#and while there is some truth to that. I believe it's more nuanced.

[ama-kitkat123]

Y'know, I always see "lesbians can like men," but rarely, if ever, "gay men can like women." I basically never see the latter. Why is that? Is my Internet circle too small to see that side of the discourse?

I don't care about mspec lesbians btw. Identify however you want. I'm not you, I don't know what your situation is, nor is it any of my business. But it's always lesbians. Never gay men. Always lesbians. Where are the mspec gay guys? I don't see any. They've got to be around here somewhere... (checks under the rug)

[andivmg]

Please excuse my initial reaction, I was quite distraught after reading his statement. Now that i’ve slept on the situation and have a more clear head i can say that i whole heartedly do not accept his apology for a few reasons:

1. One of us clearly remembers that night in excruciating detail. I will forever wonder what actually happened that night and that is something that weighs heavily on me. Although the next day i “accepted” that he would never hurt me, I no longer feel that way. It was a very fresh wound and I wanted to believe him because I still loved him. However, after two years of sitting on this and reflecting I take that back. And I felt like he was excusing his behavior by saying he didn’t realize how drunk I was. Also the fact that he shared it in such detail made me extremely uncomfortable. I respected him enough to not share such intimate details and he did not have the same respect for me. I think he could’ve just said “she initiated intimacy in the way she normally did” and it would’ve gotten his point across just as well. Regardless, he still had sex with me when i was blacked out while he was in a conscious enough state to assess and remember the encounter in such vivid detail. That fact has not changed.

2. All the stuff about his friends is frankly of no consequence to me. Everything that happened with Friend A happened while we were broken up. And him bringing up Friend B felt unnecessary given the fact that we all discussed the matter with each other at the time it happened. I never cheated on him and i would like to stop that theory in its tracks. Him and I have spoken about this matter privately on numerous occasions so that is all I will say.

3. About the shower thing, I was coming out of the shower/bathroom. He had the discord call on speaker on his phone. So yes, I heard very clearly what George said and Luke simply ended the call, he did not call him out. I believe he is recalling a different instance where another one of his friends said that he wanted to have sex with me once i moved to Florida. I was not witness to it and he did tell me he stood up for me that time which is why I didn’t bring it up. I did not go into more detail about it because I was just using that one quote as an example of how some of his friends would speak about me in his presence. However this is already more than one instance of his friends speaking about me in that way, which leads me to believe it happened quite often when I was not around.

4. Intentionally or not, I felt he demonized BPD and used that as a way to invalidate a lot of what I said

5. He still called me a slur when he knew it was wrong because I was getting cancelled for it at the time. I do not believe he was actually confused as to the gravity of what he said to me

I would like to remind you that i know him personally. I lived through that. When I say we remember things differently I mean it. I think that he believes he is being truthful. However because I know him and I know what I experienced, I do not trust him. I do not believe that we were “equally” toxic. While I admit I made a lot of mistakes in the relationship, to me they do not justify all I endured. I repeat, you can believe what you want. This is a very nuanced situation but if you were looking to me to accept his apology, I do not.

[i-merani]

This might be all over the place but let's talk about Felix Catton in Saltburn.

While Felix's family is shown as almost comically removed from reality, he seems to be down to earth person and i think that his kindness is really genuine. I believe that Felix is a good guy, he knows he is privileged and he tries to help others. I don't think he does this to boost his ego and i don't think he's trying to be patronizing in any way. He's just kind and when he sees someone in need, he wants to do whatever he can to help. But he not only wants to help people, he expects people to want to be helped. When he befriends Oliver he does this out of pity, he could never imagine Oliver as cunning and that's the thing. He helps those he thinks are helpless, those who cannot be dangerous. And he makes the mistake of thinking that there's no way someone like Oliver could be dangerous. And the reason why he thinks so goes back to his upbringing, he cannot see regular people as "real people". While he does everything in good faith, the truth is that these very real people are easily replaceable to him. He needs people needing him, he needs to be the knight in shining armor. The moment he's not seen as a savior, he gets bored because to him, as genuine as he might be, being kind to people like Oliver is a game. He does it because he can, because he has the power and it is very important for him to maintain this power.

When Felix finds out that Oliver has lied to him, that he was just playing Felix's game, he gets angry. And while some of it is really just being upset that Oliver lied to him to such extent, I think he's more angry (albeit subconsciously) because he realized he was not in control in this relationship and that he never had power over Oliver. When Oliver breaks down in the labyrinth telling Felix how he loves him, Felix immediately tries to take back control and power in their relationship because he still cannot see Oliver as dangerous. He still fails to see Oliver as a 'real person' and obviously Oliver uses this to his advantage.

Felix is a very nuanced character. While at surface he seems like 'the good millionaire' (which is already bit ironic), ultimately the film tells us through Felix that the gap between the poor and the rich is so big that no amount of personal goodness will make these ultra rich see others as 'real people'.

[simpforsolas]

As I continue to progress through the games on my replay leading up to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release, the more I'm reflecting upon the heart of the series. As an RPG, the purpose has always been to create a dynamic game that responds to our choices, and part of that is to create a believable world that's real enough that there are multiple ways you can play the game. No ultimate "right" answer or "wrong" answer. Even if there are perspectives you disagree with, you can understand why characters may hold different opinions from you if you think about why they think the way they do.

With all these thoughts spinning around in my mind, I began my DAI replay and got a dialogue with Solas that I think gets right to the heart of the entire series:

Inquisitor: I've heard the stories [about Ostagar]. It'd be interesting to hear what it was really like. Solas: That's just it. In the fade I see reflections created by the spirits who react to the emotions of the warriors. One moment, I see heroic wardens lighting the fire and a power-mad villain sneering as he lets King Cailan fall. The next, I see and army overwhelmed and a veteran commander refusing to let more soldiers die in a lost cause. Inquisitor: And you can't tell which is real. Solas: It is the fade. They are all real.

This is it, people! This is what Dragon Age is all about! This is why we have characters who some people love and some people hate, why no one is perfect. This is why there's so much discourse about the game. Dragon Age is all about different people reacting to an imperfect world and understanding why they act the way they do. Especially in recent times, writers often fall into a trap of not wanting their characters to be problematic in any way that it can take the life out of them and leave them feeling stale. But Dragon Age does not do that. It fully commits to its characters, for better or for worse, allowing their pasts and perspectives to shape their imperfect world views and inform their behaviors. Ironically, Solas's exact words here about Loghain can be applied to him, and it's exactly why some people hate him while others love. Like Loghain, some see him as an egotistical murderer while others see him is a tragic figure whose empathy and idealism drive him to monstrous acts.

What's the truth? What is real? Ultimately, it doesn't matter. All that matters are the emotions and interactions people (players included) have with the world and characters. That's why the choices in games like Dragon Age matter so much. There shouldn't be a right answer or a wrong answer; all that matters is what feels right to the player. Because in Solas's words, all our different perspectives on things that happened? They're all real. And this is where so much discourse comes from. People try to take away the nuanced view of these characters and the world and insist that their perspective is the objective truth. Someone who loves Anders could be in danger of brushing past his many flaws while someone who hates him might be incapable of understanding the complexities that drove him to become the person he ended up. But in the end, all our different reactions to these characters are valid and real, both the positive and the negative. These characters are complex and three-dimensional, and to fully appreciate them it's imperative that we recognize that.

The Dragon Age world and its characters are so meticulously crafted that at its practically its own living thing at this point. As players interact with it, we all end up having our own experiences that influence our opinions of everything, from the characters, to what decisions are the best, to opinions on in-game power dynamics and politics.

[atthebell]

i was talking to menace about this the other day but i think spiderbit during the regret arc is actually really interesting because of how singularly cellbit treats roier. everyone else, aside from richarlyson*, is pushed away completely; cellbit intends on burning all his bridges, destroying all his relationships, in order to take this chance and learn more about the federation and the island. but there's one single bridge he doesn't burn, one relationship he not only maintains but tries to strengthen, and that's his relationship with roier.

throughout the regret arc, rather than pushing roier away, he constantly seeks him out. roier is the FIRST person he invites to his new base and he tells him such, letting him know that he is, for the foreseeable future, the only other person with warpstone access to his base. during this time, that was a HUGE amount of trust he put in roier. he told him far more about what he was doing than anyone else, constantly insinuating that he was doing something beyond what appearances would imply, constantly telling roier that what he was doing was for safety and for information, and, as he stated many times, his care for roier during this time was genuine. he really did want to know how he was feeling, he really did want to know if there was anything he could do, anyway he could make roier happy in spite of bobby's death. and as he said, he was doing this infiltration in part BECAUSE of bobby. because he never wanted another egg to die like that, because he didn't want other parents to go through what roier and jaiden went through.

he talked to roier every single day during the regret arc. sought him out, intentionally, even when it wasn't part of his missions, even when he was probably giving away too much. he told roier that he was working on something important, that he was hoping to get more information, that he wasn't a bad guy, really, he just needed to go down this path. he told roier about how he was feeling, when roier asked, and told him that while everyone else had abandoned him, roier giving him time and caring about him and spending time with him meant the world.

and from roier's end, it's impossible to overstate how important he was to cellbit during this time, and how his morals and his understanding of the situation were so perfectly roier and so perfectly nuanced. he supported cellbit throughout this time, even when he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, even when cellbit crossed lines that everyone else couldn't take, even when no one else trusted him anymore. he fought for him, arguing that he was going through something and that he could still be trusted, arguing, understandably, that there were things the island did to people that made them act out, become unrecognizable, and that cellbit needed time. he sought out cellbit's company, when no one else did, and told him that he was good, still, that whatever he was doing, roier believed in him. that he would wait for him, that he was willing to trust in him until the truth came out, that he wouldn't abandon him like everyone else.

and i think it's obvious that part of roier's trust comes in that cellbit was one of the few people who reached out often after bobby died. cellbit talked to roier damn near every day afterwards and asked how roier was doing, asked if he wanted to talk about it, if there was anything he could do to help, to alleviate the grief, or if roier just wanted some company-- which was the one thing roier did want, and the one thing he continued to want. roier was desperately lonely at this time, and i can imagine that seeing someone else lonely and abandoned would make roier feel like they had something in common, like cellbit could understand, on some level, how he felt.

like i think aside from how much they already liked each other, regret really solidified how committed spiderbit were to each other, both as friends and as something potentially more. they cared deeply about one another, trusted one another, enjoyed spending time together, and during some of the hardest moments in both of their lives, they were there for each other. i don't think we would've gotten the proposal (at least not so early) if not for regret, and how important roier became as a tether for cellbit, as his confidant and only remaining friend, and cellbit as someone who truly tried to be there for roier and tried to do something about his situation, even if the only thing he could do was provide him some company. do i think they still would've dated? absolutely. and i think they're such absolute saps, especially cellbit, that it could've gotten to marriage at some point. but regret provided an opportunity narratively to deepen their relationship to such a point that them leaping into marriage did make sense, on a level, and the progression of their relationship is really dependent on that era.

*which, considering how important richas is to cellbit, that's a pretty fucking big deal. and even with richas, cellbit is so focused on keeping him safe that he still doesn't always confide in him-- which is something we saw with the blue bird mission as well. when richarlyson's safety is in jeopardy, cellbit no longer holds his trust in his son as the most important thing in their relationship. understandably, as a parent, and a damn good one, he puts richas' safety above their friendship, above his need for a confidant, above richas' desire to be informed.

[windcarvedlyre]

Rewatched part of ch1's trial and found something else that's really interesting in hindsight!

We're all familiar with Komaeda's FTE; over a decade later, there's still some room for debate wrt whether he was telling the truth about his diagnoses or not. My stance was already that he was telling the truth, instantly regretted it, and lied that he was lying, and I will die on that hill. I think the above lines reinforce my stance further.

Hear me out. I might as well make this a comprehensive 'Komaeda wasn't lying' post while I'm at it.

For reference, here's the entire final FTE.

The reasons I already had to believe him are as follows, ordered from strongest to weakest:

Komaeda almost died from despair disease; he was much more severely affected than Owari and Mioda. Lymphoma can weaken your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to infections. While Komaeda's degree of illness could also have been due to bad luck, this could easily be an intentional hint about him.

He claims he's wanted someone's love all along. Again in chapter 3, after the trial, Tsumiki targets his lack of loved ones and seems to genuinely perturb him, indicating this is a real insecurity:

Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, or bvFTD, can have symptoms that align with a lot of his social and behavioural issues in the game. bvFTD symptoms can include saying socially inappropriate things/being rude and insensitive, rash/impulsive behaviour, empathy issues, and rigid thinking, among other things. Do I even need to cite examples of these? He can still hide things and manipulate people sometimes, but his ch4 investigation segment proves he's genuinely socially impaired. He sometimes fails to understand the emotional nuances of other people and the impact his words will have. For example:

(Though he still has moments of self-awareness and introspection; he acknowledges he's pessimistic in his introduction and worries he'll make Hinata hate him by saying weird things in Island Mode.)

Issues with memory, cognition in general, etc, are more of a thing in later stages of the disease, so Komaeda having significant social impairments but still being extremely sharp and lacking noticeable lapses in memory makes sense.

Physically Komaeda just doesn't seem healthy in general. He's pale, skinny, his hair is white (possibly fading into a pinkish brown that I could see being his hair colour in the past), and- at least in Japanese- he sounds really breathy and wheezy. I once laughed in a way uncannily similar to his ch1 breakdown when I had a chest infection. With asthma. Stage 3 lymphoma symptoms can include chest pain, shortness of breath, weight loss, loss of appetite and fatigue. If it's still stage 3 it's present in lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm but hasn't metastasized outside of the lymphatic system yet, but if it's advanced to stage 4 since his diagnosis then it may have spread to his lungs as well- having further potential to cause respiratory issues.

In his second-last FTE he starts to tell Hinata about something before he entered Hope's Peak but stops himself, not wanting to 'burden' Hinata. And leaves immediately to end the conversation. He'd just told Hinata how his parents died in front of him, showing zero awareness of how bad it was or how it would affect Hinata, so it must have been real bad for him to do this. And makes it less plausible he was impulsively repeating something from a book later, imo.

Iirc at least one spinoff manga runs with it being true, depicting him in a doctor's office during a nightmare. I'm too tired to hunt this down now; maybe I'll edit it in later.

On a meta level I just find it less compelling for the final reward for spending so much time with him to be 'Here's some actual vulnerability- lol psyche, remember he's manipulative? He might still want sympathy, you be the judge'. It would make the aborted confession at the end the only thing we can't infer from elsewhere in the game already. On the other hand, the diagnoses being real, and him trying to take it back and distract Hinata with an incitement to kill him (before also trying to confess his crush and aborting that too, he's a mess there), really really adds depth to his character.

Semi-tangentially, some people with bvFTD also develop neurological problems that affect movement- eg. making them slow and stiff. There's no evidence for or against Komaeda having this in canon afaik, and I've read it's more of a thing in later stages of the disease, but in the ch1 trial he talks about the threatening letter as if it's in his actual handwriting, and if so... it looks pretty stiff, doesn't it? Either it was angular on purpose or the writer has trouble with fluid hand movements. Let me know if he displays fine motor skills anywhere else, I guess.

The only real counterargument is that he's outlived the 6-12 months he was expected to, but:

The estimate is presumably from the cancer, which is treatable. FTD can take years and years, even 10+, to reach the later stages.

That's an estimate, not set in stone, and real people have survived after being told they have X months to live without supernatural luck.

In either case, it doesn't matter how dire the prognosis is if Komaeda's involved. If the chance of him surviving something isn't zero it will probably happen. When he finally managed to kill himself it wasn't even real.

Anyway, the thing I started the post with! Compare the lines below.

In both cases he's said something that could make others feel bad for him, immediately takes it back, and claims he did that on purpose.

But he wasn't actually lying in the first line, albeit hamming it up a little. He wanted someone to kill him. This happened while he was still pretending to be the killer, after Saionji asked him why he sent the letter. He dropped a hint about the truth and then deflected away from it, likely intentionally antagonising people to distract them from thinking too hard about what he just implied and make them more averse to empathising with him.

So what could that imply about the lines from his FTE?

TL;DR: He told the truth about having cancer and dementia, your honour. There's not only strong evidence for this but precedent for the sort of deflection he made afterwards.

[northlight14]

While I’m a big fan of the “Von Karma being a piece of shit mentor and father figure to Edgeworth” concept and there is definitely some truth to those statements, I also wanna address the fact that it is canon that Von Karma was a good mentor to Edgeworth and growing up in that household wasn’t as horrific as it may seem at first glance. Frankly if it was, Edgeworth wouldn’t have been manipulated like he was.

Now just taking that into consideration, that makes the moment Edgeworth finds out what actually happened to his dad so much more heartbreaking. When mini Miles lost his dad, that was his world taken from him. He didn’t have any other relatives to go to and no direction in life. Then in steps a man who he knew his father respected to some degree, offering him a home and guidance, teaching mini Miles everything he knows and inspiring him. The ruthless God of prosecutors himself helping Edgeworth build himself up again.

Then he finds out that the one man who stepped in, the one he was willing to follow, was the very same man who caused his suffering in the first place. Not only that, but he’s spent so long following his teachings, that he himself has essentially become just another version of the man who caused his suffering. And to add fuel to the fire, that father figure clearly knew of Edgeworth’s survivors guilt and PTSD and used it against him and went as far as to frame him for murder.

It is honestly a wonder to me how Edgeworth didn’t completely break down right then and there in the courtroom. Von Karmas betrayal of Edgeworth is definitely talked about a lot in the fandom but the added context of what isn’t shown in the game or anime just makes it all the more heartbreaking

Edit: doing an edit on this post cuz I feel like I didn’t communicate what I wanted the best I could. My bad, y’all. This isn’t me saying that there wasn’t abuse at play. There was. Manfred was very obviously emotionally neglectful of Edgeworth and Franziska and instilled a perfectionist complex in both of them. That much is clear by the way Edgeworth speaks with him in a strictly business like manner. But I think it’s important to acknowledge that while Manfred was a shitty father figure, he still showed Edgeworth some form of kindness over the years. (I also believe that it has been confirmed that he was a good mentor to Miles but if I’m wrong about that let me know). We see that in the anime in particular where it’s shown he favoured Miles over Franziska. And also that’s how abuse works. The abuser will show kindness to their victim because otherwise they can’t manipulate the victim as easily. Manfred isn’t a good person but I think it’s important to look at his relationship with Edgeworth with a bit of nuance. Miles knew Manfred wouldn’t show him mercy in the court room because he knows how important his win record is. That doesn’t take away from the fact that he showed Edgeworth some form of kindness over the years. In my opinion, it just makes the whole situation more tragic

[arson-09]

one of the many issues i find with sjms writing (and subsequently her fans) is that a character has to be perfect to be loved (this is acotar specific) hear me out ((apologies in advance for the somewhat rambling and nonsensical bits. its late lmao)

Just about everything Feyre and Rhysand do is justified. Rhysands entire list of evil actions from acotar is retconned. Him murdering those winter court children was suddenly by an unnamed daemati whos never brought up again, his sexual assault of feyre was “for her protection”, and in general the way he treated her UtM is okayed (sa is never justifiable, even in fictional media) and him keeping very important information about Feyres body from her is fine because he was doing it to spare her feelings (also never ok to keep information of ones body from the individual)

Feyre is allowed to destroy the spring court. No matter how you feel about Tamlins character the actions she took were extreme, petty, and useless. She collectively punished the citizens of the spring court because of her relationship with Tamlin and she believed him to be allying with Hybern. Which was hinted to her to be false and she could have read his mind at any point. Feyre also is a unreliable narrator but her word is taken as truth. When she has magical outbursts its nothing, she can treat her supposed friends like shit but shes still the better friend.

Together they constantly spout how perfect the other is. Especially Feyre about Rhysand, maybe its the mating bond but the bond is how sjm communicates her feelings about the characters (which i feel is evident in the Nessian bond) Feyre says rhysand is Good and Justified in everything he does, so you the reader must believe it too, right?

The rest of the Inner Circle also falls into this. Mor is allowed to unfairly treat Nesta like shit, Cassian is unquestioned when it comes to his mistreatment of his mate, azriel is a background tapestry, and amren is a whole different issue tbh.

Nesta is the outlier. She is not perfect and we know it because of how mistreated she is by the people that surround her. Cassian is a horrible partner, letting rhysand do and say what he wants to her, restricting her food and being very neglectful of Nestas mental health. Nesta is a flawed character but shes not an antagonist. Her flaws does not call for this sort of treatment. It is disgusting how sjm portrays Nestas character and her “healing arc”. Sjm says she loves nesta, but her treatment says otherwise.

Tamlin receives the brunt of this treatment. He is a flawed character but is not evil. Hes not even a real antagonist, just because he is not friends or on good terms with Feyre and Rhysand does not make him such. His allying with Hybern is used as reasoning for his mistreatment when its clear as day hes a double agent. Tamlin, while he struggles with emotional regulation, anger issues and communication is a very good high lord and his personal relationship with a character does not change that. His actions towards feyre are often called abusive but sjms writing fails to bring this observation to fruition. She fails to actually make him abusive and antagonistic because she accidentally writes her own outs by justifying similar behaviors from other characters.

If you have spent anytime on the majority side of the fandom you have seen the Feyre and Rhysand vs Nesta and Tamlin mentality. Nesta and Tamlin are hated while Feysand are treasured and its because sjm makes a perfect character for you to love so why would you root for the flawed characters hated by the narrative? Nesta and Tamlin are far more nuanced and interesting due to their imperfections, dislike by the narrative, and hatred from the majority fandom. (To note, Nesta and Tamlins characters are different ((although they have some striking similarities)) but their treatment is very equal. Which is why i, and many other people in the fandom compare and combine them so much)

Feyre and Rhysand through the narrative and fans are perfect and can do no wrong. Tamlin and Nesta are frankly evil and undeserving of love. Its intriguing to see this behavior and its almost unique to the acotar and booktok fandom. Which is why i find myself so focused on Tamlin and subsequently the fandom. its so odd and something i havent seen before that it gets stuck in my little adhd brain.

[maliciousalice]

@thresholdbb omg tumblr ate your ask but thankyou for asking!!!!

👕Character whose fashion you like.

Phoar! Startrek really isn't a show I associate with being fashionable. It's very camp isn't it? In theory a lot of the wardrobe is really cool and they wanted to gain that retro-future aesthetic. Did it work? I'm not sure. However it does make a statement. The Startrek aesthetic is really recognizable and that's important! I think that's where modern trek kind of looses the plot. It's not as careful about the unique visual design as a whole anymore and as a result it doesn't settle in our minds. Is it bad artistry? No but it's not as stringent. What I mean by that is older trek cared about nuance. For example every haircut was done the same way on men, or suits were tailored in a way to look sleek but practical (they weren't). Gaudy patterns were important to denote things like status. It looks ugly on the outside but when you're watching the show it envelops you and makes you feel welcomed into the universe.

I digress.

To answer this, the most fashionable character, hands down, is Quark! That mfer always looks good, and has the finest drip in the galaxy. Love that.

🥲 ST moment that makes you cry.

There are two moments that make me particularly sad. Kate's acting in the climax of Resistance is incredible. I read somewhere she had a special-wink-wink- relationship with the Director in the early seasons and she was being tested by this episode in some regard. I think it paid off. I treasure any time her captain-hood is removed, and the extreme vulnerability of Janeway is on display-MWAH MWAH poignant. This episode is beautifully intimate, particularly this scene. It's overall gorgeous and unique in how she whispers to him, as if there is nothing more important than to secure his peace of mind as he dies, and it's heart rending when it ends with her just crouching there, emotionally alone. I love how Janeway is forced into the father-daughter dynamic between her and Caylem, one that she would ordinarily resist (heh themes) because I think it inherently weakens her status. The back and forth throughout the episode of them taking care of each other's welfare is so it's terribly sad when it's torn down and we discover the truth behind Caylem's family. If you've dug around her character you know that her Admiral-Father has had impact on her life. She's haunted by him in both a figurative way by being a Captain, and literal sense later on in Coda. Much like Caylem, she looses her father in a violent manner that she has to carry around while she forges ahead. It also reflects well on Kate's relationship with her actual father, she recently revealed that she was never able to get him on her page, but in spite that she adore him with all her might. So a scene like this is really revealing-I believe she was able to draw upon those feelings and that's kinda neat to be so raw as an actor. SIGH.

This one just straight up made me cry fr because Prodigy s1 is a really mature, well done piece of (Startrek) media. Holo Janeway has an irony about it where in the end she is program designed to be a teacher, and she didn't expect to develop a strong bond with the crew. Her final moments are of displaying a huge amount of selflessness and courage to help the kids get out of trouble, similarly to how Janeway would approach dire circumstances. The music swelling and the ship activating is just OOOOF!!! I love how it parallels Dal's initiation of the first Protojump in a Moral Star. By that means It suggests how proud she is to get to do this for them. As a character she is really interesting to think about, in a way I can't entirely articulate. A lot of her moments are quite sad in general, she has to keep an active role so she isn't ignored, and help where help is needed, but at the same time she has constraints, one being that she manipulated by the antagonists. And In contrast to that, the kids do their best to help her feel like she is important and more than a command program to be used insincerely. She grew to love the Protostar crew, that's evident in her body language in this scene. She has a lot of depth overall. Equal to the real Janeway she deeply feels love, guilt and pain, but importantly she is transformed by the her time on the Protostar and while active, learns and grows with Dal, Rok-tak, Zero, Jankom and Gwyn. It's REALLY sweet that they care all care about each other.

I love her and I love JANEWAY!!!!

🥹 Favourite behind the scenes picture.

Ooooh I love all behind the scenes stuff. My brother in Christ It's super difficult to just name one thing and I'm very greedy!! I wish we had more BTS content for Voyager but sadly, it's a matter of grab what you can, however you can. Anyway, I have an inherent interest in seeing the cogs behind the wheel. I chose these samples because I think they're charming.

The continuity polaroid's are so fun and a lost technique, I like to think about assistants having to pull the actors aside and asking them to take those. How daunting! Kate's grin in the one where she is offset is SO cute. So she must have been in a good mood, super Cheeky!

Following that is a screenshot from a video of her having her makeup done. A rare catch. I like this because she often sooks about how much time hair and makeup was spent on her to become Captain Janeway. I get it's a huge time-sink, but love or hate it, the full irony is that her early season appearance is really iconic and in it's own right adds to Captain Janeway's sensibility. Silly goose Kate! Besides that, she looks hot checking herself out, haha.

Moreover, I love on-set editorial photos of actors in costume. While we did have heaps of them in the Starfleet uniform, I wish we had a larger collection with clearer releases, it would have given an opportunity to see in things of interest better detail. Particularly the lower half of unique costumes. For whatever reason special outfits weren't often established or framed for us to see the legs in the show, so a nice big photograph would have solved that. Also I love that these style of pictures capture an impression of an episode without giving it away.

Similarly, fly on the wall on-set photos are cool. They're way more intimate and candid than anything else and it makes me feel as though I am spying on the actors, but they're also a good way to document how things might have been on set.

The Timeless one is interesting too because it's of a deleted scene, we never see Chakotay look at a dead Janeway (how deliciously macabre!), but at some point in time it was in the script and they filmed it.

Hmm this bts picture of Janeway in the Cardigan is adorable! I believe it was worn by Kate for a Charity but look how cute she looks? Makes me wish we saw her mess around with things like that more because 7 Years is a long ass time to be in uniform everyday ( coming from someone who went to school in a Uniform and enjoyed it for the most part). Casual Fridays anyone?

I love this gif. It's from the first shoots of Caretaker and Kate looks so radiant! Her smile is is breathtaking! Whenever I see this gif I get a sense of delight. Poor thing had no idea what she was getting herself into, haha. Really though, check out the original Caretaker photos, they're super-cool. The history behind it is fascinating; I'd love to see more footage from that version of the pilot episode. Unfortunately, it's probably not preserved well, much like lots of Paramount's historical material.

On a similar trend, it's fun to see this set of pictures too. It's for the First Contact film / maybe the Universal studios ride, when she reprised her role as Vice AdmiralJaneway. Kate was genuinely delighted to do this cameo and it shows. As per her operandum she put her whole self into this small segment and that's so darling. It makes me wish we had more of this Janeway at that point in time. I love post Endgame chubby-Janeway. In a fictional sense it denotes that she is comfortable or stressed to be an Admiral (sadly it's the latter in real life) or whatever and I love that for her.

These kind of pictures are fun because it's been said that at times it was the most playful set to be on. There are tales that the cast were not that serious all the time. You get that impression here, and it's probably why the majority of them are still good friends to this day. They're like a family bros!!! Having worked in media I know that wrapping up after working on something for a long time is really rewarding and I bet they had a good time at parties.

Apropos previous, the opposite can be said. While they had fun, the hours were long and the scripts intensive. Kate was around for all of the episodes of Voyager in one way or another, and still managed to bring her A-game each time. She is truly admirable! Seeing her so exhausted is charming. She had a lot of weight to carry for the franchise and did an exemplary job performing her way through 7 years of weird and wonderful material. I wonder how often they fell asleep on set? I know I would. Get some rest queen!

Finally, I've been following Prodigy bts as best I can, and because of my career in animation I get pretty interested in Production art. I love seeing the fast metamorphosis of a visual style. It's really impressive how much attention they applied to the designs, maintaining the older stuff, while adapting a new frontier. One of the lead artists made some pretty neat observations to get Kate's appearance right. It's so cool that they documented that journey, because from my dabbling I know she has a very beautiful, distinct face that isn't easy to capture.

ANYWAY Thankyou for reading my fat thesis fellas. tl;dr i love this stinky Startrek Voyager and by extension the franchise.

[graciehart]

just saw a very condescending post about pseudoscience and while it’s valid criticism and you should beware of how things are being packaged and sold to you, I also want to say this.

mbti, enneagram, star signs, love languages, etc. are not valid scientific or psychological constructs, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying them or identifying with them. at the core of any personality measure is a desire to be seen, heard, understood, and known. that’s what these things are about. they’re about connecting with one another, about helping to identify pieces of ourselves that we have trouble putting into words on our own.

i am an infj, 4w3 cancer sun and my love language for both giving and receiving love is gifts. at the end of the day, does that really mean anything? no, not really. not in some scientific sense. but it does mean I can tell you about a “typical” infj or a type 4 and say hey, many of these things ring true for me and might help you understand me better.

categories exist for a reason. our brains like categories. there’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to categorize humans. and before you get mad, let me finish, because I’m not saying categorization can’t be harmful or damaging. it absolutely can be. but it’s also our brain’s natural inclination. and getting rid of all categories altogether is not necessarily the solution, because they can be useful and serve a purpose. for example (and I can only speak to what I know as a us american and therapist)—getting rid of diagnoses completely is not the solution to the very flawed mental health system we currently have in the US. Diagnoses do not leave enough room for nuance and are more rigid than the actual lived experience of mental illness, but eliminating diagnostic categories removes any common framework that facilitates conversation across professions about a general set of symptoms. categorizing things that can’t be fully categorized isn’t necessarily wrong. what is wrong is adhering to any kind of category as infallible or immutable, because categories are things that are imposed upon others and, by their very nature, cannot capture the full spectrum of any type of experience.

don’t hold any of these things as some sort of end-all, be-all truth about people, but there’s no need to shame people for enjoying them or even believing in them to some extent, either. it’s okay. it’s not that serious. in the end, it’s a tool for connection. that’s what this is all truly about—seeing and connecting with one another.

[efingcod]

Things I noticed in the Black Ops 6 live action trailer.

"Truth is, your whole life is a lie."

Bill Clinton on his Presidential Campaign. If this is '91 he would go on to win the following year. Interesting that they chose to emphasize two things, in particular, his wedding ring and a plate with a burger and fries.

"You wanted Peace. So we hid the war. And now it rages all in the shadows."

Colin Powell

"Behind closed doors where we hide the world's secrets."

Margaret Thatcher

Between her and George H.W. Bush we get this smoky shot with the word "ROOK" written on the bottom left corner. Maybe bringing us back to the chess pieces referenced in the Cold War teaser.

"While we build your trust the world falls apart around you. If you weren't so distracted you'd realize-"

George H.W. Bush

God the reflection of fire on his glasses. What imagery huh?

"Nothing is what it seems. But if it's truth you seek... look in the dark."

Saddam Hussein

And then the TRUTH LIES written over the film.

There's also the classic Black Ops SALLY

Which is etched into the pistol on the Black Ops 1 artwork. *btw some people believe this guy is supposed to represent Mason. However, the model here is not Sam Worthington.

And then of course they reference the ICONIC Blops pose for Blops 6 artwork OMG. The Black Ops fan in me is just so EXCITED.

Obviously, I want to tread carefully here because we're talking about a Call of Duty game. But once again I feel like we could see a storyline that is critical of the world powers at the time. (I could also talk about how Cold War is Reagan-critical. But that would require more research because I want to present the facts well. And idk if I have time for that lol).

This imagery especially of Clinton and Bush is fascinating to me.

That's the nice thing about Black Ops. No one is pretending to be all good. There's at least some kind of nuance (AGAIN I KNOW IT'S COD BUT LOOK)

[krittikasurya]

Some thoughts on Krittka Nakshatra (originally posted on substack and twitter)

Krittika at its best really understands how to both simultaneously enjoy and appreciate things while also being able to give critical commentary and feedback, and I think a lot of people have a hard time wrapping their heads around this level of multifaceted behavior. In a world where black-and-white, all-or-nothing thinking is common and encouraged, people often forget that two things can be true at once. Krittika natives have the creativity and flexibility to understand and implement this “two truths at once” concept into their everyday lives. People think Krittika natives are being insolent or abrasive when the native is just simply speaking on what they’ve learned, gathered, observed and experienced and being straightforward about it…taking the data they’ve accumulated and turning it into something that’s easy to digest. Absolute truths rarely exist, and Krittika exposes the complexities we experience on both a collective and individual level.

Krittika’s goal isn’t to trash things necessarily. I think the goal Krittika natives have is to help themselves and others see things in a different, profound way. Offering refreshing perspectives on many different aspects of life is something the natives take pride in. The Martian influence of the Aries portion of the nakshatra makes one very analytical and strategic. Observing and learning through action and expeirnce, the Aries side of this nakshatra knows how to take things back to the drawing board. They understand that trial and error are some of the best teachers, and that there is always room for change. The Venusian influence of the Taurus portion gives the native discernment and good taste. The discriminatory nature of Venus leaves little to no room for indifference, especially when it comes to connections, arts, and culture. Venus appreciates excellence, and Krittika will accept nothing less. Krittika serves as the bridge between the sun’s (Identity) and the moon’s (Mind) exaltation points, giving both signs vast intelligence that manifests slightly different, but one thing remains the same: The sharp, quick witted nature of the nakshatra that seeks improvement within themsleves and the world around them. In today’s society, echo chambers are growing increasingly common, creating less nuance and mental flexibility, and more groupthink. From arts to politics, the effects of all-or-nothing thinking seems almost inescapable. Mediocrity is the acceptable normal, and Krittika is on a mission to change that.

When not channeled appropriately, Krittika natives can be high strung individuals, hypercritical of both themselves and others while forgetting to appreciate the beauty of life, and the beauty within themsleves. Some constantly feel the need to “shake the table” or say what they believe others are afraid to say, not fully realizing the implications of making ego driven “critiques.” Some “critiques” can be so ego driven, that they are dowright incorrect, mean or hateful in nature. They can be prone to tunnel vision and extreme anger, especially when they feel like their way is the only way. Krittikas can be demanding, exhibiting dictator-like control over their communities which can lead to a “walking on eggshells” feeling for the people around the native. It is imperative that Krittikas don’t lose sight on what’s important: not crossing the thin line between enlightening analysis, and downright negativity.

Krittika natives experience a lot of pleasure from giving critique as well, because they believe that there’s something really cool about being able to get others to think in ways they may not have before, and introduce various perspectives on any given subject. Krittika’s shakti (power) is to purify or burn away impurities, and sharing thier critical thoughts and assessments is one of the best ways to do it in today’s world. If we as a collective are going to consume things, Krittikas believe we can and should evaluate and question what we consume. Things should be questioned more. “Impurities” should be pointed out. The status quo should be challenged in all aspects of life.

Krittika isn’t scared to point out things that are flawed and it infuriates some individuals that Krittika natives don’t just sit and “go with the flow” all the time. Krittika has a burning lust for awareness of the world we live in. Krittika knows that sometimes there will be conflict, they’ll ruffle a few feathers and invoke certain emotions that make others feel uncomfortable, but when done tactfully that has the power to change the world (however big or small you consider your world to be).

[jacksmusesdrv3]

Since this is nagging at me, and the point of contention in Shuichi's background and 'style of detective' is being... kind of a pain in the arse, to put it lightly, let me try to lay out the odd situation with his detective background as plainly - and, as fairly - as I can. Here goes:

He did detective stuff as a favour to his uncle, that is, was not a formal detective but an apprentice to one. It's likely he wasn't constrained to roles, in this respect.

His tasks involved catching out cheating partners, finding lost pets and eventually, finding runaways. The latter of which - according to his uncle - was a 'preventative measure', to stop them before crime occurs. Shuichi's job was, explicitly, to stop them before it got to that.

He picked up a motto from his uncle, the 'coffee stains on someone's shirt' metaphor. Extraordinarily vague, and one he used in the context of a 'heavy burden' when talking with Ryoma, but the phrasing can imply 'stains' of a person's (perceived) guilt. You could infer that this is a matter of catching out people who are cheating, but you can also generalise it to crime. What's more, the mixed ideas with this motto - that Ryoma was faintly amused by, thinking it strange - makes it feel like something is not communicated adequately.

He read a psychology study, whether purely of interest, what his uncle taught him etc. is unknown, but the key component of said study was how it tricked people- that is, into believing cold water was hot (this is especially interesting to me given that this kind of extreme trick was a theme for DR2's shtick likened to a 'fictional world', and he brought it up in the Virtual World, which DR2 was based in, and Shuichi declares the game 'fiction' by the end, so it really does feel significant, even if not directly related to detective work). So, we're talking some applied psychology, here. Hold that thought...

Shuichi is a good liar- at least, one of his skills is to sway a group into believing him, sometimes with emotion as well. In that sense you could say he's a good actor, which seems unusual for someone who's mainly a sheltered character. That said...

His uncle's policy on runaways was that it was 'necessary to follow up with runaway and client both', and Shuichi explains the policy as 'making sure both parties are happy'. If Shuichi is involved in this process, he is - to some degree - trained to work with people. Is de-escalation part of this? You would expect so, at least. What's more is Shuichi could not confirm if this was a typical detective's policy, just that it was his uncle's.

Shuichi solved a murder case. We don't know how he happened on it, only that it was 'by chance'. We know that lost-pet grade detectives don't solve murders, although the runaways part of the tasks was, at least partially, linked to crimes. What kind of crimes? We just don't know. You might assume however, that one such case could lead to a murder, particularly if a de-escalation attempt were to... fail (this is speculation as an example).

In summary: the extent of Shuichi's uncle's 'education' of him, is vague enough you can infer (as I did) uh... a mixture of things, with no clear idea of where the boundaries in those things are. You also don't know if this is 'above board' training that is typical of a detective, especially with the presentation of a murder case - something exceptionally out of whack for an apprentice to handle, although not an unthinkable consequence - and possible mixed communication going on between him and his uncle.

Also? You don't know how truthful Shuichi himself is being - to himself especially - since he's a known liar. While that's not proof he's lying about anything, it is at least a concern since at the least, he may have cause to lie to defend others based on feeling (and this is something he does in trial 2 for Maki regardless that she wasn't guilty of Ryoma's murder, she still had involvement in the situation, but the nuances of that aren't the point here).

Anyways, how this pans out in the game is up to you, but I felt compelled to clarify my own logic from the start re. this, since it does get kinda-

-from here in terms of my theory, so the 'making sense' can be hard to do. I hope this much is clear, though.

[thecomfywriter]

🤬AITA tag game 🤬

thank you for the tags @mysticstarlightduck @theink-stainedfolk @drchenquill @wyked-ao3 and @the-golden-comet. if you also tagged me and i missed you, SORRY. i'm super excited for this one because it seems super interesting, and AITA threads are my guilty pleasure. OKAYYY, let's get into it :)

This will be for ToV. Guess who the narrator is lol.

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AITA for saving the life of the man who killed my mother (by indirectly causing a massacre) and making him my mentor?

Okay. I understand the title sounds bad. I promise you-- the situation is more nuanced than the whims of my clickbait. Please read this post in full, as, while all my peers do not treat me as an asshole, they certainly treat me as a dunce for getting involved.

I (17M) live in a queendom called Soilaila. Our queen (Von Doro, ??? age) is a dragon, I should mention, and lives within the volcano that landmarks our nation. It is her monarchial responsibility to ensure the volcano does not explode. Which is why I do not understand why more blame is not denoted to her for detonating the volcano 16 years ago and killing all her citizens. My mother included.

Everyone blames Hilbert (~150+?? M), and while I understand Hilbert may have murdered all of the queen's children and made an attempt on her life as well, he only made his assassination attempt under the counsel of the Jervees, so really, they are to blame. And besides-- it was not as though Hilbert killed all the dragons alone that he should solely be blamed! Everyone in Soilaila acts as though they did not take up arm and spear alongside him during the Dragon Hunts that inspired Von Doro's wrath.

Apologies. I am rambling. My point being, Hilbert had self-exiled himself 16 years ago after the Incident, and none of us had seen him since. Until last Tuesday. I was on a walk in the Bazaar when I see a mob of people holding an old man up by his arms, using him as a punching bag! They were kicking him black and blue, taking their belts off to use as whips, lashing his skin with leather and steel.

This is the part where, apparently, I am the asshole. I go up to the crowd and I tell them to stop. They were beating up an old man after all! And then they tell me the old man is Hilbert, and I cannot simply back out of my allegiance at this point, so I tell these grieving parents, "Does it matter?" and that they were ultimately in the wrong for choosing revenge over peace.

I got them to stop (a very painful pursuit, may I add. One that has resulted in bruises and lashes on my own back and legs), but at the end of it, I had promised to take Hilbert to the Jervees for his arrest.

This is also where I may have screwed up.

I did not take him to the Jervees. I tried to take him home, and on the way, as he told me stories of his youth and the truth of the Incident... Trust me-- after the truths and conspiracies he revealed, I have no trouble believing him when he says he is a victim to the Incident, more than anyone else in Soilaila. Regardless, seeing such an impressive man in front of me, I requested he become my mentor in exchange for my allegiance and protection from all those who wish to convict or harm him in Soilaila.

But now, everyone thinks me idiotic for believing him! Even though I know he is telling the truth.

I do not think I am an asshole for giving this old man a chance. Yes, he has made some mistakes in his past. And yes, his ledger is unbearably red with violent crimes. But do people not have the liberty to change? To try to improve themselves and be better? Why is it all "second chances!" and "heal and forgive!" until it actually comes to healing and forgiving? And why are all my friends trying their absolute damnest to separate me from Hilbert? If anything, I would reckon they were the assholes more than Hilbert or myself.

--

EDIT: everyone keeps asking me how my father feels in this situation. I will admit-- he is rather betrayed and sees me as a failure of a son. But if he saw me as anything more than that to begin with, perhaps I would not need to seek out Hilbert's company at all.

EDIT #2: This post is reaching unfathomable audiences who are all calling me naive. Trust me-- you do not know the whole story. Hilbert's methods of convincing me of the truth are not so much as manipulation as much as they are "revelations of reality."

EDIT #3: This is going to be my last edit on this post, as it seems some people are simply bound to their opinions. That is alright. We are fated to disagree with one another. But for everyone asking me why I am comfortable blaming Von Doro for the death of my mother and not Hilbert, I would like you to read your question out loud. Why do I not blame the man who indirectly triggered the person who killed my mother in rage? Does that makes sense to you?

EDIT #4: you all were right.

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leaving this as an +open tag for any and all of my followers to enjoy! Happy Writing :)

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PREORDER THRONE OF VENGEANCE

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[ukelele-boy]

I was talking in discord about Hermes and Artemis and wanted to share it here as well.

I headcanon that Hermes at the end of toa is going into denial because he always believed gods do not change, as a sort of comfort to him failing to save Luke and the other mistakes he made. Seeing apollo be openly changed is making him doubt himself and he lashes out due to this. He doesn't want to believe apollo has changed, because that means gods were always capable of change and he no longer has his biggest defense for his actions.

he needs more character development and is a very interesting character to explore. Given how he contrasts apollo in many ways.

Mythologically he and apollo are close and I tend to borrow that as backstory when I think about them. I think between him and apollo there's a lot of stuff they haven't worked out. For two who claim to be best friends on paper, they haven't acted like it in a while.

There's probably a lot of unaddressed grudges (May castellan comes to mind immediately and that's only one from recent decades. There could be more going centuries back.)

On Artemis:

In TOA, its clear that Artemis still hasn't gotten over her delusions of Zeus and her own image of Apollo being a dramatic airhead (that apollo encouraged to protect her and himself..)

Apollo cannot be open with her because she would rebut him if he ever brings up this vulnerable topic and it would really hurt him. He just newly finally accepted the truth and her rebuttal or reiteration of past beliefs would be a terrible hit. But making her understand puts artemis in the same horrible shock apollo went through.

Hence they cannot bond properly because they always have to keep up walls around each other to sort of protect each other, in a messed up way.

Chronic: what do you think Artemis would think of Apollo's change post toa? I can't imagine her not being weirded out by it, since Apollo being loud and an idiot seems pretty baked into her perception of him

but toa altered his personality (the way she knew it at least) pretty fundamentally.

Me: I think this could work pretty well. To do initial bonding over this and then work out their misunderstandings about each other once they've gotten a degree of closeness back.

I have hope that this will encourage artemis to look at apollo through a new lense and be more open. Which is why I feel at the end of toa, they have more hope than ever before of actually understanding each other. They need to put in some work first though.

Someone once said artemis fatal flaw is righteousness and I've agreed ever since. ❤️‍🔥It also lines up nicely with mythology.

You can see her thinking her leaving Olympus and their fakeness for the hunt is her version of righteousness and she feels that she's on the right, hence she doesn't pause to examine things closely anymore. She's come to decisions about Apollo and the others. But this leaves nuances out and ended up hurting her and Apollo's relationship.

[blueratgrmln]

🌟OPEN DISCUSSION about the 2020's era of shipping culture, Sonadow in the Sonic Fandom, and how well-intended activism can circle back to the language and violence of oppressors 🌟

(Link to chapter PARTS >>>HERE<<<)

INTRO

I gotta get something off my chest in regards to shipping. I wasn't super invested in the shipping part of the Sonic Fandom community when I was growing up. There were a few ships I liked and I enjoyed the fanart people made of those ships. And then I forgot about it for a number of years. Now in adulthood I am getting back into shipping Sonic characters a bit more, because it's fun to look back at the things I liked as a kid and seeing how my opinions have changed since gaining more life experience. Plus I've become much more active on the internet, in Fandom spaces, and more aware of social justice issues during adulthood. So here is a long-ish essay where I gather my thoughts about Sonadow shipping, fandoms, and activism together💙

MIDDLE CHILD EXPERIENCE IN THE SONIC FANDOM

It's odd being a Middle Child of the Sonic Fandom "family" that grew up during the age of "cringe culture" cyberbullying and shipping wars. I was aware of the stereotypes and disdain people had both on and off the internet toward the Sonic Fanbase and the notoriety it had. It influenced me to tone-down my external Sonic geekiness around my peers. While some of the stereotypes had some truth to it (when they weren't used as cyberbullying put-downs), I noticed that there was a very prominent difference how the Sonic Franchise/Fandom was viewed by the pop culture savvy public and how the fandom acted amongst/within itself as a creative and meaning-making community, despite the in-fighting that occasionally happened. On the internet, I oddly didn't experience or witness much discourse about ethics, specifically about shipping, when I was a kid cruising the internet for the fanart I liked. The spaces I visited were usually very supportive of people creating meaning, joy, and comfort with these ships. These shipping spaces loved Sonic × Amy, Shadow × Amy, Knuckles × Rouge, Sonic × Sally, Silver × Blaze and also any ship between Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. While there were specific ships that I enjoyed, I was happy to see other people enjoying other ships and hearing them geek about it. Yes, there was sometimes shipping discourse pitting pairings against each other, but I did not notice intense targeting or harassment in the name of "ethics" to the same degree as I am witnessing nowadays.

THE ETHICAL VS UNETHICAL DEBATES

Fast forward to the 2020's age of the internet and fandom culture. I had no idea what the evolved discussion about "ethical vs unethical" shipping was beyond just "this ship is the best" mentalities until about a year ago. After reading about the various viewpoints, I started out not really caring about the ethics of fictional shipping and not fully caring on which "side" I would fit, even though my views in adulthood realistically lean towards anti-censorship sentiments. However, it's important to note that if I'd discovered this specific "ethical vs unethical" debate when I was younger, I would have leaned pro-censorship, a view directly influenced by the small-town evangelical church indoctrination that kept my mind closed-off from the nuances of sociology, psychology, and humanity. I was the type of person that got emotional and reactionary about the idea of people being sex workers, about the idea of kink and BDSM being a normal thing between consenting adults, and about other socially charged topics. Then as I learned from other people's experiences and researched those topics, my mindset changed to be more supportive and more aware of all the nuances that go beyond black vs white thinking. I learned to not demonize people and instead find out the reasons WHY something happens or WHY people do something, and actually LISTEN to the person and BELIEVE them when they give their answer. Similar mindset changes have happened in adulthood since I've done research about both the generational divides and social justice intersectionality of this cultural shift in today's internet Fandom spaces. I am noticing this divide and these debates happening more and more in the Sonic Fandom.

SONADOW IN THE 2020'S

For some context, when I was a kid moderately involved with shipping content, I did not ship Sonic × Shadow. I somewhat avoided anything to do with gay ships or gay content due to my small-town church upbringing teaching me to not support anything LGBTQ+. So now as an adult having interest in shipping again, having discarded homophobia, embracing my own queerness, and having new understandings of the Sonic characters' personalities/backstories/dynamics, I am opening myself up to considering ships I hadn't been interested in before and ships that I actively avoided due to internalized homophobia. Watching Sonic Prime and the wonderful joy it sparked across the Fandom (in both shippers and non-shippers alike) was the marker when I finally started enjoying the Sonadow ship. It was after reading people's interpretations of Sonic and Shadow and understanding the ship more when I realized why Sonadow is such a beloved and timeless ship. In response to the new wave of Sonadow popularity, it's getting lots of heated criticism. People are having arguments everyday about both Shadow and Sonic's true ages, whether Shadow is 15 or 18 or 50, whether it makes any difference that SEGA quietly removed the characters' official ages. The debate creates these polarized "sides", with some people on one side claiming that it's an inherently unethical ship and claiming that you are a bad person, or at least suspicious in some way, for supporting it.

REPRESENTATION & QUEER JOY

One prominent feeling I have about the common criticisms toward Sonadow and about other shipping discourse is feeling alarmed that a lot of Queer people end up getting harassed because of these debates, sometimes by fellow Queer people. From my Middle Child perspective in the Sonic Fandom, the reasons WHY many people embraced LGBTQ+ Sonic ships was to create and celebrate representation in a franchise that doesn't outright confirm or have much on-screen representation. Even though Sega has a general "no official confirmed couples" mandate, the company has consistently supported and encouraged the fans' shipping headcanons including LGBTQ+ ships, and the company has showed real, tangible, and financial support for the LGBTQ+ community (to my knowledge). Tangle and Whisper in the IDW comics are written with specific chemistry that leads most people to view them as a lesbian couple with the writers' and company's encouragement, even if they're not verbally stated as "officially canon." Sonic × Shadow, although not canon, has been a noteworthy ship acknowledged by the writers, company, and voice actors as being one of the most beloved and celebrated gay Sonic ships. It has given Queer people a sense of joy, hope, comfort, and visibility ever since 2001 when Sonic Adventure 2 released and Shadow debuted as a character. The reasons people immediately shipped these characters together was never about being creepy or encouraging "unethical" dynamics. It was simply Queer Sonic fans, both closeted and uncloseted, creating meaning via representation as an act of queer resistance and radical acceptance. This has been a constant throughout the present day, Sonadow being one of the most recognizable and longstanding ships that inspires widespread Queer Joy that even breaks the boundaries of the internet microcosm.

LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE OF OPPRESSORS

Now is where I will delve into the connection between Sonadow shipping (and overall shipping) debates and how well-intentioned activism loops back into mimicking oppressors. Thinking about how Sonadow is historically important to the Sonic Franchise, the Sonic Fandom, LGBTQ+ Sonic Fans, and maybe even video game history as a whole, I feel major discomfort and even dread when I see so many people (particularly those that are young) throwing around very serious accusations at (fellow) Sonic Fans and (fellow) Sonic shippers. Accusations supporting pedophilia or pedophilia itself is one of the most egregious. I've seen it thrown at Sonadow shippers, Vector x Espio shippers because Vector is 20 and Espio is 16 (despite it being another extremely popular LGBTQ+ headcanon-ed ship due to lack of representation), and even Knuckles x Rouge because Rouge is 18 and Knuckles is 16. It strikes me as counterintuitive and unnecessary at least, and actively dangerous at most/worst, seeing fellow Queer people utilizing the morality-policing, fear tactics, surveillance methods, censorship mindset, and rhetoric/language of our oppressors and using those things against the people in their own communities. Realizing that long-time Sonadow fans who felt inspired to come out and be unapologetically Queer because of that specific ship have been facing harassment and slander from fellow Queer people (who are likely younger than them), getting called "pedos" or "dangerous" or "suspicious" or "unethical" over the mere act of creating representation and Queer Joy with fictional characters and seeking some sense of comfort while surviving homophobic environments...bluntly, my stomach is churned and my blood is boiled. The last thing we need in this rapidly backwards-turning world is more in-fighting within the broader LGBTQ+ community that distracts our thoughts, emotions, time, energy, organizing, education, community-building, and activism away from the oppressors who are causing us real-world tangible harm, suffering, and death.

A random teenager on the internet drawing fanart of Sonic and Shadow holding hands, or even random adults on the internet drawing suggestive art or outright porn of these characters, is NOT going to be the catalyst that rapidly or gradually normalizes pedophilia or inspires worldwide support for unethical relationships. And yes, this includes content about the "weirdo/unethical/dark" ships that are found in the shadowy fringes of the internet and Fandom spaces. I am uncomfortable with a lot of it myself. But those ships and the people that engage with them ALSO DO NOT have the same level of impact and reach (key words: Same Level) that real life oppressive systems have to cause widespread suffering. The key difference that makes widespread abuse possible is that the real life oppressive systems are disguised as wholesome safe environments that develop trust and closeness with community members. Those oppressive systems and the harmful people that support them are usually NOT on the freaky/dark/weird fringes of society, they don't outwardly appear that way, and they demonize the "degenerates", not associate with any such label. The Catholic church institution is a big example, the institution covering up uncountable cases of their clergy members abusing minors while those clergy members are positioned as a pure, trusted facet of society that people actively look to for guidance, safety, and belonging.

At NO point am I ever going to say that everyone online is perfectly pure and that we should ignore everyone's behavior online. When we do encounter legitimate creeps causing harm to real people (not watered-down definitions of what being a creep means) we absolutely need to call them out and keep each other safe. HOWEVER, by pitting fellow Sonic Fans, fellow Queer people, fellow shippers against each other with this blanket "us vs them" mentality that overshadows the real life patterns and signs of how widespread oppression and real life harm happens, we end up accomplishing a lot of what our oppressors want anyway: divisions, distractions, and outright mimicking the violent language and behaviors that they display toward us at ourselves. This is the point where well-intentioned activism goes wrong and circles back around to oppression without meaning to.

Many people are super-duper-sure that they have dismantled all of their -isms and -phobias and now identify with labels and movements that are on the right side of history. But all of us STILL need to be aware of the fact that our thought patterns, behaviors, logic, and emotional responses can be tied to previously held beliefs and mindsets, and they can sometimes carry over and linger in our minds even after significant "character development". This is true even if we don't immediately realize it and think that we are a "safe person" within our own marginalized communities and for other marginalized communities. It can be really hard to identify if/when that is happening sometimes, but it is pertinent that we are actively checking in with ourselves, listening to constructive criticism, and cross-analyzing whether we are unintentionally mimicking the language, behaviors, and violence of our oppressors, and what effects that can have on the people in our shared communities and the people we care about.

ADDITIONAL: MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND LOGIC ABOUT SHADOW'S AGE

Most of the fandom will continue arguing about Shadow's "true age" for the rest of time and how that "should" influence people's shipping headcanons. In my opinion, it is a very unnecessary thing to argue about simply because of the uniqueness and the fantastical nature of Shadow's existence within the Sonic Universe. Very specifically, he is a test tube science project super soldier who is immortal with an unclarified "birth date."

It's most likely that Professor Gerald Robotnik started the process of creating Shadow AFTER Maria was born and they discovered her incurable disease; Project Shadow could have taken a significant amount of time to complete considering all of the scientific processes, research, and intergalactic communication needed. It is also important to remember that Maria died when she was only 12 years old. If we are just talking about the amount of time that Shadow was physically and mentally conscious, communicating, and learning (excluding the 50 years he spent in cryo-stasis), this would mean that Shadow's age could be anything up to Maria's exact age at her time of death. Realistically his youngest possible age would be much greater than 1 day, since it probably took a noteworthy amount of time for Shadow and Maria to develop their trusting best friend and/or sibling bond.

Otherwise, in the less likely scenario, Professor Gerald could've had foresight and somehow gotten confirmation about Maria's condition before she was born with the scientifically and medically advanced technology aboard the Space Colony ARK, and then completed Project Shadow before she was born. But in EITHER possible chronology, Shadow could be around the same age or a handful of years younger than 15 (one of the possible ages in this debate), if we are to consider his game manual or Wiki-page biographies for his true age. This could put the Sonadow ship in the same boat of age-gap and maturity-difference criticism that the Sonic x Amy ship gets because Sonic is 15 and Amy is 12.

Even though Shadow is one of the most complex characters within the broad Sonic Lore, at the same time he's one of the most mysterious characters, especially since we don't have any official content that shows the complete scientific/medical/technological details of his creation process from start to finish. Everyone has a different opinion whether the game manual and Wiki-page age(s) indicates Shadow's number of conscious years lived, his current physical age, or both. People also debate whether his current physical age matters in terms of shipping ethics. Considering that Shadow is an immortal science experiment with the DNA/blood of an alien species and he could have grown up in a test tube, I like to think that any of the "teen" ages used in this debate could simply describe what his physical vessel looks like (compared to 100% Mobian hedgehogs) at the point Project Shadow was deemed successfully completed. It's possible that his early development deviated from that of a human baby, a Mobian hedgehog baby, and a normal hedgehog baby. Maybe he grew generally faster or went through the same developmental stages of his Black Arms alien siblings. Deciphering what it would mean for Shadow to become "fully mature", or even what "age" in general means for him, would require solving the complex puzzle of his circumstances: the science of genetic engineering that splices Black Arms DNA with Mobian hedgehog DNA to design a being that is artificial and specifically exceptional in every way. We DO know that Shadow's Black Arms DNA gives his mind and body a connection to the species' Hive Mind (which is explored in the Archie comic books) and that Black Doom's DNA was one of the necessary ingredients to give Shadow immortality and disease immunity. But that's the extent of what we know about Shadow's Black Arms biology, its overall effects, its benefits, and its downsides. In addition to this, the "immortal artificial super soldier with alien DNA" context brings up questions regarding Shadow's mental processes, intelligence, and learning capabilities. He could have gone through rapid psychological development, or can learn and gain skills at an enhanced rate, have increased intelligence, or have alien mental capacities beyond his connection to the Black Arms' Hive Mind.

The limitless SCOPE of possibilities for Shadow's physical and mental reality is why I completely avoid any attempts at shoving this complex character into the same quantifiable boxes of human OR Mobian OR normal hedgehog maturity, development, intelligence, socialization, emotions, learning, and age. Which is why I do not judge people for their shipping preferences and don't assume the worst of the people that ship him with other characters. An integral part of the tragedy and isolation of Shadow the Hedgehog as a character surrounds him being the Ultimate Lifeform, a being that is so unique, advanced, artificial, medicalized, scientific, revolutionary, mystical and powerful that he cannot relate to most of the other Sonic characters and vice versa. TRYING to force Shadow to be 100% understandable, relatable, and quantifiable both by our real-life human standards and by the standards of the other Sonic characters can diminish his uniqueness and essence, and it hinders the broad Sonic Fandom from creatively exploring the magnitude of possibilities (both shipping and non-shipping) that his mysteriousness inspires.

(Thank you for reading and sticking with my train of thought! :) I expect constructive conversation in the comments if any are made at all, whether it's criticism or agreement.)