no less! Why would they even put in the effort in this case?

Not many people are used to ambiguous and questionable character development and are still trying to prove that there is one main positive characters in the show, which is why they try to make Mahidevran or Hürrem more morally right and justifiable than they actually are. They are so passionate about the debates they engage in, because this time period and MC is truly so ripe in analysis and it could be very fun to figure out where these characters come from and go through their 4-seasons long evolution in one chosen context, but by doing this, they so often miss the depth and nuance of the subject at hand and it all turns into a one-sided discourse that drives me nuts.

There is a historical context of the issue is also important to note, in my opinion. Both Mahidevran and Hürrem are historical figures and quite a bit of facts and deeds of theirs are now widely known. Most people in the fandom have opinions of them in advance or could've gained opinions of them a while after they began to watch the show. (There are also numerous fictional interpretations of the events during Süleiman's reign and the players in it, which may also play a part in the overall judgement.) Either way, the known historical facts about them (and other fictional interpretations one could've read, of course) could influence their points of view by a certain amount and use these general impressions to present them while analyzing the characters in the show. I've heard numerous arguments that this Hürrem isn't like the Hürrem the history knows about, that she isn't "their" Hürrem and what they read about her isn't depicted all that much in the show, which takes a lot away, according to them. I especially hate when they call MC Hürrem a one-dimensional "evil" caricature that only has vileness and smug about her, no conscience, no complexity whatsoever. (no, MC Hürrem isn't as simplistic and is much deeper and more nuanced. As far as fictional interpretations go, what they're describing is Hürrem in "The Sultan's Harem" from Colin Falconer, not MC Hürrem! In the MC/K franchise's terms, all they're doing is reducing her to the level of MCK Turhan Sultan, which is disrespectful to this character, to say the least. Turhan is the exact thematic contrast to Hürrem smh while Falconer's Hürrem is the most absurdly evil caricature imaginable, at least IMO, please and thank you!) Or even more unbelievably and outright hilariously, considering Hürrem's actions and the Sultanate of Women overall the downfall of the Ottoman Empire o.o and that's why Hürrem is so ruthless, so cruel, always intentionally, of course. This is plain ridiculous. Mahidevran, on the other hand, is presented by this clique as her "victim", as a completely innocent victim that had everything taken away from her. That Hürrem had stood between her and Süleiman and "ruined" their family. This take ignores every other factor of this falling out (Süleiman, that is) and a part of the nuance of Mahidevran's character. Reducing her to a simple "victim" doesn't cut it at all. Conversely, we have fans that simplify MC Mahidevran's character beyond every belief, loving the historical figure, but claiming they made her an "evil" and "stupid" bitch that cries and whines all the time. It's limiting and one-sided and even if it appears so, there are way far more layers to her character, that develop consistently throughout the narrative. The historical context of the time period itself is usually brought up in the debates, too, justifying whoever they want to justify by "It's a war, only the strongest ones survive!" or "You eat or get eaten! We should understand their time period, not judge by our contemporary times !", which is understandable and valid, but the only thing they end up doing is applying this logic only to their preferred characters when it should be applied to everyone. They try their best efforts to make one more morally right than the other, but they continually fail in the process, because the metric they judge them from is plagued by double standarts.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that excusing one of them, but not the other for most situations is wrong, because Mahidevran and Hürrem.... aren't all that different. What most people seem to miss, is that their character arcs are so contrastingly paralleling, because both of their endings were far from victorious and they got it for the exact same character reason, gained in a different way and in a different time. The persistent insistence of the fandom wanting a main character necessarily having a triumphant grand finale fails flat immediately, because there is no true victory in the franchise. They also miss the negative character development of both of them, them having to do the exact same stuff in many instances, both of them letting go of their pasts and/or former attachments, becoming vicious and ruthless in order to adapt to the circumstances, both of them had to make moves out of desperation because they felt threatened and they both protected their lives and the ones of their children at the end of the day. Heck, they're way more alike than they're different in my book. There is no morally right, no more noble here. Both of them had no qualms to do whatever it took to secure their own future and as you said, the narrative presented very neat motivations for them to do so as a whole. There is always a shade of grey and yes, who has the lighter shade of gray could be up for debate due to differing sympathies and perceptions, but that mustn't stop people to at least try looking at the "bigger picture" and try to view their characters with a bit more criticality, depth and respect.

Rooting for both conflicting sides is still seen as questionable and contradictory by some, but there really is nothing wrong with exploring their motivations without justifying them, no matter where your sympathies extend. I think it creates a more unbiased outlook on the both these characters and the themes around them and it's always awesome to see people doing that in any fandom, really.

And both Sultanas are worthy of respect, I said what I said.

[kyojuuros]

i am a bit confused. why does the fandom consider mikasa as eren's slave but not levi as erwin's slave? justifing it by saying levi resisted erwin's orders and mikasa didn't. levi also followed through erwin's orders even if he didn't agree to them in the entire series while mikasa never followed eren's orders unless she agreed to them. i mean if were mikasa to follow eren's orders she would be with the MP or working in the fields. she followed eren but not his orders.(if you can clear it up ty)

Oof, this is a bit of a sore spot for me. Basically, tldr; double standards.

This is just my observation of fandom culture in general as well as like, years of experience being around here, but Mikasa has always gotten a lot of shit from people for her attachment to Eren. And I think that’s honestly the root of the bigger issue.

Erwin and Levi’s relationship isn’t typically seen as equal to Eren and Mikasa’s, and is generally elevated into something a lot more positive due the more mature nature of their relationship to each other, and the characters as individuals.

Mikasa and Eren admittedly have a much more complicated and muddied relationship due to Eren’s self-focused pursuit of freedom and Mikasa’s lingering feelings for Eren. I won’t deny that they have had a lot more issues than anything we’ve seen between Levi and Erwin. Mikasa and Eren are both developing characters who are still growing and maturing into the people they’re meant to become, whereas Levi and Erwin are already mature and have their “final” personalities defined, with a side of narrative development to push their personal arcs forward. 

Mikasa’s arc isn’t solely defined by her relationship with Eren, but due to her portrayal in the anime, as well as her primary narrative motivation for fighting being rooted in her desire to be by Eren’s side and protect him always, she often is reduced to this singular character trait by many in the fandom. A lot of people don’t find this endearing, but rather tragic instead… some just find it annoying.

Eren’s words to her in 112 really didn’t help anything, as he called her a slave who’s driven solely by her Ackerman instincts to protect her “host” - Eren, himself. Although most of the audience have come to the conclusion that Eren’s words to her weren’t wholly honest, people will take anything and run with it. It especially doesn’t help that Eren was particularly cruel to Mikasa and that she is still struggling to reconcile what happened. Again, simplifying things down to her “Ackergenes” or her being “1-dimensional,” rather than acknowledge their long, complicated history and the special feelings she’s had for him for nearly 10 years of her life. The complicated feelings and devotion she has toward Eren is very human and relatable, and one of the reasons I heavily identify with her on a personal level. 

But, anon, it’s really just a big double standard that permeates the fandom at large. Mikasa and Levi both have their bond with Eren and Erwin highlighted quite a bit throughout the manga and supplemental material. Levi is very much praised for wanting to protect and honor Erwin, with people often romanticizing his unwavering commitment to seeing his promise to Erwin through, while a lot of people don’t have the same attitude toward Mikasa and just wish she would “get over” Eren or “dump him” and “live for herself instead.” Granted, this isn’t all necessarily rooted in people’s perception of Mikasa. A lot of it stems from a bitterness that many have started to feel toward Eren due to his recent actions in the manga.

Her desire to protect Eren is seen as a hindrance or an annoyance, a “simplification” of her character, and often people only pay attention to that aspect of her character and completely ignore her growth into an effective soldier, a caring friend to all the 104th, and her loyalty to the Survey Corps. Her commitment to her loved ones at large is reduced to her “only caring about Eren” despite her protecting the others many times throughout the story.

Her setting aside the scarf is praised as “discarding her chains” and empowering herself as a woman who “doesn’t need no man,” while people simultaneously look at Levi’s inability to move on from his vow and let go of someone he cared for deeply with endearment. 

Both of these characters have flaws and strengths. Both of them have endearing relationships with the person they are bonded with which do heavily influence their personal arcs, but don’t define them as individuals. Both of them have committed violent behavior in order to protect and honor their special person and both struggle with feelings of being unable to let go of said person, despite hurting over them. 

For me, neither Levi nor Mikasa are “slaves” to Erwin or Eren. They are their own people, who chose to follow these two individuals based on compatible ideals and personalities. There are tragic and endearing elements that apply to both of these bonds, and they each have something that they either need to fulfill on their own or move on from. I am hopeful that all of this mystery surrounding the Ackerman bloodline will be resolved and that we as a fandom can confidently say that neither of them are “slaves” to their special person. 

I think it’s important to just keep in mind most everyone in this fandom have some kind of bias. This is the way that I see things, I know not everyone will agree with me. I think that both of these bonds are unique and special and add to the story more than hinder it. I think they add to the complexity of Levi and Mikasa as characters, and it’s fun to pick at the differences and similarities in their personalities and the bonds they share with Erwin and Eren. Everyone’s free to absorb and enjoy the series in their own way, but I heavily disagree with a lot of the harsh criticism I see thrown at Eren and Mikasa’s bond.

[stardyng]

Just watched a few episode reviews and some channels are legit pissed that Arya didn't immediately jump to Jon's side against Sansa. Like, they seriously expected it to be "Jon & Arya vs Sansa" just like the good old days. Some even went as far as to say that Arya calling Sansa smart was OOC. Yeah, cause god forbid if two women (two sisters no less) resolve their childhood disagreements and learn to respect and appreciate each other. That can never happen, amirite?

So far, what happened in the show and the different sects in the fandom’s reaction are all things I anticipated. Jon is presented as the protagonist of the series, and his fans definitely portray as being this golden hero  to the point where they often simplify every other character and their role in the story in ways that would serve Jon. As I mentioned before, the view the people who agree and validate Jon as the ‘’good guys’’ and the ones who have different point of views and disagree with him either as ‘’obstacles’’ or full-blown antagonists. Every character isn’t defined by their character arc but by their relationship with Jon. To a certain extent, the show does validate that belief since other characters are often reduced for Jon, but the show doesn’t relegate them to supporting characters as much as Jon stans hoped. To them, Daenerys is Jon’s glorified trophy wife, Arya and Lyanna are supposed to be his cheerleaders, and since Sansa disagrees too much with Jon, she has to be criticized and then punished by the narrative for it (the reason why Jon stans want the whole ‘’Sansa is going to betray Jon then die’’ plotline to happen is for Sansa to be explicitely written off as a bad person for the crimes of voicing her disagreement to Jon). Essentially, they assign roles to every character in Jon’s story arc and if that character doesn’t fill that role correctly, then they are acting “out of character”.

Moving on from that, when it comes to Arya, them wanting Arya to be on Jon’s side is understandable, however, at this point of the story, character-wise, Arya’s main priorities are her home and family, and she’s united with Sansa on that front. It’s normal that she isn’t going to agree with Jon making decisions that threaten these things, and that she is going to be critical of what she feels are possible threats to her home and family. Anyways, I’m not sure what people expected the Sansa and Arya dynamic to be like this season. The whole point of the conflit between them last season was to have them become an unit. The writers wanted them to reach a stage where they both recognize each other’s qualities ahd achievements and are united in their stance about what they have to do and what they want. It’s not an out of character thing to happen, it’s the natural progression of their plot line last season.

[seasaltmemories]

Sarazanmai Hot Takes and What it Means for a Character to Be Likeable

Lol I knew the episode 8 fallout would be intense but rather than mind my own business, I’ve decided to help stir the pot

I’ve only watched Revolutionary Girl Utena but I’ve read up on Ikuhara’s other shows and in comparison Sarazanmai comes off as much lighter and more straight-forward in my opinion, yes a kid got shot in the last episode but the core conflicts and real meat of the show has stayed grounded in its slice of life elements, depending on how the climax plays out we might get more ambiguity or higher stakes, but the kappa stuff has always served as a potential solution to the boys’ problems and I could see a lot of the same conflicts and arcs taking place in a completely realistic setting

All of that is to say that despite this I find it harder to really root for and love the characters than expected, it’s not even because I really dislike anyone but because that more grounded setting complicates matters

For example, Enta is probably one of the most controversial characters in the show and he has the most realistic problem, having a crush on a close friend, there have been discussions back and forth about how selfish and overstepping of boundaries he can get but also about how he is just a dumb kid still learning to cope with these feelings, but like few acknowledgements that both sides can be true?

And I feel like the reason is, Enta’s situation is so universal people can either see themselves in his behavior, or people who have really hurt them in it, a lot of people have been the third wheel feeling as if they do everything for others who don’t acknowledge their work, but a lot of people have also had jealous friends who resent your outside relationships and/or sabotage them, like while it is a hot debate on tumblr now on whether it is ok to like terrible, problematic characters or not (spoiler alert it is) people don’t bring up the flip side that a character can have their actions be understandable and at their core they can be well-intentioned yet you can still dislike them

Ikuhara’s work is all about not being able to reduce people to good and bad, that what matters the most is people’s active decision to help one another and try and make the world a place that is just a little bit brighter, so anyone trying to neatly organize this love triangle into heroes and villains by saying X is a good boy and Y is murking up things, is just clearly missing the big picture

Because hot take, the boys’ relationship falling apart is less the result of one instigator and more the culmination of all their flaws making the situation worse and worse

However I still come back to earlier statement of having trouble connecting (lol) 8 was probably my fave Sarazanmai episode so far but I still have yet to be too emotionally compromised or in love with a particular character, I think they’re all solid and well-written, but the closest that I would say I get the most excited to see is well Sara

And the answers to that is people are shallow individuals, myself included.  Likabelity has nothing to do with a characters’ morality or complexity but more about what they offer the viewer, sometimes a viewer will be drawn in by that morality or complexity, but it can easily be anything else

Like for the reason Sara is the closest to my fave is bc I’m really fond of that one shot of her in the op, her design is the most interesting plus I just tend be drawn more to female characters, and I’m curious about how she factors into the larger plot, looking at the fandom as a whole, the Otter Cops are by far the most popular characters a part of that has to do with their prequel manga (which I’ll get back to) but even those who haven’t read it tend to like them a lot, and why? Because they have a cool dance number/song, are attractive plus voiced by popular VA’s, are all but suggested to be in a relationship and people want to know more about their plans, I doubt even if Enta dies, Reo’s popularity will waver in the slightest and there’s nothing really bad about that

But returning back to me specifically, I think the fastest way for me to really like a character is if I can see them in a variety of different situations and enjoy them for it, and I think where Sarazanmai has fallen short of that “absolute love” thing for me is bc while it has really captured their individual flaws, but less nuance has been given for why we should root for them specifically

I tend to describe RGU as introducing its cast in the most basic sense in its first 13 episodes, showing their deepest darkest flaws and hang ups in the second 13, and then in the last third making us love them despite that, that’s a very simplified version of events but an example it fits is Nanami, who is a haughty school bully and primadonna, while she matures over the series, even before that starts I began to root for her once the Egg episode showed just how insecure and unsure she is, but besides showing her vulnerability it also showed her strengths, such as (a much more healthy level of) devotion and love for those she cherishes and even later on, a determination to not fall into old mistakes again

Episode 7 was a bit of a breather was meant to serve the same function, but the boys just kinda have a bland generic niceness when they’re operating at their best, it is that grounded setting that is working less for me, because at their core they are just normal teenagers growing up, so at their best they are just average, I think despite the boys having the more developed storyline, the Otter Cops are more popular bc many readers feel like they already know them better bc they have seen at least a version of them be domestic dads and just live their lives

I still have time to be proven wrong, and even if it just maintains its quality I will still be satisfied with keeping up with it each week, a lot of this is filtered through my own POV so don’t feel like you have worse taste if say this has you crying bucket loads but RGU did nothing for you, but I find it interesting to see how old tropes have new meaning when placed in a different setting

[ladylilithium]

Hans’ possible Redemption Arc PART 1: Deconstructing Hans' character

Hey, guys! So this is my first post analysis, meta, observation, whatever you wanna call it, so if it’s seems incomplete or lacks of depth please add your opinions as well! Also English is not my first language but argentine Spanish, papá, so don’t judge me plz. I don’t want to encounter with any anti or hater, and if you have the necessity to speak your mind anyways, do it but in a cordial way.

I’m going to divide this post in 3 parts I think, since is very long, and I have a lot to say for my favorite Jerk redhead Prince 😆

Ok, let’s start, shall we?

_________________________________________

1) Is he really a sociopath?

You know, this is something that upsets me quite a bit. The fact that you can just say “Oh well, he’s a sociopath so he’s manipulative and lacks of empathy” is something that annoys me a little, or at the very least, disappoints me. TBH, you don’t need to be a sociopath (a psychological and mental condition) to be manipulative, apathetic or cruel. I’m trying not to rationalize his actions in Frozen, because he still was wrong by harming two innocent women, but by saying that he’s a sociopath it makes his character a little more… shallow? Simpler? My point is, that a shitty toxic person can be anyone, and it simplifies the complexity that they brought on the table on the first place.

But the questions still remains, is he truly a sociopath?

Is tricky, since we know nothing except that his family is shit, and that he is a chameleon, a mirror to other people. By the end of the movie, and by the interviews that Jennifer Lee gave to us, it seems to me that he does have sociopathic traits, but he is not a sociopath per se. Hans can be a sociopath, as much as he could be not, if it’s given a proper character in-depth and backstory.

I think that by calling Hans a sociopath is an easy way to make the GA and the Frozen Fandom to disconnect with him since statistically we have normal-functioning brain, and because people with ASPD diagnose have a negative -though justified most of the time- stigma surrounding them.

2) Grey Morality: The line between good and bad, where we all fall.

“All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.”  ― Alan Moore, Batman: The Killing Joke.

As I said before, I like the idea of a morally questionable prince. A more grounded, realistic, game of throne-like character as Hans is. What I don’t like, is the seemingly automatic white to black view that we have for Hans,  while at the same time, we have one of our protagonist letting almost die a whole kingdom, and her sister,  to escape her duties and crippling fears –unintentionally, but still-.  An empath or normal person can commit crime or bad things given in extremes situations of distress, anger, etc. And we see that with our own eyes in Elsa. She almost gets tempted to kill two men, you can see the fury in her eyes, in her face. 

It is self defense, yes. But regardless of that, her people knew nothing about her powers and they just knew that she cursed them and ran away. No matter how morally wrong Hans was by trying to kill Elsa, or letting Anna die, he also helped her. He helped them both.

If she indeed killed those men here, I don’t think anyone whould’ve ever trusted her. Not even her own men, whom remember, they witnessed her actions and they were attacked too. 

A normal person lies. A normal person manipulates. Heck, we even can choose to not feel empathy if it is inconvenient for ourselves.  How many times did you pretend to feel empathy for someone just to make them feel comfortable? How many times did you see a homeless person asking for a money and you just walked away?

Again, I’m not trying to normalize these negative traits, but to be sincere about it. And is something that makes us very complex as human beings, we are true neutrals, and we can be good or bad, depending of the actions taken at certain moments, and how it impacts to others.

Yes, some people are irredeemable monsters, but I don’t think that’s Hans’ case. And so he does have redeemable qualities as well, even if it might be for personal gain, or perhaps some of his actions were genuine, we don’t know for sure. 

When did we not see an ambiguous morality in Frozen? Or when did we not see ambiguous morality in some Disney characters, in general? Is hard to find, but we do certainly have our morally wrong characters redeemed. Here are a few: 

- Abused both physically and psychologically Cinderella. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Imprisoned Belle. -Verbally violent towards his subjects and Belle. -Almost harms physically Belle. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Killed a bear out of vengeance. -Let motherless a bear cub, that after he would befriend. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Almost kill a bear out of vengeance too. On top of that, was his own brother (though he didn’t know). CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Tried to kill Simba and take his pride. -(invoked) Forced mating with Kiara. -Almost attacks Simba. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-Tried to kill Simba. -Attacked the lionesses of his pride. CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-He was an asshole to everyone. -He ordered a guard to throw an old man through a window (still lol). -He tried to let homeless a whole village for his selfish desires. -He betrayed Pacha’s trust. -He let Pacha on his own fate (probably to die). CURRENT STATE: Redeemed. 

-Along with Syndrome, she plotted the death of many superheros, including Mr. Incredible. -Almost kill Mr. Incredible. -She almost kill a whole family, including the children.  CURRENT STATE: Redeemed.

-He tried to kill Elsa, and let Anna die alone for personal gain. -Deceived Anna, Elsa and everyone else. -Plotted the death of Elsa at some point in the movie (unclear when exactly). -Degraded verbaly Anna. -He tried to break Elsa’s heart to make her give up her life. Redeemable Qualities: -He took care of Arendelle while Elsa and Anna were gone (though, it still can be interpreted as gaining popularity). -He went off to look out for Anna. -He ordered the Arendelle guards and the Merchant’s not to harm Elsa. -He calmed Elsa’s rage, avoiding her to kill. -He tried to reason with her.

Elsa is shown that suffers of guilt and insecurities, yet throughout the majority of the movie, she still rejects Anna and her responsibilities as Queen. Even to a point where she witnesses hurting Anna with her magic,

 yet she just casts her away from her Ice Castle. Or after the misery that she caused -and she’s visibly hurt by that- she’s still thinking of running away, instead of trying to change things. Hans pleaded her to stop the winter and bring back summer, but she said that she couldn’t.

My goal here is not victim-blaming. I’m not blaming Elsa for her insecurities or self-defense actions. But her character at the end of the film, has a lazy realization, and for me, an unsatisfactory conclusion in terms of story-telling, because we never she her develop for herself, or working hard to balance her bad actions throughout the end of the movie, but anyway.

I’m not trying to rationalize morally questionable/wrong actions either. A good action doesn’t cancel the bad one, but my main interest is to analyze the human psyche, character growth and development.

3) Love and Fear: a constant subject in Frozen, and a constant subject for a “Prince”.

So cut through the heart, cold and clear Strike for love and strike for fear See the beauty, sharp and sheer Split the ice apart, and break the frozen heart.

—Disney’s Frozen “Heart”

DID HANS ACT ONLY OUT OF COLD AMBITION, OR HE WAS ALSO AFRAID?

For what we know from A Frozen Heart, interviews and extra information, is that Hans is abused so much by his brothers, that he just accepted their behavior and doesn’t fight back, is something normal for him. Nor he tries to improve his relationship with them. His relationship with his father is also painfully cold and toxic, and their dynamics are comparable to Zuko and Ozai, Tyrion and Tywin, or Theon and Balon. Hans seems to have an inferiority-superiority complex, and so, his pride is fragile and as well (just as previous Zuko, Theon and Tyrion).

But how? He’s very charming, and his body language never shows signals of insecurity (though that’s debatable). Or when he confesses his true intentions to Anna he has a sexy smug smile in his face, and his voice is soft and low, cruel and never trembling. How is that I believe that he was afraid or scared? Well, the movie itself states that he does have a terrible relationship with his brothers, the novelizations extends this to his father. 

So by knowing this, a person copes with the pain and abuse in different ways: Elsa’s fear is hurting her loved ones, so she forced herself to an emotional -and literal- isolation towards them, specially with Anna. In Hans’ case, his fears are being trapped forever in his “home”, and being rejected by his father. So his way to acclimatizing himself in such negative environment, is to avoid his true feelings and morality. Avoiding his true identity, in essence. Thus, becoming into the Mirror Hans (more on that later), allowing him to become the very thing that he actively tried to avoid for years.

I think that here’s the point where he started to panic; where the fear of going back to his depressive life, and the taste of power that Anna gave him when she left him in charge, took him over completely, forcing himself to toss apart any bit of  true morality and compassion that he had for Anna and Elsa. Where his mind started to realize that executing Elsa was the only way to bring things back to normal. 

But is also the fact that Anna dissapeared, and Elsa was the only rightful heir to Arendelle, so his conflict was “What do I do? What’s next?” If Hans decided at the moment to execute her, and Anna was dissapeared, he wouldn’t get to be King of Arendelle, and he would back to his hell home. His conflict is both emotional and materialistic, and fear started to get under his skin too. Some might argue that he’s just reflecting Elsa’s emotions, which is valid, but keep in mind his goals, his backstory; try to read him beyond what the movie told you. Link the dots to picture his mind. 

Some other might point out this scene.

[SIDENOTE: To me, it seems like another atempt to make us dislike him more. In my eyes, is like that the creators tried to manipulate us to hate him, but anyway don’t mind my defensiveness towards him LOL. He’s a terrible person Angie! Stop it, goddamit!]

It interpreted this part as Hans joy of finally seeing the chance of escaping his prisonic home, dehumanizing Elsa completly. WHICH IS BAD regardless. Is he a sadist? The book implies that he takes pleasure in feeling physical pain, but he does not take pleasure on harming others. 

So to me, is a smile of almost getting to win a big bad in a videogame, or well... that’s the type of face when I’m about to eat a pizza so, IDK :v 🤷‍♀️

THE MACHIAVELLIAN KING VS THE MACHIAVELLIAN PRINCE: The Lion and the Fox.

One of the reasons that Hans didn’t fit his family -besides being the smaller and weaker member of them-, is that his morale and philosophy clashed with the imposing, hard power that his father values. Being flexible and benevolent to the common people is a sign of weakness for Hans’ father and brothers. The king sees himself and his other sons as strong and powerful as lions, and he compares Hans to a mouse because he doesn’t fight back, nor shares his value of hard power. The King’s philosophy is kinda like Darwinism with Machiavellian shades. So in one side, we have the cruel side of the Machiavellian philosophy, the one that values fear over love:

“From this arises the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both: but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”

“One can say this in general of men: they are ungrateful, disloyal, insincere and deceitful, timid of danger and avid of profit...Love is a bond of obligation that these miserable creatures break whenever it suits them to do so; but fear holds them fast by a dread of punishment that never passes.”

But in Hans’ side, he believes (or puts in practice, at least) that appearances and benevolent acts are better way to influence people, to gain more popularity. This is the softer side of power, the more deceitful and diplomatic Machiavellian route:

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”

“Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”

So we see the two opposing sides of the Machiavellian philosophy, one relies on hard power, and the other in subtle power. In essence, Hans’ father rejects the soft power because of his imposing pride and ego. But both characters share the same Machiavellian influence in their beliefs, the only difference is that Hans takes no joy in being cruel and tyrannical, thus preferring the softer, more subtle side of power. 

Yet at the end of the day, he embraces the cruelty, and fails to become the hero he expected to become, and by the time he realizes his mistakes and regains his morality, is too late.

What I’d like to see in Hans’ Redemption Arc, is a discussion between the characters (mainly Hans and Elsa) about this matter. An intellectual battle, and him realizing that his father was wrong. Not so in-your-face, because I can see people getting bored over political philosophy, but in a metaphorical way. And Hans coming in terms that deceitfulness and fear, aren’t the only way to gain trust, but love and true friendship as well. 

He can be a fox, and a lion too.

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Part 2 Here

[ksanname]

AU: Summer kiss

Fandom: Fairy Tail Characters: Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia Genres: Romance, Fluff, AU Summary: Her first summer away from her parents. The first night out and ... first kiss. Ridiculous, inept and with a salty taste. ____________________________________________________________    July. The summer sun incinerated its rays into everyone who was on its way, be it a tree or a man. The heat only gained momentum. The inhabitants of Magnolia languished, sweating sweeping from their foreheads every now and then. Not even the air conditioners saved. Refrigerators were failing right before our eyes. Many went wherever they looked: on the sea, in the mountains. Those who worked at such a time were less fortunate. Office workers scolded tight ties and tight shirts through which the body did not breathe and sweat.

   School time was replaced by holidays. Many have graduated from educational institutions and have already graduated. So Lucy Heartfilia, along with her friends, graduated from high school. The blonde has become a real high school student, which she could not get enough of. A tall, slender girl with blond hair and attractive brown eyes however fit and fit into this title. She could not keep a smile, either because of a vacation, or a new school, but the mood was great.

    Today for Lucy was the most important and crucial day. She tried hard and waited for him for many weeks.    At the end of high school, teenagers agreed to go together somewhere and relax. The guys have been friends for many years and it was not difficult for them to go on a trip alone, but for Lucy it was extremely difficult. She transferred to this school a couple of years ago, which made things worse. The blonde's parents baked her care so much that once again she could not leave the house without their knowledge. It is not known how the girl achieved permission, but with the condition of perfectly completing school and many other reservations. There were no special problems with studying, because she studied decently, but that was excellent ... I had to try to get to know Heartfilia. The result was worth it and now she packs her things under the supervision of her mother and a boring lecture from her father.

 “Don't worry, there will be adults with us,” the girl answered with a smile. - Mira and Kahn recently moved to the third year of university. Cana's father Gildart will also go with us. So do not worry. We are just for a couple of days.

 “I need the number of this Gildard, as well as all who will be,” demanded the blond man, folding his arms over his chest.

 “Of course, daddy,” she said.

   Lucy wrote a phone number on the piece of paper and her father immediately called him. There was a coarse male voice on the phone. Judo relaxed a bit after talking and went to his office.

    A black jeep drove up to the house. A tall woman with scarlet long hair braided in magnificent braids and a girl with the same hair color came out of it. They looked at each other and looked at the building. Under the rays of the sun it shimmered. In truth, a beautiful sight. The peach tree at the gate pleased with its lush foliage, and the scattering of bright flowers in the front garden caught the eye.

 “Eileen,” the newly-made high school mom smiled and hugged her friend.

 “Leila,” she smiled in response. “We came for Lucy.”

 “Good morning, Mrs,” the girl greeted.

 “Hello to you too, Erza,” the blonde replied. “Lucy will be out now.”

    After these words a girl with a pink suitcase appeared at the door. A father came next and helped carry the luggage. The smile on his face beamed.

                                                          ***

   Many people gathered at the station, in particular teenagers. Everyone finally got together and boarded the wagon. The guys talked about something vigorously, making faces and laughing loudly, and the girls calmly discussed their affairs: a new school, a uniform, cosmetics, and, of course, guys. After all, any high school student needs a boyfriend. So Lucy dreamed all the way about the perfect prince. Absolutely everything: from the external features, to the nature and habits. Although the blonde was a dreamer, but she did not lag behind the reality. Realizing all her desires, she pacified the heat and reduced the list to a minimum

 “Dream on and on,” the pink-haired guy got into the dialogue. - You just have to do it. There are no such guys.

 “Go away Dragnil from here,” Lucy pushed aside with words. - You just do not shine anything. No mind, no girls. You can not worry.

    The girlfriends burst out laughing, and the young man, disgustingly muttering, turned away and began again to quarrel with the brunette, whose attention the girl with wavy blue hair tried to attract. From this girl the guy became ill. So openly staring in love with a look - a scarecrow.

     Finally, the guys reached the desired location. Before them stretched the endless expanses of the forest. From the station to the house was about ten kilometers and they had to cover this distance by bus, which was already waiting for the students. All together they got into the car and ten minutes later they were on the spot.

     The bus brought a group of schoolchildren and accompanying adults to an unknown place until this day. The transport stopped exactly on the asphalt site, but then they had to follow a long path that led to the thicket of the forest. Tall trees stood close to each other, leaving a small gap between their lush hats of foliage. It would be logical to figure out that these oak trees are not a dozen years old.

     Having overcome a small path, they opened a beautiful picture: the trees opened their rows, revealing a view of the calm water surface. Glade, on which there was a kind of camp, was quite large. On its territory there were two high wooden houses in two floors, a huge gazebo, a room reserved for the kitchen and several washbasins. A little further was the bridge, and near a large wooden pier.

 “Wow,” admired Lucy.

    The guys immediately met a tall woman. She turned out to be watching this territory. Marla Karugava - this is how a brunette appeared. She immediately introduced the teens up to date and explained all the rules. They did not hear anything new - everything is like at school plus small points on the ground: do not spoil anything, do not go far into the forest, do not swim far away and without supervision. The next step was settling. One of the houses was reserved for girls, the other for boys. Much time was not taken. Smile, the woman said goodbye and walked away from the guys.

  “Bathe! ” Natsu yelled, running out of the house in bright orange shorts.

     Gray and a couple more guys ran out after him. The girls exchanged glances and ran into the rooms. After a couple of minutes, Lucy and Erza came out in full readiness. The girls were beautiful separate swimsuits, which emphasized the already formed figure. They, like true ladies, proudly approached the water and put a sock into it, after which they laid the blanket on the beach and completely plunged.

      Slightly cool water enveloped young bodies, cooling the skin after a long hot day. The sun had already begun to descend, giving the trees the last rays. No one noticed how quickly the day flew by. Now I had to leave the lake.

     Kana and Juvia cut fruits and vegetables, Gildarts chilled a couple of watermelons, Levi and Mira made drinks, and Lucy and Erza took care of the serving. The boys lit a fire and began to fry everything on it: sausages, potatoes, tomatoes.      Late dinner was a great success. The guys are satisfied and well-fed have risen to their rooms.

     Finally, it was finally dark and Clive walked through all the rooms to make sure the guys were sleeping. Satisfied with the work done, he went to his place. Of course, not everyone slept. The boys played cards, shining a flashlight under a blanket, and the girls gossiping in their rooms.

 “I want to swim again,” the blonde admitted, lying on the bed.

 “Tomorrow will be the day,” answered Erza.

 “As you wish, I’ll go now,” Lucy said urgently.

    The girl got up and began to dress in a bathing suit, over which she threw a light robe. She picked up a towel and turned around.

 “And if Gildartz catches you?” - Anxiously asked a friend.

 “Everything will be fine,” she smiled, opening a wooden window. - “You just do not close, okay?”

     Under the nod of a white hair, Lucy jumped out of the window and headed towards the lake. My heart was pounding from adrenaline overload. This wonderful feeling filled all thoughts. The girl was also afraid that she would be caught and really wanted to break the rule, which the man immediately put.

     The girl was lucky that she, together with Erza, chose a room on the first floor. This greatly simplified her small escape.

     The water became colder, but this did not prevent the blonde to enjoy it. Lucy smiled like never before. For the first time in her life, she is far from her parents, with friends, and now in general alone. Again, Heartfilia began to dream of a new school and the life of a high school student, voicing her thoughts out loud.

 “Ha, dreamer,” came the familiar voice from the reeds. “You should have moved away from the houses,” Natsu said, swimming closer to the girl.

 “What are you doing here? ” - she was indignant.

“I'm listening to your romantic snot,” the guy laughed.

     Lucy blushed, remembering that she could only speak. But before whom? Before the bully and the bad student from her own class, who, moreover, like the others, is going to enroll in the same school as she. Oh not good ...

 “Is it true that you have never kissed?” - asked the guy. His eyes studied the girl, waiting for an answer.

 “So why did you take it?” - she answered in a slightly trembling voice, realizing that she had been revealed.

 “And with that,” answered Natsu shortly. - "and he will definitely kiss me, then I will become a real girl," the guy quoted. - Are you serious?”

 “And what if that is so? Do you care?” - growled that. - This is a very important stage in the life of every girl in high school. First love, first kiss. Ahhh” , Lucy sighed dreamily and at the same time doomed. 

 “What are you?” - not understanding, the young man stared.

 “I’m afraid,” she said shortly and quietly, sinking more and more into the water.

 “What? ” - genuinely surprised Natsu.

 “Kiss! What if he doesn't like it? I do not know how.”

    The girl's words made Dragnele think. She reflected as if she already needed to kiss someone. The guy silently watched the blonde hiding her reddened cheeks. Never before, in his memory, Lucy was so sweet and sincere with him. This surprised the guy and at the same time flattered him, because it means that she trusts the young man. At least that's what Natsu decided.

 “Hmm,” the young man thoughtfully held out, inspecting the girl. She lifted her face slightly, looking at the full moon.

      What was happening in the pink head now - do not understand. The guy swam a little closer to Lucy and stood opposite her. His face was level with hers. No sooner had the girl come to her senses, Natsu covered her lips with his own. A couple of seconds was enough for Lucy to feel the softness of his lips, the salty taste of water and the wild embarrassment. As soon as he pulled away, the blonde immediately covered her mouth with her palms and reddened. In the light of the moon, her face could be clearly seen. So cute, with frightened eyes that glittered brighter stars.

“Well,” the guy drawled. - Did you not like it?”

  “II ... not that. Not at all. How to tell you. H-unexpectedly,” Lucy mumbled, slightly stuttering.

 “Here you go. This was my first kiss. So, do not be afraid. We can say that the experience is already there”, Natsu smiled broadly.

     Lucy looked at the guy with incomprehension. He now stole her first kiss and gave her his in return. It seems that a girl should swear that her dreams completely broke, that everything happened against her will, but no. She silently watched Natsu, occasionally blushing even more.

 “Now let's go,” the young man commanded. “We can see and then it will be bad.”

      Lucy nodded her head in agreement and immediately went out of the water.

      As they walked along the path to the houses, two pairs of eyes were watching them from the first floor window: brown and blue. Mira clutched at her face with her palms, smiled so that her eyes glittered and were about to give cover, and Kana just smiled and raised a glass of red wine for them. In the second house, in exactly the same window, sneakly watched other, dark-colored eyes. Gildart has long known Natsu, he literally replaced his father.

 “My boy grew up,” wiping away his tears with a handkerchief, the man whispered, who always seemed so brutal, but in his heart turned out to be completely different. “It's good that no one sees me now. Ah, youth. ”

     No matter how they tried to hide their violation, they were calculated. However, no one will know about it. Their little secret is no longer just for two.

_______________________________________________________

Hi guys. I wrote this fanfic in the summer of 2017, but decided to try to translate it (I am writing fanfiction only in russian — my own). I hope it didn't happen so badly. If you like, I can translate more my fanfiction: I have Nalu, Gruvia, Gerza, Gajevy, GrayLu, and even Gajeel/Juvia, and more.

[eloarei]

Gonna use this space to try to organize my response to / thoughts about @nomadsky ‘s ‘essay’ about the mom-friend trope, which she wrote in response to a question I asked. You can read it >>HERE<<. I’m not reblogging it to add my commentary because it’s not under a cut and I don’t imagine everyone’s interested. BUT if you want to read my response, consider reading hers first, as I’ve only paraphrased her here.  Topics: feminism, fanfic writing, tropes 

You said: Hakkai and Shiro are other examples of characters called ‘mom-friend’. --I can see Hakkai being the ‘mom-friend’, though I wasn’t involved in the fandom long enough to really notice it. I’m not into Voltron enough to know much about Shiro as a ‘mom-friend’, but I’ve never thought of him in that way, because I always see him shipped with Allura, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a straight-shipped person referred to as ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ (whichever is opposite to their gender), though my not having seen it means little. That leads me to ask, do you find the ‘mom-friend’ trope equally harmful to both male and female characters? Or is it specifically to male characters, for likening them to a stereotypical female? If so, does that... apply also to female characters referred to as ‘dad-friend’? (Again, something I haven’t really seen, but I’m sure it happens.) (And what about real people referring to themselves as ‘mom-friend’?) You said: The trope glorifies the existence of damaging gender roles. -- I don’t have much more to say to this than is covered in the next section. You said: male character shows empathy and is then likened to the feminine, and that reflects toxic masculinity. Suddenly he doesn’t fit the male image, but instead has to be somewhat feminine. This kind of attitude stops men from expressing their emotions. -- I agree, empathetic male characters are often reduced to being feminine, which is obviously not good because any reasonable person knows men should be allowed to express emotion, etc. Saying that he suddenly doesn’t fit the male image...  I guess I’m a littttle unclear about that one. I get it, I think? But to me that seems to depend largely on what the reader/whatever thinks “the male image” means. I get that the standard or stereotypical male image is... well, you know how it is, but I guess I’m seeing a little bit of a disconnect in these points. Empathetic --> feminine. Sure, I see that. Kind of arbitrary, like most gender stuff, but sure. Feminine --> not male. I... see that, but I don’t feel it, I suppose. I don’t know why guys can’t have feminine traits. I see that it’s a common thought though. And then, I guess what you’re saying is that if men feel that showing empathy makes them girly, they won’t do it? I understand that. But to me that seems like a problem with men’s disdain for femininity, so, like... to me it feels like the problem is not just that empathy = feminine, but that feminine = bad. (Ultimately, I don’t think we’re disagreeing here, it’s just some of the finer points which are a bit foggy, particularly regarding how we ought to deal with that toxic masculinity. To over-simplify it: you suggest that we stop referring to empathy as feminine. (Not an unreasonable solution.) I suggest that we help men realize it’s okay to be ‘feminine’ (whatever that means). (Hopefully also not an unreasonable solution.) Both rely a little heavily on semantics, which means by my own rules I should stop arguing about it.)  You said: using this trope often makes writers reduce a character to stereotypes. -- I can’t really disagree with this at all. That’s certainly true, although it will depend largely on the writer’s skill, and the reader’s interpretation. I hope I’m above it, but that would be for my readers to decide.  ((The following paragraph is, I think, based on a misunderstanding of your original post, but I’m leaving it anyway. If it’s NOT a misunderstanding and that is infact what you meant, please let me know.))  You said: mom-friend/dad-friend ships create an unhealthy power imbalance. -- I guess I don’t see this one at all. I don’t know if I just don’t understand what you mean, or if it’s a difference in my perception. Who in this case has the upper hand? The ‘mom’ because they are the overbearing one? Or the ‘dad’ because men have more power? I’m not a parent yet, but I am a married woman, and I’ve never thought of ‘mom/dad’ as having a power imbalance. It... doesn’t make sense to me. I’m really tilting my head at this one. I just feel like you made a huge leap between ‘mom/dad’ ships and abuse, and I feel like I’m really missing something. Okay, unless I misunderstood you entirely and what you meant was that ‘mom’ character (OR ‘dad’ character) is often shipped with ‘child’ character which is inherently abusive??? Now that I can see, definitely. To me that’s not even something I think about because I practically never ship those kinds of ships. See now, the first time I read this post, I was coming at this section from an entirely different viewpoint, but now I think I see what you mean, particularly using Gladio/Prompto as an example. I get that, with Gladio being accepted as a ‘dad’ character, and Prompto typically being a ‘child’ character. Right. I don’t like the ship much myself, although I suppose it could be okay if they did away with the representation of the characters as ‘dad’ and ‘child’. *shrug* So, one of your problems with the ‘mom-friend’ trope is that they’re often shipped with ‘child-friend’. I get that. I don’t like it either. But I’ve never considered that as being really relevant to the trope because it’s not something I take part in. I guess I tend to think of ‘mom-friend’ more in terms of like ‘half of a pair with dad-friend’ than ‘has any sort of specific relationship with child-friend’. (Even though, yeah, that is sort of the definition of a mom.) You said: (and I’m quoting this time)  😳 ‘Admire me?’ 😳 Why would you do that? 😳 I’m honestly a badly put together mess. Nothing to admire here. 😝 -- Oh psshaw. Of course I admire you. You’re a good writer, you’re funny, and you seem like a good person, not to mention clearly intelligent! And on a fandom level, I feel like you’ve put more detailed thought into a lot of things (FFXV-related, especially), so I feel it’s only natural to defer to you in regards to these. You said: Does the way I write Ignis fall into any of the pitfalls you described?  (does he get feminised or appear weak for being caring? does he come across as more nagging and annoying than in canon? does he respect other characters’ agency and autonomy or not? and if not, is it acknowledged as problematic at some point in the story? etc.). --- Honestly: I don’t know entirely. I mean, I can look at them individually:   -- Appear weak for being caring: no, I don’t think so   -- More nagging or annoying than canon: maybe, but if so it’s because of the circumstances in the AU.   -- Respect others’ agency and autonomy: to a degree that I think is warranted by the circumstances.   -- If not, is it acknowledged? : I plan to acknowledge his lapses in ‘respecting others’ agency’. (Though I haven’t written nearly that far. That’s end-of-story stuff and woah am I ever not close to that yet.) BUT!!!   -- Is he feminised? : This I don’t know, because I don’t know what’s considered feminised. If he is, I don’t think it’s because he is caring. I like your suggestions that he could assess his own identity in regards to masculinity, but I’m not sure I’ll touch on that much in this particular story... Well actually, I probably will a little, but I imagine he’ll push it aside as being unimportant in comparison to.. the other stuff that’s happening. *shugs loosely* tbh I’m still in the planning process of anything past the first 1/10th. THANKS very much for writing this post, and being open to discussing things like this. After my first read-through of it, I was fairly stressed because I thought we were disagreeing a lot, but the process of writing a response has (I think) given me a better understanding of what you wrote. Now, it seems that we may actually agree more than I originally thought, and hopefully we’ll be able to explain any remaining differences. (If you’re interested.)  <3 

[yangingaround]

You've talked before both here and in your main blog about how Yang is simplified a lot in fan works as either Ruby #2 or Sun #2 with her more supportive traits usually put on other characters. Why do you think this is? I wouldn't call her disliked by the fandom at all, especially those making content, and her deeper traits aren't that hidden. Obviously a lot of it is shipping based, but do you think there's anything else to it?

I think it’s a combination of people just not reading too deeply into her character a lot of the time, with sometimes it being more antagonistic usually coming from the shipping side of things

when she’s reduced to being completely interchangeable with Sun (for example, many Blake/Sun shippers got angry at people for being upset about the stalking in 4x03, claiming ‘if it had been Yang you would have been okay with it’ which is sidestepping the argument because no most people would not have been okay with that, as well as ignoring that Yang wouldn’t have done that, even if she’d been in a fit enough physical and mental state that she wanted to chase after Blake, and definitely not in the creepy and invasive way Sun did it), on a shipping level it is just to treat things like there’s an equal playing field when Sun’s a hollow shell of a character with nothing substantial and no real connection to Blake beyond thinking she’s attractive, while Yang is a fully developed and nuanced character in her own right with a deep connection and understanding of Blake

the example I cited where she’s treated as another Ruby is entirely shipping motivated because the person who does it genuinely seems to think their interpretations of these characters (where Yang is Ruby 2.0, Weiss is Yang 2.0 and Blake might as well be a wholly original character) are the correct ones

so often it is just because she’s jeopardising less popular ships that people want to reduce her to a handful of traits to make it seem less viable, I suppose

the posts I made today on the other blog aren’t anything to do that and I think it might just be a holdover from volume 1

see, volume 1 didn’t get too deep into the characters, especially Yang, so people developed a lot of headcanons and impressions of the characters before volume 2 arrived to start delivering on depth - as a result, everyone got this impression that Yang is some dim-witted, somewhat selfish party girl that occasionally goes too far and makes people uncomfortable (this turns up a lot in fics, Yang making advances or saying things that make people uncomfortable and angry and it's like... Yang panicked when she thought she'd offended someone by saying they were 'weird', come on) and this has, for some reason, still stuck around despite all evidence to the contrary over the last three volumes