#and we don't have as much backstory for them!

[imthepunchlord]

So one of the odd things that stands out to me is, nearly a 180 chapters in, in a manga where we get to see the backstories, families, and home life of various characters, from major to minor, we actually have yet to have anything on Momo and Okarun's history and family.

Particularly, on the topic of Momo's parents (my speculation on what may be going on with Okarun covered here).

For how much time we spend with Momo, at her home, and with Seiko, it's odd that we just have... nothing on her parents outside Momo confirming that they're gone.

I don't remember seeing any pictures on the wall.

There's no talk about them aside from Momo's confirmation about them.

There's no offered memories of them.

Just nothing, not from Momo or Seiko.

Which, I don't know how much it'll matter, but I'm so curious about Momo's parents, who were they and what happened.

And that curiosity led me to a speculation.

I theorize that one or both of Momo's parents were mediums, with Seiko's child following in her footsteps. And they wound up coming across/upsetting a very dangerous yokai that proceeded to take them out, and only little Momo survived because she manifested her spiritual power and fought back or took it out.

And that's how Seiko found Momo when she rushed over to help her family, power awakened, yokai defeated or chased off. And those powers receded once Momo was safe, and with it, the horrible memory is blocked or forgotten.

For now, I feel it's a plausible theory for the fate of Momo's parents, as I feel it can work off what we see of Seiko.

Seiko does know about Momo's power and was surprised by how limited Momo was, as if she was expecting more, which would make sense if she had seen more from Momo in the past.

And we do have Seiko teaching and preparing Momo for the spiritual world.

And Momo does have some knowledge about spirits and how to approach and work around them, which Seiko taught her.

In spite of this, we do have Seiko holding back from fully including Momo. Through the sass and squabbles, she cares greatly for Momo's safety.

Like Seiko holding onto what Momo said as an angry kid for so long, either Seiko is just that petty, or she's using it as a means to put distance between Momo and the spiritual world out there.

And in the latest chapters, despite Momo's situation, Seiko is adamant for Momo to go to school.

And we learn that, while Momo is at school (and safe to Seiko's knowledge), she's looking into how to turn Momo back to normalcy without Momo's knowledge.

If Momo knew that Seiko was going to do this, she would've joined her in an instant.

So I think chances are good that Seiko experienced great loss of her child through spirits/yokai, and got to witness the power Momo has. She does what she can to teach and prepare Momo, but is also trying to keep her safe and have some distance from the spiritual world.

And what makes the most sense to me is the possibility that Momo's parents fell to some powerful yokai, that activated Momo's powers for the first time for Seiko to see.

[allpiesforourown]

I’ve been wanting to ask what’s your favourite fanfic trope? Mainly for svsss fanfics but any fandom works as well! Happy holidays hope you have a shizun blessed year

God there are so many I can't possible pick just one ... just a few I've said before I love (probably forgetting some I'll remember I love sooo much later)

villain with tragic backstory finds someone they can trust for the first time

character's best friend becomes their sibling in law and their best friend is hyped because now they're legally family!!

soft bullying their crush because they don't understand their feelings (this weird twist in my gut when I see them must be hatred??)

fuckboy nonstop flirting with guy who just replies with a deadpan glare because he doesn't think the guy's being serious (he is so serious. he's ready to give up his whore ways and get married right now)

when two people share a bed and the respectful pining one starts humping the oblivious one in his sleep while calling out their name

kid falls in love with someone older who did something nice for them thoughtlessly, then chases them when they meet again as adults. absolute classic

"if we were gay, this behaviour would be insanely possessive and worrisome, but he's straight so he's just worried about me!"

many more. this is all i've got rn

[petitprincess1]

"But but Stella could've been abused as a child 🥺" And? If that's the case, then she should know how horrible it is to be in such an inescapable situation, but she takes pride in it

One thing I want to add: Ppl keep complaining that we don't have villains that are just villains anymore. And whenever we do get them, ppl are wondering what their backstory is. I love old Disney movies as much as the next person, but excluding a few (and even then they mainly rely on fan theories), their writing was fairly shallow. But that's what made them fun bc of them enjoying how nasty and evil they were.

I would love to see Stella's backstory. However, the means will never justify the end. There is no excuse for abuse and there should never be. She made her bed and I hope she gets buried with it.

[grammarpedant]

Nope. Trap card #2, activated: There's no evidence that Gurathin is from the Corporation Rim.

The fanon that Gurathin is CR comes from a single line in Exit Strategy: Ratthi says, "It came to Preservation packed into the hold of that much bigger ship, the one that’s become the station, with our grandparents. Well, not Gurathin’s grandparents, he came later." Personally, I think there's even room here to interpret Gurathin as being born on Preservation as the child of immigrants, if Ratthi's use of "he came later" is taken as an imprecise synecdoche for Gurathin's family origins as a whole. Given that this is Ratthi "I'll get the cases" "I'm a biologist, I don't understand this money stuff" being sentimental and distractable in this scene, it's a fair cop.

Either way, "came later" does not mean "from the Corporation Rim." There are plenty of other places in the setting that are neither Preservation nor the CR. As early as Artificial Condition another set of non-corporate polities is mentioned, Rami's Divarti Cluster; it's not clear whether Don Abene's homesystems in Rogue Protocol are corporate or noncorporate, but she certainly has no "bone-deep" fear of SecUnits; Fugitive Telemetry meanwhile expounds on travel routes through Preservation Station stretching elsewhere "outside the Rim." The Rim is only one group of places that a human could be from.

No, people are mixing up Gurathin's backstory with Human One's. It's Human One who is the former corporate contract slave, and SHE is the one who acted rationally on her bone-deep, knee-jerk fear of SecUnits in shooting Murderbot in the back. She's not the only corporate-background character to interact with MB, though—even if we did want to headcanon that Gurathin did hail from the CR, we might just as reasonably compare Gurathin's "We just have to keep you immobilized" to Ras and Eletra's "Just tell it to take orders from us" and "It seems like you don't know how to control it" in Network Effect. Their corporate fear and prejudice and desire for control certainly does not stop them from thinking—with clear self-interest, if not rationally or clearly.

People can headcanon whatever they like, of course. By all means, if giving the backstory of a strong and fascinating female character to Gurathin tickles the fancy, then I encourage people to do that on their own time. But this post is my post, and I am not obligated to care about the things people made up outside the text in my analysis of the text.

Finally, let me address a point that's cropped up more than once now. We all know it's not easy to set aside prejudice and in-group bias and fear of the unknown to make rational or kind decisions. We all live in the real world and many of us have personally had to wrestle with the effects of unthinking fear and prejudice, both others' and our own. The Murderbot Diaries is a series that speaks to us as full thinking adults on this matter, that's why kindness is presented as a rational choice, not merely a morally right one. The series acknowledges that it's hard, but at the same time doesn't allow you to wallow in your own struggles to the exclusion of others'—it still asks you to try to see other people clearly for who they are and what they need, and use what agency you have to do right by them. Gurathin fucked up in this scene, then later stepped up and learned better, and rather than focusing over-much on how hard he had it we should learn from his example and do better.

Gurathin is not only wrong, his argument is fundamentally irrational

Gurathin's argument in ASR:

We need to immobilize this SecUnit stat, because it's going to kill us.

I know it's going to kill us because its logs show that it's rogue. If there is no way to control it, then it is dangerous to us.

It is controlled by the Company to sabotage us. "The missing hazard report, the missing map sections. The SecUnit must be part of that." If it wasn't, that would be a coincidence, which is unbelievable.

This SecUnit has gone rogue and killed people in its charge before. It may do so again.

PresAux's counterargument:

It may be rogue, but that doesn't logically mean it will kill us. "The fact that the Unit has been acting to preserve our lives, to take care of us, while it was a free agent, gives us even more reason to trust it." (Volescu)

Someone may be sabotaging us, but that doesn't logically mean it's the Company or our SecUnit. "There were only three SecUnits for DeltFall in their specs, but there were five units in their habitat. Someone is sabotaging us, but I don’t think our SecUnit is part of it." (Ratthi)

If the SecUnit was trying to sabotage us, then why would it tell us about the combat module sabotage and shoot itself? (Bharadwaj, Overse)

The SecUnit believes it went rogue as a result of malfunction, and that hacking its governor module would prevent a repeat occurrence. Confirmation of its sincerity comes from the same logs that Gurathin accessed for his arguments. (Volescu)

Gurathin's counter-counterargument:

Well it gave itself an edgy nickname

[catlady48]

On Loki in Marvel Rivals

Disclaimer: I know very little about the comics, except what I learned from posts here on Tumblr. Also, this will be a very long post.

I think Marvel Rivals did a great job with Loki's moveset. He's a ton of fun to play and other then that I kind of miss a move with throwing knives, I think his fighting style matches with what we see in the 2011-2013 movies. He is quite a bit slower though.

Loki's character model is very weird, you've probably seen the screenshot by another user that commented on his weird figure in the game. He has a narrow waist, but is uncharacteristically muscular and has broad shoulders. Just no. At least they didn't give him the over-muscular arms many male characters seem to have in this game. Some design choices here are a bit... questionable, to say the least. As for the outfit, I think OG!MCU!Loki would definitely wear the coat, pants and outer armour pieces, but I'm not sure about the rest of the outfit, especially that neck thing. I just don't think that's his style. I also have a bit of beef with what they did with his helmet. Those extra pointy bits are so unpractically. It will hinder with movement and Loki tends to rely on agility a lot in his fighting style (in the MCU at least, I still don't get why they made him so bulky here). The whole thing also looks a bit overdesigned when compared with the MCU's far more smooth design. I do like that the Jotun!Loki skin has the MCU!Jotnar design, since it's definitely a lot better than their design in the comics.

And now the elephant in the room: characterisation. The characterisation of all the characters in the game tends to borrow more from the comics, but some elements are taken from the MCU. Especially the fact that Hela is still the sister of Thor and Loki. However, the Scarlet Witch thankfully gets to have her comics backstory and personality rather than some of the more questionable things they did to her in the MCU (cough AoU cough).

This also goes for Loki, who seems to be most inspired by the older comics interpretations of him. The main point about his character that they keep pushing is that he wants to rule Asgard. SIGH. Guys, I know this is what the older comics used to be like but this hasn't been a thing for quite a while now. Neither MCU!Loki (series and Ragnarok don't count due to grave mischaracterisation sins) nor recent interpretations of comics!Loki want the throne. In fact, in the comics, Thor even says that any Loki who says they want a throne is a liar. Of course, being an entirely different timeline/canon/interpretation, Rivals can do whatever it likes and unlike the show and Ragnarok and some comic runs you can't really fault it for that. But still, I would've like to see an AoA or post AoA Loki interpretation for this game personality wise.

He is also quite arrogant in some of his lines, though some of them are reminiscent of some of the showboating from The Avengers. The thing is, even comics!Loki has/had a lot of self-esteem issues so just waiving those away doesn't sit well with me. On the other hand though, he seems comfortable with himself so good for him.

Sadly, they're going with the Loki is an untrustworthy, scheming bastard that must not be liked by any other character thing and the whole "christianised Tricksters are evil" thing and I had hoped for a more nuanced takek, personally. Especially since Thor and Odin are framed as 100 percent good people. Writers, I get that this is a funny hero shooter game and you wanted a Thor-Loki conflict for the Asgard maps, but you're letting so much nuance slide here.

The story is that apparently, Loki saw many futures in which Asgard was destroyed and the only thing way it and its people survive is if he gets to rule it, which confirms to him that he is meant to do just that. To this end he puts Odin in the Odinsleep and banishes Thor to a different timeline and strikes up an alliance with Hela, who wants to expand Hel. It's left in the middle if he's going to betray her or not. In order to save (at least, judging from backstory, I hope that's where they're going) Asgard, Loki wants to reshape the future using the Chronovium from Yggdrasil, which is causing it to die and obviously Thor is trying to stop that, assuming that Loki is just trying to conquer everything. So yeah, the game implies that Loki is just an evil tyrant (give me back nuanced Loki and nuanced Loki-Thor family dynamics, please!), especially since Ratatoskr seems to beg the player to save Asgard from him and Hela, because surely they will cause Ragnarok (the apocalypse not the movie in this case) or something (to be fair Hela wanting to expand Hel is a bit problematic but still, I want my messed up Asgardian family dynamics).

It's a bit unclear but I'm assuming they're going with the comics backstory where the adoption happened later and they didn't lie to him about it. There is a bit of phrasing in his profile that I absolutely hate due to what it implies: "but his true nature could not be undone and Loki would come to fully embrace his role as the God of Mischief" (by Odin's adoption and raising of him). Guys this implies that he was A. Born inadequate or B. Frost Giants as a race are uncivilised. Which is very bad. But also that he had to be civilised, which... Yikes. I'm sure this is not what they intended, since from surrounding context it's more about his identitiy as God of Mischief, but still terrible phrasing.

However, there are also good things about his characterisation. People, they've characterised him as actually competent! This is already such an improvement over the recent MCU characterisation that I'm willing to cut everything except the True Nature thing a bit of slack (I know, the bar is in Hela's realm right now). Also, his sass is amazing again and he has some great lines. I think given the writing and characterisation, his VA did a solid job with him. And while the characters are wary of and often actively dislike Loki, it never feels like the game is trying to humiliate him, which is again a breath of fresh air.

Loki does have a weird facial expression at some moments in the game. It's like he deliberately pulls the most evil face he can think off just for kicks, which is a very Loki thing to do, to be fair. That and the obvious scheming face and pose that reminds me of the infamous Ragnarok mural also exists in the game. (You know, the one that depicts Loki with exactly such a face and that couldn't even have been made in canon since Loki is in his TDW appearance and he was in prison at that time?). Sadly, I think the game implies it as serious, which is a missed opportunity. (To quote Fury: "I recognise that the council game devs have made a decision, but seeing as it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.") Also, between this and the arrogance, it does seem like they've made him into a bit of a charicature of himself, but again they're not actively humiliating him, so while I kind of hate, I do feel myself willing to forgive it. I think it's more that they've taken his facade at face value than anything else, which is why they're missing all the nuance. Still, this was made in better faith than Ragnarok and the show. I just think that these particular writers weren't at all familiar with the Asgardian characters (do correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not sure who the writers of this game are).

There is a conversation between Loki and Psylocke where Psylocke states that god or not, respect is something to be earned not taken, to which Loki replies with: "Clearly you haven't met my father" and I love that. Also, if you play Strange on Thor's team on the Yggsgard convoy mission map, an NPC version of Loki will show up to taunt him, which to me feels like revenge for Ragnarok (the movie, not the apocalypse in this case). This made me laugh out loud.

Another thing that I liked is that while there was a reward that you can get if you as Hela team up with Loki to defeat Thor and there is a reward for using the backstab move, there is also a reward for helping Thor as Loki, called brotherly love. (Sadly, there is also a Hulk Smash award for smashing Loki. Because *iconic* scene. In the movie it was fine, even somewhat funny the first time, but this joke has grown a bit stale now. Especially considering recent developments in the MCU characterisation wise.)

(By the way the backstab move which honestly feels to me like Xenoblade's infamous backslash, and makes me internally yell out said Xenoblade art's name everytime I use it. Positional extra damage is a valid tactic to me and totally not a scummy move in a game where everyone gangs up on the healers from behind. Spark you implications about traitors!)

To finish, I have very mixed feelings about this characterisation. there are a lot of things that were done better than in the recent MCU interpretations, but also a lot of this I just completely disagree with. Still, for me it's not so glaring that I want to stop playing the game and since it's entirely it's own continuity it likely won't affect anything else (going to knock on wood here). They really don't need to use the og!mcu!characterisation, I just want some nuance here and I disagree with all those people yelling about this game having perfect characterisation's especially since characterisation has varied between movies and comics runs. I also kind of want to see the more modern comics interpretation or even better, the og!MCU!characterisation in a game. But that's wishful thinking. Here's to hoping they don't do anything unforgivable with him in the rest of the lore, since I do enjoy playing the game. I would hate to have to rage quit over unforgivable characterisation sins like in the MCU.

[mama-qwerty]

Sonic 3 Review

Okay guys, I'm still gonna do some breakdowns of scenes and characters (feel free to keep sending in asks if you have something specific you want my take on), but wanted to get my thoughts on the movie out there.

Keep in mind that I came into Sonic through the movies, and have never played or watched any cut scenes from the older games. I have no idea the actual plot and specific details of any of them, just a vague "this happened in some game or another" in the broadest of senses.

So I didn't come into Sonic 3 with any preconceived ideas about what should be in it regarding Shadow's story. The movieverse is a separate universe (as are all Sonic media, in my mind), so even if there were some things that were different, I took them in correlation with what's been established, or what can be done under the rules and physics of the movie's world building.

Obviously spoilers ahead:

All in all, I found the movie fun, and it told a good story with good characterizations. The action started quickly and kept steady through most of it. We had an exciting introduction to Shadow at the very beginning, when he woke up and chose violence, and it was a good way to start things off.

Yeah, it was a little goofy in some parts, but this is a movie made to appeal to children, so Jeff and Co. couldn't go all into the angst for the whole thing. There were some parts I would have done differently, or omitted entirely, but if you look at the more weird parts of the movie as kind of along the same lines as Boom (especially for the dance number in the laser hallway) you can roll with it.

There were many moments that tugged at your heartstrings, and a few very powerful moments that I've already talked about. There is a much more emotional impact in this one that was missing from the first two, as our boys struggle with their actions and how they affect others. They were all handled very well, with each having a good role to play in the story.

The climax was great, and it was exciting to see Sonic and Shadow working together.

As I said, all in all, a really fun ride and my whole family enjoyed it a lot.

That said, let's look at a few of the points that I see some complaining about, and my take on them.

Not Enough Wachowski Family Moments

Okay, this one I will kinda agree with. We got a teeny peek into their dynamic is a family at the beginning, right before Rockwell showed up to whisk the boys away to clean up their mess. It would have been nice to see them all interacting more, to see how Knux and Tails have fit into this dynamic.

Devil's Advocate - There's only so much screen time available, and we know they're a family. We don't need to be bludgeoned over the head with fluffy scenes of the boys doing chores and having group hugs and all that. It would have slowed the narrative, and in the end, all that would not further reinforce the idea that they've come together as a family any more than their camping trip and celebration for Sonic's "B-Earth-day" already established.

Shadow's Origin Change

In the movieverse, Gerald claims that Shadow came to Earth encased in a meteorite. His energy readings were off the scale, so they took him to a facility to study him. He was not originally created by Gerald, and was simply an alien come to Earth and then taken to be studied.

Devil's Advocate - I have no opinion regarding this change, as the movieverse is different from any other media. They've already altered backstories where they needed, to make things at least somewhat 'realistic' and allow the boys to exist in 'our' world without major complications of Sonic just running around as a child fighting Eggman, and Knuckles being the last of his kind and having thousands of years separating him from his closest ancestors. (Not to mention the size change of the Master Emerald - having one the size of a VW Beetle would have been a little hard to hide or cart around.)

Having Shadow arrive kinda like Stitch is fitting in this version of the Sonic verse, as going into a lengthy explanation of how Gerald could manage to create a space hedgehog from scratch, when Angel Island may or may not exist, would have pushed suspension of disbelief a little much.

Maria's Not Sick

I thought the whole "Gerald takes her with him everywhere" thing for Maria seemed a bit flimsy, especially since she wasn't sick and in need of him to find a cure for her. They were in a super high security facility and there's this girl who's just allowed to wander freely simply because she's the granddaughter of the lead scientist?

I would have liked to see more of the reasoning behind her being there. And more of Maria and Shadow's relationship, especially from Shadow's side.

Devil's Advocate - Despite my comments above, I actually liked that they didn't make Maria's defining factor be her illness. She was a character in her own right, and befriended Shadow out of her own kindness, and not simply because he was created to cure her, and thus they were kinda forced to be together. She reached out immediately, and essentially kidnapped him from his tests to show him how to have fun. She showed him kindness, not because he was supposed to be her 'cure', but because she saw this little boy, all alone, and treated as a thing by the scientists, and took it upon herself to show him that he was more than that.

Too Much Gerald and Eggman Screentime

I will admit that sometimes it did seem like they were focusing a little too much on the Robotniks. We were subjected to a montage of Eggman living out little moments of childhood 'milestones' with Gerald, and that aforementioned dance number in the hallway was reminiscent of the dance battle in the second movie. Kinda silly.

Devil's Advocate - I think these scenes were to delve a little into Ivo's character a bit. It was established in the first one that he was an orphan, and through the second it reinforced the idea that he thought he didn't need anyone. He pushed people away, built his walls, and hid behind his bots. But now that he's faced with an actual blood relative, who seems to want him around, all those walls came down and we saw the hurt little boy within Ivo. This only made it hurt all the more when Gerald turned on him. And damnit, I actually felt bad for Ivo in that moment.

The Master Emerald/Chaos Emeralds

There is some confusion as to how these things worked. At the end of the 2nd movie, Sonic very distinctly sent all the chaos emeralds away. Knuckles reformed the Master Emerald without them. But in this movie, Sonic went Super with the Master Emerald, and somehow the chaos emeralds were still within it.

Devil's Advocate - Yeah, I got nothin'. 😆 Not sure if there was a deleted scene explaining that or something, but it seemed a pretty glaring continuity error.

But, whatevs. We go with it. 'Cause dis is how we roll.

And as an aside WHY DO YOU HATE WADE, JEFF??? Seriously, there were so many other ways to handle that scene, and you did THAT to him?? UUUGGGGHGGHGHGHGHh

Sonic Didn't Call Tom and Maddie "Dad and Mom"

Okay, yeah, I agree with this one. He called Tom 'Dad' at the end of the 2nd, meaning he finally accepted them as his parents. They call themselves a family. And yes, I will accept that he may slip back into their names during lighter times, when it's an emotional scene, he should call them "Mom and Dad". Such as in the cave and when Tom was hurt.

Devil's Advocate - Yeah, no, I can't argue with this. You can't have him call Tom 'Dad' in the last movie and then never touch on that again. The boys didn't even call each other 'brothers', for crying out loud! The perfect place to do that would have been the cornfield, and it was still 'friends'. THEY ARE BROTHERS YOUR HONOR AND TOM AND MADDIE ARE THEIR PARENTS

~~~

I'm not saying the movie was 100% perfect. There were things I found silly, or unnecessary. Things I would have done differently.

But taking a step back and looking at the full picture, and not just the individual brush strokes, it was entertaining, fun, and had more than a few moments that I found really powerful, much more than either of the previous ones did.

I'm excited to see where they go in the next one. Things are really ramping up.

[kaahmbem]

legend has it that the young witch circe and the once beautiful nymph scylla shared a complicated past...

[nose-rice]

OH MY GOD YES. YES YES YES. I mentioned this in my og post but with the whole Nuru being raised differently, I mainly focused on her being a girl and royalty. But being a black girl also plays a huge roll with the whole "you're either the mom friend, or sassy". I've seen her portrayed as straight up mean before which is personally infuriating to me.

And with Yong!! Like you said he's a pre-teen! While I certainly wasn't matured, I wasn't thinking surface level thoughts. You start to overthink, find yourself, and your rose-tinted glasses start to fade just the tiniest bit. He's more than just "wow.. ypu guys seem really sad," or "wow! I'm so happy my fireworks worked!" And him being the fat asian kid leads is also troubling like you said. He's never taken seriously beyond the surface level "I don't wanna bother you guys" It's just really sad to me because I see so much of myself in Nuru, and I absolutely ADORE Yong and his absolutely vibrant personality. I feel like he holds immense power when it comes to shifting the tone of the story since he's the main source of optimism in the group, which could also set up a character arc that deeper than one short little moment of introspection.

Also this is a more personal thing but as a mixed poc, I am STARVING for literally any fun cool story I love with MAIN poc characters with complex thoughts and arcs. And I mean the MAIN. STARS. I'm a little tired of seeing the white lead with their poc friends that serve them in every way, and if we're LUCKY, perhaps a poc love intrest, which we didn't get here lol. Ofc I still love them. I just have been craving more diverse characters that can be seen in a complex light, which is what started my whole Nuru rant (i love Nuru soso much)

And i do agree that part of it is the way the story was set up fundamentally, with there being almost no info on Nuru and Yong, and being centered more on the main white couple. But I think it's great that it was just a first draft, and Anna and Kay have said they enjoy seeing different interpretations and chages. It's just unfortunate that most people tend to grasp onto what we're given a little too much, and not exploring so many possible concepts. The whole point I feel was that it was an idea thrown out there to whoever wants to add on to it or simply just enjoy what's already there, but the fandom pretty heavily tilts toward the "enjoy what's given" side.

Not to mention DONELLA AND ULLA?? EVEN CYRUS!! I personally am biased towards Donella but I feel a lot of the things with her can be said for Ulla too. I feel that a lot of the time they serve as plot devices for Varian and Hugo respectively. Obviously they're all very important to eachother, but I wanna see more of THEM. Just Ulla. Just Donella!! There are some good fanworks and art out there that do dive deeper into them, at least a big chunk more than Nuru and Yong which is a little sad. But I feel like I never see any fanworks that focus on their backstory aside from the library and "sons". What about THEIR parents, where they grew up? Their little quirks and their cultures? I especially find the way some Donella redemptions feel half hazardly taped on for the plot infuriating because to get to her state, you have to be pretty set in you beliefs!!

And to be fair Cyrus is very much less involved as he is Don's "side kick" sort of? Bodyguard? It's up to interpretation. But I really like seeing people giving him a bigger role in stories. Like. PLEASE. This is more just me asking for things I personally wanna see but I sorta wanna see a found family dynamic between Cyrus, Hugo, and Donella. The "villain trio". I think it would be super fun! Love seeing people rant about this stuff because I never see it talked about!!

Guys I NEED to rant about my thoughts on Nuru because i love her <3 ramblings ahead

Like I feel like in almost every fic i read, she's just like, a side character that's there to make whitty remarks to Hugo and be the levelheaded one. If she has an insecurity or problem it's usually pretty surface level and solved quickly, or only mentioned once or twice. I think there are SO many aspects of her character that are so cool.

Okay first, I think we sometimes forget that she's a nerd just like the rest of the gang. Yes, on the outside she's definetly the most 'normal' one, but I think we should concider the fact that she's the only girl in the group, and she's literal royalty. She was raised with a completely different set of standards than the other three. I don’t think I've really ever seen anyone cover that. I feel like she would get called "mature for her age" when she's only 15/16, and almost always gets critisism when she talks back with her own ideas (like her concerns about the meteor shows for example). I feel like out on her journey, she would finally get the freedom to just be herself, and be a kid and be able to rant on about her intrests with the rest of the group. It could be a struggle at first, but it would be awesome to see her getting more comfortable with the group the longer they spend together! Nerds encouraging nerdy rants lol

Since she is a kingdom figurehead, you could also argue that she always has a lot on her hands (especially since she's very proactive when it comes to science and solving problems). This could bring up a need to be productive, or always feeling like she needs to make the right decision, even for the littlest things.

I also feel like a lot of the time she's potrayed as the "right" one, who is 100% right when it comes to stuff like arguing with Hugo. Since they're opposites when it comes to class, they often are compared through that lense. I think it's cool just having Nuru tell Hugo off for judging a book by its cover, but I feel like they have a lot more in common than they realize. I think it would be interesting to see Nuru judging a book by its cover too. Maybe not to the degree that Hugo does, but I feel like calling out both their judging would not only call out character flaws, but it also enforces that even though they hate eachother and would never want to be like the other, they have a lot of the same flaws.

Also, being sheltered in a palace her whole life, I think she might think kind of black and white sometimes, and while she knows when people are just being mean as an act, she might struggle when it comes to people like reformed criminals.

Maybe she's able to be meaner to Hugo because she justifies it by telling herself he's criminal, and therefore bad, possibly glossing over the reasons he might be like that (maybe it crosses her mind, but she tells herself it's not a good enough reason, because stealing is still stealing, and he literally steals EVERYTHING. Even little trinkets and stuff he definitely doesn't need!). When they find out about Varian's criminal history, maybe she reexamines her views on morality and how she used to see people, because by her standards, Varian is a 'bad guy' who's caused harm to SO many people, but he's also the kind, caring, helpful friend that she's been traveling with who would never willingly hurt anyone.

Moving on to Amber x Nuru, I honestly never find myself liking the ship because Amber isn't developed enough which is fine. I don't think every character has to be a magnificent work of art. Side characters are side characters, but their romance is usually written like: "wow that girl is cute! I have a crush now!" Which is cool, but then that's about as far as it gets, then timeskip! Or offscreen they're a couple now. I know it's a side couple so it won't have as much devlopment as something like Varigo, but I never really see their dynamic play out in different situations. Like I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like they solely exist to be a couple? Amber sometimes just feels like an extention of Nuru, and their relationship feels surface level a lot of the time.

I feel like too often she's just watered down to the nice, smart, grounded friend, and I don't know I just think there’s so much more to explore with her. She’s not just some side character. She's literally part of the main cast! Even in fanart I feel like she doesn't really get a lot of stuff besides funny art and just like, pictures meant to look pretty. Unlike something you get a lot with characters like Varian or Hugo.

And honestly I get it. Some characters you just don't take an intrest in. I know I find Varian, Hugo, and Nuru more relatable than I find Yong, but I feel like part of that is developing their characters rather than just seeing them on a surface level. Ofc there are exceptions and there are some stories that dive deeper into Nuru's character out there! I just happen to see this A LOT.

Wow i said "surface level" a lot didn't I 😭😭

Anyway thank you for reading my rant i wanna know what you guys think!!

[danwhobrowses]

You know, as much as I would've loved a massive catharsis-led triumph over Athion Zathuda in battle, possibly left at the mercy of the vibrant flames of Fearne's Titan form reiterating herself with aplomb as Fearne Calloway, I actually kinda love how the narrative chose to defeat him. In many ways it is just hilarious, but also ironically in-character. Man talked all about wanting to prove himself, had a grandiose title of 'Sorrowlord' and was looking to be both a physical and mental adversary after threatening to torment Fearne into becoming Exaltant by targeting her loved ones. But then when he is pit against Bells Hells he barely does a thing; he tries to talk his way into turning Fearne again, gets jumpscared by Ira, the 'farm girl' he mocked to Fearne commandeers his dragon, he loses a leg and is thrown off his dragon, and the Hells even opt to keep him alive for some reason in 107 before kinda accidentally offing him in 108.

He thought he was the shit, but enemies of true threat like Ludinus, Otohan and Liliana (a threat before she was turned) looked down on him, and thus his attempts to prove them wrong - while also falling into the same trap as Ashton's father in seeking out a personal destiny and being willing to see their child as a tool to do it - bore no fruit at all, he was practically an afterthought through and through, his dragon really being his entire threat level. In the end, he got killed running (well, hobbling) away, and while Gloamglut's keening was a little sad in a way that a pet cannot fathom the moral complexity of having to kill their owner he still had it coming, plus following his eternal torture in the Tiki Bar of Ligament Manor, the last sorrow he wrought was his own; he achieved nothing, everything he hints he did to get to his position was for naught, and for all the fear and danger he tried to make himself possess he truly had no power over anyone, especially not Fearne - who can only pity him and, as further proof of being better than he ever was, hope that he takes the time to reflect on his sorrows.

[brofightiscancelled]

okay ill bite why do u hate kaoru sakuraba sidem aside from the fact that they went from hokuto as a main blue to downgrade to kaoru. to make it less awkward that I’m asking abt sidem on ur osomatsu side blog, what sidem idols would u assign to each matsu ?

i think sideM should collab w osomatsu-san and put them all in Beit so they can all get JOBS!!!!!!

anyways i hate kaoru from idolmaster sideM. i need all my osomatsu-san side blog followers to know that i hate this man. "i need a lot of money fast to pursue an extremely niche medical research track, which is why i quit my stable and high paying job as a surgeon to become an idol while having no soft skills, physical strength or stamina, or interest in getting along with people" are you Stupid??

he's not even using his idol clout to spread awareness of the rare disease he's trying to cure (like SEM does) so it can secure funding, he sees it 100% as a job and refuses to have fun, he is actively unpleasant and uncooperative in every interaction with his coworkers because he's trying to "rise to the top". it seems like the only thing he has going for him are his looks and that he kind of liked to sing when he was a kid. why not become a model at that point when you have the personality of a wet tree trunk. or better yet why not STAY A FUCKING DOCTOR!!!!!

also, i don't like meganes, so write that down.

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

*thinking about the villains' tragic fates*

You know, their routes never really talk too much about their fates and how it effects them mentally. Or how the MC feels about it, and dealing with the fear and angst of it with the slight exception of William's route

*eyes widen*

... I think I know what the sequels are gonna be about

[hi-i-just]

Idk, I actually kinda disagree on a whole bc tfone did kinda dodge majority of the problematic stuff that IDW introduced — like context matters in the movie

Because like Orion, who led the revolution against Sentinel? That wasn't peaceful — Orion DID use violence considering they literally engaged in battle as soon as they hit the tower (heh). Orion is not above fighting Sentinel or his forces because it's necessary, but when it's clear there's another way to resolve things that would accost less lives and damage, he took it! And he did by discrediting Sentinel throughout all of Iacon.

Whereas the scenes depicting the citizens running away from Megatron after he orders the High Guard to "burn it all down!" — it's there because it shows how Megatron's violence at that point was... Pointless. No one is standing in his way. Sentinel is already dead. Orion dumped into a hole. Heck even the Death Trackers no longer show up. If he's looking for Sentinel's supporters, he could have launched an investigation and have the High Guard hunt them down but he didn't — the first thing he does after naming himself is to destroy idols of Sentinel, and before Elita interrupts him, you can straight up see he's not shooting at any enemy that was threatening him or the citizens, but rather at nothing and anything. He used his anger at Sentinel's injustice as a blunt weapon — anyone unfortunate to be in its way innocent or not be damned.

Also, the narrative isn't saying Sentinel's life matters — on the contrary, they literally had a train crash into the guy. Orion already says it himself — "Rebuilding Iacon cannot begin with an execution". They're not saying Sentinel didn't deserve what he got, but the message of anyone with a gun can shoot someone who can no longer fight back because they're in a fit of emotion instead of having the criminal undergo any due process sends a message that "you can be executed anytime if we think it's justified enough instead of having a trial" — which just screams UNCHECKED POWER. Which doesn't bode well for a society in need of reformation. I wished every billionaire would drop dead nightly, but even I am aware that society can NOT be governed by our worst impulses. D-16 killing Sentinel when the latter no longer has any power is one such example.

Also, people may debate me on this, but apparently, the Death Trackers are drones, not Cybertronians. They may be advanced enough to emulate "sentience" but they're not really living beings by transformers standards.

Also, not sure if you know this, but like, "Rise up!" came from "Decepticons, transform and rise up!" was used as their like, slogan when Transformers Animated (2007) came out and the used in other iterations since (like Transformers Prime), coined by Animated Megatron, who mind you, was voiced by a white guy (Corey Burton).

And also like, D-16 being a villain and then being voiced by a black man is something akin to "demonising" BLM activists or whatnot just.. Doesn't make much sense because like. Jazz is voiced by a black guy and Bee is voiced by Key who is half black and they're both Autobots, or like Alpha Trion who is voiced by Laurence Fishburne and AT is solidly one of the good guys. Whereas there's like, Sentinel and Starscream, who are both voiced by white people and they're both bad guys.

Like, D-16 is straight up my favorite character because how understandable and relatable he is —I can definitely see my younger self in him and I had the same anger he did for the same reasons (it def hits harder bc I'm not white either). But also like, I don't think him being a villain despite all that makes him a problematic depiction — if anything by giving him understandable and sympathetic origins providing him complexity and depth but STILL fall into his worst flaws made me appreciate him more. It's a caution story, it's a sobering "wow that could easily have been me" story. And I love that it doesn't matter how sympathetic your backstory is — you can STILL drop into the pitfalls of being fascist if you don't choose to rise above your worst impulses. Self-awareness is an important theme in the movie too.

IDW Transformers’ take on the war and the origins of the Decepticons was one of those things that was rly thoughtful and interesting to read as a kid (so as the target demographic I guess lol) only as an adult to have some rly troubling implications like the ones you pointed out. I was EXTREMELY relieved that TF One swapped it back so that the Autobots are the low-class miners and the Decepticons were the military (closer to the original cartoon anyway) while still using the IDW comics as inspiration in other ways.

Transformers One is such a strange case for me because on the one hand, it's propaganda. I'm sorry but it's transparently propaganda, it's executives embracing IDW's attempt at "maturity" that well-intentioned or not, inevitably paints the revolutionaries as villains by having them arbitrarily blow up an orphanage, because we gotta demonize revolutionaries who use violence.

We gotta warn kids of the dangers of the violent revolution, because revolution is only permitted if peaceful! Let's just ignore what we were taught about the American Revolution... Seriously, look at the elites' response to Brian Thompson's assassination!

That being said. This is like 95% speculation. But there are clear differences between IDW and Transformers One. So to me, personally, it feels like the writers —Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari— were aware of the issues of the IDW premise. They were given a basic outline by executives. And so they opted to smooth over the issues as much as they could, work with it, while still being stuck with that basic problem at the end of the day.

So as you've said, I appreciate Orion and D-16 being working-class bots, that they're both coming from the same place. I appreciate the framing of Orion's opposition coming from the concept of Anti-Death Penalty, that no government should have the power to execute people. I appreciate the implications of D-16 siding with disgruntled military soldiers, whose only idea of fixing society is to destroy enemies.

There's something to be said about people who fantasize purely on committing violence, without any of the actual work of rebuilding and keeping things running! That's why Orion's rebellion consists of his fellow miners. I can see the implication, that even if D-16 hadn't gone off, there would inevitably be friction between the High Guard's jingoism and the civilians when Orion reformats things, and bans the death penalty.

...But again, again! D-16 is a black man. Not literally but he's voiced by Brian Tyree Henry, anyone can hear his voice. And his chanting of "Rise up" is juxtaposed with Orion Pax, who is voiced by white MCU star Chris Hemsworth. It feels ridiculous how the movie bends over backwards to paint D-16 as evil with shots of civilians running away from the convenient collateral of his shots, but nothing like that is ever shown with our protagonists and their damage!

B slicing up other Cybertronians is treated as a gag, but Sentinel's life and death matters more than his guards' which is uh. A weird way to frame things. I guess maybe it's because D-16 is doing it out of "reckless anger" whereas B isn't trying to...? But ultimately, the violence of our protagonists is meant to be framed as out of strict necessity, which is something I have to acknowledge.

I can't say for sure what Pearson, Barrer, and Ferrari were thinking. I appreciate Transformers One for smoothing out the edges. But I can't help but see D-16 as a pastiche of BLM activists, of the UHC shooter, because he's willing to be angry and violent towards his oppressors. He's a black man who gets branded and his violence is treated as exceptional and unique because of his anger, meanwhile B's kills are a gag.

There's an irony in that Sentinel's higher-class life is treasured by the narrative, but the lives of his comparatively lower-class bodyguards are worth nothing. The pervasiveness, it felt insidious; It genuinely kept me from enjoying the final battle between Optimus and Megatron, how the narrative wants to be triumphant but the dark undertone can’t be ignored. Call me a buzzkill.

I know people think this sort of trope is meant to be 'nuanced', that it makes for a more 'interesting' villain, one you can relate to and sympathize with. See yourself in. But in the end, you can only go so far in "reclaiming" a stereotype. You can't be in utter denial of the subtext and intention behind it. You can't claim this is actually good writing, I thought we were liking these villains out of spite, not in support of a narrative we think is secretly on our side too!

That executives need a revolution story where the ultimate villain who causes even more violence in the long run is, GASP, a revolutionary who shows people like them no mercy, is telling. There can only be a revolution in media if it shows the elite being deliberately spared at all costs, even to the point of Orion sacrificing his own life (Even if for D-16’s soul), while their own workers like those bodyguards are just fodder.

G1 was not the pinnacle of Leftist media but it was also inoffensive and knew what it was. This is… different.

[qcomicsy]

I have the controversial opinion that maybe, just maybe we stop wanting to go after people with pitchforks for getting characters wrong and not reading the comics inviting them to easy and accessible ways of and making our own content with comic accurate representation

people might feel less anxious about starting comics and misinformation won't spread as easily

[stardestroyer81]

So, guess who's Steven Universe trash now?

After being convinced by my fellow Starfighters to give the series a shot, I've since fallen in love with it only fifteen or so episodes in, and I just had to whip up a design for what my Gemsona would look like! MASSIVE shout-out to @stephysalcido and @minxxikuo for collaborating with me on her design— it wouldn't have been possible without them! 💚✨

[arom-antix]

Don't worry, you're not butting in. I want as many people to add their takes to this discussion because that way the discussion can be more nuanced and all-encompassing of different views and experiences. Thank you for joining.

And I totally agree. My main gripe with this person's approach to fandom isn't that they love certain interpretations or that they're not all that academic. It's that they put down other fans, whether directly or indirectly, by invalidating their interpretations of canon and whining about their lack of peers with comparative intellect. I can't believe I have to say this but if you have to state that you're clever, you aren't. This dismissive attitude towards anyone with a different approach to canon and the information we have is actively discouraging people from engaging in discussions of said canon (something I know Samurai cares about a lot. I've scrolled through most of their blog and their entire BlueSky and I have a lot of screenshots and links but it's past 2am so I'll have to add those tomorrow). Of course I'm not claiming anything definitely and I'd love for Samurai to put in their own two cents but from reading a lot of their posts, I get the feeling that they don't actually know what a headcanon is.

Quoting from Dictionary.com: "Headcanon is a slang term for someone’s personal interpretation of or belief about the details of a fictional story that aren’t part of the “official” account. [...] In contrast, headcanon is simply what a fan believes (or wants) to be true about a story. It can involve backstory, what happens after the story ends, or any other aspect. [...] Of course, it is possible for someone’s headcanon to become canon if such details later become part of the story or are confirmed as true in some way." This definition is corroborated by for example UrbanDictionary.com. Now, I'm not here to argue pedantics of what a headcanon is or isn't since it's not that strict a term, but I just want to point out that something which is not proven as canon qualifies as a headcanon and something that happens pre-, during, or post-canon and isn't explained in the canon material is by definition a headcanon.

I'm mentioning this because while reading through their posts I got the feeling that they harbour a certain disdain for headcanons as if they're beneath them and canon. But considering I'm extremely aware of what their fics contain by now and that they claim to exclusively write canon compliant fics, this dismissal of headcanon as almost unworthy of their time is ridiculous to me. A large part of their fics consist entirely of headcanons. Likely headcanons, sure, but headcanons nonetheless. You can subdivide into soulcanon, heartcanon, crackcanon, etc. but the bottom line is that all these add-ons to canon are not canon and are by definition headcanons.

I also want to touch on the whole ace debate. While acephobia is definitely a problem and sex positive ace erasure even more so, I find it pretty ridiculous to levy such a strong accusation against people who so much as suggest that there are other explanations of Yuuri's behaviour in canon. If there's an allosexual gay guy out there who sees himself in Yuuri's experiences and behaviour because maybe he didn't realise what he was feeling was sexual attraction towards guys and as such he didn't understand the Eros assignment, is that experience invalid grounds to interpret YOI as Yuuri's personal coming out story simply because someone else finds that implausible? Of course not.

And I want to clarify that I like the ace headcanons and am ace myself but as an ace person I can also confirm that I know literally nothing about what it's like to be allosexual. I don't know if an allosexual person might also have trouble identifying Eros because I don't have those experiences to prove or disprove this. And as an ace person too, I find it questionable that Samurai insists that they can definitively say that Yuuri's experiences make him ace. Is it a plausible conclusion? Sure and as stated I myself like this interpretation. Is it the only valid one and does interpreting it as anything else based on the same canon evidence and personal anecdotal evidence make you acephobic? No it does not.

Acephobia is a real problem that could be called out but I personally think such accusations should be reserved for cases that aren't about like a fictional anime man whom none of us personally know. Levying such strong language and accusations against people is why they don't engage with this person. They don't want to be dragged through the mud for simply suggesting an alternate approach to analysing the evidence (I have a friend who's confirmed that they've refrained from posting about certain curious thoughts simply because they didn't want to end up being criticised for a simple sharing of ideas so this is not a baseless statement. They've asked to be kept anonymous though so it's up to you if you believe me).

To reiterate: there's nothing wrong with believing Yuuri is ace-spec. I myself like this theory. But a probable headcanon is not grounds to call people acephobes or publicly demean them for simply wanting to expand the discussion. Acephobia has no home here but neither does harassment of people simply asking to consider alternate interpretations of canon. It's an anime. We're not doing C-14 dating here. There is no indisputable, empirical truth when it comes to the human experience and claiming that there is is just as ignorant as claiming Yuuri cannot be interpreted as ace. Just let people have fun with their blorbos. It's not that serious.

A totally different thing I just want to mention real quick that bothers me about Samurai too is their lack of owning up to mistakes. I very briefly pointed out a mistake in their use of Katakana in their post about the Latin spelling of Yuuri/Yuri and instead of simply acknowledging it, they silently corrected the original post (incorrectly, might I add) and then explained what they meant but not actually understanding. チ is written as chi in Latin characters. Not ch, not ti/tsi (neither of which are Latinisations of any existing individual characters in Japanese for those who don't know (excluding any combinations like つぃ or ツィ)), チ is just chi. コ一チ is just like any other loan word but I'm sure you can explain this better than I can, Rikeijo (and can point it out if I've misunderstood something). It was a spelling mistake. Just move on. Don't try to make an excuse for it. It's not that deep.

Scrolling through their posts, I've repeatedly seen this diversion from the actual criticism or issue at hand. It's okay to just be straight up wrong. Just admit it. It's not dangerous, it's actually quite admirable. It feels like a variant of whataboutism where the discussion never goes anywhere because Samurai just keeps bringing up new things that weren't part of the discussion. It's okay to bring things up as you discuss but I've seen multiple instances of this not expanding a discussion but instead falling into the slippery slope fallacy.

Again, it's past 3am now and most of my links and screenshots are on my computer so sorry about the lack of academic sources. Good thing this is just a discussion about anime and that no one is required to have a PhD in YOI to be here.

Hey, just wanted to reach out to say that I found you pointing out and calling this person was really great and you shouldn't have apologized. It was incredibly true what you said, and to be honest it seems out of touch with the reality of a great deal of the japanese fandom, the nuances and their culture. Also, it was as you pointed out, extreme and may I say rude. I want to mention too that the way it was written, as if entitled of the knowledge and the 'explanation' made it all worse in context of the 'fucked up'. The original poster always gets away by using the 'well-written academic'' statement of their 'metas' as an excuse to do or say and make everyone else agree and if not, uses victim narrative and discourses exactly selecting wording for people to agree on it or feel bad.

I don't know if they tagging you in the way they did made you reblog and apologizing/backing up, but no one thought bad about you pointing it out. On the contrary, a lot of people had been bullied and discriminated by this person when they called them out/disagreed going onto lenghts of sending their friends to harass people, and the other persons can't even defend themselves because they are effectively blocked. To quite a few people in the fandom has been done, even accusing them as 'acephobes' (when they're not) or even Nazis by spreading lies. So yeah, I just wanted to say that. I think you were right to call them out publicly.

Thank you very much for this ask. To be completely honest I agree with everything you said here and don't actually feel bad about pointing anything out. I mainly apologised because I didn't want any potentially poor phrasing from my side to cause unnecessary hostility and because I myself have gripes with this person's behaviour but didn't want to cause a scene.

My honest opinion is that they have a serious issue with taking accountability for their own mistakes and highly overestimate their own intellect. If you're reading this, @thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai, sorry if I seem harsh, but it's true. I saw your post lamenting how you're the only academic meta writer / fan in the fandom and I didn't interact then because I honestly do not care enough to start that drama but with the information Blonndiec has just given me, I think it's necessary that someone calls you out.

You're not an academic. You're not beyond the mental capabilities of other fans. You're actually incredibly childish in your metas and analyses and I am not kidding when I say that I was halfheartedly writing essays more academic than every analysis I've seen from you when I was barely a teenager. I don't know how old you are and I frankly don't care. You're not as clever as you think you are.

Also, don't think I didn't notice that you didn't reblog my correction (link here to my correction and here to their "response" for those who didn't see that exchange) of your post so that you could control what your followers saw of the exchange. You're the opposite of an academic. You control information to tailor the narrative, you don't cite your sources properly if at all, you don't format your posts in anything close to how an academic analysis would be, you make unbased claims, you reference posts and canon material without in any way indicating where that information is from, you reference your own (equally unacademic) metas and your conclusions from them without indicating what post it's from or that it's your own theory this new one is based on and instead present it as a common fact, and I could go on and on and on. Your posts are also riddled with logical fallacies and you talk in absolutes and opinions when there's no canon basis to claim such things. I'm sorry, but that's not academic in the slightest.

To be clear, you don't have to be an academic to post on the Internet. You don't have to be anything at all. You could up front be a genuine idiot with no remorse and that's fine. But when you claim to be an academic and also put down the rest of the fandom for not being on your level, you have to be able to back that up. It'd still make you sound like a prick but at least your arrogance would have a basis. It currently does not.

I haven't personally seen the discussions that Blonndiec is referencing and I'm not going to claim anything definitive (because that would be unacademic of me, take notes) but if what they're saying is true and did happen as described, which I have empirical, if anecdotal, evidence to believe could very well be (a friend of mine has personally been blocked by you after they criticised you without actually mentioning your name which I of course can't prove is the reason for the block but the timing is awfully convenient), you should know that you should be ashamed of yourself.

If there's context missing, feel free to enlighten me and call out any incorrect accusations. You have every right to defend yourself. However, I encourage you to cite your sources since you're such an academic. If you don't, then it's just your word against Blonndiec and anyone else who might comment's word and that doesn't prove anything. Don't misunderstand, acephobia and nazi rhetoric should absolutely be called out but only if it's actually happening. False accusations can ruin lives. I hope you know that.

I'm not a fan of calling people out publicly and, again, thank you for this ask, Blonndiec. But considering many of the issues I've personally seen and those I've been informed of by second hand sources were posted publically, I don't really feel bad about calling this out. I could do a full breakdown of just the insulting "academic" comments alone and how there's no academia to be found in said academic metas and, Samurai, if you give me reason to, I will show exactly what I mean point by point (and academically just to give you an example of even low level academia).

If you respond to this, do it in a reblog. That's what a real academic would do. If I'm wrong and you can prove it, you'd have no reason to not show my post in your rebuttal. If I'm right, you'd have every reason to be upfront about your mistakes and how you intend to rectify them. There's nothing wrong with being wrong but there's a lot wrong with refusing to admit to it in a way that lets others peer review you (academic thing, look it up) and come to their own conclusions about the situation. That's what you did when you just @'ed me instead of reblogging my response. A true academic wouldn't hide a peer review. You'd know that if you were one.

I swing in many academic spaces and yet that doesn't make me any kind of expert and I don't claim to be one because I'm not. But since you want to be one so badly, reblog this with a response and show us all how smart you are. I'm dying to know what your academic take on this is.