#as much of an apologist i am i don't think makes sense

[lord-squiggletits]

sorry things are not good at the moment, and I hope you will get through this ok.

I'm paraphrasing a bit, but aiui you see Pharma as very much inclined not to explain the reasoning for his choices. What effect do you think that had/has on the other medics there, either in terms of their responses to what went on at the time or later?

(Inspired particularly by the context of The Wicked)

Honestly, I think Pharma's inability to tell people when something's up with him is unfortunately why he got rejected by his Autobot buddies so bad. I mean, ignoring the really bad implications, it seems to me like in Pharma's efforts to be restrained/professional/composed, he mostly comes off as cold. So if Pharma comes off to most people as just a cold professional, I suppose it makes sense why they heard about him being blackmailed by the DJD and just assumed Pharma was chill being a traitor and killing people? Aid/Ambulon/Ratchet/etc just like. Forgot that Pharma is a person with emotions and assumed that clearly, since Pharma is always in control of himself and always knows what he's doing, that must mean that when he worked with the DJD it was purposeful (in the sense of being willing).

Sucks too, bc in my personal headcanon the reason Pharma is so uptight and focused on a professional persona in the first place is related to social anxiety and an oppressed background. So in the process of Pharma constructing this professional persona so that other people respect and value him, it was that same persona that also made people assume he just had no emotions at all, so it was easy for them to assume the worst of him.

[hickeygender]

the duality of man........ . ... .

[rydingska]

oh i can see it is absolutely broken for remus lupin seeing the love of his life die after literally just getting him back time

[theidiotwhowritesthings]

Howdy, so I don't know if you have seen The Last of Us, but if you have, you know the scene where Joel saves Ellie from the hospital and he just ploughs through everyone and its like wow -///-

I just think it would be a really cool like drabble if this was a Din x reader fic? Only if you wanted to write it though!! Also I'm so happy that I'm on your taglist for inevitable because I jump to read it every time that I see that I've been tagged, it has me in a chokehold and the way that you write the reader is so damn good.

Your writing is something that brings comfort to me every week, and the way you interact and talk to your followers is so sweet. I love coming back from a stressful day to sit down somewhere comfortable to enjoy your work.

Anyways thanks for reading this ramble of an ask and I hope that you're doing well :)

[a/n]: combining some stuff here! this is for the anon who asked for this scene AND for @cockscombkingdom who asked for a fic in Din's POV where he takes care of reader and keeps her safe. I started with the plan to make this very sweet and fluffy and I'm not gonna lie a little darkness seeped into it. my bad.

also in case it isn't abundantly clear i am a joel miller apologist thx

Din Djarin x Female!Reader

Warnings: Violence, death, injuries, mild dark!din (if you squint and/or have a problem with murder)

Word Count: 1,440

Summary: You were selfless. You gave and you gave and you gave. The universe planned to only take more, but Din Djarin would be damned if he let it.

LOOK FOR THE LIGHT

.

"you'd just come after her." -Joel Miller (TLOU)

.

Din was worried about you. He was always worried about you because you were always on his mind. It couldn’t be helped. Somebody had to because it seemed like you were perpetually too worried about everyone else. Din admired that about you. He always had. You went out of your way to help anyone and everyone who approached. You had a heart that was always willing to give, and it left you too little to use for yourself.

When the two of you first began traveling together, he noticed that about you. Sometimes you’d get so preoccupied watching Grogu you’d forget to eat. Peli had once put you to work, organizing her tools as part of the payment to fix the Razor Crest, and you had been so focused on getting the work done well that you had taken no breaks and ended up dehydrated and weak under Tatooine’s hot suns. It’s why the mission he was delivering you to made such simple sense to him. You were special, is what you told him. Din knew you were special, felt it, but it was for very different reasons. According to you, there was something in your blood, some type of cell, that could cure a lot of people of some terrible, terrible disease spreading through a world in the Outer Rim.

Din tried to keep his distance from you. Tried to not get attached. But you were so selfless, that it naturally brought out his protective side. He couldn't help but care for you, but caring for you as a responsibility had quickly turned to loving you along the way. Din didn’t know a lot about love. Didn’t have much experience with it, lust was easier to grasp, and that left him confused most of the time. Din had no idea how to express what he felt for you, how to explain it in words, so he did the only thing he could do. Din took care of you. Kept you safe when he stopped to pick up quarries, made sure you remembered to eat and drink water, reminded you to go to bed and when you would eventually forget anyways he’d carry you there himself. Din didn't know what love was supposed to feel like, but what he did know was that being without you made his heart physically ache and protecting you brought him happiness. 

Maybe that’s all he needed to know.

‘It’ll be okay.’ You had promised him with a smile that made your features glow. ‘Shouldn’t take long.’

That had been hours ago. Din delivered you to the medical facility as he had been hired, but when you hadn’t come back out he sought after you. It’s why he now sat in a small room, Imperials flanking the door, as he simmered in disdain. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

“Mandalorian.” A man stepped into the room. A doctor from the looks of it with thin, round rimmed glasses. The name ‘Pershing’ pinned to his lapel. Din stayed silent. “I was under the impression that you had been paid. Was there an issue?”

“No.” Din replied. “Where is she?”

Dr. Pershing paused and shook his head as if confused. Din tilted his head a bit, an obvious threat in body language, and the doctor was smart enough to realize this. He nervously cleared his throat. “She is being prepared for her operation.” Din narrowed his eyes in confusion. You told him they’d just need your blood. “There is no reason for you to stay.”

“I promised her a ride back.”

There was a tense silence that filled the room at his words. Din watched the doctor squirm where he stood and he needed no further clarification. He shoved up from the table, prepared for a fight, when the Imperials leveled their own weapons at him before he could reach his blaster.

Dr. Pershing held his hands up in a placating manner. “She will be a hero. After we drain her of all her blood, we can make a cure. There’s a 65% chance this will work and save the people of this world.” Din was fuming under his armor. Drain your blood? They were going to kill you. They were going to kill you for something that only had a 65% chance of even working. “She will not be in pain! She’s been put under! She will not feel a thing, and we did not scare her with the news.” Din staggered back as if he had been physically hit. Was this man saying… Dr. Pershing confirmed Din’s thoughts. “We did not tell her this would kill her. We spared her that misery. She went under anesthesia peacefully.”

The words echoed in Din’s head loudly. As if a bomb had gone off right beside him and left him deaf and blind. He walked on autopilot as the Imperials escorted him through the building toward the exit. They were going to kill you. They were going to kill you for a shot in the dark cure. Din was literally paces to the door when his boots stilled. The Imperials shoved him, tried to get him to move, threatened to shoot him, and then Din snapped.

With the practiced precision of a bounty hunter and Mandalorian who spent most of his life in a fight, Din spun and cut down the Imperials in one swift movement. The darksaber glowed angry in his hands, casting threatening shadows down the hall. Never before had the sword worked so well for him, but as Din marched through the facility it was practically an extension of himself. Blaster fire pinged off his beskar and he did not hesitate. If a person stepped into his path he eliminated them. Cold. Ruthless. A predator. Din stalked the medical facility searching for you, and he left a wake of death and destruction in his path.

When he finally caught sight of you, through a window into some kind of clean room. Din felt his heart flutter in his chest. The first twinge of emotion since starting this rampage. It was a reminder of why he was doing this. A reminder that his actions were necessary.

Din stormed into the room, his eyes not leaving your unconscious form as you laid on a table in a hospital gown. The staff in the room panicked in a flurry, and one of them⏤ maybe the doctor maybe a nurse, Din didn’t even register who the kriff it was⏤ rushed him in a poor attempt to stop this onslaught. Din cut them down without blinking. Without taking his eyes off of you. The second you were in his arms, Din felt marginally settled. He wasn’t going to lose you, couldn’t lose you. Din had sworn to himself that he’d take care of you, it was all he knew how to do, and he wasn’t going to stop for the sake of anyone.

Not even the sake of a world.

As Din carried you out of the building it occurred to him that he may be dooming an entire population of people. This world’s chances of survival were dropping from 65% to 0%. He knew that he should care. He knew that this information should bother him. That it should make his steps more hesitant and make his chest ache in indecision, but it didn’t. His choice had never been more clear to him. It was either this world or you. Din was choosing you. He’d always choose you.

When back on the ship, Din had only carried you a few steps when gasping could be heard. He turned around to see Dr. Pershing at the end of the ramp holding a blaster at him. The man was breathing hard, face red, as if he had sprinted all the way here to stop this from happening. Din had to admire his dedication. The man believed in this cause so much he was willing to go head to head with a Mandalorian who had just single handedly cleared out a medical facility. 

“I can’t let you do this.” Dr. Pershing snapped. “You’re dooming this world if you take her!”

A blaster fired. Dr. Pershing stumbled back, a hole in his chest, and Din held his blaster firm in his hand. Your legs draped over that arm had hidden his weapon well. A strangled gasp left the man’s lips and he collapsed into a motionless pile. Din shook his head, responding to a dead man’s words, “I don’t care.”

Din would protect you under any and all circumstances.

 Was that love?

[thechibilitwick]

As an honorary Shidou apologist, I am breaking my silence. I’ve finally decided to go on a rant on why I don't think Kirisaki Shidou is an organ harvester.

(fair warning I like absolutely suck ass at organizing my thoughts, so if some of this is incoherent or if it seems like i'm repeating myself my bad 😭 I mainly wrote this for fun)

So, I'm aware that this theory is the most popular consensus when it comes to Shidou (and tbh, I think part of it is because a lot of people kinda look over him? Like at least a tiny bit more than the others, considering a lot of people also don’t realize how his main victim was probably his son and not his wife, but I digress) (plus I think all milgram characters are looked over to a certain extent). While I do think parts of it are probably accurate in some way, I don't think he was a full-on organ harvester (as in he actively stole from patients through illegal means. emphasis on actively) and that the theory in and of itself is flimsy at best. He's morally questionable, yes, but it’s more in the sense that he’s a somewhat apathetic guy who lacked understanding on how his own set of morals and values (i.e. pushing for organ donation) could be seen as wrong. So if he were an organ harvester, wouldn’t he be aware that it’s illegal? That’s what confuses me whenever people bring it up. I don't actually doubt that he may have done something illegal for his family's sake, it’s just that I still highly doubt it was something he actively did. And that seems to be what a lot of people think when they refer to the theory. (if i’m wrong please forgive me, i just assume organ harvester shidou = people think he did it as a job)

Anyways, more under the cut for those interested (it's a bit lengthy my apologies)

It then kinda trickles down to how his guilt stems more from the consequences of his actions rather than the actual action of taking organs. The root of his guilt comes from the realization that basically asking families to pull the plug and use their loved ones' organs for donation is a very, very hard decision; one that he kept pressuring for. If he was an illegal organ harvester, and was aware that his actions were in fact illegal, why the hell would he feel so guilty to the point that he’d start having suicidal ideations? That’s the key difference between his profession and his possible criminal activities; one is a burden both emotionally and morally, the other is more or less a literal burden. And based off of Shidou's character, he seems to be much more emotionally affected. That's also why I think a lot of people jump to the conclusion that his guilt stems from his actual actions rather than their effects. (does that make sense oh lord i am going ☝️🤓 so hard rn)

I get that some parts of his MV or lyrics seem to be suggesting that, but also it’s important to note that Shidou has a very strong bias against himself and definitely painted himself in a negative light. I mean, that's why he thinks every single preceding patient before the final incident is a victim to him, why he shows himself staying professional in a professional setting as apathetic (minus the pressuring part), and why he literally equates his job to STEALING. Not only that but, imo, it's also a little too unrealistic and might not actually fit the criteria of Milgram. Milgram is for crimes that are in a morally grey area. So if it really was organ harvesting, is it really in a grey area? (though I guess you could say that doing it for family's sake would be, but that's only for his family. He'd have no reason to do it otherwise). Plus, it'd make more sense and fit the theme of touching upon social issues (i.e. abortion, bullying, societal standards, mental health, etc.) if shidou’s entire dilemma was in regards to (albeit questionably done) organ donation, a complicated ethical topic in Japan.

Throw Down actually gives a pretty good rough idea of Shidou's thoughts towards his crime and his feelings in regards to it. He felt like he was blinded by his own values, and that inadvertently caused him to be unaware of the suffering he caused through his job. It really does shock me that he somehow was able to pull-off getting a forgiven verdict in T1 because he certainly comes off as cold and uncaring in regards to his work.

I think the final bridge in Throw Down kinda summarizes his entire mindset, actually.

​​Now slowly close your eye, put your regret on display Wishing you for someone else's sake With the same expression no matter who comes I don’t feel scared because I don’t know

Shidou doesn't quite understand the feelings of his patient's families, and therefore he acts remorseful and sympathetic more than he actually feels. Why? Well, because he didn't know. Up until that point, he never understood the weight of his actions, and focused on his role as a doctor. "This is an upsetting subject, yes, but it's for the greater good, right?” A braindead person has little to no chances of living, so why not use this as an opportunity to donate their organs? Moreover, as a doctor I believe it’s typical to be "emotionally detached” (for lack of a better word) since I’d assume becoming emotionally connected with a patient would make things at least a bit messy.

His mindset comes crumbling down though, presumably because he experienced the same or a similar situation. This part remains muddy for me, since we don't know much about what the actual cause for Shidou's guilt is. There are several possibilities, with the most plausible ones being:

he lost his own family member and had to go through with the same decision,

he tried to save a family member using donated organs, but failed, making it seem like everything he has done as a doctor was in vain

(a secret third option would be him making someone he cares about make that decision but it's very unlikely and also requires too much mental gymnastics)

But no matter what exactly he did, it all trickles down to the validity of his morals. After realizing the pain of losing a loved one, the struggle of trying to save them, and the unfortunate failure which left all efforts practically pointless, Shidou would understand the actual weight of his actions and why all those families were so reluctant to let go of their own.

This is even more evident in his T2 voice drama, Asclepius.

"In order to save the life of someone you don't know, please let me kill your family," I told them. It doesn't even take much thinking to realize how cruel that is, but… I didn't realize it until the very end.

This is the gist of Shidou's crime, or at least part of it (considering he says "Well, about halfway" when Es asks if their judgment was right). Again, this tells us that Shidou's guilt comes from the act of the effects of organ donation rather than the literal action. And this also implies that his "murders" did in fact have to do with being in a medical situation, it's just the way he went about it was at the very least morally questionable.

I will also acknowledge that he says he killed for selfish reasons, which most likely relates to trying to save his own family member. Here he could possibly have actually done something illegal such as tampering with patients or illegally taking their organs (latter is a stretch imo). Plus, his distorted T2 voice trailer line is literally "You're in the way, hurry up and die" which would only make sense in the context of waiting for a patient to die. But it could also just be him continuing to pressure for organ donation, but now with his own selfish motives.

Going back to the "halfway" comment, while I personally believe it might have to do with how Shidou views his crime as more than just taking organs, it more likely implies that something else happened that Shidou would consider murder. That being the actual death of his family member. It's implied through Throw Down that he was trying to save someone but failed, which he was responsible for. Then from there it'd make sense to assume that he would feel some form of guilt for the rest of his patients, either for the reason of failing to actually utilize donated organs even with the opportunity of being able to save them, or for just realizing the what it actually feels like to have to give up on your loved one. (does. does that make any sense.)

So yeah, I don’t think he’s an organ harvester due to what’s known regarding his crime, the reasoning for his guilt, and with the way he is as a character. The most I’d personally believe is that he decided to harvest organs for the sake of his loved one, but even that seems like a stretch to me. Thus, that is why I believe Kirisaki Shidou is not an organ harvester.

Anyways I’ve rambled on long enough, thank you for reading if you did and remember to drink water and vote shidou innocent in trial 3 because i will shit my pants if he doesn't get inno

[nyx5133106]

The second I think I am safe from Adolf Caitler apologists they come at me swinging. I need to vent but I am also sick of people calling me "mentally deficient" or "fascist pig" on Twitter for calling them out on their bullshit arguments. Both are real quotes btw.

People really love bringing Jinx up in these arguments so I want to start there. Caitlyn stans find it hypocritical that so many people love Jinx but hate Caitlyn completely missing how one was a product of the oppressive system that had ruined her life multiple times leaving her with lifelong trauma and mental issues while the other is a ignorant person with privilege turned a FASCIST oppressor.

We all could see that Jinx's actions in S1 weren't right but were also a result of trauma and grooming (not in the sexual sense) and I think that most fans could see that she needed therapy and a support system, not prison or some other form of punishment. On the other hand, Caitlyn's arc in S1 was about learning to see beyond her own prejudice, privilege and ignorance and making a step to help the people. This was her goal - to help the people, this is the reason she became an enforcer in the first place, but in S1 she sees with her own eyes that they don't really help the ones that need it and were corrupt.

I personally believed that in S2 she would either change the enforcers for the better or leave them and fight for Zaun against the oppression. Boy, did it hurt to be wrong. S2 put her whole arc in s1 in a completely different perspective. One where Caitlyn cared for Zaun and what happened to the people there on a very surface level. It was more of a pity project than anything. All that while we see Jinx change for the better and have better character development than Cait or Vi combined making the contrast between the two even more striking.

At the end of the day, I will forever and ever find it easier to feel sympathy and forgiveness for characters (and actual human beings for that matter) who are products of a corrupt broken system but are anything but perfect victims and 100% harder for people who grew up with privilege and the second they were hurt sought revenge on the masses even if they weren't at fault for what happened. So arguments like "Jinx killed her mother" and "Cait was justified in wanting revenge" don't resonate with me in the slightest.

"But, in season two, she lost her mother bcs of Jinx, she just blew a blaze like Jinx broke one when she accidentally killed Silco, why want more of Caitlyn and keep defending Jinx constantly? Jinx did a lot of harm around her and everyone eats her hand as if she were a saint...."

...This is a real comment a person wrote to me. Some people are in fact mad that people see Jinx as a product of her environment and as someone who at the end of the day did more to break the cycle and change than the one that gassed people with a chemical weapon which can cause life-threatening long-term effects. I could say more but in the end, this person was just an annoying hypocrite who given a real-life example (Luigi vs corrupt ceo) could say which side was wrong but couldn't do the same for the show just because they liked the character. (People can like any character but arguing that every wrong they make is either justified or non-existent is wrong and annoying. Stand up with your cancelled wife and be proud of it or like them privately and quietly if you are too embarrassed to support them and their wrongs.)

Another one of their arguments that just makes the hair on my arms stand up is about the gassing. There are 3 types of arguments on this topic and they get progressively worse.

"Yeah, it was bad but it was better than going gun blazing like the annoying blond wanted." Here I am simply not sure. Would it have been as bad as when Vi and Powder's parents were killed, would even that have been better than making people live through what that gas causes, only to die young and in pain? I don't know much about the gas except that it is what caused Viktor's condition and the little we saw from the notes of Cait's mom. What are the chances of long-term negative effects? Maybe even if they are high, better painful short life than a quick death there and then. Who knows?

"The gas is not dangerous. It's like tear gas, stop overreacting!" I would understand missing how dangerous it is if we didn't have Viktor as a main character this whole time but come on

"They only gassed criminals and they deserve it" This one truly makes me sick. I once argued with someone about whether this was a war crime or not and if it even mattered because it's a show and not real life. Anyone who tries to justify gassing people and thinks that it's ok bc they are criminals (especially ones who were forced on this path by the broken system) should question where the line is for them. When do people deserve rights and when not? Also, Cait's fans will in one breath justify it saying that it was for the good of all especially the children forced to work in the factories and then say that no one innocent was harmed. Which one is it? Are there children there or only adult criminals?

Then comes the topic of Caitlyn's redemption...Minute for silent scream bc we all have neighbors. I can't say how I would have felt if she was given redemption because...I really liked her in S1 and I was Caitvi's shipper to my core. In S1 it was the only ship that mattered to me bc the others were either not my cup of coffee or I saw them as cute crack ships so maybe I would have been sold on her redemption arc... The problem is that there wasn't anything even remotely close to that. I didn't even hear her apologizing in this whole fucking season and people left and right are "she did all of that (imagine here are dumb examples of what they think her redemption arc was) but you all are just misogynistic/homophobic/racist and just want her to suffer". No, I just wanted the writers to admit that Piltover was the oppressor and they weren't just equally bad.

I am mad that Caitlyn never apologizes for what happened with Vi. "She betrayed Ambessa" Yes, she did but I think we really needed her to apologize to Vi or at least admit she was in the wrong but I don't remember a scene like that. Also even if she had done it it would have been a step towards making things with Vi right not - redemption for everything she did to her or playing a dictator and terrorizing Zaun.

"She fought Ambessa in the end" ...yes but Ambessa was attacking her city and the end-goal would have been the end to them all so what is your point? If Ambessa was going only after Zaun I am not sure Caitlyn would have lifted a finger.

"She freed Jinx" - this again was towards repairing her relationship with Vi not about suffering consequences or working towards undoing everything she did to Zaun.

Now this one actually make me sooo mad. "She gave her seat to Sevika". I hate that from every angle. First of all if she did, that brings a larger problem with the writing this season for me - forgetting or brushing over the very real issue between Piltover and Zaun and minimizing Piltover's fault in the suffering and hardships of the Zaunites. Zaun not being independent by the end of the series makes me want to scream but if the writers' ending to the Zaun-Piltover conflict was Caitlyn giving ONE seat out of 7 in the council to Sevika letting her be surrounded and outnumbered 6 to 1 by people who see her as nothing more than dirt on their shoes I want a refund. If the council wouldn't have done anything for Zaun after the war and it was only Caitlyn... fuck me. I myself question whether she even had the power to give the seat because which dumbass would give a seat on the council to a person who until recently was playing dictator stripping them of their power and working with the very same woman that they were just fighting?

If you read until here I have to apologize for all my rambling and admit that it is only coffee and spite that kept me going. There are probably more things but this is on the top of my mind. If we weren't living in times like these I would look at all these people defending her, her actions and Piltover as a whole and have a good life but now it just makes me mad.

To end this on a positive note (said the person who wrote a whole fucking rant post) the songs from Arcane S2 are so connected to specific scenes and characters in my mind that seeing a sisterly Jinx and Vi eddit on Fantastic permanently traumatized me.

[ludwigoat909]

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.....

I don't want to attack this comment too much because something tells me they're probably young and also because it's true that there are people out there that are to forgiving of Curly even downright ignoring what he did wrong (like yes enabling your firend knwing he's a rapist is very bad actually). But BY GOD I pray you never have an actual victim of abuse while you still have that mindset. Some of y'all just don't know how it works or how people are manipulated by it and until you get that you are not ready too talk about the subject.

Curly and Jimmy's relationship isn't fucking displayed as Jimmy purely berating him. The cockpit scene is literally meant to show how Jimmy is a source of confinement to Curly's insecurities. That's the thing with abusive relationships, first they try to establish a strong bond, make sure you stay trapped in it by making sure you are the problem and not them, along with giving you this false sense of warmth to make you still love them when you shouldn't

As for him "being a rape apologist". Look, I completely understand the conclusion. Like... him saying Jimmy, "they can fix it", and shit really fucking frustrates me on so many levels in everytime I play it making me go "DUDE WTF ARE YOU FUCKING SAYING STOOOP", and by god does it make me cringe to even try to make any explanation to his insane enabling behavior.... I still think he wasn't that honest when he said that shit.

Ok, so... there's people out there who have made parallels between him and Anya in terms of how they interact, so let's talk about that juuuust for a bit ok?

You'll see in the game, Anya tries to "compliment" Jimmy as an obvious defense mechanism to avoid him throwing a tantrum and, of course, harming her. Especially now that he's in an even higher position of power.

Now, does this shit compare to Curly? Fuck the hell NO. He is the captain, he should be taking actions, he is clearly still on a higher position then Jimmy even if the later has a strong inflence and control over him.

What I am saying is that Jimmy is a generally dangerous and emotionally unstable hypocrite who envies his best friend for getting all the praise. He thinks he is a victim in all of this. Not aknowledging the harm he has done nor identifying what the real problem is. That's why he looooves being fed into this belief that he is not defined by some """""""litttle""""""""" mistakes. That everything is going to be "fine"

So that's what I think Curly's intent when he enabled his shitty rapist friend wasn't to literally apologize the rape but rather, he simply tried to feed him off what he wanted to hear because it's the only way he knows how to deal with him, all in hopes of makimg sure the situation doesn't escalate, which didn't fucking work obviously.

The point of Curly is that he had to make a decision. He had to pick a side. He had to make a change. Yet he didn't. Because he's too much of a coward who is terrified of change. The cockpit dialogue being the biggest representation of that. Literally standing on a bridge, his feet stuck in cement. That is why

Again this isn't meant to be a defense for his action. It really isn't. I'm just saying that not seeing the red flags of an abuser like Jimmy isn't "unrealistic" and it is very victim-blamy to assume that their victims should've immediately see the red flags, and that he is less an apologist and more of a fucking coward.

[ponett]

Hello, wanted to say thank you, I'm really glad I found your work and I find your insights very helpful.

I wanted to ask something strange, as someone who has gone out of their way to dedicate a very detailed blog to the works of an outspoken artist, can you give me advice how to maintain healthy distance with ideas and individuals I might outright oppose, but have morbid sense of curiosity about them? Or it it just better to not indulge at all?

It's a difficult balance to achieve, and I won't pretend I've always been perfect about it on TKP

The thing is that you have to not obsess over the person too much. You have to focus on their work, not detailing every single thing they've ever done or said to keep receipts on them. You do not, under any circumstances, want to turn into the freaks who make and watch hundred hour long "documentaries" on CWC and Sonichu, or the people who run the Bad Webcomics Wiki

The point is to do media criticism, not to make a callout blog. Details the artist has shared about their life may sometimes help inform your reading of the work - art isn't made in a vacuum, and artists' life experiences and worldviews often shape their art. But you don't need to pry too much and piece together their full life story and psychoanalyze them if that information isn't already available in an autobiography or whatever

On TKP, one of the most important things I do to try and keep that distance is simple: I don't follow Penders on Twitter. I don't need to know every single thing he says, nor do I need to report on it. I'll check in when I hear he's made some kind of announcement regarding his work, and when looking for behind the scenes info I'll sometimes term search on his Twitter because he's far more vocal about what happened behind the scenes than the rest of that creative team, but that's it. I'm not thinking about him every day. I also haven't gone in-depth on his non-Sonic work to help drive home the idea that TKP is a blog about the American Sonic comics with a quippy url, not a blog about shitting on Penders

(On that note: I don't interact with him directly, either. I do not need to dunk on him in his Twitter replies. I do not need to lure him into an interview where I totally own him. I am not sending him my criticism like he owes it to me to read it and improve his work. I leave the guy alone)

As the blog has gone on I've also tried much harder to be objective about him and his work. I'll admit that early on, before the blog blew up, I was eager to see what all the drama was about and why everybody hated the guy. But my goal isn't just to find excuses to hate on him, or to spread baseless gossip, and that shouldn't be the mindset you go in with. I've offered praise for some of his work where I thought it was deserved, and I frequently correct people on misunderstandings about him and the lawsuits, even defending him on certain points

This is an extremely basic and hopefully obvious element of good media criticism, but it should also be said that just because an artist depicts something doesn't necessarily mean they endorse it, and that your goal isn't to piece together the artist's beliefs based on their work and then call them out over it. It can go the other way around - you can analyze how an artist's stated beliefs and values are reflected in their work - but, like, Penders writing a story where Knuckles decides to forgive his shitty fascist uncle for no reason does not mean that Penders is a Nazi apologist. It's just a story.

Again: your main goal should be to criticize the work, not the artist

And, of course, a huge factor is simply how famous the creator in question is (and also if the creator is still alive). You wanna do a deep dive on the works of Steve Ditko and criticize his Randian objectivism? Go nuts, buddy! You wanna shit all over Lovecraft? Have at it! Wanna tear apart the neoliberal politics of Harry Potter? Well, okay, Shrieking Shack already did that one. But if the person you're thinking of doing a sprawling, in-depth teardown on is, like, a smalltime webcomic author? Some hobbyist indie dev? A fanfic writer? That sort of thing? Hell, even someone in the middle like a cartoon storyboarder, or a freelance writer who does articles for Kotaku sometimes? Maybe reconsider. Just because someone's online doesn't mean they're a Public Figure, and there's a line where a deep critical dive on someone's work quickly turns into painting a target on their back

(This ended up being more about Criticism than how to just engage with stuff you hate, but also you can just, like. Look away. And find something else spend your time thinking about.)

[cursedeclipse]

is feyre boring, or do you just hate female characters?

i saw this text post and it got me thinking how strange it is that a series made by a female author, targeted towards a female audience, and is women-centered can be so heinous and quick to write off the main female main character in favor of side male characters.

feyre is often joked about being a "mary sue" or a boring self insert when she is easily one of the most fleshed out characters in her own series. we have three books full of her thoughts, depicting her trauma, and her story and somehow she's boring and a self-insert? based on what exactly?

even her "flaws" are used against her and joked about at wits end. jokes about her illiteracy, about how people think she is bad at art, and how she is a "bitch" for "destroying the spring court."

feyre isn't allowed to have trauma responses to tamlin, because when she pushes back against him a little bit she is antagonizing him. obviously, a hundreds-years-old male can't control his powers and his emotions, he can't help but to react aggressively towards her behavior! it's feyre's fault for upsetting him (let's not talk about how that is classic abuse apologist language though...). poor tamlin found a 19-year-old girl who was abused and neglected all her life, took her from her home, lied to and manipulated her, and gaslit her when she started showing signs of c-ptsd. why couldn't feyre just be nice to her abuser?

but feyre is also too meek and a doormat throughout the acotar trilogy. it doesn't matter that she was neglected and abused her whole life and that often gives someone a low sense of self-worth, it makes her boring and she's a liar about the abuse she faced in her childhood anyway!

why do people treat the main female character like this? people love to act like female characters are never written well or fleshed out, meanwhile, they will give todd the bus driver who appears twice in a book whole headcanons, fics, and fanart that centers around him. is that male character really more interesting than the many female characters or do you just see women as dolls to place prettily in the backdrop of a man's journey?

are eris, azriel, lucien, tamlin, and tarquin really all that much more interesting and well-developed than feyre, elain, mor, and amren? am i supposed to believe you when you say that azriel is more interesting and more developed than a male character like rhys and that elain is too boring for him?

is it a coincidence that people gravitate towards fleshing out 800 male characters in every fandom and make so much content out of mlm ships, yet when there are canonical gay women it's crickets?

i don't think that shipping azris or whatever mlm ship makes you a bad person nor do i think making content on mlm ships is wrong. however,these biases don't exist in a vacuum. it's the reason why female characters will be sidelined for imagined mlm ships. she'll be pushed aside and the fandom might hc her as a lesbian or a huge bitch so she's not "in the way". they might even make up a ship with a woman that there isn't a lot of homoerotic vibes with but post things like "omg they're gfs and who hold hands and they 'yass queen' x mlm ship i really gaf about! 🥺" and that's as complex as lesbians are allowed to be in comparison. (sidenote: as a gay woman, that is not allyship towards lesbians/bi women but comes across as writing the fmc off so she's not a threat to your ship btw).

why is mor hated on, questioned, called a snake, etc. while her abuser is paraded in this fandom unquestionably? there is mor/emerie content, but it's telling that the amount pales in comparison to mlm ship content. and that happens in every fandom. there can be 100 female characters in a series and let two men exist with like 2 personality traits each and people will flock to shipping them.

it's frustrating to see how well-meaning people can rush to being male-centered more often than not. that people will have a set of very high standards for female characters, and if they're not to their specific set of interests people rush to call them boring, undeveloped, or untrustworthy. whereas a man can have .01% amount of on-page time and people just automatically assume there is more to him. an abuser isn't just an abuser but he exists in the shadow of his horrible upbringing, expectations his family had for him, pressure by society, etc. men are allowed to be layered in their flaws/actions.

a female character has to be the most prolific female character in existence to be seen in any sort of depth. and that just makes me not believe people when they say that they don't show more support to female characters because, "only men are ever written well! it's not my fault the author can't write women." that is just using misogyny as a shield.

is feyre boring? or do you just not like how differently trauma shows up in people? is elain boring? or do you just not care to dissect her in the ways you would azriel or eris? is mor boring? or do you just hate it when women are strong-willed and confident?

[raiiinbowsquid]

✦ somewhere in the Doodlesphere...

art by @/dreagine !

[🖌💫] - HI! I'm Ink!! Guardian of The Multiverse! Welcome to my very own blog!! Now! You may be wondering: "Ink!!! Why do you have your own blog? Aren't you suppose to be protecting the multiverse?" Well to that I answer with...because I want to interact with creators and encourage them to continue making art and aus!! And to also ramble about every little thought in my head! NOW! I think it's best if I put out some important info before continuing with my rambles so,,,let's do it!!

[🖌💫] - There's one thing I wanna get out of the way and I will say it now! I am not an Ink irl! I am apart of a system! I am not entirely sure if those are the same or different but it feels important to clarify! I am apart of a traumagenic(?) system called The Color Palette System, BUT DESPITE THAT! Please treat me like a normal person and like I'm Ink. (if that makes any sense...) OKAY! Now onto actual info! Going to basic info first!

✦ now ofc you know my name! I'm Ink, silly! But I would also like to be called Doodle and Star, or Doodlestar! Just on occasion!! ^^

✦ I use They/Them pronouns, as I am Nonbinary! But I still don't mind He/Him! I also go by neos such as Star/Doodle/Ink/Paint/Squid! Those are optional!

✦ Unlike my canon, I am Pansexual and Poly! And I am taken by a handsome glitch and a devilish octopus! Please respect that! <3

✦ I am french but also part japanese as well!

✦ And last but not the least, my age! I am technically 25 in headspace! ^^

[🖌💫] - I think that's all for basic info!!! Now it's time for interests and comforts!

interests!

✦ I am, ofc, very interested and hyperfixed on art! digital, traditional, painting, ancient, everything!

✦ I also take a heavy interest in japanese culture! Especially their cooking!

✦ speaking of! I like to cook every now and then! Everyone says I am great at cooking! But not baking, can't seem to wrap my head around it

✦ but most of all, I'm interested in talking to my friends and you guys!!

comforts!

✦ I find comfort in seeing art of myself! Not so much as a narcissistic thing, but because I love seeing drawings of it because it reminds me how much I mean to people!

✦ I also really like colorful aesthetics, especially if it involves some kind of tool used in art! Like paint or crayons!

✦ yknow it was coming, Broomie is a comfort object of mine!! So hugging him always makes me feel better!

✦ seeing images of Error and Nightmare help too! They're so pretty...<3 (but any sans can help!)

✦ and lastly! Plushies always help! Mainly Pokemon or Sonic ones! ^^

[🖌💫] - We're almost done!!! Now it's time for discomforts and my dni list!!

discomforts!

✦ I'm not comfortable with being compared to my Underverse self or hated because of my Underverse self. I know I'm not a Bad Guy entirely there but most people seem to think that and think of me as a bad guy in general, so I would appreciate it if you guys didn't compare Underverse Me to Me :(( (you CAN talk about it! Just don't compare.)

✦ Speaking of Underverse! I am not entirely okay with XGaster. I know people ship me with him and you can do that! And talk about it too me! Just know that I will be tilting my head like a dog in confusion! ^^;

✦ I'm not okay with people turning ships like Errorink or Inkmare, or any ship into something that's toxic, like "toxic errorink", it just makes me so uncomfortable.

dni list!

✦ proshippers/comshippers

✦ pro-endo/endo supporters/endo-systems

✦ dreammare, swadmare, marenight, nightdream shippers

✦ frans, papyrus x chara shippers

✦ paperfresh, shipkid x parent/sibling shippers

✦ error x blueberror shippers

✦ m@ps, m@p supporters, m@p defenders/apologists

✦ p@raphiles, p@raphile supporters, p@raphile defenders/apologists

✦ z0ophiles, z0ophile supporters, z0ophile defenders/apologists

✦ homophobes/anti-lgbtqa+

✦ ut au/utmv haters

✦ rouge supporters, rouge defenders/apologists

✦ anti agere

✦ anti petre

[🖌💫] - Annnnd that's about it!! But before I leave, here are some extra bits of info I couldn't fit in here!!

My birthday is April 15 (world national art day!), I am an Aries, I like playing the flute, I agere and petre sometimes (to 3-8 for agere and mostly to a cat for petre), I am 100% okay and supportive of self-shippers, I'm very sensitive, I need tonetags, I forget a lot (duh-), I tend to ramble for too long, I'm hypers3xual (please respect that), I often uses caps, I purr even when Out of petre and lastly I am okay with nsfw of me! As long as it isn't...too much, if you catch my drift! ^^

[🖌💫] - Welp! That's everything! May add more if I forgot anything but who knows! I hope you learned a lot from this and I can't wait to talk to you all soon!! See ya, pal!!! ^^

✦ <~ click here for your reward!! (safe!/srs)

(don't ask, I thought it looked neat!!!)

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Hi Rose 💜 Weird question time! Do you have a favourite quote(s) from the series you've watched? Like, some sentence that got stuck in your head. I am looking at the empty wall in my room and feeling a very adult urge to just write something on it so I'm looking for inspirations.

No pressure though, it's just my head is completely empty and my memory is bad 😅

Hi Kat💜

So my memory is also terrible. A lot of the times I forget quotes really quickly. But I was thinking about this and going through the rolodex in my brain, and realized that I do remember lines from shows, but usually they aren't significant by themselves. Like for me it's a quote that brings me straight into the show again, like I'm seeing in my head and it's invoking the same feelings that I felt during the show. (also there's also the language thing, where I'm not always sure if I know exactly what they're saying so I'm always afraid of giving it weight for some reason)

Like for example. If I'm thinking of WDYEY, I think of onions, and chicken thighs. Specifically "I think I should use two chicken thighs", as said by Shiro. Because it makes me remember them instantly, and have the same feeling I had when I watched. Also lot of the times I think of bits of dialogue and not necessarily lines by itself. Like for instance in ULS when Hotae is talking to Donghee while cleaning and he says a bunch of things ending with something like "But that's all bullshit. Because when you can't endure something, then you just can't endure it."

So I don't know if these will help you, because although I think I could maybe put them on my wall or something, and it would be meaningful to me, I don't know if it would be the same for you.

But anyway, you asked and I will tell you some of my favourite lines, that I think of, when I remember certain shows. (these are from memory, so they might not be verbatim)

Light on me "Yesterday, today and tomorrow. I'll still be thinking about you" Shinwoo - this is of course an all time favourite.

Love Sick "It barely takes any time to fall in love, so why does it hurt so much to say goodbye?" Noh (I'm gonna stop at one with this one because I'd be here all day)

Gaya Sa Pelikula "Tell me a story Karl." & "I refuse to be a plot device that triggers somebody else's identity crisis only to be left alone in the end" & "Jesus is too forgiving to be a Capricorn" Vlad (yeah this show also had a lot that I like)

Kieta Hatsukoi "We don't have to be like everyone else" Ida

If it's with you "I think liking you might be good" Ryuji

Old Fashion Cupcake "Don't just be a part of my life. Please be my entire life" Togawa

To My Star "If it's too hard for you. I'll go to you." Seo Joon

We Best Love "Am I still the lucky one?" WBL 2 "You wanted to stay with me forever, but you didn't believe in my forever" Shu Yi

Theory of Love "Why Khai? Why are you still waiting" "I don't wanna love you anymore. It hurts" < I can hear this one in my head. Third

The Eighth Sense "I'm getting sick of wearing a mask" & "Let's try it together even if we're afraid" Jae Won (this one is another I'd have several)

Unintentional Love Story "I'll love you instead." Ji Won Young

I've not been able to really go look, because life, but I know I have more and if more come to me I'll let you know. I know there are a couple from kdramas I really like but for the life of me I can't remember them right now. The only one that comes to mind is from Navillera that it's just "Did you soar?" cause I get emotional just thinking about it.

Anyway since perhaps I'm not the best person for this particular thing, because I have a terrible memory and maybe because I'm more of a visual person when it comes to tv, I thought I'd open the floor to some people that might be able to help. So tagging some folks that might be able to contribute to your endeavour.

@lurkingshan @twig-tea @wen-kexing-apologist @bengiyo @hyeoni-comb (no pressure of course)

[tabr1-s]

sunday rant and personal frustrations with him that i begun to write at 6am running on an entire 3 and a half hours of sleep (my cats woke me up.....)

(tldr at the end. i might be as bad as Sunday in terms of yap mileage (yappage) but i'll do one better than him and provide you with the concise version if you scroll all the way down.)

i have never felt such intense emotions about a character's moral viewpoint... Ever. and i've liked characters that were mass murderers before. morals (or lack thereof) usually never played a significant role in whether i liked a character or not (unless they did something i considered worse than plain ol murder, then i wouldn't associate with them), and 99% of the time i could find the character's motivations understandable under the circumstances that they were in.

and, technically, i can understand where Sunday is coming from too.

but that doesn't stop me from being Absolutely pissed at him.

(sunday-esque yap about myself incoming, i will eventually get to the point (which i will highlight))

as someone who has been told that i have "ocd features" Multiple times by my psychiatrist (practically each session) i understand the need for control. my obsessiveness manifests in the form of feeling the need to control practically everything - my current obsession for control being my own emotions, which extends to needing to control entire situations, and in turn makes me severely overthink all the possible outcomes to those given situations. i've also been guilty of controlling others before, and having the mentality of "i know what's best for you". hell, i still feel like that a lot, but i really try to push it back.

and this need for "control" is mainly the reason why i even find comfort in fiction. because it's oftentimes very predictable to me (it also made me think of how i do not find any interest in reading books, but i love writing stories of my own. particularly fan-fiction. and the only time i can feel comfortable enough to feel romance is towards fictional characters - because i control the narrative! it's something to think about.). if i like a character or a narrative, it's easy for me to pick apart where the writers will go with that story. and, even if the story turns out to disappoint me/be different than what i hoped for, i would still be Prepared for that possibility.

i somehow... failed to prepare for what would happen with Sunday.

i had set my sights on the wrong thing for 2.2. i invested my whole energy on trying to comfort myself that hoyo wouldn't take the ipc colonialism route (basically turning out to be capitalist/colonialist apologists) with penacony (which i Guess will be explored in 2.3? but now that i have some more context on the story and how it's unraveling i'm not as anxious about it anymore), that i overlooked a lot of other things that could've gone wrong.

namely, my favourite hsr character to be... Like that. (i'm not even being intentionally vague. i'm just dumbfounded)

i had Heard of the theory that Sunday is possessed by Ena (which didn't particularly make sense to me, and i refused to look at leaks concerning Sunday lest they upset me. either way i Really hated that theory. plus, Sunday being said to have ocd would've been an incredibly cheap way to foreshadow that he's "possessed" by the Order. you can't just create your first(?) important/playable character that has a confirmed mental illness and then go "it's okay actually he's Normal! he was just possessed". i took this very personally. and still am.), and saw a lot of theories concerning his involvement with the Order as well. i shut it all out, because i didn't like the implications of that.

which in turn made me Not think/comfort myself regarding the possibilities that he truly Was connected to the Order.

...

well, rest in pieces, me - it's always the things i don't pay much attention to/ignore/fail to think about. which is actually a bit strange because i was not expecting him to be an entirely sane person from the start - he was a politician type, a leader, and a manipulator, to name a few things. that much was obvious. in 2.0-2.1 i wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out that he was the one that "killed" Robin. again, nothing was out of the question. but, 2.1 showed a different side of him. one that cared for his sister and (seemingly) listened to her and cared about what she thought. so they became quite a comforting little sibling duo to me. tragic, yet you could depend on their mutual trust in eachother... or so i thought.

and then he... went and did all That. which just showed me how, despite him caring for his sister, he was still putting other things above her.

to conclude with my yap: in a sense, he is just my "grim reflection of the self". and although i feel sympathetic towards my past self and how naive and selfish i used to be, there are some flaws of mine i will never forgive myself for. and, Sunday, in a way, reminded me of... Everything. it was almost triggering.

(hey, writing this all down in one place helped me calm down! (it's a neverending cycle that will continue tomorrow. all it will take is seeing a post concerning him and his sister and i'll get pissed anew) yay!)

the point(s) (aka my qualms):

- how sunday manipulated robin + was planning to use her in the charmony festival to complete his plan. she was going to be an unwilling participant in creating a "utopia" that she would've been absolutely against, but he didn't stop to fucking. fill her in, maybe? talk it out? the sheer disrespect on the concept of free will and on the fact that your own sister is a human being of her own sickens me

- he should've cherished the relationship he had with her (x1000 because that's the ONE FAMILY MEMBER YOU HAD LEFT AND THAT IS SUCH A PRIVILEGE!!! IMAGINE HAVING SOMEONE CARE ABOUT YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND THEN YOU GO AND THROW IT AWAY!!! YEAH I'VE ALMOST DONE THE SAME EXACT THING MULTIPLE TIMES (AND STILL WOULD) BUT THAT'S WHY I ALSO KNOW HOW MUCH OF AN ASSHOLE MOVE IT IS!!!)

- he forsook his own self and shoved down his own biases and interests (fucking rat. you can't change the fact you're human and i'm very much saying that from experience) to become something Grander than life itself and in fucking turn isolated himself and shut out the one person who actually cared and then had the Gall to complain about being misunderstood/alone. (when you're finally sitting in your unreachable throne in this "dream" that you've created, who will you blame for being lonely? who will you blame when you have no one to fall back into? no one to support you? when everybody you did this for forsakes You?)

- HE DIDN'T EVEN HUG ROBIN BACK AT THE LAST SCENE. LIKE SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR FAILED PLANS AND COME DOWN FROM THE CLOUDS A LITTLE - THE JOY YOU SEEK FOR IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!

- all i hoped for was that sunday and robin would reunite and get the chance to be happy together, and the only true reason i'm mad is because i'm guilty of a lot of the same self sacrificial behaviours as him and very much understand the sentiment of "my loved ones would be better off without my negative presence and influence". but instead of empathizing with him, i feel betrayed. i thought he was better than me. i thought he was someone worthy of admiration, and that doesn't come easily from me. despite all the warning signs i fell for his obvious facade, and i Very rarely get taken by surprise - especially in a way like this.

- if it wasn't for the fact that Robin would feel sad if Sunday died i would personally go and strangle him myself

tldr; i'm just a big baby that placed a lot of faith on Sunday and his relationship with Robin post 2.1 and my ego took a Huge hit once he turned out to be just some immature emo idealist type. (come on, man - i genuinely thought you were better than me! someone worthy of respect! and i usually have a feeling of superiority over others! this was the biggest compliment/act of faith i could give! (talking to a wall (fictional character (I'M FUCKING UPSET))))

[eddo-tensei]

More thoughts on Derision (Spoilers, obviously)

I think it's amusing that the default counter-argument to anyone who criticizes this episode boils down to "Well, you're just a Chloe Stan!" Which is something I had to deal with myself recently. Apparently, you can only hate this episode if you're a Chloe apologist. First off, hi, I'm Eddo. I wrote a fanfic where Chloe literally gets thrown into the dirt and suffer an allergic reaction to cacti, both times being her own fault. I feel like my Chloe Stan license should be revoked after that.

Anyways, I'm not surprised with the direction they went with Chloe in Derision. It's been stated since around Season 4 that Chloe was on a "Damnation Arc", so they've been doing everything they can to make her worse and worse. So, I'm not surprised or even angry that they continued this here. I'm annoyed, but not angry. What I AM angry about would be the other characters who got mangled in this shitshow.

Writers? Could you please stop having Chat threaten people with Cataclysm after he's shown regret doing it to people by accident TWICE?! This has happened three times now, counting what happened with Scarabella. Yes, I know he did this before with Darker Owl, but that just makes it worse because that happened right AFTER he regretted doing this to Monarch. You know, the guy who's been tormenting and attacking everyone for over a year? I guess to Chat, Damocles and Kim deserve it more for ripping away a fantasy and pulling a shitty prank respectively.

I know I complained about this a lot already, but this needs to be stressed upon. If we're going to take Cataclysm seriously, especially with what later episodes showed us, maybe DON'T have your hero threaten people with it for relatively petty reasons? "BUT IT'S FOR TRUE LOVE!!!1!!" Yeah, no. When he tried to do it on Darker Owl, Ladybug told him to cut that crap. It then happened again with Dark Humor with Ladybug telling him not to do it. It doesn't matter if it's for "true love." Both times he did this so far, Ladybug made it clear that this was a bad idea. So, maybe you guys should stop trying to encourage it. I refuse to believe that Chat believes that Monarch is more deserving to live after everything that he did than Kim after what he did. Speaking of Kim...

My friendly neighborhood dumb jock, why would the writers do this to you? When we only had the leaks to go by, I actually tried to scour for any interactions Kim had with Marinette and I can confirm that with the revelations we got in Derision, they REALLY don't make sense. Yes, Kim was a bit of a douche in the first season. Origins had him push Ivan around to the point of being the trigger for the Akuma. But he wasn't THIS much of a douchenozzle. Moreover, I have a hard time believing Marinette would be as friendly as she is with Kim throughout the series given what he did to her as revealed in this episode. Also, I know this is going to sound offensive, but...Kim was Marinette's first crush? Really? That's what you're going with? I'm not trying to insult Kim, but there was NOTHING that hinted to this. I can't help but think this was the thought process of the writers when they brought this up:

"So, we need to have Chloe do something to Marinette that would explain why Marinette struggles to be with Adrien. It has to be something big and traumatic. More importantly, it has to involve Marinette actually having a past crush that Chloe ruined and it has to be a character we're familiar with, so we can't make up an OC for it. We can't use Nino because he had a crush on her and it wouldn't make sense for her to reciprocate. We can't use Nathaniel because his crush went almost completely unnoticed by Marinette and he's also gay now. We can't use Ivan because he likes Mylene and we can't complicate that. We can't use Max because most people think he's ace and subverting that would piss a ton of people off. Oh, and we can't have it be any of the girls either because our show would get cancelled if Marinette isn't straight. So, let's just make it this guy."

"This. Fucking. Guy."

I'm having a hard time thinking of any other reason. I know some people theorized in the past that Kim and Marinette might've had a thing, but I don't think they held any water. Even now, however, I really don't think people should be happy it was canonized in this way.

I always held the belief that Chloe was responsible for Marinette's behavior, but my idea of it was that Chloe had been bullying Marinette for a long time and those years of sustained bullying took its toll on the poor baker girl that made it difficult for her to not only open her heart to people she loves, but have difficulties making friends in general until Alya came along. Yeah, Chloe doesn't look good in this case either, but it would've been more reasonable and would probably resonate with a lot more people who probably had to deal with bullies messing with them for a long time because these effects usually aren't instant. They get built on for a long time and it can really mess up their perception on things.

I think a good story would've been Marinette having to heal from that sustained trauma and while it is difficult since nobody can just quickly heal from trauma, it'd be a good journey for Marinette to be able to open up again with Alya and Adrien being just the first two pieces Marinette needs for her recovery.

But now, instead of all that, it turns out Chloe just pulled a prank that just unleashed a cavalcade of trauma on Marinette all at once that is hyper-specific to how she handles her crush that Adrien and ONLY Adrien can heal. All the while, it turns out that the prank was actually pulled by a guy who I really thought was just kinda fun and cool, but now I can't talk about him in the same way again because he's been thrown under the bus for the sake of this nonsense plot that's difficult not to call a full-on retcon. Do you know what I can call a retcon, though? Or rather who?

I am sorry to all of the people who are probably stanning Socqueline right now, but I CAN'T vibe with her. I'm not saying you're not allowed to like her either, because that would be dumb, but I DON'T like how she was presented in Derision. First off, to get this out of the way, we're no strangers to characters being introduced out of nowhere. Felix and Zoe are both characters that come to mind. The thing is you can at least explain their respective absences easily. Felix had likely been distant from Adrien for a long time with him only coming in out of obligation with Amelie. Zoe is actually even more easy to explain given that she was shoved into a boarding school by Audrey and wouldn't really be able to connect with any of the characters until she was forced to transfer. Socqueline, however, does not have that luxury and cannot be easily explained away not only with how we found her, but for the fact that there was NO hint to her existing until Season 5 and that is inexcusable given how much importance this character now has. To put it in perspective, this is how we are introduced to Socqueline in Jubilation:

Marinette: That fake Ladybug from this morning, I think it was Socqueline, a school friend from last year. Knowing her, I’m sure she means well. But I have to convince her to stop putting herself in danger like that.

That's it. She just calls her a school friend. Yes, it's clear that she's at least important enough for Marinette to remember her name, she was just called a school friend. At the very least, she did have an interesting story with her trying to be Ladybug in order to help people. Of course, she had to be talked out of it because it's causing issues with the real Ladybug, but it's a decent story and Socqueline had only made a few appearances here and there.

And then Derision.

Yes, Socqueline referred to Chloe as "that monster", so it's clear that they planned her to have something against Chloe since her first appearance. However, Derision showed us that Socqueline wasn't just a school friend. She was Marinette's closest confidant in the school years prior to the start of the series. She actively protects Marinette from bullies, particularly Chloe, and was clearly a huge inspiration for her until Chloe got her suspended from school.

First off, in case I haven't made it clear, we haven't seen Socqueline AT ALL until Season 5. Not even a hint to her existence. So given how significant she was made out to be in Derision, WHY HASN'T SHE MADE ANY APPEARANCES IN THE SERIES BEFOREHAND?! She doesn't even have the excuse of being outside of Paris like Felix and Zoe do because she's STILL there and in an arts and crafts store no less, which probably would've been a great place for Marinette to hang out in with her friends if the writers thought this through. But they didn't and Socqueline's debut comes off as severely jarring because we have this character who was really important to Marinette's life just not show up until she started cosplaying as Ladybug.

Secondly, it muddles Marinette's own backstory as well as severely hampering the significance of Alya. Now instead of being alone with nobody to help her against Chloe, which makes her friendship with Alya all the more stronger, Marinette just had this super cool friend who was always there for her until mean ol' Chloe got her kicked out of school. Doesn't that sound like something you'd see in a fanfic, specifically one that's salting Alya given how Socqueline was depicted as Marinette's BFF?

Thirdly, if Chloe was able to get Socqueline suspended so easily, then why hadn't she been able to do that with the other students? Yeah, she got close with Alya, but that didn't stick. If Chloe really had the ability to just make students disappear even if it happened once, she would NOT hesitate to try and do this again with any other student who slighted her, ESPECIALLY Marinette. But she doesn't. Once her attempt on Alya failed, she didn't try again. Hell, LILA had more attempts to get Marinette kicked out of school than Chloe did and actually got closer to doing it than Chloe would ever get, which is weird since she doesn't have the title of "Mayor's Daughter" to throw around like Chloe would. This just feels like something done to explain away why Socqueline didn't show up in the series which doesn't work because she's STILL IN PARIS and I'm pretty sure Marinette would be more than happy to meet with Socqueline given how close they were, but that never happened.

Fourthly, I'm guessing nobody felt like pointing it out because it felt too obvious, but doesn't Socqueline just come off as the writer's answer to Bridgette? You know, the older Marinette based on the anime PV that some fan writers implement into their own stories? Yeah, she's not one-to-one similar to Marinette like Bridgette is, but it definitely feels like another instance of the writers pulling stuff out of fanon just to put a canon spin on it. And like all the other instances, it's a bad spin.

Lastly, this whole incident with the prank and Socqueline's suspension took place a few months before Origins. Not even a year at the earliest. It was specifically stated that Socqueline was suspended three weeks before the end of the school year. Given how close that time gap, the way everyone behaves in Origins makes almost no sense. Marinette would be a lot more horrified of Chloe if Derision was anything to go by and Chloe would be more willing to try and cast Alya out so Marinette doesn't have any allies given that Derision showed Chloe REALLY wanting to make sure nobody helps Marinette. The only point I could even give any leeway to is Kim and even then, again, he's not that much of a douche in Origins as he was in Derision. So, really, it all just comes off as a blatant retcon specifically to try and explain the new direction the writers are taking with certain characters. And do you want to know the dumbest thing? Apparently, Socqueline was such an inspiration to Marinette that the latter changed her hair to be more like Socqueline's.

No, seriously. That's also how they explain why Marinette has different hairstyles. I know Expository Hairstyle Changes are a thing in fiction, but this is just awkward as hell given how traumatic and melodramatic the whole thing is. You don't need to say that Marinette's hairstyle came from someone who she considered a hero because nothing about Marinette indicated that her hairstyle is important. This isn't like Josuke changing his hairstyle to be based on the man who saved him as a child. It's a purely cosmetic change that's suddenly given a shit-ton of significance because now it's connected to this horribly traumatic incident. In fact, you know what this reminds me of?

Actually, the whole segment where this Linkara clip came from seems to sum up a lot of things wrong with Derision. It's not just bad because it makes some characters look bad or introduces stuff out of nowhere. It's bad because now everything in the flashback is now part of all of the characters! Every prior episode will now have to be viewed with a lens tinted by the events of this episode. Now nobody can discuss Kim without people salting on him for the prank, now nobody can talk about how important Alya's friendship with Marinette because of Socqueline's sudden boost in significance (In fact, it's very likely that Alya salters will try to use Socqueline as a replacement friend), and now nobody can speculate the intrigue of Marinette's past because EVERYTHING about her behavior is linked to this specific incident and nothing else. That's what pisses me off about this episode. That's why I share that Double D meme so frequently. I could care less about how much of a monster Chloe was depicted to be in this episode, but I am going to complain when other characters are butchered in the process. I will complain about one thing concerning her, though.

Isn't it amazing that you can tell the writers are trying DESPERATELY to squish any and all positive interpretations of Chloe, even trying to downplay parental neglect because "this character also didn't have a mom and they didn't turn out this way" even though Mylene's and Chloe's situations are still VASTLY different? You can make the argument that Audrey's absence doesn't excuse Chloe's actions. In fact, I don't think it really does either, but saying that there's only one valid response to an absent parent is EXTREMELY insensitive to people who might be going through similar situations.

Oh, and to cap this all off? This is the favorite episode of one of the main writers. Said writer possibly being considered to be the new director for Season 6 of Miraculous and onwards. I'm not gonna name which one for obvious reasons, but it's been confirmed.

I feel like this is a good indication that you need to hop off this series.

[inventors-fair]

Select Suites: Room Contest Runners-up ~

Our runners-up this week are @bread-into-toast, @feyd-rautha-apologist, and @nine-effing-hells!

@bread-into-toast — Imaging Center / Splattered Surgery

Ewwww... Imaging... But yeah the splatterness of the surgery is awesome too. You're one of the few common rooms. Actually, were there any others? I'm too lazy to check immediately. The point is that this is a pretty solid common design, and you know that I love those. I mean, hence why I'm running those kinds of contests all the time, yeah? There's something to be said for one-mana discard that's really nasty in limited. Hard to come back from if you're really pressed for resources. But what I ike about this card is the ability to mill/discard your own reanimation targets, which is absolutely the intent.

And yet the imaging could be to see your opponent's cards, which is itself pretty neat from a flavor standpoint! Splattering over to the surgery ward, yeah, one-time reanimation is a great staple, and this one fixes up some of the black side of getting cards back to the battlefield. Duskmourn has a lot of options for that, of course, but simple sorcery-speed recursion on new tech is an excellent demonstration, and fits it into the black shell as well. In a hard week with a lot of strong entries, I appreciate this card for showing just how awesome a simple, effective common card can be. It's design chops with a sci-fi vibe that feels right at home somewhere in the massive sprawl of the mansion.

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Airlock / Hydroponics

Am I a sci-fi Magic nerd? Still not really. Does this card change my mind? I mean, not completely, but it's so well-done that I'm gonna gush a little bit about it, one half at a time. The first thing that I wanna touch upon is the fact that unlocking the Airlock makes everything weaker. Like, that's just a brilliant little piece of gameplay/flavor intersection, and the art direction makes it make all the more sense. Also, a -1/-1 counter set? Very interesting. It's been a hot minute, but I like 'em well enough, and it makes sense here that the action of the Airlock weakens the lifeforms. I don't know about how much non-biological life, but what if it only put counters on things that weren't artifacts or maybe weren't equipped (like with spacesuits!)? See, you've got me brainstorming, and that's a sign of an awesome card.

Hydroponics is also quite interesting because of the interaction with the other side; there's a lot to work through here with intended gameplay. Landfall-to-proliferate is excellent, of course, and there's this ironic bend of "every time we make landfall we collect new species and progress has led to our demise," of course—and then it just so happens that it interacts with the -1/-1 counters in a way that doesn't necessarily mesh flavorfully? But gameplay does trump flavor. Maybe the plant proliferation isn't a 1:1 exactitude with what the Airlock represents in terms of weakness. Or maybe the xenoflora thrive on the disinfectant, and the scientists didn't know that, and—ooh boy. You've got some good tendrils in me, and I'm digging it.

@nine-effing-hells — Living Room / Hungry Hearth

Some days I forget that people love to be really fun with these contests. There are a couple of names and card mixes that people added in that are...certainly choices, I'll say that much. But Living Room works so well as both a name and a card that I almost didn't think twice about it, and cards that make me do double-takes are worth a great amount of commendation for sure. I don't want to put too much of a damper on it, though, because the horizontal design brings one major challenge to this card's existence: if it somehow becomes tapped, how would anyone know? I see that you snuck vigilance onto there, but you and I both know that that's not in-pie for black at all. And yet, I want to know more and work with you here.

Dropping the deathtouch and making it white could've been fine, perhaps. But all that is fine-tuning what's otherwise a really fun design. The Hungry Hearth is an amazing card on its own, encouraging some aggression with complex choices for how you either ping your opponent or make their blockers far less effective if you've got them on the ropes. Attacking with a big room can make that even better, yeah? Huh. Does "this room" look at both sides when it's fully unlocked? Probably, although I gotta brush up on my room rules. Maybe insta-killing on attack should come with a little bit of downside. I want this card to work so badly, hence why it's here. It's clever enough to showcase as one of my favorite aspects of this contest and people's creativity with expanding upon this awesome new piece of tech.

Really hard to choose this week, honestly, lots of strong choices. I've got brownies and LGS work, but commentary will be up when we get there for y'all! @abelzumi

[stellae-de-baphometis]

Hello!! I am extremely new to demonolatry as I have very recently discovered it and I would like to know if you have any resources for beginners to read/watch that are helpful. Don’t worry about it if you don’t or if you simply don’t feel like it, I don’t mind!! Ty and have a nice day!!!!

Hey there! Terribly sorry for answering this so late. Xx So I've only been into Daemonolatry for about a year now, though I have learnt a lot thus far and I'd be more than happy to share some really important pointers to aid you in walking this path. ^.^

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So first and foremost before I get into the main blogpost, I really cannot stress this enough...

Please educate yourself on closed practices and steer clear of cultural appropriation in your personal practises. There are a group of people in the Daemonolatry community who appropriate the heck out of Jewish daemons, especially Lilith. Judaism is a closed practise and therefore it's only respectful to not incorporate Judaism into your personal practises. Appropriating Judaism is actually a form of anti-Semitism, so please be mindful and respectful of these things! 🖤

I'm ashamed to admit this but I actually used to think it was completely fine to appropriate Jewish daemons last year, thanks to subreddits like r/DemonlatryPractices who would constantly try to push propaganda about Lilith being a "Mesopotamian Pagan Goddess" and other excuses for appropriating her. That same subreddit decided to attack me when I merely mentioned (on a completely different subreddit, mind you) that I disagreed with them appropriating Lilith, and in turn I got witch-hunted so that's great lmao. 🤡

Please avoid that subreddit at all costs, it's an absolute cesspit of cultural appropriation and passive anti-Semitism, and honestly they exhibit cult-like behaviour if you do so much as simply disagree with the appropriation of Jewish daemons. It's pretty disturbing... But yeah anyways sorry for rambling lol.

I'd also recommend avoiding people and organisations such as S. Connolly, V.K. Jehannum, Satan & Suns/Sons, BlackWitchCoven, The BecomeALivingGod Forum, The Satanic Temple, Joy Of Satan Ministries, The Order Of Nine Angles, scarletarosa (a user that literally exists here on Tumblr... yikes), etc. They engage in Jewish appropriation, and some of them even have ties to Nazism, racism, and other forms of bigotry too.

Some other Jewish daemons/spirits that you should avoid appropriating alongside Lilith are; Naamah, Agrat Bat Mahalath, Eisheth Zenunim, Samael, Abyzou, and the Grigori / Watcher Angels.

There are many other closed practices too, but if you'd like to do further research I can leave that up to you. ^.^

Okay sorry about that huge ramble lmao, just thought I would get that out of the way before getting into the main post because I think it's an important point to make and I don't want you to fall down a cultural appropriation apologist pipeline like I did at the beginning of my practise lol. Xx

Anyways, let's talk about The Infernal Divine!

+: GIF Credit :+

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So we'll start with some really basic stuff. What exactly are daemons?

It's not commonly known outside of Daemonolatry that daemons themselves actually predate Christianity. The term 'demon' (alternatively spelled 'daemon') comes from the word 'daimon' which originates way back in Greek mythology. Daimons were a type of tutelary deity as well as guiding spirit whose divine nature was that of both mortals and deities. They were also sometimes regarded as bringers of knowledge, wisdom, and destiny. In this sense, they could be considered deities in their own right.

Contrary to popular belief, daemons are not evil and never were to begin with. It was only until the coming of Christianity that daemons as well as other gods were vilified and ostracised due to the cultish, radical, monotheistic mindset a lot of Christian extremists held back in the day. Lucifer himself was a "demonized" Roman god also known as Phosphorus, associated with light and the planet Venus. From that description alone, I don't really get evil vibes lol.

In my opinion, our world cannot simply be split up into just black or white, and daemons are no exception. Daemons aren't evil, but they aren't completely love and light either; They're neutral. Much like humans as well as the universe itself, the Infernal Divine are various shades of grey, and all daemons are unique and differ in personality.

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So with all this in mind, what are some good resources that don't endorse and/or engage in appropriation of closed practices?

The YouTube channels ESOTERICA and ReligionForBreakfast have great information on the history of various religions and practises!

~ Book Recommendations ~

Livre des Esperitz

Dictionnaire Infernal

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pandemonium: A Discordant Concordance Of Diverse Spirit Catalogues

I personally am working towards being a daemonolatry resource myself, but I haven't been able to post much lately due to my mental health issues. I also took an active break last year, as it was pointed out by a friend of mine that my belief of thinking it was fine to appropriate closed practises was obviously problematic, and so I took time off from posting in order to educate myself and delete any problematic blog posts I had made endorsing that in the past.

But nonetheless, I hope that what I was able to provide in this post was helpful! I wish you well on your spiritual path. 🖤

❀ ~ Many Blessings ~ ❀

-Korv

[angelfirstclass]

Damn, I guess I was a Magneto apologist. Is it me or did the writers make me do it?

Ok, Ok I wrote a rant about how I was disappointed in the X-men and was seemingly Team Magneto, but I have come to realize that it was a step too far if it is leading to planet wide destruction and poles reversing and nuclear fallout and etc etc. If it's THAT extreme, then yes I walk back my blank support of Magneto, but I am still on Magneto's side as to feeling he was right and wondering where the line in the sand is.

Also, me having these feelings is the writers fault- they made Magneto sympathetic and wrote the story line to specifically get people to be on the fence with Magneto and not have him be a cut and dried bad guy. He adopts the X-men, walks Xavier's path at times unwillingly, and was even tempered even during the trial or after Storm lost her powers. He might have been able to be reasoned after Genosha, too, but being kidnapped, tortured, and his fellow mutants threatened by Prime Sentinels was too much.

In the X-men movies, Magneto is less sympathetic because he hurts innocent humans and sometimes neutral and innocent mutants as well in the name of his cause. In the first movie, he almost kills Rogue in the name of Mutant supremacy. It's despicable. That's where the X-men draw the line and are justified in being against him. Even knowing his past and the reasons for the way he is, readers and the audience can not condone him choosing violence. But in this version, it's different- the writers chose to make Magneto an anti-hero and set up his eventual choice as either inevitable or even justified. The previous episode had a character claim "Magneto was right" and made many viewers feel that way, too.

In this version, Magnus is not a monster. He may have doomed the planet, but he offers the X-men sanctuary and a choice. Where I find myself disappointed in the X-men is the way they don't lead a search party to find Magneto before the Sentinel/EMP incident, don't offer any gratitude to being saved by Magneto from the Sentinels, and instantly goes into attack mode. Like I realize what he did was wrong, but as a team member you would think there would be some misgivings or hesitation based on friendship and respect, but no it's immediately Oh, yeah I knew you were awful the entire time and good riddance.

I am waiting to see the next episode and the finale and hope there are things in there to make things make sense, but right now I'm just confused. I realize the world is complex and has grey areas, but I honestly would have been more satisfied if Magneto was a straight up bad guy and met his end or if Bastion was the only bad guy and though they didn't agree on everything worked as a team. This story line currently is one where Magneto is not bad nor good, is meant to be somewhat sympathetic, but in the end if I have it correctly completely extreme and genocidal. It breaks up the X-men and causes a schism when they need to be strong together and is morally confusing for the viewer. Not sure one episode is enough to tie everything together, but I shall wait and see.